ACT: Association for Contract Textiles

Cited: CNN

You can get rid of your clicker because you won’t need it if Samsung has anything to say about it. The electronics giant has just introduced TV’s that are controlled by voice, gestures, and recognition. Among the new products unveiled Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is Samsung’s cool new Smart TV line.

President of Samsung’s consumer electronics division, B.K.Yoon, kicked-off the keynote address at the show by telling the crowd that the future of television is a product that will listen, see and do what you want, without ever touching the remote control. The flagship product in the new fleet is the ES8000 LED TV. This ultra high tech TV allows users to move at their discretion between regular TV, a Web browser, and apps like Netflix, all at the same time. But that is only the beginning of the story. The big news is the controls.

The TV has built-in cameras that use face recognition to sign users into their personal profiles. Users can then use voice commands to the control the TV, such as switching between channels. Users can also use gestures to change volume, Web browsing, as well as a whole host of other functions.

Samsung didn’t give an exact time for the release of the ES8000 beyond sometime this year. In addition to the ES8000, Samsung also announced that it will also be coming out with a device called the InTouch, which will convert regular TVs into smart TVs. The device is a converter and it will sell for $199, said to be a low cost option for customers to add Internet browsing without having to buy a new TV.

My take:

It was only a matter of time before the remote would become obsolete. I guess the time has come. With the introduction of this voice and gesture controlled TV, Samsung is now leading the way for the entire transformation of the TV and its role in the entertainment of you and your family.

Cited: MSNBC

Every year we hear about the huge cost involved in advertising anything on any media outlet for the Super Bowl, and this year’s NFL extravaganza will be no exception. Already, ad space for Super Bowl XLVI is sold out and will likely top last year’s record setting take. Industry experts see no end in sight with most agreeing that companies will continue to lineup to spend millions to advertise their products on the Super Bowl.

Every year, the advertisers come up with new wrinkles to set their ads apart from the crowd and this year the talk is that viewers will see more long-form ads, those longer than 30 seconds, and many more linking to social networks. The big game is scheduled for Sunday, February 5 and will be broadcast by NBC. Spokesman for NBC say that ad space for the event is already sold out, though some space for the pre-game is still available. NBC is being pretty closed-lipped about the amount that is being paid by sponsors for the advertising space but AP has put the price tag at $3.5 million to $4 million for 30 seconds. The price for this prime space has certainly risen with and above the level of inflation as an equal amount of time for the Super Bowl 20 years ago sold for less than $1million.

Some feel that this is money well-spent as advertisers are buying into the largest TV audience in the U.S. Last year more than 111 million Americans watched the Super Bowl, with many of them watching the catchy ads. There’s no reason to expect that this year’s audience won’t be the same or larger.

The social media is expected to be on the forefront of the advertising for Super Bowl XLVI, with advertisers expected to go all in trying to tie their spots heavily to Facebook and Twitter. This is part of the reason behind advertisers leaking the ads to YouTube well in advance of the game and in this way, increasing the bang for the buck.

My Take:

It seems like quite a lot of money to spend for well-known brands that already have a huge share of the market. The money could be better spent by these companies on more humanitarian causes that in the long run might do more for their image, if not their bottom line.

Cited: MSNBC

Despite all the bad news for the economy in 2011, especially for the owner of small retail businesses, it seems that they were more upbeat about the prospects going forward to end the year. Confidence indexes in December for this key sector of the U.S. economy rose, marking four straight months of improving sentiments and a much more optimistic outlook for business conditions and real estate gains. The survey taken by the National Federation of Independent Business said that its Small Business Optimism Index rose 1.8 points in December to 93.8

The index is composed of 10 components and in the December survey, 8 of the 10 were either higher or unchanged. The majority of those surveyed saw improvements in business conditions and were less concerned about the economic outlook going out six months into the future according to an NFIB spokesperson.

While the outlook might be better, this is no time to break out the champagne. The NFIB index is still mired in recession territory, 6 points below the pre-recession average and more than 10 points below the same point in the recovery from the recession experienced in the U.S. economy in 2001. However, trends are very important when looking at these types of studies and so far, the trend is moving in the right direction, albeit at a slower pace and from much more depressed levels than most would like to see.

The sustained uptick in the index support the view that economic activity will support a growing U.S. economy into 2012, however, these gains aren’t forecast to be substantial unless this index rises much more sharply. The NFIB reported earlier this month that small businesses were still reducing payroll in December. The number of businesses that reported reductions in staff remained relatively low, but those hiring, though larger, could not offset the losses and this area of the economy remains at historically low levels for an economy that is just starting to dig its way out of a very large hole.

My Take:

Any positive news about the economy is well-received, particularly as it applies to small businesses. As long as this momentum, slight as it may be, is sustained, then hopefully it will snowball into greater, more widespread economic activity leading to a reduction in the unemployment rate.

Cited: New York Times

Teresa R. Wagner would like to teach law at the University of Iowa College of Law, but according to some close to her case, her politics may be getting in the way. Ms. Wagner is a Republican, and according to Associate Dean Jonathan C. Carlson, “some people may be opposed to Teresa serving in any role, in part because they so despise her politics and especially her activism about it.”

Ms. Wagner graduated from University of Iowa College of Law in 1993 and has taught at George Mason University School of Law. However, she was not hired for a position at her former school and as a result she sued, alleging discrimination over her politics. And apparently she has a good case because a unanimous three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled that her case should go to trial.  Ms. Wagner’s attorney, Stephen T. Fieweger, welcomed the decision, saying that it was a big win for academic freedom.

Ms. Wagner’s lawsuit against U.of Iowa College of Law includes evidence showing that the law faculty at the school in 2007 only had one registered Republican on its faculty, and he was appointed in 1984. Ms. Wagner makes no bones about the fact that she is a conservative and that she has worked for the National Right to Life Committee, which opposses abortion and euthanasia, as well as the Family Research Council, which often takes extreme conservative positions on social issues.

A spokesman for the University of Iowa College of Law, Tom Moore, would not comment on the lawsuit or the ideological makeup of the school’s faculty.

My Take:

If there is ample evidence that Ms. Wagner didn’t get the position because of her politics and not her qualifications, then she has a very strong case. However, I doubt she would take the job at this point so I wonder if this is going to be a situation where she sues for damages or simply to make a point – and perhaps a good point.

Cited: New York Times

Millions of smokers have tried nicotine gum and skin patches to help them kick the habit, but a recent study indicates that neither may be effective long term and in fact, they may backfire. According to the most rigorous long-term research into both therapies, there may be little benefit to these approaches to quitting smoking. The study, published Monday in the journal Tobacco Control, included more than 800 people who have been trying to quit smoking for several years.

Medical studies in the past have shown the products to be effective at making it easier for people to stop smoking but only in the short term.  These earlier studies were the basis for government endorsements for using these products to help smokers rid themselves of this particular addiction. However, new surveys of smokers that have used nicotine gum and skin patches indicate that these previously highly regarded products had no benefit toward their ability to kick the habit.

This will come as something of a shock and perhaps a setback to those that sell and market these products since in recent years the sales of both have risen by more than $800 million a year in 2007 from $129 million in 1991. Over-the-counter sales for both products were approved in 1997, and in  many states Medicare programs will cover the cost.

Some experts were not surprised at the results of the survey citing the haphazard way that smokers use the products and that both need to be used in conjunction with other treatments.

The new study was conducted in Massachusetts, where researchers followed 1,916 adults, many of which said that they had recently quit smoking. The participants were interviewed three times, once every two years, asking them about their use of gum and skin patches and the frequency of their smoking, and quitting.

At every interview, about 33% of those who were trying to quit had relapsed. The use of nicotine gum or a skin patch made no difference even when the participants took the products correctly, following the instructions to the letter. One group of heavy smokers who used these products without the help of a therapist or counselor, was shown to be twice as likely to relapse as heavy smokers that didn’t use these products.

At the end of the day, researches conclude that while these products do seem to help people quit, they aren’t enough to prevent relapses in the long-term.

My Take:

Once again smoking shows itself to be one of the hardest habits to break, even with the help of products previously believed to be of the greatest benefit. Perhaps lawmakers should take another look at the tobacco companies and see if what they put into these products makes them so addicting that people just don’t have a chance to rid themselves of this deadly addiction.

Cited: MSNBC

The debt level of the U.S. reached a dubious distinction; it is now as large as the entire economy. Gross domestic product in the U.S. is approximately $15 trillion, and now total debt has reached the same, $15.23 trillion. And it looks like the worst is far from over. The Obama Administration is projecting our debt level to reach $23 trillion by 2020, which is larger than the projected $22.5 trillion GDP. Experts agree that rising debt ratio is not good, but few of them can seem to agree on just how bad it is. There is some agreement among economists about how to fix the problem, but among lawmakers the word agreement seems to have fallen out of their lexicon. And consider it is the lawmakers that need to enact policies to fix the problem, having them at odds over the best approach is getting things nowhere fast.

Economists point out that the $15 trillion doesn’t have to be paid back all at once and some say that the figure is a little misleading because it included money owed by one government agency to another. A better figure to assess debt levels in the U.S. is net debt, which measures the amount the U.S owes investors. This figure is approximately 70% of GDP.

Another bright spot in this otherwise dark cloud is that the interest on U.S. debt is currently not a huge burden, but that won’t be the case should interest rates rise from their current levels near historic lows. Another reason for lawmakers to get their act together and come up with policy solutions to address the debt issue.

If the U.S. economy begins to gather some momentum, tax revenues will increase and government expenditures for fall for social services such as food stamps and unemployment insurance. On the other hand, the growing cost of entitlement programs such as Medicare are not as easily addressed and do not go away when the economy gets moving in the right direction. Experts agree that only policies that target the cost of health care, which is rising at a higher rate than inflation, will help to trim governments expenses.

Others note that Washington can improve the fiscal stimulus plan that helps with investment, job creation, and consumption. Infrastructure projects like road improvements give the private sector and job creation a huge boost. But the current stalemate in Congress when it comes to approving spending projects makes it unlikely that these programs will be enacted anytime soon.

My Take:

It seems like nothing will get policy makers in Washington to make the hard decisions necessary to grow the economy and fix our fiscal mess. While most sensible people agree that wise investment and cutting and reforming wasteful spending is the best approach, the politicians are more worried about getting re-elected and pandering to the extremists on both sides of the spectrum.

Cited: New York Times

New York finds itself on the government’s watch list as one of three states that has not fulfilled the goals set in place when it applied for assistance through the federal Race to the top program. Education secretary, Arne Duncan said in a terse statement on Monday that despite “significant progress,” New York had hit a roadblock in reaching the goals it set out when first applying for this federal program. Specifically the New York school system has failed to put in place a planned database to track student records across school districts and has failed to fulfill a promise to adopt a system to evaluate the work of teachers and principals.

While New York isn’t living up to it’s end of the bargain, they aren’t as far behind as Hawaii, which has made so little progress that the Aloha State risks losing its federal grant entirely. Also on the list of laggards is Florida. New York has already received over $700 million with half of that amount going directly to the school districts.

It isn’t that easy to keep track of how states are progressing along their Race to the Top agendas, with the federal government’s assessment indicating that reviewing and approving budgets and expenditures is a formidable task.  One of the problems is the sheer size of the program and the number of school districts involved. New York state has 713 school districts, regional education consortiums and charter schools that have signed up for the program, and all of them  have to put in place the changes promised by the state.

New York’s education commissioner, John B. King Jr., said that the federal assessment was disappointing, but not discouraging. Last week, Dr. King, suspended almost $100 million of Race to the Top funds to several districts in New York City to let them know that this is serious. In particular, Dr. King wants these districts to move along in getting an agreement with union officials on an evaluation system that could serve as a model statewide. However, despite his urging, the measures are being met with some resistance. Earlier this week, outside of a Board of Regents meeting in Albany, protester gathered to criticize Dr. King’s decision.

Richard C. Iannuzzi, the president of the state’s teacher’s union, got the crowd going by calling Dr. King a bully. However, Raymond Colucciello, took a different approach and warned that 13 teachers would be laid-off if the federal grant money did not resume.

Negotiations between NYC officials and the teacher’s union fell apart two days before the December 31st deadline for the two groups to come to an agreement in order to receive federal aid.

My Take:

The pipeline of federal aid from the Race to the Top program is too important to cut off now, especially for the New York school system. It is encouraging to know that this money comes with goals that must be reached in order to see the changes implemented that everyone agrees need to take place. And, the changes and programs that New York promised in the first place.

CITED: CNN

It’s  not news that exports drive the Chinese economy. But the question now is how long will this segment of the economy continue to drive this huge economy, especially given the slowdown in the economic activity in the West, it’s primary market for their exports. Exports from China did increase by 13.4% in December according to the General Administration of Customs. However, other than the usual blips due to the holiday season, this was the slowest export growth for China since 2009.

While the Chinese feel that there is no reason for concern yet, the slowdown in export activity could be another sign that the 2nd largest economy in the world is likely to slow down going into 2012. China is faced with weaker demand from its principal trading partners in the West – Europe and the United States, due to the economic downtown in both economies. Another factor effecting Chinese exports is a rise in wages from the local economies, which makes Chinese exports more expensive than those being produced in other developing countries that also depend on  exports for their economic survival.

One surprising statistic to come from recent data is China’s trade surplus, which widened to $16.5 billion in December. The trade surplus measures the gap between exports and imports and the increase came as something of a surprise to most economists in light of the recent downturn in Chinese exports. However, the biggest factor effecting the trade surplus data was due to weaker imports, which was also something of a surprise considering the Chinese government’s desire to boost domestic demand.

 My take:

The Chinese economy will continue to live and die on exports, which are tied to overall growth and the health of the economy of the West. In that regard they have a big stake in keeping things stable around the world. So, while many complain about everything being made in China, it is far better to have them in the game and concerned about global stability than to have such a huge country adding to global unrest.