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must read – great charts – Deflation, Inflation or Stagflation – You Be the Judge! – Submitted by Reggie Middleton – Zero Hedge

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Lessons from Bernstein, Rosenberg and Farrell – Posted by Prieur du Plessis – 3 important lists – worth printing and saving – Investment Postcards from Cape Town

pp1     Inflation expectations approach pre-crisis range – Posted by Prieur du Plessis  – Investment Postcards from Cape Town

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The Blowback Effect: 2020 – Michael T. Klare – … What, then, will be the dominant characteristics of the second decade of the twenty-first century?  Prediction of this sort is, of course, inherently risky, but extrapolating from current trends, four key aspects of second-decade life can be discerned: the rise of China; the (relative) decline of the United States; the expanding role of the global South; and finally, possibly most dramatically, the increasing impact of a roiling environment and growing resource scarcity … – Huffington Post

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Bubble warning – Markets are too dependent on unsustainable government stimulus. Something’s got to give – The Economist print edition

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The Top 10 Items Shaping Interest Rates in 2010 – Steven Abrahams – Where will interest rates go this year? Keep on eye on the economy, the banks and foreign investors, for starters. – Forbes

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Slowly Regaining Ground Lost – by Diane Swonk, Chief Economist, Mesirow Financial 

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Dow Industrials hit record, top 15,000 by 2011? – By Paul B. Farrell, – But first, Shilling’s 2010 warnings: 17 picks = 6 buys + 11 sells – MarketWatch

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America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels – By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – December was the worst month for US unemployment since the Great Recession began. – Telegraph.co.uk

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Three Foreign Banks Interested in Becoming Primary Dealers – By MIN ZENG – Three major foreign banks are interested in becoming primary dealers, the select group of firms that trade directly with the New York Federal Reserve, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.  The three banks are French bank Société Genéralé SA and Canadian banks Scotia Capital, the investment-banking arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia, and TD Securities, the investment arms of TD Bank Financial Group, according to these people. – WSJ Europe

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CRISIS SECTION:

THE PROBABILITY OF A CRISIS WILL BUILD DURING 2010 – So says the team of equity analysts at Barclays.   Although policymakers helped avoid the second Great Depression, Barclays believes we have simply kicked the can down the road.  As their head of U.S. equity strategy said in November, the likelihood of Japanese style de-leveraging stagnation remains very high. – The Pragmatic Capitalist 
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Abandoned + Our Narrow Window of Economic Opportunity – Kimball Corson – … If GDP growth forecasts are correct, the results of these efforts will likely be pretty good. They just might give us a window of opportunity to clean up our fiscal mess and put our financial house in better order. However, if we don’t take advantage of that opportunity and continue with excessively eased monetary and fiscal policies during the better times coming, we will make a big mistake. Improved tax revenues from higher GDP must be used to pay down debt, cut our deficits and adjust for our increasingly aged population, with all that entails. We have to act sharply here to dig out and do well. … – Wandering the Oceans

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Sovereign Debt Crisis Could Be Story of 2010 – JAMES CULLEN – DailyFinance

Pong is such a classic game, what could possibly be done to make it feel fresh and creative? How about using browser windows as game elements? This version of Pong by Stewdio launches three pop-up windows when you press the P (for play) button — two paddles and a “ball”.

You can play against the computer using the arrow keys to move your paddle up and down, or you can choose to play against another human who can use the A and Z keys to move their paddle up and down.

Given the unorthodox way the game was implemented, the gameplay is quite faithful, and the graphics refresh fast enough for it to feel snappy. Rather than the typical smooth movement of the paddles you might expect, this version of Pong uses 5 positions from top to bottom on the screen, and each tap of a direction key moves one space in the chosen direction. This allows you to move very quickly when necessary using multiple taps.

While Stewdio’s Pong was obviously done as a sort of proof of concept, it’s a completely playable version of the game. For some reason the game doesn’t seem to keep score, but that’s really the only thing that is missing.

More information [uneasysilence]

In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup – our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week – we analyze and challenge Facebook’s sweeping new privacy policies, explore what would happen if RFID chips are integrated into the next generation iPhone, present our hands-on review of Google’s new smartphone the Nexus One, and more. And as usual we check in on our two main channels: ReadWriteStart (our daily resource for entrepreneurs) and ReadWriteEnterprise (devoted to ‘enterprise 2.0′ trends and products).

Also read on for details about the newly released printed edition of our current premium report, about the Real-Time Web.

Sponsor

Now Available: Printed Edition of The Real-Time Web Report

At the request of the librarian community and people that just like paper, we have made The Real-Time Web and its Future report available in print.

For those of you that prefer it digitally, you can still download it.

Don’t forget about our Community Management Report. It too is coming in print soon, so watch out for it!

Web Trends

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told a live audience this week that if he were to create Facebook again today, user information would by default be public, not private as it was for years until the company changed dramatically in December.

In a six-minute interview, Zuckerberg spent 60 seconds talking about Facebook’s privacy policies. His statements were of major importance for the world’s largest social network – and his arguments in favor of an about-face on privacy deserve close scrutiny.

Why Facebook is Wrong: Privacy Is Still Important

Has society become less private or is it Facebook that’s pushing people in that direction? Is privacy online just an illusion anyway? Below are some thoughts, based primarily on the pro-privacy reactions to Zuckerberg’s statements from many of our readers this weekend. Though there is a lot to be said for analysis of public data (more on that later), I believe that Facebook is making a big mistake by moving away from its origins based on privacy for user data.

iPhone as RFID Tag & Reader: Coming Soon

We began a series called Mobile Web Meets Internet of Things this week, starting with a look at barcode scanning. We wrote that smartphones are increasingly being deployed as readers for barcodes – in particular via apps available on iPhone and Android. However, RFID tags are more functional and flexible than barcodes. While barcodes are cheaper and getting traction in the U.S. with the QR format, the potential for RFID tags is even greater. Apple knows this and if rumors are to believed, RFID will be integrated into the iPhone 4G later this year.

The Evolving Online Finance Ecosystem

Last week we analyzed how the Web is transforming personal finance. This week we took a broader look at the world of online finance, from personal to small business tools. To get an understanding of the online finance space, we spoke to the founder and CEO of one of the most promising startups in online finance, Rod Drury from Xero. Rod told us that he sees four types of markets in online finance: 1) Personal Finance (e.g. Mint, Wesabe, Yodlee); 2)
Small Business Accounting (e.g. Xero, Kashflow); 3)
Cloud ERP (e.g. Netsuite, Salesforce); and 4)
ERP (e.g. Microsoft, Oracle).

Editor’s note: This story is part of ReadWriteWeb’s Online Finance series, a weekly, three-month long look at how the Internet has transformed finance.

iPhone App Piracy Reaches $450 Million? Doubtful

According to an independent analysis performed by investment-watching blog 24/7 Wall St., Apple’s iTunes App Store has lost $450 million due to iPhone app piracy since it opened for business back in July of 2008. Although that number sounds high, they note it is small in comparison to the overall size of the App Store marketplace. However, our sources say that the real number is closer to $15-$20 million instead.

SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY

ReadWriteStart

Our channel ReadWriteStart, sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark, is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs.

Social Media Secrets and Resources Revealed

Presentation company Slideshare recently released its list of “5 Social Media Secrets for 2010″. While these secrets certainly sound like great suggestions, we thought we’d connect them to some concrete tactics and resources that you can use to improve your social media strategy.

Never Mind the Valley: Here’s Boston

With tourists flocking to the Boston to walk the cobblestone streets of the Freedom Trail and visit various historical landmarks, Boston is often thought of for its ties to the American Revolution. But Boston is also the birthplace of a revolution of a different sort. In 1946, Georges Doriot, a professor at the Harvard Business School, founded the American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) in Boston – one of the very first venture capital firms.

SEE MORE STARTUPS COVERAGE IN OUR READWRITESTART CHANNEL

ReadWriteEnterprise

Our channel ReadWriteEnterprise, devoted to ‘enterprise 2.0′ and using social software inside organizations.

VMWare, Microsoft and the Battle for the Business Market

VMware’s acquisition of Zimbra from Yahoo this week points to a new form of partnership in the tech word. It’s one that could define the big winners in the battle for a major piece of the enterprise market. By packaging Zimbra’s popular, open-source collaboration software, VMware can provide a service that combines virtualization technology with email and calendar applications. It is similar to Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard’s alliance announced today that will package Microsoft technology on HP servers.

Web Products

Google Offers Satellite Images of Haiti, Post-Earthquake

In the immediate aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake that caused an unbelievable amount of destruction to Haiti’s capital, Google has been asked by relief organizations and users to show images of what’s actually happening on the ground. In partnership with geospatial imagery company GeoEye, Google released a new layer for Google Earth showing post-earthquake devastation.

Nexus One and Android 2.1: Apple Better Watch Out

Less than a week ago, Google introduced its own Android phone, the Nexus One. Over the weekend, we got a chance to take the phone through its paces and while we aren’t quite ready to give up our iPhone yet, the Nexus One is a formidable challenger. In terms of features, the Nexus One is already on par with the iPhone platform and beats it in many areas. When it comes to the overall user experience, the iPhone is still a step ahead of the Android platform – but that could easily change in the near future.

Going Mainstream: eMusic Signs Deal with Warner Music

EMusic, the popular subscription-based music service, this week announced that it has signed a deal with Warner Music – the world’s third-largest music company. This is eMusic’s second deal with a major record label. In its early days, eMusic mostly focused on featuring music from independent labels. Since the middle of 2009, however, eMusic has worked on expanding its reach by bringing more mainstream music to its catalog.

Facebook Blocked at Work? Use Your Email Instead

In our continuing obsession with all things Facebook, we looked at a new feature that was announced by the social networking behemoth that will further enmesh the site into our every waking breath: replying to comments through email. Before now, email notifications from Facebook contained a link that you had to follow, which logged you into Facebook where you could reply. You’ll now notice that the email contains a line reading “New Feature: Reply to this email to comment on this link.”

SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY

That’s a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.

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Faced with an “unprecedented mobile response,” mGive and the Red Cross have collected over $10 million in relief for Haiti. With text donations pouring in at a rate of 10,000 a second, and average donations of $10 automatically charged to phone bills of mobile users, mGive’s system has proved essential for those looking to contribute.

For a full list of ways to donate, as well as how to avoid scams while doing so, check out LifeHacker’s guide.

It’s now also possible to donate via iTunes. [NewsDaily]

Got some web space you rent for a personal site? Good, then you can likely get around any restrictions your employer, school, or other eye-shielding authority have wrongly put in your way with a quick PHProxy installation.

There are, of course, plenty of newer and more tech-savvy—and likely more private and secure—means of working your way around a web filter that seems unfair. PHProxy just happens to be one that is darned easy to install on any web space that can run PHP scripts, which these days is most of them.

Grab the ZIP download from SourceForge, extract the folder inside, then copy it into a folder on YourPersonalSite.com, filling in your actual site name. Head to, for example, YourPersonalSite.com/phproxy, and you’re greeted with a little address bar, and lots of data retention and privacy-enhancing options to determine what kind of traffic you’ll generate when you head to your chosen site.

Should you use this to look at very bad stuff that your boss would instantly fire you for glimpsing, should he discover your tracks? No, you should not, for many reasons. Can it be a quick little experiment in anonymizing your browsing records and getting past lockdown for the occasional sports score or Facebook check? You make the call.

PHProxy is a free download, works on any hosted storage space (or home server) that can run PHP scripts. We’ve previously rounded up our readers’ recommendations for cheap and reliable web hosts, if you’re looking for one. Need to password protect your PHProxy directory so the whole world isn’t trying to fit through your privacy gate? Try the previously mentioned Htaccess Editor, or try out Webmonkey’s resources for htaccess editing.

More information [PHProxy]

Article Tags: Comment, Piers Corbyn, UK Winter Forecast 2009/10

It would seem even the UK Sport section have taken on board Piers Corbyn Winter forecast……This could be a first, as the Met Office push him to one side as a crank!

Racing facing yet another freeze in this winter of discontent for the sport by Marcus Townend, Daily Mail

Twelve blank days for jump racing ends on Saturday but a long-range forecaster who predicted the January snow back in July believes it will only be a brief respite for the sport.

The forecasts of Piers Corbyn, who runs weatheraction.com, will fill trainers preparing Cheltenham Festival prospects with dread.

Kempton and Huntingdon, providing the latter survives an 8am inspection, race, Ffos Las on Sunday and the outlook is optimistic for Fakenham and Plumpton on Monday.

Read in full with comments »   

The Automotive News World Congress held at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center last week was "disturbed" by a group of Teamsters Union representatives who protested against Chrysler because of the manufacturer’s moving away from the professional car-haul companies in search of cheaper ones.

The "disturbance" happened when Chrysler’s CEO Sergio Marchionne held his speech. The protesters raised a banner attached to helium balloons reading "Fiat Chrysler: Damaged Wh… (read more)

Windows Mobile smartphones have been tending towards less and less buttons, which is certainly not ideal for many.  Fortunately Windows Mobile does support Bluetooth peripherals quite well, which should make the above Bluetooth mini-keyboard, which sells for only $25, pretty usable.

At 140×17x13mm, the keyboard is only slightly larger than the HTC HD2, and is powered by 2 AA batteries. 

Read more about the keyboard at DealExtreme here.

Has anyone tried this particular hardware?  Let us know your experience below.

Article Tags: ClimateGate, John Droz, Jr, Wikipedia

If a model has not been proven to fully reflect reality, then it has very limited use and should be treated like a horoscope

Everyone readily admits that things aren’t always what they seem. But are we really applying this knowledge in our daily dealings? Are we consciously ferreting out the illusory from the reality? I think not.

For instance, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we aren’t really being run by pandering politicians, self-serving lobbyists, fanatical environmentalists, and greedy Wall Street manipulators. They are the illusion.

There is another even more powerful (but much less visible) agent behind all of these puppets.

The person behind the screen is the computer programmer. And, just like in the Wizard of OZ, they do not want you to look at this real controller.

Source: pajamasmedia.com

Read in full with comments »   

Are you frustrated by the different types of female hair loss treatment available today? Miracle cures, surgery and various old wives tales abound. However there is a natural solution available that contains a synergistic blend of nutrients to not only promote new growth but help to boost you health as well.

Any natural hair regrowth treatment should contain a blend of the specific vitamins, minerals and herbs that are necessary to promote strong hair, skin and nails.

The best female hair loss treatment contains vitamins B6 and biotin combined with the minerals magnesium and zinc to stimulate new growth while helping to take care of your existing hair.

The reason they work is because most loss of hair is hormonal, especially after the menopause, and known as DHT hair loss. This is a by-product of testosterone (which women have too), and too much causes the follicles to shut down.

The right combination of nutrients effectively remedies DHT hair loss by blocking the excess DHT. The best herb extract is Horsetail which helps to improve circulation as well as boosting and rejuvenating the connective tissue – the foundation of your skin and regenerating skin cells.

A recently FDA approved substance, Minoxidil will also help to return your healthy hair over a period of time as there is no miracle overnight cure, but a gradual return to the way it was.

The beauty of a natural solution is that it is sustainable and works with your body to not just re-grow strong healthy hair but to also boost your immune system and help you deal more effectively with stress.

As DHT hair loss is the most common reason for thinning and balding, it’s good to know that a natural hair regrowth treatment is available, enabling you to feel more confident knowing your hair is returning and that you are promoting your overall health and mental well-being too.

Visit my website today to find out more about female hair loss treatments and the natural substances that promote new hair growth and optimum health.

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Corvinex Hair Nourishing Shampoo contains the key components found in the oral formulation that have been shown to block DHT from binding to the hair follicle. By combining this natural hair cleaning shampoo into your Corvinex hair regrowth program, you’ll maximize the benefit of Corvinex by combating DHT, both orally and topically. It gently cleanses the hair and removes Sebum and DHT from the scalp. Active natural ingredients nourish, moisturize and improve hair a… More >>

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FloTV is a relatively new live TV device by Qualcomm. It is already revolutionizing TV on-the-go. You may recognize FloTV because it’s incorporated into various cell phones such as Verizon’s V CAST, or AT&Ts Mobile TV. Live television is broadcasted straight to the FloTV device or your cell phone through dedicated airwaves. This means it’s not streaming and hence no buffering is involved. It also means all devices that play FloTV need a FloTV chip inside of them to receive its signal. FloTV service and the FloTV device are really neat, and we will have a hands-on review coming soon. Meanwhile, they have made an announcement that they will be bringing Flo to the iPhone. To make this possible FloTV will be incorporating a chip inside of Mophie’s juicepack for the iPhone. So you can watch TV and charge your iPhone too—Win-Win! There is no word on price as of yet.

Currently FloTV’s portable touchscreen television (PTV) comes with 6 months of service and is $14.99 per month after that, but it is uncertain whether or not this monthly fee will stay the same for iPhone. FloTV’s iPhone expansion, through Mophie, will be released in the first half of 2010, and possibly in the first quarter. If it’s as great as their PTV device then we’ll definitely be waiting in line for one.

Article Tags: Cartoon, Comment, Met Office

The media have started to question the Met Office daily forecast, this article from The Telegraph summed up a very poor forecast… The Met Office has admitted that it failed to warn the public of the heavy snow that brought swaths of Britain to a standstill on Wednesday.

Cartoon source below

Source: express.co.uk

Read in full with comments »   

The cream of the American OEM, aftermarket and racing automotive world will be inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame today, in recognition of their merits. Those to enter the hall of fame are Jack Roush, Roger Penske, Rusty Wallace and Robert Yates.

"Jack Roush’s induction to the NMPA Hall of Fame is a well deserved honor for a man who has impacted not only NASCAR but racing with his innovations and ingenuity throughout his career, Dustin Long, President, … (read more)