Monday, October 03, 2011

How the Kindle Fire Could Make 7-Inch Tablets Huge

How the Kindle Fire Could Make 7-Inch Tablets Huge Gadget Lab Wired.com
Steve Jobs made it clear what he thought of 7-inch tablets in October 2010.
They’re “too small,” and as good as “dead on arrival.”
But the announcement of and anticipation surrounding Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet may soon have Jobs eating his words.

Arbitrator rules against Illinois lay-offs, closures

Arbitrator rules against Illinois lay-offs, closures Reuters
Quinn blamed the Democrat-controlled Legislature for sending him a $33 billion fiscal 2012 general funds budget that locks in spending levels for state agencies but did not appropriate enough money to keep some state services operating.

from the comments:

Reply 10 - Posted by: DiamondBob, 10/3/2011 1:50:53 PM (No. 8035092)
IL is not the only state in this union/Democrat created mess.
The newly elected Democrat CT governor (working with a heavily Democrat legislature) recently agreed to no state union layoffs for FOUR YEARS!! in exchange for 2 years of wage freezes.
Then the union workers get a 10% increase spread over years 3 and 4.
This is on top of the $1.5B in tax increases this year to cover the increased spending, for example including cash donations for a brand new state earned income tax credit.
I dread what things will look like when the supposed savings don't materialize, expenses continue to rise (because they're addicted to spending), and they can't cut the largest state expenditure (union workers' wages and benefits) because they have guaranteed employment.
We used to call the state to our north "Taxachussetts" -- not any more.

Time for Some Truth: Bill Clinton NEVER Balanced A Budget And NEVER Ran A Surplus

» Time for Some Truth: Bill Clinton NEVER Balanced A Budget And NEVER Ran A Surplus - Big Government
Despite what you may hear from Democrats on the campaign trail, there were no giant surpluses that Bush squandered (Bush did overspend, but there was no surplus to squander).
The myth of Clinton balancing the budget and producing surpluses belongs with unicorns and and elves, in the realm of myths.
The last president to preside over a balanced budget/surplus was Dwight Eisenhower, whose government saw surpluses of approximately $2 billion dollars in 1956 and 57.
Neither Bill Clinton nor any Republicans deserve any credit for balancing the budget in the 1990s, because the budget was never balanced.

South Carolina Republicans move presidential primary to Jan. 21

South Carolina Republicans move presidential primary to Jan. 21 - latimes.com

Obama’s Polling Compared to Predecessors

Obama’s Polling Compared to Predecessors « Commentary Magazine
President Obama looks worse than any recent incumbent president when the public assesses the country’s direction, consumer confidence, personal financial appraisals, and job approval at this point in time.
Obama 11% satisfied with the way things are going; 20% country heading in the right direction

Health Care Workers Vote to Bolt from 'Corrupt' SEIU

Health Care Workers Vote to Bolt from 'Corrupt' SEIU [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
By a more than 2-to-1 margin, workers at Saginaw's Luther Manor Nursing Home voted themselves out of the SEIU Healthcare union last week

9 American cities going broke

Bottom Line - 9 American cities going broke
2. Pontiac, MI

Is the Chevy Volt a sales flop?

Is the Chevy Volt a sales flop?
General Motors has repeatedly claimed a sales target for 2011 of 10,000 units for the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt sedan.
But, nine months into the year, they've only shipped 3,895 off the lot.

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Time to raise Cain to contender status | Campaign 2012

Barone: Time to raise Cain to contender status Campaign 2012
Is Herman Cain a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination?
It's a question no one in the pundit world was asking until the past week.

Pricing and framing: When are we likely to pay more for products?

Pricing and framing: When are we likely to pay more for products? Psychology Today
I want to write about one strategy firms use to increase the sale of a product.
This strategy involves framing: the product is presented in the context of other, related products.
We'll see that "relativity" is not a concept reserved for physics.

Obama Fried Chicken: Is the President giving Colonel Sanders a run for his money?

Obama Fried Chicken: Is the President giving Colonel Sanders a run for his money? Mail Online
Is Obama abandoning his bid for a second term in the White House and is giving Colonel Sanders a run for his money by opening a chain of fried chicken joints?
Now that's change you can't really believe in.

The problem is that BarryO's talents....profits?

Will Jeff Bezos Bring Feudal Security to the Net?

The Volokh Conspiracy » Will Jeff Bezos Bring Feudal Security to the Net?
Amazon’s cloud can handle even the most processor-intense pages instantaneously, far faster than your wheezing desktop machine.
In short, your Internet experience on the Fire ought to be lightning quick.

There’s another advantage to this new vision of what might be called the Bezosnet.
The Bezosnet ought to be a lot more secure.
One way that hackers compromise your machine is by getting you to go to malware infected sites.
Just visiting the site triggers routines that take over the visitor’s computer.
But if the routine runs, not on a visitor’s computer but in a virtual environment at Amazon’s data center, the attacker’s code isn’t likely to work.

I just ordered the Amazon Kindle Fire

This is what pushed me over the edge to make my decision:

So instead of downloading web pages one after the other and opening them on your computer, Amazon’s cloud stores and even opens them, sending you the end result.
This allows speedier downloads for a couple of reasons:
Caching of popular pages (or even parts of pages) avoids download delays when the original source is overloaded; and Amazon’s cloud can handle even the most processor-intense pages instantaneously, far faster than your wheezing desktop machine.
In short, your Internet experience on the Fire ought to be lightning quick.

But I wonder if the higher price of the iPad has simply moved my frame.
This may be the real reason I made my purchase:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-decision-lab/201109/pricing-and-framing-when-are-we-likely-pay-more-products

OBAMA SPREADS A LIE ABOUT GAY SOLDIER-BOOING, INCOHERENTLY

Instapundit » Blog Archive » OBAMA SPREADS A LIE ABOUT GAY SOLDIER-BOOING, INCOHERENTLY
Ann Althouse:
Obama must serve something to the assembled hungry masses, and this infected red meat is the best he’s got.
“There is a contagious lie and the President — he who often speaks of transcending divisiveness — is enthusiastically spreading it… while — ironically! — posing in the mantle of oneness, E pluribus unum.
The crowd goes wild, by the way.
Listen to the audio.
They find the infected http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-have-listened-to-video-several-times.html red meat scrumptious!
And can you blame the poor man?
He must serve something to the assembled hungry masses, and this — this! — is the best he’s got.

And what does ‘We don’t believe in them being silent since’ mean?
It’s not a transcription error.
I’ve checked the audio (at the link).
Did he misread the TelePrompTer?
There’s no simple fix, like combining it with the next line, “You want to be Commander-in-Chief?”
The pronouns don’t match up.
But the crowd loves it.
This gibberish is quite delicious!”
Enthusiastically received gibberish.
That’s all they’ve got.
Resist we much!
Meanwhile, Prof. Jacobson notes when Obama thought it was okay to sit silently through slurshttp://legalinsurrection.com/2011/10/obama-silence-for-me-but-not-for-thee/ .
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 2:52 pm

Study: Women Who Make More Decisions Have Less Sex

Study: Women Who Make More Decisions Have Less Sex YourTango

Saturday, October 01, 2011

The Weekend Interview with Harold Hamm: How North Dakota Became Saudi Arabia

The Weekend Interview with Harold Hamm: How North Dakota Became Saudi Arabia - WSJ.com
With the right set of national energy policies, the United States could be "completely energy independent by the end of the decade.
We can be the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas in the 21st century."

The strange case of Anwar al Awlaki

The strange case of Anwar al Awlaki
Why didn’t we have to kill this traitor to the United States?
Because we had him in custody on U.S. soil on felony charges in 2002.
And we could have detained him indefinitely.

Amazing article.
Read it all!

Transit Authority: $1 Million Deficit, Highest Paid Executives

Transit Authority: $1 Million Deficit, Highest Paid Executives [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
“If these were private-sector businesses operating on their own, employee pay would be none of our business,” said Jack McHugh, senior legislative analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Transit agencies would dry up and blow away without massive taxpayer subsidies and that makes it the people’s business.”

NYPD Warns Women About Skirts in Brooklyn Sex Attack Probe

NYPD Warns Women About Skirts in Brooklyn Sex Attack Probe NBC New York
Women in a Brooklyn neighborhood on edge over a spate of sex attacks are being told by police that wearing skirts and dresses might not be a good idea.

Samir Khan, Killed by Drone, Spun Out of the American Middle Class

Samir Khan, Killed by Drone, Spun Out of the American Middle Class - NYTimes.com
At the Islamic Society of Greater Charlotte, few of the several hundred Muslims gathered for Friday Prayer wanted to talk about Mr. Khan.
“This is a very dangerous road when you go and kill someone like this,” said Ayeb Suleiman, 25, a medical resident.
“He was just an editor.
He was just writing.”

"A religion of peace...."