Got few dozen ship and train horns, 620 gallon air tank, gasoline powered air compressor, MIDI board, and unmatched patriotic fervor? Then you’ve got The Great American Horn Machine. Presenting God Bless America, as it was meant to be heard: More »
David Streitfeld of the New York Times with an update on the administration’s mortgage-modification plan, a subsidy designed to keep people in their houses by reducing their mortgage payments:
The number of homeowners who defaulted on their mortgages even after securing cheaper terms through the government’s modification program nearly doubled in March, continuing a trend that could undermine the entire program…
The Treasury Department said it could not explain the growing number of what it called cancellations, almost all of which were apparently prompted by the borrower’s being unable to make the new payment.
We’re still talking a relatively small number of “re-defaults” on permanent modifications–2,879 since the program’s inception. But the number of “trial modifications” cancelled is much higher–155,000. And only 228,000 modifications are now permanent.
According to Calculated Risk, the pace of new modifications is now slowing, perhaps because banks can’t find many more eligible borrowers. The credit quality of those who get modifications, meanwhile, is lousy: Debt-to-income ratios are sky high:
In summary: 1) the program is slowing, 2) the borrowers DTI characteristics are poor – and getting worse, and 3) the re-default rate is rising. Oh, and 4) there are a large number of borrowers in modification limbo.
And there are another 7 million people behind on their mortgages.
In other words, the mortgage-mod program appears to be doing what many critics feared it would: Temporarily keeping people in houses they can’t afford. Hard to see how that helps the country (and the borrowers) get through this period of reckoning quickly and start fresh.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
by Julian Ku
Apologies for this interruption of a great VJIL discussion on Chris Bruner’s fascinating article, but I can’t resist yet another post on the continuing international dispute over whaling. The NYT reports the U.S. is trying hard to broker a deal between the anti-whaling nations (read Australia) and whaling nations like Japan.
The compromise deal, which has generated intense controversy within the 88-nation International Whaling Commission and among antiwhaling activists, would allow the three whaling countries to continue hunting whales for the next 10 years, although in reduced numbers.
In exchange, the whaling nations — which have long exploited loopholes in an international treaty that aims to preserve the marine mammals — would agree to stricter monitoring of their operations, including the placing of tracking devices and international monitors on all whaling ships and participation in a whale DNA registry to track global trade in whale products.
This doesn’t quite sound like what Australia wanted, but it appears the Australians are on board. So, sadly for me, we may be seeing an end, for the time being, of a potential ICJ showdown between Australia and Japan. But there is always hope: negotiations are ongoing and could still fall apart.
Just as we predicted (more or less), Android’s going to be getting its own "official" Twitter client. Head Tweeter Evan Williams said as much today at the annual Chip Twitter conference (yes, there is such a thing). And by "official" we mean either something of Twitter’s own design, or a third-party Twitter client purchased buy the head Tweeters themselves, just like Tweetie on the iPhone. (We’re betting on the latter.) As to which (if any) client might get swallowed by the big bird? Your guess is as good as ours. [via Tech Crunch]
Not much to say here that isn’t already in the title. Business Insider is reporting tonight that twitter CEO Evan Williams claims and Android app is on the way and “it’s going to be awesome”. As to how this will impact Android apps like Seesmic and Twidroid remains to be seen. Twitter recently acquired Tweetie, a company who provides an iPhone and desktop client and plans to rebrand the mobile app as ‘Twitter for iPhone’.
Will any of you drop your current app in favor of an official client?
Four more key talents have reportedly quit their job from the troubled Call of Duty studio, Infinity Ward. More after the jump
Una recopilación de themes para psp que para complementar con los que ya había posteado..
Primer pack de themes para psp – link
Theme iron man – link
Theme de crysis – link
Theme andromeda – link
Tema Gran Public – link
90 PSP Themes Pack – link
Theme Anime Pack – link
259 Themes psp – link
125 Themes – link
We finally completed our final third webinar in our social strategy trilogy. It’s been great sharing our insights and widely releasing it to the community, and I hope you enjoy this final segment. The topic? Getting your company ready internally through research, processes, organizational models, policies, resources, and more.
Above: Download the slides from slideshare and use as you see fit. The “crises plan” is a slide that can be customized for your needs, just provide attribution.
Social Strategy: Getting Your Company Ready, by Altimeter Group from Altimeter Group on Vimeo.
Above: Listen to the recording, including the presentation and attendees Q&A
Love to get your feedback, was there anything we missed? Let us know if this information helped your organization, contact me anytime if you’ve questions jeremiah at altimetergroup dot com.
The Social Strategy Trilogy
Part 1: Socialgraphics help you to understand your customers
Part 2: Developing a Social Strategy
Part 3: Getting your company ready (you’re here)
The Bosch Power Box 360 isn’t the prettiest boom box around, but it may be the ruggedest: its aluminum and rubber roll case makes it impervious to falls and, hopefully, apocalyptic fall-out. More »
The Edison Innovation Clean Energy Fund is a unique funding opportunity that arose from a collaboration between NJCST and the Board of Public Utilities (BPU). It will provide funding in the amount of $100,000 to $500,000 to New Jersey technology companies, for demonstration projects and developmental and ancillary activities necessary to commercialize identified renewable energy technologies and innovative technologies that significantly increase energy efficiency. This grant will fund technologies that can demonstrate their integral nature to the development Class 1 renewable energy technologies that produce or support the production of renewable or clean electricity generation. Funding of demonstration projects will be open to proposals that seek funding for research, market development, deployment, and technology demonstrations of innovative products or services that advance the delivery of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The proposal should demonstrate how any research conducted will contribute to proving the scientific or technical feasibility of the approach or concept proposed. Click here to read more…
Mitch Lazar, Yahoo’s European Mobile managing director, stepped down last month after a major restructuring at the company led to the disbanding of Yahoo’s mobile group.
Now Lazar has resurfaced as a board member at Taptu, a mobile search company (a subject Lazar should know a little something about after working at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) for four and a half years). The Cambridge, UK-based company will tap into Lazar’s expertise as it tries to create specialized search technology for touchscreen devices. “Taptu’s unique platform and index differentiate the company from the search giants,” he said.
We’re not easily shocked by entertainment industry overreaching; unfortunately, it’s par for the course. But we were taken aback by the wish list the industry submitted in response to the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator’s request for comments on the forthcoming “Joint Strategic Plan” for intellectual property enforcement. The comments submitted by various organizations provide a kind of window into how these organizations view both intellectual property and the public interest. For example, EFF and other public interest groups have asked the IPEC to take a balanced approach to intellectual property enforcement, paying close attention to the actual harm caused, the potential unexpected consequences of government intervention, and compelling countervailing priorities.
The joint comment filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and others stands as a sharp contrast, mapping out a vision of the future where Big Media priorities are woven deep into the Internet, law enforcement, and educational institutions.
Consider the following, all taken from the entertainment industry’s submission to the IPEC.
There are several technologies and methods that can be used by network administrators and providers…these include [consumer] tools for managing copyright infringement from the home (based on tools used to protect consumers from viruses and malware).
In other words, the entertainment industry thinks consumers should voluntarily install software that constantly scans our computers and identifies (and perhaps deletes) files found to be “infringing.” It’s hard to believe the industry thinks savvy, security-conscious consumers would voluntarily do so. But those who remember the Sony BMG rootkit debacle know that the entertainment industry is all too willing to sacrifice consumers at the altar of copyright enforcement.
Network administrators and providers should be encouraged to implement those solutions that are available and reasonable to address infringement on their networks. [This suggestion is preceded by a list of filtering methods, like protocol filtering, fingerprint-based filtering, bandwidth throttling, etc.]
The entertainment industry loves widespread filtering as a “solution” to online copyright infringement — in fact, it has successfully persuaded Congress to push these technologies on institutions of higher-education.
But this “solution” is full of flaws. First, even the “best” automated copyright blocking systems fail to protect fair use. Worse, these techniques are unlikely to make any lasting dent on infringing behavior, but will instead just invite the use of more encryption and private “darknets” (or even just more hand-to-hand sharing of hard drives and burned DVDs). But perhaps the most pernicious effect may be that copyright protection measures can be trojan horses for consumer surveillance. In an age of warrantless wiretapping and national censorship, building more surveillance and inspection technologies into the heart of the Internet is an obviously bad idea. In the words of the Hollywood movie, “if you build it, they will come.”
Customs authorities should be encouraged to do more to educate the traveling public and entrants into the United States about these issues. In particular, points of entry into the United States are underused venues for educating the public about the threat to our economy (and to public safety) posed by counterfeit and pirate products. Customs forms should be amended to require the disclosure of pirate or counterfeit items being brought into the United States.
Does that iPod in your hand luggage contain copies of songs extracted from friends’ CDs? Is your computer storing movies ripped from DVD (handy for conserving battery life on long trips)? Was that book you bought overseas “licensed” for use in the United States? These are the kinds of questions the industry would like you to answer on your customs form when you cross borders or return home from abroad. What is more, this suggestion also raises the specter of something we’ve heard the entertainment industry suggest before: more searches and seizures of electronic goods at the border. Once border officials are empowered to search every electronic device for “pirated” content, digital privacy will all but disappear, at least for international travelers. From what we’ve learned about the fight over a de minimis border measures search exclusion in the latest leaked text, ACTA might just try to make this a reality.
The government should develop a process to identify those online sites that are most significantly engaged in conducting or facilitating the theft of intellectual property. Among other uses, this identification would be valuable in the interagency process that culminates in the annual Special 301 report, listing countries that fail to provide adequate and effective protection to U.S. intellectual property rights holders. Special 301 could provide a focus on those countries where companies engaged in systematic online theft of U.S. copyrighted materials are registered or operated, or where their sites are hosted. Targeting such companies and websites in the Special 301 report would put the countries involved on notice that dealing with such hotbeds of copyright theft will be an important topic of bilateral engagement with the U.S. in the year to come. (As noted above, while many of these sites are located outside the U.S., their ability to distribute pirate content in the U.S. depends on U.S.-based ISP communications facilities and services and U.S.-based server farms operated commercially by U.S.-based companies.)
Some background: the Special 301 process is a particularly unpleasant annual procedure by which the United States Trade Representative (USTR) pressures other countries to adopt tougher intellectual property laws and spend more for IP enforcement. In the Special 301 report, the USTR singles out particular countries for their “bad” intellectual property policies, placing them on a watch list, and threatening trade sanctions for those that deny “adequate and effective protection” for US IP rightsholders or restrict fair and equitable market access for US intellectual property.
Before this year, the US Trade Representative only sought input from the entertainment and pharmaceutical industries for these rankings, resulting in unbalanced assessment criteria. Countries have been listed for failing to sign on to controversial international treaties or for not mirroring certain parts of US law. For example, Chile was named for considering fair use-style exceptions to its copyright law; Canada was listed for requiring that its customs officers have a court order before seizing goods at the border; and Israel was highlighted for refusing to adopt DMCA-style anti-circumvention provisions after legislative debate concluded that anti-circumvention laws would have no effect on copyright infringement.
The creative communities’ proposal imagines that the US Trade Representative should become a glorified messenger for Big Media, using its resources to pressure countries that “harbor” websites and Internet services that facilitate copyright infringement. In other words, they believe that the USTR should put US IP rightsholders’ interests at the center of its foreign policy, ignoring other foreign policy goals such as regional security, and promoting innovation and competition.
The planned release of a blockbuster motion picture should be acknowledged as an event that attracts the focused efforts of copyright thieves, who will seek to obtain and distribute pre-release versions and/or to undermine legitimate release by unauthorized distribution through other channels. Enforcement agencies (notably within DOJ and DHS) should plan a similarly focused preventive and responsive strategy. An interagency task force should work with industry to coordinate and make advance plans to try to interdict these most damaging forms of copyright theft, and to react swiftly with enforcement actions where necessary.
This is perhaps the most revealing of the proposals: big Hollywood studios deputizing the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to provide taxpayer-supported muscle for summer blockbuster films. Jokes have been made about SWAT team raids on stereotypical file-sharers in college dorm rooms — but this entertainment industry request to “interdict…and to react swiftly with enforcement actions” brings that joke ridiculously close to reality.
Of course, these comments are just an entertainment industry wishlist, an exercise in asking for the moon. But they reveal a great deal about the entertainment industry’s vision of the 21st century: less privacy (with citizens actively participating in their own surveillance), a less-neutral Internet, and federal agents acting as paid muscle to protect profits of summer blockbusters.
If you’ve got a couple minutes on your hands, be sure to watch these quick little Android commercials from Korea. They’re hilarious, cute, fun, quirky and pretty much capture every positive emotion you have over that cute little green robot. If you weren’t a fan of the Droid commercials, these are for you. If you were a fan of the Droid commercials, these are for you too. It’s in Korean only but that doesn’t stop the fun one bit. We don’t need to understand what’s going on in order to enjoy watching that green robot dance. Can someone make a movie about him, already?
Watch the awesome Android commercials after the jump! [via leakdroid]
Palm might be on a slippery slope to nowhere with its future might look bleak, but one New York based investor, Harbinger Capital Partners, is betting on a good outcome. They have invested an undisclosed amount of money buying up 16 million shares or roughly 9.48 percent of the company.
Harbinger which is headed by investor Phil Falcone, also owns stakes in The New York Times and some satellite companies which plan to develop a wholesale broadband network in the United States. Given that these guys bet on crazy assets for a living, I am sure they have a good reason for making this trade. I’m in minority for feeling that whoever buys Palm is going to end-up like Palm sooner or later.
China registered a slightly surprising trade deficit in March, but it was probably a fluke. The Lunar New Year played a big role in it. The country is expected to return to surplus in April.
But make no mistake, the country’s imports are simply on a tear, and any suggestion that the country is slowing down its imports of key industrial commodities like steel, iron ore, and oil is off the mark.
A report put out today by JPMorgan analyst Jang Ulrich goes through the numbers, but this table basically tells the story:
Join the conversation about this story »
(USDA, April 7, 2010) The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the availability of approximately $25 million in fiscal year 2010 to fund projects designed to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies through its Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) in fiscal year 2010. ”USDA’s investment in these grants will advance our goal of producing long-term dividends in environmental enhancement and protection,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “The grants will assist producers in using market-based approaches to conservation and innovative technologies that can put conservation on the land.” USDA will use these competitive grants to seek creative solutions to assist producers with emerging and traditional agricultural and natural resource issues. In addition to market-based approaches to conservation, emerging issues include energy conservation, specialty crops, and new methods of tackling climate change. The grants also will fund solutions to improve water, soil and air quality, improve nutrient management, and enhance wildlife habitat and pollinator populations. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers CIG. Click here to read more…
When the Dallas Cowboys blew up Texas Stadium this week—punting accident—they had the good sense to put in a 3D camera rig inside. Click and drag to move the camera around. And turn up the sound. Boom! UPDATE: Due to some technical difficulties, the video apparently isn’t loading on Giz, but if you hit the following link you will get to experience it in all its glory, so check it out. [DallasCowboys.com] More »
Jason West and Vince Zampella are in a better place now, following their dramatic departure from Infinity Ward under Activision’s clutches. A much better place, considering that their new company, Respawn Entertainment, in partnership with EA, grants
(ScienceDaily, April 12, 2010) — Thanks to two technologies developed by Professor Benoît Marsan and his team at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Chemistry Department, the scientific and commercial future of solar cells could be totally transformed. Professor Marsan has come up with solutions for two problems that, for the last twenty years, have been hampering the development of efficient and affordable solar cells. His findings have been published in two scientific journals, the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) and Nature Chemistry. The untapped potential of solar energy – The Earth receives more solar energy in one hour than the entire planet currently consumes in a year. Unfortunately, despite this enormous potential, solar energy is barely exploited. The electricity produced by conventional solar cells, composed of semiconductor materials like silicon, is 5 or 6 times more expensive than from traditional energy sources, such as fossil fuels or hydropower. Over the years, numerous research teams have attempted to develop a solar cell that would be both efficient in terms of energy and inexpensive to produce. Click here to read more…
