Archive for the ‘features’ Category

Solar Impulse will be a second product in Switzerland

June 26, 2011 - 6:00 pm Comments Off

Nearly 150 tail. Visitors to the Paris Air Show crowd to reach a huge tent, mounted at the end of the area dedicated to the 150 aircraft on static display. The tent is home to the Solar Impulse, the solar airplane pilot Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg. It is the guest of honor at Le Bourget. The aircraft, powered by the energy collected by solar cells that dress, fascinates the public. The bird-dragon has a funny look with its size equal to that of an Airbus A 340, light weight (1.6 tons), its four propeller engines of 10 horsepower each, the power of a scooter and its narrow cockpit. André Borschberg spent sixteen hours to bring the Solar Impulse from Brussels to Paris on June 14. Since the device did not fly, rain and especially wind thwarted the schedule of demonstrations.With the return of calm and sunny, the Solar Impulse could fly this weekend. "It was important to return at the Bourget six years after the first presentation of the project partners – Solvay, Deutsche Bank, Omega and Schindler," says the duo.

Total Call

We are far from the early 2000s, when Bertrand Piccard was looking for funding – 100 million Swiss francs – to launch the project after the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne was funded and entrusted to André Borschberg the first feasibility study. But the duo sticks to the motto of Jules Verne: "All that is impossible to follow."

In 2004, Dassault Aviation hear about the project. The aircraft manufacturer will not money but the brains of its best engineers to the project, becoming the "manufacturer's advice.""Dassault was the guardian of the real aircraft," says Bertrand Piccard.

Today, the project entered a new phase. The assembly of the second device begins next week in Duebendorf, near Zurich. "It looks like the first by its general shape and appearance. Its scale will be greater, between that of A 380 and B 747-8. It benefits from technological advances, a new engine, a different type of solar cells, "says André Borschberg.This engineer, former fighter pilot and businessman, pilot of Solar Impulse, alternating with Bertrand Piccard, a psychiatrist by training, aeronaut – he managed a tour of the world by balloon in 1999 – and a descendant of a pioneer family in the air and under the sea

Solar Impulse with the second, they hope to make long flights in stages over four to five days in a row, with the ultimate goal of a successful world tour "without fossil fuel or pollution." "The world is full of big problems that are costly and discourage," said tandem. "Aviation can provide innovative solutions by showing that renewable energy is possible. They are a source of diversification for the oil and future growth, "Bertrand Piccard is developing. The Solar Impulse is "the best vehicle for that message."The recent acquisition by Total of Sun Power, the California company that produces solar panels of the Solar Impulse, "is a good sign," said he calling Total to partner.

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Competition: A Survey of Google in the U.S.

June 24, 2011 - 7:16 pm Comments Off

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is preparing to open an antitrust investigation of Google, said the Wall Street Journal last night. According to the daily U.S. economy, sending requests for information would be imminent. A committee of five people in the U.S. federal agency seeks to determine whether Google has abused its dominant position in the Web, particularly in the context of its advertising activities. They represent 97% of its turnover.

So far, the U.S. competition had not addressed the situation as Google through various acquisitions, such as the acquisition of DoubleClick Internet governance, governance AdMob mobile or, recently, the specialist ITA Tourism Online. The investigation by the FTC in addition to the one that opened in November the European Commission.Google is particularly suspected of promoting its own services in search results.

The draft JK Rowling unveiled

June 23, 2011 - 5:12 pm Comments Off

The excitement around the new project of the author of the Harry Potter saga was finally lifted on 23 June at 13h. In a video posted on the site and account pottermore.com youtube, JKRowling addressed her fans.

The website will therefore pottermore.com to create enhanced versions of books, with details given by the author. It will also offer for sale the digital and audio formats of each volume. Until October, when the public opening of the site, the author proposes an interactive treasure hunt to identify the fans who access this information in preview.

Each user is thus invited to register on the site by choosing a name for identity sorcerer.They will then answer a series of questions to be admitted to one of the "houses" where students are divided Hogwarts School of Witchcraft as Harry Potter and his friends are introduced to magic.

On twitter account "pottermore," the novelist wanted to cut short the rumors of false advertisement: "I can confirm that it's me on the video."

This new project had created a real rivalry over the Internet. On June 16, the novelist had launched a site called pottermore.com mysterious business

Greece: the United States urged Europe to act

June 21, 2011 - 6:44 pm Comments Off

Greek in the storm, the galley of the euro features a 18th passenger. It is not a secret, he even want to take orders. The United States is also concerned about a shipwreck in Greece that the Old Continent. They have continued to print their tempo in recent days to force the European crew to recover.

In Luxembourg, held since Sunday in yet another ballet departmental emergency, the American effort has found a leader: John Lipsky, the IMF acting boss since the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Monday, early morning, we have even seen take the pen and help correct what would become the final declaration of the Euro, according to several witnesses. Gender confusion? Among the Europeans at least, there is no doubt about the role vested in this native of Iowa, former chief economist at Salomon Brothers and JPMorgan."Lipsky is the U.S. Treasury and defending U.S. interests in Luxembourg, 'says one diplomat. The CEO can afford. Age 62, he announced his retirement before the arrest of DSK.

Under his leadership temporary, the IMF has taken a much more demanding vis-à-vis the financially troubled countries of the European Union. The turning point came during a visit to three with Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schäuble, on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Deauville, said a European official. Prior to the rescue of countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the fund was content with a European political commitment. Since then, he stands still as his balls timelines, detailed austerity plans and supports encrypted.This partly explains the surprise decision of the Eurogroup, on Monday, to condition the release of the fifth tranche of the loan to Greece promised a vote by Parliament in Athens, new austerity measures and to a credible plan for privatization.

"Germany, a key country"

There is no mystery no longer on Washington's annoyance at the failure of the seventeen countries to overcome their susceptibilities to seriously address the problem payday loans guaranteed no fax. "Over the past year, the euro will fall into relapse and we see only bandages to stop the bleeding, said a U.S. official. The problem consumes time and energy of the Europeans. The world turns and do not wait. "It is also the best interests of the United States. A weak euro would threaten the sustained U.S. recovery, not to mention a rise in interest rates.More seriously, a European banking meltdown could spread to the other side of the Atlantic, reflecting the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. For the second time in less than a year, Barack Obama is telling the Chancellor that it needs to hand the wallet in favor of Athens. "Germany is the key country," stressed the president.

Christine Lagarde, a candidate for the succession of DSK, is more eager to place the main shareholder of the IMF. On the night of Sunday to Monday, the French minister took it upon herself to keep closely informed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. It was not a "phone G7" as improperly submitted.But a conversation to explain that two vital partner why 17 had once again decided not to decide on Greece.

Appointment is made Sunday, July 3 for a new conclave of the Eurogroup dedicated to the Greek debt. With the cap of the IMF, but also speaking on behalf of Washington, John Lipsky has not concealed his impatience Monday. He commanded the Europeans to "immediately put an end" to their debate on the restructuring of debt and start a new fund to rescue the euro. And he clearly put in danger the balance, "This is to prevent the crisis spreading from the periphery of Europe to the center and from there to the rest of the world."

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"The resistance against privatization is organized

Samsung launches Operation Clean Hands

June 13, 2011 - 10:32 am Comments Off

Time for spring cleaning rang Samsung. Its chairman Lee Kun-hee has thrown the cat among the pigeons by saying that corruption was widespread within the largest conglomerate in the world. "Corruption and fraud were widespread throughout the group," said the founder's son, whose rare public statements fall as oracles on its 277,000 employees.

A formula that troublemaker shock over an empire of $ 173 billion in sales, the world of mobile telephony as shipbuilding. Bribes, kickbacks and favors granted to suppliers are common, said Lee, whose engineers have also built the tallest tower in the world to Dubai. "This is a growing concern for me and I'll do it," warned, threatening, tycoon 69 years.The anger of "chairman" follows the outbreak to light a case of embezzlement within the defense subsidiary of Samsung Techwin, which has prompted its president to resign. It could lead to a general audit of the 64 branches of the group alone is worth 20% of the GDP of South Korea.

Clever cons fire

The projection of Lee confirms it was taken over the group's management. Since the beginning of the year, "Emperor" surprise teams in landing unannounced several times a week at headquarters, in the Gangnam business district, then he used to drive the business in the shadow from his home Business Card Holders. "This statement is to show everyone that he is back at the helm," says Chan-Guk Huh, a professor at Chungnam University.

A clever cons fire as Lee himself was sentenced to three years in jail for embezzlement in 2008.Samsung "buy" policies and top judges through a secret fund, showed the former leader of the group's legal department, Kim Yong-chul, in a scathing book became a bestseller in South Korea. Current practices for the chaebol but become embarrassing at a time when Samsung, the leading electronic global in its turnover has grown into a global brand scrutinized by investors worldwide.

Back to business in 2010 through a presidential pardon course, the most powerful man in Korea hopes to buy a virginity with the deal personally.

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Wall Street resumes

June 8, 2011 - 1:08 am Comments Off

U.S. stock markets open up on Tuesday. The Dow Jones advance of 0.32% at 12,126 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 and NASDAQ 100 respectively go up by 0.43% to 1292 points and 2713 points to 0.39%. On Monday, Wall Street has ended sharply lower. Markets are always hampered by bad macroeconomic indicators published U.S. these days who are fears of slowing growth overseas and the crisis of public finances in euro area continues to produce their effects.

Operators have very few indicators to follow this week to get a clearer picture of the economic situation. To 21 hours, however, U.S. investors will read the digits of consumer credit.U.S. carriers like their European counterparts, should be particularly attentive to developments in the crisis of public finances in Europe. Aurel BGC specialists also worry about the constraints of increasingly heavy burden on U.S. banks that ultimately risk, according to them to make them more restrictive in the distribution of credits. The real estate sector, already in bad shape for many years could suffer. The U.S. Treasury Secretary argues in favor of new rules to all U.S. financial world. It aims in particular the derivatives market.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro is rising against the greenback at 1.4666 dollar.The dollar is under increasing pressure since the announcement late last week to disappointing figures on the labor market in the U.S., where the economy has created three times fewer jobs than expected in May, and where unemployment rate went up against all odds. And the oil markets, a barrel of losing 25 cents in New York at 98.76 dollars while that of Brent North Sea fell by 41 cents to 114.07 dollars in the morning. Investors await a meeting of OPEC in Vienna tomorrow could decide to increase production.

The side of values, the paper group American International Paper (30.88% to 4.15 dollars) on Monday launched after the close of Wall Street, a hostile takeover bid for rival Temple-Inland for $ 3.3 billion in cash. International Paper has 30.6 dollars per share for 108.3 million shares floating.This represents a premium of 44% over the course of Monday afternoon, which was 21.21 dollars. Temple-Inland said that its board of directors rejected the offer of International Paper "after careful consideration" because it "grossly undervalues ​​Temple-Inland and is not in the interest of its shareholders" .

Apple Monday unveiled two new versions of its operating system Mac OS and IOS, and the novelty icloud should still be surrounded by very Bourse.

Sales of General Motors (+0.76% to 28.78 dollars) in China in May decreased by 2.7% over the same month last year, according to an AFP calculation based on Figures released Tuesday by the American manufacturer. The first global car market, GM has passed 190,674 vehicles. The group emphasizes that its sales in China for the first five months of 2011 reached a record of 1.079 million units.In 2010, General Motors was up 2.35 million vehicles in the Chinese market.

Also in the automotive industry, Ford Motor (1.87% to 14.17 dollars) is preparing to announce ambitious production targets, setting aims to sell 8 million vehicles a year by the middle the current decade, said on Tuesday the New York Times. The group, which currently produces 5.3 million vehicles per year, ranking it among the major automotive.In 2011, the global leader Toyota has sold 8.42 million vehicles.

The U.S. company RSA Security said Monday evening that information in connection with its products, recovered during a cyberattack, had served in another cyber attack against the defense group Lockheed Martin (-0.12% to 77.29 dollars), and proposed to replace its equipment.

The French group Mersen (ex-Carbone Lorraine), specializing in high performance components for industry, today announced a cooperation agreement "long term" with the U.S. manufacturer of glass and advanced ceramics Corning.

Walt Disney Studios (0.66% to 39.66 dollars) would consider dismissing 250 employees, or 5% of their staff around the world, especially at company headquarters in California (West), said Monday U.S. media specialist.

The British oil group BP (0.93% to 44.35 dollars), listed on Wall Street has informed the co-shareholders of its Russian joint venture TNK-BP that it might sell shares in it at Russian oil giant public Rosneft to boost its proposed alliance with the latter, says the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Mobile Internet weighs 1.2 billion euros

May 20, 2011 - 11:40 am Comments Off

Launched in 2007, the iPhone gave the kickoff of the mobile Internet revolution. The proliferation of smartphones and the launch of the free operating system from Google, Android, did the rest. Today, 37.2% of French people equipped with mobile use their phone to access the Internet. And their uses have an economic impact, the French Association of Mobile Multimedia (AFMM) sought to evaluate.

According to a study conducted on its behalf by Solucom, the mobile market has reached a business volume of 1.2 billion euros in France, in 2010. The share generated by the distribution of digital content and services on mobiles, produced by publishers from the Internet, mobile operators, $ 800 million. In addition, there are 300 million euros investment in application development and mobile services.Finally, mobile advertising and direct marketing accounted for 130 million euros in revenue.

This market should grow by +50% over three years, says the study, to 1.9 billion euros at end 2013. "The market for content distribution and mobile services is already fairly mature. But business investment in the mobile, for the promotion and customer relationship services, will experience sustained growth in double digits, "explains Isabelle Chapis, Associate Director of Solucom. "In parallel, the number of smartphones will continue to grow," said Frank Abihssira, president of the AFMM.

"In this market, several economic models and cohabiting relationships are balanced between publishers and operators, says Franck Abihssira. We have created an ecosystem that creates value and jobs. "According Solucom, 10,000 jobs are directly related to the mobile.1500 others should be created in the next three years, an increase of 25%. "The jobs are highly skilled, high value, in engineering, but also design, ergonomics, marketing and sales," says Isabelle Chapis.

Market consolidation

The study estimates 500 the number of companies that make up this market. They are young: more than half are under five years of existence, fifty less than a year. They are also rather small: 70% of businesses have fewer than 50 employees. Unsurprisingly, 80% of players polled by Solucom anticipate a change in their capital by the end of 2013. An asset for potential targets of consolidation movements: 80% of companies operating in the mobile are profitable.

Finally, the sector should benefit from the emergence of shelves and connected televisions."The mobile sector is being opened to irrigate all the digital industry as a tool for authentication, payment and personalization," Isabelle Chapis analysis.

Wall Street up the slope, reassured by the Fed

May 19, 2011 - 3:44 am Comments Off

The U.S. stock market return in the green Wednesday. After a cautious start, the Dow Jones up 0.44% at 12,434 points, the Nasdaq climbed 1.03% to 2812 points and the S & P advance of 0.66% to 1338 points.

The indexes have regained upward shift after the publication of the conclusions of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Fed in April. Participants spoke at length about inflation that has plagued the country prior to deduce that it was only "temporary." They also confirmed that interest rates would remain low until at least late June.

One solution is looming for Greece

Furthermore, advances in the Greek case are relieved. The option of rescheduling the debt held by creditors Hellenic both public and private, has gained momentum Tuesday in Europe, given the difficulties the country out of crisis.If Greece is making efforts, "we will see if it is possible to have a smooth restructuring of the Greek debt, has said the leader of the finance ministers of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker. Restructuring "soft" requires longer periods for repayment and possibly lower interest rates.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro fell slightly against the dollar at 1.4222 dollars against 1.4234 dollars late Tuesday. For their part, oil prices recorded a sharp rebound on Wednesday in New York, a barrel of benchmark win $ 3.19 to 100.10 dollars. U.S. inventories of crude oil fell against all odds last week, said Wednesday the U.S. Agency for Energy Information (EIA). Crude inventories were down 15,000 barrels to 370.31 million. Economists on average had expected an increase of one million barrels.Gasoline inventories rose much less than expected, rising by 119,000 barrels to 205.94 million, against an estimate of an increase of 800,000.

Staples plummet, Dell flies

The side of values, the number two U.S. computer, Dell (5 online payday loan lenders.72% to 16.81 dollars) on Tuesday after the close of Wall Street net profit more than doubled and exceeded expectations for its first quarter of year 2011/12 to $ 945 million, but with a disappointing sales, up only 1%.

For its part, Intel (1.19% to 23.83 dollars) has denied rumors that it could produce chips for mobile phones using technology from its competitor ARM.Intel has also maintained a growth forecast of just over 10% for sales of PC processors.

The group office supplies Staples (-14.54% to 16.80 dollars) has reported a quarterly profit below expectations due to rising costs and falling demand in a recovery economically fragile. Net income amounted to $ 198.2 million or 28 cents per share, against 188.8 million or 26 cents per share a year earlier. Analysts on average expected a profit of 32 cents per share. Turnover increased by 2% to 6.17 billion.

Skyworks Solutions (3.38% to 27.54 dollars) has announced the acquisition of SiGe Semiconductor for $ 210 million in cash, which will add 65 million additional cases of achievement.

The shareholders of JPMorgan Chase (-0.41% to 43.63 U.S. dollars) on Tuesday accused the U.S. bank of negligence in the proceedings of foreclosures and the change in loans to troubled borrowers, particularly in relation to ethnic minorities.

Russian oil giant Rosneft said on Wednesday it had received new proposals for cooperation on the part of BP (-0.28% to $ 7), after the failure this week of their proposed strategic alliance to explore the Arctic .

Please note that LinkedIn, a site of exchange of curriculum vitae, announced Tuesday that the actions it intends to market, perhaps as early as Thursday, would be made at prices not between 32 and 35 dollars, as he had announced a week ago, but almost 30% higher, between 42 and 45 dollars for a maximum value approaching 3 but not 4 billion.

Facebook founder confirmed eG8

May 17, 2011 - 2:32 am Comments Off

It should not make the trip. Then said "reserve its response". Finally, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, will indeed be in Paris on 24 and 25 May. He has confirmed his arrival in eG8 forum, organized on the initiative of Nicolas Sarkozy.

The young entrepreneur is one of over 1000 makers of the digital ecosystem to participate in this forum, whose aim is to discuss the Internet's role in economic growth. Among them are also Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder, Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman, Rupert Murdoch, or the boss of media group News Corp..

The result of their trade will be presented the next day at Deauville, the heads of state gathered for the G8.They will adopt a "statement" whose implementation will be another meeting in October at the initiative of Minister of Industry and the Digital Economy, Eric Besson.

Wall Street remains frozen in negative territory

May 13, 2011 - 11:20 pm Comments Off

After a session in the green Thursday, the NYSE should end on the last day of the week in the red. After an opening balance, the losses have increased for the Dow Jones was down 0.97% at 12,574 points. The Nasdaq also lost 1.02% to 2834 points while the S & P coward 0.82% to 13,438 points.

Oil heckled

The tensions are still very vivid in the markets for raw materials and oil. The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill to increase oil production in the United States to respond to soaring gasoline prices, despite opposition from the Obama administration to new drilling WedFor its part, China has announced to suspend its exports of diesel and severely restrict its exports of refined products to ensure adequate domestic supply and fight against inflation in fuel prices.

Oil prices have also played a roller coaster, unsettling investors. After opening up in New York, a barrel fell sharply in mid-day, the barrel of light sweet crude (WTI) crude for June delivery yielding 84 cents to 98.13 dollars. Finally, the barrel ends up on redemptions of short positions after previously mounted on reports that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been injured. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the barrel finished at 99.65 dollars, up 68 cents, or 0.69%, after hovering between 97.09 and 100.70 dollars.

The course followed the evolution of currencies.During the session, the sudden inflation of the dollar made it less attractive dollar-denominated assets such as oil, while the volatility of trade was exacerbated as we approach the weekend. The euro initially lost ground Friday against the dollar after the announcement of accelerated economic growth in the first quarter in the euro area, but eventually succumbed to concerns still living on the Greek budget crisis .

Around 18:30 in Paris, the European single currency was worth 1.4091 dollars against 1.4316 at the opening of U.S. markets and U.S. dollar against 1.4244 on Thursday. Yesterday, she already had fallen in session at 1.4124 dollars, its lowest level since April 1.

Consumer confidence rises

Fluctuating oil prices have pushed into the plan's announcement contained inflation.The consumer prices in the U.S. rose as expected by 0.4% in April compared to March because of rising food prices and gasoline, according to statistics released Friday by the Labor Department.

Moreover, consumer sentiment recorded a rise to 72.4 in May unexpected vision against 69.8 in April, the index of the University of Michigan. Analysts were waiting to 70.

Yahoo! penalized

The side of values, the Nasdaq Composite is sealed by the fall of Title Yahoo (-5.18% to 16.28 dollars) after the Internet portal said Alibaba Group has reorganized the capital structure of Alipay, one of the leading online payment systems in China, without being notified when it is a shareholder of Alipay.

The earthquake in Japan, which has disrupted production car in the Japanese archipelago, has claimed its place as world number one sector to Toyota, doubled in the first quarter and probably for the year by the American General Motors ( 0.06% to 31.44 dollars) and Germany's Volkswagen. Toyota sold 1.79 million vehicles worldwide between January and March, down 12% year on year.Meanwhile, GM sold 2.22 million cars, and returning, at least for this quarter, the world number one spot he had sold to Toyota in 2008.

For his part, Nvidia (-6.65% to U.S. $ 19.14) reported after the close of Wall Street, for the first quarter of 2011 from a profit down 0.2% to 135 million. The gross margin was 50.4%, a record level. Sales reached $ 962 million against 948 million and 1 billion expected a year ago.For specialists Aurel BGC, "the group is clearly affected by the downturn in PC sales and growth opportunities on the shelf is far from certain … For the current quarter, the Group expects a growth of 4 to 6% of its sales. "

SunPower (-0.89% to 21.19 dollars) achieved during the first quarter 2011 revenues of $ 451 million against 347 million last year and a loss of $ 0.02 per share against a BPA from $ 0.13 a year earlier. For the current quarter, SunPower expects a turnover of 500 to 550 million.

CA Inc. (-8.86% to 22.84 dollars), formerly Computer Associates International) in the fourth quarter of financial year 2010/2011 a turnover of 1.13 billion dollars against 1.17 billion expected and earnings per share of $ 0.48 against $ 0.5 expected.About its prospects, the group expects a growth in turnover of 6% to 8% at constant exchange rates for the year 2011/2012, and GAAP EPS in the range of 1.79 to 1.86 dollar. In addition, the Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of 0.05 dollars per share and a stock repurchase plan of $ 500 million. Last night, losing the title

Nordstrom (-1.64% to 48.37 dollars) for the first quarter sales of 2.32 billion dollars, in line with expectations, and earnings per share of $ 0.65 against $ 0.67 and expected $ 0.52 last year. The board of directors also voted a share repurchase plan of $ 750 million.

The wave of mergers and acquisitions continues. Yum! Brands (+0.28% to 54.88 dollars) has announced the launch of a tender on the Asian restaurant chain Little Sheep at a price of 6.50 Hong Kong dollars per share.