National Defense Magazine has an article in their January issue about the company I am with…some guy sure is quoted a lot in the article!
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2009/January/Pages/SoftwareImprovesConnectionstoRobots.aspx
There is a move towards a $3 trillion bailout that would enable just about everyone in the US to refinance their mortgage with a 30-year fixed 4.5% loan! That would give US consumers more money to spend for the long-term and it would drive up property values:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_hassett&sid=a.YJmSfnHD9o
US UAV use and sales of UAVs have increased significantly, and the trend appears to have continual increases:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/drone-war-conti.html
The US Army will arm militias in Afghanistan–it worked in Iraq and hopefully it will help security in Afghanistan:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/us-will-startin.html
DARPA moving to Phase III for their program for killer robots that can continue fighting even when damaged. This really does feel like the early stages of a Terminator movie…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/16/darpa_terminator_damage_tolerance/
University of Maryland researchers have led the development of a universal flu vaccine for animals. This could protect humans and birds from the bird flu:
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1804
The test results from New York for M/A-COM’s statewide wireless network will be released tomorrow morning. The $2 billion contract depends on this report:
http://urgentcomm.com/news/reporters_notebook_1216/
The slowing market for new cars has resulted in Toyota delaying when they will start operation at their new Prius production plant in Mississippi. The plant is already 90% done and Toyota has already spent $300 mil on it, but now the plant won’t begin operation until 2012 or later. That is really too bad because I’m sure that the people in Mississippi would have liked those jobs!
http://www.forbes.com/equities/2008/12/16/toyota-mississippi-plant-markets-equity-cx_twdd_1216markets4.html?feed=rss_popstories
Interesting analysis about why the TD-SCDMA standard has an uncertain future:
http://mobiledevdesign.com/standards_regulations/china_td-scdma_uncertain_future-1215/
Nortel has $2.6 billion in cash and no debt to pay but is still contemplating bankruptcy:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122939145480809301.html
Portland will become the second 16e market for Clear (Baltimore is the only market now), with Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and Vegas coming next year:
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=169343
Vodafone’s former CEO doesn’t want the CEO job for Yahoo:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/405821c6-cb16-11dd-87d7-000077b07658.html
Interesting story of what happened to one company when they didn’t cut off the access to a fired employee:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/offtherecord/archives/2008/12/how_not_to_fire.html?source=NLC-DAILY&cgd=2008-12-16
Wirefly announced the winners of the most embarasing moments with your phone contest…the winner was walking down the aisle with her Dad during her wedding when her cell phone went off! Her ringtone of “Girls just want to have fun” didn’t help either!
Press Release
Holiday shopping is becoming increasingly greener:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/retail-restaurants/e3i967fdb11c5e1e826b47ed77c35066291
