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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
HP Revives Its Tablet Strategy With a New Slate
HP, battered by its previous forays into the tablet category, tried again Monday with its announcement of a new 7-inch Android tablet, the HP Slate 7, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The device will be available in April for $169. The company's previous tries at tablet devices -- and mobile operating systems -- have landed with loud thuds in the marketplace.
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Celebs, Kimmel join forces in faux movie trailer
ABC
By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor
What do you do after the trailer for a movie you never made gets 20 million hits on YouTube? That's a question Jimmy Kimmel had to answer after his "Movie: The Movie" star-studded parody racked up huge numbers of clicks following its post-2012 Oscars premiere.
But he knew what had to be done: Make another one!
"When you have a big success in Hollywood, there's only one reasonable thing you can do, and that is is cheapen it with a sequel," he told his "Live!" audience Sunday night after the 2013 awards fest. Then he premiered ... "Movie: The Movie: 2V."
Yet again the world is in danger, and it's up to Kimmel to organize the forces of good to save everybody. But this time there's no meteor hurtling toward the planet -- instead, sexy, deadly vampires, mummies and leprechauns have unleashed the "sexpocalypse," and no one is safe. Kimmel plays the double-eyepatch-wearing leader of an "Avengers"-esque task force that is the Earth's only hope.
Here's what you can expect from the 7-minute-plus trailer:
- Jessica Chastain, watching the carnage, noting "Teenage girls and their weird moms don't stand a chance."
- Gerard Butler imitating Liam Neeson's fierce, family-saving character from "Taken."
- Brian Cranston playing the piano with his face.
- John Krasinski morphing into a crime-fighting crustacean. "It's shrimpin' time," he gloats.
- President Oprah Winfrey.
- Kimmel's nemesis Matt Damon, in a full-body motion-capture suit eating a sandwich, kind of.
- Amanda Seyfried singing and breakdancing in a "Les Miserables" dress.
- A giant Channing Tatum saving the world.
- Samuel L. Jackson toppling over an even more enormous Jenga game, also to save the world.
Yes, there's some swearing, but it's bleeped out. And, as Kimmel promises at the end of the video, Monday night's show will feature "a special behind-the-scenes look at the making of 'Movie: The Movie: 2V' for film buffs."
"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on ABC.
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
13.02.24 08:00 Spaghetti Dinner Boy Scount Troop 151 - Sunday February 24, 2013 from 8:00 am to 9:00 am @ Asbury Church
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Spanish king's son-in-law makes court appearance
PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) ? Protesters jeered the Spanish king's son-in-law before he was questioned Saturday by a judge about allegations he and a partner funneled away millions of euros through fraudulent deals.
The investigation has deeply embarrassed the monarchy in a country hard hit by a financial crisis and sky-high unemployment. The scandal ranks among the worst public relations mishaps the royal household has experienced in the 37-year reign of King Juan Carlos.
Inaki Urdangarin, who has not been charged with a crime, made his way into a courthouse in Palma de Mallorca amid tense street scenes where a contingent of around 170 police kept several hundred protesters away from the building. Urdangarin, married to the 75-year-old king's second daughter, Princess Cristina, has denied any wrongdoing.
Urdangarin, facing his second appearance in court, did not stop to say anything, but wished about 100 journalists accredited to cover the event a curt "good morning" as he walked in, accompanied by his lawyer Mario Pascual Vives.
The Duke of Palma, the title held by Urdangarin, had been called to answer questions behind closed doors at a courthouse on this Mediterranean island about whether he used his high-profile status to secure lucrative deals for a nonprofit foundation he ran and then fraudulently diverted money for personal gain.
But the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has moved to try and shield the king from potential collateral damage inflicted by the Urdangarin case, emphasizing Juan Carlos' value to the nation.
Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria defended the king's role three times during a news conference following Friday's Cabinet meeting, highlighting how the monarch had worked "for stability and democracy" in Spain.
Judge Jose Castro questioned Urdangarin about three alleged offenses against the Treasury, including corporate tax fraud related to his foundation and matters linked to his personal income tax returns. Under Spanish law, the court will decide whether the prosecution has adequate evidence to file charges against the duke.
As stated in the writ of summons, the judge also asked about alleged bank accounts in tax havens such as Andorra, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Carlos Garcia Revenga, Cristina's personal secretary, arrived for questioning in the afternoon.
A week ago, Urdangarin's former partner, Diego Torres, faced detailed questioning by Castro and it is reported many potentially damaging documents were handed over to the judge. Urdangarin was summoned by Castro to the same court last February when the duke was quizzed over large contracts he secured from regional governments for his foundation.
He is suspected of then subcontracting the work to private companies he also oversaw, sometimes charging the public purse unrealistically inflated prices and syphoning some of the income to offshore tax havens.
Newspapers have reported that the revenues Urdangarin and associates are suspected of having handled may have exceeded ?6 million ($8 million).
The duke's alleged misdeeds took place in 2004-2006. Urdangarin, the princess and their four children moved to Washington in 2009 as the investigation began to heat up. They returned to Spain in August.
The case exploded in the media late 2011 as Spain was buffeted by Europe's debt crisis, its economic growth grinding to a halt and already huge jobless numbers swelling.
___
Harold Heckle reported from Madrid.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spanish-kings-son-law-makes-court-appearance-123656782.html
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Horse meat in US? Unlikely, but tests are rare
Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
An employee of the microbiological laboratory of the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety prepares a sample of minced meat in Vienna this week. The samples of minced meat are tested for the presence of horse meat as a precaution. United States officials say it's highly unlikely the scandal will reach U.S. consumers.
By JoNel Aleccia, Staff Writer, NBC News
Europe?s scandal over horse meat hidden in beef products -- including recalls of Nestle ravioli and Birds Eye chili con carne -- has renewed questions about whether Americans unwittingly could be eating equine products as well.
U.S. Department of Agriculture regulators say it?s highly unlikely that beef adulterated with horse meat could make it to the nation?s dinner plates because no domestic suppliers currently slaughter horses and the agency has strict labeling and inspection standards for imported meat.
But agency officials also acknowledge privately that species testing for meat imported into the U.S. is performed typically only when there?s a reason to question a shipment.
And a Florida company that supplies the only validated tests for horse meat in food has been slammed with nearly 1,000 requests in recent weeks for its $500 kits -- including orders from major U.S. meat producers.
?It?s becoming a little hectic,? said Natalie Rosskopf, administrative director of Elisa Technologies Inc. of Gainesville. ?There was no call for horse testing a month ago. Nothing.?
Continental Europe has been roiled recently by reports of horse meat masquerading as beef in frozen burgers and prepared foods, including frozen dinners and pastas. This week, Nestle announced it was removing chilled pasta products produced by a German supplier, including Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, from stores in Italy and Spain, and a lasagna product from France. On Friday, frozen food maker Birds Eye said it would withdraw products including chili con carne from Britain and Ireland because tests detected traces of horse DNA.
The trouble with horse meat hidden in beef is partly a health concern. Meats taken from store shelves in Britain and Germany had traces of a powerful equine painkiller, phenylbutazone, or ?bute,? which is banned in animals destined for human food, tests showed.
But it?s also about trust, especially in the U.S., where many shudder at the mere thought of eating horse meat and the deception would raise even more suspicion about a company?s practices.
?If a company is willing to commit fraud, I can?t imagine that food safety is the biggest thing on their agenda,? said Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer and food safety expert who publishes a blog focused on the industry.
In fact, boneless beef adulterated with horse meat -- and with kangaroo -- did make it to the U.S. more than 30 years ago, when mislabeled meat from Australia led to the impounding and testing of 66 million pounds of the product, according to old USDA records found and posted by Marler.
Known as the ?Australian meat incident,? the beef substitution scandal prompted swift action and increased scrutiny by agency officials.
USDA officials couldn?t quickly produce records of species testing results in the past 30 years -- or even the past year -- but they say the possibility of that happening again is remote. The U.S. neither slaughters horses nor imports horse meat from other countries, and it doesn?t allow import of beef from the countries and companies involved in the European scandal, an official told NBC News. (He was speaking on background because he said he wasn?t authorized to discuss the issue.)
In addition, USDA inspectors look at every shipment of meat sent through U.S. ports and can demand species testing if anything is amiss, documents show.
Officials with the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees processed foods, said that they had detected no horse meat in imported or U.S.-made food.?
?We have no past record or current indication that horse meat is an ingredient in any FDA-regulated processed foods in the U.S.,? Jalil Isa, an FDA spokesman, said in an email. He added that FDA officials are reaching out to Nestle and Birds Eye to ensure that no adulterated food was sent to the U.S. Nestle has said no U.S. products use meat from European sources.
Birds Eye Iglo U.K. products have no connection to the Birds Eye brand in the U.S., which is owned by Pinnacle Foods, and isn?t affiliated with the U.K. supplier.
Producers such as the meat giant Cargill say they don?t import beef from plants that also slaughter horses, or from the companies and suppliers implicated in the European scandal, and they remain confident that their meat is free of adulteration.
?Cargill?s beef supply chain is shorter than those involved in the horse meat issue in Europe and we know, and work directly with, our suppliers, which minimizes the potential for fraudulent substitution of products,? Cargill spokesman Mike Martin told NBC News in an email.
Still, the problems in Europe could prompt renewed scrutiny, he added.
?We do not analyze for other species and are assessing the current situation to determine if this is something we might do in the future,? Martin said.
If they do, they?ll have to turn to Elisa Technologies for the horse species test, said Rosskopf. The company?s meat species kits, which verify animal proteins in raw and cooked meat samples, have been used for years by the USDA and by private firms, she said.
Before the discovery in Europe of horse meat in beef, the firm?s typical demand was for tests for more common species, for instance, to confirm that no pork was present in kosher meat, Rosskopf said. Now, meat suppliers mostly in Europe, but also in the U.S., have been clamoring for the equine test.
Have there been any positive tests so far?
?I can?t say,? said Rosskopf, noting that the company is known for its adherence to confidentiality agreements.
Of course, putting horse meat on the dinner table is common in many countries, including France, Canada, Mexico and Japan, to name a few. And it?s not unheard of on American menus, either. Slaughterhouses that produced horse meat for human consumption were in operation in the U.S. until 2007, when the last three of a one-time high of 16 or 17 plants closed under state and federal pressure.
Congress effectively banned the practice then by refusing to fund USDA inspections of the slaughterhouses. Those efforts were fueled by vocal anti-slaughter activists who regarded the practice as inhumane.
The arrangement stayed in place until 2011, when the Obama administration quietly lifted the restriction, partly out of concern for the neglect of horses in the U.S. and the treatment of horses that were shipped to Canada and Mexico to be killed.
The U.S. exported more than 46,000 metric tons of horse meat in 1990, a figure that fell to about 5,600 metric tons in 2007, when the ban was enacted, industry figures show.
Wyoming state Rep. Sue Wallis is trying to reinstate horse slaughter in the U.S. and to build a new source for the meat in America and abroad.
Her application is among those pending with the USDA to open horse slaughterhouses in Missouri, Iowa and New Mexico. The firms would produce what she and other advocates call ?cheval,? horse meat that she said is prized by gourmet cooks and health enthusiasts for its taste and lean profile. Plus, Wallis said, horse meat is generally about 40 percent cheaper than beef.
?There are plenty of people in America who have no problem with cheval and are anxiously awaiting our product,? she said.
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Buffett Risks Turning Heinz Debt Rating Into Junk Food
Billionaire Warren Buffett?s love of ketchup and hash browns is transforming H.J. Heinz Co. into the most-leveraged food maker in America.
Buffett?s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and 3G Capital Inc.?s $23 billion acquisition of Heinz may double the company?s total debt to five times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to Fitch Ratings, the highest of any comparable food company. The cost to protect Heinz?s debt from losses soared to a record after the announcement.
While Buffett has used takeovers to build Berkshire into a $249 billion company and burnish his reputation as the world?s most successful investor, financing the deal with $14.1 billion in debt threatens to strip Heinz of the investment-grade rating that it?s had for four decades. Fitch cut Heinz to junk on Feb. 15 and credit-default swaps imply a Ba1 rating, according to Moody?s Corp.?s capital markets research group. That?s two steps lower than its Baa2 rating from Moody?s Investors Service and three below its BBB+ grade from Standard & Poor?s.
The trading ?underscores the hazards of high-grade bonds in an active M&A environment,? said Martin Fridson, chief executive officer of research firm FridsonVision LLC. Investors should be aware of the ?inherent danger now that leveraged buyouts as well as strategic acquisitions are once again prominent in the financial landscape,? he said.
No Boost
Michael Mullen, a spokesman for Pittsburgh-based Heinz, didn?t return a telephone message seeking comment.
Instead of boosting its credit profile to match Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire?s AA+ and Aa2 ratings, Heinz was cut to junk in two days in the eyes of credit investors, Moody?s data show. The swap prices, which climb as investor perceptions of creditworthiness deteriorate, rose to levels implying a Baa3 rating on Feb. 14, from Aa3 the day before. They fell again to Ba1 the next day.
Heinz?s leverage may increase to five times or more after the takeover is completed from 2.5 times on Oct. 28, according to a Feb. 15 Fitch report in which the rating firm cut Heinz?s credit grade to BB+. That would make the ketchup-maker the most highly-leveraged U.S. food manufacturer with a market value greater than $5 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Financing Package
Heinz, which said in a Nov. 20 regulatory filing that it had about $5.04 billion of total debt at the end of October, obtained $14.1 billion in financing from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. to support the deal, according to a Feb. 15 filing.
Berkshire and billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann?s 3G will each pay about $4.1 billion for an equity stake. Berkshire is also contributing $8 billion for preferred shares which gets an annual dividend of 9 percent, Buffett?s firm said in a filing.
The credit-default swap contracts tied to the company?s debt fluctuated by 187 basis points, or more than 400 percent, in the two trading days after it was announced, CMA data show.
Some of Heinz?s debt include provisions to protect investors in event of an acquisition or a downgrade.
Holders of the company?s $300 million of 2.85 percent notes due March 2022 will receive 101 cents on the dollar in addition to unpaid interest if anyone buys more than half of the company?s outstanding voting stock, or if the rating is lowered by all three rating firms to junk, according to that security?s prospectus.
Higher Leverage
?It took the market time to digest just how leveraged, and how subordinated, senior unsecured bondholders will be as a result of approximately $10.5 billion of senior secured bank debt that will be layered ahead of bonds that don?t benefit from a change of control,? said John Kneebone, a credit analyst at Paris-based BNP Paribas SA. ?Many see the potential for leverage to go higher than anticipated levels? of about 6.1 times, he said.
Heinz credit swaps surged Feb. 15 to 228 basis points at 7:37 a.m. in New York, fell to 184 at 9:07 a.m., and surged again to 224 basis points in the next 23 minutes, according to data provider CMA, which is owned by McGraw-Hill Cos. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market. A basis point equals $1,000 annually on a contract protecting $10 million of debt.
?Market speculation? that the deal wouldn?t trigger the change-of-control provision is probably incorrect, according to a Feb. 14 report from Covenant Review LLC, an independent credit research firm based in New York.
?Pretty Dumb?
Confusion over the change of control pushed some debt below par, according to Covenant Review?s founder Adam Cohen. To exploit that loophole, Berkshire and 3G would have to create a holding company over Heinz, and then argue that the combined entity counts as a ?person? in one instance but not another, Cohen said.
?That?s a really hard argument to make,? he said. ?I can?t say it?s impossible but it?s pretty dumb.?
Credit-default swaps on Heinz, which pay the buyer face value if a borrower fails to meet its obligations, less the value of the defaulted debt, were the third most-traded entity last week among 1,000 tracked by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., up from 720th place the week before, according to the DTCC, which runs a central registry for the market.
A daily average of $430 million traded last week, compared with an average of $150 million over the past month.
Default Swaps
Banks, hedge funds and other money managers had bought and sold swaps on a net $906 million of Heinz as of Feb. 15, up from $599.6 million the week before, DTCC data show.
The maker of condiments and Ore-Ida potato snacks, led by Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson since 1998, had gained 17 percent in the past 12 months as it boosted sales in developing economies. The company traces its roots back to 1869, when Henry John Heinz and neighbor L. Clarence Noble began selling grated horseradish, according to Heinz?s website. The company introduced its famous Tomato Ketchup in 1876.
The company?s $436.6 million of 6.75 percent notes due in 2032, which hadn?t traded since August, dropped 21 cents to 107 cents on the dollar to yield 6.12 percent on Feb. 14, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The next day they sank to 101.5 cents to yield 6.6 percent.
The debt traded at 105.1 cents to yield 6.29 percent Wednesday, the data show.
?While details about the company?s financing plans or additional debt needs have not been disclosed, we believe the transaction would weaken Heinz?s credit protection measures well below current levels,? S&P analysts Bea Chiem and Jeffrey Burian wrote in a Feb. 14 note.
? Copyright 2013 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.moneynews.com/InvestingAnalysis/Buffett-Heinz-Junk-rating/2013/02/21/id/491416
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PlayStation 4 Specs: PS4 Used Game Blocking Back In Question After Latest Sony Roundtable
- With the PlayStation 4's existence finally confirmed, a new debate about console supremacy is already underway, but could one of the most important details still be unrevealed? Find out why some gamers are still concerned about the PS4 blocking used games when the console hits stores sometime during the 2013 holiday season. (Photo: Reuters)
Only days after reports claimed the PlayStation 4 release date would not bring Sony's first anti-used game console to market, Sony executives are apparently singing a different tune during closed-door meetings with the members of the press.
Speculation about the potential block has circulated in the weeks and months leading up to numerous console launches in recent years, as publishers and console owners become more vocal in their discontentment with the second-hand games market's existence; however, recent rumors regarding the PS4 picked up quite a bit of steam with the a patent was discovered which protects Sony's legal ownership of the technology.
Follow Us
While Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed the PlayStation 4 would be used game-friendly on Wednesday, many assumed that the speculation could finally be put to rest, but a new report suggests the technology's possible inclusion is still on the table.
While some wrote off the rumors as little more than pre-announcement speculation, many began to wonder if there wasn't some truth to the PlayStation 4 speculation, particularly once similar rumors began to circulate about the Xbox 720. After all, the decision to abandon the second-hand market becomes far less risky if both Sony and Microsoft's next-generation consoles were making the jump, and both companies' silence on the matter did little to alleviate gamers' concerns.
Of course, given the company's refusal? to discuss the console, prior to Wednesday's "PlayStation Meeting", Sony's reluctance to address the anti-used games tech rumors in the days before the PS4 unveiling shouldn't have come as a huge shock. That said, when the topic didn't come up during Sony's Feb. 20 press event either, Eurogamer's confirmation from Yoshida became a lifeline to concerned PlayStation 4 fans across the globe.
It didn't take long for Sony to backtrack on those claims though, with the very same Sony executive telling members of the gaming press that PlayStation 4 game publishers would ultimately decide whether or not used games were playable on the PS4.
Worse, Sony isn't even sure if PlayStation 3 owners' digital purchases in the PSN store will carry over to the PS4. Surprisingly, the company didn't even cite PlayStation 4 hardware limitations when asked; Yoshida simply told reporters that a decision hadn't been made by Sony at that time.
It's certainly possible that Yoshida is simply acknowledging the existence of games like "Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D", which cannot have their progress wiped (essentially removing them from the second-hand market), while offering an answer vague enough to keep the PlayStation 4 appearing in headlines for a few more days. But it's also becoming far harder to ignore the possibility that Sony and/or a variety of third-party publishers could be actively looking to force gamers to purchase new copies of PS4 games.
What do you think of Sony's flip-flopping on the matter of used games? Would a block of some/all used games be a deal-breaker for you?
Let us know in the comments section!
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PS4 Specs; DualShock 4 Revealed, Touchpad, Headphone Jack Among New Features ?
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Source: http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/15544/20130223/playstation-4-specs-ps4-used-game-blocking.htm
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Sunday, February 17, 2013
Artificial finger grips evolution
17 February 2013
Last updated at 00:53 ET
It seems intuitive that fingerprints should have something to do with grip, but showing this has not been easy.
Many experiments that have run human skin across various surfaces have found few if any friction benefits from the little lumps and bumps.
But new tests using an artificial finger may provide some fresh insight.
A Dartmouth College team took its mechanical digit into the field and ran it over natural materials like tree bark and found a big friction increase.
The observation is interesting because it could say something quite deep about the evolution of primates.
Only our order of animals, with a few exceptions, has these ridges, or dermatoglyphs, on the ends of fingers and toes.
The research would suggest therefore that the prints gave our ancestors a unique advantage as they clambered through ancient forests.
It is striking, says Dartmouth's Nathaniel Dominy, that the advantage shows up particularly well when natural materials are used in the experiments. Previous laboratory tests have tended to use many fingers moving across a smooth standard surface, such as a glass.
In the Dartmouth approach, it is the finger that is the control and the substrates that are varied.
Biology matters"If you take biological materials like tree barks, something that primates are regularly gripping with their hands, we find that when the bark is being rubbed across our artificial finger there are big friction differences associated with orientation.
"In fact, the coefficient of friction increases by about 50%," said Dr Dominy.
He was talking about his work here in Boston at the annual meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The artificial digit has a pad made from silicone to mimic the way the skin on the end of a finger moves and stretches as it drags across a surface.
Impressed upon this pad are print designs produced by the Dartmouth, New Hampshire, team.
The whole apparatus is small enough to take outside the lab to locations with natural materials with interesting textures.
"We're finding that when you rub a natural biological surface that has an orientation - that has a grain, if you will - and you run that grain perpendicularly to the long axis of the ridges, we find a dramatic increase in friction," Dr Dominy told BBC News.
"This stands in stark contrast to earlier studies that found the orientation of rubbing really didn't matter, and that lack of difference has been a line of evidence that some people have used to argue that friction cannot be the explanation for the ridges.
"Our data differ from those earlier studies because we're finding that on a biological surface, a rough surface, that orientation does matter."
What is suggested to be at work here is the concept of asperities - the idea that if you take two rough surfaces and rub them together, the peaks in one will couple with the troughs in the other, increasing friction.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21480654#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Friday, February 15, 2013
Gas prices to rise in 2013, says Energy department
Gas prices will increase faster than expected in 2013, according to the US Department of Energy.?The slight rise in gas prices is due partly to an increase in the price of crude oil, Ingram writes, and refinery outages in January both in the US and Europe.
Gasoline drips off a nozzle during refueling at a gas station in Altadena, Calif. A combination of rising prices and increasingly efficient cars may not be reducing gasoline use, Ingram writes, but nor is it increasing.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/File
EnlargeThe price of gasoline will creep up faster than expected, the U.S. Department of Energy's latest figures show.
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Its monthly?Short-Term Energy Outlook?had previously put regular-grade gasoline at an average of $3.44 per gallon, but it's now expected to reach 11 cents higher.
That's still lower than 2012 prices, according toBloomberg. The average price of gas last year was $3.63 per gallon. 2014 may be cheaper still, at $3.39--though that estimate has risen from the previous $3.34 figure.
On-highway diesel prices are higher, due to market conditions and strong demand for exports. Prices are expected to average $3.92 per gallon in 2013, and $3.82 per gallon in 2014. Both these figures represent a drop from 2012's $3.97 per gallon.?
Sheffield Kevlar Shear Review: The Invincible Scissors that Will Outlast Your House
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
NC jobless insurance fix nears final passage
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A Republican plan to cut jobless payments and raise business taxes to speed repayment of North Carolina's $2.5 billion federal debt on unemployment benefits won tentative approval Tuesday in the state Senate, all but ensuring enactment this summer.
Four Democrats joined GOP senators in voting 36-13 for the House measure, which would cut maximum weekly benefits for new jobless workers July 1 by one-third and reduce the maximum duration of state benefits from 26 weeks to 20.
Businesses both large and small would keep paying higher federal taxes until the debt to the federal government is repaid. Under the accelerated plan, that would probably now be late 2015, instead of three years later if no changes to state law were made. State taxes would go up slightly on a permanent basis, while a surcharge would remain in place until there's a $1 billion cushion in the state trust fund to pay future benefits.
A proposed decline in maximum benefits to $350 per week would bring North Carolina's amount about to the average of other Southeastern states, supporters said, while the current maximum of $535 per week is the highest in the region and has been labeled a disincentive for some to find work.
The overhaul "tries to take care of the unemployed," said Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg who is shepherding the House bill through the Senate, but "it doesn't put an excessive burden upon the employers that are struggling." Rucho said repaying the debt more quickly gives certainty to businesses and can help them create jobs again.
The House passed the bill last week. A final Senate vote was expected Wednesday on the bill. If approved, it would then go to new Gov. Pat McCrory, who would be asked to sign the bill into law. The Republican said in an interview Tuesday he supports the overhaul, which is designed to get the state trust fund on firmer fiscal footing before the next recession and avoid debt in the future.
"I firmly believe that North Carolina should not be living off of a credit card and not paying off that credit card. I plan to pay off that credit card," McCrory said, speaking earlier in the day at a Raleigh forum organized by the Institute on Emerging Issues. "And it's going to come to sacrifice to both businesses and people."
Labor activists and most Democrats said the measure is weighted against displaced workers by forcing them to shoulder more of the burden. Reductions in the duration of benefits and amount would comprise nearly three-quarters of the $3.6 billion in the cumulative changes required by the bill through 2017, legislative researchers estimated in a document.
Businesses received unemployment tax reductions several times during the 1990s, but the taxes were never restored to prepare for recessions when jobless payments outstripped tax revenues during the Great Recession, said Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange.
"Over and over and over the employers came, as if there were no lean times ever coming up," Kinnaird said, "and yet we are not giving employees help this time now."
Senate Democrats offered a half-dozen amendments, five of which were defeated on party-line votes. A sixth amendment by Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, that would have reduced maximum weekly benefits to $422 per week but require all workers to pay a 0.48 percent tax on wages to help pay down the debt was withdrawn. A vote potentially could have harmed Democrats politically for supporting a broad tax increase.
Democrats also pleaded with the majority party to delay enactment on the bill until next January so a full year of federal emergency jobless benefits would continue. The benefit reductions meant the benefits must be cancelled after six months, affecting 170,000 unemployed workers that would otherwise receive $780 million, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, whose acting commissioner spoke against it Monday.
"People in my district are going to be hurt significantly," said first-term Sen. Mike Woodard, D-Durham. "They're clearly going to have fewer dollars. Their benefits are not going to last as long."
Rucho and others said waiting another six months would cost businesses another $400 million in taxes, but Democrats said that problem could be fixed with issuing state debt to avoid the extra taxes.
Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union, who owns a heating and air conditioning service company, said he was unhappy with the solution of higher taxes upon companies like his own. He said he'll owe more than $110,000 in unemployment taxes on his 77 employees and still may be forced to lay off one or two because of increases. But Tucker said he voted for the bill to remove the burden of the debt off businesses.
Senate Democrats voting for the bill were Clark Jenkins of Edgecombe County, Gene McLaurin of Richmond County, Ben Clark of Hoke County and Michael Walters of Robeson County.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nc-jobless-insurance-fix-nears-145419675.html
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Senate panel to vote on Defense nominee Hagel
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2103 file photo, former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pushed ahead Monday with plans for a vote on Hagel's nomination to be defense secretary despite Republican demands for more financial information from him. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2103 file photo, former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pushed ahead Monday with plans for a vote on Hagel's nomination to be defense secretary despite Republican demands for more financial information from him. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Chuck Hagel faced his first major hurdle in his bid to become the nation's defense secretary as a bitterly divided Senate Armed Services Committee pushed toward a vote Tuesday on his nomination.
"The time has come for the committee to act on this nomination," Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told the panel at the start of a session certain to be filled with lengthy speeches.
President Barack Obama tapped Hagel, 66, a former Republican senator from Nebraska and twice-wounded Vietnam War combat veteran to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is stepping down after four years as CIA director and Pentagon chief.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is pressing for a full Senate vote later this week, most likely on Thursday.
Hagel faces fierce opposition from Republicans who have challenged his past statements and votes on Israel, Iran, Iraq and nuclear weapons. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was a close friend of Hagel's but split over the Iraq war and politics, said he would vote against the nomination.
McCain cited Hagel's opposition to an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq that McCain backed in 2007, as well as Hagel's halting performance at his confirmation hearing.
McCain said the testimony "was the worst I've seen by any nominee before this committee."
Committee Republicans forced a delay in the expected vote last week when they pressed Hagel for further data on his personal finances.
Levin said the GOP demands were beyond the scope of those traditionally asked of previous nominees, Republican and Democrat ? a point echoed by McCain. Levin set a committee vote that will probably break along party lines ? 14 Democrats for Hagel, 12 Republicans against their former colleague ? just hours before Obama's State of the Union address to Congress.
If Hagel is approved in committee, as expected, he faces GOP delaying tactics in the full Senate, with the panel's ranking Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, insisting that any confirmation be based on 60 votes rather than a majority of the Senate.
But that effort has divided Republicans, with several longtime members opposed to the unprecedented step of filibustering a president's Cabinet nominee for defense secretary.
Late Monday, McCain met privately with several committee Republicans and urged them not to filibuster the Hagel nomination, pointing out that the roles could be reversed someday with a Republican president and GOP-controlled Senate.
"I'm encouraging my colleagues if they want to vote against Sen. Hagel that's one thing and that's a principled stand," McCain told a group of reporters. "We do not want to filibuster. We have not filibustered a Cabinet appointee in the past and I believe that we should move forward with his nomination, bring it to the floor and vote up or down."
McCain has not said how he would vote on the nomination, but has indicated he was learning against confirmation.
All 55 Democrats are expected to back Hagel, and two Republicans ? Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns of Nebraska ? have said they will vote for the nominee. At least five Republicans, including McCain, have said they oppose a filibuster despite their reservations or opposition toward the nominee.
More than a dozen Republicans have said they will oppose their former colleague, and several others have indicated they are likely to vote no. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday she would vote against the nominee, citing his performance at his confirmation hearing.
Hagel seemed ill-prepared under withering cross-examination from committee Republicans in nearly eight hours of testimony on Jan. 31. He was repeatedly pressed about past statements and votes on Israel, Iran and nuclear weapons, with GOP lawmakers suggesting he wasn't sufficiently supportive of Israel or anti-Iran.
In the memo, Republicans focused on the 2005 fight over President George W. Bush's nomination of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, and Democrats who tried to stop the nomination. The position is not Cabinet-level, however.
Faced with a Democratic filibuster, Bush circumvented the Senate and made Bolton a recess appointment.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has signaled that he would block the nominations of Hagel and CIA Director-designate John Brennan if he doesn't get more answers about the deadly raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September.
"I'm insisting that the president answer ... what he did that night. That's all. It would take five minutes to answer my question," Graham told reporters. "It's the only leverage I have."
The White House pushed back Monday, with spokesman Jay Carney insisting the administration had answered lingering questions about Libya and the president's actions on that fateful day.
"What is unfortunate here is the continuing attempt to politicize an issue, in this case through nominees that themselves had nothing to do with Benghazi, and to do so in a way that only does harm to our national security interests," Carney said. "Sen. Hagel, Mr. Brennan, they need to be confirmed."
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Staples offering $75 discount on Microsoft Surface RT tablets
While Microsoft is touting that its new Surface Pro tablet has already sold out its initial shipment, the Surface RT is another story. We don't know exactly how many of the consumer-based tablets have been sold, and whether those sales have met Microsoft's expectations or not.
If you want to read the tea leaves a little, office retailer Staples is offering a $75 coupon for any Windows system, whether desktop, laptop, or tablet. Considering the company is sold out of the Surface Pro, that means the discount can be applied to the Surface RT.
Though the deal covers a range of products -- including the Asus Vivo Tab that also runs Windows RT -- it is notable that Microsoft is allowing its new slates to be included. We haven't seen the Surface RT discounted to date from its $499 base price, but now you can grab one for $424 for a 32GB model, or $524 for a 64GB version. You can get the deal by applying coupon code?99279?when you check out online; free shipping is included.
Priced the same as the latest iPad, but moving just a fraction of the units Apple shifts, the Surface RT may see other discounts in the coming months. If that's the case, Microsoft can at least console itself with the positive buzz over the Surface Pro.
Will you buy a Surface RT with the Staples discount? Let us know in the Talkback section below.
[Via HotHardware via Slickdeals]
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/staples-offering-75-discount-on-microsoft-surface-rt-tablets-7000011156/
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Dan Walters: California vs. Texas debate rages on
Unto itself, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's supposed business recruitment trip to California this week is nothing more than a publicity stunt, and a cheap one at that.
Perry is here after spending a few thousand dollars on a radio ad inviting California business to relocate to his state and garnering millions of dollars in free publicity from the California media.
"Building a business is tough, but I hear building a business in California is next to impossible," Perry says in the ad. "There are plenty of reasons Texas has been named the best state for doing business for eight years running."
Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/ walters. Follow him on Twitter @WaltersBee.California politicians, including Gov. Jerry Brown, played into Perry's hand by responding defensively.
"A lot of these Texans, they come here, they don't go back," Brown said. "Who would want to spend their summers in 110-degree heat inside some kind of a fossil-fueled air conditioner? Not a smart way to go."
As a matter of fact a lot more Californians have been moving to Texas than vice-versa of late, probably because its employment opportunities are more abundant while California still has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates.
Perry is highly unlikely to bag any California employers on this trip. Nor, one suspects, does he expect to do so. Unpopular at home after his rather lame bid for the White House last year, Perry knows that bashing California raises his profile at home.
All this gamesmanship aside, however, maybe Brown et al. reacted so defensively because they know that Texas' economy has been booming while California still struggles with a slow recovery from a deep recession.
Yes, some of Texas' prosperity is due to the oil boom. In fact, the California region that most resembles Texas ? Bakersfield and environs ? is also seeing a surge for the same reasons.
But that merely points up the fact that California has vast potential reserves of shale oil that it is moving very slowly, if at all, to tap.
The differences are more than oil. Texas has a much lower tax structure, including no personal income tax, a much more permissive regulatory climate, and a much lower cost of living, especially housing. That makes it attractive to business of a certain type.
California has its attributes as well, including a much better climate and unmatched natural scenery, as well as first-class research universities and ? in and around Silicon Valley at least ? a powerful entrepreneurial impulse and access to capital.
The question for California ? one that its politicians don't even acknowledge, much less answer ? is whether the state's assets outweigh its deficiencies in the global competition for investment capital.
We always assume that today's bust will morph into tomorrow's boom. But Detroit also assumed that it always would be the nation's industrial Goliath.
Source: http://www.modbee.com/2013/02/12/2574173/dan-walters-california-vs-texas.html
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Rumor: Apple to Release iPhone 5S and 5-Inch iPhone 6 in 2013
| Home | Apple Stock | Tracked Sites | TechNN | | E-Mail | Sherlock Plugin Close Left Panel | Login | Subscribe to MacSurfer's Headline News Poll | Most Popular | Talking Heads | A Year Ago Today | Checked 12:35 AM; Last Updated 9:30 PM CST; 03:30 GMT | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This weekend's MacUpdate Promo offers 49% savings on NetShade - Anonymous Proxy & VPN 5.2. "For added security, the latest version of NetShade includes a year of VPN service for encrypting all of your traffic and keeping it safe from prying eyes. Protect your data and your privacy like never before with NetShade." Is it true that Tim Cook never wanted to sue Samsung? Cast your vote in "Today's Poll..." in the left column below or go straight to the results here. Weekend Highlights: Reuters explores Apple's complicated relationship with Samsung in Frenemies for life; The New York Times is back with the curved glass iOS watch rumor; Over at Fortune, Philip Elmer-DeWitt considers Apple's erroneous analysts as prisoners of momentum; The Macalope considers the Microsoft Surface Pro and MacBook Air in Just Asking; While everyone is focused on Apple's future in China, another sleeping giant awakes: India, where iPhone sales are reported to have grown 400% in three months ? reports aplenty in our Apple/Macintosh, and Op/Ed sections; meanwhile, hedge fund wizard suing Apple to unleash cash hoard to investors, Apple releases statement, saying preferred stock is under consideration, coverage in our Apple/Macintosh, and Finances sections; The Motley Fool's Marcus Vilkas thinks he knows how Apple's TV "will transform the industry"; Forbes' Hadyn Shaughnessy says Apple has an innovation problem, that of finding "a new category-busting product like the iPhone"; on Thursday, Apple, Adobe release emergency patches for Flash Zero Day security hole; what to do with buggy play counts and smart playlists in iTunes?; would an iCloud server give Apple a leg up in the private cloud space?; StatCounter data drops Nokia from first place to third behind Apple, Samsung; one by one e-book defendants settle with the DOJ, the latest being Macmillan, leaving Apple alone to fight; AppleTell wraps up 2013's Macworld/iWorld conference; jog down memory lane to the pre-fashionable Apple; Woz warns Apple falling behind Samsung; new report suggests iPhone 6 will feature 5G WiFi chipset, and rumors suggest it'll be a 5" model; and more rumors predict iPhone 5S will arrive along side the bigger iPhone 6 in 2013. WEEKEND BLOWOUT: Every NEW or RENEWING paid subscriber receives 2 YEARS FREE.... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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