US STOCKS-Wall Street falls on bank jitters - Forbes
Updates to early afternoon) * Merrill and Citi cut GSEs share price targets * Regional banks slip after feds’ takeover of IndyMac * Yahoo (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) shares fall after rejecting Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news

Chicago Tribune editor, LA Times publisher resign - Houston Chronicle
NEW YORK — Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski and Los Angeles Times publisher David Hiller resigned Monday as parent company Tribune Co. cuts staff and shrinks its papers nationwide to save money. Tribune Co. is slicing costs to offset

Hewlett attorney admits bilking clients - Newsday
A disbarred attorney who stole more than $400,000 from his clients — including money one woman intended to use for her daughter’s heart surgery — has pleaded guilty to his crimes, the Nassau district attorney’s office said yesterday. Joseph Levine

Delta College administrators struggle to stretch bond money across - Record
STOCKTON — San Joaquin Delta College administrators today suggested that college trustees pump $27.5 million in bond money into about a dozen planned projects, ensuring their completion but leaving significantly less money for others. If the board

Bad week ahead for banks - CNN Money
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — If this weekend’s news about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Friday’s IndyMac failure weren’t scary enough, now Wall Street will have to contend with what’s likely to be dismal quarterly results from many top financial

Police Suspect Three Armed Robberies Related - The Ledger
WINTER HAVEN | Three armed robberies including an armed automobile theft occurred in Winter Haven and Auburndale this morning and police think the incidents may be related. The first incident occurred at 2:11 a.m. at Sixth Street and Avenue K Southeast in

Anxious IndyMac customers line up to get their money - Los Angeles Times
Nervous customers of IndyMac Bank today lined up at branches in Pasadena and elsewhere, anxious to withdraw their money from the failed institution that was seized by federal regulators late last week. With some arriving as early as 4 a.m., fueled by

Money Funds Stick With Fannie, Freddie Debt on Treasury Rescue - Bloomberg
July 14 (Bloomberg) — Vanguard Group, Federated Investors Inc. and The Reserve, investment firms that manage more than $520 billion in money-market funds, said they’ll continue to purchase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt because the U.S. Treasury’s

Anne Darwin convinced children their father had died on canoe trip - Times Online
The wife of John Darwin, the canoeist who faked his own death to secure £250,000 in insurance and pension payouts, “sobbed uncontrollably” as she lied to her kids that their dad had died at sea, a court was told yesterday. Anne Darwin, 56

Partner of Washington man pleads guilty in ID theft case - Oregonian
The Associated Press Jocelyn Kirsch and Edward Anderton were accused of stealing the identities of more than 16 people and using the money to live expensively and travel the world. PHILADELPHIA — A woman who had worked with a Washington state man in

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Filed under: Products and services, Google (GOOG)

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continues to make billions in revenue each quarter on the back of its extensive text advertising network used on various Google properties as well as partner websites. The argument can still be made that the large majority of Google’s income rests on the back of those easy ads which can be eerily relevant and lucrative for those who advertise on Google’s network. One area, though, that has fallen by the wayside in recent years is the importance of Google ads in its Gmail email service.

Even though competitor Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) still has a bigger customer base of email users, Google’s Gmail product counts tens of millions of global, more affluent users. Although the company gives almost all its products away for free, you won’t see advertising inside most of them.

Gmail is one product where you will see ads — and to ensure more customers continue switching to Google’s arguably-better approach to email, the world largest search engine company has deployed the DomainKeys email authentication service to make sure those fake (but real looking) email messages seemingly from eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and its payment subsidiary PayPal from luring unsuspecting customers to giving away their usernames and passwords. And, in effect, their entire identities in many cases.

This is significant for Google as the company tries to recruit more users for its Gmail product and make it one of the largest email products used worldwide. Google has tied in text ads into this product, which makes the effort to make it more secure incredibly important. As Google continues to subsidize all of its free products with services like search and email, making sure it steers customers away from online fraud will only need to get better to the point of being iron-clad. If Google’s trust is betrayed by fraudulent emails and those customers don’t return frequently (or at all) to a product where its ads are shown, then Google could have a massive albeit hidden problem.

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Filed under: Products and services, Google (GOOG)

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continues to make billions in revenue each quarter on the back of its extensive text advertising network used on various Google properties as well as partner websites. The argument can still be made that the big majority of Google’s income rests on the back of those simple ads which can be eerily relevant and lucrative for those who advertise on Google’s network. One area, though, that has fallen by the wayside in recent years is the importance of Google ads in its Gmail email service.

Although competitor Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) still has a more massive customer base of email users, Google’s Gmail product counts tens of millions of global, more affluent users. Although the company gives nearly all its products away for free, you won’t see advertising inside most of them.

Gmail is one product where you will see ads — and to ensure more customers continue switching to Google’s arguably-better approach to email, the world largest search engine company has deployed the DomainKeys email authentication service to make sure those fake (but real looking) email messages seemingly from eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and its payment subsidiary PayPal from luring unsuspecting customers to giving away their usernames and passwords. And, in effect, their entire identities in many cases.

This is significant for Google as the company tries to recruit more users for its Gmail product and make it one of the largest email products used worldwide. Google has tied in text ads into this product, which makes the effort to make it more secure incredibly important. As Google continues to subsidize all of its free products with services like search and email, making sure it steers customers away from on the web fraud will only need to get better to the point of being iron-clad. If Google’s trust is betrayed by fraudulent emails and those customers don’t return frequently (or at all) to a product where its ads are shown, then Google could have a big albeit hidden problem.

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Filed under: Products and services, Launches, Starbucks (SBUX)

After just recently announcing the closure of 600 stores in the U.S., coffee powerhouse Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) will unveil protein smoothies and new iced beverages in some of its markets as early as next week. Starbucks hopes these protein drinks could help pump up sales and profits amid a downturn in its business due to the sluggish consumer economy in the U.S.

When the company decided to drop its breakfast sandwich line because the offerings caused olfactory interference with its trademark roasted coffee smell, at least smoothies won’t plug up customer nostrils, eh? Starbucks wants to find a replacement for the slow-selling Frappuccino line of ice-blended drinks in California and Florida. Together, those two says account for about a third of the chain’s U.S. sales alone.

So, Starbucks is going after the non-coffee drinker with a premium-positioned product that most fast-food chains don’t sell: the protein smoothie. Not that this is a hazardous move, but Starbucks is not the only one to sell smoothies these days. Jamba Juice (NASDAQ: JMBA) sells plenty of smoothies, and coffee competitor Dunkin’ Donuts does as well. Starbucks will also offer a new cold-iced beverage that’ll be a low-calorie drink offered in fruit, dairy or yogurt-based flavors. However, with McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) also testing the smoothie offerings in some of its markets, Starbucks can’t be given a pass here to these new products, certainly not as sort of overall savior for the company. If you’re not a Starbucks fan, would you start going there just to purchase a smoothie?

Also see: Starbucks’ Howard Schultz: Wake up, you’re closing the wrong stores!

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Filed under: International markets, Forecasts, Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Housing, Federal Reserve

Traders on the long side of dollar trades cheered the U.S. Treasury’s plan to shore-up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the dollar rose against the world’s other major currencies.

The dollar strengthened about one-half cent to $1.5874 versus the euro and two-tenths of a yen to 106.46 versus Japan’s yen in Monday morning trading. The dollar was virtually unchanged against the British pound at $1.9877.

On Sunday night, U.S. Treasury Secretary announced a sweeping rescue package and asked Congress for the authority to purchase unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), aiming to head-off a collapse in confidence, Bloomberg News reported Monday. Separately, the U.S. Federal Reserve approved Fannie’s and Freddie’s ability to borrow directly from the central bank.

‘Wait and see approach’

Currency Trader Andrew Resnick told BloggingStocks Monday even though the currency and stock markets have initially reacted favorably to the Treasury’s / Fed’s measures, many currency traders are taking a “wait and see approach” until they know what financial form the assistance to Fannie and Freddie is likely to take.

“I have to underscore here that additional government debt, by itself, won’t bolster the dollar, but if the overall [Fannie, Freddie] bailout package is viewed as getting to the core of the mortgage sectors’ problems and checking a collapse in confidence, that would be favorable for the dollar,” Resnick stated. Resnick added that he’s presently flat, or has no open currency trading positions.

Resnick added that in his interpretation, the currency markets “would rather see increased government spending or a line of credit from the Fed” if it has the effect of “maintaining confidence in the bond market and the ability of bonds to price. Another freezing-up of the bond and credit markets benefits no one,” he stated.

The Treasury’s and/or Fed’s plans would enable the currency markets “to gradually adjust currency values, as appropriate, depending on each currency’s fundamentals,” he said, adding that “It also would avert a collapse in the dollar, which nearly everyone agrees is a situation the global markets need to guard against.”

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Filed under: Products and services, Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Politics, Housing, Federal Reserve

Investors in Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) must be applauding the government bailout. To my knowledge, it is unprecedented for the government to trade this openly in the stock of a private company. It is as if the government has become Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) which is not surprising since the Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, used to run Goldman.

Based on what has happened it looks to me like the Administration is trying to prove just how incompetent government is so we’ll concur to cut its budget. There are two possibilities: either the government knew how bad things were and did nothing or it didn’t know. If it did know how bad things were, it should have done something to fix the problem, such as requiring Fannie and Freddie to raise more capital a year or two ago.

Perhaps it knew last week how bad things are and didn’t release data supporting its claim that they were in good shape because such data didn’t exist. If they were in good shape, the government should have been able to release comforting data and the problem would have gone away. The need to announce the bailout plan as a way to save them recommends an incredible lack of insight into their ability to cover their liabilities years or a realization that they were bankrupt and needed to be bailed out.

If it didn’t know how bad things were, that’s even more shocking. In either case — it knew and did nothing or it didn’t know — the government is exhibiting gross dereliction of duty. But I think its incompetence is demonstrating the need for really capable and empowered regulators. I am hoping America will realize how important regulation is for the effective operations of a free-market economy.

In pre-market, Fannie and Freddie are up 23% and 21% from their Friday close. I’m not sure how much this bailout will cost us taxpayers. But I think the executives who were supposedly running these companies and the regulators who were supposed to be keeping them out of trouble should pay a price. Why should innocent taxpayers pick up the tab for their mistakes?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Apple Inc (AAPL), Marketing and advertising, AT and T (T), iPhone

The new Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone is even a bigger hit than analysts had expected. During its debut weekend, about a million units of the phone that can do everything but your taxes were sold. This number is already higher than earlier estimates from today Doug McIntyre has posted. Even Apple’s prickly Chief Executive Steve Jobs was impressed.

“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” he said in a press release issued this morning. ”

It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great begin around the world.”

Indeed, diehard geeks camped out and around Apple and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) stores to be among the first to get their hands on the sleek new phone. A 22-year-old college student from New Zealand named Jonny Gladwell was the first to buy the mother of all gadgets. He waited outside his Vodafone store for 60 hours, according to Vnunet.com. His parents must be proud (or horrified).

What makes this even more astounding is that many Apple fans are fuming over technical glitches and shortages of the phone their lives will not be complete without. Gizmodo dubbed this the iPocalypse. Mitch Wagner of Information Week argues that Apple has got some fence-mending to do with customers who clearly expected better.

“Some kind of apology would be nice, along with a bit of cash to compensate customers who had problems with activation, similar to the gift certificates Apple gave out last year when they cut iPhone prices too much too fast and left customers feeling ripped off,” he writes. “But more importantly, Apple needs to sit down and figure out what went wrong on Friday, and make sure it never happens again.”

Gene Munster of Pipper Jaffray & Co. figures AT&T sold a combined 225,000 devices in the U.S. even though a computer snafu in Apple’s system meant that some buyers had to activate their iPhones at home, according to Bloomberg News.

Sounds like people are so enthused about the iPhone 3G that they’re willing to put up with some major hassles to get it. Heck, I’m going to purchase an iPhone for my wife once the hoopla dies down, which I figure may happen sometime before the presidential election.

Steve Jobs apologizing twice in the same decade? I’ll believe it when I see it.

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Filed under: Products and services, Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Politics, Housing, Federal Reserve

Investors in Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) must be applauding the government bailout. To my knowledge, it is unprecedented for the government to trade this openly in the stock of a private company. It is as if the government has become Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) which isn’t surprising since the Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, used to run Goldman.

Based on what has happened it looks to me like the Administration is trying to prove just how incompetent government is so we’ll agree to cut its budget. There are two possibilities: either the government knew how bad things were and did nothing or it didn’t know. If it did know how bad things were, it should have done something to mend the problem, such as requiring Fannie and Freddie to raise more capital a year or two ago.

Perhaps it knew last week how bad things are and didn’t release data supporting its claim that they were in good shape because such data didn’t exist. If they were in good shape, the government should have been able to release comforting data and the problem would have gone away. The need to announce the bailout plan as a way to save them advocates an incredible lack of insight into their capability to cover their liabilities years or a realization that they were bankrupt and needed to be bailed out.

If it did not know how bad things were, that’s even more shocking. In either case — it knew and did nothing or it didn’t know — the government is exhibiting gross dereliction of duty. But I think its incompetence is demonstrating the need for really capable and empowered regulators. I am hoping America will realize how important regulation is for the effective operations of a free-market economy.

In pre-market, Fannie and Freddie are up 23% and 21% from their Friday close. I’m not sure how much this bailout will cost us taxpayers. But I think the executives who were supposedly running these companies and the regulators who were supposed to be keeping them out of trouble should pay a price. Why should innocent taxpayers pick up the tab for their mistakes?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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In 2004 we discussed the Piraha, a tribe in the Amazon, when a study appeared characterizing their language as a “one, two, many” language. Now reader mu22le informs us of a new study of the Piraha pointing to the possibility that they use no number words at all. Instead they seem to use the word formerly thought to mean “two” to represent a quantity of 5 or 6, and the “one” word for anything from 1 to 4. The language has about 300 native speakers. “The study… offers evidence that number words are a concept invented by human cultures as they are needed, and not an inherent part of language, Gibson said.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Kligat writes “The Kuiper belt object formerly known as (136472) 2005 FY9 has been rechristened Makemake and classified as a dwarf planet and plutoid by the International Astronomical Union, according to the United States Geological Survey. The reclassification occurs just a month after the latter category was created. The object was referred to by the team of discoverers by the codename Easterbunny, and the name Makemake comes from the creation deity of Easter Island, in accordance with IAU rules on naming Kuiper belt objects.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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