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There are few more dramatic examples of humanity’s careless treatment of the earth than the Aral Sea.

The Aral’s precipitous decline began in the 1960s, when the Soviet Union began using river water to irrigate the mega-farms it established on the arid steppe. As the river water flowing into the sea slowed to a trickle, the Aral began drying up.

Once a colossal geographic feature—at 26,000 square miles (67,300 square kilometers), it was the fourth largest inland water body on earth in terms of surface area—the Aral shrank to hold just one-tenth of its original volume, becoming a tragic shadow of itself [National Geographic]. Fisheries collapsed, people moved away, towns were abandoned, and the Aral became famous primarily for its ghostly landscapes, with rusting ships lying on sand dunes.

But now scientists report that the northern sector of the Aral is making a recovery, due to a concerted effort from the Kazakh government, the World Bank, and scientists. A dam completed in 2005 raised water levels and decreased salinity, and increased the North Aral’s span by 20 percent. Soon native plants, stifled for years by the saltwater, began to sprout, and migrating birds like pelicans, flamingos, and ducks again began to visit the Aral. Nowadays, “It’s a paradise for birds,” says Russian Academy of Sciences zoologist Nick Aladin, who has been studying the Aral since the 1970s. “It’s a place for pleasure, and it’s an enormous victory” [National Geographic]. Freshwater fish have also returned, leading to hopes of a resuscitated fishing industry. And while the South Aral remains in dire straits, researchers say the tentative revival of the North Aral gives them hope.

Another sea, another headache. Over in the Middle East, several countries are weighing a proposal that could give new life to the dwindling Dead Sea–but that may cause environmental problems of its own.

In the past century, the Dead Sea’s surface area has shrunk by almost a third. The Jordan River, which once fed the super-salty lake, has been tapped for irrigating and drinking water by Israel, Syria, and Jordan; shore-side factories that evaporate the water to extract minerals have exacerbated the problem. Without action, the Dead Sea will continue to shrink. But a proposal being evaluated by the World Bank could revive the lake with a 180-kilometre-long conduit carrying water from the Red Sea 400 metres downhill to the Dead Sea through a canal, pipeline or some combination of the two. The water’s flow would generate electricity to run a desalination plant, providing drinking water for local people [Nature News].

But environmentalists are questioning the wisdom of a so-called Red-Dead connector. Drawing vast quantities of water from the Red Sea could damage the fish and coral there, according to Friends of the Earth Middle East. Green advocates also worry that the Red Sea water will change the chemistry of the salty Dead Sea, making life harder for the sea’s salt-tolerant microorganisms and encouraging blooms of algae that thrive in less salty water. They argue that intensive water conservation programs could improve the flow of the Jordan River and render the expensive Red-Dead canal unnecessary.

Israeli geologist Ittai Gavrieli, who is studying the impacts of the proposed conduit, says the region has a tough decision to make. If nothing is done, the situation will only get worse, but a Red–Dead conduit would carry with it some real risks. The decision to stop the sea’s decline, says Gavrieli, “is a matter of choosing between bad and worse. But the question is, what is bad and what is worse?” [Nature News]

Related Content:
DISCOVER: Return of the Aral Sea offers an in-depth look at the dam that’s helping the North Aral
DISCOVER: Life in the Dead Sea explains how microbes survive in the salty water
DISCOVER: Better Med (or Red) than Dead describes an earlier push for the Red-Dead canal
80beats: Saudi to Use Plentiful Resource (Sunlight) to Produce Scarce Resource (Fresh Water)

Image: NASA, showing the Aral Sea

In a devastating six-page letter Thursday afternoon, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich   accuses Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of “a remarkable lack of leadership and imagination,that puts “public safety and the protection of taxpayer dollars at substantial risk.”

Responding to the mayor’s budget proposal that cuts his spending 18 percent on top of a similar cut this year, Trutanich suggests the mayor has “lost faith” in the city’s residents and public employees and is engaging in political cynicism.

“Your proposals will only exacerbate the budget crisis looming in the future and appear to be motivated by some agenda other than the continued success of all of the public safety offices in this City, including the City Attorney’s Office.

“It is also obvious that your proposals cynically protect political positions at the expense of public safety and essential services. For example, I note with great dismay that the proposed Budget recommends only a 2.6% reduction for the Mayor’s Office. I also understand that, despite a so-called ‘hard hiring freeze’ for other City employees, your office continues to hire political staff, which is not tasked to perform public safety functions.”

(READ THE WHOLE LETTER AT OURLA.ORG)

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Recovering IT spending, robust worldwide PC shipments and strong Windows 7 adoption helped Microsoft to beat the Street. The software giant announced fiscal 2010 third quarter earnings, ended March 31, after the Bell, today.

Microsoft revenue rose 6 percent to $14.5 billion, up from $13.65 billion a year earlier. Operating income: $5.17 billion, up 17 percent. Net income: $4.01 billion, or 45 cents a share. Net income rose by 35 percent and earnings per share by 36 percent year over year. If not for a $305 million deferral related to Office 2010, Microsoft would have reported $14.81 billion revenue.

For about a year, Microsoft provided no guidance to Wall Street analysts, so there was none for fiscal Q3. Analysts’ average consensus was $14.38 billion revenue and 42 cents earnings per share. Revenue estimates ranged from $13.81 billion to $14.75 billion.

“Business customers are beginning to refresh their desktops and the momentum of Windows 7 continues to be strong,” Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “We are also seeing tremendous interest in our market-leading cloud services for business.”

Microsoft closed the quarter with $12.3 billion unearned revenue. Annuity license sales grew in the low single digits. The company reported 40 million paid seats for Azure cloud services. During a conference call late this afternoon, Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, predicted “continued strength in hardware shipments,” which would be good for operating system and productivity suite sales. He asserted that across divisions annuity revenue would align with OEM revenue. Klein also emphasized that fiscal fourth quarter is the “season high for our enterprise sales.”

Coming into the quarter, some analysts and armchair pundits started looking more closely at Apple compared to Microsoft. Unthinkable a year ago, Apple has closed a huge earnings and revenue gap separating it from Microsoft. On Tuesday, Apple announced fiscal 2010 second quarter results: $13.5 billion revenue and net profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 a share. In the year ago quarter, Microsoft reported $4.4 billion operating income, $2.98 billion net income or 33 cents a share. Apple: $9.08 billion revenue and $1.62 billion net income or $1.79 earnings per share. Apple made enormous revenue and earnings gains against Microsoft in just one year. The question now isn’t so much if Apple might catch or surpass Microsoft but when.

Q2 2010 Revenue by Division

• Windows & Windows Live: $4.2 billion, up 28 percent from $3.5 billion a year earlier.
• Server & Tools: $3.58 billion, up 2 percent from $3.5 billion a year earlier.
• Business: $4.24 billion, down 6 percent from $4.5 billion a year earlier.
• Online Services Business: $56 million, up 12 percent from $50 million a year earlier.
• Entertainment & Devices: $1.66 billion, up 2 percent from $1.62 billion a year earlier.

Still, Office and Windows are cash machines, which are getting a boost from recovering PC sales. The really good news came about a week ago from Gartner and IDC, which reported strong double-digit growth in second-quarter worldwide PC shipments. But that wasn’t the big takeaway, particularly for Microsoft. After more than 18 months of sluggish sales, businesses are finally beginning to buy PCs again. For Microsoft, the news likely means an increase in sales of higher-margin professional Windows, which is evident in fiscal Q3 numbers. During the worst of the global economic crisis and the 2008-09 surge in netbook shipments, the sales percentage dramatically shifted to lower-margin consumer Windows.

By Microsoft estimates, worldwide PC shipments grew by 25 percent to 27 percent, which is inline with numbers from both Gartner and IDC. Netbooks, which typically ship with non-Premium Windows, accounted for 10 percent of shipments. according to Microsoft.

“With a relatively positive macroeconomic outlook, business demand was more forthcoming,” Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, said in a statement. “Major PC replacement demand driven by Windows 7 will become more apparent in the second half of 2010 and the beginning of 2011.” That’s exactly the kind of forecast Microsoft executives want to hear.

But that’s the future. The business recovery is still modest compared to consumer sales. In the United States, business PC shipments grew by 10 percent year over year compared to 30 percent for consumers, according to Gartner. There Windows 7, along with aggressive pricing, contributed to unseasonably strong shipments. “Although the first quarter is not typically a strong quarter for the consumer market, growth in the consumer segment was strong,” Kitagawa said in the statement. “The positive economic outlook and affordable system prices drove US consumers to buy more PCs. These purchases either replaced aging PCs or became additions to buyers’ households.”

Q2 2010 Income by Division

• Windows & Windows Live: $3.06 billion, up 35 percent from $2.27 billion a year earlier.
• Server & Tools: $1.26 billion, up 3 percent from $1.22 billion a year earlier.
• Business: $2.6 billion, down 6 percent from $2.8 billion a year earlier.
• Online Services Business: Loss of $713 million, up 73 percent from $411 million loss a year earlier.
• Entertainment & Devices: $165 million, flat from a $41 million loss a year earlier.

Segment by Segment Results

Microsoft reports revenue and earnings results for five divisons: Windows & Windows Live, Server & Tools, Business, Online Services and Entertainment & Devices.

Windows & Windows Live. Revenue rose 29 percent year over year, or by $781 million. The division derives about 80 percent of its Windows revenue from license sales to PC OEMs. OEM license sales increased by 30 percent. OEM premium license mix was 72 percent — 44 percent consumer and 28 percent business. Consumer license sales increased by 35 percent year over year and business licenses by 15 percent.

Server & Tools. The division is most insulated against economic maladies, because about 50 percent of revenues come from contractual volume-licensing agreements. Product revenue grew 2 percent, or $50 million, buoyed by Windows Server and Enterprise Client-Access License sales. Because of corporate layoffs, Microsoft has seen customers renewing license contracts at lower levels. Annuity license sales were flat year over year, which is somewhat surprising with new products in the pipeline. The division’s services revenue grew by 5 percent, or $34 million. Microsoft put year-over-year server hardware shipment growth in the high teens.

Business. Microsoft’s other cash cow division reported yet another quarter of revenue declined. Two mitigating factors: 1) A 1 percent decline, or $37 million, in Office 2007 licensing. 2) Deferral of $305 million related to Office 2010 upgrade guarantees. Annuity licensing was flat year over year. However, Microsoft is launching Office 2010 this quarter, which should positively affect Office sales. Incidentally, Office consumer revenue rose 11 percent, or $77 million, buoyed by strong PC shipments.

Online Services Business. The division’s loss widened, despite ad sales increases. Online advertising revenue rose 19 percent, or by $81 million, to $502 million. Much of the ad sales increases came from search gains.

Entertainment & Devices. Microsoft shipped 1.5 million Xbox consoles during the quarter, down 12 percent from 1.7 million a year earlier. Non-gaming revenue increased by 14 percent, or $77 million, driven by sales of PC hardware and Windows embedded devices.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

We previously posted about the possibility of there being low end Windows Phone 7 devices for emerging markets, where the prohibitive cost of modern smartphones has led to minimal adoption.

The Register have been told by Microsoft that there are no such plans:

Microsoft is working with OEM and MO partners to provide customers and developers with a consistent hardware experience across all devices. As part of this, there is a single Windows Phone 7 hardware specification that includes guidelines around screen options, storage, camera functionality, and processing.

That doesn’t rule out WP6 continuing on lower end devices, but does pretty obviously state that WP7 and the hardware it runs on will be very controlled by Microsoft.

Via The Register.

Don Bartlett, who manages a variety of music acts, and who has guest posted in the past, alerted us to a recent blog post by a band he works with, called Skybox, explaining their views on file sharing. Like many smart music acts these days, the band is totally cool with people downloading their stuff, but they add one addition to it: if you’re going to share it, then really share it and spread it to others:

So here is our win/win proposal to people who download the record from a filesharing site: If you like the album, pick your favorite song and email it to 10 of your friends. Simple as that. That way you get to enjoy the record AND our music gets promoted. If you’re feeling really ambitious, post a link to our new video on your twitter or facebook. Or use the “share” button on all of the players on our site… they’re easy as hell to use and are a simple way to have your friends check out our music. You get the idea.

It’s nice to see a band not just recognize that file sharing isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but also recognize the increased benefit from the actual sharing, while encouraging more such sharing.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Perhaps. Matt Stone & Trey Parker have put out a statement. I watched it online yesterday and I thought the bleeps were part of the “in joke.” I’ll spoil the episode for you by noting that it wasn’t even Muhammad in the bear a suit. Additionally I don’t get why people are that that scared, the threats were made by a group that’s very close to literally being in a basement. On the other hand, remember during the Salman Rushdie affair that translators were killed, so perhaps there’s reason that a corporation would want to stay on the safe side (one could imagine civil lawsuits if someone did get hurt against the corporation).

On final thing, the South Park episode in question depicted Moses as a dull artificial intelligence, Buddha as a cocaine junkie and Jesus as a habitual viewer of internet pornography (at least that’s Buddha’s accusation, which Jesus does not deny, rather, he minimizes its equivalence with a drug habit. I think Jesus’ logic is spot on, and am leaning toward Brit Hume’s dismissal of Buddhism on account of this interaction). There are of course Jewish,* Christian and Buddhist extremists in world. But most people judge that Jews, Christians and Buddhist are less liable to take violent action to defend the dignity of their faith than extremist Muslims. I think that’s probably a valid assessment, and I think that points to the fact that not all religions can be made equivalent in the nature and numbers of violent radicals. Why that is is a different question.

* Because Judaism is operationally coterminous with an ethnicity, at least by self-conception, I have seen some attempts to accuse those who have anti-Jewish religious views as anti-Semites. In general anti-Semites have anti-Jewish attitudes in regards to the religion, but the inverse is not always so. Some Muslims have started imitating that strategy, accusing plain anti-religious folk like Richard Dawkins of being an Islamophobe as if he is racist.

In a last-minute agreement that averts a crisis in the state’s courts, Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the judicial branch have reached a deal that will keep open courthouses that had been theatened with closure by the state’s budget crisis.

The deal clears the path for an important public hearing Friday for nine judicial nominees whose futures had been in question in a budget battle involving all three branches of government – the Rell administration, the legislature, and the judicial branch.

“Judicial is ecstatic. They’re very happy,” said Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, the longtime co-chairman of the judiciary committee. “This is what they’ve been asking for all along. It solves the problem. … This is the outcome that everyone wanted.”

The judicial branch will now have enough money to keep various courthouses open that were threatened with closure. No courthouses have been closed yet for budgetary reasons, but some law libraries have been closed. Lawlor did not reveal all the aspects of the deal, saying that the agreement is sensitive and some minor details still need to be worked out.

The judiciary committee and the Democratic-controlled legislature had threatened to hold up the appointment of the nominated judges, including Rell’s longtime budget director, Robert Genuario and public safety commissioner John Danaher.

“She has no control over the appointment of judges. We do,” Lawlor told Capitol Watch late Thursday afternoon. “If the deal doesn’t come together, they won’t be appointed. Period.”

That point was reinforced later Thursday by Lawlor’s fellow judiciary co-chairman, Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who said the Democrats are taking a “trust, but verify” approach with the governor’s office.

Lawlor had said earlier in the week the administration needed to relent and address the judicial branch’s financial problems, or it needed to withdraw Rell’s judicial nominations.  He said if Rell’s office didn’t budge, then the judiciary committee perform its statutory duty to hold a confirmation hearing Friday — but it also would vote by Monday, its deadline, to give “unfavorable reports” on the nominees when it sent them on to the House and Senate for final votes. Then, he said, they wouldn’t reeive those final votes and the nominations would die.

The pressure apparently worked.  Now that Rell’s office and the judicial branch have an understanding, McDonald said that the Democrats’ plan to give the nominees “favorable reports” in the committee vote Monday — but they also will hold any vote to give them final approval in the House and Senate until after both chambers approve a budget bill implementing the terms of Thursday’s deal to help the judicial branch.

That judicial budget bill would be transmitted immediately to Rell for her signature, McDonald said. Only after that will the judicial nominees receive votes for final legislative approval, he said.

Lawlor said that none of this was aimed at the judicial nominees personally. He said five of the nine judicial nominees are personal friends of his, and the issue was about principle – not personalities. The nine nominees were potential pawns in a power struggle between all three branches of government.

Rell’s spokesman, Rich Harris, said the administration will have no comment on the latest development. 

Rell and the judiciary committee had been facing a stare-down over Friday’s hearing at the judiciary committee.

“It’s not always just about money,” Rell said earlier Thursday. “I don’t think money is the entire issue. … I think the judicial branch feels that they need to have some autonomy, and I can certainly understand that. … If the legislature passes a budget, and it requires us to do lapses, everybody has to participate in that.”

Rell noted that money is given to the judicial branch in a lump sum, and the judicial administrators make the decisions on whether courthouses or law libraries would be closed.

In another development, Rell said Thursday that she did not remember any red flags being raised before she nominated prosecutor Brian J. Leslie of Wallingford to be a Superior Court judge. Leslie has since asked for his nomination to be withdrawn.

“It has been a while since I reviewed that background check,” Rell told reporters. “But from our review, they felt that he had disclosed everything. … I don’t remember that there was a red flag raised, but it’s been a long time. I don’t remember any red flag being raised. … I read the background checks. It’s just been a long time since I looked at them.”

Leslie, picked by Rell as one of her 10 new nominees for Superior Court judgeships, abruptly asked Monday that the governor withdraw his nomination — and she did so.

Leslie’s judicial chances were torpedoed by the publication Sunday of a column by The Courant’s Kevin Rennie, who reported that Leslie was denied a promotion in 2002 — and then later started “subverting” the chief state’s attorney’s office’s Medicaid fraud control unit, according to sworn testimony by Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Paul Murray in a 2005 deposition.
 
Rennie’s column can be read by clicking here.

In 2006, The Courant’s longtime court reporter, Lynne Tuohy, wrote, “The prosecutor, Brian Leslie, offered to halt the prosecution if Weber agreed not to sue the Medicaid Fraud Unit, but Weber declined. Leslie then offered to drop the case unconditionally, but then-Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Paul Murray overruled him. Leslie asked that he be removed from the case, citing ethical concerns about continuing the prosecution. In December 2003, Murray moved to have the case dismissed.”

Tuohy continued, “Weber testified against Murray’s reappointment as deputy chief state’s attorney before the Criminal Justice Commission in June 2005. Murray told the commission, “I apologized to Mr. Weber for the way this case was handled, but I think it ended in a respectable manner.”

Earlier Thursday, Rell spoke in a radio interview that she was moving ahead with her nomination of the judges.

“I am not withdrawing the judges,” Rell said. “I don’t have money to simply hand out because they want it” in the judicial branch.

Rell noted that the courts have 22 openings for judges, and her nomination of nine judges represents less than half of that total. As such, the money for the judges should already be in the judicial budget, she said.

“This is not new money,” Rell said.

House Republican leader Lawrence Cafero said he expects that there will be 31 vacancies for judges by the end of 2010. The clash over the judges, he said, is part of a delay tactic that has “more to do with the hope that it will be a Democratic governor to fill those vacancies.”

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and what could be a better gift for mom than a copy of The Baking Bites Cookbook? The book is packed with great recipes and plenty of full color photos that make each recipe look oh-so-delicious. The only thing better than getting a copy for Mother’s Day would be baking something from the book ahead of time and giving your mom a fresh batch of cookies, scones or a cake to go along with the cookbook to give her a preview of what’s inside! The recipes are easy to make and use ingredients that you probably already have in the kitchen. You – or your mom, of course – can whip them up yourself or bring the kids in to give you a hand in the kitchen (or do they work for you if you’re the one being celebrated on Mother’s Day!).

As a special treat, each cookbook ordered between now and Mother’s Day, May 9th, is going to come with a handmade, limited edition Mother’s Day card created by local artist Robert Sharp, with a design that was inspired by one of my cupcake photos! The card doesn’t have to be earmarked for your mom, but a sweet cupcake card is a great finishing touch for a gift as sweet as The Baking Bites Cookbook.

The book is available directly from me via PayPal, with free US shipping (it’s just a few dollars more for priority or international), and there is a discount for orders of two or more. The book can also be found on Amazon.com.

Today, the Senate passed, 24-11, a bill that would ban smoking in the workplace regardless of the number of employees.

Current law, prohibits smoking at business facilities with five or more employees.

The bill applies to a self-employed individual, even if they do not have an employee. It does not apply to someone who runs a business out of their home. It does, however, allow for employers to designate one or more smoking rooms.

The House still needs to be vote on the bill.

Da Grin was a very gifted rapper and musical artist whose ability to paint verbal pictures and share his reality with others was almost unmatched. 

He was involved in a terrible accident on April 14, 2010 when his car ran into a cement truck.  He had been in critical condition in the hospital, although unconfirmed reports first stated that his condition was not as serious as originally thought.  His manager and close friends however confirmed that he had sustained serious injuries to his head, jaw and chest.

His death will definitely leave a void in the music scene.  Considered by some to be the 50 Cent of the Nigerian music scene, he made rapping in Yoruba edgy and managed to pull elements of modern Nigerian life into his videos.  Jamati Online mourns the passing of a true talent.  Rest In Peace Da Grin, you will be sorely missed!

2011 Audi RS5

According to recent reports, Audi has finally decided to bring the new 2011 RS5 over to the stateside; however, it will take them more than year. That means we won’t get to drive or review one for more than year. Until the 2011 RS5 makes its way over to the U.S., we’ll have to rely reviews from European publications like AutoCar.

Click here for pricing on the 2010 Audi A5.

Check out AutoCar’s video review of the Audi RS5 after the jump.

Refresher: Power for the 2011 Audi RS5 comes from a 4.2L naturally aspirated V8 making 450-hp and a maximum torque of 317 lb-ft. Mated to a standard 7-speed S tronic, the 2011 RS5 goes from 0-62 mph in 4.6 seconds with a top speed of 155 mph (electronically governed).

2011 Audi RS5:

2011 Audi RS5:

– By: Kap Shah

That statistic comes to you from Servicemembers United, which opposes “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and seeks its repeal. It’s lower than in previous years: There were 627 such discharges in 2007, for instance. From a Servicemembers United press release:

“As expected, this record low in total annual ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharge numbers reflects a continuing downward trend, as military commanders continue to ignore this law that is clearly outdated and which impairs their unit readiness,” said Alexander Nicholson, a former U.S. Army interrogator who was discharged under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the current Executive Director of Servicemembers United. “But this new number still means that 443 lives were unnecessarily turned upside down in 2009, 443 careers were unfairly terminated, and military units unexpectedly lost a valuable asset 443 times last year as two wars raged.”

According to the group, that figure doesn’t include discharges from the reserves or the National Guard, so the full number of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” discharges is higher. Whether the law actually gets repealed this year or not, last month Defense Secretary Robert Gates took unilateral measures to curb its enforcement.

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Yesterday’s introduction by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of a vastly expanded form of the Facebook Platform — enabling Web sites to gather information on users’ “likes,” share them with Facebook, and get traffic as a result — did not slip past the office of Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart.

In a statement to Betanews this afternoon, Comm. Stoddart acknowledged this expansion will be of special concern to her office, especially in light of existing concerns raised by the service’s latest round of privacy policy adjustments. Some say those adjustments actually exposed more information to potential data miners than it was exposing before, leading them to question the company’s motives for attaining that data in the first place.

Though Comm. Stoddart concedes she hasn’t had time to investigate the technical details of Facebook’s service, revealed yesterday at the f8 developers’ conference, she’s seen press reports including ours, and concerns were raised. “This is an area of long-standing concern for us, and has been the subject of formal investigations by our Office,” the Commissioner told us.

As you may recall, we published findings last July into an in-depth investigation into Facebook’s privacy policies and practices, some of which related to the disclosure of personal information to advertisers, applications developers, and other third parties. As a result of that investigation, Facebook promised that, within a year, it would take all necessary steps to fully address the issues we raised in our recommendations. They are continuing to work on this undertaking, and we have been monitoring their progress.

In the meantime, last December, the company made significant privacy-related changes to its site. Some of those changes sparked concern among users. A key area of concern was the new “transition tool,” which required users to revisit their privacy settings.

Under the privacy law, we are required to investigate complaints from the public, and so we launched a new investigation in January. With this investigation open, we will continue to examine all of Facebook’s practices as they affect the privacy of Canadian users.

As incentive to encourage developers to make use of the newly expanded platform — as well as to make its new “Like” associations functional for developers at all — the company also announced yesterday it’s lifting a previous restriction on developers’ use of personal data attained from its API. Previously, developers were only allowed to store data attained through API calls for 24 hours; now, apparently, no such limit exists at all.

The blog Inside Facebook trumpeted the news as positive for developers. Wrote reporter Justin Smith: “The removal of this policy means Facebook is making it easier for developers to build richer applications on top of user data originally sourced from Facebook. Developers will be really happy about this change.”

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

(This is a guest post by Dave Forest from oilprice.com.)

Metals investors globally were cheered this week by good news from Aluminum Corp. of China (A.K.A. Chalco).

The aluminum giant swung back into profitability for the first time in a year during the first quarter. Chalco enjoyed net income of 627 million yuan ($92 million) for the past quarter, as compared with a loss of 1.9 billion yuan ($280 million) in Q1 2009.

Good times appear to be back for the company. Chalco’s plants ran at more than 90% of capacity in Q1, buoyed by rising aluminum prices in Shanghai (and around the world).

This is exactly what the Chinese government wants to see.

In the wake of the financial crisis, one of the biggest stories for the metals was buying of copper, aluminum and iron ore by state-run Chinese firms. At the time, this buying spree was attributed to China’s “insatiable thirst” for metals, needed to fuel rampant infrastructure development in the country.

But reading between the lines, there appeared to be a different explanation for the buying.

In several speeches early in 2009, Chinese government officials talked about the importance of raising domestic metals prices. The reason? Staving off unemployment.

Many of the large Chinese metals producers run at very high operating costs. In fact, just this week Citigroup commented that Chalco’s attempts at cost reduction over the past year have been largely ineffective, and that the company “could face more pressure with higher coal prices and potential power tariff adjustments.”

Because of the high op costs, Chinese producers need high metals prices in order to stay profitable. When prices fell late in 2008, Beijing worried that low prices would put high-cost producers out of business.

Widespread shut-downs mean unemployment. Something the Chinese government fears. Revolutions are born when workers become discontented.

Keeping metals companies in business was a top priority. And that meant getting metals prices up. Many of the comments from Beijing early in 2009 suggest this was the primary goal of metals stockpiling. Securing supplies for infrastructure building was secondary. (A fact becoming glaringly apparent, with most of the stockpiled metal still sitting in storage. Very little building appears to be happening.)

Fast-forward a year and the government is finally getting what it wanted. Producers like Chalco are making money again. Operations are running at full capacity, with managers even eying expansions. All good for employment.
The question now is: will metals buying by the Chinese state drop off? With the mission accomplished, can Beijing afford to relax in the metals markets?

And what effect would this have on prices? Speculators and buyers from around the world have stepped into the metals markets over the past year, taking some of the pressure off Beijing to be the “buyer of last resort”.

If the Chinese government does back off, it will be up to these players to support the market. We’ll see how deep their pockets are.

Join the conversation about this story »

Cypress demonstrating their large format multi-touch technology

Press Release: Cypress Semiconductor Corp. today announced that the TrueTouch™ touchscreen solution is natively supported in the soon to be released Windows^®Phone 7 Series mobile handset platform. This support allows handset manufacturers using the Windows Phone 7 Series to implement exciting capacitive touchscreen interfaces without the need for developing external drivers or custom software development.

“Cypress is proud to see the TrueTouch solution selected for native support within this exciting new platform,” said Dhwani Vyas, vice president of the User Interface Business Unit at Cypress. “Of the many touchscreen products available, none offers the advanced features and flexibility of TrueTouch. The interface within Windows Phone 7 Series enables manufacturers to take advantage of these attributes quickly and seamlessly. This software support, coupled with our broad family of devices, is going to significantly reduce time-to-market for the next generation of capacitive-touch-enabled Windows Phone 7 Series phones.”

Cypress recently announced its next-generation high performance TMA300 multi-touch all-point family. This controller provides best-in-class scan times for true multi-finger touch and superior signal-to-noise ratio for the most demanding touchscreen applications. Cypress has also recently demonstrated advanced functions such as 1 mm stylus and large touchscreen support. Additional information about the TrueTouch solution is available at www.cypress.com/go/TrueTouch.

The flexible TrueTouch solution allows customers to rapidly develop leading-edge solutions without having to buy turnkey modules. They have a choice of using touch sensors (glass or film) and LCDs from preferred partners, and can develop innovative mechanical designs ranging from flat to curved surfaces of varying thickness. In addition, TrueTouch devices offer Cypress’s legendary noise immunity with patented capacitive sensing technology that enables flawless operation in noisy RF and LCD environments.

About Cypress

Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the flagship PSoC® programmable system-on-chip families and derivatives such as PowerPSoC® solutions for high-voltage and LED lighting applications, CapSense® touch sensing and TrueTouch™ solutions for touchscreens. Cypress is the world leader in USB controllers, including the high-performance West Bridge® solution that enhances connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress is also a leader in high-performance memories and programmable timing devices. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, mobile handsets, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial and military. Cypress trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at www.cypress.com.

Vince McMahon’s absence from the campaign trail ended abruptly in Greenwich Wednesday night.

The wrestling kingpin accompanied his wife, U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon, to a charity gala hosted by Sacred Heart University. Linda’s leading Democratic opponent, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, also attended.  

Moments after the master of ceremonies, “The Early Show” weatherman Dave Price, acknowledged Blumenthal’s presence, Vince  jumped onto the dias, casually brushed past the MC, took control of the microphone and introduced himself to the audience.

My name is Vince McMahon and my wife is the one who’s going to beat you this fall, McMahon reportedly said. (I wasn’t there, but an account of the episode was relayed to me by three separate individuals.)

Apparently, both Sacred Heart and the McMahon campaign videotaped the event, though as of late this afternoon, neither organization had posted anything on You Tube (that I could tell.)

Earlier in the night, as Blumenthal worked the room, one of the hosts introduced him to Vince.

As the two men shook hands, Vince told Blumenthal that his wife is going to “whoop” the AG. Blumenthal laughed and said he’s heard it before.

The event was the school’s 21st annual Discovery Dinner, which honors “the gifts of caring and accomplished people” while raising money for a Sacred Heart scholarship fund that aids low-income students in Fairfield County. This year’s honorees included Larry Kudlow, a CNBC pundit once mentioned as a possible candidate for Senate, Charles Gasparino, a Fox Business Network correspondent and Monsignor Kevin Wallin of Bridgeport diocese.

Linda McMahon serves on Sacred Heart’s board of trustees.

Microsoft’s online services division revenue increased modestly year over year, rising to $566 million.  That’s about a $2.2 billion run-rate.  And that’s the good news.

Microsoft’s online services division losses exploded to $713 million, up from $411 million a year ago.  That’s almost a $3 billion loss run-rate.

Some of the increase in losses resulted from “transition costs” associated with the Yahoo deal, so we’ll assume they are one-time.  Most of the rest of the increased losses appear to be normal operating expenses:

OSD revenue increased primarily as a result of increased online advertising revenue, offset in part by decreased Access revenue. Online advertising revenue increased $81 million or 19%, to $502 million, reflecting an increase in search and display advertising revenue, offset in part by decreased advertiser and publisher tools revenue. Access revenue decreased $14 million or 33%, reflecting continued migration of subscribers to broadband or other competitively-priced service providers.

OSD revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2010 included a favorable foreign currency exchange impact of $13 million.

OSD operating loss increased due to increased operating expenses, offset in part by increased revenue. General and administrative expenses increased $154 million due mainly to transition expenses associated with the inception of the Yahoo! Commercial Agreement. Research and development expenses increased $74 million or 33%, primarily due to increased headcount-related expenses and reimbursement to Yahoo for certain of their costs incurred prior to migration to the Microsoft platform. Sales and marketing expenses increased $69 million or 30% due to increased marketing activities. Cost of revenue increased $64 million or 15%, primarily driven by higher online traffic acquisition costs.

It’s hard to describe how awful this business looks in isolation.  We’re talking about a business with plenty of scale–more than $2 billion of revenue–that is still losing more than it generates in revenue.  This in an industry sector in which even the WORST competitor, AOL, is still making plenty of money.

If this business weren’t hidden within the belly of a monstrous cash-generation engine (Windows/Office), shareholders would have long since have revolted and shut it down.

Here’s a chart of all the money Microsoft has lost for the past four years.  This quarter’s loss, which is not yet reflected, will almost set a new quarterly record again.

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See Also:

• Microsoft Still Flushing $2 Billion A Year Down The Online Drain
• CHART OF THE DAY: Microsoft’s Online Money Pit
• CHART OF THE DAY: Microsoft Online Still In Last Place After All These Years

Who could possibly have predicted this shocking and totally unexpected turn of events?

Senate Democrats released details Wednesday of a five-year budget plan that promises to narrow the deficit dramatically by 2015 but still accumulates almost $3.9 trillion more government debt over the same period.

Trying to survive the political storm around them, Democrats would postpone the toughest decisions until after November’s elections, when a presidential fiscal commission is scheduled to make its report to Congress. But there is no escaping the political bind that grips the party, exhausted from the debate over health care reform and under political pressure to extend Bush-era tax cuts.

Health care ate up most of the available Medicare savings and popular tax offsets that might otherwise be tapped to narrow the deficit. And as a result, it’s harder to dig out of the deficit hole, and little progress will be made in the short term absent a further surge in the economy.

Earth Day 2010 is here, and the Discovery Channel Store has an amazing deal that we had to let you in on to celebrate the occasion—you can get both the Planet Earth series and the Life series as a Blu-ray set for $50. Shipping is $4, so for $54 total, you get both documentary series on Blu-ray, which would normally cost $169.90 in total. It’s basically a steal, the visuals are jaw-dropping, and it’s a bit more Earth Day-ish than Avatar.

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