The Adventures of a MacGeek Computer Blog - Apple Computers, MacBook Pro, iBook, iPhone, iPod

The Worst Career Advice In The World

2012-01-05T05:51:00.000-08:00

Ramit Sethi: On Passion:

Ramit Sethi: On Passion:

Japan Is So Obsessed With Hello Kitty, It Has An Entire Theme Park Devoted To Her

2012-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

Image: Dansnosekai via Flickr

Ben Bernanke Offers A Game-Changing Recommendation For The Housing Industry

2012-01-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

WOW: Tuna Fetches A Whopping $736K In Tokyo Auction

2012-01-04T05:39:00.000-08:00

Image: via luxedb.com

Our Note: Cost per bite about $70!

Seriously, If You Pick The Wrong Major Then Prepare To Be Unemployed

2012-01-04T05:30:00.000-08:00

In China One in Five Consumers Want a Mac as Their Next PC - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD

2011-11-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

"China accounted for 16 percent of Apple’s fourth-quarter sales, or about $4.5 billion, making it the company’s second-largest market after the U.S.. So it should come as no surprise to hear that Apple products are particularly well regarded in the country. But to find that positive sentiment for the Mac has elevated it above all comers there is a bit of an eye-opener.

According to Morgan Stanley’s new China PC Survey, 21 percent of consumers considering the purchase of a new PC would like it to be a Mac. That’s more than said the same of Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Sony, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. It’s also significantly more than the Mac’s current market share in the country, which hovers around about 5 percent."
In China One in Five Consumers Want a Mac as Their Next PC - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD

Crowds had been lining up for more than 24 hours outside Hong Kong’s flagship Apple store. Below, video of that enormous queue.

Yes, Apple Investors Should Be Quietly Freaking Out About iPhone Sales...

2011-11-12T01:46:00.000-08:00

Apple's iOS 5 Battery Fix Doesn't Seem To Cut It

2011-11-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

This 28-Year-Old's Startup Is Moving $350 Million And Wants To Completely Kill Credit Cards

2011-11-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

https://www.dwolla.com/

The iPhone 5 Was Real, Says A Source Who Played With A Prototype

2011-11-11T01:32:00.000-08:00

“Steve Jobs’ Legacy” talk event

iOS 5.0.1 arrives with purported battery life fixes

2011-11-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

"As promised, Apple has released an update to iOS 5 that purports to fix bugs within the operating system that affected the battery life of its devices. The 5.0.1 update is relatively minor otherwise—in addition to the battery life bugs, Apple says it contains improved voice recognition for Aussies using Siri for dictation, adds multitasking gestures for the original iPad, and resolves bugs related to Documents in the Cloud."
iOS 5.0.1 arrives with purported battery life fixes

More And More Students Are Deciding To Enroll In Community College

2011-11-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

Apple Isn't Nearly Finished Revolutionizing Text Messaging

2011-11-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

Wait, Does It Even Matter If Stocks Are Cheap?

2011-11-08T04:25:00.000-08:00

The Enthralling 'Steve Jobs' - Brilliance, Weirdness, Warts and All

2011-11-07T01:18:00.000-08:00

"However, I should warn you, the book isn't for the faint of heart. It's 656 pages in the hardcover edition, which translates to a couple thousand on your iPhone if you buy it as an e-book. It covers a lot of ground, from the initial pairing of Jobs and Steve Wosniak in a garage to the rise and fall of Jobs at Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL), to Pixar (Nasdaq: PIXR) and "Toy Story" to the passive-aggressive takeover of Apple 12 years after he was shown the door. Of course, there's the iPod, iPhone and iPad, and the worldwide juggernaut that Apple has become, spawning astounding products, amazing ad campaigns and millionaires left and right.

But that's the best or worst of it. If you dive right into this bio, you might also learn that Steve Jobs was a mean, emotional train wreck of a man wrapped around an intense and focused genius capable of masterful manipulation of others and utter self-delusion. I've got to say, I had a hard time slogging through the "sh*t" -- and it is sh*t, as Jobs was so apparently fond of saying about anything and everything that didn't amaze him -- about his "abandonment" as a child when he was given up for adoption and his subsequent abandonment of his first daughter. As a young man, Jobs was pathetic and sad. Oh, and this whole notion that his fruitarian diet meant that he didn't have body odor or need to shower? Well, you might have some questions come up, like, "How can a guy be so intelligent, so amazingly insightful, and yet be such a freaking idiot?"

Of course, as a creative genius, Jobs was astounding. Mesmerizing."

Continue reading: The Enthralling 'Steve Jobs' - Brilliance, Weirdness, Warts and All

Artificial Intelligence Took America's Jobs And It's Going To Take A Lot More

2011-11-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

Tons Of iPhone 4S Users Can't Hear Calls Through The Phone's Earpiece

2011-11-06T11:26:00.001-08:00

Mobile screen-spy software recreates passwords

2011-11-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

"When one types text messages, emails and login credentials on one's virtual iPhone or Android keyboard, larger bubbles containing each character pop up for a second while the individual keys are being pressed.

But handy as the feature undoubtedly is for those users who have trouble deciphering the smaller characters on the keyboard, it can also be misused for spying on the users' activity.

When typing in confidential information on the phone, the more paranoid among us usually surreptitiously check if someone is behind or near us and can read what we write. But, according to a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that might not be enough to thwart resolute spies.

To prove their point, they have developed a program called iSpy, which can identify the text a user has typed in by analyzing video footage of the screen while he was doing it. And what's worse, the program can even extract that information from the footage of the screen as it is reflected in a window or one's sunglasses.

To do this, the spy doesn't have to have telescopic lenses or high-end equipment - smartphone cameras are more than enough.

"We then use a number of computer vision techniques to process the recorded video, identifying, for each frame, potential keys that were pressed," explain the researchers. "This visual detection, coupled with a language model, enables us to achieve surprisingly accurate sentence retrieval results, even under challenging real-world scenarios."

Mobile screen-spy software recreates passwords

INSIDE GROUPON: The Truth About The World's Most Controversial Company

2011-10-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

Why I Finally Decided To Ditch The BlackBerry And Run Off With An iPhone

2011-10-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Sad Story Of How Russia's Oil Industry Turned One Village Into A Living Hell

2011-10-31T01:01:00.000-07:00

PETER SCHIFF: In Defense Of The 1%

2011-10-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Apple Is Getting In Touch With iPhone 4S Owners Who Complain About Poor Battery Life

2011-10-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

What’s Really Killing Your iPhone 4S Battery?

2011-10-29T04:59:00.000-07:00

Ep. 1564: Molly's new iPhone 4 is no Halloween trick
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-19709_1-20126618-10/buzz-out-loud-1564-mollys-new-iphone-4-is-no-halloween-trick-podcast/#ixzz1c783KzUq

The Price Of Vodka Is About To Double In Russia

2011-10-29T01:01:00.000-07:00

After Two Weeks With Siri, It's Already Changed The Way I Live My Life

2011-10-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Elon Musk Laughed In The Face Of A Reporter Who Asked Him About The Warren Buffett-Backed Chinese Car Startup BYD

2011-10-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

I Wouldn't Touch Groupon's Stock At The IPO Price With A 50-Foot Pole

2011-10-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

You Have Just Witnessed The Death Of Developed Market CDS

2011-10-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

Movie: Revenge of the Electric Car

2011-10-27T01:26:00.000-07:00

If you enjoyed the movie Who Killed the Electric Car then there is a new movie that you should see called Revenge of the Electric Car.

See Revenge of the Electric Car in your city

This Is The Only App You Need To Track And Pay Your Bills

2011-10-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

THE APPLE INVESTOR: Has Apple Missed The Social Music Boat?

2011-10-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

The Guy Who Made The iPod Is Now Building A Sleek Thermostat

2011-10-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here's How To Live Well On $11,000 A Year

2011-10-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

BOMBSHELL: Steve Jobs Said He 'Finally Cracked' How To Make A Great Television

2011-10-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

Lytro Comes Into Focus (AsiaD Demo)

2011-10-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

"For a generation now, camera development has been measured in megapixels, but Lytro, which demoed today at AsiaD, is hoping its new camera will constitute the biggest leap in imaging since we swapped film for digital.

The company, founded by Ren Ng in 2006, has built a whole new kind of camera capable of performing a number of tricks that standard digital cameras just can’t do. The technology works by capturing a whole scene and digitally recording all the light available, instead of bringing a specific element into focus.
Lytro calls the resulting images “living pictures,” because each one contains more data than the single visible frame can display. After taking the picture, users of the camera can choose what they want in focus, and even switch between 2D and a subtle 3D image."

Lytro Comes Into Focus (AsiaD Demo)

Everyone Is Freaking Out Over These Incredible, Adjustable Photos From The Ground-Breaking Lytro Camera

2011-10-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

How The New, Ground-Breaking Lytro Camera Works

The Origins Of American Debt-Serfdom

2011-10-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

25 Secret iOS 5 Features You Need To Know About

2011-10-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

MARK CUBAN: 'Tax The Hell Out Of Wall Street And Give It To Main Street'

2011-10-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

JOHN MAULDIN: Dear Occupy Wall Street, You Are Protesting In The Wrong Place

Steve Jobs and Apple: somewhere between bohemia and business - Andrew Coyne - Macleans.ca

2011-10-14T07:40:00.000-07:00

From mere number-crunching marvels, Jobs made computers into tools for the artistic imagination

"When I was growing up, the world was in the grip of what was then called the Computer Age. Computers, everyone knew, were where things were going. And so we were all given training in computer science to prepare us for the Jobs of Tomorrow, which as everyone knew were in computer programming.

To program a computer meant poking little holes in punch cards, stacks and stacks and stacks of them, which you then handed in to the computer lab. When your turn came in the queue, they would feed your stack of cards into the computer; you would get your homework back the next day in the form of a printout. If, as often happened, you had made some small mistake—somewhere—and the computer, bafﬂed, had responded with a string of hysterical gibberish, you simply repeated the whole fiddling, nitpicking exercise.

And for most of us, that was that. The premise, that we were all going to be computer programmers, was false, and we knew it. Computers were for geeks, science fiction enthusiasts and others even further beyond the pale. Though in some ways my own mildly obsessive-compulsive nature made me a natural for it, my teenage identity was even then coalescing around the idea that I was actually some kind of artsie, or at least destined for the humanities.

And besides, programming a computer meant working for the people who had computers—business, mostly, unless you were desperate enough to work for the government. Business? There were two kinds of people who went into business: those who had a lot of money, or those who wanted a lot. All right for some, but it wasn’t something you’d do, if you, like, wanted some meaning in your life.

If you want to know the impact Steve Jobs and the company he created, Apple, have had on society, consider that not a line of the foregoing still applies. We did not all have to learn arcane computer languages, as we thought: instead, the computers became so simple to use that, for some purposes, a swipe of the fingers was all that was required. Computers themselves are no longer great printout-belching beasts, remote and fearsome, guarded by a kind of priesthood with occasional visiting rights for the rest of us, but are in every home, indeed in every pocket or purse."

Continues
Steve Jobs and Apple: somewhere between bohemia and business - Andrew Coyne - Macleans.ca

Central Solar Tower and Heliostat System Stores Heat Energy in Molten Salt

2011-10-12T17:35:00.000-07:00

GEMASOLAR is the first Torresol Energy project to be developed with central tower and heliostat technology. The plant incorporates significant technological innovations, among which is the solar collection system, but there is also a molten-salt heat storage system that is capable of attaining temperatures exceeding 500ºC. It went on-line 5/24/2011, with a maximum output of 19.9 MW, and 15 hours of thermal energy storage, which allows it generate power 24 hours per day many months per year.

Central Solar Tower and Heliostat System Stores Heat Energy in Molten Salt

New Nissan charger makes juicing electric cars quicker, easier for drivers

2011-10-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

How did they discover the 10 minute electric car charge breakthrough? They was discovered that by changing the electrode inside a capacitor from carbon to tungsten oxide and vanadium oxide, the ability to retain power is improved, taking all of just ten minutes to juice up a particular battery with no significant effect on storage capacity or voltage.

New Nissan charger makes juicing electric cars quicker, easier for drivers

iOS 5 Leaked! Here's How To Get It Right Now

2011-10-11T17:22:00.001-07:00

Here's Why Steve Jobs Wore A Black Turtleneck And Jeans Every Day

2011-10-11T17:21:00.001-07:00

World's 'Most Beautiful Politician' Gets 7 Years In Ukrainian Jail

2011-10-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

Naked protest raises temperature outside Tymoshenko court

BAD NEWS: iPhone 4S Has A Lot Less Standby Time Than Previous iPhones

2011-10-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

Gov. Jerry Brown signs Dream Act for state's illegal immigrants

2011-10-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

No other Country or State in the world takes money from it's legal citizens and rewards illegal immigrants. Struggling Californian students life just became a little harder this past weekend when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Dream Act for state's illegal immigrants. The new laws allow illegal immigrants full access to public and private money that once was reserved for legal citizens.

This is after all just another back door attempt at rewarding those who break the immigration laws of the USA. The argument goes like this it's not the children's fault that their parents broke the law, pay for their education. Oh wait you have a degree but are not allowed to work, we would not want to waste all of that money we spent on educating the illegal students. The last step in the plan is that they plan to ask for full citizenship for students and their extend families.

Some have made the argument that perhaps we should also then give ill-gotten gains from other types of criminals to their children after all it's not their fault that daddy was a drug dealer . While others think it will begin the next Californian gold rush. After all who would not want not only a free University degree for their children but also citizenship for their family while not having to be troubled with applying and going through that normal citizenship process.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs Dream Act for state's illegal immigrants
John and Ken: John and Ken's blog postings.

Jerry Brown has signed the Illegal Alien CA Dream Act!
John and Ken: John and Ken's blog postings.

STEVE JOBS: "I Wanted My Kids To Know Me"

2011-10-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs's Forgotten Life-Saving Legacy

2011-10-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

TEST DRIVE: First Ride In The 2012 Tesla Model S

2011-10-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

"On Saturday, exactly one year after it took ownership of the former Toyota NUMMI facility in Fremont, California, Tesla Motors held a series of test-drives aimed to show off the latest Model S Betas to the press and Model S reservation holders.
We’ve already told you about some of the surprises CEO Elon Musk had in store for the assembled group, but now it’s time to share details of the short chauffeured ride around a small section of NUMMI test track in the 2012 Model S.
First impressions
Pulling up for our ride, the Model S beta was extremely quiet with no discernible whine from either the electric motor or its power electronics. As two Tesla employees reached towards front and rear door handles — which electronically retract into the car’s body to reduce aerodynamic drag when moving — we noticed large amounts of heat coming from the car’s huge 21-inch rear wheels and brake discs, an indication it had been worked hard on previous rides.
Sitting in the rear seat, there was plenty of headroom and legroom for this 5 foot nine writer, with fit and finish appropriate to a premium luxury car."

Read more: http://read.bi/n77u6Y

Parallels Desktop 7 review - Mac software - Macworld UK

2011-10-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

Running Windows on your Mac is cool. Running Lion from within Lion is cooler
Karl Hodge

"If you need to run Windows and OS X on Apple hardware, Parallels has always been handy. With version 7, it’s almost essential. While Apple does provide users with Boot Camp, to dual boot Windows with OS X, Parallels virtualisation features are that little bit more impressive. Who could help but let out a little gasp as they look at Windows applications running live on OS X’s desktop in Parallel’s Coherence mode? The ability to drag and drop between Mac and Windows applications, running side by side, never gets old.

Enhanced Lion compatibility
This upgrade is a swift response to the release of Lion, that enhances compatibility with the latest version of OS X. It also takes advantage of several of the new operating system’s key features. For example, if we’re talking about OMG moments, you can now run Windows in Lion’s full-screen mode. Flipping between Windows and OS X is as easy as switching desktops; Windows applications appear in Mission Control and Launchpad, just like their OS X siblings. It’s not just the transition between applications that’s seamless. Your applications can also access files stored locally or on a virtual machine."

Parallels Desktop 7 review - Mac software - Macworld UK

Fusion 4 - Mac software - Macworld UK

2011-10-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

It’s been a long time coming, but this upgrade was worth waiting for
Cliff Joseph

"It’s been two years since the release of Fusion 3, and its arch-rival Parallels Desktop has managed two fairly big upgrades in that time, so it was starting to look as though Fusion might be losing out. However, this timely update gives the virtualisation program a major overhaul that keeps it right in line with Parallels and makes it an excellent option for anyone who needs to run Windows software on their Mac.

You’ll notice the changes as soon as you open the box, as Fusion 4 is now supplied on both DVD and a USB memory stick for models such as the MacBook Air and Mac mini that don’t have a built-in optical drive. The installer program now provides an automatic upgrade option for existing Fusion users, as well as a Learning Centre to help new users get started."

Fusion 4 - Mac software - Macworld UK

China Is An Economy On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown

2011-10-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

China Is An Economy On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown

Patrick Chovanec, An American Perspective From China

I just returned from a trip to New York, where earlier last week I gave a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations. The topic was the question on everyone’s mind these days: the outlook for China’s economy.

Over the past several weeks, a number of news reports and market figures have caught my attention, which appear to indicate that China’s economy may be approaching a crisis. I use the word “crisis” in the traditional (or medical) sense, meaning a critical turning point when tensions or contradictions are resolved, for better or worse — sometimes in unexpected ways. One potential interpretation of this crisis is that China is entering the terminal stage of a bubble, and that what we are seeing are the early signs of a much broader collapse. But it may not be that simple. I have been saying since the year began that China is due for a correction, and just last week I told the Globe and Mail that such a correction could be a lot worse than most people expect. How exactly the situation will unfold, though, and whether we’ve already reached a tipping point or not, remains to be seen. For the moment, I’m reminded of that song: Something’s happening here; what it is ain’t exactly clear. But — and this is the real point — something is happening, and people both inside and outside of China are right to be nervous.

Let’s start with real estate. For the past several months, China’s official media have been touting official data indicating that while most Chinese cities are still seeing housing prices rise, a growing number of cities are starting to see a plateau or even decline in prices — evidence, they say, that the central government’s cooling measures are finally working. More significant, in my eyes, are reports — which began emerging in late August — that in several cities across China, prices in primary housing markets (developers selling to homeowners) have begun falling away from those in secondary markets (homeowners selling to other homeowners). The effected markets include not only 1st tier metropolises (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen) , but also 2nd tier (Chongqing, Wuhan, Tianjin, Zhenghou) and 3rd tier (Ningbo, Foshan, Wuxi) ones as well. In late August, reports had secondary market prices for many downtown properties in Chongqing at 4-10% higher than primary prices. Last week, another report put the price gap in 1st tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai much higher, at 20%.

What could explain the growing price gap? Back in April 2010, when the central government first announced its intention to “cool” the real estate market, property developers were skeptical. They’d seen this movie before: the market, they figured, might stall for a while, but as soon as policymakers saw the negative impact on investment-led GDP growth, they’d rush back in to support the sector. Six months, tops, they would be right back to business as usual. In the meantime, savvy developers better get ready for the next round by continuing to borrow and build. That’s precisely what they did, which is why, despite jittery buyers and slumping transaction volumes, investment in real estate (in yuan) rose 33% and new construction (in square meters) climbed 26% in the first eight months of 2011, compared to the same period last year — data that China’s National Statistics Bureau touts, by the way, as proof that the Chinese economy is still going strong.I just returned from a trip to New York, where earlier last week I gave a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations. The topic was the question on everyone’s mind these days: the outlook for China’s economy.

All of this continued building was predicated on the assumption that China’s cooling policies could not last. In fact, since developers kept building, there was no negative impact on GDP, and no reason for policymakers to pull back. To the contrary, inflation rose, and the cooling measures targeted at real estate were broadened into a more general credit tightening policy aimed at reining in lending. As developers piled up more and more inventory — the primary market inventory in Shanghai, for instance, now starts at an all-time high, 12.5% higher than in December 2008 — they had to borrow to stay in business. With credit conditions tightening, they systematically ran through the credit lines available: first the banks, then high-yield bonds in Hong Kong, then the private wealth management vehicles that have been popping up all over China, then the loan sharks. Finally, they ran out of options, and had no choice but to start selling some of their inventory at whatever price they could get.

That’s why primary prices are dropping: hard-pressed developers offering steep discounts on property they’ve been holding out on, in order to get cash. Investors who already purchased homes, often as a place to stash large amounts of cash, don’t face the same pressure and so you don’t see the same price drop in secondary markets. However, it’s important to note how small and illiquid those secondary markets are. In the U.S. and Europe, the ratio of existing homes to new homes sold (in normal, non-crisis times) is something like 13 to 1. In China, it’s more like 1:1, or 2:1 at most. The price gap may be less of a real “gap” than a “lag.”

Frustrated by their inability to cool the property market, China’s bank regulators say they are intentionally trying to squeeze developers to force a correction. The thing is, they may get more than they bargained for. Consider what might happen if a lot of developers hit the wall at the same time, and start dumping their inventories. Sizeable discounts would have to be offered, and prices in the primary market would crater. True, investors who have already bought — in many cases — multiple properties might not face the same cash pressures, but absent a liquid secondary market they have been marking their investment to primary market prices, and looking to them for assurance that their properties are a reliable “store of value.” If primary prices collapse, that assurance is gone. And if they decide to cash out, even in part, they will find — as they might have known all along, had they cared — that there is no secondary market to cash into. The result could be a panicked rush to the exits. Even if just the primary market crashes, the rationale for the supposed solvency of a whole host of Local Government Financing Vehicle (LGFV) bank loans and bonds — that local authorities can always sell land to pay them back — falls apart.

To be clear, this chain of events has not unfolded — yet. But there’s mounting evidence that it could, that the fabric of China’s investment-led growth is starting to fray and unravel. In Shanghai, primary market property sales for Sept. 1-18 were down more than 50% year-on-year (contrasted with the all-time high inventories I mentioned earlier). In Beijing, nearly 5% of the city’s property agents have shut down in the past two months. The global price of copper, 40% of which is driven by Chinese demand, including wiring for all those new homes and office buildings, is down almost 25% since the beginning of August. But more dramatic, and worrisome, is what is happening in Wenzhou.

Virtual showdown: Parallels Desktop 7 and VMware Fusion 4 reviewed

2011-10-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

Virtual showdown: Parallels Desktop 7 and VMware Fusion 4 reviewed
By Dave Girard

"The powerhouses of Mac OS X virtualization both got beefy updates in the last few weeks and they're begging for comparison. (Read our original Parallels 6 and Fusion 3 reviews for more on the older versions.) We stripped the hype wrappers off of the new Parallels Desktop 7 and VMWare Fusion 4 to see who's the baddest, and who's just bad."

Virtual showdown: Parallels Desktop 7 and VMware Fusion 4 reviewed

STUDY: This Is The Worst Place To Live In Western Europe

2011-09-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

Breaking Out of Long-Term Unemployment

2011-09-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

"Long-term unemployment can wreak havoc on a person's sense of self-worth and well-being. Worse, big resume gaps or current unemployment may also mark a job seeker as "damaged goods" and make a long job search even longer.

"I wouldn't say the bias [against hiring the unemployed] is pervasive, but too many hiring managers don't realize that the world has changed and that people have had a hard time finding jobs through no fault of their own," says Cheryl Ferguson, president of Recruiter's Studio and recruiter for Decision Toolbox.

Throw in the towel? Don't even think about it, career experts say. They suggest these practical steps to help even the most discouraged unemployed job seeker get motivated and beat the odds."

Breaking Out of Long-Term Unemployment

Amazon Reveals The Kindle Fire: A $199 Dagger Aimed Right At The Heart Of Tablet Market

2011-09-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

Update: Jeff Bezos just introduced the Amazon Fire, a full color tablet which will radically disrupt the tablet market.

It's priced at $199, and it works with all of Amazon's media services. Any tablet not named iPad, should be worried, even though the Fire is just seven inches large.

(We're about to go play with one, so we'll have a full report on the acual device. The demo looked impressive.)

In addition to the Fire, Amazon lowered the price of the regular Kindle and introduced a Kindle Touch. Read below for our live notes from the event.

If You're Outraged By Greece Now, Wait Till You Read Michael Lewis' New Book

2011-09-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

Financial journalist and award-winning author Michael Lewis is out with a new book called "Boomerang."

And based solely on its RAVE book review in The New York Times, it sounds awesome and relevant.

The new book traces the origins of the European sovereign debt crisis, giving "the reader a guided tour through some of the disparate places hard hit by the fiscal tsunami of 2008..."

The prime example of course is Greece. Lewis writes about how Greece rang up massive debt, according to a review by The New York Times:

Greece, Mr. Lewis writes, ran up astonishing debts — from high-paying government jobs and generous pensions, as well as waste, bribery and theft — that came to “about $1.2 trillion, or more than a quarter-million dollars for every working Greek.” In just the last 12 years, he says, “the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled, in real terms” with the average government job now paying almost three times the average private sector job. Those who work in jobs classified as “arduous” can retire and start collecting pensions, he adds, “as early as 55 for men and 50 for women”; more than 600 Greek professions have somehow managed “to get themselves classified as arduous: hairdressers, radio announcers, waiters, musicians, and on and on and on.”

Why Apple Employees Avoid Getting In The Elevator With Steve Jobs

2011-09-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

With all of the supernatural success swirling around legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs as he steps down from the position, it’s easy to forget that he’s human. Michael Dhuey, 53, had two opportunities to experience the real Jobs through working with him.

“I had a good experience with Steve, but I also know people who did not,” laughs Dhuey during a phone interview from Cupertino, CA.

Dhuey is currently a tech lead and one of the founders of the Cisco Systems video teleconferencing department. He knows Jobs professionally after working with him on two significant projects in Apple history: The Macintosh II in 1987 (Dhuey was an electrical and computer engineer at Apple then, and co-invented the computer) and the original iPod in 2001 (Dhuey was one of two engineers who developed the hardware).

“He was very clear about what he didn’t like,” says Dhuey. “He was not filtered with his input. If he was in a meeting that was boring him, he would be blunt. He’d say, ‘I don’t need to see this, let’s move on.’ And we would. He didn’t suffer a fool.”

Dhuey recalls that people would dread getting into an elevator with Jobs. If you got on at the 4th floor, you’d better have captivated him by the time you got off on the 1st. Jobs remembered you when you had a great story to tell. He also remembered when you didn’t.

THE QATAR LIFE: Inside The Richest Country On Earth

2011-09-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

It might be time to move out to the Gulf.

The tiny, oil-rich Middle East nation of Qatar recently topped previous leader Luxembourg for the world's highest per capita Gross Domestic Product, according to Arabian Business.

Using data from the IMF, they found that Qatar's GDP per capita stands at $88,221, and should rise to $111,963 by 2016.

Meet The Trader Who Screamed "The Collapse Is Coming" And "Goldman Sachs Rules The World" On BBC

2011-09-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

The rumors are flying about Alessio Rastani since his BBC interview yesterday morning.

Some people are shocked about what he said ("The collapse is coming... and Goldman Sachs rules the world"), while others think he was being refreshingly honest. And then there are those who think he's a complete phoney.

They've suggested that he's a member of The Yes Men, a prank group that enjoys doing interviews posing as business leaders or bankers. Both Rastani and the group have denied that he has any affiliation.

We'll let you decide, but by our estimation, he looks like a real trader. Here's his Youtube channel, where he promotes his Facebook fan page and his website, LeadingTrader.com.

He describes himself as an, "experienced stock market trader and mentor. Keynote speaker on share trading and spreadbetting. Husband and all round nice guy."

Importantly, we were not able to find out whether or not he's ever been backed by any professional firm, or any account of his past trading record.

UPDATE: The Telegraph published an interview with Rastani where he admits that he's a casual trader and that The BBC contacted him because he's an "investment speaker." Public speaking is his true passion and he owns a business called Santoro Projects where he does just that.

UPRISING! Microsofties Trash Ballmer After Disastrous All-Hands Meeting

2011-09-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer failed to fire up the troops at the company's huge internal staff meeting on Friday, according to gossipy commenters on the Mini Microsoft blog.

Employees were apparently walking out in "droves," and felt a general apathy for Ballmer.

Mini-Microsoft acts as an unofficial message board for the company. It is authored by an anonymous employee who wants to see Microsoft slim down. Each post is filled with comments from former or current employees.

The Circular Logic That Dooms Euro TARP From The Start

2011-09-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

The Eurozone bailout, now being referred to as Euro TARP, is doomed to fail. While nothing has been officially announced the markets are rallying broadly on the back of a news article published by CNBC on Monday. The details are lacking as to the actual structure but speculation is already running rampant across the financial markets as to what it might look like.

What is presumed is that Euro TARP will follow the proposal originally proffered by Tim Geithner on his European trip recently. That proposal had been widely dismissed by the G20 as they couldn't come to terms on any type of structure. The current idea outlined by CNBC will bypass the G20 entirely and allow the European Investment Bank (EIB), a bank owned by the member states of the European Union, to take money from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and capitalize a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that it will create.

The SPV will then issue bonds to investors and use the proceeds to purchase sovereign debt of distressed European states, which will hopefully alleviate the pressure on the distressed states (PIIGS) and the European banks that already own their sovereign debt.

If alarm bells aren't already going off they will be in just moment as you get the gist of the rest of this disastrous plan.

GERMANY: US Plans To Intervene In Europe Are "Stupid" Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-us-plans-to-intervene-in-europe-are-stupid-2011-9#ixzz1ZGJttU70

2011-09-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has hit out against plans to boost the EFSF bailout fund, reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Telegraph.

Schauble said:

"I don't understand how anyone in the European Commission can have such a stupid idea. The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states. It makes no sense."

Worse still, Schauble hit out against American intervention, days after Barack Obama criticized the European leaders' handling of the debt crisis.

"It's always much easier to give advice to others than to decide for yourself. I am well prepared to give advice to the US government."

E.U. (AKA Germany) Lets World Know: “Greece Is On Its Own”

2011-09-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, markets, don’t say Germany – oh, um, I mean the European Union – didn’t warn you.

Greece is set to default and there's not much more the E.U. is looking to do to change that fact.

That’s right.

German Prime Minister Angela Merkel has, essentially, blown the EU’s financial and political load and let the geo-political and financial world (ahem – markets?) know that Greece will soon be on its own to figure out and solve the economic mess it finds itself in now.

VMware Fusion 4 hands-on: Lion, Windows 7, Windows 8, and more

2011-09-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

"Virtualization has long been important for Mac users, especially those who have to manage multiple platforms for their work. With Apple’s small share of the desktop market, virtual machines are a necessity for Mac users who can’t get by without access to Windows applications.

While virtual machine products from the likes of VMware, Parallels, and VirtualBox provide convenient ways to run Windows and other operating systems on your Mac, Apple’s recent upgrade to OS X Lion has the software makers scrambling to ship updates. VMware and Parallels have both released new versions that let Windows applications integrate with Lion-specific features such as Launchpad and Mission Control, and take advantage of Apple’s decision to let users run additional instances of Lion in virtual machines.

Ars has an extensive review comparing VMware Fusion 4 and Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac in the works."

VMware Fusion 4 hands-on: Lion, Windows 7, Windows 8, and more

Mac trojan poses as PDF to open botnet backdoor

2011-09-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

"Malware continues to be a minimal threat to most Mac users, but that doesn't mean attackers aren't constantly trying to come up with new ways to steal information or turn users' machines into botnet drones. The latter appears to be the case with a new Mac trojan posing as a PDF file, discovered by security researchers at F-Secure."

Mac trojan poses as PDF to open botnet backdoor

Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Spreading Rapidly In Europe

2011-09-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

BEHIND THE SCENES AT GLENN BECK'S NEW SHOW: 'We're Going To Be The Next HBO, The Next Netflix!'

2011-09-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hydration stations sweep colleges to promote tap water – USATODAY.com

2011-09-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

"illing stations are no longer just for gas. In an eco-friendly push, hundreds of U.S. colleges are installing water fountains known as hydration stations so students can refill water bottles rather than buy new ones. Some campuses are even banning the sale of bottled water."Hydration stations sweep colleges to promote tap water – USATODAY.com

EBay targets mobile users, hoping to seem hip – USATODAY.com

2011-09-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

"These days, most of the things people purchase on the site aren't sold through auctions; they have fixed prices. And, the majority of items for sale are new — not musty antiques or old collectibles.
Richelle Parham, eBay's chief marketing officer, says plenty of people see eBay as an auction-focused marketplace, despite the reality.
"We need to change that perception," she says.

The company wants to be seen as an e-commerce innovator, rather than a staid auction site. To promote that image, eBay is embarking on a major ad campaign aimed at consumers who shop on smartphones. At the same time, eBay hopes it will change consumers' misperceptions about the company."
EBay targets mobile users, hoping to seem hip – USATODAY.com

Apple iPad: Learning Tool for Kindergarten? Maine, Tennessee and South Carolina Try Them - ABC News

2011-09-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

Apple iPad: Learning Tool for Kindergarten? Maine, Tennessee and South Carolina Try Them - ABC News

Random Thoughts: The Gold Scold!

2011-09-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

" I shared a 25-year weekly bubble comparison chart that plotted "bubble benchmarks" Japan (80's), NASDAQ (Y2K), China ('07), and crude ('08) against the current state of gold. I did it for one reason: to offer the "other side" of the parabolic frolic. Scroll to see below.

Over the years in the 'Ville, we've gotten a fair amount of flack at various junctures. We shared "the other side" of housing in 2006 (while preparing for "a prolonged period of socioeconomic malaise entirely more depressing than a recession"), offered that financial institutions were "technically insolvent" in 2007, and braved the short side in crude in 2008 (while transitioning my long-term bucket to 100% cash).

While some of you may not remember those stances, lemme assure you they were wildly unpopular at the time. "

Continues
Random Thoughts: The Gold Scold!

DealBook: The Survivor Who Saw the Future for Cantor Fitzgerald

2011-09-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

By By SUSANNE CRAIG

Published: September 3, 2011

"TEN years and a lifetime ago, Howard W. Lutnick was a prince of Wall Street. Forty years old, and already the head of a powerful financial house, he could peer down on rivals from his office on the 105th floor of One World Trade Center.

Then — you know the rest.

American Airlines Flight 11 struck Tower One. Three out of every four people who worked in New York City for Mr. Lutnick at the brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald died that September morning, 658 in all. Among the dead was his younger brother, Gary.

That Howard Lutnick survived was, he concedes, blind luck. Some people died because they happened to be at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Mr. Lutnick lived because he happened to be taking his son, Kyle, to his first day of kindergarten."

Continues

Steve Jobs and the Eureka Myth - Adrian Slywotzky - Harvard Business Review

2011-08-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs and the Eureka Myth - Adrian Slywotzky - Harvard Business Review

The Collapse Of The Commodities Bubble

2011-08-29T01:43:00.000-07:00

Apple Will Continue To Make Big Bets Under Tim Cook, And They'll Pay Off

2011-08-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

How Steve Jobs Changed My Life

2011-08-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

"I’ve violated every rule of investing in the past two-and-a-half years and am all the richer — literally! — for it. (I’m richer at least on paper, not rich. Please note the difference!)

In any case, what’s the key to my success? One word: Apple. I made a conscious decision in March 2009 to start investing in the Cupertino, California-based company. Apple then was trading at about $78 a share; it’s now trading at around $370 a share.

My only regret is that I didn’t shift more of my investments into Apple when the company was at its nadir. Instead, I’ve periodically and regularly shifted an increasing share of my portfolio into this amazing American success story.

The result, not surprisingly: a stunning and dramatic increase in my financial wealth (at least on paper)!

Yeah, I know: It’s risky to put most of your financial eggs into one investment basket. What happens if Apple falls, which it might? What if a competitor firm comes out with better and less expensive products?

Believe me, I’m well aware of the risks involved. But I’m also well aware of the potential financial upside. More to the point, I simply believe in Apple because I’ve come to love their products and their customer service."

Continue reading article by John Guardiano

ing Christie’s Courageous Climate Stance Christie’s Courageous Climate Stance

2011-08-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

"When it comes to climate change, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie annoys people on both extremes of the political spectrum. One more reason to see a bright future for this guy.

On the far left, the Daily Kos types fulminate that Christie is a stooge of fossil fuel interests. Over on the far right, the vein throbbing set obsesses that Christie has joined the church of Al Gore.

This is a positive development. In defying ideologues and their litmus tests, Christie is blazing a trail that could lead the U.S. out of its polarized rut on energy and climate policy.

What did Christie do that resulted in such diverse outbursts of ideological bloviation?

On August 19, he vetoed a bill that would have returned New Jersey to the Northeast’s regional cap-and-trade program for power plants. It’s called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI for short."

Continue reading article by Jim DiPeso

Keeping Calm Under Pressure Is More Valued Than High IQ In Today's Job Market

2011-08-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

Russian And Chinese Elites Will Pay Up To $200,000 For A Good British Nanny

2011-08-22T21:38:00.001-07:00

THE APPLE INVESTOR: A Downgrade, An iPhone 5 Release Date And iPad 3 Production Notes

2011-08-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Is This Second-Grader The World's Youngest Entrepreneur And Investor?

2011-08-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

Are you UNEMPLOYED/UNDEREMPLOYED? (United States). Be Your Own Boss. Redlands City, CA Classified ads. Buy and sell today!

2011-08-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Are you UNEMPLOYED/UNDEREMPLOYED? (United States). Be Your Own Boss. Redlands City, CA Classified ads. Buy and sell today!

Microsoft Is FINALLY Ready To Talk About Windows 8

2011-08-16T01:32:00.000-07:00

Black Box Trading, Not Short-Selling Caused The Recent Market Turmoil According To Former Top Regulator

2011-08-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

Why Social Security Is A Ponzi Scheme

2011-08-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

<iframe src="http://www.businessinsider.com/embed?id=4e6e6840eab8eacc16000015&width=400&height=430" width="400" height="430" border="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Supercomputers: The New Face of Wall Street (For Better or Worse)

2011-08-08T01:01:00.000-07:00

Joris Maltha, co-founder of Catalogtree, uses data visualization to show the impact that supercomputer error had on the New York Stock Exchange during the most recent crash. "There are no humans involved, its just mathematical algorithms trading amongst themselves," explains Maltha.

See another video at Wall Street: The Speed Traders

Have You Seen OS X Lion's Hidden Tribute To Steve Jobs Yet?

2011-08-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

How You Can Legally Make $1,000 In One Night In NYC

2011-08-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

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2011-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

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STOCKS MAKE HUGE COMEBACK, AS MARKETS FIND THE PUKE POINT: Here's What You Need To Know

2011-08-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

The Doomsday Scenario Has Basically Happened: Here's What Banks Said They Would Do

2011-08-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

S&P DOWNGRADES US AAA Rating

2011-08-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

Here's What Happened When This 25-Year-Old White American Appeared On A Chinese Game Show

2011-08-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

The Weird Story Of The British Millionaire Using Twitter To Take On Russian Kidnappers

2011-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Russian market battered as global markets wilt

2011-08-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

"Russian markets have been caught up in the global selloff which has seen the Dow Jones close 4.3% lower overnight with the FTSE 100 in London down 3.4%. In Moscow, the MICEX was 3% lower at 11.00 AM after opening 4% down.

Friday trade has seen Asian markets continue to slide with Australia down more than 4%, Hong Kong down 4.7% and Tokyo down 3.6% with concerns over the global economy ranging from Eurozone sovereign debt fears, to weak U.S. growth figures, to inflation in China dogging investors who have seen sentiment reverse since spring.

In Moscow the MICEX has opened 4% down after taking a 2.1% hit on Thursday.Brent Crude is holding at around $107/bbl, with the WTI price in the saturated U.S. market falling further to $85.56/bbl at the close of U.S. trade – its lowest in 5 weeks.Most industrial metals are lower with gold trading at $1660/oz and beyond as far vas an all time high of $1684.90/oz.

The nerves weighing on investors globally after the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations of last weekend, were frayed further with ECB President Jean Claude Trichet revising his outlook for the Eurozone economy at the same time as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called for a deepening of the Eurozone bailout mechanism, adding he had ‘deep concerns’ about Italy and Spain.The comments reverberated through Euro markets in Thursday trade and set the scene for heavy falls in the U.S. overnight."

Continue reading article on Russia Today

Learn how to profit from the economic uncertainty

2011-08-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

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