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For those of you fortunate to live in Japan, you are probably used to the usual engraving options from SonyStyle. Sony offers interesting graphic additions for many products, including their Cyber-Shot cameras. This year is no exception, with SonyStyle Japan offering a unique snowflake engraving pattern on the beautifully designed DSC-TX1. The engraving, at no extra charge, will only be available for Silver, Black and Pink – which is unfortunate for those of you wanting this on the Blue and Gold models. This will be a limited time offer and compliments the already available Safari, Race, and Heart engraving designs.

Filed under: Technology, Reviews

It’s no secret that we’ve been openly critical of the prices charged by automakers for built-in GPS navigation systems. Frankly, paying $2,000 or more for an in-dash system when you can buy stand-alone navigation units for as little as $100 is ridiculous. Even the newer, larger seven-inch screen units are now down to as little as $250, and even though they aren’t tied in to a vehicles’ wheel sensors, they tend to be plenty accurate. Now, however, there is a new option that is even cheaper – as in (sort of) free.

It’s only “sort of” free because the Google maps turn-by-turn navigation app is built into the new Motorola Droid smartphone (see sister-site Engadget’s full review of the Droid here) that recently became available from Verizon Wireless. In this case, you have to sign up for two years of mobile phone service, which includes a data plan. I’ve been a Verizon customer for a decade and just happened to be up for a biennial discounted phone upgrade. When the Droid appeared a few weeks ago, the plan to wait until the new year for a Palm Pre was discarded. We’ve now had the chance to play with the Droid and its new navigation software, so follow the jump to find out if it lives up to expectations.

Continue reading Review: Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation on Android 2.0

Review: Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation on Android 2.0 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marc Faber warns that further sovereign defaults are ahead. Dubai was just a teaser.

Starting from 0:45 in the video:

• Dubai was just the tip of the iceberg. The ultimate result of the financial crisis will be not just bankrupt banks, but more bankrupt governments.
• Massive U.S. economic stimulus means that U.S. bonds will one day have to offer higher yield than corporate bonds due to default risk.
• China has learned one thing from the U.S. — how to massage and doctor economic statistics.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Marc Faber: Gold Is Never Going Below $1000 An Ounce
• If Faber Says The Dollar Is Going To Zero, Then Stocks & Commodities Will Go To Infinity
• How Marc Faber And John Paulson Are Playing The Inflation Trade

According to air mobility experts on the ground in Iraq, initial results of the
ongoing U.S. Army direct support mission Concept of Operations test there indicate
what Air Force and Air Mobility Command officials have said all along: the Air Force
supports this mission 100 percent…

Washington National Guard members recently volunteered to assist over 200 veterans
during a Stand Down event held here at the Walla Walla Armory…

Some Soldiers at a base in Basra, Iraq, awoke Nov. 28 to find that concrete barriers
had tipped over during the night and had come to rest upon containerized housing
units…

Soldiers from the 480th Military Police Company of the Puerto Rico National Guard
handed over responsibility for their external security mission at Joint Task Force
Guantanamo to the 115th Military Police Company of the Rhode Island National Guard
during a ceremony Nov. 12…

Four soldiers serving here with the New Hampshire National Guard earned a special
distinction last week when they became their company’s first all-female medical
evacuation crew…

These mushrooms, whose name means “pine” (matsu) and “mushroom” (take) grow under pine trees in Japan, parts of China, and the North American West Coast. They’re also found in parts of Northern Europe. Sought-after and prized by the Japanese, these mushrooms can sell for up to $2000 per kilogram in Japan. Here in San Francisco, I found them going for $10 per pound. Their seasonal window is very short, usually from October to January.

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The move from analogue to digital TV broadcasts may be starting to be pay off as plans to fill the unused radio space, left vacant by the switch, with cheap broadband wireless Internet connections are moving forward. The US made the switch earlier this year, after several delays, and the US Federal Communications Commission is now creating a database of known signals which are allowed to use the space. This will allow devices which would use the so-called “white space” for wireless connections not to interfere with licensed broadcasters.

Devices which will take advantage of the white space for communications are required to have a couple of features, a geo-location capability and a way to access the database which will be set up. This will ensure that the device can switch to an alternative channel should the one it is using be licensed in that particular location. The database will also be used to store the location of fixed devices which would make use of the spectrum.

The government agency also decided to allow companies to set up their own databases which will provide similar services and they can then charge for registering fixed devices. “Selecting an administrator for the white spaces database is a crucial step toward bringing consumers another choice i… (read more)

“If you are buying companies on the cheap, make sure the earnings are correct,” SocGen’s global quant strategist, Andrew Lapthorne, says.

In a speech given to hedge fund managers in Hong Kong recently, Lapthorne said the only reason US companies are beating analyst estimates is that they have been restating losses as ‘exceptional’ events on the balance sheet. 

They have also been pushing certain items forward on their balance sheets and simply cost-cutting, not profiting; a mistake that will soon lead to trouble, he says. 

“Companies have not been using price to chase volumes… they have cut costs instead,” Lapthorne said.

Both Nestle and Unilever, for example, will regret their decision not to use their pricing power this year, according to Lapthorne. The misstep might lead to their having to lower prices next year. The price dips could contribute to deflation and damage the economy, but they might be inevitable.

According to the Asian Investor, Lapthorne predicts that as a result of surplus inventories, many companies will in 2010 reveal that they have no pricing power. 

He warns investors that these “value” stocks are good for trading, but not buy-and-hold. Only “high quality stocks” will fare well as volatility resumes, he says. 

He does think there are a few deep-value stocks out there. Most are in the energy sector, he says.

Read the full story.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Emerging Ukraine-Russia Energy Crisis
• SocGen: Prepare Yourself For The Worst Case Scenario!
• SocGen Analyst: Our Governments Are Insolvent, Gold To $6,300! (GLD)

Many banks around the world have been badly hurt by lax loans they made to the shipping industry during its recent boom.

As ship values soared, so did apparent collateral values backing shipping loans. Yet as ship values then collapsed, the collateral disappeared. This threatens to put, and has put, many debtors in breach of banks’ loan covenants.

How can banks avoid coming to terms with the fact that much of their collateral is worth far less than they represent? Scrap mark to market valuation of ships and replace it with a new mark-to-model-driven valuation methodology. Sound familiar?

The proposed system below, which could be called ‘The Hamburg Valuation’, has originated in Europe, but could become standard practice globally since auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers already gave it their seal of approval according to McQuilling Services.

McQuilling Services: Recently, asset valuation methodologies have been thrust into the center of a debate surrounding the accuracy of the long relied upon comparable transaction system.

HSH Nordbank and Deutsche Schiffsbank, two of the largest providers of shipping loans are backing the mainstream launch of the Hamburg Shipbrokers’ Association’s ‘Hamburg Ship Evaluation Standard’ (also known as the ‘Long Term Asset Value’ method). The proposed system would value the ships that form the collateral for loans via a discounted future earnings system rather than using the ‘market value’ or ‘last transaction done’ method.

…

The German backed scheme lies at the heart of any mark- to-market debate as the German container industry as well as the broader shipping markets are under considerable strain as asset values remain severely depressed and underlying rates are currently fluctuating at or below operating costs.

The valuation plan is designed to provide an alternative to mark-to-market asset valuation as a significant proportion of shipping loans are in breach of loan to value covenants due to current low asset rates. The scheme is viewed by many as a creative tool designed by banks and ship owners to inflate the value of their assets and comply with bank credit covenants.

…

However, going forward specific asset/scenario appropriate valuation metrics may be increasingly used. Lending, accounting, maintenance, demolition, insurance and many other purposes arguably warrant specific valuation considerations. This has been the case in the broader capital equipment marketplace for many, many years.

When set within the context of traditional valuation techniques, the recent introduction of the Hamburg Ship Evaluation Standard fits the previously suggested trend towards purpose specific models. The adoption of the Hamburg Ship Evaluation Standard by the broader shipping community will be closely monitored by bankers, brokers and owners as it will be considered a sign of changes to come.

Ship prices can be extremely volatile, and surely the currently illiquid and distressed ship sale market exacerbates this phenomenon. Thus market values probably don’t represent what ships will actually end up being worth ex-post. Thus they are clearly problematic for banks brimming with bad loans.

Yet it’s peculiar how the banks weren’t complaining about this mark-to-market inaccuracy back when ship market values soared into the stratosphere.

(Via Mcquilling Services Marine Transport Advisors, No.29 Valuation Methodology, November 2009)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The SEC Lets Oil Companies Use Fantasy Mark-To-Model Numbers To Report Their Holdings
• The Slow-Moving Trainwreck In Mid-To-High End Housing
• Myron Scholes and Robert Merton: Banks Need To Mark To Market

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Maserati, Middle East

If you thought Rolls-Royce had cornered the market on special editions for the Middle East, Maserati would like you to think again. But only if you’ve got a big wad of cash and actually, you know… live in the Middle East.

The Italian automaker just took the wraps off a limited edition of its GranTurismo S, specially outfitted with items from the company’s MC Sport Line. The car, decked out in a matte white “ice” paint scheme, was unveiled at the Yas Marina Circuit that just recently played host to the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Not much in the way of details were given, but only 12 examples will be produced: one for each of the twelve Maserati dealerships in the region, also honoring the twelve trophies (including constructors’, drivers’ and teams’ titles) that the GranTurismo’s big brother, the MC12, has racked up in the FIA GT Championship since 2005. The Trident marque has also announced a second run of 11 examples decked out in matte white pearl for its domestic Italian market.

[Source: Maserati]

Continue reading Maserati rolls out limited edition GranTurismo for Middle East

Maserati rolls out limited edition GranTurismo for Middle East originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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sinsi alerts us to a bizarre lawsuit in Australia where shooting victim Michael Trkulja is suing Google, claiming the search engine has some liability for his getting shot. The reasoning? Apparently searches on his name would take you to pages suggesting that Trkulja was involved in organized crime operations. It doesn’t appear that he has any other info linking his shooting to this particular webpage or to the fact that the shooter may have done a Google search. It also does not appear (at least from the article here) that the guy is blaming the website in question — just Google for leading people to it. Not sure what sorts of laws there are in Australia concerning such liability, but it’s hard to think of a scenario under which this lawsuit should make sense under any legal system.

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Phosphacore is a diet pill that claims to help you “Lose Up to 25 Pounds in 2 Weeks…Guaranteed!” (website). This Phosphacore review will give details on the ingredients contained in Phosphacore as well as shed light on the marketing practices associated with Phosphacore so you can decide if this is really the right diet pill for you.

Phosphacore Ingredients

The Phosphacore website claims Phosphacore contains a “rare African wonder herb.” They later state that it is the extract from Carthamus tinctorius. It is actually safflower extract, which is really quite common.

The truth is that Phosphacore contains CLA, which has been proven to contribute to weight loss, but only when included in doses of 3 grams per day. Unfortunately, Phosphacore fails to disclose the amount of CLA it contains. Therefore, there is no way for this Phosphacore review to determine if there is enough CLA in Phosphacore to cause weight loss.

Phosphacore Cost

The Phosphacore website says you can get a bottle of Phosphacore (a one month supply) for $39.97. They claim this price is for “Today Only” and that the regular price is $79.95. In addition, they claim there are only 137 bottles remaining in stock. These are pretty common practices with diet pills. They want you to think that you are getting a great deal and that the deal won’t last long so you will be more likely to purchase the product. Don’t buy into it; there is no proof that Phosphacore actually works.

Phosphacore Guarantee

The Phosphacore website states, “Give it a try for 30 days at our risk, not yours. You’ll be delighted with your results, or you don’t pay a penny… upon request, you’ll get a full refund, no questions asked. You really do have nothing to lose but those stubborn pounds!” This guarantee is confusing; at one place on the website they say the guarantee is good for 60 days, while other places say 30 days.

Phosphacore Marketing Strategies

The Phosphacore website is packed with outrageous claims and unbelievable before and after photos. It also includes supposed celebrity testimonials. The photos are most likely doctored, and the testimonials are very likely either fabricated or paid for (or both). Don’t be taken in by Phosphacore.

There are several websites that sell and promote Phosphacore. They all claim that they will be sold out of Phosphacore by tomorrow so you better buy it today. Some even offer a free gift (a weight loss book) when you order now.

Phosphacore Conclusion

This Phosphacore review finds Phosphacore does contain a proven diet pill ingredient, CLA. However, there is no listing of how much CLA is contained in Phosphacore. Therefore, there is no way of knowing if Phosphacore will actually contribute to weight loss. The sketchy marketing practices associated with Phosphacore as well as the high cost are additional reasons not to use Phosphacore. Do yourself a favor and get a diet pill that contains clinically proven ingredients in the necessary amounts; you will be glad you did.

According to some statistics, the number of grandparents and relatives helping to raise kids has increased and is expected to increase.

Many of these are doing it on their own when parents can’t or won’t.  Some even are raising great grandchildren.  This even includes adopting  these children.  If grandparents aren’t raising grandchildren on their own, they are helping.

Both my husband and I grew up in multigenerational households with grandparents living with  us all or part of the time.  They pitched in with child care and helped our moms who were busy with farmwork.  When our daughter was younger, we sometimes lived with my husband’s brother and his family.  Or their children were at our house much of the time.  My mother-in-law, at various times helped raise one or more of her grandchildren and might have them living with her and Dad for awhile.  It was a matter of everyone pitching in to help.

When relatives can pitch in to care for children and give them the security of a family environment, it usually works out better than for children to be shuttled from foster home to foster home.  A friend  is in the process of adopting her 8-month old grandson.  Even though she never expected to raise children again, other than helping out with grandchildren, she wants to know who is caring for the baby and have input into his upbringing.  So adopting him is the solution for him and her.

For more information of grandparents raising grandchildren and great grandchildren, you may like to read Peggy O’Hare’s informative article, More Grandparents Parenting Again.

Post from: Blisstree

More Grandparents Raising Kids

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

Yes, I’m about to give props to Goldman.  Deal with it.

The single biggest, most profitable market call of the last decade was made in 2001 by economist Jim O’Neill, then working at none other than Goldman Sachs.  The call was made in Global Economics Paper #66 aka “Building Better Global Economic BRICs” and it marked the original usage of the term “BRIC” to describe Brazil, Russia, India and China as a group.

The coining of the term is secondary to the trillions in wealth and world-changing shifts that this paper predicted.  Had you heeded O’Neill’s work and gotten invested in the stock markets of those four nations, you’d have made more money this past decade than by doing virtually anything else conceivable.

O’Neill and his fellow researchers concluded way ahead of everyone else that:

• Over the next 50 years, Brazil, Russia, India and China—the BRICs economies — could become a much larger force in the world economy. Using the latest demographic projections and a model of capital accumulation and productivity growth, we map out GDP growth, income per capita and currency movements in the BRICs economies until 2050.

• The results are startling.  If things go right, in less than 40 years, the BRICs economies together could be larger than the G6 in US dollar terms.  By 2025 they could account for over half the size of the G6.  Currently they are worth less than 15%. Of the current G6, only the US and Japan may be among the six largest economies in US dollar terms in 2050.

This call was bigger and more prescient than any I can think of this decade.  It literally encompasses every major theme, from currencies to commodities, from the cost of technology components to the price of a barrel of oil, from the exchange rate of the dollar to the growth rate of the global middle class.

As far as percentage gains, in some instances, we’re talking about thousands of percentage points in whole indices!

Congratulations to Goldman Sachs for nailing this story back in 2001 and to anyone who got in and rode the BRIC trade this decade.  From where these markets stand today, even after the Credit Crisis, O’Neill’s original paper is starting to look like a once-in-a-lifetime call.

Here’s how right GS was, a look at each of the BRIC markets since 2001:

 

Sources:

Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate the actual Paper #66, but here’s a link to Goldman Sachs’ BRIC Research Archives, which seems to go back to 2003:

http://www2.goldmansachs.com/ideas/brics/index.html

Read Also:

Emerging Idol: Auditions for BRIC without the “R” (TRB)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Goldman Loves These 50 Stocks With Heavy BRIC Exposure
• A Monster Month For Emerging Market Hedge Funds
• Marc Mobius: Here Comes Another 40% Surge For The BRICs

YouTube is working overtime on getting those revenue streams flowing and, if you take Google’s word on it, it seems to be ‘paying’ off. But advertising alone is not going to make it profitable, at least not fast enough for the company, so Google is also looking at premium paid content as a potential revenue source. It’s already working on releasing full-length movie rentals and now it looks like it may do the same for TV shows.

Media Memo cites several sources which say that the video giant has been in talks with several TV networks trying to convince them to release their content on the site. YouTube already hosts several shows which can be streamed for free with advertising, but the site is now looking to launch a full-blown rental service for recent releases. The shows would be available for streaming on the next day after their initial airing and would cost $1.99 a pop.

The talks are at an early stage, apparently, but the parties seem to be interested in a deal. YouTube may very well be successful in its endeavor as it brings a lot of things to the table. While Hulu has been seeing huge growth for the past couple of years and is now the second biggest video site in the US, YouTube is far, far ahead of it in terms of unique visitors so a show could get a lot more exposure on Google’s site. And since t… (read more)

AGME has recently signed an agreement with Walther systemtechnik to incorporate their Applications Systems to the range of technologies AGME can include in the special machines they manufacture.

Walther is a specialist in the production and development of Material Application Systems to components or parts. The materials can be:
Oils, grease, silicones, paints, releasing agents, alkalis, preservatives and primers.

After a previous analysis; AGME and Walther select the best application system for each product and process:
• Dosing technology
• Spraying technology
• Pulsing technology

The spraying and the pulsing technology are novelties that mean an important grease save and a cleaner process.

The greasing or fluid application technologies have multiple applications:
– Automotive: tyres, clutch, ball joints, bearings, seats, seatbelts, motor components..
– Locks industry: hinges, locks, guides, etc
– Household appliances: electrical systems, instruments panel, cogs, etc
– Industry in general: Rotating cylindrical bodies, bearings, pistons, chains, etc

This new model represents, from a technological point of view, the most advanced high level machine in the market. It s been designed to obtain consistently the highest precision and stability within the capacity of 400 mm between centers for a maximum diameter of 290 mm.

All parts of the machine have been considered to obtain the maximum accuracy and reliability.

Mounted on a natural granite bed, the slides are driven by linear motors on linear bearings and controlled by the CNC via optical scales. The result is: maximum stability, maximum acceleration and maximum sensitiveness, in summary the best accuracy at the lowest cost in a very compact machine.

BUILT IN electro-spindles drive the wheel head and cover the full range of speed necessary for grinding with conventional abrasive (45 m/s), or super-abrasives (20-120 m/s) with the highest torque.

Traditional grinding technologies for hardened steel and high speed contour grinding for tungsten carbide pieces can be efficiently used in this machine.
This machine is intended for grinding small to medium batches of high precision parts with conventional grinding technologies or peel grinding with super abrasives for HSS or tungsten carbide parts.

High technology, high productivity and high accuracy at a lower cost.