Google Maps is great for practical information, and satellite imagery can be very useful and fun in many cases. Adding a third dimension though can make things a lot more exciting, so Google is pushing to get more 3D models for Google Earth with a new competition dubbed “Model Your Town.” The name says it all, Google wants people to recreate their towns or villages in 3D for a chance to win some money for the local school system and international recognition for the town and modelers.

“We’re pleased to announce the first-ever, international Google Model Your Town Competition. You’re invited to use our free tools — SketchUp and Building Maker — to make sure your community is represented on the world’s biggest 3D stage,” Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education program manager and Aidan Chopra SketchUp evangelist wrote.

“Every town that participates has the chance to be included in Google Earth’s 3D Buildings layer where millions of people can see it. The winning town (as decided by a popular vote) will win money for its schools, a Google-sponsored party for its modelers and plenty more,” they added.

Google Earth already has an impressive amount of 3D buildings, but they’re mostly for well-known places and large cities. Adding models for most o… (read more)

(This guest post originally appeared at the author’s blog)

The latest portfolio strategy from JP Morgan continues to favor the bullish side of the trade.   They see the Dubai dip as an opportunity to buy into some emerging market names at a discount.   Dubai does little to change their outlook as the risk of contagion remains very low.  This means the risk trade lives to fight another day.  Thus, they continue to favor a broad overweight of emerging market bonds, credit, equities and currencies.  In other words, they like the highest of the high beta.   They are now forecasting the S&P 500 at 1,160 by year-end.  They continue to believe money managers will chase performance into the end of the year and that positioning for strong Q4 earnings could provide a further boost to the market.  Our expectation ratio confirms this belief.

JP Morgan also remains very bearish on the dollar, which we all know is the tail wagging the dog these days.  They maintain that the dollar will be weak for three reasons:

• The Fed is proving more comfortable with a zero rate environment than almost every other G-10 or EM central bank but the Bank of England
• cash positions (domestic and cross-border) remain too high for the 2010 interest rate environment
• and reserve diversification has accelerated to a record pace. Although the structural

“arguments for a dollar collapse (even crisis) are less credible than the alarmists claim, cyclical dynamics are powerful enough to drive this overshoot of fair value, much like in the late 1980s and 2007/early 2008.”

What do they not like?  They like a tactical short hedge position in oil.   These guys have been uncannily accurate over the last year.  Ignore their strategy updates at your own peril….

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See Also:

• Morgan Stanley: Here Comes A Brutal 2010
• Five Reasons A Sell-Off Is Coming
• Goldman: This Is What A Sub-Par Recovery Looks Like

Good news on the geopolitical front:

UKPA: The families of five British sailors detained after their yacht apparently strayed into Iranian waters have spoken of their delight after the men’s release was confirmed.

And Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking outside his home in London, welcomed the announcement that the five men, held since last week, had been released and were now heading towards international waters.

Oliver Smith, 31, from Southampton; Oliver Young, 21, from Saltash, near Plymouth; Sam Usher, 26, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire; Luke Porter, 21, from Weston-super-Mare; and Bahrain-based radio presenter David Bloomer, thought to be in his 60s, were on board.

Read the whole thing >

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See Also:

• Iran Seizes British Yacht, Oil Soars
• Got Balls And A Gold Fetish? Head To Afghanistan, And Start Smuggling To Iran (GLD)
• Iran: We Made $5 Billion Shorting The US Dollar

Eco Factor: Zero-emission all-electric car designed to be constructed from lightweight materials.

Inspired by an owl, the Halcyon, by auto designer Ralph Tayler-Webb is a clean, efficient, ultra-lightweight and eerily silent concept car that has been targeted towards nature-loving individuals. In harmony with the landscape for which it was formed, it treads lightly and leaves the wilderness just as wild as you found it.

(more…)

The whole news publishers versus Google debacle keeps on going and, for the most part, Google is sitting on the sidelines. Once in a while it responds, indirectly, to the accusations by underlining the benefits it provides news sources. And to show that it’s not completely deaf to the criticism, Google is now changing the way the First Click Free program works by allowing news outlets to limit its use to just five clicks.

“[W]e’ve updated the program so that publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing. If you’re a Google user, this means that you may start to see a registration page after you’ve clicked through to more than five articles on the website of a publisher using First Click Free in a day,” Josh Cohen, senior business product manager at Google wrote.

Through the program, users coming from Google News or the search engine are able to view articles that are otherwise behind a paywall. Google implemented the program as a way for paid content websites to get around the company’s policies against ‘cloaking’, the practice of feeding the crawler a version of the page and the users a different one. It’s obvious why Google doesn’t like this, but it posed a problem for publishers who wanted their content indexed … (read more)

Combining power with ease of cabling

Two new brushless motor series with integral driver circuitry
Supplied with an M8 connector cable to simplify wiring.
– Standard version –> Series 50XE (Ø50mm), 57XE (Ø57mm) and 60XE (Ø60.5mm)
– High torque version –> Series 50XP (Ø50mm), 57XP (Ø57mm) and 60XP (Ø60.5mm)

These two new models deliver high performance and offer simplified wiring.

We also offer speed adaptors to adjust the fixed speed of the motorised roller.
With only one type of motor you can achieve a wide range of speeds.

Click on the link below to see the technical datasheets:

24V DC Brushless motorized rollers

For more information, we remain at your disposal.

Two years ago, a US judge ruled that a guy with an encrypted hard drive did not have to hand over his encryption key to the police, as it would be a violation of the 5th Amendment (the right not to self-incriminate). The argument there is that the encryption key is a form of “speech.” This is quite a reasonable ruling — but it appears that over in the UK they view encryption keys quite differently. Last year, we wrote about a UK court ruling interpreting the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) to mean that people could be required to hand over encryption keys, since encryption keys were not “speech” but an object that could be demanded. Unfortunately, this has now resulted in a schizophrenic man being jailed for refusing to decrypt his files. As many are noting, this seems to be an abuse of law enforcement, as the purpose of the RIPA law was supposed to be about stopping organized crime and terrorism, not dumping the mentally ill in prison.

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The web seems to be converging on several companies, like Facebook and Google, which are becoming more powerful and increasingly unrivaled. Yet, even these companies can’t afford to close off everyone else and have a very healthy ecosystem of companies and services developed around them. Still, there are those that are more reluctant to sharing their data and Craigslist is again proving to be one of these companies. The site didn’t really like a project, called Flippity, which took listings and plotted them on a map, so it decided to block it along with everyone else who was using Yahoo Pipes to access the data.

Developer Romy Maxwell, one of the people behind Flippity, had several email exchanges with founder Craig Newmark, the Craig in Craigslist, to get his opinion on the way the project used and accessed the data. Initially, Newmark gave the project the thumbs up and it looked like everything was in the clear. He replied to one of the developer’s emails “as a rule of thumb, okay to use RSS feeds for noncommercial purposes,” which is what Flippity did.

A few days ago, the developer sent Newmark a link to the project which was at that moment in alpha stage. He didn’t receive any reply to that email, like he did for all the others, instead Craigslist essentially blocked the project f… (read more)

It’s been a horrible decade for the Dow Jones, the worst since the 1930’s.

Moreover, according to the chart below from Bespoke Investment Group. decade-timing seems to be pretty important, as most of the Dow’s returns have been concentrated, particularly during 1980 – 2000.

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See Also:

• The Biggest Market Call of the Decade
• The Epic Decline Of Magazine Advertising Through The Decade
• Japan Preparing To Launch Quantitative Easing; What Are Three Lost Decades Among Hyperdeflationary Friends?

Societe Generale uses the following chart to support their uber-bullish case for gold. By their metrics, apparently gold has only been fairly valued in 2 out of the last 40 years. And that was during a short-lived spike.

Thus according to their valuation, markets have been completely wrong for 38 out of 40 years. Which makes one wonder what their definition of ‘wrong’ is. It seems pretty rich to expect markets to suddenly become sustainably ‘right’ should they historically have always been ‘wrong.’

Markets are frequently mis-priced, but if you find they always are then you need to re-check your assumptions.

(Via the Big Picture and an astute BP)

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See Also:

• Richard Bernstein: Gold Prices Have Gotten Silly (GLD)
• Rosenberg: Gold Going To $2600 Thanks To China
• Gold Soars To Within An Inch Of $1200

We’re ending 2009 with a phenomenal monthly giveaway from The Refined Feline! One lucky reader is going to receive a Catemporary Cat Corner climbing tower and shelf! This combo will have kitty climbing in style.

To enter the monthly giveaway, make sure you’re signed-up to receive Moderncat updates via email. If you’re already getting the updates but you’d like an EXTRA chance to win this month, please leave a comment on this post. The drawing will take place on December 31. Complete details on the monthly giveaway here.

Watch this video to learn more about the Catemporary Cat Corner and Shelf from The Refined Feline (if you can’t see the video below in your email, click here to watch it on the site):

Facebook is still growing at a huge pace, not that it’s surprising anyone at this point. The company’s cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote an open letter, or rather blog post, to Facebook users to talk about the privacy changes which are about to become a reality after being announced several months ago but also to make a quick note on the fact that Facebook is now at 350 million users.

The social network managed to add 50 million users in about two and a half months. That’s the size of a decent-sized social network in its own rights, further proof, if it was even necessary, that Facebook is in a league of its own. What’s even more interesting is that it went from 300 million to 350 million slower than it grew from 250 million to 300 million, perhaps a sign that it may finally be slowing down. It’s still got some ways to go though. When you add the fact that Facebook started out the year with 150 million users in total, it’s clear that it’s doing something right.

However, its size is becoming a problem in certain areas and Facebook has to make some changes to features that can’t really scale to a service with hundreds of millions of users. “Facebook’s current privacy model revolves around “networks” — communities for your school, your company or your… (read more)

Uh oh. Another reverse indicator for China.

This article reminds us of past recommendations for the U.S. to study Japanese culture in order to succeed, right before the Japan bubble came crashing down.

Surely China has many admirable qualities, and the U.S. clearly needs improvement right now, but when the media starts feeding us generic Chinese cultural recommendations such as ‘Look over the horizon’, alarm bells should start ringing.

America’s China insecurity complex could be getting out of control.

You be the judge.

TIME Magazine’s ‘Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China’ >>>

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See Also:

• China Executes Two Men For Selling Tainted Infant Milk
• China Entering Winter With A Severe Natural Gas Shortage (UNG)
• How China’s Bank Regulator Could Slam The Markets

Telegraph columnist Nina Montagu-Smith has called for the scrapping of Members of Parliament’s final salary pension scheme, which allows them to build up a pension of £8,000 pa after just 5 years in office. This equates the income an ordinary citizen could expect from a personal pension pot of around £250,000

Five years as an MP buys you five-fortieths of final salary (£64,000) in retirement. Their pension package is also inflation-proofed and includes a widows’ pension.

The Tories have promised to scrap defined benefit pensions for MPs if they win the next election but any such proposal will still have to be voted in by a majority of MPs because they get to set their own pay. They voted to improve the accrual of benefits from one-fiftieth to one-fortieth of final salary per year in office so it is difficult to imagine they will do away with their scheme altogether.

Public outrage over MPs’ expenses makes it likely we will see more than 200 new MPs take office next year, each entitled to immediate membership of the pension scheme; existing members will not be affected by any subsequent closure.

Average British citizens have no access to final salary-style pensions – 96 of the UK’s 100 largest listed companies have already closed such schemes to new employees – and have probably seen big losses in the pensions they have bothered to save for themselves, now they suffer the injustice of being asked to stump up for MPs as well.

Although many MPs will tell you that last year they approved a “cap” on Treasury contributions to the scheme, this cap only comes into effect if the scheme is fully funded – something most public sector pensions are not. And anyway, if the scheme was fully funded, what need would there be for a cap?

In conclusion, Nina Montagu-Smith asked, “when will we get more than just smoke and mirrors from those who claim to be representing our interests?”

Daily Telegraph

Bergquist has extended its family of S-class low-modulus gap pad materials optimised for high thermal performance by introducing Gap Pad 1500S30, which achieves thermal conductivity 1.3W/m-K and bulk-hardness rating 30 (Shore 00). The new formulation increases choice for designers seeking efficient heat removal from fragile components in cost-sensitive applications.

The low-pressure conformability and wet-out characteristic of Gap Pad 1500S30 excludes interfacial air even when surfaces have high roughness or uneven topography. In addition the outstanding conformability also reduces stress on component leads and prevents bowing of circuit boards, as well as providing low-stress vibration damping and shock absorption.

Like other S-class materials, Gap Pad 1500S30 also has inherent tack on both sides, which saves applying adhesive and promotes easy handling during assembly. The silicone-based material also includes fibreglass reinforcing for high resistance to puncture, tearing or shearing.

Gap Pad 1500S30 is available in sheet form or as die-cut parts from 0.508mm to 3.175mm thick. The continuous operating temperature range of –60°C to 200°C allows use in applications such as heat-pipe assemblies, hard disk drives, power supplies, memory modules. Gap Pad materials such as 1500S30 can be inserted between a heatsink and any type of heat-generating semiconductor such as a memory IC, power transistor, module, or signal-path components.

Gap Pad 1500S30 adds to Bergquist’s S-class range including Gap Pad 2000S40, 2500S20, 3000S30 and 5000S35, which have thermal conductivity 2.0W/m-K, 2.4W/m-K, 3.0W/m-K and 5.0W/m-K and bulk hardness 40, 20, 30 and 35 respectively.

A subsidiary of Larox Flowsys Group, JFD Pumps Rotors Oy has opened an office in the city of Oulu in Northern Finland. This new estate will enable JFD to better serve its customers all over Finland and in Scandinavia.

Located in Eastern Finland JFD is known for its high quality multi brand spare parts and service for PC and centrifugal pumps. The CEO of JFD Mr. Matti Riihimäki is very pleased for the expansion and says that this is only the beginning of the growth. “In the future we want to offer our customers even more”, Mr. Riihimäki says. “Services, such as maintenance, part rebuilds, storing and repairs have been done at JFD for years, but from now one we want to develop these services more systematically and also expand our service network to the rest of the Europe and to other industries, such as chemical, food & beverage and environmental industry”, he continues.

From April 2009 the company has been able to offer its domestic customers centrifugal pump services and spare parts in addition to the pc pump services. Recently JFD launched the centrifugal pump spare part business also to its export customers. “Now we are able to offer comprehensive pc and centrifugal pump services and prompt multi brand spare part deliveries all around Europe”, says Mr. Riihimäki.

JFD multi brand spare parts are a smart selection, as they enable the customer to obtain the full potential of their pc and centrifugal pumps’ performance. JFD is specialized in providing its customers with a wide range of single parts, spare part sets, plug-in and bearing units and multi brand spare part’s management according to end-use application. The spare parts are manufactured according to highest quality standards. Thanks to own manufacturing department, where 95 % of the spare parts used in maintenance are manufactured, the needed part is always available when required.

Pocketnow have published this 10 minute review of the Samsung Omnia 2. The smartphone seems to be full of nice touches like stereo speakers optimised for landscape mode and of course deep finger-friendly skinning.

Read more at Pocketnow here.

Finding dairy-free and egg-free desserts can be a challenge sometimes so when I find something that is absolutely delish, I have to rave about it from rooftops.

Behold these, Mini Cafe Cinnamon Twists from Trader Joe’s. These sweeties are dairy-free, butter-free, egg-free, yeast-free, low in sodium AND only 30 calories per twisty. See why I’m in dessert heaven!

Amazingly, these twists are made with only 6 ingredients: wheat flour, soybean oil, palm oil, beet sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

I <3 these TJ’s Twists!

Daily Random Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• Vegan chocolate chips
• Nuts
• Chow mein noodles
• Raisins
• Coconut

METHOD:
Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. Add any nuts, chow mein noodles, raisins, coconut, etc. Stir until completely covered, then spoon in drops on wax paper and chill.

NOTES: