Archive for April 11th, 2008aclark4life writes “NASA just launched a new website designed to provide information about its scientific endeavors and accomplishments. The new site was built on top of the Plone Open Source Content Management System and features an easy-to-navigate design and several new search features.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. An anonymous reader writes to mention that New Scientist has a quick round-up of what they think about to be the ten weirdest types of computers. The list includes everything from quantum personal, to slime molds, to pails of water. “Perhaps the most unlikely place to see computing power is in the ripples in a tank of water. Using a ripple tank and an overhead camera, Chrisantha Fernando and Sampsa Sojakka at the University of Sussex, used wave patterns to make a type of logic gate called an “exclusive OR gate”, or XOR gate.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. YouTube has promised a commercial-free zone in the near future to help Congress deal with the problem of hosting campaign videos that were technically breaking the rule of not redirecting constituents to a commercial site. “Within a month, the one and only responder, YouTube, should have its commercial-free zone up and running, Capuano said. Republicans on the commission still fret that with only one such site, the House could be seen as picking winners and losers on the Web. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), another commission member, stated the panel’s Republicans want to keep the new rules fluid enough to use any future Web site that comes forward with a superior plan. ‘Technology moves fast. Congress moves slow,’ he stated.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. Filed under: Other issues, Products and services, Consumer experience, AMR Corp (AMR)
This day, once again there were more cancellations, with another 595 flights being grounded. It can be very frustrating to find out your flight has been canceled, but some airports are upping their efforts to accommodate the unlucky passengers. All combined, the airliner has been forced to cancel in excess of 3,000 flights this week, impacting some quarter of a million travelers. We’ve all had to deal with canceled, or delayed flights… and one thing is for sure, it is never a pleasant feeling, so you can just imagine the mood in airports all across America in reaction to this week’s mess. Well, according to a story from MSNBC, some airports are taking extra steps to help make American passengers as comfortable as possible. People forced to wait in long lines in the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were given snacks and drinks to help them pass the time in the long customer service lines. In Chicago, passengers were offered cots to use to catch up on some sleep. There are lots of other examples listed in the news piece. Unfortunately, it looks as though the current situation is going to carry over into the weekend. Typically, when one airline has a problem, they have the ability to count on finding other airlines that are capable of picking up the slack on their passengers, but this is simply just not the case this time around. The airline industry as a whole is only operating at around 80%, so airports are finding that they being stuck with heavier than normal levels of stranded passengers. Once again, a piece of advice that I have given several times already this week… before heading off to the airport this weekend, please take a few minutes to call ahead and make sure that your flight is still on schedule, and that your trip is still a go. It will save you a lot of time, and trust me, a lot of stress! Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor’s Observer. Filed under: Earnings reports, Products and services, Consumer experience, Genentech Inc (DNA)
Genentech announced that its profit during the first-quarter rose 12% to $790 million, or 74 cents per share, boosted by strong cancer drug sales. These numbers are up from $706 million, or 66 cents a share reported in the same period a year ago. Excluding special items, the company’s earnings would have come at 84 cents a share, exceeding analysts’ forecasts for a quarterly profit of 82 cents a share. The company’s quarterly revenue saw a growth of 8% to $3.06 billion, up from $2.84 billion a year ago. However, this was not enough to beat analysts’ predictions for sales of $3.1 billion in the quarter, according to Thomson Financial.
Analysts were waiting for Genentech to show higher Avastin sales especially after the company won U.S. regulatory approval for the drug as a breast cancer treatment in February, despite an bureau panel’s vote for a negative recommendation. Genentech’s executives believe the weak sales numbers were brought by physicians’ safety worries before the Food and Drug Administration approval. However, they see “all of the signs” as “very good” as the weak sales growth came after they “only had the label for four or five weeks within the quarter.” Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the on the internet investment advisory service Investor’s Observer.
11
04
2008
 
Verizon (VZ) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) go at one anotherPosted by: in Products and ServicesFiled under: Products and services, Law, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising, Verizon Communications (VZ), Time Warner Cable (TWC)
The problem, of course, is much deeper than one ad. Verizon has spent $23 billion to put fiber in front of its 18 million customer homes. In the process it hopes it can take TV and high-speed Internet customers away from cable companies and satellite Television firms. If the product does not do well, there will be hell to pay in the Verizon executive suite. Cable company stocks have fallen over the last three quarters, to a large extent due to the fear that they now have real competition for packages for voice, Television, and broadband, known fondly as the “triple play”. Verizon does not have to get a massive number of cable customers to switch to do some real P&L damage. Early indications are that consumers like the fiber service. Because it can deliver more bandwidth it can offer more massive numbers of HD channels. The court fight over the ad makes for nice newspaper copy, but the real fight ends up being one for shareholder value. Time Warner Cable’s stock is down 30% in the last year. Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com. Filed under: Analyst reports, Forecasts, Bad news, Products and services, Consumer experience
According to the newspaper: “Three interrelated issues weighed on the economists’ minds. When asked what the biggest downside risk to their forecast was, 35% said further deterioration in the credit markets, while 25% stated it was a sharp drop in consumer spending and 13% stated continued housing weakness.” The news raises the question of whether experts are “talking” the economy into a worse recession. Yesterday, George Soros said the current crisis could cost financial institutions nearly $1 trillion worldwide. Just a few months ago, many experts thought the US would avoid a recession totally. The question is a reasonable one. When the press and economists make repeated public comments on how bad things are does it causes consumers to purchase less, worry more, and put more cash on the sideline?. No one knows, but given the psychology of fear no one should be surprised if the answer is “yes”. In a recession, fear feeds on fear and consumers can freeze their spending nearly completely. Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com. KentuckyFC writes “A couple of years ago, two Russian physicists predicted that metal nanoclusters with exactly the right number of delocalized electrons (a few hundred or so) could become strong superconductors. Now an American group has found the first evidence that this prediction is correct in individual aluminum nanoclusters containing 45 or 47 atoms. And they found it at 200 K (abstract). That’s a huge jump over the previous record of 138K for a high-temperature superconductor. There are a few caveats, however. The result is only partial evidence of superconductivity and the work has yet to be peer-reviewed. But its mere publication will set scientists scrambling to confirm. And 200K! That’s practically room temperature in the Siberian winter.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. Smivs writes “NASA has released some detailed new images of Mars’s moon Phobos. The photos are dominated by Stickney Crater, a 9-km (5.5-mi.) depression that’s the largest feature on Phobos. The images were captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Some researchers claim that the one-of-a-kind, fist-sized Kaidun meteorite, which fell to Earth at a Russian military base in Yemen in 1980, is a piece of Phobos.” Here’s a link to all the new images. Read more of this story at Slashdot. EreIamJH brings news about a commercial geostationary satellite that was launched last month. Due to a launch failure, the satellite did not reach the orbit required to perform its function. The satellite’s owner, SES Americom, looked for a way to salvage the satellite, but ran into an unexpected hurdle; a Boeing patent on the lunar flyby process that would be used to correct the satellite’s orbit. If another company doesn’t buy the satellite, it is apt to become another piece of space junk. The European Space Bureau has posted a gallery of the maps they’ve put together for man-made debris in orbit around the earth. Read more of this story at Slashdot. |
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Shares of biotechnology giant 
Verizon
It is hardly a surprise that a Wall Street Journal poll of economists finds them in a foul mood. Most believe that the financial troubles in the US will get much worse and that the housing market has yet to bottom. 
