Archive for July, 2008

Nokia cuts phone prices, pressuring rivals

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

The world’s top cell phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) cut prices for many of its handsets in July, according to market data and industry sources, putting further pressure on its rivals’ already thin profits.

Manufacturers are facing an increasingly intense battle for market share as demand for pricey phones has started to slow in the United States and Europe, where economies are under pressure from the global credit crunch.

Nokia made the steepest price reductions of up to 10 percent for selected music and media phones, while it made smaller cuts across the portfolio, a European telecom industry source said.

Shares in Nokia fell on the news and were 2.2 percent lower at 17.39 euros by 1321 GMT (9:21 a.m. EDT), underperforming the 1.8 percent weaker DJ Stoxx European technology index (.SX8P).

Market data from its home country Finland showed the sharpest falls were in the average retail price of the 5310 and 5610 music phones and the multimedia N81 8GB.

“This is basically a way to run away from competition. You’re putting a lot of pressure on your less competitive peers,” said David Hallden, analyst at Cheuvreux.

“I think they’re doing a ‘Crazy Ivan‘,” Hallden said, referring to a naval maneuver when a submarine makes a sudden sharp turn.

PRICING TACTICS

The price cuts from Nokia, which controls 40 percent of the cellphone market, will put further pressure on its smaller rivals like Sony Ericsson (6758.T) (ERICb.ST), which has focused on music and camera phones.

“Nokia has always been extremely tactical with its pricing, pinpointing sweet spots in different segments of the market and making adjustments to wrongfoot competitors,” said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.

Wood said the price cuts follow Nokia’s launch of its SuperNova phone range — aggressively priced products with integrated music players, challenging Sony Ericsson’s Walkman portfolio.

Sony Ericsson made practically no money in the April-June quarter, and said it would cut some 2,000 jobs as it forecast the remainder of 2008 would also be tough.

Struggling Motorola (MOT.N), the third-largest phone maker, has made losses since its flagship phone Razr lost appeal among consumers.

Neil Mawston, analyst with Strategy Analytics, said Motorola could return to profit next year if it is able to slash costs and refresh its model range.

Nokia increased its market share to 41 percent in the second quarter, helped by surging demand in emerging markets, research firms Strategy Analytics and CCS Insight said on Thursday after Motorola reported better-than-expected April-June results.

EMERGING MARKETS STRENGTH

Nokia has a dominant market position in many emerging markets like India, helping it increase phone sales volumes.

Motorola’s market share fell to 9.4 percent in April-June, while Sony Ericsson saw its stake declining to 8.2 percent, CCS said.

LG (066570.KS) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) are seeing rapid increase in their phone sales, helped by close co-operation with operators, and the weaker Korean won that makes its exports more competitive.

Samsung’s market share increased to 15.3 percent in the quarter, while LG’s declined to 9.3 percent.

Korean vendors are better placed than Sony Ericsson and Motorola for a price battle with Nokia as both reported operating profit margins of more than 14 percent in the quarter.

Nokia’s operating profit margin from phone business weakened somewhat to 20.3 percent in the April-June quarter.

A Nokia spokesman declined to comment on price cuts. “If we started to comment on prices, there would be no end, they are changed so often,” he said.

How would you describe your group of friends?

Thursday, July 31st, 2008


Like what do ya’ll do, talk about, have in common. I want to know how people vary from state-to-state city-to-city & social group-to-social group.

 

I’m from Houston, Texas. The crowd of people I hang around are not involved in any drugs, however we do enjoy an evening out on the town (and of course that almost always involves alcohol!) We talk about all sorts of things: school, significant others, jobs, and basically our lives.

Can I put a potato in the oven without wrapping it in foil?

Thursday, July 31st, 2008


I plan on making baked potatoes tonight and I don’t have any foil left so can I put it in the oven without foil?

 

sure!! I like them better that way. Just poke it with a fork a few times and bake away. The skin gets all crunchy!

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Yes…absolutely. Just poke the potato with a fork a few times before you put it in. This is the only way we bake our potatoes and they come out great!!!

Gym MemberShip?

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

How old do you have to be to go to a Gym to build Muscle…In Canada (get your own membership)

Example: Like Family Fitness, etc.

Its like 13-14 pretty much everywhere. If your younger then that, don’t bother, your probably to small for the useful exercises, just workout at home with body weight.

Do planes still depart when there are isolated thunder storms?

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008


I’m reading the weather & it says there is going to be isolated thunder storms around my area the day I leave, so I was wondering if planes still set out when there are thunderstorms, because I am really paranoid that if a thunder bolt hits the plane it will go on fire.

 

Actually a lot depends on where those isolated thunderstorms are. In general isolated storms have little effect on airlines as they can easily fly around them. Problems can occur if a storm just happens to move into an airports takeoff or landing pattern. That can cause significant problems with delays.

As far as lightning striking a plane, normally nothing much happens, as the plane merely becomes part of the channel the charge flows through, just like a car on the surface. I have never heard of a plane catching on fire via a lightning strike, thus there is nothing to worry about there.

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Lightning strikes to aircraft have not recently been a major cause of aircraft accidents, though the potential of damage or upset to electronic systems that perform flight critical functions, to fuel systems, and to structures made of composite materials remains an important safety issue. Although commercial aircraft experience a direct lightning strike approximately once per year per aircraft, the damage is usually confined to burn marks on the aircraft skin and the trailing edges of wings or tail surfaces. The minimal damage experienced by most aircraft can be attributed to the widespread use of aluminum (an excellent electrical conductor) for the skins and primary structure, careful attention to ensure that electrical paths are not disrupted by gaps in the skin, and the use of mechanical and hydraulic flight control systems, which are relatively immune to the adverse effects of lightning. Initially, the lightning will attach to an aircraft extremity such as the nose or a wingtip. The aircraft then flies through the lightning flash, which reattaches itself to the fuselage at other locations while the airplane is in the electric “circuit” between the regions of opposite polarity. Most of the current will travel through the conductive exterior skin and structures of the aircraft and exit off some other extremity such as the tail. Lightning currents, therefore, do not usually enter critical systems within the aircraft, and personnel are protected from electrical shock hazards by the highly conductive aluminum skins and structures.

oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Concept2Reality/l…

Prozac dosage?

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008


Is there a restriction on how high of a dosage you could perscribe of Prozac to a 14-year-old girl? I’ve been on 40 mg for 3 months waiting to see an improvement, and I’ve seen a little difference, but I think that bringing the dosage up might help. I take it for depression, panic attacks, and anxeity. Do you think my doctor would bump up the dosage?

 

In general 10 mg of Lexapro should be more than sufficient for anyone. Although they are not lethal in large dosage, taking any medication over the prescribed amount is never a good idea.

Please consult you doctor regarding this issue. Different people have different level of tolerance to drugs.

“Too much” Lexapro, alone or in combination with other drugs and/or alcohol will cause you to experience dizziness, sweating, nausea, vomiting, tremor, somnolence, sinus tachycardia, and convulsions.

As usual, long term usage of the same drugs will reduce its effectiveness as you body develop a tolerance. I STRONGLY advice you not to increase your dosage any further. Please consult your doctor at once, he will most probably be able to prescribe another type of medicine for you.

Most importantly, medications will only ease symptoms and give you a well needed break from feeling so terrible each day but they will not cure you of all your problems or symptoms.

If you go on medication but do nothing else constructive to help yourself, you may find the initial symptoms reoccurring once you stop the medication.

Do not expect medicine to “cure” you, they cannot do that! If you want panic attack to stop forever, the change MUST come from you. No amount of medicine can help you here.

It is possible to recover without using medication at all.

Try this Free Panic Attack Report At http://nomorepanicattack.synthasite.com/

Solubility?

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008


The solubility of sugar is 211.3g/100g of water, but the most amount of water I can use in any trial is 20mL. So how much of each can I use?

 

Water is 1 gram per 1mL. So 20mL is 1/5 of 100g, and you use 1/5 of 211.3 grams of sugar.

Also, isn’t the solubility of sugar at room temperature more like 20g per 100mL of water? Did you misplace a decimal or something?

Why should we be concerned about water consumption in California?

Monday, July 28th, 2008


Here’s a fact for you: about 75% of the water in California is from Northern California, and about 75% of the people live in Southern California. This creates a problem of transporting the water. Most of southern California is pretty dry, but they need a lot of water; and with transporting water, you inevitable lose some (through evaporation and such), so to make up for people should consume less water.

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Water that had previously been available to us from the Colorado river is now being claimed by other states. Water from snow melt is becoming less reliable due to climate change. Underground aquifers may not always be replentished because urban and agricultural uses are drawing too much from the system.

And cities are still emerging and expanding, although the rules have changed, for the most part. You have to ensure a reliable water supply. Some developments are being turned away or downsized.

Conservation can be voluntary, unless it’s not working, at which point the cost will skyrocket and/or measures will be imposed. I’d rather try to conserve voluntarily myself.

I think the sites below will help you a lot.

http://www.ranchowater.com/files/news/Fa…
http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/
http://www.pcl.org/legislation/AB2153Fac…
http://www.acwa.com/issues/general_water…

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Most of So.Cals water is taken from the Sacramento Delta. As CA population increases, more is bypassed from the delta. Certain fish species are delining at an alarming rate.
Check out this link.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/…

What are the options available to protect my mortgage?

Monday, July 28th, 2008


Is life insurance the only way to insure my half of the mortgage would be paid in case of my death?

 

I work for an insurance company and we have what is called a creditor department. They deal with all credit protection policies ranging from business overdrafts and loan to mortgage protection policies with a range of cover, incl accident, sickness, unemployment and accidental death. These policies are usually taken out when the loan/mortgage etc is set up and it is done through the lender (banking branch if your lender is a bank). You should be able to contact your mortgage provider to see if they offer a mortgage protection policy. These policies are unlike life policies as they do not pay out a lump sum, instead they pay off your mortgage for the period you are off for up to a year.

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Ivan your answer is incredibly dangerous for people. People need to understand the risks involved, i.e. how would I pay my mortgage if I became sick. They also need to understand what products are available to protect them against such outcomes and the cost involved. They can then make an informed choice as to whether they want to purchase such products or not.

To categorically state that insurances such as critical illness protection and income protection is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible. I know people who have benefited from such policies when they have most needed them.

I would be interested to know what qualifies you to offer such advice and would you be willing to stand by it in the event that this person you are advising suffers a critical illness and cannot pay their mortgage?

To answer the question that was originally asked, if you want to pay your half of a mortgage in the event of you dying then yes you will need some sort of life assurance. You may find that you have some life insurance already, for example Death in Service benefit via your company pension.

If you don’t have this then you will need to purchase separate life insurance. It soun ds as if you have a joint mortgage so usually the most cost effective way of buying this is on a joint life first death basis. This means that you take one policy out jointly and then the policy pats out when the first og you dies. You can do separate policies but this is more expensive.

If your mortgage is a repayment mortgage then you will need a decreasing term policy, one where the insured amount reduces as your mortgage reduces. If you have interest only you will need level term, so the insured amount doesn’t reduce.

There are lots of other policies that you should seek information about i.e. critical illness protection and income protection and the best way to do so is to go and see your local Independant Financial Adviser who is properly qualified to advise and help you…..not like Ivan who is a cynic with no qualifications and who would not be prepared to stand by his advice.

Which best describes the Interstate Commerce Commission?

Monday, July 28th, 2008


Independent Executive Agencies
B. Independent regulatory commission
C. Government Corporations
D. Federal bureaucracy

 

It’s a regulatory commission but it is part of the federal bureaucracy so i’d say D