ethericalzen writes “A BBC article highlights a theory that the first stars might have been powered by dark matter. A group of US scientists published a paper in Physical Review Letters speculating that, unlike the stars of this day, which are powered by nuclear fusion, early stars might have been powered by the abundant dark matter crowding the universe after the Large Bang. The theory suggests that these stars would have collided and destroyed one another before nuclear fusion had a chance take hold.” The BBC perhaps overstates the certainty with which the dark-matter theory is held, and doesn’t mention that the postulated properties of such particles are absolutely speculative.

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If NASA and the British National Space Centre succeed in their ‘MoonLite mission’ you won’t be able to say, “In space no one can hear your ringtone.” They plan on building a satellite system/phone network that would provide full four-bar signal coverage for colonists living in the base NASA wants to build at the south pole of the moon after 2020.

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Filed under: International markets, Products and services, Indices, Commodities

When the entire mutual fund industry is up in arms about a new form of ETF, should investors take note? You bet they should.

There’s an interesting article over on SeekingAlpha by HardAssetsInvestor. The article focuses on the Exchange Traded Note product, something I’ve written about previously. The ETN is similar to an ETF in that it’s a fund that trades like a stock. Unlike ETFs though, the ETN isn’t backed by the underlying assets. Rather, it’s a zero-coupon note (essentially, a bond) that’s backed by its underwriters. So, it throws an added layer of default risk into the whole investment game.

Where things get even more interesting is the tax treatment of the ETN product. States HardAssetInvestor’s Brad Zigler, “No tax consequence befalls the noteholder until the security is liquidated or matures. Taxes during the holding period? Zip. Nada. Bupkis. That beats the heck out of the tax treatment of mutual funds, too, which distribute income and capital gains.” Unlike ETFs investing in commodities which are treated with a complicated tax structure on the futures the funds invest in, ETNs don’t pass these taxes through to investors.

It’s this tax difference that has the big mutual fund industry up in arms. According to the article cited above, “The Investment Company Institute [ICI], an industry trade group, called on Congress and the Internal Revenue Service to step in and mitigate the “unwarranted, unintended and unfair” tax advantage enjoyed by ETNs.”

Things are going to get interesting and at the least, investors in commodity ETNs like DJP, RJI or GSP can benefit from the sparring match between ETN firms and the big mutual funds families.

Zack Miller is the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Marketing and advertising, Verizon Communications (VZ)

For some mobile subscribers, it can be scary to look at a monthly bill. But things are changing and now Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) has launched a new flat-fee plan for unlimited domestic calls. The fees range from $99.99 to $139.99 per month.

True, this might pinch revenues in terms of forgoing lucrative overage charges. But then again, Verizon must deal with the competitive environment.

To get a perspective on things, I interviewed Allan Keiter, who operates MyRatePlan. According to him:

“It was inevitable that this would eventually happen, as per minute costs in rate plans have continued to drop and regional carriers like MetroPCS and Cricket have had some success with an unlimited product.

“Usually what happens in wireless is that by the time new products are announced, the customer benefit isn’t as great as it might first seem. For example, a Verizon customer can this day get 2,000 minutes for that same $99.99. While unlimited is obviously greater than 2,000, that current plan includes unlimited nights and weekends, as well as free calling to other Verizon customers (some 60 million or more). So, at the end of the day, for existing Verizon customers, this plan only benefits those who use more than 2,000 minutes during peak time (6 am to 9 pm weekdays) and calling people who aren’t other Verizon Wireless customers. My guess is that’s not a massive share of their customer base, although it could offer savings to those who would trade down from the $149.99 or $199.99 plans.

“The real benefit for Verizon is on the marketing side. They are the first big carrier to roll this out nationally, so could be quite attractive to heavy users currently with other carriers. This could also be of interest to people whose usage is heavy and bounces around a lot. People like knowing what their bills will be, and this eliminates the overage risk for voice calling.”

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar On the web Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

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Filed under: Products and services, Launches, Circuit City Stores (CC)

Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC), which continues to struggle with sales, profit and just about each other meaningful metric, at least is clinging to life with some public relations efforts. The second largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. has noted many times in the past that the falling prices of flat-panel televisions contributed in massive part to its negative fortunes.

Now, though, the retailer wants to become the ‘answer center’ for all consumer questions related to next February’s switch to digital television. It will begin by hosting an interactive web forum with input and help from Sound & Vision magazine. The forum will host consumer questions to address what Circuit City is billing as “a significant shift in the way television is broadcast and received.”

While that’s true, the actual amount of Americans expected to be impacted by the switch from analog to digital is definitely not the majority of TV consumers in this country. But, there’s nothing wrong with Circuit City using this transition as a marketing tool to move more digital television sets, right? Each other competitor will be doing the same thing, although most of them will also be carrying the $50-60 converter boxes meant to allow older televisions to receive the new digital signals next year. My guess is that those products will be put next to signage on discounted flat-panel sets and credit applications. Which would you pick?

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, eBay (EBAY)

If you are one of the upset eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) sellers who has decided to boycott the popular e-commerce site this week, don’t think that you have to lose a whole week’s worth of business. eBay’s competitor Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) is looking to reel in your business.

In case you missed it, eBay has definitely been ruffling the feathers of its users with the company’s newly announced rate changes, and its sellers have decided to join forces and boycott the site all this week. Well, one site’s misfortune could be another site’s gain, as Overstock.com is trying to lure in disgruntled eBay users by offering them up to 50% off initial listing fees all this week.

While Overstock is officially claiming that the promotion falling during the eBay strike was just a coincidence, you really have to wonder how much truth there is in that. With eBay users showing their disgust over the new fee schedule this wekk, it seems like perfect timing for competitor Overstock.com to jump in and offer such a hefty discount. You can find more of the promotional offer details as laid out on the overstock website.

What has eBay users so worked up are the new changes that the company is putting into place regarding listing fees, and PayPal payments. Initial listing fees for products will be reduced, but the final selling fees are going to increase. This is being seen as the site “punishing” its more successful power sellers. In addition to the change in its fees, sellers might now also be subject to a 21 day waiting period before receiving payments via PayPal. While the site is instituting this PayPal restriction on some items in a way to combat possible fraud, it’s not sitting well at all with eBay sellers.

A final slap in the face to sellers was the decision that will prevent eBay sellers from leaving negative feedback on buyers. All together, these changes have prompted widespread outrage against the site, which has led to this week’s current boycott.

I admit, I am not an eBay user. I’ve, on occasion, bought and sold a few things for my guitars through the years, but on average I would probably only use the site two or three times a year, at the most. Therefor, I do not personally have first hand knowledge of just how hard of an impact the new rate schedule will have on the site’s regular sellers.

If you’re a regular eBay user, please, let us know just what your thoughts are on the current changes being made. How will the changes mentioned above impact your business? Are there other changes that we didn’t mention that you would like to express your opinions on? Please let us hear what you’re thinking regarding all the changes taking place with eBay, and how you plan to react to the changes.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the on the web investment advisory service Investor’s Observer.

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Filed under: Industry, Amer Intl Group (AIG), Housing

When Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) talked about its results last week, it looked like the bank would be distinguished by having very few write-downs of mortgage-related securities, making it look smarter than its US or European counterparts. That only lasted a few days.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the bank said “first-quarter earnings will be reduced by $1 billion from mismarkings and pricing errors by traders which led to the reduction in the value of some asset-backed securities by $2.85 billion.”

Let’s state it and be done with it. Big banks and financial houses don’t know what they own. This was made clear by AIG’s (NYSE:AIG) surprise write-off last week. Financial companies purchased and created structured instruments where the danger wasn’t clear or was poorly understood. Those assets can’t be sold now because of a tremendous slowdown in the credit markets and more subprime mortgage defaults.

Because banks are not sure what they own and what it is worth, the odds that more write-down are coming goes up. Banks would have preferred to sanitize themselves of bad news last year. But, they can’t value what they don’t comprehend.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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An anonymous reader writes “A new type of frog the size of a bowling ball, with heavy armor and teeth, that lived among dinosaurs millions of years ago has been discovered. It was intimidating enough that scientists who unearthed its fossils dubbed the beast Beelzebufo, or Devil Toad.”

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The Narrative Fallacy writes “Scott Aaronson has posted a draft of his article from this month’s Scientific American on the limitations of quantum computers (PDF) discussing the question: Will quantum personal let us transcend the human condition and become as powerful as gods, or are they a physical absurdity destined to be exposed as the twenty-first century’s perpetual-motion machine? Aaronson states that while a quantum computer could quickly factor massive numbers, and thereby break most of the cryptographic codes used on the Internet this day, there’s reason to think that not even a quantum computer could solve the crucial class of NP-complete problems efficiently. Aaronson contends that any method for solving NP-complete problems in polynomial time might violate the laws of physics and that this might be a fundamental limitation on technology no different than the second law of thermodynamics or the impossibility of faster-than-light communication.”

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An anonymous reader writes “There have been complaints within the World Health Organization of some oddly familiar-sounding tactics and attitudes by the Gates Foundation. Scientists who were once open with their research are now ‘locked up in a cartel’ and are financially motivated to support other scientists backed by the Foundation. Diversity of views is ’stifled,’ dominance is bought, and Foundation views are pushed with ‘intense and aggressive opposition.’” The article tries hard for balance. It notes that the WHO official who raised the alarm on the Gates Foundation’s unintended consequences on world health research is “an openly undiplomatic official who won admiration for reorganizing the world fight against tuberculosis but was ousted from that job partly because he offended donors like the Rockefeller Foundation.”

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