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Judge arrested in Aruba case | Judge arrested in Aruba case Fifth suspect in custody after U.S. teen's disappearance Paul Van Der Sloot was arrested after being questioned by police as a witness over the weekend. RELATED Gallery: Missing Aruba teen Texas team to aid search Publicity a concern for tourism Was race a factor in arrests? Interactive: Safety tips for travelers YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Aruba Alabama Crime, Law and Justice or or Create Your Own ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- An Aruban judge, the father of a 17-year-old suspect in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, also has been arrested in the case, the island's police commissioner said Thursday. Prosecutors decided to keep Paul Van Der Sloot, 53, in custody for questioning for 48 hours, Aruba Police Commissioner Jan Van Der Straten said. Under Aruban law, if there is reasonable suspicion, the prosecutor's office can order a suspect held as long as another 48 hours. After that, a judge's decision is required to keep a suspect in jail. The legal system in Aruba, an autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is based partly on Dutch civil law. The father was arrested at about 2 p.m. on suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old from suburban Birmingham, Alabama, said prosecution spokeswoman Mariaine Croes. "At this point he's a suspect," Croes said. "There's a reasonable suspicion that he knows something and is involved in the disappearance of Ms. Holloway." Police questioned him over the weekend in connection with the case. A law enforcement source close to the investigation said at the time that the judge was interviewed as a witness. He spent about five hours in the police station Saturday for questioning and was brought in again on Sunday while his wife, Anita, visited their 17-year-old son, Joran. Last week, an Aruban judge ruled that Paul Van Der Sloot could not visit his son in jail. Earlier, authorities had searched Van Der Sloot's home, seizing two cars and removing bagfuls of evidence. Anita Van Der Sloot said Thursday her husband's arrest is "ridiculous." "It hurts because my husband gave 15 years of his integrity to this island, and that this could happen is so bizarre." "I don't understand, and I know a lot of people don't understand, what's going on," she said. "I'm very angry, but I will hold up." "I have to because I believe in my husband, I believe in my son," she said. "It will all will be fine." She said she met with Joran for about 40 minutes Thursday before receiving word that police were at her home to arrest her husband. Her son is "doing fine," she said. "I know he's innocent, and he knows he's innocent." Family 'relieved' Natalee Holloway's aunt, Marcia Twitty, said her family was "very relieved" by the judge's arrest. "Maybe we can get somewhere and finally get these answers that they so desperately, desperately want," she told CNN from Alabama. The missing girl's father, David Holloway, said the arrest "just adds that additional piece to the puzzle. "How big is the puzzle? I don't know, but the pieces are falling into place and falling into place very quickly," he told CNN affiliate WBRC. Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said Wednesday she's sure the four young men in custody -- but not formally charged in the case -- have more information to divulge. "I have no doubt that they know what and who and where and when and why and how. I have no doubt," Twitty said on NBC's "Today Show." "There are some other individuals, though, that need to be pursued," she added. Twitty told CNN she met Tuesday with the parents of Joran Van Der Sloot. He's one of the last people reported to have seen Holloway. She said the Van Der Sloots invited her into their home when she was handing out prayer cards in their neighborhood. Twitty refused to give details about their 90-minute discussion. "I think I walked away with the confirmation that we still have some individuals that we need to pursue," she said. Holloway, an honors student from the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, disappeared May 30 after she left a nightclub with Joran Van Der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, ages 21 and 18 respectively, authorities said. She was in Aruba, a small Caribbean island of 72,000 residents just north of Venezuela, with about 100 classmates to celebrate their recent graduation. The three men and a fourth suspect, 26-year-old disc jockey Steve Croes, face accusations of murder and kidnapping leading to murder. Twitty says she has seen "no evidence whatsoever" that her daughter is dead. Defense attorneys for Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoes have said their clients maintain their innocence. Marcia Twitty said that after meeting with the Van Der Sloots, the missing girl's mother told her: "'I still feel like that dad knows something about where Natalee is.'" "She's in very close contact with officials, both Aruban and FBI," she said. "They talk daily." Satish Kalpoe to mom: 'We didn't do anything' The mother of the Kalpoes said Thursday that one son had admitted he and his brother made up a cover story to protect Joran Van Der Sloot. Nadira Ramirez told CNN she was permitted to visit son Satish Kalpoe at Aruba's prison within the past week. She stressed that the teen told her their story was not planned ahead of Holloway's disappearance, and she had no advance knowledge of it. Initially, Ramirez said, her sons had told her and police they dropped Holloway off at the Holiday Inn, where she was staying. But Satish Kalpoe told his mother later that was a lie aimed at protecting Van Der Sloot. In fact, he told his mother, he and his brother had dropped Holloway and Van Der Sloot off at the beach by the Marriott hotel, about a mile from the Holiday Inn. Ramirez's account echoes comments made by one of two security guards who were arrested June 5 in connection with the case and released June 13. The guards, Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, were never charged. After his release, John said Deepak Kalpoe confided to him while they were in jail together that he had lied to police. (CNN Access) Ramirez tearfully said her son insisted he and his brother were innocent. "'We didn't do anything. We will be out from here. Don't cry,'" she said he told her. "I asked him, 'Satish, are you sure you guys didn't do anything?'" she said. She said he responded: "'No, mama. We gave that girl and Joran a lift.' "They don't even know Natalee. They said she didn't even introduce herself to them," she said. "They don't know anything else about that." Although she has been suffering and unable to eat since her sons' arrest, Ramirez said she remains confident they will be cleared. She described her family as a close and traditional Hindu group and said both sons are "good boys." Satish does not drink, she said, and while Deepak drinks occasionally, neither youth takes drugs. CNN's Karl Penhaul and Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more. | [
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eBay sets up open-source community | eBay has begun providing open-source code for some of its search and access applications to expand its external developer community. The software will be available under a new program called Community Codebase, which was announced at the eBay Developers Conference in San Jose, California, on Tuesday.
With just over 20 per cent of the listed items on eBay coming in through applications and tools provided by external developers, the auction giant is hoping to encourage developers to find new ways of using the online marketplace.
"We’ve seen lots of great examples of open-source applications, clearly; Linux, Apache and Firefox just to name a few. We wanted to really tap that mindshare and that creativity on a global basis. And so, having a really big push with open source is the way to do that,” said Greg Isaacs, director of eBay’s developer program.
The Community Codebase is free for all members of eBay’s Developers Program and PayPal Developer Network. (Pay Pal is owned by eBay.) It allows individual developers and companies to access source code for various eBay and PayPal tools and applications. An example is a Java application that allows TiVo users to search and bid on items via their digital video recorder boxes. Other examples include a Firefox toolbar, various Pay Pal toolkits and an application used to extract information from Pay Pal’s database and putting it into Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet software.
eBay created its first program for developers in 2000 and has 15,000 registered members today.
Managing the community is done partly with software from CollabNet that gives the developers and eBay tools for revision control, issue tracking and discussion forums.
Even though Isaacs stressed that the open source approach was an "easy decision to make,” courting the open-source community can sometimes prove difficult.
"It’s not like open source is bad or good. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. They [eBay] don’t make their money off of their source code, they make their money out of the whole package,” said Larry McVoy, chief executive officer of South San Francisco-based BitMover, which has been involved in the Linux kernel development.
Revenue generator
BitMover, however, does make money off its source code, and McVoy plans to change his company's open-source approach next month because of a licensing dispute with Samba developer Andrew Tridgell. After years of allowing open-source developers to use his BitKeeper source code management system free of charge, BitMover will next month begin charging them for the right to use its software.
Still, McVoy thinks eBay's move makes sense because it has an alternative form of generating revenue.
"There’s probably significant advantage for eBay in terms of opening it [the eBay applications source code] up, getting more people using it, more people working with eBay. Anything that draws more eyeballs to eBay is good for eBay.”
With the Community Codebase program, eBay also follows in the footsteps of competitors such as Amazon and Google by giving away access to the content in its database. Individual members will now have access to 10,000 database calls per month. For companies, accessing the database ranges from a flat fee of US$100 up to whatever is negotiated.
In the first quarter of 2005, eBay supported approximately 1.7 billion monthly requests through external applications, which made up 42 per cent of all calls to the eBay database. | [
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NextAdvisor with TIME | Erin Lowry
Erin Lowry helps millennials “get their financial lives together” by offering advice on how to make more money, get out of debt, and build savings, through her “Broke Millennial” blog.
Read more | [
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del.icio.us direc.tor: Delivering An AJAX Web Service Broker | What is it?
del.icio.us direc.tor is a prototype for an alternative web-based rich UI for del.icio.us. It leverages the XML and XSL services of modern browsers to deliver a responsive interface for managing user accounts with a large number of records.
The main features are:
In-browser handling of del.icio.us bookmarks (tested up to 12,000 records)
Find-as-you-type searching of all your bookmarks, with basic search operators
Sort by description, tags, or timestamp
Ad-hoc tag browser
Coverage of this feature around the web:
How do I use it?
Because of the restrictions on the browser, you'll need to load this using a Javascript bookmarklet. Follow these four steps to get started:
Create a bookmarklet by bookmarking the following link: del.icio.us direc.tor Go to api.del.icio.us Launch the bookmark you just created while you are still on the del.icio.us page Login to del.icio.us, if prompted
(Try the static demo if you don't have a del.icio.us account.) Type in a search term or click a tag in the browser; click the column headings to sort
NOTE: This only works on Firefox and Internet Explorer. Safari won't work because it doesn't support XSLT via Javascript.
Supported operators
direc.tor supports the following operators:
t:<search_term> Search only in tag field
Ex: t:humor d:<search_term> Search only in description field
Ex: d:politics -<search_term> Exclude results containing search term
Ex: -microsoft
Combining operators, like -t:nonsense , is currently not supported.
How does it work?
The idea behind a client-side web service broker (or intermediary, as Jon Udell calls it) is simple: assist a client in interpreting or processing information from a service, but letting the client do all the work (just like what "strategic management consultants" do). Unlike other web services like Amazon Light or Googlism that execute all of the program logic on the server side, a client-side broker sends all of the logic over as Javascript and has the browser do the work.
Other brokering services like the Google Maps hack are not entirely self-contained and require the broker host to proxy information between the main server and the client, thus doubling the amount of network traffic and degrading the overall performance. direc.tor eliminates the need for the broker host to proxy requests by instructing the client to directly communicate with the main server. This approach is very similar to the way Greasemonkey scripts are loaded, except that it is largely platform independent and does not require additional client-side extensions like Greasemonkey. However, the major pitfall to this approach is that users are required to manually create the bookmarklet.
In a standard service, the Client Browser makes a request to the Service Broker (1), which in turn makes a request to the Web Service (2). The response from the Web Service is then transformed by the Service Broker, and presented to the Client Browser (3). In a client-side service, the Client Browser gets the entire service logic from the Service Broker (1), and then communicates directly with the Web Service (2).
Loading the service
This project uses the only reliable loophole for executing foreign Javascript code: the bookmarklet bootloader. It works by inserting a <script> element directly into the DOM, which is then immediately executed by the browser. The injected Javascript wipes the existing del.icio.us page and replaces the entire body with the direc.tor UI. At the same time, direc.tor makes an XmlHTTPRequest to http://del.icio.us/api/posts/all to get the XML listing of the user's bookmarks, which is persisted through the lifetime of the direc.tor page. Because del.icio.us uses the standard HTTP basic authentication, the browser will automatically ask for credentials if it has not been established yet. Since the client is communicating directly with del.icio.us, those credentials never pass through this site. For more information about this, and cross-site scripting concerns, see Creating a client-side web service broker.
Filtering and sorting the bookmarks
Performance is the primary concern — and often a severely limiting factor — when developing an in-browser application that handles large amounts of data. Filtering and sorting recordsets over 10,000 records though traditional Javascript objects is so sluggish that it simply is not a viable solution. del.icio.us direc.tor bypasses that limitation by leveraging the speed of the XML and XSL processors accessible via Javascript in modern browsers. Because these components are compiled binaries, their methods are orders of magnitude faster than an equivalent implementation in intepreted Javascript. del.icio.us direc.tor offloads all of the heavy lifting and a majority of the HTML generation to the XSLT processor to provide a responsive user interface. Since this is a rather lengthy discussion in and of itself, I have moved it to its own article: Using XSLT to filter and sort records in the browser.
Implementing the tag browser
Although it seems that the tag browser doesn't display a great deal of information, it too cannot be implemented with efficiency using straight Javascript. The main reason is that the tags and their relationship to the bookmarks can't be indexed in a way that allows fast retrieval. Brute force approaches work fine when the record count is around 1000 or so, but at 10,000 records the processing time becomes prohibitive. Again, I use the compiled XML resources to tackle the heavy lifting and allow direc.tor to handle large record sets. Another structure that is essential is an adjacency list, which allows for the fast, indexed retrieval of a tag and its related tags.
The major hurdle is not doing the initial retrieval of tags, but finding tags that have more than one other tag in common, i.e. "Show me all the tags that appear with the tag 'blog' and 'photo'." The brute force approach would cycle through all of the records, return those that contain the tag 'blog', cycle through that subset in search of 'photo', and then finally list and count all of the remaining tags that aren't 'blog' or 'photo'. Instead, direc.tor uses a single XPath query to pull out the subset of tags:
//posts/post[contains(string(@tag),'blog') and contains(string(@tag),'photo')]
Once that subset of nodes is returned by the XML engine, the tags from each node are inserted into a modified adjacency list, represented as a hashtable of hashtables in Javascript. The subset of nodes returned is almost always signifcantly smaller than the entire record set, making subsequent Javascript operations responsive enough for a decent user experience. The outer hashtable is keyed by tag name, such that every tag that exists in the current node set is represented. The inner hashtables store the related tags and the number of occurences.
Example: This diagram represents a bookmark collection that has a total of 6 unique tags: blog, design, css, photo, cool, politics. The outer hashtable (left) uses each of those tags as its keys, while its values are hashtables that contain the key tag and any tag that is related. The values of those inner hashtables represent the total count of each tag and its occurence with the outer tag.
The hashtable's fast key-based retrieval makes it an ideal indexer for storing the tag counts, and fulfilling the tag requests from the user. Getting a list of tags is accomplished by enumerating over the hashtable keys, and getting the tag counts involves retrieving the values from the inner hashtables.
Highlighting the search terms
The search term highlighting is currently implemented using Javascript, by way of a generic search and replace method that wraps search terms with a <span> tag. The method then assigns one of the 6 CSS colors that are defined in the stylesheet. I'm sure that it could also be done in XSL, but I was unable to create out a template that would highlight multiple query terms that occur in a random order (if you have one, I'd love to see it). Because of Javascript performance limitations, single letter query terms are not highlighted. The highlighting takes place in the pipeline after the XSL transformation, but before the DOM node is actually brought online and painted in the browser (this is good general practice, as editing live DOM objects is horrifically slow.)
What else could this do?
There are probably hundreds of other features that would be cool to implement, so here are some that I would implement if I had more time:
Bulk tag editing: Enable tag addition and removal from multiple bookmarks (which would then give me an excuse to implement the fancy fade anything technique).
Enable tag addition and removal from multiple bookmarks (which would then give me an excuse to implement the fancy fade anything technique). Labeling: Designate a tag as a special UI flag that mimics Gmail's "starred" functionality.
Designate a tag as a special UI flag that mimics Gmail's "starred" functionality. Other operators: Add OR , since: , related: , and inurl: operators.
Add , , , and operators. Media detection: Expose media player controls for registered types, like MPG, MOV, WMV, etc.
Expose media player controls for registered types, like MPG, MOV, WMV, etc. RSS import: Expand the input processor to parse RSS feeds, i.e. other people's tags.
Expand the input processor to parse RSS feeds, i.e. other people's tags. XML export: Allow download of an XML version of a current search, or all bookmarks.
Allow download of an XML version of a current search, or all bookmarks. Link autopreview: Enable an Outlook-style bookmark preview pane.
Enable an Outlook-style bookmark preview pane. OS X Dashboard integration: Port direc.tor to a Dashboard widget.
The ultimate feature, though, would be to integrate some of this project directly into del.icio.us in order to eliminate the bootloading process altogether. I'm sure all you cats on delicious-discuss can come up with a collective feature list. I did this project to research different interface possibilities on other projects, so by all means, let me know if you're interested in helping make this a more mature service.
Thanks go to the DHTML grandmaster, Nick Mealy, and VMWare guru, John Zedlewski, for their help with this project. | [
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Three missing boys found dead | Three missing boys found dead Father finds young friends in car trunk Sheets were hung around the car where three boys were found dead Friday night. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Police Crime, Law and Justice or or Create Your Own CAMDEN, New Jersey (CNN) -- Three young boys missing for two days were found dead Friday night in the trunk of a car by one child's father, who jumped away screaming and sobbing after his grim discovery. Later he fell to the ground yelling, "Let me go! Let me go!" as several men sought to hold and console him. A large crowd quickly gathered, crying and shouting, not far from the home of one of the children, 11-year-old Anibal Cruz. Cruz, 6-year-old Daniel Agosto and 5-year-old Jesstin Pagan had been missing since Wednesday. "We are saddened by the events that have turned up this evening," Police Chief Edwin J. Figueroa told reporters late Friday. "As you know ... the three children have been found, and they were found in the trunk of a car." The cause of their deaths is unknown, and police were not ruling out the possibility that it was an accident, Figueroa said. He said the car -- a maroon Toyota Camry -- was an older model, and had no device in the trunk that would allow someone inside to open it. Figueroa said he didn't know when the autopsies would be completed. "Preliminary indications show that the vehicle was located there" when the hunt for the boys got under way in that area Thursday morning with the help of a bloodhound, he said. "We know the car was searched," Figueroa added. He said logs will be examined to find out which officers were at that site. Many police officers were extremely upset over the discovery of the bodies, he said. "We have a very fresh and active investigation in this case," said Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi at the same news conference. "There are many issues that we have to look into." The families of the children, he said, were "extremely distraught and grieving." They were receiving counseling to help them cope with their losses. Sarubbi initially said investigators were treating the area where the car was found as a crime scene, but then said it was an "open investigation. We haven't determined whether this was foul play or just a tragic accident." The bodies were found about 7 p.m. in the Cramer Hill neighborhood. After the discovery, police cordoned off the area with crime tape, then hung sheets over it to hide the car from view near a wooded area. The children were last seen around 5 p.m. Wednesday playing in the side yard of Cruz's home. Daniel Agosto lived nearby, while Jesstin Pagan lived farther away. Elba Cruz, Anibal's mother, said she left the three children playing in the yard for five to 10 minutes while she cooked dinner. When she returned, they were gone. There was a massive search for the boys by police, firefighters and other officials, using dogs, helicopters and boats. Police had said they did an exhaustive search of the entire neighborhood, about three square miles. Earlier Friday, police announced a $9,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the boys. CNN's Allan Chernoff contributed to this report. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more. | [
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Iran hardliner sweeps to victory | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented himself as a humble alternative
Mr Ahmadinejad won 62% of votes, defying predictions of a close race, to defeat the more moderate ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
After his win, Mr Ahmadinejad said he planned to create a "modern, advanced and Islamic" role model for the world.
His victory means all the organs of the Iranian state are now in the hands of conservative hardliners.
Mr Ahmadinejad, 49, who campaigned on a conservative Islamic platform, had surprised observers by beating five other candidates in the first round to reach the run-off.
The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says his taped statement, broadcast on state radio after the result was announced, was aimed at easing worries about his conservative views.
Some 22 million people voted in this run-off poll - a turnout of 60%, down from 63% in the first round a week ago.
Our correspondent says it was Mr Ahmadinejad's appeal to the poor that seems to be the secret to his success. Despite Iran's huge oil wealth the country has high unemployment and a big gap between rich and poor.
'Flawed' election
Mr Ahmadinejad has also pledged to tackle corruption and resist Western "decadence".
The US said the election was "flawed" and described it as "out of step" with regional trends towards democracy.
In Washington, a state department official said the US would judge Iran under Mr Ahmadinejad by its actions.
"In light of the way these elections were conducted, however, we remain sceptical that the Iranian regime is interested in addressing either the legitimate desires of its own people, or the concerns of the broader international community," the spokeswoman said.
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said there were "serious deficiencies" in the election, noting that many reformists, and all women candidates, had been barred from standing.
"I hope that under Mr Ahmadinejad's presidency, Iran will take early steps to address international concerns about its nuclear programme" as well as its policies toward terrorism, human rights and the Middle East peace process, Mr Straw said in a statement.
'Profound humiliation'
Supporters of Mr Rafsanjani said before the result that victory for Mr Ahmadinejad would signal voting fraud.
Reformist candidates accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Basij security services of orchestrating a plot to boost Mr Ahmadinejad.
Interior ministry officials monitoring polling stations received some 300 complaints of electoral violations in Tehran alone, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The Islamic regime that has lost popular support is now seeking to renew itself by playing a new trick
M A Abdulqadir, Irbil, Iraq
Iranian election: Your views
The Guardian Council, which ran the poll, has dismissed allegations of election fraud.
Mr Ahmadinejad will be Iran's first non-cleric president for 24 years when he takes office in August.
Iran's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, banned both camps from celebrating victory and urged people to keep off the streets.
He said the election result was a "profound humiliation" for the US. | [
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Prosecutor: New Jersey boys' deaths accidental | Prosecutor: New Jersey boys' deaths accidental Bodies of missing boys found late Friday in car trunk YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Police New Jersey or or Create Your Own CAMDEN, New Jersey (CNN) -- Autopsy results show three boys found dead in a car trunk suffocated, and their deaths have been ruled accidental, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi said Saturday. Sarubbi said there were no signs of foul play in the deaths of 11-year-old Anibal Cruz, 6-year-old Daniel Agosto and 5-year-old Jesstin Pagan, which he called a "horrible, tragic and unexplainable incident." At least one of the children, he said, had a history of playing in the car, and investigators believe the three boys climbed into the trunk themselves. The trunk's lid closed automatically, Sarubbi said. Authorities believe the children had been in the trunk since about 5 p.m. Wednesday night, when they were last seen playing in a side yard of the home where Cruz lived. Questions were raised about why police officers and others conducting a massive search for the children checked the vehicle but apparently did not open the trunk. A panel will be appointed to investigate those questions and issue a report within 30 days, Sarubbi said at a news conference. Also speaking at the Saturday news conference, Camden Police Chief Edwin Figueroa said if investigators had checked the trunk when they were first called in, the children might have survived. "It's premature to determine what mistakes were made, if any mistakes were made," said Figueroa. "Let me just tell you, I feel very bad, just like the community and other police officers, that three children were found in the trunk of a vehicle," he said. "I think that alone is a tragic situation. We certainly feel for the parents, who are right now grieving for those small children." He added, "I can't guess what kind of speculation or what went on in the individual minds of police officers that were out there." Elba Cruz, Anibal's mother, has said she left the three children playing in the yard while she went inside for five to 10 minutes to cook dinner. When she returned, they were gone. The car was parked just in a shady area about 30 yards from the back of the Cruz home. Sarubbi said he could not explain how, if the children tried to call out for help, no one heard them. Sarubbi said he did not know how long the children could have survived in the trunk, adding that the medical examiner listed the boys' time of death as unknown. "We may never know the answer," he said. The medical examiner may issue a more extensive report later addressing the issue, he said. The car, which belonged to Elba Cruz's mother, Carmen Lopez, was not operational because of a brake problem, Sarubbi said. It had last been driven about three weeks ago. The older-model maroon Toyota Camry did not have a mechanism that allowed the trunk lid to stay open independently when raised, Sarubbi said. "When the children got in the trunk, there was no automatic means to hold the trunk lid open ... In all likelihood, it locked." Investigators examining the car had to use two-by-fours to prop the lid open, he said. A bag of cement was on one side of the trunk and had broken open, spilling the substance onto the children. Sarubbi would not say whether there were any signs that the boys had tried to escape. He said out of concern for the children's families he did not want to go into detail. The car's rear seats did flip down to allow trunk access, but the seats were locked, he said, and there was no indication the boys had tried to get out that way. The boys' bodies were found Friday night, when a relative opened the trunk looking for jumper cables to use on his own car battery, Sarubbi said. The father of one of the children, who was standing behind the car when the relative pulled the latch from inside the car, jumped away screaming and sobbing after the grim discovery. Asked about a onetime person of interest in the case, Sarubbi would not disclose why police wanted to talk with the man but said that obviously, his involvement had been ruled out. CNN's Mary Snow contributed to this report. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more. | [
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Moving: How to Avoid Being Scammed by Moving Companies | The number one question MovingScam.com receives is “Can you recommend a good moving company?”. If the answer to that question was easy, then there wouldn’t be a reason for maintaining a web site called MovingScam.com (see our article “How to Find a Reputable Moving Company” for more information).
Currently moving companies are overseen by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), part of the Federal Department of Transportation (DOT). The last we knew, the FMCSA had only nine investigators to handle all of the thousands of complaints against moving companies each year. What does that mean for consumers? It means this:
Most complaints against movers are overlooked and the consumer becomes a statistic while no action is ever taken against the moving company.
When Congress dissolved the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1995, they also removed the authority from the FMCSA to step in on a consumer’s behalf if they are taken advantage of by a moving company. In other words, they don’t have the authority to help you even if they want to.
If an investigation does occur, it takes months if not years for the FMCSA to, yes, get this… Fine the moving company.
The scam moving companies get away with not paying the fines and if they did, the consumers don’t see a dime of their money back. The money from the moving company’s fines go to pay for highway improvements!
There are in fact laws governing moving companies, but the moving industry is unique in having special privileges and protections that no other industry could even imagine enjoying.
How did we get here? The interstate household goods moving industry was “price-deregulated” with the Household Goods Transportation Act of 1980. This Act allowed interstate moving companies to issue binding or fixed estimates for the first time. Until then, the moving industry was overseen by the ICC like a public utility (like phone and electricity services). There were only a handful of companies, now known as the “major” van lines, that were allowed to transport household goods interstate, and they all charged according to their tariff — a schedule of rates and services — which had a built-in profit. ALL estimates were non-binding. Movers sold themselves on service, not price. The profit margin was very thin, but there was profit.
When the Household Good Transportation Act was passed in 1980, not only could moving companies now compete on price by giving consumers binding estimates, but also there was a provision in the Act that new companies could enter the market. Regarding the “freedom” to give binding estimates, was something the major players didn’t want. For a while some carriers just had a policy of sticking to non-binding estimates only. But because customers wanted the price certainty of binding estimates, those companies finally caved in and started issuing binding moving estimates too.
So how did the moving industry end up with a special governing body to oversee it in the first place? There is a federal statute enacted in 1906 called the Carmack Amendment. It was originally enacted in response to railroad barons who controlled the few railroads in existence and who were giving their friends favors in transportation rates and squeezing small farmers and everyone else. Back then, railroads were the major method of transporting goods across the still-developing country, and so the ICC was set up, in effect, to regulate the monopoly that was the railroads. The Carmack Amendment forbade “price discrimination”; that is, the railroad baron had to charge a set rate (contained in the railroad’s tariff), approved by the ICC, to all shippers. When roads and trucking later arose, the ICC started overseeing that, too. The major van lines and their agent system first got organized, and wrote their tariffs, in the 1930s.
OK, fast forward to 1980 and beyond. Because of the Household Goods Transportation Act of 1980, by the late 1990’s there were hundreds of interstate moving companies in existence, all with their own “interstate operating authority” granted to them by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). (Compare that with the handful of companies who had interstate operating authority pre-1980.) Now, anyone can be an interstate mover. It used to take 5 years to get interstate operating authority. Now it takes 3 weeks.
Throw into this mix the fact that moving companies were now, theoretically, competing on price and quality of service. The competition was so fierce, and the moving companies so numerous, that low-balling moving estimates soon became a popular practice. Of course, low-balling doesn’t pay if the moving company doesn’t practice hostage-freight taking (price-gouging during the move) as well, because the mover has to make money somehow. The need to low-ball to get moves, a direct consequence of the Household Transportation Act of 1980, is responsible for many of the abuses in the moving industry today. The ability of moving companies to get away with it, however, is caused by the Carmack Amendment.
So what’s the problem caused by the Carmack Amendment? Carmack purports to govern every single aspect of the shipping transaction. In the late 1990s, several courts handed down decisions interpreting Carmack as being so thorough and far-reaching that it “preempts” all other remedies that would otherwise be available to a plaintiff-shipper under state law. That is, suing for fraud under state consumer fraud/deceptive practices statutes was preempted. That means that an interstate mover can tell you: “I guarantee you that your move will cost only $2000,” while intending to hold your goods hostage for $4000 at destination while knowing all the while that there’s nothing you can do about it.
Believe it or not, should he do that, according to these courts, you can only sue the mover under Carmack (not for state fraud, etc.), and Carmack, in turn, will allow you to ONLY get your $2000 overcharge back from the moving company. Believe it or not, a mover’s “punishment” for stealing from you is to give back what he stole, and that’s only if he gets caught and someone forces him to give it back which is no small undertaking in itself. Overall, it’s a pretty sweet situation for moving companies, wouldn’t you say?
So that is what “deregulation” in interstate moving is about. It’s about PRICE deregulation and “ENTRY INTO THE MARKET” deregulation, coupled with the unfortunate decisions of certain courts in the late 1990s that moving companies can only get a slap on the wrist for even the worst abuses. The ICC’s disbandment in 1995 was just the last nail on the coffin — by then, the ICC couldn’t really oversee the industry anyway, since so many movers had entered the market and “tariffs” were now anachronisms.
In today’s environment of price competition, the current scamming will continue (and get worse) unless there are mechanisms for the consumer to force the mover to stick to his price bid. Those mechanisms are police intervention, punitive damages, and actual enforcement of regulations by the FMCSA.
Consumers need to fight back. Talk to your local police, and file complaints with the FMCSA and DOT. Get in touch with your local, state, and federal reps, and tell them that you want them to support consumer protections. Call your local media – newspapers, television stations. Get a web site of your own and get the word out. Whatever you can do to let other consumers know what’s going on in the moving industry. | [
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U.S. Has Plans to Again Make Own Plutonium | Plutonium 238 has no central role in nuclear arms. Instead, it is valued for its steady heat, which can be turned into electricity. Nuclear batteries made of it are best known for powering spacecraft that go where sunlight is too dim to energize solar cells. For instance, they now power the Cassini probe exploring Saturn and its moons.
Federal and private experts unconnected to the project said the new plutonium would probably power devices for conducting espionage on land and under the sea. Even if no formal plans now exist to use the plutonium in space for military purposes, these experts said that the material could be used by the military to power compact spy satellites that would be hard for adversaries to track, evade or destroy.
"It's going to be a tough world in the next one or two decades, and this may be needed," said a senior federal scientist who helps the military plan space missions and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the possibility that he would contradict federal policies. "Technologically, it makes sense."
Early in the nuclear era, the government became fascinated by plutonium 238 and used it regularly to make nuclear batteries that worked for years or decades. Scores of them powered satellites, planetary probes and spy devices, at times with disastrous results.
In 1964, a rocket failure led to the destruction of a navigation satellite powered by plutonium 238, spreading radioactivity around the globe and starting a debate over the event's health effects.
In 1965, high in the Himalayas, an intelligence team caught in a blizzard lost a plutonium-powered device meant to spy on China. And in 1968, an errant weather satellite crashed into the Pacific, but federal teams managed to recover its plutonium battery intact from the Santa Barbara Channel, off California.
Such accidents cooled enthusiasm for the batteries. But federal agencies continued to use them for a more limited range of missions, including those involving deep-space probes and top-secret devices for tapping undersea cables. | [
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Ten things I learned about the future at the Wired NextFest | This past Saturday, a friend and I hit the Wired NextFest down at Chicago's Navy Pier. The event promised visitors that they could "experience the future," and as a tech writer I couldn't pass that opportunity up. I kind of wish I had, though, because after spending a few hours at the NextFest I'm sad to report that the future ain't what it used to be. Maybe I was expecting to relive my first visit to Epcot Center as a child, or maybe I'm just jaded in my old age. Whatever the cause, my trip to the future was more educational than inspirational. Here are ten things I learned about the future at the Wired NextFest, in no particular order.
1. The people of the future are a scantily clad people. They delight in showing off their naked, tattooed flesh. Or, maybe that's just the people of Chicago's Navy Pier in the summer.
2. In the future, the airport security checkpoint will look and function exactly the same way as does now, except that the scanning technology that powers it will be different. For instance, at the GE-manufactured checkpoint that I saw, the machine supposedly sniffs you for bomb residue.
Interestingly enough, there was a long line of people waiting to go through that checkpoint and be checked for bomb residue, which is something that just baffled me. I mean, don't people dread going through the checkpoint at airport security? Why voluntarily stand in line in order to pass through an airport security scanner if you don't have to? It's not like the machine did anything other than flash a little green light saying you were free of bomb residue. Truly, the long line of people who just couldn't wait to go through that security checkpoint was probably the most bizarre thing that I saw at the entire NextFest. I wonder if it was a kind of programmed reaction like, "oh look, a security checkpoint. I'd better get in that line and go through it. Everybody else is." If that's the way we've all been conditioned, then I fear for the future of the Republic.
3. The elderly Japanese people of the future will be so desperately lonely for companionship that they'll purchase slightly creepy android replicas of the drug-addled but brilliant sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick. Why the Japanese, and why Phillip K. Dick? It's a long story, and I'm not sure I fully understood it all when the android's makers explained it to me. I think I probably read the wrong books growing up as a kid, or maybe I now watch the wrong TV shows.
I tried to convince the PKD android guys that if they were going to be in the business of making robotic replicas of famous, drugged-out writers, they should also consider offering a Hunter S. Thompson model. That way, at least the Japanese would have a choice of companions. I know if I were Japanese, I'd collect both models and watch them fight over a half gram of mescaline.
On a more serious note, I think the PKD robot would've been a lot cooler and significantly less creepy if they'd have glued his hair on, instead of leaving the wires in the top of his head exposed. But hey, PKD was an odd guy, and maybe he would've wanted it that way.
4. Speaking of the elderly, the senior citizens of the future won't roll around in wheelchairsnot even cool robotic wheelchairs like those invented by Dean Kamen. Instead, they'll have robotic exoskeletons that will make them much stronger and faster than the non-elderly. So in addition to being the largest voting block in future elections, they'll also have superhuman strength and speed. If I were a politician, I'd make sure that the elderly of the future get great healthcare coverage, and I wouldn't even think about doing anything to reduce their social security benefits. You do not want to incur the wrath of our robotically enhanced, geriatric overlords (or their Phillip K. Dick android companions).
5. In the future, most robots will look pretty much like the robots of the future have looked since at least the 1970's. About the only difference is that any antennae attached to a 1970's future robot were spiral shaped and had a tiny ball on the tip. The current thinking is that future robots will have straight antennae with no ball, and maybe a plastic coating instead of just bare wire.
6. Apple's market share doesn't change much in the future. Out of all the computers I saw at the NextFest, only one was a Mac. Sorry Steve, but the people of the future are still using Windows. At least you can gloat that they're all still running Windows 2000. From what I saw, Windows XP never really catches on in the future, and Longhorn is nowhere to be seen at all. I did see a flying car though, and maybe it was running the embedded version of Longhorn.
7. On the weekends, the people of the future will take to the water in dolphin-shaped craft that don't look nearly as much fun to drive as a Seadoo of today. Hey, the future isn't always better than the present. Sometimes we have to settle for less. The good news is that the robotic dolphin is too small to accommodate a human who's equipped with an exoskeleton, which means that if you're being pursued by a senior citizen then you can use the dolphin to escape.
8. Dolphin watercraft aren't the only form of future transportation that's a bit cramped. The electrically powered cars of the future will be quite small. In fact, when I first laid eyes on the tiny DaimlerChrysler two-seaters that GE was exhibiting, I asked the exhibitor if the cars were perhaps meant to be attached to the sides of a larger SUV, in case you run out of gas.
9. Future entertainment will follow the trends that were established with the rise of disco. First, they replaced the live band with a DJ. Next, they'll replace the DJ with a large, floor-mounted robotic arm. Also, the robo-DJs will have numbers instead of names; I asked the exhibitor lady about this. Honestly, it's not even as cool as it sounds. It's also not one of those "you had to be there" things, because I was there and, meh. Vinyl aficionados can rejoice, though, because vinyl records are still around.
10. In a future 9/11-style scenario, where the top of a high-rise building is on fire, a Moller Aircar will rescue the building's inhabitants one at a time. At least, that's how it will be if Moller's combination CGI and live action promotional video is to be believed. I guess future high-rises will house only a handful of highly productive office workers, because you can't save that many people in a two-seater aircar. Or, it may be the case that in the video I saw, only the CEO was saved. The rest of the employees were either burned alive or, more likely, were safe at their desks in Bangladesh. | [
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Video game sales up, but are they at the expense of sports ratings? | Previously, we have reported that kids these days prefer playing video games to taking part in sports. Not really any surprises there when it's 90 ºF outside I'd rather be on the couch with the PS2 or Xbox than whacking a ball with a stick. But according to a report in the New York Times, the video game culture isn't just affecting sports participation. Viewing figures for sporting events are dropping, and video game sales are taking up the slack.
Since 2000, television broadcast ratings for almost all major sports have fallen among male viewers between 12 and 34. Even Nascar, whose ratings have generally been hailed by the industry as healthy, has suffered a modest decline, according to Nielsen Media Research. Over the same period, sales of sports video games in the United States have risen by about 34 percent, to more than $1.2 billion last year from slightly less than $900 million in 2000, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm. Young men are also the core market for video games.
As technology increases to the point where video games are looking more and more realistic, the immersion factor increases, and the ability to take part in the action rather than simply watch it passively is highly appealing. The World Rally Championship, it's popularity boosted in recent years by games such as Colin McRae's Rally, introduced a new telemetry system in recent years, with an eventual goal of allowing game players online to compete virtually against the real stars. Obivously without the risk to life and limb that hurtling through a Swedish forest in the dark entails.
Now, I'm aware that correlation is not the same as causation, and that the decline in sports figures may well have other causes, but there's something tempting about playing as the Chicago Cubs and winning the World Series, rather than have a guy in the stands snatch defeat from the jaws of victory to continue nine decades of heartbreak. And after wasting my time and money at Indianapolis this past weekend, I'd love an opportunity to take to the track in a virtual F1 car, if only to repeatedly run down Max Mosely. | [
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File-sharing suffers major defeat | Millions of people swap music via file-sharing networks
The surprise ruling could start a legal assault on the creators of file-sharing networks such as Grokster and Morpheus.
The case was brought by 28 movie and music makers who claimed that rampant piracy was denting profits.
The Supreme Court judges were expected to rule in favour of the file-sharers because of legal precedents set when video recorders first appeared.
Big win
The unanimous ruling is a victory for recording companies and film studios in what is widely seen as one of the most important copyright cases in years.
Andrew Lack, chief executive of Sony BMG, said his company would pursue those who failed to comply with the law.
"The court made it very clear that we can go after damages and that we can chase them out," Mr Lack told BBC World's World Business Report.
"We will do that if necessary, but my hope is that we will find new bridges to legitimise a lot of services that formerly were confused about what was right and wrong, legal and illegal."
The legal case against Streamcast Networks - which makes the software behind Grokster and Morpheus - began in October 2001 when 28 media companies filed their legal complaint.
The complaint alleged that Streamcast was prospering on the back of the unfettered piracy taking place on the file-sharing networks.
However, the attempts to win damages suffered a series of defeats as successive courts sided with the file-sharing networks. The judges in those lower courts cited a ruling made in 1984 over Sony's Betamax video recorder.
In that case, the Supreme Court said that the majority of people using a video recorder for legal uses outweighed any illegal use of the technology.
In the ruling Justice David Souter wrote: "The question is under what circumstances the distributor of a product capable of both lawful and unlawful use is liable for acts of copyright infringement by third parties using the product."
He added: "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright ... is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties."
Reaction to the ruling was swift.
Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said: "Today's unanimous ruling is an historic victory for intellectual property in the digital age, and is good news for consumers, artists, innovation and lawful Internet businesses."
John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said: "It quite simply destroys the argument that peer-to-peer services bear no responsibility for illegal activities that take place on their networks."
In other decisions on Monday, the Supreme Court:
ruled against the display of the Ten Commandments inside two Kentucky courtrooms but approved a monument to the same in Texas
declined to hear appeals by two US journalists facing a contempt ruling by a lower court over their investigation into an alleged White House intelligence leak
overturned a ruling that cable operators' high-speed internet lines must be opened up to rivals.
One expected announcement that did not appear concerned the retirement of 80-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Justice Rehnquist is suffering from thyroid cancer, breathes through a tracheal tube and struggled to talk during a speech closing the current court term that thanked court workers.
Unseen effects
In its ruling the Supreme Court said there was "substantial evidence" that Streamcast Networks had "induced" people to use its software to illegally share copyrighted files.
It is unclear yet what action this ruling will prompt from movie studios and music makers who brought the original case. It could mean claims for substantial damages from Streamcast or moves to get the file-sharing networks shut down.
It is unclear what effect the ruling will have on use of digital media
He said it would mean that users would have to get used to paying for music.
Michael McGuire, from analyst firm GartnerG2, said: "It's something of a surprise. It will be interesting to see how record labels respond. It could be argued that these peer-to-peer services were the most efficient way to deliver rich media."
The decision could also have an impact on any technology firm developing gadgets or devices that let people enjoy media on the move.
If strictly interpreted the ruling means that these hi-tech firms will have to try to predict the ways people can use these devices to pirate copyrighted media and install controls to stop this infringement.
The ruling could also prompt a re-drafting of copyright laws by the US Congress. | [
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Oilman, investor T. Boone Pickens sees $3 gas, oil shortage | NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Gasoline prices, reversing a two-month slide, are again approaching records and at least one expert thinks they could hit $3 a gallon soon in the United States.
"We'll see it within a year," T. Boone Pickens, head of the billion-dollar hedge fund BP Capital Management, said on CNN's "In The Money" over the weekend.
Pickens noted the discrepancy between $2 a gallon gas in the US and $5 a gallon gas in Europe. "The energy situation is global," he said. "I know there are taxes involved in the pricing...but eventually it's going to have to move up."
Gasoline prices mounted a renewed surge last month, with regular self serve rising 8 cents to average $2.21 a gallon, according to a survey released Sunday. That's just 7 cents below the all-time high set April 8.
Pickens said a shortage of oil is the main reason behind the price increase and didn't see how the world could produce more than the current 84 to 85 million barrels a day that currently comes out of the ground.
"We're coming up on a brick wall," he said. "The fourth quarter this year is going to maybe be the most interesting quarter I've ever experienced in my 50 years in the oil industry."
The fourth quarter typically sees the highest demand for oil as northern countries stock up on heating oil for the winter months.
Oil prices closed at a new record high Friday, with current quarter U.S. crude settling at $59.84 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S. crude was trading above $60 a barrel Monday.
While $60 oil is a record in nominal terms, adjusted for inflation, oil would have traded at over $80 a barrel during the late 1970s.
Pickens said the economy is less dependent on oil today than it was in the 1970s and that it can apparently handle oil in the $50 range, but was unsure what effect $60 or $70 oil would have on future economic growth.
Where is all that oil money going? Click here.
Has OPEC lost its bite? Click here. | [
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Google passes $300 | Shares of the popular search engine pass $300 for the first time and are now up 260% since IPO.
Googly-eyed: Shares of Google have continued to soar since going public last August. More about Google and Net stocks NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Shares of Google, the popular search-engine company, surpassed the $300 level for the first time on Monday, sparking memories of the dot-com stock craze of the late 1990s. Google (Research) gained 2.3 percent to finish at $304.10, slightly below its high for the day of $304.30. The stock has now gained nearly 260 percent since it went public last August at $85 a share. Much of the optimism surrounding Google comes from the fact that it is the leader in the white-hot online advertising industry. The company reported much better than expected sales and earnings for the first quarter, thanks to a booming market for online advertising, particularly ads tied to specific keyword searches. And during the past few weeks, Google has released several new features -- including a desktop search function for businesses and a test version of a personalized home page tool -- that should help the company remain competitive against rivals Yahoo! (Research) and Microsoft (Research). Several analysts have also speculated that Google will soon launch an online payment service that could compete against eBay's (Research) PayPal. In addition, many investors have been betting that the company, which now has a market value of nearly $85 billion, will soon be added to the benchmark S&P 500 index. But the stock's meteoric rise as of late -- shares have surged more than 50 percent since the company reported first-quarter results in mid-April -- has some analysts thinking that the stock could take a hit in the near future. "You might see the stock pause temporarily," said Marianne Wolk, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group. "For the longer term, we're still very bullish but in the very short term it wouldn't be a surprise to see the stock stabilize or pull back." The key for Google will be how strong its second quarter results are. Google is set to report these numbers on July 21. Analysts expect Google's sales, excluding revenues it shares with affiliates, a figure known as traffic acquisition costs or TAC, to come in at $840 million, nearly double last year's levels. Earnings, excluding certain one-time charges, are forecast at $1.21, an increase of 121 percent from a year ago. Wolk thinks that Google should meet these targets but does not believe the company will report results that are significantly better than consensus projections. And if Google does not continue to beat estimates, the stock could take a bath. "For Google to keep heading higher, it's absolutely critical that they keep hitting numbers. Everyone now believes the story," said John Tinker, an analyst with ThinkEquity Partners. Still, many investors are finding it hard to bet against Google because it has been posting extremely strong levels of sales growth and healthy profit margins as a public company. So the comparisons to the late 1990s, when shares of many unprofitable Internet companies soared solely due to hype, may not be apt. To that end, Google is expected to generate nearly $3.6 billion in sales, excluding TAC and revenue of $5 billion next year as the company continues to benefit from a shift of advertising dollars from more mainstream media sources such as television, radio, and newspapers, to the Web. In addition to its ubiquitous search engine, Google has branched out into related areas in order to capitalize on the boom in online advertising. The company has a comparison shopping site, Froogle, a free e-mail service called Gmail which features ads embedded in e-mails, and a local search site that operates as kind of a Web version of the Yellow Pages. Google also has expanded rapidly abroad, with sales from outside the U.S. accounting for nearly 40 percent of total sales in the first quarter. What's more, some argue that Google is not overvalued, since it continues to trade at a discount to its top rival, Yahoo. However, this gap has narrowed significantly as of late. Google's price-to-earnings ratio, based on 2005 earnings estimates, is 58. Yahoo trades at 61.5 times earnings estimates for this year. "Google is not an undiscovered stock any more," said Tinker. "It's no longer inefficiently priced." And Google also potentially faces the issue of the summer sluggishness that typically affects Internet stocks. Last year, shares of several Internet companies plunged in July as results did not live up to lofty expectations. "I'd rather be a little conservative in the face of a seasonal slowdown. It's not worth stepping up to the plate now," said Clayton Moran, an analyst with Stanford Financial Group. "If Google does miss earnings, the stock will pull back a lot more than it will go up if they beat. And if Google is going to miss, it would be the second quarter or third quarter." Is Google still a buy? Click here. For a look at Google and other Internet stocks, click here. Analysts quoted in this story do not own shares of the companies mentioned and their firms have no investment banking ties to the companies. | [
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AMD sues Intel for monopoly abuse | Intel's computer chips are used in the majority of personal computers
The lawsuit covers x86 microprocessors, used to run PC operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Linux systems.
AMD said its lawsuit alleges that Intel has coerced customers away from dealing with AMD, and is based on evidence obtained from 38 companies.
Intel has declined to comment on the lawsuit filed by AMD.
AMD filed its case in a federal court in the US state of Delaware on Monday.
Market dominance
"Everywhere in the world, customers deserve freedom of choice and the benefits of innovation, and these are being stolen away in the microprocessor," said AMD president and chief executive Hector Ruiz.
We are trying to bust open Intel's chokehold over the computer companies
AMD's lawyer Charles Diamond
Intel dominates global sales of x86 microprocessors with 80% of sales by volume and 90% by revenue, according to AMD.
A report on first quarter 2005 microprocessor sales by independent research firm Mercury found Intel had 82% of the PC processor market and AMD had 17%, with VIA and Transmeta mopping up the rest, The Register website reported.
AMD alleges that Intel has used its position to force major customers, such as NEC, Acer and Fujitsu, into exclusive deals or to cap customer purchases of AMD chips.
Its lawsuit quotes then-Compaq chief executive Michael Capellas saying that Intel once withheld delivery of certain chips as punishment for the level of Compaq's business with AMD.
"Saying 'he had a gun to his head', Mr Capellas told AMD he had to stop buying," AMD's statement said.
In another example, AMD quotes Gateway executives who said Intel had "beaten them into 'guacamole'" in retaliation for doing business with AMD.
"We are trying to bust open Intel's chokehold over the computer companies and get the right to compete freely and fairly for every processor they buy," said Charles Diamond, attorney for AMD. | [
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NY unveils revised Freedom Tower | The tower has been redesigned more than once
The Freedom Tower is being built on the site of the Twin Towers destroyed in the 11 September 2001 attacks.
Architects redesigned it after police expressed concern that the 1,776-foot (540-metre) building could be vulnerable to truck bomb attacks.
Under new plans it is further from the road and has a strengthened structure.
The redesign calls for a concrete and steel pedestal, clad in ornamental metalwork, and topped by a tower of glass.
The building is capped with a mast incorporating an antenna, which is meant to evoke the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
"This new design reflects a soaring tribute to freedom and a bedrock commitment to safety and security," New York Governor George Pataki said.
Completion delay
The symbolic height - which in feet refers to the year of the American Declaration of Independence - is one of the few features left from the initial plans.
The building's chief architect said he felt better about the new one than the original.
WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE TIMELINE July 2002: Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) releases six initial design concepts and, in following months, launches global search for design and planning professionals Dec 2002: LMDC releases nine initial designs and launches outreach campaign to engage public in planning process Feb 2003: Memory Foundations by Studio Daniel Libeskind selected as plan Sept 2003: Release of refined master site plan July 2004: The cornerstone of the new building is laid
Libeskind: Visionary architect
The Freedom Tower's cornerstone was laid last July, but an assessment by the New York Police Department urged architects to rethink some elements of its structure.
Police feared it would be difficult to protect the building against a possible truck bomb because of the heavy traffic along nearby West Street.
Under the new plans, the distance from West Street has been increased from 25 feet (7.6 metres) to an average of 90 feet (28 metres), AP reports.
Rows and hitches
The project has been mired in controversy.
Initial designs for a replacement for the World Trade Center were greeted with disappointment by the public.
In 2003 the plan submitted by architect Daniel Libeskind was selected, but the boldness of his original proposals was later toned down.
A lower insurance payout on the Twin Towers than had been expected by the leaseholder further complicated the project.
And victims' relatives argued that construction would damage the foundations of the Twin Towers, which they regard a piece of American history.
The building is due to be completed by the end of the decade.
The skyscraper is planned to be among the tallest buildings in the world. | [
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HIV drug target 'will not be met' | By Karen Allen
BBC News health correspondent
HIV is a major problem in the developing world
World Health Organisation figures reveal just one million people are receiving life saving treatment.
Senior WHO figures say that is double the number who were on drugs when the target was set in December 2003.
But 40 million people are infected with HIV globally, with around six million in the developing world seriously ill.
The challenges in providing sustainable care in resource-poor settings are enormous
Lee Jong-Wook
When the WHO announced the "three by five" target in December 2003 - giving Aids drugs to three million people in the developing world by the end of 2005 - it knew that achieving it would be tough.
At the time just 400,000 people were receiving the drugs.
But with six months to go until the deadline expires, WHO officials are clearly disappointed that more progress has not been made.
They argue that in the past few months there has been a huge escalation in efforts to get medicines to those who need them.
Barriers to access
But obstacles remain. There are not enough single pill versions of drugs, there are very few aids medicines for children and technical problems with supplies persist.
Many countries also lack a co-ordinated strategy to get drugs out and sufficient staff to monitor patients on the treatment.
There has also been a spiralling demand for anti-retorivirals - as more people receive these potentially life-saving drugs, more and more are coming forward for HIV testing.
With the G8 meeting in Gleneagles next week, the WHO is hoping that the $27bn pledged globally for HIV treatment for the period 2005-2007 will be converted into hard cash.
However, aid agencies have warned that only half the money needed to fund HIV treatment this year has been handed over.
And a WHO progress report says an additional $18bn above what has already been pledged will be required, to finance the drugs rollout over the next three years.
WHO Director-general Lee Jong-Wook said: "This is the first time that complex therapy for a chronic condition has been introduced at anything approaching this scale in the developing world.
"The challenges in providing sustainable care in resource-poor settings are enormous, as we expected them to be.
"But every day demonstrates that this type of care can and must be provided."
UK position
The British government has already pledged to ensure there is universal access to treatment by 2010.
That would mean delivering drugs to 6 million people - double the WHO target.
Gareth Thomas, a minister at the Department for International Development said the UK had played a leading role in rolling out treatments that had probably resulted in 500,000 deaths being averted this year alone.
"As the WHO acknowledge, substantial progress is being made in expanding access to treatment.
"However, we have introduced these treatments from a standing start in many countries that lack facilities and staff.
"We have been urging donors across the world to take a comprehensive response on Aids.
"One that invests in wider health systems, in order to get the medical staff and facilities that makes it possible to prevent and treat Aids.
"We need the drugs but we also need the staff to diagnose patients; test people for drug resistance and undertake extensive prevention work." | [
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News & Media | During Friday’s Board of Visitors meeting, William & Mary’s rector and president announced a path forward to rebuild trust and open dialogue with the community following the recent announcement to eliminate seven varsity sports programs.
The funds, along with a bridge grant of $50,000, will establish permanent support for the Osher Institute at William & Mary.
Construction on William & Mary’s new performing arts facilities is continuing this fall after being delayed early in the calendar year due to unforeseen increases in construction costs.
W&M board approves principles for naming, renaming campus spaces William & Mary’s Board of Visitors today adopted a set of principles and imperatives for the naming and renaming of structures and spaces on campus.
W&M alumni adjusting to remote teaching in special education classes As the pandemic continues, teachers across the country — at all levels — are conducting their classrooms online. For those who work in special education, it’s been particularly challenging.
From students to faculty: Alumni use their W&M experiences to teach the next generation What’s it like to see William & Mary from both sides of the classroom — as a student and then as a faculty member? We spoke with alumni faculty members to see what it's like to come full circle.
W&M to hold virtual Homecoming this October What’s Homecoming without, well, coming home to campus? It’s a new opportunity to bring the beloved tradition directly to the William & Mary community, wherever that community may be.
Duke Award winner Kathleen Morgan ‘knows her stuff,’ and it shows Morgan, W&M's associate director for faculty personnel services in Arts & Sciences, received the Charles and Virginia Duke Award, which honors exemplary service to the university by someone who is not a student or instructional faculty member.
Polling during a pandemic: Pollsters face many unknowns heading into presidential election W&M Assistant Professor Mackenzie Israel-Trummel, who teaches a course on survey and polling analysis, says predicting the election outcome could be difficult under current circumstances.
Swem relocates collection to expand study space An expanded first-floor study area at Swem Library will provide ample study space for students, even under current physical distancing guidelines.
W&M’s undergraduate teaching lauded by U.S. News William & Mary offers some of the most exceptional undergraduate teaching in the country and boasts a higher alumni giving rate than any other public university, according to a report released today by U.S. News and World Report.
Shoulder cams, computerized explosions: How to teach labs during a pandemic William & Mary’s STEM faculty across several departments have some up with a variety of creative — and even ingenuous — solutions to conducting lab sections in a pandemic.
Exploring the use of deceptive technology in the U.S. and abroad In her award-winning paper, W&M student Megan Hogan ’21 examines the use of deepfake technology as a form of national defense. Now she plans to combat disinformation during the 2020 Presidential election.
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Roddick, at 22, Aims to Show That He Can Still Be a Factor | All England Club officials have taken time to explain their rationale to Hewitt, but he has made it clear that his seeding rankles and that he would have preferred to face Federer in the final.
"It's a strange situation," Hewitt said. "I don't know how many times it would have happened that the top two ranked players would be playing in a semifinal in a Slam."
But though Roddick drew the longer straw, he will not be an overwhelming favorite in his semifinal. Unlike the other semifinalists, Johansson, the unpretentious Swede, is no international celebrity, but he is, like the other semifinalists, a Grand Slam champion, having won the 2002 Australian Open. A knee injury kept him from building on that breakthrough and forced him to miss the entire 2003 season. Despite his remarkable serve, fine returns and compact strokes, he had never before made it past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. But he has won minor grass-court tournaments in Halle, Germany, and Nottingham, England.
"A lot of people, they say this is just once in a lifetime," Johansson said of his surprise Australian Open victory, in which he outplayed Marat Safin in the final. "I did not feel like that, because I've been in the quarterfinal of the U.S. Open twice, and I've been a top 10 before. I know that when I play my best tennis, I can compete with the big boys."
Considering that Johansson is 30 and Roddick is still 22, he is more the man among the big boys, but both generations have the same objective: a second major title. Roddick won his at the 2003 United States Open, but has not been past the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam event since Wimbledon last year.
"I think obviously to win Wimbledon is a big thing," Goldfine said. "But I think also everything that has been kind of written: What's wrong with Andy Roddick? Is he just a one-Slam wonder? All that stuff, he wants to prove everyone wrong.
"He's definitely lost some close matches, so I think you understand why some of the things have been written. But that being said, I don't think that it is the case, and he obviously doesn't think that's the case, so now it's just a matter of proving it." | [
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Taser controversy refuses to die | By Matthew Davis
BBC News, Washington
With electronic stun guns now being used by a growing number of UK police forces, BBC News examines the controversy in North America, where a series of deaths have put Tasers under fresh scrutiny.
Robert Bagnell died after police shocked him with 50,000 volts
When Robert Bagnell died in Canada last June, his family were told he had suffered a probable cocaine overdose.
The truth emerged in fits and starts, however. They eventually learned that police had jolted him with 50,000 volts of electricity from a Taser gun.
Officers said they had to subdue Mr Bagnell to save him from a fire.
But a year on, questions over his death are still unanswered, while concerns over the safety of stun guns refuse to go away.
The "less-than-lethal" weapons have been involved in 74 deaths in the United States and Canada, according to Amnesty International.
These reports clearly indicate that the Taser technology, while not risk-free, is among the safest use-of-force options our law enforcement officers have
Rick Smith
Taser International Potomac Institute Stun Gun Report in full Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here
It also claims Tasers have been used gratuitously - against children or the elderly or on people posing no real threat.
In a sign of mounting concern over the effects of the weapons, Chicago police halted deployment of Tasers in February after a teenager suffered cardiac arrest and a man died after being stunned.
For Patti Gillman - Robert Bagnell's sister - too many mistakes are being made.
"It is far more than a coincidence that my brother was shot by a Taser, then died of a heart failure.
"We believe he was having a seizure at the time police stunned him. But he was unarmed, not posing a threat.
"The first response should have been medical attention, not assaulting him with a weapon."
Vancouver police say they are still awaiting a final report into the death, but believe stun guns are safe to use.
Tasers 'relatively safe'
The widely used M26 Taser gun delivers a 50,000-volt shock through two barbed darts, which incapacitate people for five seconds.
The effects of the Taser gun are felt by officers training with it
Rick Smith, CEO of Taser International, says that while it is "not risk-free" it is "among the safest use-of-force options our law enforcement officers have".
He blames Amnesty's report for a downturn in business which has seen Taser's stock lose more than 60% of its value in the first quarter of this year, wiping $1.4bn off its market value.
In a statement he said: "Anyone living in the real world in which law enforcement officers worldwide have to make split-second life or death decisions knows that Amnesty International's report and position is out of step with the needs of law enforcement concerning our proven life-saving technology."
A report in March by the US Potomac Institute for Policy Studies said current research suggested stun guns were "relatively safe" when used appropriately.
It noted that in all the cases in the Amnesty report, other factors like drug use and pre-existing heart conditions could also have led to the deaths.
But the institute called for more research, particularly in understanding exactly how the weapons work on the body - and what the long-term side effects could be.
'Learn from mistakes'
Meanwhile, the US National Institute of Justice (NIJ)is funding several studies in to what is describes as "less lethal weapons issues".
I hope the British police, having given Canada and the US a bit of a head start, will tread carefully and learn from our mistakes
Patti Gillman
Q&A: The stun gun
Last September it gave a $490,000 grant to the University of Wisconsin to study the effects of electro-muscular devices and how electrical currents move through the body.
It is also funding a International Association of Chiefs of Police study on best practice in use of the weapons.
The moves come as a number of UK police forces - where officers are not routinely armed - are embracing the weapons.
In May, a Police Review survey of 100 officers found 80% thought that all officers on frontline duties should be issued with stun guns.
More than half the public also want to see Tasers being deployed, according to the magazine, which polled 1,000 citizens.
The UK Home Office believes Tasers are safe to use, but says their use should be restricted to firearms-trained officers.
Patti Gillman, still searching for answers on her brother's death, sounded a cautionary note.
"The Taser issue is controversial in Canada only in certain circles, but is mostly ignored by the mainstream public," she said.
"But I suppose it's only background noise to most, until it enters your life as it did ours.
"I hope the British police, having given Canada and the US a bit of a head start, will tread carefully and learn from our mistakes." | [
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Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique? | Political connections and family control are more common in Asian businesses than in the United States. In addition, says HBS professor D. Quinn Mills, American CEOs tend to use one of five leadership styles: directive, participative, empowering, charismatic, or celebrity. Which styles have Asian business leaders adopted already, and which styles are likely to be most successful in the future?
In a talk in Kuala Lumpur on June 15 at the invitation of The Star/BizWeek publication and the Harvard Club of Malaysia, Mills explained the differences and similarities between American and Asian leadership. Below is the transcript of his talk, "Leadership Styles in the United States: How Different are They from Asia?"
The rapid economic development of Asia in recent decades is one of the most important events in history. This development continues today and there is every reason to anticipate that it will continue indefinitely unless derailed by possible but unlikely international conflicts. At the core of Asian economic development is its business leadership—managers and entrepreneurs who sustain and create Asian companies. Do they exhibit the same leadership styles as top executives in the West?
There are important differences. Are differences attributable to different cultures or to different stages of corporate development?
But first, what are we talking about?
Roles in organizations involve more than just leadership. It is useful, but not yet common in our literature and discussion of business, to distinguish among leadership, management, and administration. They are in fact very different; each is valuable and has its place. Briefly, leadership is about a vision of the future and the ability to energize others to pursue it. Management is about getting results and doing so efficiently so that a financial profit or surplus is created. Administration is about rules and procedures and whether or not they are being followed. These distinctions are very important to clear communications among us about how organizations are run—when they are not made, we become very confused, as is much of the discussion around our topic.
Briefly, running an organization effectively involves:
Leadership:
Vision
Energizing
Vision Energizing Management:
Efficiency
Results
Efficiency Results Administration:
Rules
Procedures
Our focus today is on leadership: how an executive sets direction and energizes his organization to pursue the direction. This is appropriate because managerial techniques are being spread fast by imitation, adoption, and MBA education. Administrative techniques were generalized around the world decades ago. So what is much different now is leadership.
Family And Political Connections
Cultural differences are important, but primarily as a matter of emphasis. For example, family leadership of business enterprises, including large companies, occurs in very similar ways in both [regions], but is more common in Asia.
Li Ka-shing [of the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong holding group], for example, runs his companies closely and is planning to pass the leadership of his firms to his two sons. Similarly, the heads of some of America's largest firms, both publicly held and private, are the scions of the families that founded the firms.
There is less freedom of action for executives and boards in America than in Asia.
But more common in America are firms that are run by professional managers who are replaced by other professional managers, either as a consequence of retirement or of replacement by the board of directors of the firm. The better companies have sophisticated programs for developing executives within the firm, and ordinarily choose a next chief executive officer from among them. American CEOs average about thirty years with their firms and own less than 4 percent of its shares. There is a small number of firms, which get a great deal of publicity and so seem more numerous than they are, that hire CEOs directly from the outside, with no previous experience with the firm. These CEOs are driven by a need to excel in a competitive environment (they want to win), and they insist that money is less important to them than professional achievement; but it's hard to credit that given the enormous inflation of top executive compensation packages in America in the last decade.
Many American firms, especially most of the large ones, are more dependent on capital markets for their capital (equity and debt) and so pay much more attention to Wall Street than is yet common in Asia. Wall Street has strong expectations about the behavior and performance of executives and about succession. There is less freedom of action for executives and boards in America than in Asia.
In Asia, succession usually is passed on to the siblings. In Li's case, he is handing it to his two sons, while Jack Welch developed a talent machine to groom CEOs for General Electric.
To a significant degree, large American firms are at a later stage of development than many Asian firms—they have passed from founders' family leadership to professional management and to capital obtained from the capital markets (rather than obtained from government—directly or indirectly—or from family fortunes). In this transition they have adopted particular styles of leadership responsive to boards (often led by outside directors) and to Wall Street.
It is possible, but not certain, that Asian firms will follow this evolutionary path. The political connections so important for top business leaders in Asia, whether in democracies or one-party states, are not unknown but are much less important in America. It is a characteristic of Asian top executives that they have such connections that are important to their businesses. In America, the chief executive officers of very large firms often have virtually no direct connections to top politicians—the government is treated at arm's length and business is done by business people. There are, of course, exceptions, and deep political involvement is still a route to business success in America, but it is much less common than in Asia.
Leadership Styles In America
Leadership styles are more varied in America today than in Asia. In America there are five:
Directive
Participative
Empowering
Charismatic
Celebrity (superstar)
The first four reflect how an executive deals with subordinates in the company; the final one is directed at people outside the firm.
Directive leadership is well known in America, but is declining in frequency. It stresses the direction given by executives to others in the firms. The leader is very much in charge. This style is very common in Asia.
Participative leadership, which involves close teamwork with others, is more common in Europe, where it is sometimes required by law (as in northern Europe, especially Germany) than in America. It is also common in a variant colored by national cultural norms, [as] in Japan.
Empowering leadership is relatively new, and stresses delegation of responsibility to subordinates. American companies that operate with largely autonomous divisions employ this style of leadership. A few younger Asian business leaders now espouse this style (for example, the CEO of Banyan Tree Resorts).
At the core of empowering leadership is the ability to energize the people in a company. Jack Welch commented, "You may be a great manager, but unless you can energize other people, you are of no value to General Electric as a leader." Energizing others is the core of the new leadership in America.
Adaptability is ... less common and less valued in Asia and Europe. It will be needed everywhere soon enough.
Charismatic leadership is the leader who looks like a leader. People follow such a leader because of who he is, not because of good management or even business success; nor because [the people] are offered participation, partnership, or empowerment. Human magnetism is the thing, and it is very different in different national cultures. What looks like a charismatic leader to Americans may appear to be something very different to people from other societies.
Celebrity leadership is very different. It looks outside the company to the impact on others—customers and investors. The CEO becomes a star and is sought after by the media like a screen star. Ordinarily it requires good looks, a dramatic style, and an ability to deal effectively with the media. It is in a bit of a slump in the United States right now due to the corporate financial reporting scandals, which have focused attention on CEOs with the ability to get things done right in the company; but celebrity leadership will make a recovery. Boards looking for top executives to revitalize a firm look for superstars; they seek outgoing personalities.
Corporate governance in the West means oversight from regulators, boards of directors, even institutional shareholders. While Asia now has most of these institutions, they are ordinarily not as well established and not as significant in the minds of top executives. Asia is bedeviled by official corruption that reaches far into business. America has less of this, but has in its place considerable financial reporting fraud. Both are very dangerous to the economic success of the nations involved. Graft tends to destroy an economy first by undermining the trust that is required for transactions to occur, and by distorting the economic calculus that underlies sensible business decisions. As it continues, graft destroys the national political entity. Long-established graft is a way of life that is very hard to root out. Politicians promise to eliminate it, but are unable or unwilling to do so.
The role models available for business leadership in the different regions of the world are significant. In America, with its longstanding experience with professional business leadership, the most readily available role model for the head of a company is the corporate CEO. In China and Chinese-related businesses it is the head of the family. In France it remains the military general. In Japan it is the consensus builder. In Germany today it is the coalition builder.
There are nine key qualities that research shows people seek in a successful leader:
Passion
Decisiveness
Conviction
Integrity
Adaptability
Emotional Toughness
Emotional Resonance
Self-Knowledge
Humility
The emotionalism that goes with passion is more common in America than elsewhere. Europeans see it as a sort of business evangelicalism and are very suspicious of it. Decisiveness is common to effective executives in all countries: In this regard European and Japanese chief executives are the most consensus-oriented, and Chinese and American top executives are more likely to make decisions personally and with their own accountability.
Conviction is common to all.
Integrity is a complex characteristic very much determined by national cultures. What is honest in one society is not in another, and vice versa.
Adaptability is a pronounced characteristic of American leadership generally. It is less common and less valued in Asia and Europe. It will be needed everywhere soon enough.
Emotional toughness is common to all top executives; Americans spend more time trying not to show it.
Deep political involvement is still a route to business success in America, but it is much less common than in Asia.
Emotional resonance, the ability to grasp what motivates others and appeal effectively to it, is most important in the United States and Europe at this point in time. It will become more important in Asia as living standards improve, knowledge workers become more important, professional management gets greater demand, and CEOs have to compete for managerial talent.
Self-knowledge is important in avoiding the sort of over-reach so common in America; it is less common a virtue in America than in Asia, and is a strength of the Asian executive.
Humility is a very uncommon trait in the American CEO. It is sometimes found in Asia. It is often a trait of the most effective leaders, as it was in the best-respected of all American political leaders, Abraham Lincoln. Once, when the Civil War was not going well for the Union side, a high-ranking general suggested that the nation needed to get rid of Lincoln and have a dictatorship instead. The comment came to Lincoln's ears. Lincoln promoted the general to the top command in the army anyway and told him, "I am appointing you to command despite, not because, of what you said. Bring us victories, and I'll risk the dictatorship."
What's Next For Asia
The "New Asian Leader"? There are three prototypes:
1) Li Ka-shing of Hutchison Whampoa-Cheung Kong: old Chinese leadership in transition like Li Ka-shing. Rags-to-riches in one generation; handing over his business empire to his two sons who are Western-trained. There are many such examples in Asia. Li Ka-shing is in different areas of business—telecommunications, security, and high-end IT—and is very interested in becoming a contractor in the emerging homeland security construct in America. With Li Ka-shing, the threat to success is his reliance on an international concern to be a significant contractor in the establishment of the U.S. homeland security hierarchy. Li's personal story is an amazing tale of success. After the death of his father, Li—at age twelve—went to work in a plastics factory. Within a decade he started his own plastics company, which he later leveraged into a real estate and investment concern. It then was an early entrant into China's telecom and IT wave of the early 1990s, and became a market leader.
Li is a man who seeks to establish a positive legacy. He created a foundation in 1980 to help young Chinese students have the educational and other opportunities he had to make for himself at age twelve. He also started his own university, Shantou University, in 1981, with a similar purpose.
2) William and Victor Fung of Li & Fung: old traditional Chinese family-owned companies now run by the third generation of the family, Western- and highly-educated, who use Western technology extensively to face globalization and succeed. Very much Western-centric in approach yet Asian in practice, the Fungs of Li & Fung have mastered techniques of getting maximum efficiency out of the supply chain, taking raw materials and making low-cost, high-demand consumer goods, particularly clothing, much more cheaply than in the United States.
What the Fungs have accomplished is similar to what Japanese automakers accomplished a generation ago. By strictly adhering to principles of quality control—principles that were espoused by American business consultant Edward Deming—Nissan and Toyota made cheaper, better cars than the Americans did, eventually causing the big three U.S. automakers to follow suit. William and Victor Fung are interested in being business consultants, teaching others how to do what they've done. Both men are Harvard-educated and have a desire to be open and forthcoming about their business model.
As Asian companies seek access to world capital markets, they will move toward professional managers who will employ leadership styles more akin to those now used in the United States.
The main threats with Li & Fung are these: driving down labor costs, and concerns about relying on suppliers who potentially abuse the human rights of workers or pay less than a standard living wage. Victor and William Fung are the new type of Asian leaders—will they soon be the only type?
3) New Economy business leaders. Information technology and the Internet are bringing out a high-tech type of leadership that is common in America's high-tech sector. Entrepreneurial, innovative, hard-driving, very flexible, ambitious, optimistic, visionary in the technology and business aspects, they will play a good, but not dominant role. N. R. Narayana Murthy of India's Infosys and Stan Shih of Acer are good examples. They have adopted an almost entirely Western style of leadership and are succeeding in Asia.
What is the conclusion? Styles of leadership are currently different between Asia and America. Culture colors the way things are done, but less so what is done. The differences in styles most markedly reflect the stage of development of the economies and companies of Asia. As Asian companies seek access to world capital markets, they will move toward professional managers who will employ leadership styles more akin to those now used in the United States.
As Asian companies rely more on professional employees of all sorts, and as professional services become more important in Asian economies, the less autocratic and more participative and even empowered style of leadership will emerge. Asian leadership will come to more resemble that of the West. But significant cultural differences will remain—economic and geopolitical rivalries within Asia and between Asian countries and the West will continue and perhaps grow. Economies will retain characteristic national features. Convergence in a leadership style does not guarantee likeness of results nor even peace. We will continue to have to work for economic progress and peace; it will not come automatically. | [
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DJ admits false tale about missing teen | DJ admits false tale about missing teen Aruba prosecutor says judge told son: No body, no case RELATED YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Aruba Missing Persons or or Create Your Own PALM BEACH, Aruba (CNN) -- A disc jockey who spent 10 days in jail after being arrested and questioned about a missing American teenager admits he lied to Aruban police to protect one of the suspects in custody. "I heard this guy talking on the phone at the Internet cafe," Steve Croes said. "So my story was like almost exactly as his." Croes was referring to Deepak Kalpoe, 21, who originally said he and his brother Satish, 18, and their friend Joran Van Der Sloot, 17, drove Natalee Holloway back to the Holiday Inn the night of May 30. Croes told police he saw the young men drop Holloway off at the hotel. "So that's why they thought that maybe I was in it," Croes told CNN Wednesday. "But everything that I knew, I just hear it from his voice, when he was talking on the phone." Croes works on a party boat that docks about 1,000 feet from the Holiday Inn where Holloway was staying when she disappeared. The Kalpoes later said they dropped Joran and Natalee off at a beach down the road. When she disappeared, the 18 year old was celebrating her high school graduation in Aruba with about 100 classmates and several parent chaperones from Mountain Brook, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. She was last seen leaving a nightclub with the Kalpoe brothers and Van Der Sloot. They were arrested on June 9 and have been detained since. No charges have been filed against the three, and their attorneys have said the men are innocent. Police released Croes Monday after a judge ruled there was not enough evidence to hold him. The DJ was arrested June 17 after at least one of the three still being held named him during questioning by authorities, officials said. A hearing is scheduled early next week to determine whether the Kalpoe brothers and Van Der Sloot can be held for 60 more days. Prosecutor: Van Der Sloots interfered Judge Paul Van Der Sloot, Joran's father, was arrested a week ago, but was released a few days later. Aruba's chief prosecutor Karin Janssen told CNN Wednesday the elder Van Der Sloot told his son that without a body police would have no case. Janssen said the judge made the comment "some days after" Holloway disappeared in a conversation with his son and the Kalpoes. Investigators learned about his conversation with the three during questioning of one of the Kalpoe brothers, Janssen said, and when asked about the comment, the judge replied that he had been speaking about such a situation "generally." In addition, he and his wife, Anita, interfered in the case by asking a friend of their son what he had told police during questioning, Janssen said. "That was not positive to the investigation," she said. CNN has tried unsuccessfully to contact the couple and attorneys representing the father and son. The release of the elder Van Der Sloot was met with chagrin by Holloway's family. "He definitely, definitely has information that he needs to step forward and be the man that he is and disclose that information," Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty, told CNN. Janssen said criticism of the way Aruban authorities have handled the case "is not justified." "We have a civilized society. We have a decent law system. We can't book people when we want ... [like] a bunch of cowboys," she said. "We have made some progress, and we are doing it in our way. It is maybe not fast enough for a lot of people, but it is no grounds to have such criticism." The legal system in Aruba, an autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is based partly on Dutch civil law. Janssen said she thinks island police "are doing a hell of a job." The prosecutor said the investigation is being conducted around the three suspects in custody, "so we get a clear picture of where they were, and what has happened, and what happened to Natalee." She described the process as "millimeter work" going on "around the clock." "It's a real puzzle, but we are getting the picture of the puzzle, I think," she said. Janssen said authorities in Aruba are working Holloway's disappearance as a missing person's case with the possibility of murder, although they have not definitively concluded that the teen is dead. Mother: Time wasted Twitty, however, wonders how much time investigators lost checking out Croes' story. "I think that's sad for him if that's how it truly happened," she said. "I just don't want to waste any more ... energy or focus on the wrong individuals." Croes said he lied to police because he thought he was helping Deepak stay out of trouble. "If you were sitting in the cafe and heard the guy, you'd think he was telling the truth, too," Croes said. Aruba on Thursday was awaiting the deployment of another contingent of Dutch Marines to assist with the search for Holloway. The Netherlands agreed Wednesday to assign the Marines to the search, joining several hundred others stationed on the island who have been looking. Also scouring the island is a team of search specialists that arrived last weekend. The volunteer group, Texas EquuSearch, has sent some searchers home, as well as several cadaver dogs, but expects to have new volunteers arrive to continue the search. CNN's Chris Lawrence, Alex Quade and Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more. Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.
Area of Practice Divorce Family Law Criminal Law Bankruptcy Immigration Real Estate Personal Injury Medical Malpractice Wills and Probate Employment Law Business Law Civil Rights Child Custody Intellectual Property Automobile Accidents General Practice Other
City: State AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA GU HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY --- AB BC MB NB NF NS NW ON PE QU SK YT | [
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Bank of America to buy credit card issuer MBNA for $35B | No. 3 bank to buy MBNA, creating the nation's largest credit card issuer; 6,000 jobs to be cut.
Video More video Bank of America is buying credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion. CNN's Andy Serwer reports. Play video
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Bank of America, betting that financial "supermarkets" are the future despite recent skepticism, announced Thursday that it will buy credit card giant MBNA Corp. for $35 billion. The cash-and-stock deal would make Bank of America (Research), already the nation's third-biggest bank, also the largest credit card issuer in the country, with 40 million active accounts containing $143 billion in outstanding balances. The Charlotte, N.C.-based financial services giant ranked fourth in the card business at the end of 2004, according to CardWeb.com. Bank of America plans to eliminate 6,000 jobs once the merger is done. Subject to regulatory and MBNA shareholder approval, the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. (To read about how the deal will affect cardholders, click here.) The banking behemoth has long had a voracious appetite for adding customers through acquisitions. Two weeks ago, Bank of America took a $3 billion stake in a Chinese bank. It spent last year digesting FleetBoston Financial as part of a takeover valued at $47 billion on the day it was announced. Even so, the Bank of America deal caught Wall Street off guard. Bank of America stock fell on the news, trading down throughout Thursday's session. MBNA shares jumped about 25 percent on the news. Art Hogan, the chief market analyst at Jeffries & Co., said Wall Street's reaction reflected the fact that the 31 percent premium that Bank of America is paying for MBNA "hasn't been baked into the market yet." The deal values MBNA at $27.62 a share, or about $35 billion based on Wednesday's closing prices. Under deal terms, MBNA shareholders will receive $4.125 in cash and 0.5009 shares of Bank of America common stock for each of their shares. That would be a 31 percent premium above Wednesday's $21.07 close for MBNA. "It's obviously a very rich price," said Richard Bove, an analyst with Punk, Ziegel & Co. But he said the deal makes sense for Bank of America, whose yields on mortgage loans have flattened in the face of low interest rates. "If you have a portfolio filled with mortgages, you have a real problem in that you've got to get higher yields," he said. "Even though they paid a rich price, it makes sense from a balance-sheet standpoint." Besides, he said, Bank of America is known to pay high premiums for companies and then "slash and burn" costs to get deals to work. Motives aside, Bove and Hogan agreed that the MBNA sale sends one strong signal: that the heavily hyped concept of one-stop shopping for consumers is "alive and well" in financial services. Recent moves by rivals, including steps by Citigroup to shed some consumer businesses and Morgan Stanley to explore spinning off its Discover credit card unit, had called that vision into question. At the same time there have been other deals in the credit card business. Washington Mutual, the nation's biggest savings and loan, announced one early this month for Providian Financial, one of the largest independent credit card companies, for about $6.5 billion in cash and stock. Some analysts had said the Providian deal would make Washington Mutual, long the subject of takeover rumors, too large to be acquired. But the Bank of America-MBNA deal signals that Washington Mutual could still be in play, said Hogan, who sees further consolidation in the industry. "When you see a deal of this size, obviously (Washington Mutual) is still acquirable," said Hogan. What does 1 + 1 equal? At an analyst meeting after announcement, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis and MBNA CEO Bruce Hammonds faced some skepticism about the deal and whether it would benefit shareholders in the long run. About 22 percent of the combined company's customer base already consists of MBNA and Bank of America cardholders. What's more, MBNA has approximately $15 billion in credit card receivables through partnerships with 350 financial institutions. The Bank of America deal turns MBNA into a direct competitor of its current partners. Bank of America management told analysts that they expect to lose some business as a result, leading to a 7 percent drop in revenues by 2009. They declined to discuss specific partnerships, including a major one that MBNA has with American Express. Instead, Lewis and Hammonds touted the benefits of the deal. Lewis said MBNA adds to Bank of America business lines that are less prone to market conditions. He also made it clear that he considers MBNA's marketing muscle to be just as valuable as its credit card accounts. MBNA sells its credit cards through partnerships with 5,000 professional organizations, universities, sports teams and other financial institutions. MBNA, continued Lewis, also gives Bank of America access to credit card customers in the mid- and upper Midwest and a handful of overseas locations, including the United Kingdom and Spain. Lewis said MBNA's forays abroad, especially its success in Great Britain, "opens up a whole new thought process for us." For its part, MBNA has been trying diversify into new products and expand abroad in the face of sluggish top line growth, according to Hammonds. The Wilmington, Del.-based company reported in April a 94 percent drop in first-quarter earnings due to higher-than-expected payment volumes and a restructuring charge. MBNA also issued a profit warning. Bank of America promises a level of consumer access that it can't get on its own, said Hammonds, who would become CEO of Bank of America's credit card division, to be headquartered in Delaware. Direct marketing "doesn't work as well anymore," he said. And neither does telemarketing because of do-not-call lists. Hammonds, who was involved in a harrowing helicopter crash in New York City this month, said Bank of America also gives MBNA a foothold in a market that so far the company has been unable to crack: China. On June 16, Bank of America announced that it had bought a 9 percent stake in China Construction Bank, the country's second-largest commercial bank. Bank of America has the option to increase its stake in coming years. "We've been unable to forge the right kind of relationships (necessary to enter the Chinese market)," said Hammonds. The fact that China lacks the sophisticated consumer credit databases that exist in the United States doesn't dampen Hammonds' enthusiasm. "We can use our old-fashioned judgmental lending," said Hammonds. For the latest on Bank of America and other Fortune 500 companies, click here. | [
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Time Inc. to Yield Files on Sources, Relenting to U.S. | The case represents the starkest confrontation between the press and the government since 1971, when the Supreme Court refused to stop The Times and The Washington Post from publishing a classified history of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers. And legal experts said yesterday that they knew of no other instance in modern journalistic history in which a major news organization announced that it would disclose the identities of its confidential sources in response to a government subpoena.
The press has traditionally argued that it needs to be able to protect confidential sources to ensure that the public is fully informed. Some courts have recently rejected that position outright. Other have said that the interest in the flow of information to the public in given cases was outweighed by the needs of the judicial system for evidence.
On Wednesday, Judge Thomas F. Hogan of Federal District Court in Washington said he would order the reporters jailed for up to 120 days if they did not agree to testify before the grand jury in the meantime. He also said he would impose substantial fines on the magazine.
The magazine made its decision over the objections of its reporter.
"For almost two years," Mr. Cooper said yesterday, "I've protected my confidential sources even under the threat of jail. So while I understand Time's decision to turn over papers that identify my sources, I'm obviously disappointed by what they chose."
The documents to be turned over to the special prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, include Mr. Cooper's notes of interviews and "the ordinary work product that is typical of the interaction that takes place between reporters and editors," Mr. Pearlstine said. He said Time had not decided how the transfer would happen but said the documents would not be made public by Time. | [
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How to Make Your Own Herbes de Provence Blend | Herbes de Provence, an essential component of French and Mediterranean cooking, is a mixture of dried herbs that adds a distinctive flavor to dishes such as chicken, roasted vegetables, grilled fish, salads, tomato-based soups, and stews like ratatouille.
Herbes de Provence originated in the southeastern region of France, where summertime herbs are plentiful and used in daily cooking. But it only became familiar in America during the 1970s, after Julia Child began teaching home chefs around the world about French cooking. At this time, commercial varieties of the mixture began popping up in grocery stores, making the herb mixture more accessible. While you can purchase herbes de Provence in most supermarkets, it's just as easy to make your own. Plus, you can adjust the amounts and ingredients according to personal taste.
There are many herbs (and spices) that can collectively be called herbes de Provence, but the basic recipe includes fennel, marjoram, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, and thyme. Other recipes include (or omit) basil, bay leaves, savory, chervil, sage, oregano, mint, and lavender. | [
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Microsoft to Pay I.B.M. $775 Million to Settle Antitrust Claims | Microsoft said today that it would pay I.B.M., which it displaced as the world's premier technology purveyor, $775 million to settle a number of outstanding antitrust claims.
The settlement stems from the Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft in the mid-1990's, in which Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson found the giant software company's practices harmed the International Business Machines Corporation, based in Armonk, N.Y. That case was settled in 2001.
Under the agreement announced today, I.B.M. will also receive a $75 million credit toward using Microsoft software. It is the latest, and one of the largest, in a string of antitrust settlements totaling more than $3 billion between Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., and its rivals. In April, Microsoft said it would pay Gateway $150 million. Last year, it agreed to pay Sun Microsystems $1.6 billion, Microsoft's largest such payout.
I.B.M. and Microsoft, which issued a joint statement today, came to an agreement just weeks before a deal to extend the statute of limitations on the claims was to expire in July. The companies said they had been negotiating for the last two months. | [
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O'Connor, First Woman on High Court, Resigns After 24 Years | WASHINGTON, July 1 - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court and a crucial swing vote on abortion and a host of other divisive social issues, announced today that she was resigning, setting up what is sure to be a tumultuous fight over confirming her successor.
After months in which speculation about the Supreme Court focused on the likelihood of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's stepping down, the resignation of Justice O'Connor, 75, caught much of Washington, including the White House and her own colleagues on the court, off guard. Even so, the armies of ideological activists from both sides who had massed in anticipation of a battle over replacing the chief justice, a reliable conservative, quickly pivoted to what they agreed was an even higher-stakes showdown for control of a seat that could alter the court's balance on an array of polarizing topics.
Justice O'Connor's decision creates the first vacancy on the court in 11 years, ending the longest period without a change in the line-up of justices in almost two centuries, and it provides President Bush with his first opportunity to name a Supreme Court justice. The chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said the president would not make a selection until after returning from a summit meeting next week in Scotland.
It is still not clear whether Chief Justice Rehnquist, who is battling thyroid cancer, will step down this summer, creating another vacancy and expanding the confirmation battle to two fronts. | [
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100 million go online in China | Millions of Chinese go online via internet cafes
Only the US now has more web surfers as young and old Chinese take to the internet in record numbers.
The figure is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years.
China's economic boom is behind the dramatic rise as increasing personal wealth means more people are able to buy computers and go online.
Great Firewall
But the Chinese authorities are less in love with the net. The government regularly tries to block access to material it considers pornographic or politically subversive.
Only last week, the authorities threatened to shut down websites and blogs that failed to register with regulators in a new campaign to tighten controls on what the public can see online.
The so-called Great Firewall of China is constantly being breached as citizens and the authorities play a cat and mouse game with the flow of information.
Of the 100 million net users, about 30 million have broadband.
Mobile phone usage is also on the rise, gaining about 60 million new users each year.
There are now 358 million mobile phone users in China and it makes up 44.6% of China's telecom business. | [
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Bnoopy: It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur | « Personal - Joining the EFF Board | Main
June 29, 2005
It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur
There’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur because it’s never been cheaper to be one. Here’s one example.
Excite.com took $3,000,000 to get from idea to launch. JotSpot took $100,000.
Why on earth is there a 30X difference? There’s probably a lot of reasons, but here are my top four. I’m interested in hearing about what other people think are factors as well.
Hardware is 100X cheaper
In the 10 years between Excite and JotSpot, hardware has literally become 100X cheaper. It’s two factors – Moore’s law and the rise of Linux as an operating system designed to run on generic hardware. Back in the Excite days, we had to buy proprietary Sun hardware and Sun hard drive arrays. Believe me, none of it was cheap.
Today, we buy generic Intel boxes provided by one of a million different suppliers.
Infrastructure software is free
Back in 1993 we had to buy and continue to pay for maintenance on everything we needed just to build our service -- operating systems, compilers, web servers, application servers, databases. You name it. If it was infrastructure, we paid for it. And, not only was it costly, the need to negotiate licenses took time and energy. I remember having a deadline at Excite that required me to buy a Sun compiler through their Japanese office because it was the only office open at the time (probably midnight) and we needed that compiler NOW.
Compare that to today. Free, open source infrastructure is the norm. Get it anytime and anywhere. At JotSpot, and startups everywhere you see Linux, Tomcat, Apache, MySQL, etc. No license cost, no maintenance.
Access to Global Labor Markets
Startups today have unprecedented access to global labor markets. Back in 1993, IBM had access to technical people in India, but little Excite.com did not. Today, with rent-a-coder, elance.com and just plain email, we have access to a world-wide talent pool of experts on a temporary or permanent basis.
SEM changes everything
Ten years ago to reach the market, we had to do expensive distribution deals. We advertised on television and radio and print. We spent a crap-load of money. There’s an old adage in television advertising “I know half my money is wasted. Trouble is, I don’t know what half”. That was us.
It’s an obvious statement to say that search engine marketing changes everything. But the real revolution is the ability to affordably reach small markets. You can know what works and what doesn’t. And, search not only allows niche marketing, it’s global popularity allows mass marketing as well (if you can buy enough keywords).
So What?
It’s nice that it’s cheaper, but what does it mean to entrepreneuring?
More people can and will be entrepreneurs than ever before
A lot more people can raise $100,000 than raise $3,000,000.
Funding sources explode which enables more entrepreneurs
The sources of funding capable of writing $100,000 checks are a lot more plentiful than those capable of writing $3,000,000 checks. It’s a great time to be an angel investor because there are real possibilities of substantial company progress on so little money.
More bootstrapping to profitability
With costs so low, I think you’ll see many more companies raise angel money and take it all the way to profitability.
Higher valuations for VCs.
And, for those that do raise venture capital, I think it means better valuations because you can get far more mature on your $100,000 before you go for the bigger round.
All in all, it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur.
June 29, 2005 | Permalink
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur:
» The era of the disposable startup ? from Software Only
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» It's a great time to be an entrepreneur. from larry borsato
Joe Kraus posts his thoughts on why this is a great time to start a new company:Excite.com took $3,000,000 to get from idea to launch. JotSpot took $100,000. Why on earth is there a 30X difference? Theres probably a lot... [Read More]
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» It's a Great Time to be an Entrepreneur . . . from IPcentral Weblog
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» It's a Great Time to Be An Entrepreneur from wingedpig.com - Mark Fletcher's Blog
Echoing many of the things I've been saying, Joe Kraus has a great piece on how cheap it is to start a web company. I can provide a couple of additional data points. I started ONElist with $5K. That lasted... [Read More]
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» Entrepreneurs, angels, and the cost of launch from Signal vs. Noise
Joe Kraus from JotSpot has a great piece on how the last ten years has reduced the price of doing a startup from three million to a hundred thousand dollars for him. That’s definitely an interesting development and Joe is... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 30, 2005 8:47:46 AM
» Entrepreneurs, angels, and the cost of launch from Signal vs. Noise
Joe Kraus from JotSpot has a great piece on how the last ten years has reduced the price of doing a startup from three million to a hundred thousand dollars for him. That’s definitely an interesting development and Joe is... [Read More]
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» New product development & entrepreneuship from Emergence Marketing
Joe Kraus has a great post on how it took $3M to start Excite and only $100K to launch Jotspot (here - via O'Reilly Radar). The reasons he lists are hardware being 100X cheaper, software infrastructure being free, greater access... [Read More]
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» New product development & entrepreneurship from Emergence Marketing
Joe Kraus has a great post on how it took $3M to start Excite and only $100K to launch Jotspot (here - via O'Reilly Radar). The reasons he lists are hardware being 100X cheaper, software infrastructure being free, greater access... [Read More]
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» Nano-corps? from What's Next?
One other driver that I think is important is that it is now possible to add value in smaller doses than ever before. [Read More]
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» A Great Time to be an Entrepreneur from Changing Way
Here's something else I've seen several links to, but cannot risk to urge to link to myself. It's Joe Kraus's post on the $ cost of entrepreneurship. Mark Fletcher links to the post, and provides some detail on the companies he's started (and subse... [Read More]
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» Jon Kraus on entrepreneurship from WeBreakStuff - Blog
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» Web 2.0: It's a great time to be an investor from Venturepreneur Partners
A lot has been said about Joe’s post during the past few days. Which made me think — is it also a great time to be an investor? I think so and provide reasons why in my post, Web 2.0: It’s a great time to be an investor. It would be great to get feedb... [Read More]
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It's a great time to be an entrepreneur...except that we're entering a dark age for innovation. (The latter is from someone at the Pentagon, and everyone else discredits it. So it's still a great time to be an entrepreneur!) ... [Read More]
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» 现在是创业的好时光 from PODCAST PODIUM 播客宝典
Podcasting是独立艺人的盛宴，在未来的几年中，无论你愿意不愿意，我们将看到这场声势日渐浩大的变革：媒体不再是铁板一块的，市场将不再是大一统的，在无数细分市场，无数蚂蚁的呐喊��... [Read More]
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» Web 2.0: It's a great time to be an investor from Venturepreneur Partners
A lot has been said about Joe’s post during the past few days. Which made me think — is it also a great time to be an investor? I think so and provide reasons why in my post, Web 2.0: It’s a great time to be an investor. It would be great to get feedb... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 6:32:26 AM
» Es un buen momento para ser emprendedor (II) from Nada importante sucedió hoy...
Da para hacer una segunda parte del mismo comentario, Es un buen momento para ser emprendedor (I). Encontré este artículo, Best Time Ever to Start a Company, en otra publicación, justamente a través de un link en el comentario original,... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 7:33:10 AM
» Es un buen momento para ser emprendedor (II) from Nada importante sucedió hoy...
Creo que da para hacer una segunda parte del mismo comentario, Es un buen momento para ser emprendedor (I), porque el tema está interesante. Encontré este artículo, Best Time Ever to Start a Company, en otra publicación, justamente a través... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 7:35:00 AM
» Great time to be an entrepreneur by Joe Krause from NYBANKER blog about offshore outsourcing, software development and online marketing
A great post from Joe Kraus of Jotspot on why this is a great time to be an entrepreneur. Some ... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 7:35:04 AM
» Es un buen momento para ser emprendedor (II) from Nada importante sucedió hoy...
Creo que da para hacer una segunda parte del mismo comentario, Es un buen momento para ser emprendedor (I), porque el tema está interesante. Encontré este artículo, Best Time Ever to Start a Company, en otra publicación, justamente a través... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 7:36:08 AM
» Great time to be an entrepreneur by Joe Krause from NYBANKER blog about offshore outsourcing, software development and online marketing
A great post from Joe Kraus of Jotspot on why this is a great time to be an entrepreneur. Some ... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 7:39:39 AM
» Great time to be an entrepreneur by Joe Krause from NYBANKER blog about offshore outsourcing, software development and online marketing
A great post from Joe Kraus of Jotspot on why this is a great time to be an entrepreneur. Some ... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 7:44:40 AM
» Great time to be an entrepreneur by Joe Krause from NYBANKER blog about offshore outsourcing, software development and online marketing
A great post from Joe Kraus of Jotspot on why this is a great time to be an entrepreneur. Some ... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 5, 2005 8:07:38 AM
Comments
Ok, I'm really curious about this. How could you possibly have gotten to a launch on $100k? Please give some more details, otherwise this just seems like an exaggeration. I mean, were you paying anyone in the US? Because $100k will only get you 1/2 person-years.
Posted by: Anon | Jun 29, 2005 11:43:29 PM
another set of good reasons:
* down round financing went from >50% in 2002-3004 to <20% in 2004. all the old crap is finally being flushed out.
* first round financing expanded 2 quarters in a row (Q4/04, Q1/05), and seems to be on the way up. now that the old crap is out of the way new crap can get funding! (ok, so hopefully this time it's not crap...)
* Google's IPO created another major portal that can provide acquisition liquidity for new ventures; so now with MSFT, YHOO, GOOG (and also IAC, AOL, EBAY, AMZN et al), there are a LOT of companies out there willing to buy startups with solid technology -- and thus more optimistic entrepreneurs and angel/VC investors.
* in addition to SEM creating instant traffic, AdSense & other online advertising networks can create provide a new form of instant revenue & monetization for startups (albeit limited in most scenarios).
* a multiplicity of publicly available web services / hosted ASPs are making "mashups" a lot more prevalent, and people can now remix some very cool apps without having to build the entire technology stack from the ground up. folks like Paul Rademacher can be a one-man band & create HousingMaps.com.
the technology DJ's time has come.
yep, gotta agree... time to buy shades :)
- dmc
Posted by: Dave McClure | Jun 30, 2005 2:46:32 AM
I am in hole hearted agreement with you but I have also added my own reasons:
* Simpler services are more successful
* Big is no longer cool
* Better frameworks
Which I expand on on my blog post. I and many other people are trying to bootstrap without Angel Investors, which is something you will see a lot more of as well.
Posted by: Pelle | Jun 30, 2005 3:13:05 AM
Let's not forget the proliferation of broadband in the last 2-3 years...lowering the barriers to adoption for any number of startup's service offerings.
Here in the UK, there's a direct correllation between the broadband ISP price war and the adoption of broadband services and content.
Posted by: Imran Ali | Jun 30, 2005 4:50:16 AM
Our experience at Revieworld and Reevoo concurrs with what you are saying. There is a positive attitude amongst UK investors at the moment. There is a realisation that a lot can be done with little - "low cost model" is becoming a philosphy. Everything can now be measured to maximise the benefit.
Technology (software and hardware) is cheaper but marketing (a huge source of cost previously) can be better controlled utilising the best of the old word off-line techniques combined with modern marketing (adwords, viral, word of mouth etc).
Posted by: Richard Anson | Jun 30, 2005 6:02:31 AM
I mean, were you paying anyone in the US? Because $100k will only get you 1/2 person-years.
That's just not true. You'd be surprised how many people out there are working for peanuts on projects. A lot of people balance their regular work with working on more entrepreneurial dreams, and $100K would go a very long way indeed, especially for the young (and most entrepreneurs these days are younger than ever before).
Posted by: Peter Cooper | Jun 30, 2005 9:31:10 AM
it’s global popularity
>>
its global popularity
Posted by: Emma | Jun 30, 2005 11:18:49 AM
Joe,
I'd love to have you give a talk on this topic, either for the Harvard Business School High Tech Alumni Association, or for SDForum. I know that your schedule is busy, but is there any chance you might be able to carve out an hour or two?
--Chris
Posted by: Chris Yeh | Jun 30, 2005 2:18:14 PM
Interesting article.
i agree with most of what you said except on advertising , search engines will bring you qualified visitors but it will not give you massive reach , and definitely will not make your service popular like what the traditional media (TV , etc) did to Excite.
Thanks
Faisal
Posted by: Faisal | Jun 30, 2005 2:48:39 PM
Yes it is a good time to be an entrepreneur.
I agree that net startups can be done on the cheap, and they should. But wages still cost, and good talent is expensive. Yes, you can offshore some of it, but you have better have a solid core base built before you go down that path. Software development outsourcing is difficult, from the start you've got cultural, communication and timezone issues. Not to mention usually a misalignment of macro understanding of what the product is and how it should function.
I am just curious, if you really believe you can bootstrap the entire operation from start to exit, then why did you take in $6MM in venture? Why dilute your equity more than you have to?
I dont fault you for taking the cash, I would take as much money as I could raise (you never know when/if your going to need it.)
Posted by: John | Jun 30, 2005 11:17:16 PM
Another great way to save on advertising costs is to concentrate on Internet Adversiting. I just posted on my website all about that area after attending a great marketing course.
Check it out here....
http://componentfactory.blogspot.com
Posted by: Phil Wright | Jul 1, 2005 1:12:55 AM
It appears that the people best positioned to startup a new venture on $100k are the ones that are already rich from their previous venture and thus can work for no salary. I've seen it first hand, a friend is starting (co-founding) a company and wanted me to join, and all his partner can argue back at me is, "See all these people working for me? They're all working for just stock because at the last company they all made a million dollars." Great for them, super. But I didn't (yet), I want a salary. Does that mean no startups for me?
Posted by: Duane | Jul 1, 2005 5:46:44 AM
I am surprised at the comparison drawn between Excite and Jotspot. No offense, but to me, a search engine is a hell of a lot more algorithmic, tuning and systems work than a customisable wiki is!
Posted by: Ashwin Bharambe | Jul 1, 2005 8:21:25 AM
I agree that it is a great time to be an entrepneur. Aside from the lower cost of equipment there are more avenues to sell products and more ways to market your products. With proven marketplaces like ebay and amazon.com, many people are starting their own small business to supplement their income whereas 10 years ago, a lot of these things were still grey area and were only for the strong willed. Word of mouth marketing has never been better. With the advent of blogs and popdcasting, getting a post on one popular blog can spark a firestorm of sales and increased visibility.
The internet now is not just the latest "new" thing, it's just another outlet, which means that people have become more comfortable with it that has allowed them to embrace starting an online venture.
Posted by: adam | Jul 1, 2005 8:39:50 AM
much of this has been in place for some time. yahoo was bootstrapped with free software...in 1995. cheap hardware too. david filo was way ahead of his time, he was doing "cheap" when it was actually novel and often disputed (you can't do this without sun boxes!). i credit him for the cheap revolution.
also note that these conditions draw many more players into the game and reduce margins. when it costs $0 to start a business, you can likely expect $0 returns.
Posted by: b7j0c | Jul 1, 2005 8:44:52 AM
@Ashwin:
"I am surprised at the comparison drawn between Excite and Jotspot. No offense, but to me, a search engine is a hell of a lot more algorithmic, tuning and systems work than a customisable wiki is!"
That may true for some wiki projects out there, but it's not true in the case of Jot. If you had taken more than a cursory look at what Jot is doing, you would have realized that it is more than a "customizable wiki". It's a large-scale hosted service that is a platform for building applications.
Posted by: Paul | Jul 1, 2005 8:54:21 AM
Hello Duane,
I do not think so. Here in Canada, I can leave with 15k$ CND a year (small accommodation, no car, some food and a monthly subscription for a place to train). Could you? If so, you can easily bring 15k or 20k a year with small consultant contracts that will take only a part of your working time during a year. The other part of your working time could then be use to start that dam startup :)
I do not think that the problem is cash, but much more one of work, hard work and patience.
Take care,
Salutations,
Fred
Posted by: Fred | Jul 1, 2005 9:55:22 AM
I couldn't agree more. Now is a great time to be an entrepreneur. I have been using Rentacoder, adsense, adwords, and SEO to build and market content online.
So much infrastructure is available today that used to be prohibitively expensive and difficult to build. I can accept payments using the new Paypal payments API, and I can promote my sites in a few minutes using adwords and other advertising programs.
It does take some money and know how to get started. If you're a business person with a great idea, it's still fundamentally difficult to translate your vision for the business (a web site, a community, a lead generation system, etc.) into a product specification that engineers on services like elance and rentacoder can implement.
That said, the cost of getting things up and running is fundamentally several orders of magnitude lower than it was just a few years ago.
How do you get running on $100K? You have most of your development done offshore using services like rentacoder and elance. You hire contractors offshore as well as students to help write the content and marketing text for your sites. You buy hosting at low cost from any of the many hosting providers (so you own no hardware). You promote your site or sites via advertising and organic search (SEO).
It truly is a great time to be an entrepreneur.
Posted by: David Feinleib | Jul 1, 2005 10:37:35 AM
"So much infrastructure is available today that used to be prohibitively expensive and difficult to build. I can accept payments using the new Paypal payments API, and I can promote my sites in a few minutes using adwords and other advertising programs."
this is a decent way to build a small business, a second income etc., but thats about it.
"How do you get running on $100K? You have most of your development done offshore using services like rentacoder and elance."
this is just clueless. no 24/7 web service can live without oncall staff who know the code. i don't care if they are in sunnyvale or bangalore, you need someone on payroll who can solve mission critical issues asap. oh yeah you can outsource your colo, but they aren't going to fix your mysql bugs.
all of these comments in any case revolve not around general entrepreneurial activity but setting up small-time websites. duh! this has been cheap for a long time. also 99,999 people are your competitors, once again this approach is great if you want to make $20k a year reselling purses.
tell me how i do advanced materials, alternative energy, biotech etc on the cheap.
Posted by: GrumpY! | Jul 1, 2005 2:07:53 PM
Right on! I've done a variety of podcasts with entrepreneurs and VCs in Silicon Valley and Joe's points are echoed by many. This is the new model and YES it's great for entrepreneurs. My company was funded entirely by myself and customers. We paid nothing for technology to get the business off the ground. Open source is changing everything every day.
John Furrier
Founder of PodTech.net
Joe - "Lets Podcast"
Posted by: John Furrier | Jul 1, 2005 2:09:15 PM
Joe,
I'm with John on this. It'd be great if you could create your own podcast for business development stuff and talk about your trials through excite as well as with jotspot.
After starting my company, I have found that I have loads of info about "what not to do" when starting a business when my friends think about jumping into the foray.
Good luck to everyone that have started or are thinking about your own ventures. Its rough out there but HIGHLY rewarding.
Posted by: adam | Jul 1, 2005 2:32:16 PM
Hey Joe - my apologies, i didn't mean anything negative by my comment on SVN. It was meant to be a metaphor. I love Jot Spot. you guys are doing great work. I don't think there is anyway you could be doing Jot Spot with just 3 people.
Posted by: ed Fladung | Jul 1, 2005 3:00:26 PM
Nice post.
Add to the list:
Employees who've done it before
We take 10s of cycles off of projects these days because we have a core group of people that have built similar technologies before. The hardware/software costs have diminished a lot, but so have the personnel costs. Some of the time savings is because they have better tools. Most of the time savings is because they are walking along well-worn paths.
Cheers,
John
Posted by: John Girard | Jul 1, 2005 3:25:42 PM
See a similar article by Utah entrepreneur Paul Allen at Connect Utah magazine: http://www.connect-utah.com/article.asp?r=1050&iid=34&sid=4
He gives 8 similar reasons why now is the best time in the history of the world to start a company.
Posted by: Richard Miller | Jul 2, 2005 10:26:45 AM
I definitely concur that it's an opportune and excellent time to be an entrepreneur and\or a startup.
In our case, we're defying odds in spite of the fact that we're located in a region of the world most people assume has
1)No innovation
2)Low penetration of technology.
My company, NEO(New Enterprise Objects), is a budding startup specializing in levaraging mobile technology to explode the enterprise and provide an efficient distributed collaboration infrastructure.
Currently, 100% of our staff(5 members) are either consulting or employed full time. All time spent coding ,having meetings or strategising is derived from what I fondly call, "the night shift", where the real hacking begins.
In addition, none of us is being paid any salary but is fueled by
1)The vision
2)The increasing value of the startup and our stake\stock in it.
Who could have thought that a startup in an LDC could be accelerating in the enterprise space with very little capital (even much less than you've indicated above) and no full time employees?
This truly is a wondeful time to be an entrepreneur.
Posted by: Nicholas Ochiel | Jul 5, 2005 9:33:59 AM
The comments to this entry are closed. | [
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For 5 months 'I stayed in the box' | As a Marine Corps officer, I spent five years and five months in a prisoner of war camp in North Vietnam. I believe this gives me a benchmark against which to measure the treatment which Sen. Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat, complained of at the Camp of Detention for Islamo-fascists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The senator’s argument is silly. If he believes what he has said his judgment is so poor that his countrymen, assuming, of course, that he considers us his countrymen, have no reason not to dismiss him as a witless boob. On the other hand, if he does not believe what he said, the other members of the Senate may wish to consider censure.
Consider nutrition. I have severe peripheral neuropathy in both legs as a residual of beriberi. I am fortunate. Some of my comrades suffer partial blindness or ischemic heart disease as a result of beriberi, a degenerate disease of peripheral nerves caused by a lack of thiamin, vitamin B-1. It is easily treated but is extremely painful.
Did Mr. Durbin say that some of the Islamo-fascist prisoners are suffering from beriberi? Actually, the diet enjoyed by the prisoners seems to be healthy. I saw the menu that Rep. Duncan Hunter presented a few days ago. It looks as though the food given the detainees at Guantanamo is wholesome, nutritious and appealing. I would be curious to hear Mr. Durbin explain how orange glazed chicken and rice pilaf can be compared to moldy bread laced with rat droppings.
In May 1969, I was taken out for interrogation on suspicion of planning an escape. I was forced to remain awake for long periods of time — three weeks on one occasion.
On the first of June, I was put in a cement box with a steel door, which sat out in the tropical summer sun. There, I was put in leg irons which were then wired to a small stool. In this position I could neither sit nor stand comfortably. Within 10 days, every muscle in my body was in pain (here began a shoulder injury which is now inoperable). The heat was almost beyond bearing. My feet had swollen, literally, to the size of footballs. I cannot describe the pain. When they took the leg irons off, they had to actually dig them out of the swollen flesh. It was five days before I could walk, because the weight of the leg irons on my Achilles tendons had paralyzed them and hamstrung me. I stayed in the box from June 1 until Nov. 10, 1969. While in the box, I lost at least 30 pounds. I would be curious to hear Mr. Durbin explain how this compares with having a female invade my private space, and whether a box in which the heat nearly killed me is the same as turning up the air conditioning.
The detainees at Guantanamo receive new Korans and prayer rugs, and the guards are instructed not to disturb the inmates’ prayers. Compare this with my experience in February 1971, when I watched as armed men dragged from our cell, successively, four of my cell mates after having led us in the Lord’s Prayer. Their prayers were in defiance of a January 1971 regulation in which the Communists forbade any religious observances in our cells. Does Mr. Durbin somehow argue that our behavior is the equivalent of the behavior of the Communists?
Actually, I was one of the lucky ones. At another camp, during the time I was being interrogated in the summer of 1969, one man was tortured to death and several were severely beaten. In fact, according to Headquarters Marine Corps, 20 percent of my fellow Marines failed to survive captivity. Have 20 percent of the Islamo-fascists failed to survive Guantanamo?
The argument that detainees at Guantanamo are being treated badly is specious and silly. In the eyes of normal Americans, Democrats believe this argument because, as Jeanne Kirkpatrick said 20 years ago, they “always blame America first.” This contributes to the increasing suspicion, in red states, a problem that Democrats are aware of and are trying to counter, that Democrats cannot be trusted with our national security. Only the Democrats can change this perception, most recently articulated by White House adviser Karl Rove. The ball is in their court and I am certain there are steps that they can take to change this perception, but making silly arguments about imaginary bad treatment of enemy detainees is not a move in the right direction.
James H. Warner is corporate counsel practicing intellectual property law in Northern Virginia. He served as domestic policy adviser during the second Reagan administration.
Tony Blankey’s column will appear tomorrow.
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Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. | [
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New Boeing boss needs old guard | SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- With an outsider moving into the top spot at Boeing, analysts caution that the new boss needs to make sure the managers of the company's defense and commercial divisions don't head for the door in a huff.
A departure of either James Albaugh, in charge of Boeing's integrated defense systems group, or Alan Mulally at the commercial airplanes unit would mean losing decades of experience at the world's largest aerospace company, as well as the executives' extensive relationships in their respective industries.
What's more, both are working on key contracts that will shape Boeing's financial future.
W. James McNerney Jr., who's leaving 3M Co. MMM, -1.29% to take the helm at Boeing BA, -1.84% , addressed the issue during a conference call Thursday when asked by an analyst about Albaugh and Mulally's future.
McNerney said he'd spoken with the two and noted that they must have been disappointed at not being picked for the top job. Nevertheless, he said they offered "enthusiastic support" for his appointment.
"So, I think we are going to work together well and productively," he added.
All three executives know each other, crossing paths frequently during their decades in the aerospace industry. McNerney is also a member of Boeing's board of directors.
Among giants
Running a division at an industrial giant like Boeing gives an executive responsibility for tens of thousands of workers and a business with more sales than most stand-alone companies.
Albaugh and Mulally each run divisions that generated more revenue last year than 3M's total $20 billion in 2004 sales. Albaugh's integrated defense systems group had sales of $30.5 billion in 2004, while Mulally's commercial airplanes division had sales of $21 billion.
Just as McNerney himself was in the running to take over General Electric Co. GE, -1.85% before he left for 3M, is the situation similar at Boeing?
Not so, said Boeing spokesman Tim Neale. He indicated that Mulally is in the middle of launching the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's first new plane in more than a decade. And Albaugh is shifting the company's defense group from a focus on military hardware sales to taking on larger responsibility bringing together different technologies for the Pentagon.
The Future Combat Systems contract with the U.S. Army gives Boeing unprecedented responsibility for different programs that will be all technologically tied together.
"In both cases, there are exciting new programs they are in the midst of," added Neale.
In an interview with the Seattle Times after McNerney's announcement, Mulally said he is plans to stay at Boeing.
Also, in messages to workers, both Mulally and Albaugh praised their new box and his selection as Boeing's next chief.
Wall Street wonders
In April, McNerney, 55, issued a public statement that said he was not leaving 3M for Boeing. Yet he eventually changed his mind and surprised Wall Street with his decision this week.
Analysts who lauded his appointment are still wondering what Mulally or Albaugh will do.
"One unknown stemming from this announcement is the future of the two division heads ... who were in the running for the CEO job," wrote Prudential Equity Group analyst Jared Muroff.
Just as the Boeing board kept the chief executive selection process under wraps until the very end, it could be expected that any executive looking to jump would be just as discreet.
"Obviously, they're not going to telegraph they're about to leave," said Paul Nisbet, analyst at JSA Research.
Nisbet said that Albaugh -- who is 55 and has been with Boeing since 1975 -- might be more likely to leave than Mulally, who turns 60 this year and joined Boeing in 1969. But the departure of either manager would be a big deal.
"I hope that for Boeing's stake that they decide to stay," added Nisbet.
The company could always reach into its wallet if it felt like that was necessary. But so far, Boeing has not done so.
Interim Chairman Lewis Platt said during Thursday's conference call that the company had not offered any retention packages to either Albaugh or Mulally.
"We have both, Jim [McNerney] and I, have talked to them at some length, and they all seemed to be quite committed to staying with the company and supporting Jim," Platt added. "So that does not seem to be necessary at this moment." | [
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Soul singer Luther Vandross dies | One of the leading romantic singers of his generation, he sold 25 million albums and won dozens of awards.
Even after his stroke in 2003, he kept recording, winning four Grammys for his final album Dance With My Father.
Tributes from stars such as Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson poured in after his death, at the JFK Medical Centre in New Jersey, was announced.
The singer "had a peaceful passing under the watchful eye of friends, family and the medical support team," said hospital spokesman Robert Cavanaugh.
He did not give the cause of death but said the singer had never fully recovered from the stroke he suffered in his Manhattan apartment in April 2003.
His publicist, Jeff O'Conner, said his death was "a huge loss in the R&B industry".
"He was a close friend of mine and right now it's shocking," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
I have amazing memories of seeing Luther live, such a wonderful voice and amazing experience. I am extremely sad
Diane Mitchell, Akrotiri, Cyprus
Send us your tributes
Singer Roberta Flack paid tribute to her friend of more than 20 years in a telephone call from Japan.
"He was a musician who couldn't help but give you all he had," she said.
"He was the kind of guy who was born to do what he did musically and let the world know about it. He was not born to keep it smothered in the chest."
Health problems
Born in a housing project in New York, Vandross got his lucky break as a backing singer for Britain's David Bowie in the mid-1970s.
He soon became one of the industry's most popular session singers and vocal arrangers, performing for the likes of Barbra Streisand, Ringo Starr and Chaka Khan.
Vandross had a long battle with his weight fluctuations
He was known for his rich, mellow voice, which harked back to a less explicit era in his songs of romance and desire.
"I'm more into poetry and metaphor, and I would much rather imply something rather than to blatantly state it," he said.
"You blatantly state stuff sometimes when you can't think of a poetic way to say it."
Vandross battled for years with fluctuations in his weight, as well as diabetes and hypertension.
Although he continued to record after his stroke, Vandross made no further public appearances. | [
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Business of Life: Free advice from a lawyer | Free advice from a lawyer
Handy advice from a lawyer who writes from his own experience, a passalong email.
Your checks
When next you order checks, have only the initials of your first name printed. If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks
Never have your social security number printed on your check. You can always add it if necessary.
have your social security number printed on your check. You can always add it if necessary. Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.
When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.
Your credit cards
Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED". See update.
Your wallet
Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. While you’re at it, make a photocopy of your passport.
Next to each card, write down the toll free number to call if the card is stolen. Don’t forget the number to the Registry of Motor Vehicles
Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Thieves work fast. The key to stopping them –and limiting your damage - is to cancel cards quickly.
If your wallet is stolen
File a police report immediately where it was stolen. This proves to credit providers that you were diligent and it’s the first step toward an investigation if there is one.
Report your cards stolen and cancel them. Believe me, you will be SO glad you made that photocopy
Call the three national credit reporting organizations to place a fraud alert on your name and social security number. This prevents thieves from applying for credit cards in your name. Such an alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
Here are the numbers you need. Keep this with the photocopy of your credit cards.
1. Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
2. Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
3. Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
4. Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
UPDATE: From two commenters. Seems as if you must sign the card as Visa merchants will not accept the card if not signed.
UPDATE 2: If you haven't seen Zug's hilarious credit card prank, you owe it to yourself to be one of the 30 million who have done so. Only then are you ready to appreciate credit card prank 2 It seems as if no one ever checks the signature. Many thanks to Mike at Info Sec News Blog
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Conservative Groups Rally Against Gonzales as Justice | "Let me not get into any nominee, but Gonzales is an excellent human being," Mr. Hatch said. "He's done an exceptional job as White House counsel. He's brought additional stability and peace to the Justice Department. I know the president is interested in trying to find people of diversity -- he's really bent over to do that as president."
Mr. Gonzales is a longtime Bush aide and friend from Texas, and naming him could enhance the Republican Party's standing among Hispanics, one of the president's longtime political goals. Some conservatives acknowledged that they had stated their opposition to him with some delicacy to avoid provoking the White House, given Mr. Gonzales's friendship with the president.
But the swift and vociferous opposition to Mr. Gonzales reflected the intensity of concern on the right over just what kind of conservative Mr. Bush will choose, as he moves toward a decision that will go a long way toward settling any question about what kind of conservative he is, and how his presidency will be remembered.
Mr. Weyrich, while declining to disclose the specifics of a recent conversation with Ken Mehlman, the Republican Party chairman, said: "We have let the administration know through whatever channels we have that Gonzales would be an unwise appointment because of the opposition of some of the groups," some of which he said would actively oppose Mr. Gonzales, while "others like the Southern Baptists and myself would simply not help."
For many conservatives, who have seen Republican presidents nominate justices like Ms. O'Connor who then vote against them on pivotal issues, Mr. Gonzales epitomizes the fear of the unknown. But in other ways, and to some Democrats, he is very well known, confirmed by a vote of 60-to-36, along largely partisan lines, after unexpectedly contentious hearings and debate in which Democrats challenged his policies on the detention and treatment of prisoners in the administration's campaign against terror. In a 2002 legal memorandum, Mr. Gonzales characterized as "obsolete" the Geneva Conventions' limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners, and he said provisions in the conventions like commissary privileges and athletic uniforms were "quaint."
"He would face stiff opposition from liberal groups," said Nan Aron, president of the liberal legal group Alliance for Justice. "He would have to answer tough questions about his role in the administration's war on terror."
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and a member of the Judiciary Committee, declined to say on Saturday how Senate Democrats might respond to a Gonzales nomination. "It's too early to tell -- we're not talking about any specific judge," Mr. Schumer said. | [
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USATODAY.com | Saturday, July 23 Ullrich, the 'Infernal Second' PARIS Poor Jan Ullrich. Another year, another disappointment.
By Laurent Emmanuel, AP Jan Ullrich is comforted by a team trainer after placing second in the 20th stage. Second to Lance in the time trial and probably third overall. "I'm dead, I'm completely dead," he said after yet another defeat by Lance Armstrong.
Der Kaiser is the German version of Raymond Poulidor, the "Eternal Second" and lovable loser of French cycling lore. Poulidor came in second three times and third thrice. Ullrich has now finished second five times, three of those to Lance. He was injured in 1999 and suspended for recreational drug use in 2002. No wonder why he was taking ecstasy.
He would be another Poulidor except for the fact that he actually won the Tour in 1997, when Lance was making a comeback from cancer. Poulidor's nickname is "Poo-Poo." They have a similar moniker for Ullrich now in Germany, but it's not as cute.
Perhaps we should call Ullrich the "Infernal Second," for there must be a special Hell on Earth for his luck in coming into his peak years just as Lance was reaching cosmic highs. Lance even offered Ullrich a little advice for 2006: Show up in shape, lose a few pounds. Ach!
I saw this statue just off the Avenue de Charles de Gaulle in the Paris neighborhood of Neuilly. It is Sisyphus, the poor sap of Greek mythology who was fated to forever roll a boulder up a mountain, only to have it roll back down just as he reached the top. It made me think of Ullrich. Maybe now that Lance is retiring, Ullrich can finally get that rock to a mountaintop finish. Friday, July 22 Crow finds her way in cycling world CLERMONT FERRAND, France Sheryl Crow has become the feminine face of American cycling at the 2005 Tour. Lance's rock star girlfriend has taken to the sport, and the sport is really quite taken with her.
By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY Sheryl Crow works the crowd at the Discovery Channel Team bus before a stage begins.
At the daily scrum around the Discovery Team bus at the start area, Sheryl is there answering reporters' questions, waving hello to the many friends who are following the Tour, signing autographs, chatting strategy with team director Johan Bruyneel and making last-minute contact with her man before he jumps on his bike and goes to work.
European TV reporters have no qualms about asking her technical questions, perhaps testing her cycling knowledge. She's smart and has absorbed quite a bit of expertise from Lance and his posse.
Fitness is important to her, so she also goes for long runs in the Tour towns, an iPod providing the soundtrack. At 43, she could easily be mistaken for a twentysomething athlete.
When the race started in Agde, I asked if she was going riding that day. "We're going, for sure," she said. "To the top!"
She may be the most glamorous grimpeur to scale the 21 switchbacks of the Alpe d'Huez. She rides a custom Trek with special gearing that lets her climb like Lance while singing all the way ... to the top.
Thursday, July 21 Regions use Tour to market themselves MENDE, France The Tour de France is many things: a bike race, a cultural and gastronomic adventure and a global television series. It is also an economic development project. Because the Tour is seen by more than a billion people around the planet, the race coverage becomes a great platform for regions seeking to market themselves to international corporations and tourists. The last week of the Tour is showcasing the Massif Central area, which is somewhat like the USA's southern Appalachian region.
By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY Toulouse is known as the Space City. The ideal French space mission would be a trip to the moon to bring back green cheese. This region was featured early in last year's race, as well. Regional governments as well as localities paid the Tour to come to their area, as do almost all of the host towns. The Massif Central promotion is also being helped by the French national government, which has improved roads and other infrastructure. The modern and beautiful A75 superhighway now links this area with the northern Paris area and the southern Mediterranean cities.
Before the A75, magnificent towns such as St. Cloud and Mende were hard to reach. In the same way U.S. federal spending on Interstate highways and national parks in our southern Appalachians has spurred economic development in those areas, the Massif Central is beginning to blossom.
I like the Massif Central because it is relatively unspoiled, with large rolling hills and small mountains, which are dramatic in their own way. For cyclists, the Massif Central is much more rideable than the Alps or Pyrenees. Depending on the route, riders of all fitness levels can have fun riding over or around these pine-covered ridges, many of which are topped with ancient castle ruins and fortifications.
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Provence is drop-dead gorgeous, but also overpriced and overrun by summer visitors; The Alps are amazing, but the roads are steep and sometimes dangerous; the Massif Central is just waiting to be discovered and the French government thinks the Tour is the perfect venue for encouraging that development.
Wednesday, July 20 Fine art at a French truck stop REVEL, France There's no doubt that France has the most beautiful truck stops in the world. There are always very clean restrooms, lots of parking, espresso for a Euro-buck a cup and sometimes even cool art.
By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY This three-story-high sculpture is a roadside attraction on the Tour route near Pau. The "Aire" (as they're called here) sell Ferarri race jackets, a wonderful selection of fresh sandwiches, cell-phone rechargers, bug spray, peanuts, Pringles, Pepsi and four kinds of Orangina. This year I found one that sold wine from three of Beaujolais' finest village appellations. You don't get that kind of service at the Sheetz in Haymarket, Virginia.
There are always big, highly detailed maps which come in handy if you are lost, which for me is often.
The artwork is local in theme and origin. Today I got to check out the huge "Tour de France in the Pyrenees" sculpture just outside Pau. You can see it from a mile away and it looks like someone created a shiny aluminum roller-coaster for giants on bicycles. A 20-foot-tall guy on a bike is quite impressive. Wouldn't want to go against him in a sprint.
Leave it to the French to take something as commonplace as a truck stop and give it style, taste, culture and food for the mind as well as the stomach.
But I do miss those little cinnamon rolls they sell at Sheetz.
Tuesday, July 19 Getting out among the real race fans PAU, France Want to know a dirty little secret about covering the Tour? The press doesn't have great seats to watch the action.
If you're on a press motorcycle, you can get up close and just a bit too personal, especially when it comes to the various bodily fluids emitted by riders during the race. Don't ask.
By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY View from a bridge: A chase group passes the four-kilometer-to-go mark in Tuesday's stage. Most of the reporters watch the race in the press center near the finish line. When the peloton approaches, there's a mass exodus to get quotes that come out on tape like heavy breathing with a few ... words ... like ... this.
The stage winner and Lance, er, the overall leader, give more bodily fluids to the doping control folks, then give quick press conferences by video link. Sights, sounds but no smells. Sometimes the Discovery media folks come in with an i-Pod and two tiny speakers, which they set up in the press center. Everyone crowds around and tries to record the pre-recorded quotes from Lance. Maybe next year they'll just put them in iTunes and we'll have to pay a buck to download them online.
The key is to get away from the press center and watch the race with the real fans. You have to be a real fan to drive a camper to the top of a mountain a week before the stage begins to see your heroes pass by in a three-second blur. Allez! Allez! Bye-bye!
Once in a while you find just the right spot. In 2003, I found a perch on a cliff overlooking the final steep kilometers of the famous Luz Ardiden stage. I saw Lance come out of the mist and climb, climb, climb. It was an amazing spot from which to witness one of the greatest stages in Tour history.
Today I walked a few hundred yards from the press center to a bridge I scoped out earlier in the day. I took out my digital camera just as the leaders passed beneath me. I even shot a little video of the peloton.
That's when I feel like a reporter and not an educated television viewer in a stuffy press tent.
That's when I really love my job.
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Attack of the $1 DVD's | THE scientist in the 1959 horror film "The Killer Shrews" is not only mad but also cheap. Monstrously cheap. To solve the problem of world hunger, he tries to breed humans down to half their normal size. Rather than increase the food supply, he reasons, he will decrease demand. But his penny-pinching plans go awry, naturally, or unnaturally, creating a pack of giant, munchies-afflicted shrews.
"The shrews were actually hound dogs with fangs stuck to their heads and hairy rugs on their backs," recalled James Best, who portrayed the hero, Thorne Sherman. Mr. Best's love interest was played by Ingrid Goude, a former Miss Universe who was, he said "very well-endowed but not very well-paid; she got about 15 cents." Mr. Best, now 78, reckoned that that was about 35 cents less than the budget of the entire movie.
"The Killer Shrews," the masterwork of Ray Kellogg, is one of hundreds of cheap old films now available as ridiculously cheap new DVD's. Because of lapsed or improperly registered copyrights, even some very watchable movies -- among them, Howard Hawks's "His Girl Friday," Marlon Brando's "One-Eyed Jacks" and Francis Ford Coppola's "Dementia 13" -- are now in the public domain and can be sold by anyone.
While overall DVD sales are robust -- last year retailers sold $15.5 billion in discs -- the low-end market is positively booming. Recently, 19 of the 50 top sellers on the Nielsen VideoScan national sales charts were budget DVD's. "The prices are irresistible," said Gary Delfiner, whose Global Multimedia Corporation offers 60 film, cartoon and television titles with prices ranging from 99 cents to $1.99. | [
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125th Anniversary Issue: Science Online Special Feature | Online Extras
Be sure to check out these online extras related to our 125th Anniversary Issue:
Your Turn
Did we miss your favorite scientific conundrum? Visit our special online forum to comment on our 125 questions or nominate your own choice.
Anniversary Editorial
Science Editor-in-Chief Donald Kennedy celebrates the magazine's 125th anniversary with some thoughts about Big Questions.
Global Voices
To mark its 125th year of publication, Science has been running a series of essays (each accompanied by an online slide show) providing worldwide perspectives on the scientific enterprise.
First Issues
Registered users of our Web site can take a look at PDF versions of the first two issues of Science, dated 3 July and 10 July 1880. | [
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The Falling Woman Screensaver - Or, select someone else to toss around:
Select a politician... George Bush Barack Obama Mitt Romney in his Temple Garments Nicolas Sarkozy Rick Santorum Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton in a Bikini John McCain Sarah Palin 1 Sarah Palin 2 Sarah Palin 3 Mahmoud Ahmadeinejad Yves Leterme Hugo Chavez Tony Hayward Robert Mugabe Taro Aso | [
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Font guide for webmasters | Fonts for the Web
Until font downloading technology is perfected, Web designers must normally restrict themselves to fonts that are available on most users’ computer systems.
So which fonts are installed on everyone’s computers? Your best bets are the ones that come with the Internet Explorer (MSIE) browser and the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. For the last few years, the MSIE fonts have been installed on every new Windows and Macintosh PC, so they are your best “cross-platform” bet.
http://www.microsoft.com/truetype/fontpack/win.htm (Internet Explorer fonts)
Mac fonts for Windows PCs
Font Platform CSS info MSIE [Bold, Italic] Originally named Monotype.com font-family: "Andale Mono", "Monotype.com", monospace Mac Also named Zapf Chancery on older Macs (and some Win PCs). font-family: "Apple Chancery", "Zapf Chancery", cursive MSIE [Bold, Italic] Very similar to Helvetica. font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif MSIE Less common than Arial. Do not use it with a bold font-weight; it’s bold enough already! font-family: "Arial Black", sans-serif Mac Not on pre-1999 Macs font-family: Capitals, serif Mac Mac system font (for menus, dialog boxes, etc.) since 1999. It will be very familiar to Mac users at 12 points, but also works well in headlines (without bold). font-family: Charcoal, Chicago, sans-serif Mac [Italic] Former Mac system font, replaced by Charcoal. Still present on every Mac ever made. font-family: Chicago, Charcoal, sans-serif MSIE [Bold, Italic] An informal font designed to be easily legible on screen. Believe it or not, this is the default cursive font for Internet Explorer. font-family: "Comic Sans MS", cursive
Mac
Win [Bold, Italic] Courier is the most common monospace (typewriter-style) font. The Mac version of Courier (top left, shown at 18 points) is scalable; the Windows version (bottom left, 15 points) is not. Therefore the scalable "Courier New" is preferred, as it is usually available on both Mac and Windows. font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace MSIE [Bold, Italic] See discussion under Courier font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace Win A non-scalable Windows system font used for DOS screens and other low-level tasks. Available only at 9 points. font-family: fixedsys, monospace Mac A display font; avoid bold and italics. Not on pre-1999 Macs. font-family: Gadget, fantasy Mac [Bold, Italic] A Mac system font since 1984. Its appearance resembles Arial and Helvetica; its function is similar to MS Sans Serif (icon names on the Desktop, etc.). font-family: Geneva, "MS Sans Serif", sans-serif MSIE [Bold, Italic] Designed by Microsoft for WWW use, Georgia is a traditional looking font with “old-style” numerals. font-family: Georgia, serif Mac [Bold, Italic] A Mac system font since 1984. On the Web, Helvetica is usually paired with the nearly identical (and more common) Arial. font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif Mac [Bold, Italic] Not on pre-1999 Macs font-family: "Hoefler Text", serif MSIE Less common than other MSIE fonts such as Arial. A very heavy, black font, good for headlines. Weight and width are sort of like Techno. font-family: Impact, sans-serif Mac Monospace font, present on all Macs. Monaco 9-point is associated with programming, debugging, and other low-level tasks, somewhat like Windows Fixedsys, System, and Terminal. font-family: monaco, sans-serif Win Monospace system font dating back to Windows 95. Best at 12 pixels and under. font-family: "MS Gothic", monospace Win Windows system font, used for dialog boxes, etc. Best at 12 pixels and under. font-family: "MS Sans Serif", Geneva, sans-serif Win Windows system font. Best at 12 pixels and under. font-family: "MS Serif", "New York", serif Mac [Bold, Italic] Mac system font: similar in appearance to Times Roman, similar in function to MS Serif. font-family: "New York", "MS Serif", serif Mac A nice serif font, present on all Macs and fairly common on PCs (with office software suites). font-family: Palatino, serif Mac Not on pre-1999 Macs font-family: Sand, fantasy Mac Not on pre-1999 Macs font-family: Skia, sans-serif Win Non-scalable (available only at 10 points), present on all Windows PCs, used for menus, etc. font-family: System, sans-serif Win Rarely used on the Web, Tahoma does have the advantage of being present even on very old Windows PCs. font-family: Tahoma, serifSansSerifMonospace Mac Not on pre-1999 Macs font-family: Techno, Impact, sans-serif
Win A non-scalable, monospace system font used for the DOS or “command-line” interface. Terminal looks very different at different point sizes. Shown here are 9, 12, and 14 points. font-family: Terminal, monospace Mac Not on pre-1999 Macs font-family: Textile, cursive Mac Because some PCs have non-scalable fonts named Times , it is common to lead with the scalable, nearly ubiquitous MSIE font Times New Roman instead. Times is noticeably more compact than Times New Roman, so it can be too small to read on screen. font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif MSIE This is by far the most common serif font on the Web. It is the default serif font in most browsers. font-family: "Times New Roman", serif A sans-serif font designed (like Verdana) for legibility on screen. font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif Possibly the most readable of the sans-serif fonts commissioned by Microsoft for on-screen use. However, Verdana shouldn’t be used side-by-side with same-sized serif fonts, because Verdana will appear one or two sizes larger. font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif Mac Functionally similar to Windows Terminal and Fixedsys, VT-100 can be scaled up for a “bitmappy” appearance. font-family: "VT-100", monospace
The CSS font-family property lets you specify more than one font at a time, in order of preference. If the first choice is unavailable, CSS moves on to the second one, and so on. So if you really like Franklin Gothic Demi as a headline font, you can use the following CSS:
h1,h2,h3 { font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi", Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; } | [
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Germany heads for early elections | Mr Schroeder is taking a huge political gamble, say analysts
Mr Schroeder had urged deputies to vote his government down, so he could seek a new mandate for controversial reforms.
President Horst Koehler must now decide if there are grounds to call elections a year ahead of the original schedule.
An early election is expected to hand power to the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU).
SCHROEDER'S VOTE RESULT Against - 296 For - 151 Abstained - 148
Profile: Gerhard Schroeder
After Friday's Bundestag vote Mr Schroeder met President Koehler to request a dissolution of parliament.
CDU leader Angela Merkel told the Bundestag that Mr Schroeder's SPD-Green coalition "can no longer govern".
Pressure for polls
Polls show 70% of Germans want early elections, which would probably be held on 18 September.
Mr Schroeder pointed out in his speech that all Germany's parties wanted early elections.
He said his government now had a diminished capacity to act after a string of defeats in regional elections.
"Without a new mandate my political programme cannot be carried forward," he said.
Some experts questioned whether Mr Schroeder's confidence vote move was constitutional.
Many MPs from among Mr Schroeder's own Social Democrats and his Green Party coalition allies opposed the move.
But when it came to the vote in the Bundestag (lower house), 151 members backed the government, 296 voted against and 148 abstained.
Economic woes
The loss of North Rhine-Westphalia - including the industrial Ruhr region - was seen as a crushing blow to the already wounded chancellor.
"The bitter result... jeopardises the political basis for the continuation of our task," Mr Schroeder said at the time.
With a 17% lead in opinion polls, CDU politicians are eager for early elections and a win that would make Ms Merkel Germany's first female leader.
"There will be new elections in Germany. This means a change in the content and style of politics," said Christian Wulff, Lower Saxony's conservative prime minister and Germany's most popular politician.
"Then the hard work will begin. Our leader, Angela Merkel, will carry out the kind of economic reforms that were implemented in Britain over the last 15 years."
Mr Schroeder's government has lost much support because of Germany's poor economic performance and the unpopular reforms it has pushed through.
Above all, voters appear to be fed up with the government's inability to bring down Germany's high unemployment rate of 11.3% - some 4.7 million people, according to the latest figures. | [
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