A Cross Hudson Subway Would Be Nice

Image via Wikipedia

Bloomberg: Christie Says New York Must Pay First to Add Cross-Hudson Subway Link: a subway link between Secaucus and Manhattan ... a proposed $8.7 billion commuter-rail tunnel linking Newark to New York ..... The conduit was projected to double rush-hour train capacity between the two cities. ..... an alternative, to extend the city’s No. 7 subway line under the Hudson River to northern New Jersey. ..... alternative, projected to cost about $5.3 billion, is better

I never understood why New Jersey needed to be a separate state, or at least northern New Jersey. I think we should let go of upstate and take over northern New Jersey and carve out a state of New York Metro.

A Victory For Larry

Image by yuichi.sakuraba via Flickr

Bloomberg: SAP Must Pay Oracle $1.3 Billion Over Unit's Downloads: the largest jury award of 2010 ..... s the largest ever for copyright infringement and the 23rd-largest of all time for any jury award

Larry asked for two billion. SAP offered 20 million. So Larry upped the ante. He asked for four billion. Looks like he has been awarded close to what he asked for. Asking for two billion and getting 1.3 billion is close.

Recession Over, Unemployment Still High

BBC: US Federal Reserve cuts 2011 growth forecast: The Fed expects growth of 3-3.6% next year, down from its previous 3.5-4.2% estimate. .... the US economy grew faster than first thought in the third quarter of this year, at an annualised rate of 2.5%. ...... US Federal Reserve said it would buy $600bn (£373bn) of US government debts in order to try to lower long-term interest rates and thereby boost the economic recovery. ...... support for the move on the policy committee was almost unanimous, with only one member voting against. ..... among the positive effects of quantitative easing that they noted was a lower value in the dollar. ..... the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6%.

There is not going to be a double dip recession. The Great Recession could easily have become the second Great Depression, but it didn't, thanks to the stimulus package. The banks are back in shape. Spending is going up. But the unemployment is still at European levels, and that is a big problem. It has to be brought down to something like 6%.

Bottled Water: Liquid Gold

BBC: Bottled water has become liquid gold: In the last 40 years the bottled water industry has gone from a business prospect that few took seriously, to a global industry worth billions of pounds. .... bottled water has become one of the biggest success stories in the modern food and beverage industry..... demand for bottle water has grown exponentially ..... "I think bottled water actually represents a kind of caricature of… the global economy.... "It provides people in the developed world with 20 or 30 varieties of something for which there is no actual variety." ... The Eau campaign was a marketing coup and sales went through the roof from 12 million bottles in 1980 to 152 million by the end of the decade. ...... "When you held a Perrier bottle up, it said something about yourself, it said you were sophisticated, you… understood what was happening in the world. ...... In an age of instant gratification, still water in portable bottles provided what people needed, exactly when they needed it. .... Strong, shatterproof and a highly valued form of polyester, PET is a by-product of the oil industry. ..... "Evian was sold as a beautiful person's drink" ..... Between 1990 and the turn of the century, global sales of Evian doubled from 50 billion to more than 100 billion litres a year. ..... a world where nearly a billion people have no access to clean water at all. ..... what bottled water is actually made of, oil and water; the world's two most precious resources, in one neat package.

If you can get a bottle of water for a buck, and a bottle of soda for a buck fifty, and the water is good for you, and the soda is bad for your health, then the water is a bargain, right? A lot of people don't think so.

From 30,000 To 60,000 Hits A Month

Getting to 30,000 hits a month for this blog was hard. Going from there to 60,000 hits a month was pleasantly surprising, but I saw how it happened. And it took only a few weeks to get there. Now getting to 100,000 hits a month feels like totally doable. 3,000 hits a day? Of course I can do it.

Jai Ho

Netflix Streaming Only

Image via WikipediaFinally.

Finally Netflix cut the chord.

New York Times: Netflix Introduces Streaming-Only Pricing: unlimited streaming on-demand video through the Internet without having to rent any DVDs ...... will cost $7.99, and give customers access to unlimited movies and TV shows in Netflix’s library. ..... Earlier in the year Netflix signed a $1 billion deal with Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate and MGM to add their content to its services. .... beyond physical DVDs and onto dozens of new platforms and services.... the streaming version of the platform available on an abundance of devices, including mobile phones, video game systems, laptop computers, third-party set-top boxes and a number of other Internet-capable gadgets.

This was a long time coming. Who needs a DVD? Before long DVD players will be banned.