6:43 PM
After posting so many depressing articles about the state of the US economy and debt over the past few days, it is interesting for me to note that predictions are that China's economy will hit a "brick wall" in 2014 or 2015. China has amazingly high growth and inflation pressures right now, but if they continue along this investment-led growth path they will have massive gluts of capacity in manufacturing, real estate and infrastructure soon. Experts point out that no country can be productive enough to reinvest 50% of GDP into new capital stock without eventually facing massive overcapacity and a staggering nonperforming loan problem. In other words, the Chinese policies that have led to a massive transfer of income from politically weak households to politically powerful companies has created this bubble in China's economy that is projected to pop in 2014 or 2015:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/04/roubini-is-predicting-hard-landing-for.html
On Monday the radioactive iodine level in seawater near the Fukushima nuclear plant was 5 million times the legal limit and radioactive cesium was 1.1 million times the legal limit. On Tuesday the radioactive iodine level increased to 7.5 million times the legal limit! The Japanese government siad that any radiation would be quickly diluted and dispersed in the ocean, but fish have been caught with more than 4,000 bequerels of iodine-131 per kilogram and 447 bequerels of cesium-137...and the fishermen want the company that owns the reactor to compensate them for their loss of industry:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-nuclear-20110406,0,2697428.story?track=rss
Instead of spending more than $100,000 for a new remote controlled robot from a defense company, a Florida police department spent just $6,000 and had local high school students build it for them. The robot has a video camera, night vision, gas canister launcher, speaker, microphone, grenade launcher, can handle any terrain, and is strong enough to drag a person. The robot can be used during hostage negotiations and other situations where sending a human may be hazardous or undesirable:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/high-school-students-build-florida-police-robot
Two police departments in South Carolina are using small unmanned helicopters equipped with cameras to conduct aerial surveillance, search for missing persons, or monitor dangerous situations from a distance. The small helicopters cost less than $4,000 and just 25 cents to charge, while full size helicopters cost hundreds of thousands to maintain, operate, and fuel. The UAV battery lasts for up to 40 minutes, and it runs silently (unlike a full-size helicopter) so it can be used for surveillance:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/south-carolina-police-departments-unveil-aerial-drones
Police officers in Owasso, Oklahoma may soon all be wearing video cameras on their bodies; patrol cars already house cameras in their dash board to record a police officer's actions, but the Owasso Police Department wants each of its thirty-nine agents to wear a camera at all times; the cameras are designed to increase transparency, accountability, and help stop "the constant litigation that police face on a basis, complaints, and false accusations" by providing undisputable video evidence of what occurred; the cameras will cost $900 per unit
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/oklahoma-police-get-wearable-cameras
Google will be paid a $25 mil breakup fee and get as much as $4 mil in expenses reimbursed if another company outbids them for Nortel's patent portfolio. That was the terms that Nortel gave Google after Google won the "stalking horse" bid of $900 mil for the proposed auction that Nortel will have on June 20. To beat Google, a competitor must offer at least $929 mil, and bids after that must be at least $5 mil more than the last offer. It sure sounds to me that Google will win that auction...I doubt any other company can outbid Google if they really want the patents:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/nortel-offers-google-25-million-break-up-fee-in-patent-auction.html
Study found that 1.8% of Verizon iPhone 4 owners had dropped calls while 4.8% of AT&T iPhone owners had dropped calls over the same time period. The lower dropped call figure is similar to how Verizon and AT&T perform overall, which seems to indicate that it is the network and not the phone. Verizon had the lowest reported dropped calls during the 90-day study period (1.4%), with T-Mobile at 2.3%, Sprint at 2.7%, and AT&T at 4.6%. This may be one reason why 46% of those buying an iPhone 4 in the future say that they will go with Verizon while 27% say they will go with AT&T.
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/press-releases/changewave-survey-results-att-iphone-4-owners-vs-verizon-iphone-4-owners
T-Mobile is going to offer an unlimited data/talk/text plan for $79.99 per month, a $20/month drop from their current rate. The catch is that after a customer uses 2 GB of data, their speed will be throttled for the rest of the billing period...so, it is unlimited data but really only the first 2 GB is high speed data:
http://www.tmonews.com/2011/04/t-mobile-releasing-unlimited-promo-plan-april-13th/
A record TV audience in India watched India beat Sri Lanka to win the World Cup cricket tournament for the first time in 28 years. 67.6 million TV viewers in India watched, which is 64% of cable and satellite homes
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/india-cricket-world-cup-win-174313
This Boston area parent is a big Red Sox fan and is horrified to find out that his young son (maybe 5 years old) likes the Yankees. His son cries while being told that he cannot be a Yankees fan and the Dad says that his son has to find another home if he likes the Yankees:
http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/04/05/red-sox-fan-threatens-to-shun-his-own-child-if-he-roots-for-the-yankees/
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/04/roubini-is-predicting-hard-landing-for.html
On Monday the radioactive iodine level in seawater near the Fukushima nuclear plant was 5 million times the legal limit and radioactive cesium was 1.1 million times the legal limit. On Tuesday the radioactive iodine level increased to 7.5 million times the legal limit! The Japanese government siad that any radiation would be quickly diluted and dispersed in the ocean, but fish have been caught with more than 4,000 bequerels of iodine-131 per kilogram and 447 bequerels of cesium-137...and the fishermen want the company that owns the reactor to compensate them for their loss of industry:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-nuclear-20110406,0,2697428.story?track=rss
Instead of spending more than $100,000 for a new remote controlled robot from a defense company, a Florida police department spent just $6,000 and had local high school students build it for them. The robot has a video camera, night vision, gas canister launcher, speaker, microphone, grenade launcher, can handle any terrain, and is strong enough to drag a person. The robot can be used during hostage negotiations and other situations where sending a human may be hazardous or undesirable:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/high-school-students-build-florida-police-robot
Two police departments in South Carolina are using small unmanned helicopters equipped with cameras to conduct aerial surveillance, search for missing persons, or monitor dangerous situations from a distance. The small helicopters cost less than $4,000 and just 25 cents to charge, while full size helicopters cost hundreds of thousands to maintain, operate, and fuel. The UAV battery lasts for up to 40 minutes, and it runs silently (unlike a full-size helicopter) so it can be used for surveillance:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/south-carolina-police-departments-unveil-aerial-drones
Police officers in Owasso, Oklahoma may soon all be wearing video cameras on their bodies; patrol cars already house cameras in their dash board to record a police officer's actions, but the Owasso Police Department wants each of its thirty-nine agents to wear a camera at all times; the cameras are designed to increase transparency, accountability, and help stop "the constant litigation that police face on a basis, complaints, and false accusations" by providing undisputable video evidence of what occurred; the cameras will cost $900 per unit
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/oklahoma-police-get-wearable-cameras
Google will be paid a $25 mil breakup fee and get as much as $4 mil in expenses reimbursed if another company outbids them for Nortel's patent portfolio. That was the terms that Nortel gave Google after Google won the "stalking horse" bid of $900 mil for the proposed auction that Nortel will have on June 20. To beat Google, a competitor must offer at least $929 mil, and bids after that must be at least $5 mil more than the last offer. It sure sounds to me that Google will win that auction...I doubt any other company can outbid Google if they really want the patents:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/nortel-offers-google-25-million-break-up-fee-in-patent-auction.html
Study found that 1.8% of Verizon iPhone 4 owners had dropped calls while 4.8% of AT&T iPhone owners had dropped calls over the same time period. The lower dropped call figure is similar to how Verizon and AT&T perform overall, which seems to indicate that it is the network and not the phone. Verizon had the lowest reported dropped calls during the 90-day study period (1.4%), with T-Mobile at 2.3%, Sprint at 2.7%, and AT&T at 4.6%. This may be one reason why 46% of those buying an iPhone 4 in the future say that they will go with Verizon while 27% say they will go with AT&T.
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/press-releases/changewave-survey-results-att-iphone-4-owners-vs-verizon-iphone-4-owners
T-Mobile is going to offer an unlimited data/talk/text plan for $79.99 per month, a $20/month drop from their current rate. The catch is that after a customer uses 2 GB of data, their speed will be throttled for the rest of the billing period...so, it is unlimited data but really only the first 2 GB is high speed data:
http://www.tmonews.com/2011/04/t-mobile-releasing-unlimited-promo-plan-april-13th/
A record TV audience in India watched India beat Sri Lanka to win the World Cup cricket tournament for the first time in 28 years. 67.6 million TV viewers in India watched, which is 64% of cable and satellite homes
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/india-cricket-world-cup-win-174313
This Boston area parent is a big Red Sox fan and is horrified to find out that his young son (maybe 5 years old) likes the Yankees. His son cries while being told that he cannot be a Yankees fan and the Dad says that his son has to find another home if he likes the Yankees:
http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/04/05/red-sox-fan-threatens-to-shun-his-own-child-if-he-roots-for-the-yankees/