Consumers are in better shape than businesses? Interesting data point, though I wonder if businesses are just being more defensive.

Apple is undergoing the end of the Jobs era. Interpret the consequences of that as you will.

"Plus I got a little feedback from 2 friends who had interviewed there in July. Both had worked there before and after talking with them, something smelled like a culture shift (can't give details). The more I think about it, the happier I am I took my money off the table."

Co-worker's S.O. took a job there -- a big $70K for 80-hour weeks on a regular basis, plus "hope" of a bonus on hot projects that were finished ahead of schedule. From this standpoint, there's been a culture shift in that Apple used to pay for play. Now they don't see they have to, and they don't.

The relationship broke up, too, after a few months of this.

The sectors that buy AAPL products either aren't doing well, have to resort to inferior goods, or they are waiting for better technology before investing. This is the drumbeat I hear YMMV

OT-
wtf moment of today...guess that obama proposed changes to ratings agencies is stirring things back up..how can they do this with all the news CR has posted on CRE in last week...what bank pushed back, so they can get these in fed program...this is manipulation at its finest....

&P Restores Top-Ratings to Commercial Mortgages (Update1)
Share | Email | Print | A A A

By Sarah Mulholland

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Standard & Poor’s raised the ratings on commercial mortgage-backed debt from three bonds sold in 2007, restoring the top-ranked status of the securities.

The debt had been cut as recently as last week, rendering the securities ineligible for the Federal Reserve’s Term Asset- Backed Securities Loan Facility to jumpstart lending.

S&P lowered the ratings on a class of a commercial mortgage-backed bond offering from AAA to BBB-, the lowest investment-grade ranking, on July 14. The New York-based rating company reversed the cut today, S&P said in a statement.

“It is a stunning reversal and certainly raises questions concerning the robustness of their revised model,” said Christopher Sullivan, chief investment officer at United Nations Federal Credit Union in New York. “It may engender further uncertainty with respect to ratings outlooks.”

Debt rated below AAA isn’t eligible for the Federal Reserve’s TALF. Investors sought $668.9 million in loans from the Fed to purchase so-called legacy commercial mortgage-backed bonds on July 16, the first monthly deadline to finance the purchase of the securities.

This is a pretty interesting "recession". I live in Sacramento (area) and work for a Zombie. Supposedly one of the "bad" parts of the economy. I personally don't know anybody who is unemployed. The people I work with don't appear to be cutting back very much. Still planning trips, buying useless crap, all on credit cards. Seems to me consumer spending could stabilize indefinately as long as the banks keep the credit cards open. I know there are supposed to be unemployed people around here, I just don't hear about them.

My cousin in law just started at Apple's Sacramento facility fresh out of MBA school. Maybe that's the culture shift...MBA's (disclosure...I hold one of those sheepskins) I jokingly asked him if he got a free subscription to i-Tunes...no dice.

Apple and Amazon are going to be my ruin. Damn my strong convictions that they could not prosper in this environment. I still don't understand it.

Unemployment greater than 11% in some of their biggest markets, plus housing wealth evaporating....and yet the Mac sales grow nicely.

Ramping unemployment, plus businesses increasingly going BK and cutting expenses.....and yet the iPhone grows like mad.

What can stop their revenues going up, if not the greatest consumer retrenchment since the depression?

As the high-end housing market suffers declines this year, and as continuing unemployment causes folks to cut back further on spending, I still think Apple will suffer declining revenues, like everybody else, at some point soon.

I avoided Apple for years because of the price versus return ratio.
Twice the price of an IBM PC for questionable gains.

But I have to say, the iPhone is awesome.
I've had a year and I still get a kick out of it.

iPhones, iPods, computers... The new consumer "savings" rate is a myth too. Nobody is saving in the OLD definition of the word. Now the economists count reduced spending (reduced from the previous consumption on debt) as "savings". The peasants will (and are) spending EVERY dime they can find.

Analyst: so...let me see, DRAM, NAND, hards vs opticals, constraniation. Am i seeing this correctly. Can you elaborate.

AAPL: Yes, Bob. You see these items are silicon products. Pure and simple. Purely silicon and simply silicon.

Analyst: uhmmmmm. Let's drive to the point. Tell us about environmental and financial concerns and how they intersect.

AAPL: Bob you ignorant slut. Everyone knows these things are made from sand. That is the key. Environmentally the green bastards are trying to prevent us from getting all the sand we need, and the financial weenies have us in a TALF head vice. So this is the crux of the issue.

Analyst: okay, let's get to the poo-poo platter.

Apple and Amazon are going to be my ruin. Damn my strong convictions that they could not prosper in this environment. I still don't understand it.

The joys of not (yet) being a monopoly--you can grow in an overall down market by increasing share. Microsoft, Dell, HP, Walmart all are worse off in this regard.

How long will it take for the corporate infighting to drive out the Jobs magic and turn Apple's products into same old same old corporate blandness?

"But doesn't affordability become an issue, at some point, ever?? "

Not at the iPhone's price point. Remember, AT&T subsidizes the price to the consumer. When people can no longer afford to have a phone of any sort, them you'll see iPhone sales get killed. Meanwhile, people are disconnecting their land lines so that they can afford their cell bills.

I'm tempted to buy a iPhone every time my Crackberry crashes. But I really like having a keyboard.

"How long will it take for the corporate infighting to drive out the Jobs magic and turn Apple's products into same old same old corporate blandness?"

How fast can they hire more MBAs?

Really it depends on how long it takes for Apple to put another soda salesman into the CEO post after Jobs retires.

C&C, I don't get it either. I bought because it was cheap. It feels like dow 13,800 out there now so you can buy my shares from etrade.
SC, I bought ebay and amzn cheap in the 90s and held because they were companies I used. I'm very old fashioned about what I buy which is why I'm surprised if I make anything.
KFP, one of the interviewees came back saying he felt like he had just applied for a first line tech job at m$. We all stared at him and I suggested we begin drinking.

"Bob,
That's similar to what I've been hearing. They want to hire the young and dumb who can take a beating. They are being run like a sweat shop. The hot projects are mainly maintainence driven."

Maintenance-driven? Yup, in this case.

I'm no Apple-hater -- Apples have been my main home machines for nearly 30 years. I still remember the satisfying RRRRRIP sound of yanking the velcro-attached hood off an Apple II. So I could clean the PC board contacts with a pencil eraser. Dosweredadays. When they rolled out the iMac at 12:00 am one Saturday back in '98 or '99 at computer stores, I was there. Steve Jobs is a sociopath and AAPL is a moneygrubbing company that screws its users regularly. But the point is that while IBM -- and HP and Compac and Dell -- kept trying to turn the PC into just another piece of office equipment, Jobs and company kept moving it out in different directions. Everybody else mostly followed. And for that, Apple deserved respect, and still does.

But... once upon a time Apple employees worked huge hours because they thought they were creating greatness; a little later they worked long hours because they thought they'd be rich. And now they work long hours because... that's the culture, dude, take it or leave it. You a wimp?

WestSac, you're right about the young and stupid. Apple feeds 'em dinner every night they stay over, and throws 'em some free goodies from time to time ("here, have a laptop") to keep them happy. But once upon a time that slave labor led somewhere -- to money, or at least to geek glory ("I was there on Project X!"). And now it leads nowhere.

OK, so the iPhone is great, and folks are disconnecting their land-line phones to be able to afford their iPhone service...

Which utilities will they shut off so that they can afford a $400 Kindle??

Which utilities will they shut off so that they can afford a $400 Kindle??

People still read?

"Which utilities will they shut off so that they can afford a $400 Kindle?? "

People who buy Kindles are likely to be literate, so they probably can afford $400. Think about it.

On the other hand, Amazon may have shot themselves in the foot with the Orwell move.

I don't have a third hand, so I must not be an economist.

"I just don't understand why you would see folks downgrade from Nordstrom to Target, from Cheesecake Factory to KFC, but they buy the most expensive computer..."

A counter-trend to what you describe is that some people are tending to buy quality products in hopes that they will last longer than a year.

What I can't figure out is this:

Matt Trivisonno's tax withholding charts show about a 20% drop. That makes sence, 11% official unemplyment + a few more percent for those that don't matter anymore, plus the Furlow Friday effect that is happening all over (supposedly).

So, if people are earning 20% less(overall, based on taxes withheld) you'd think spending would be off more than 1%. Ain't that way tho. If the credit cards work, everybody will keep spending (I guess).

I just don't understand why you would see folks downgrade from Nordstrom to Target, from Cheesecake Factory to KFC, but they buy the most expensive computer...

They spend more time on their computer than they spend eating or wearing clothes.

@sm_landlord

Perhaps the persons buying Apple products perceive better quality/durability or some such in their purchase. I can see buying "store brands" and KFC versus Cheescake Factory -- but if you need something to last such as a washing machine, surely many people will spring for the better quality.

Personally I feel Apple products are for idle wastrels, but what do I know? I's no name computers and Linux for those in the reserve army of the wondering-how-long-we'll-have a-job.

I saved, bit the bullet, and bought a 3GS 32 GB Iphone....best money I've spent in a while. This thing has apps for damn near anything.

You even get used to the keyboard.

It's a computer that makes phone calls too.

I get a hefty discount on the voice and data plans through my employer.

It's the only Apple product that I own. That probably won't change.

Even if you view a mobile phone/smartphone as a necessary evil, as I do, it's difficult not to agree that, if you must have one, this would be the one you want.

When they switched to a BSD Unix core (with a Mach kernel) in OS X, they finally started making real computers. I have 3 and ssh into my home Macbook while at work.

how about there are more middle class people in China than in the US?

Been noticing that "favorable" tax treatment has had a favorable effect on earnings. For example, from caterpillar's report:

The provision for income taxes in the second quarter reflects an actual (discrete period) effective
tax rate of 10 percent compared to an estimated annual tax rate of 31.3 percent for second quarter
2008 excluding discrete benefits of $47 million in the second quarter 2008. The decrease is primarily
attributable to a more favorable geographic mix of profits and losses from a tax perspective along
with a larger percentage benefit from U.S. permanent differences and credits including the research
and development tax credit.

Anyone have a clue to wtf this means?

iPhone 3GS plus plus cydia gives you a full fledged unix workstation.

But the keyboard does suck.

Mac vs. PC
We've certainly jumped the shark
C'ya tomorrow

it's possible to replace the battery on ipods - you can buy kits to do this - not very hard.

But I still have a Gen I ipod mini and the battery is still fine despite being 5? years old

Jobs is the one that puts magnesium on the back of the ibook

The guy that invented the iPod and iPhone is at Palm now.

Basel

On page 861 on the US stimulus bill is probably a provision which gave CAT some tax breaks.

my battery lasted 18-24 months before now it craps out after about 45 minutes

So buy a new one

Nemo no thanks

No. 2 cop named to chief's job at UC Berkeley

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Assistant Chief Mitch Celaya will succeed Victoria Harrison on Aug. 1. He beat out Oakland Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki, who was a finalist for the position.
Celaya, 48, is a 25-year campus police veteran. He has helped to manage the SWAT team and serving as the department's spokesman.
He will receive an annual salary of $165,000.
A proposal to merge the UCSF and UC Berkeley police departments has been scrapped, as officials determined that a union would not save costs as originally envisioned, said campus spokeswoman Janet Gilmore.
No. 2 cop named to chief's job at UC Berkeley

Joe6Figure

It's amazing how you can move those earnings around, if you want to.

It's also amazing how many tax giveaways were stuffed into the emergency legislation of the past 9 months.

As for Apple computers: clearly, the banksters are Mac users!

More seriously -- this is the same company with flawless disclosure of stock option issuance, flawless disclosure of the health of the CEO (who is a significant fraction of market cap based on stock-price impact of health rumors), and you're wondering whether to believe the quarterly reports???? Sheesh. /snark

Amazon is good. They are going to kill publishing companies next.

A sample from my CR inspired serial novel...

"Because it is a supply and demand thing. Weapons are not a big deal to get now if you have the right trade goods. Decent pharmaceuticals are harder to find than weapons. Gold is the hardest of all to get because everyone thinks it is going to be worth a lot more, and soon at that."

"What do you think Max?"

"I think they are right. The government has a problem. One I hadn't really realized."

"And that is..."

He didn't answer my question. Night did it for him. "Because it is running on paper with nothing behind it. They have been running on BS and yesterdays habits for the past few years. We still accept it because we can't conceive of not accepting it. The rest of the world doesn't have that problem. We believe in it because to not believe in it is too freaking scary. It's all make believe and has been for awhile."

American Apocalypse

Thank you.

Wisdom
about 200-300 billion of the stimulus was for tax breaks

Nova
did you see this "Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle"

Amazon Erases Two Classics From Kindle. (One Is '1984.') - NY Times

Hans

I think they take advantage of a lot of E European engineers. That might be why they lost their hardware guy to Palm.

i think the reason iphone still sells is that americans are idiots as long as its a monthly payment.

ATT raised data raites from iphone 1 to iphone 3g. but no one cared since now the startup cost to get an iphone is less. now the iphone is $99 so its a "value".

itsl ike the consumer is hurting but at their lower level of spending, they can buy this new "cheaper" iphone, even though the monthly data plan rates will kill them over the course of 2 years.

these are the same poeple who buy cars with 10% interest over a 6 year term because the monthly payment is low. apple learned from car salesmen when the firs thing they ask you is how much you can afford a month is that the debt ridden americans are idiots and that its all about the monthly payment. if it wasnt just about monthly payments we would not have phone bundling and exclusivity and suich and we'd be just like europe.

Jon Rubinstein that is his name

Former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein reportedly played a significant role in overhauling Palm's Pre project when he began working with the company, according to Fortune.

Rubinstein initially started "hanging out" with the Palm teams in June of 2007. Taking a first look, he was unimpressed with the Pre hardware and pushed to have the engineers step away from the resistive touchscreens utilized on the prototypes. The components were replaced with capacitive touchscreens used in devices such as the iPhone.

The engineer's relationship with the Apple executives dates back to 1990, after being invited to join Steve Jobs' NeXT venture. Later, while working at Apple, Rubinstein lead engineers to bring the first iMacs and iPods to the market in extremely short time-frames.

Report: Ex-Apple exec overhauled Palm Pre design | Electronista

This guy has been instrumental for Apple and the iCon gave him the shaft then threatened him with a lawsuit. What a winner.

if people were rational google and apple would not be worth so much.

If people were rational, US gov't debt would be worth zero.

had to repost..bcse apple talk has me thinking of pies...like sh$t pies having their ratings raised a week after they were downgraded below fed purchase grade for talf program...why do I believe this is related to CIT rescue..you guys step up and we'll look at those downgrades again....It would be interesting to see who has these bonds...

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Standard & Poor’s raised the ratings on commercial mortgage-backed debt from three bonds sold in 2007, restoring the top-ranked status of the securities.

The debt had been cut as recently as last week, rendering the securities ineligible for the Federal Reserve’s Term Asset- Backed Securities Loan Facility to jumpstart lending.

S&P lowered the ratings on a class of a commercial mortgage-backed bond offering from AAA to BBB-, the lowest investment-grade ranking, on July 14. The New York-based rating company reversed the cut today, S&P said in a statement.

“It is a stunning reversal and certainly raises questions concerning the robustness of their revised model,” said Christopher Sullivan, chief investment officer at United Nations Federal Credit Union in New York. “It may engender further uncertainty with respect to ratings outlooks.”

Debt rated below AAA isn’t eligible for the Federal Reserve’s TALF. Investors sought $668.9 million in loans from the Fed to purchase so-called legacy commercial mortgage-backed bonds on July 16, the first monthly deadline to finance the purchase of the securities.

"i do not get why we have economists"

The same reason we have meterologists. Because Ben Bernanke's stammering is great television?

abcnews tonight-lead story is stock market rally...green shoots everywhere...

i'm not really worried about BRIC collapsing. I'm more concerned when an "American" company is more accurately an American subsidiary of a multi-national company, basically when more earnings are derived abroad than domestically.

Two companies come in to mind. GM and Budweiser.

Americans wouldn't be able to tell the difference

Agree.
.
.

and the economy might be in better shape

Disagree but not strongly.
I know it's heresy but I think Bernanke's done more good than Paulson or Geithner.

Another Stock Market bubble in the offing; the BOGaS (Bernanke, Obama, Geithner and Summers) bubble. Can't pin it on Greenspan and Bush this time.

"I know it's heresy but I think Bernanke's done more good than Paulson or Geithner."

I'll agree with you, in that Bernanke couldn't have done worse than Paulson/Geithner. They all would've implemented massive printing, but at least Bernanke doesn't attract the stench of close ties with bankers.

Weeping Willow

give it a P/E of 18 and Apple is a 90 -100 dollar stock in a year.

Do Know Evil - the new Google credo -

Google Axes Seattle Employees, Report Says | Xconomy

the layoffs are staggered and coordinated so that the company will not have to make government filings monitored by the media. The employees signed agreements not to share any information about their job, compensation, or layoffs, limiting what they can do about losing their positions

broward

You knew it was just a matter of time until reality would set in

"the layoffs are staggered and coordinated so that the company will not have to make government filings monitored by the media. The employees signed agreements not to share any information about their job, compensation, or layoffs, limiting what they can do about losing their positions"

do companies really believe this shiiit is going to stay private in this day and age? especially google. are they that naive?

Medtronic was a stock always awarded a 30 mulitple: best in field, cutting edge, demographics, etc. Now murks along with a PE of 10. Apple deserves a high PE more than GOOG, but I don't see it growing revenues 25% a year. BTW, the iphone is canabalizing the ipod in a pretty big way.

Well, lets put things in perspective.

BB. just a seal on an envelope

The Treasury lads - a Netflix envelope seal

The Flu, the 4th seal...

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a pale horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, and that they (the four horsemen) should kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth

"Bernanke doesn't attract the stench of close ties with bankers."

So the head of the central bank is not considered a banker? Kind of like Keven Bacon having no close ties to Kevin Bacon.

There is a limit as to what people will pay for monthly service. Either rates come down or smart phone sales stagnate

kcoop

CIA just looking around.

ghostface agree

MSFT was 60 now in the 20's

Its only when people say "this thing will never go down" is a top reached. Mark this day my friend.

user to guest is usually high.

hmm.m.

edit: fixed it.

Even MSFT I can understand, they have monopoly pricing power and an install base that is hard to replace (not impossible, but hard).

but AAPL, RIMM, etc are only as good as their product set. that product set gets replaced by the next technology, and they are dead. they have to continually make themselves obsolete. how hard will it be to replace the iPhone? how hard was it to replace the original Palm Pilots? not hard, as long as there is a cool new gadget.

given that the stocks don't pay any dividends, the bet is that they continue to innovate successfully, and some greater fool will continue to pay more for the shares you just bought.

Its only when people say "this thing will never go down"

Ken must have said that about the server.

Broward it was increased traffic dammit! (

Ghost

Palm has it is the Pre and the next one that will come out later this year.

Remember how cool it was to own a Motorola RAZR a few years ago? That cool clamshell look?

The appetite for consumer gadgets changes fast.

"Most tech companies probably spend five or ten percent of gross income on R&D, if not more. Doesn't leave much room for regular dividends. "

But they always have tons of money to buy back the shares that they dilute through issuing stock options, don't they?

I just got a hand me down Razar. I can see the numbers and it reads them to me. Does this say I am old?

ghostfaceinvestah == heretic.

Execute him.

"If utility companies had to do R&D, they probably wouldn't pay divvies either. "

Utilities have to spend a lot of money on infrastructure, which tech companies do not. Building and maintaining plants, etc.

You throw out all the standard excuses tech companies use for not returning money to shareholders, but the fact remains that most tech companies have enriched no one but employees over the years.

GOOG is another example. Eventually someone will devise a better search engine, and they will be gone.

What ever happened to Netscape, anyway? Was it really the evil MSFT who put them under, or was their product just easy to copy and replace, with very few barriers to entry?

Ken must have said that about the server.

I think I can safely dispel that notion.

I'd have been the guy on the Titanic design team glaring at the sales people, knocking frequently and loudly on wood.

"What ever happened to Netscape, anyway?"

They rewrote their main product from scratch. When their customers didn't ask for it. And the rewrite took forever, so that killed them when Microsoft bundled IE with Windows.

Japanese cell phone makers do the same kind of bonehead move...they write alot of the software on each cell phone from scratch, for each new cell phone.

I'm looking now at the logs, and it appears we have some rather insatiable users. One IP address grabbed more than 4 Gb of data last month, another 3.5. This might explain the problem. I'll dig a little more.

P.S. We have some people using the Wii and the Sony Playstation to browse here. Hoocoodanode?

"ghostfaceinvestah == heretic.

Execute him."

LOL! Yeah, the AAPL devotees would probably love to have me hung.

I went to school in silly valley, with a lot of these tech types, and I have seen outrageous fortunes made (and spent) by just screwing individual investors time and time again.

I love the tricks they pull to enrich themselves. Stock options underwater? Reprice. Can't reprice? Just offer a slug of new ones. Congress tries to mandate expensing of stock options? Pretend the world will end if it happens. It happens and world doesn't end? Convince analysts to ignore the number. Give yourself crazy benefits like gold-plated healthcare plans, free massages, free meals, free dry cleaning, employee annual meetings on Pier 28 with ferris wheels and Sheryl Crow playing, etc.

But of course they can't afford to return money to shareholders, gotta spend that on R&D of course.

dupe

One IP address grabbed more than 4 Gb of data last month, another 3.5.

Probably NSA. They're coming for us! Good thing I don't live in the US!

One IP address grabbed more than 4 Gb of data last month

Oh, crap, I hope that's not me!

Gotta lot of free time, though.

"Not so good when it is time to be shorn or slaughtered."

It depends on how much trouble you give to the man holding the scissors and blade.

Probably NSA. They're coming for us! Good thing I don't live in the US!

If they want you bad enough it won't matter.

We had a client who was snatched in SA by the State Dept spooks and flown on a Lear to the US. One of his attorneys told him he was probably going to do serious time.

His reply? When they fly you to america wearing a hood on a Lear - you know you are never going home again.

ghostfaceinvestah (profile) wrote on Tue, 7/21/2009 - 6:36 pm

"Probably NSA. They're coming for us! "
Or maybe they are sick of this crap too and need to choose one of us to lead the Revolution?

They already tried but we couldn't come to terms over stock options.

What ever happened to Netscape, anyway? Was it really the evil MSFT who put them under, or was their product just easy to copy and replace, with very few barriers to entry?

Netscape was killed by Microsoft monopoly power, pure and simple.

Microsoft forced every Windows user to have IE installed, sitting on their desktop with its tendrils wound deep inside the OS. While Netscape was probably a better browser until IE5, most users did not want to bother with downloading and installing Netscape when IE was good enough.

There were also games played with APIs, RFC support, JavaScript compatibility, and end runs like activex. Not that Netscape didn't play API and RFC games. In the end, the default IE icon and the cash horde of Microsoft squeezed Netscape to death.

When Netscape died, so did Microsoft browser research and development.

But from the ashes of Netscape, we got Firefox.

"What ever happened to Netscape, anyway"

Oh, and there's another reason. CEO of Netscape famously said publicly that they will "reduce windows to a set of poorly debugged device drivers."

Never taunt a pack of wolves with large brains.

Chinese Employee Loses iPhone Prototype, Kills Self on Tuesday July 21, @03:44PM

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday July 21, @03:44PM
from the taking-the-job-way-too-seriously dept.
cellphones
tlhIngan writes "Physical intimidation of a Foxconn employee, 25 year-old Sun Danyong, and a possibly-illegal search of his house may have led to suicide after an iPhone prototype in his possession was lost. Foxconn is Apple's long-time manufacturing partner for the iPhone. Entrusted with 16 iPhone prototypes, Danyong discovered that one was missing and searched the factory for it. When it didn't turn up, he reported the incident to his boss, who ordered his apartment searched. There are reports of physical intimidation by Foxconn security personnel. This ended tragically on Thursday at 3 AM, when Danyong jumped from his apartment building to his death." VentureBeat notes that "Apple exerts immense pressure on its business partners [to] help it maintain secrecy." An Apple spokesperson said this to CNet: "We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."

at 3 AM, when Danyong jumped from his apartment building to his death

Jumped? Or thrown?

I find the Amazon web site distracting, but they have a handful of back office technologies that are really cool.

They have the simple storage system, elastic cloud, and the mechanical turk. Turk lets you delegate tasks from a program to a human, whom you pay a small transaction fee, then your program can resume with input form the turk. Turks are anonymous humans anywhere in the world. Truly sick.

Ya'll need to quit drinking the hater-aide

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Global investors give Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke top marks for combating the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and overwhelmingly favor his reappointment amid optimism that the world economy is on the mend.

Sixty-one percent of investors surveyed in the first Quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll say the world economy is stable or improving and almost 75 percent take a favorable view of the 55-year-old chairman. By almost a three-to-one margin, they say Bernanke has earned another four-year term when his current one expires in January.

Jumped? Or thrown?

No kidding.

"Execute him" was a joke, man.

in the first Quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll say ...

And they decided they needed this poll because?

"Sixty-one percent of investors surveyed in the first Quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll say the world economy is stable"

In other words, Goldman Sach's automated trading system approves Ben Bernanke

I'm experiencing FIOS envy.

BTW, Nemo's monkey would be more interested in calculatedriskblog.com than hoocoodanode.org. At least, until he wanted to post.

broward,
I don't think some of those contract terms are enforceable by Google... only the CIA can enforce
a contract denying you 1st amendment rights

epicaricacy meets hits 4 jesus.

*SWAK

What ever happened to Netscape, anyway? Was it really the evil MSFT who put them under, or was their product just easy to copy and replace, with very few barriers to entry?

Bundling a browser with an OS with a 90% market share and a populace that doesn't care what browser they use as long as an icon appears on their screen also had something to do with it.

Add in a few exclusive agreements with hardware suppliers and you get a bug advantage.

Then add in some screwups by Netscape.

Mortgage Fraud in Florida

They spend more time on their computer than they spend eating or wearing clothes.