News Stories That Caught My Interest Today

News and Views --  here are a few news items I picked up in the last 24 hours

1.      Car ownership as a percent of population was in the news today. The US leads the world, almost everyone has a car.  China, there are only 45 cars per 1,000 people, and a car is a big status symbol, thus car sharing there would be unthinkable.  In India, there are only 12 cars per 1,000 people.  Car sharing ZIP Cars here in the USA is a booming business, Avis just bought the company which now has 10,000 shared cars on the road.  The average car is shared by about 60 people who buy annual membership and pay by the hour to use the car.  The question is, what would happen if all the world adopted American fondness for car ownership?  About 4 to 10 times the amount of gas would have to be produced, with attendant pollution.  And for parking, there would need to be a space about the size of Bangladesh set aside for parking (scattered over the world).

2.      Container freight is in the news.  When the container was invented, the first ships carried about 58 containers.  Today, the mega ships carry 16,000 to 18,000 containers and the oversupply of such ships and containers is a big threat to profits in shipping.  Competition has driven down prices per container, and 16 more mega ships are on order, this could lead to huge over capacity.  Such efficient shipping has probably accounted for how cheap imported goods are today (compared to the past, like 10 years ago). Small container ships are being diverted to lesser routes, like Europe to Brazil.  The bigger ships are now running at 14 knots vs. about 24 knots design speed.  That saves fuel costs but delays the freight.

3.  A personal quest to find out about bogus charges on my Visa card bill today led to a big high-five for Amazon.  A nice person spent considerable time on the phone, totally correcting the problem and teaching me how to view all my prior purchase on Amazon easily using their website.  By contrast, I had a half hour long telephone battle with Norton anti-virus to get them to stop automatically billing me each year for a service I haven't used in years.   Finally, this time, with difficulty and language barriers with the person on the phone, I finally got it across never to bill me again, stop all auto renewals, and I refused all the "new offers" they had for me while on the phone.  Wish all customer service was as nice and accommodating as Amazon. 

4.  A news story recently about all electric buses being manufactured in Greenville, SC was of interest, since I have seen smaller (15 passenger) buses like this being run in Chattanooga.  The part of the story I couldn't believe was the stated 10 minute battery recharge time.  Hope that is a misprint.  If that's true, there is a big future for such buses.  The company making then has just gotten another round of venture capital infusion.  Hope to see this become a great new product for South Carolina to export.

Google Maps Returns to iPhone In A Big Way

Walter Mossberg, one of the most respected technology experts, and Wall Street Journal personal technology contributor, reports today on the return of Google Maps to the iPhone.  As many know, Apple did not install Google maps as standard on its new iPhone, instead they put in an Apple version that many found to be inferior (but had some features the Google maps did not, voice directions when used as a GPS). 

Now Google has released a free APP for the iPhone that restores all that everyone liked, and more.  In fact, Mossberg says, for now, it is better than Google maps on their own Android devices. It has a cleaner interface and so on.  Google he found out, took this opportunity to completely rewrite some of the APP and so, for now, it has improvements beyond what is available on the Android phones.

I plan to try this new APP on an iPhone in 2013, but suspect I will still prefer Garmin for in-car navigation.  Garmin is an old friend, easy to program; I can bring it in the house and program all my destinations at leisure the day before I go on a trip.  Over the years I have talked to a dozen people with GPS built into their vehicles, and they almost all have trouble programming them, or remembering how they once programmed them. They all dislike sitting in the driveway and wasting travel time doing that programming.  I once had a built in system in a car myself, and after the novelty wore off, I didn’t use it much and I did find it difficult to remember all the programming steps. 

But, with the portable Garmin, I find it so easy and mostly accurate --- particularly on my favorite feature – the exact time of expected arrival.  And I also like the speed limit icon to remind me what the speed limit is, I no longer took at the posted road signs, I just go by the GPS. Lately, however, Garmin seems to be less accurate in finding an appropriate route, so I will upgrade that device in 2013 as well. Maybe a newer model will have newer maps inside. And better logic.  But, someday, maybe the iPhone sitting on the dash (see prior Post on dashboard friction mats) will be the preference.

Yanking a Thumb Drive From Your Computer

A short article in Popular Science addressed this question this week.

1. An external hard drive, or backup drive --- could suddenly crash, or  have other problems, always use the "safely remove" command in the lower right trey.  If you don't know how to do that, or find the correct drive number to "safely remove"  email or comment and we will find help

2. SSD's  or solid state type drives, while not too common (in my arena) have no moving parts so they are more Yank friendly.  But you can't be transferring data or running TRIM  And sudden removal can fry tiny components, so use the "safely remove or eject" command for these as well.

3. Those pinkie-sized thumb drives --- Yank them at your leisure, unless, that is, you've turning on write Cache Mode.  Unplugging this before it is done transferring data, could really mess you up.  So, if you can, use the "safely remove hardware or eject" command as well.  But under many circumstances, like photo transfers that you know are completed you are probably safe to just Yank it out.

Three Hours of Christmas Music, Anyone?

Three hours of Christmas music, on YouTube …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ-e3_31sdM

This is the first YouTube link I have seen that gives you that much commercial free music, or music and video. They normally have a 15 minute limit.  The video on this one is nil, just still slides,  so the only reason to click is to have some music when you are working on your computer.

As you may know, you can create your own “channel” or “saved list” on YouTube.  Much like a private Pandora, your list will play one after the other (and then cycle back) to give you music (assuming you added music clips) for background while working on your computer. I do this often.  I have created several channels, one has 47 music clips.  The public can not reach my channel, but you could open yours up to public if you want to. You can add and delete clips as your tastes and desires change.Anyone have other ideas for using YouTube?

Retailing News Items

High end retail is in the news again, as major retailers such as Best Buy are struggling a bit.  In an article in Newsweek a few months ago some interesting information was revealed.

1.      Apple stores sales per square foot are $6,000 compared to Best Buy’s $830.  That is quite a contrast.  Apple sales per square foot are double Tiffany & Co. the next best performing store as measured by sales/sq. ft. 

2.      Showrooming,is a term for shoppers who go to stores like Best Buy to look at the real merchandise, then go on-line to complete the transaction – I would presume at the best price they could.  That is old news, what was new news to me is that 46% of people surveyed on this said they had done it. I don't think I have done that.  I have Red Laser APP on my I Phone so I can scan the bar code on any product in a store and quickly read where else it is for sale and at what prices.  The APP is not as good as I would like, since it doesn’t have a way to keep up with all the stores and their current prices, but it is a start to a new system that should worry any retailer.

3.      Customers hate standing in line for checkout at the big box stores.  So Wal-Mart is trying a radical idea.  That is to let the shoppers scan their own items as they take them off the shelf, using their smart phones.   And somehow the payment will be made quickly with that information at something replacing the conventional check out line. The first question in everyone’s mind would be “What about the rampant shoplifting?”  Wal-Mart says this system could eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in wages for checkout persons and that is expected to offset the theft.  

Bose Sound for Your PC

If you like music, and don’t have an excellent sound system for your notebook or desk top computer, I would suggest this one (about $250 used) :

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-Companion-multimedia-speaker-Graphite/dp/B000HZBR64/ref=sr_1_17?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1354726848&sr=1-17&keywords=bose

I have bought two of them, used (they work perfect, used speakers are not big deal at all).  They have a built in amplifier, and I could write many paragraphs about why I consider this one of my best “ever” investments.  The sound is remarkable and crystal clear.  Use iTunes of YouTube and you will hear life like sound.  The volume control is an award winner as well.  And the price will hold its value, a new model runs $350 or more and I doubt it is as good.  197 reviewers on Amazon is a huge number, and with 4 stars, you know others share my view of “the best”.

Bose Companion 3 Series II multimedia speaker system (Graphite/Silver)

 I have had several other brands, and types, but consider this the finest of the lot. Some early Dell systems with separate sub woofers were also good.

Dubai Starts Another Building Boom

Dubai, the poster child for excessive building is at it again. Despite a gut of millions of square feet of space and empty condos and apartments, they are priming the pump for more.

Today’s Wall Street Journal says the ruler has ordered a new city development to be built, named after himself.  To cost about $10 billion, envisions 100 hotels, the world’s largest shopping mall, parks, art galleries, and exhibition centers.  Soon after he announced plans for a $2.7 billion leisure complex of five (5) theme parks.

They have a vision as only a dictator can execute, and that is to be a world hub of air transportation, shopping and tourism. So they are pushing to host the World Expo (is that the old World’s Fair?) in 2020.  The first time a city in the Middle East would host this event. Naturally that would mean ---- more building !!

Surprisingly, Dubai is experiencing an economic recovery in trade, tourism and transport. It still has $100 billion in debt from past “deficit” spending in the boom that ended – like ours in 2008.  Reminding me that our 2008 mess was world wide and we probably can’t lay the blame on politics, although lose lending (poor regulation of lending?) led to faking the quality of much of the US mortgage debts.  However, we are fly spec on the world economy, aren’t we? 

Dubai was built with unbridled vision such as we haven’t seen in the USA in many years (if ever).  But, in the 2008 bust in Dubai, prices of real estate dropped 60% so vision won’t save poor economic decisions. But now their GDP growth is up to 5.1% from 1.9%. 

Like Singapore, Dubai has a population more like “one State” here, but China is also on a roll with a population about 3 to 5 times ours.  So size isn’t the only factor in finding a way to an economy (as in construction) boom. There are a few hints that construction in the US might be returning, but our needs for new homes (due to population growth) are not what they used to be.