By James Sterngold Businessweek
Oliver Budde, former Lehman Brothers associate general counsel, says Fuld failed to disclose hundreds of millions in compensation
Before Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs (GS) took his place, Richard S. Fuld Jr.'s angry face was the universal symbol of Wall Street greed. On Oct. 6, 2008, three weeks after Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, Lehman's former CEO found himself before Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who chaired the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Waxman has stared down plenty of CEOs over the years, yet this had to be one of the most intense confrontations of his career.
"Mr. Fuld will do fine," Waxman said. "He can walk away from Lehman a wealthy man who earned over $500 million. But taxpayers are left with a $700 billion bill to rescue Wall Street and an economy in crisis."
Fuld said he was a victim, not an architect, of the collapse, blaming a "crisis of confidence" in the markets for dooming his firm. Reckless management had nothing to do with it. "Lehman Brothers," he said, "was a casualty."
Fuld and Waxman went on to disagree about just how much money Fuld had taken out of Lehman before it went under. Fuld, now 64, said his total compensation from 2000 through 2007 was less than $310 million, not the $485 million that appeared on Waxman's chart. He said 85% of his pay was in Lehman stock that had become worthless. "I never sold my shares," Fuld said at one point. At another, he said he had not sold the "vast majority" of them.
"That just seems to me an incredible amount of money," Waxman responded.
Among those closely observing Fuld was a 49-year-old former Lehman lawyer named Oliver Budde who was watching the hearing at home on C-Span. Budde (pronounced Boo-da) was certain Waxman's figures weren't too high. They were too low, and he could prove it. Fuld, he believed, had understated the amount he was paid during those years by more than $200 million, and now he had done it under oath, for the entire world to see.
For nine years, Budde had served as an associate general counsel at Lehman. Preparing the public filings on executive compensation had been one of his major responsibilities, and he had been infuriated by what he saw as the firm's intentional under-representation of how much top executives like Fuld were paid. Budde says he argued with his bosses for years over the matter, so much so that he eventually quit the firm. After he left, he couldn't let the matter rest. He contacted the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Lehman board of directors but says neither showed interest in meeting him. He was so shocked by Fuld's testimony in front of Congress that he started thinking about writing a book going public with his story, which is told here for the first time.
"I wasn't surprised, because these guys don't surprise me anymore," Budde says. "But it just struck me—they're doing it again. I wasn't going to sit back and watch."
By his own admission, Budde lacks the aggressive career drive usually found on Wall Street. He speaks proudly of having been a "free spirit" in his younger days when he was a ski bum and took a year off during college to sail the Caribbean as a steward on a yacht. He grew up in Cheshire, Conn., and went to Columbia University, where he received a BA in economics in 1983. After college, he drifted into a job as a cabdriver in New York, which ended when an irate driver sprayed him with a can of mace after a fender bender on the FDR Drive. The experience made an office job suddenly seem tempting, and he found work as a paralegal at Skadden Arps, eventually going to law school on the firm's dime. He served as an associate for six years, working long hours, handling mostly corporate and securities-related matters. In 1997, when it became clear that he would not make partner, he decided to leave, landing as a vice-president in Lehman's corporate general counsel's office.
vineri, 30 aprilie 2010
Rockin' the retirement home
By Dinah Eng
CNNMoney.com) -- Remember what it was like to navigate an MP3 player for the very first time? Now imagine that challenge multiplied by the hurdles of old age: arthritic fingers, weak vision, the works.
In the age of so-called digital democracy, with technology leveling many playing fields, why should the elderly be left out?
Enter marketer Charles de Vilmorin and software developer Hervé Roussel. In 2007, they partnered to create Linked Senior, the first audio entertainment system for the elderly. The system is built around a touchscreen kiosk, which serves as a centralized downloading station and allows retirement home residents to plug in specialized MP3 players and choose from a library of 63,000 audiobooks, language lessons, music, news reports, games, and other programs.
"We wanted it to be as simple as possible, empowering people who need it the most, but still keep it hip looking," Roussel says. "Some of the seniors are afraid of technology, and some had never touched a computer."
The kiosk was designed to look like a television, rather than a PC, to make the device seem more familiar. The handheld MP3 player is modeled after the iPod, but it comes in a bright orange color with oversized buttons.
Linked Senior is based in Washington, D.C., and has signed contracts with 30 retirement communities in the Mid-Atlantic region since its July launch. One of the company's first "wired" nursing homes, Vinson Hall Retirement Community in McLean, Va., is already using 36 kiosks.
"People load up on the books," says Fred Johnson, the community's special events and programs manager. "In our dementia unit, we download music for music therapy, which is great. As we get new residents, we add three or four kiosks every month."
So far, two books -- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin -- have been smash hits at Vinson Hall. Why? Both stories unfold in Afghanistan, and many of the community's residents -- including a few who retired from the C.I.A. -- have spent time there.
Retirement communities have also been using Linked Senior for group activities, plugging the MP3 player into speakers to facilitate language classes, Bible study and cooking lessons.
Linked Senior charges clients a per-bed fee to use the system. "For a 100-bed community, the charge could be between $400 and $1,000 a month, depending on the type of community and the level of services provided," De Vilmorin says. A setup fee of $2,000 includes hardware and training.
Steve Gurney, publisher of the Guide to Retirement Living SourceBook, says Linked Senior has tapped a market that will grow as the population ages. But the company isn't alone in the field: Companies such as It's Never 2 Late and BigScreenLive have built entire computer systems for senior users, he notes.
Still, Gurney believes that Linked Senior, will carve out a strong niche with its specific focus on audio delivery through MP3 players.
"Generally an activities director has a limited budget to work with, so Linked Senior is a great tool to enhance the lifestyles of residents in these developments," he says. "Instead of paying money to have an occasional live performer come in, communities can use technology to enhance their service delivery."
He also sees the nimble startup's flexibility as an advantage.
"Linked Senior is constantly modifying its ideas to meet the needs of the market," Gurney says. "The willingness of these two guys to roll up their sleeves and listen to their customers will make this a success
CNNMoney.com) -- Remember what it was like to navigate an MP3 player for the very first time? Now imagine that challenge multiplied by the hurdles of old age: arthritic fingers, weak vision, the works.
In the age of so-called digital democracy, with technology leveling many playing fields, why should the elderly be left out?
Enter marketer Charles de Vilmorin and software developer Hervé Roussel. In 2007, they partnered to create Linked Senior, the first audio entertainment system for the elderly. The system is built around a touchscreen kiosk, which serves as a centralized downloading station and allows retirement home residents to plug in specialized MP3 players and choose from a library of 63,000 audiobooks, language lessons, music, news reports, games, and other programs.
"We wanted it to be as simple as possible, empowering people who need it the most, but still keep it hip looking," Roussel says. "Some of the seniors are afraid of technology, and some had never touched a computer."
The kiosk was designed to look like a television, rather than a PC, to make the device seem more familiar. The handheld MP3 player is modeled after the iPod, but it comes in a bright orange color with oversized buttons.
Linked Senior is based in Washington, D.C., and has signed contracts with 30 retirement communities in the Mid-Atlantic region since its July launch. One of the company's first "wired" nursing homes, Vinson Hall Retirement Community in McLean, Va., is already using 36 kiosks.
"People load up on the books," says Fred Johnson, the community's special events and programs manager. "In our dementia unit, we download music for music therapy, which is great. As we get new residents, we add three or four kiosks every month."
So far, two books -- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin -- have been smash hits at Vinson Hall. Why? Both stories unfold in Afghanistan, and many of the community's residents -- including a few who retired from the C.I.A. -- have spent time there.
Retirement communities have also been using Linked Senior for group activities, plugging the MP3 player into speakers to facilitate language classes, Bible study and cooking lessons.
Linked Senior charges clients a per-bed fee to use the system. "For a 100-bed community, the charge could be between $400 and $1,000 a month, depending on the type of community and the level of services provided," De Vilmorin says. A setup fee of $2,000 includes hardware and training.
Steve Gurney, publisher of the Guide to Retirement Living SourceBook, says Linked Senior has tapped a market that will grow as the population ages. But the company isn't alone in the field: Companies such as It's Never 2 Late and BigScreenLive have built entire computer systems for senior users, he notes.
Still, Gurney believes that Linked Senior, will carve out a strong niche with its specific focus on audio delivery through MP3 players.
"Generally an activities director has a limited budget to work with, so Linked Senior is a great tool to enhance the lifestyles of residents in these developments," he says. "Instead of paying money to have an occasional live performer come in, communities can use technology to enhance their service delivery."
He also sees the nimble startup's flexibility as an advantage.
"Linked Senior is constantly modifying its ideas to meet the needs of the market," Gurney says. "The willingness of these two guys to roll up their sleeves and listen to their customers will make this a success
joi, 29 aprilie 2010
Auto dealers ready for new cars - and new hires
By Catherine Clifford, CNNMONEY.COM
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Tom Allen's General Motors dealership used to employ 49 people. Between the Detroit giant's bankruptcy and the termination notice he got last May for his Chevrolet and Cadillac lines, 26 employees have either been laid off or left.
But in March, GM reversed course and notified Allen that his Monroe, Mich., store was one of 666 dealerships chosen to live on. Now in the final stages of finalizing his franchise reinstatement, Allen is already lining up interviews to start hiring again.
The word "caught on like wildfire" through his local region when the reinstatement came through, Allen said: "They say bad news travels fast -- well, this good news travels very fast."
Across the United States, hundreds of dealers like Allen that have spent the past year in limbo are preparing to get back to business. Negotiations with GM are proceeding at different paces, but some dealers say they're close to finalizing contracts and will be able to order new cars from GM again as soon as next week.
Steve Snyder, president and owner of Gold Rush Chevrolet in Auburn, Calif., plans to restock with 35 to 50 brand-new vehicles in May -- and he's readying a barrage of local radio, television and newspaper ads.
"We are in the process now of letting everybody know that we are back in business," Snyder said. "We have been letting them know that they can come in and special-order something and they can get exactly what they want."
A painful year: Snyder kept nearly all of his staff despite his franchise termination, but at a steep price. One car washer had to be let go because there weren't enough cars left to wash. The rest of his employees took a 10% pay cut, and instead of covering the full cost of benefits, Snyder had to cut his subsidy to 50%.
"Everybody else hung in there with us and we hung in there with them," he said. The staff kept busy selling the remaining inventory, dealing used cars, and training to work with the Subaru vehicles Snyder sells on another lot.
"Nobody left, because they understood it was a tough economy," he said. "As soon as we pay off the debt that we had to incur in this tough economy, we will reinstate their wages."
Snyder plans to hire four to eight new workers to staff up for the reinstatement -- good news in an economy starved for jobs. "We put in a job [ad] in the local newspaper for service cashiers. That is a $10 to $12 per hour job," he said. "We got 36 job applications."
Mark Revord, part owner and general manager of Clyde Revord Motors, is also relieved to be getting back to work. GM gave terminated dealers until Oct. 2010 to cease operations, but it immediately stopped selling them new cars. Without new vehicles coming from GM, the lot emptied at the Everett, Wash., dealership Mark's father started in 1979. "We are down to about two new cars in inventory."
But Revord recently signed his reinstatement paperwork and is gearing back up. "Our customers have stuck with us," he said of the past year. "It hasn't been easy, I will say that for sure. It has been a lot of work."
Still in limbo: Not all of the 2,000 dealers GM cut last year are celebrating good news.
More than half of the axed dealers appealed their termination and began preparing for an arbitration hearing. In March, GM reversed course and said it would offer to reinstate 661 of those dealers, a total it later upped to 666.
But some 400 dealers are still working through the arbitration process. Chrysler, which cut 789 dealers from its network, offered to reinstate 50 but is also arbitrating around 400 cases.
Those hearings are just beginning. GM started its first three this week, while Chrysler has held four hearings so far, according to company representatives.
Congress set a June 14 deadline for all of the hearings to be completed, but allowed for a 30-day extension at the arbitrator's request. GM and Chrysler both say they expect hearings to continue through July.
The reinstatement process: Those who did get reprieves will need to comply with the auto maker's terms for reinstatement. GM slapped those terms with confidentiality requirements, and dealers are reluctant to discuss them.
Franchise contracts typically spell out requirements for the dealership's capital financing levels, minimum sales and physical appearance. Several dealers said they found their specific GM terms sheets fair.
"All I can tell you is that the five conditions in this letter are reasonable, and in fact they are conditions that I would expect them to ask me to meet," Snyder said.
In Stuart, Iowa, Morrison Chevrolet owner Jerry Vitzthum is still waiting for the details on what he'll have to do to get his franchise back. Still, he's relieved to have the chance.
"I am sleeping better at night," Vitzthum said. "The dealers I have talked to say they are all in a waiting mode. We just hope [GM doesn't] jump into the whole mode of saying everybody has to have a new facility."
A few dealers who were offered reinstatement say that instead of a terms sheet, GM came back with a buyout offer. Snyder was one of them.
A GM representative "came out and we talked about a monetary settlement, but I said, 'What I would really like is to have my franchise back,'" he said. "I don't know if [the offer] was fair or not fair, but when I analyzed it, personally I would rather have the Chevrolet dealership back."
When Snyder pushed, GM backed off and agreed to go forward with his franchise revival.
Persistence also paid off for Allen, in Michigan.
After his franchise was axed, residents of Monroe sent hundreds of protest letters to GM and to their Congressional representatives. When a GM representative visited Allen's dealership, customers approached the representative to demand that the dealership be reinstated.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Tom Allen's General Motors dealership used to employ 49 people. Between the Detroit giant's bankruptcy and the termination notice he got last May for his Chevrolet and Cadillac lines, 26 employees have either been laid off or left.
But in March, GM reversed course and notified Allen that his Monroe, Mich., store was one of 666 dealerships chosen to live on. Now in the final stages of finalizing his franchise reinstatement, Allen is already lining up interviews to start hiring again.
The word "caught on like wildfire" through his local region when the reinstatement came through, Allen said: "They say bad news travels fast -- well, this good news travels very fast."
Across the United States, hundreds of dealers like Allen that have spent the past year in limbo are preparing to get back to business. Negotiations with GM are proceeding at different paces, but some dealers say they're close to finalizing contracts and will be able to order new cars from GM again as soon as next week.
Steve Snyder, president and owner of Gold Rush Chevrolet in Auburn, Calif., plans to restock with 35 to 50 brand-new vehicles in May -- and he's readying a barrage of local radio, television and newspaper ads.
"We are in the process now of letting everybody know that we are back in business," Snyder said. "We have been letting them know that they can come in and special-order something and they can get exactly what they want."
A painful year: Snyder kept nearly all of his staff despite his franchise termination, but at a steep price. One car washer had to be let go because there weren't enough cars left to wash. The rest of his employees took a 10% pay cut, and instead of covering the full cost of benefits, Snyder had to cut his subsidy to 50%.
"Everybody else hung in there with us and we hung in there with them," he said. The staff kept busy selling the remaining inventory, dealing used cars, and training to work with the Subaru vehicles Snyder sells on another lot.
"Nobody left, because they understood it was a tough economy," he said. "As soon as we pay off the debt that we had to incur in this tough economy, we will reinstate their wages."
Snyder plans to hire four to eight new workers to staff up for the reinstatement -- good news in an economy starved for jobs. "We put in a job [ad] in the local newspaper for service cashiers. That is a $10 to $12 per hour job," he said. "We got 36 job applications."
Mark Revord, part owner and general manager of Clyde Revord Motors, is also relieved to be getting back to work. GM gave terminated dealers until Oct. 2010 to cease operations, but it immediately stopped selling them new cars. Without new vehicles coming from GM, the lot emptied at the Everett, Wash., dealership Mark's father started in 1979. "We are down to about two new cars in inventory."
But Revord recently signed his reinstatement paperwork and is gearing back up. "Our customers have stuck with us," he said of the past year. "It hasn't been easy, I will say that for sure. It has been a lot of work."
Still in limbo: Not all of the 2,000 dealers GM cut last year are celebrating good news.
More than half of the axed dealers appealed their termination and began preparing for an arbitration hearing. In March, GM reversed course and said it would offer to reinstate 661 of those dealers, a total it later upped to 666.
But some 400 dealers are still working through the arbitration process. Chrysler, which cut 789 dealers from its network, offered to reinstate 50 but is also arbitrating around 400 cases.
Those hearings are just beginning. GM started its first three this week, while Chrysler has held four hearings so far, according to company representatives.
Congress set a June 14 deadline for all of the hearings to be completed, but allowed for a 30-day extension at the arbitrator's request. GM and Chrysler both say they expect hearings to continue through July.
The reinstatement process: Those who did get reprieves will need to comply with the auto maker's terms for reinstatement. GM slapped those terms with confidentiality requirements, and dealers are reluctant to discuss them.
Franchise contracts typically spell out requirements for the dealership's capital financing levels, minimum sales and physical appearance. Several dealers said they found their specific GM terms sheets fair.
"All I can tell you is that the five conditions in this letter are reasonable, and in fact they are conditions that I would expect them to ask me to meet," Snyder said.
In Stuart, Iowa, Morrison Chevrolet owner Jerry Vitzthum is still waiting for the details on what he'll have to do to get his franchise back. Still, he's relieved to have the chance.
"I am sleeping better at night," Vitzthum said. "The dealers I have talked to say they are all in a waiting mode. We just hope [GM doesn't] jump into the whole mode of saying everybody has to have a new facility."
A few dealers who were offered reinstatement say that instead of a terms sheet, GM came back with a buyout offer. Snyder was one of them.
A GM representative "came out and we talked about a monetary settlement, but I said, 'What I would really like is to have my franchise back,'" he said. "I don't know if [the offer] was fair or not fair, but when I analyzed it, personally I would rather have the Chevrolet dealership back."
When Snyder pushed, GM backed off and agreed to go forward with his franchise revival.
Persistence also paid off for Allen, in Michigan.
After his franchise was axed, residents of Monroe sent hundreds of protest letters to GM and to their Congressional representatives. When a GM representative visited Allen's dealership, customers approached the representative to demand that the dealership be reinstated.
Hewlett-Packard Pins Smartphone Future on Ailing Palm Brand
By Joseph Galante and Rochelle Garner Businessweek
April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd may find his company’s latest foray into wireless phones is no easier than its failed first effort.
In a $1.2 billion deal, Hewlett-Packard yesterday said it would buy Palm Inc., maker of the Pre and Pixi phones. Hurd plans to tap Hewlett-Packard’s sales force, marketing muscle and knack for securing components at low prices to revive Palm.
Hewlett-Packard has made little headway in smartphones with its iPaq personal digital assistant. Palm may not do much to help its new owner win over customers loyal to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and the Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry.
“Just because H-P now has a smartphone in its lineup doesn’t mean people are going to wake up tomorrow and say, ‘Aha, this is the next Apple,’” David Garrity, principal at GVA Research LLC in New York, said on Bloomberg Television. “There are obviously a lot of things Apple has in terms of its iTunes store and apps that H-P doesn’t have.”
Palm’s shares, which closed at $4.63 on the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday before the deal was announced, rose as much as $1.32 to $5.95 in extending trading, as some investors speculated another company may make a bid. Hewlett-Packard rose 3 cents to $53.28 yesterday.
Hurd, who took over as CEO in 2005, is using acquisitions to broaden in businesses that generate higher profits than Hewlett-Packard’s personal computers and printers. Hurd, 53, this month completed the purchase of 3Com Corp. to step up competition with Cisco Systems Inc. in networking equipment.
Growing Market
Smartphones, the fastest-growing segment of the mobile phone market, are also alluring. Worldwide smartphone shipments are set to rise to 247 million units in 2010, up 36 percent from 182 million in 2009, according to ISuppli Corp.
Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, began marketing the iPaq after buying Compaq in 2002. Yet the devices have failed to resonate with consumers.
Last year, the iPaq accounted for 0.1 percent of the smartphone market, according to researcher IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts. At Hewlett-Packard’s handheld business, which includes smartphones and personal digital assistants, sales fell 56 percent to $25 million in the quarter that ended Jan. 31.
Palm, based in Sunnyvale, California, has made deeper inroads. Its devices surged in popularity in the 1990s and early part of the next decade, though in recent years were eclipsed by the iPhone, the BlackBerry and phones sporting Google Inc.’s Android operating system.
Losing Share
By March, when Palm said its current-quarter sales would be less than half of Wall Street estimates, some analysts began questioning the company’s viability. There was speculation it may even be forced to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Palm’s share of the U.S. smartphone market fell to 5.4 percent in February from 9.4 percent a year earlier, according to ComScore Inc. With 42.1 percent, RIM had the largest share.
Hewlett-Packard plans to boost Palm’s annual $190 million research and development budget while spending more on sales and marketing of Palm products. The computer maker has $13 billion in cash and a 24,000-person sales force.
To succeed, Hewlett-Packard will have to attract new customers as well as software developers who can build games, tools and applications that make Palm smartphones more alluring. Many programmers are already busy creating apps for Apple, Android and RIM, said Alex Liu, a partner at A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm. There were more than 185,000 apps for the iPhone earlier this month.
Better Together
Still, Palm and Hewlett-Packard may do better together than they did separately, Liu said. Hewlett-Packard had resources and the wrong product, while Palm lacked financial backing, he said.
“It’s two wrongs trying to make a right,” said Liu, who’s based in San Francisco. “They both under-delivered.”
Palm put itself up for sale, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month, after a partnership in January to sell phones through Verizon Wireless failed to boost growth as much as analysts estimated. Taiwan’s HTC Corp. and China’s Lenovo Group Ltd. looked at the company, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Dell Inc. also looked at Palm and decided against making an offer, the people said.
Buying Palm is likely to save Hewlett-Packard money trying to develop an operating system and will shorten how long it takes to bring new phones to market, said Jack Gold, founder of J.Gold Associates, an information-technology firm. Hewlett- Packard’s current lineup of iPaq phones run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile operating system.
‘Much-Needed Marketing’
“H-P’s Windows Mobile phone business is dying a rapid death and H-P would have had to totally revamp its product line in order to stay in the smartphone business,” said Gold, who’s based in Northborough, Massachusetts. Palm has “a compelling OS, but their marketing has been weak. H-P has a great ability to fund the much needed marketing Palm needs to get noticed.”
Hewlett-Packard relied on its retail connections and mobile-computer designs to grab the largest share of the PC market in 2006. The company’s tens of thousands of retailers put its products in front of more consumers -- giving it an edge over former leader Dell Inc., which mostly sold computers online and through catalogs.
When lower-cost laptops called netbooks became the fastest segment of PC market during the recession, Hewlett-Packard was able to use its scale to match the prices of competitors, offering models for as little as $299.
“H-P has this tremendous scale and this tremendous capability,” Palm Chief Executive Jon Rubinstein said in an interview today. “They’re the largest technology company in world.” Rubinstein will continue to run Palm within the Hewlett-Packard fold.
PV Cell Prototype Generates Electricity from IR and UV Light
Solar energy is present in abundance around us. The problem is how to harness a substantial portion of it for human use. How to raise the efficiency bar of solar conversion into electricity? Scientists are continuously engaged in finding a way out for this problem. Recently scientists at the Kyoto Institute of Technology have deviated from the normal path and tried to trap the visible as well as invisible rays of sun for electricity. They tried to create a new photovoltaic cell that can capture visible, infrared and ultraviolet light of the sun. The team now thinks that this photovoltaic will be highly efficient for solar power conversion.
In March, 2010 a meeting was held by the Japan Society of Applied Physics. In this meeting a research group from the Kyoto Institute of Technology talked about their new photovoltaic cell that is capable of generating electricity not only from visible light, but from ultraviolet and infrared light as well. The research group is headed by the associate professor Saki Sonoda. The research group delivered a 90-minute lecture on the cell under the title “Nitride Semiconductor Added With Transition Metals as a Photoelectric Conversion Material for Ultraviolet, Visible and Infrared Lights ~ In the Aim of Realizing the Next-generation Super-efficient PV Cell With a Simple Element Structure.”
Saki Sonoda is quite optimistic that his team’s work would lead towards a more efficient PV cell that can be single-junction rather than the more conventional multi-junction. A multi-junction PV cell has multiple thin films of varying absorption capabilities. This will help in capturing the entire spectrum of light. But with a single-junction cell all that light can be absorbed using a single junction cell.
These new PV cells were made up of gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor. This new photovoltaic cell is created by ‘doping’ a wide bandgap transparent composite semiconductor i.e. gallium nitride (GaN) with a 3d transition metal such as manganese. Gallium belongs to the family of scandium, titanium, vanadium, chrome, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, and zinc. Sonoda explained that his team has gone for those additive elements. He said that even aluminum nitride (AlN), which has a very large bandgap, can possibly have an absorbing region in the visible light range,
If we look at the stats we can see that the short-circuit current density of the PV cell is about 10?A/cm2, which is about 1/1,000 that of a normal crystalline silicon PV cell. Sonoda explained that normally the cell and electrodes are separated, therefore the electric resistance of the p-type GaN connecting them is very large. Now we can hope that the findings of the research group are expected to pave the way to a GaN-based PV cell with a totally different mechanism.
marți, 27 aprilie 2010
Cleaning services today business startup project
Hi everyone my name is Seit Eren and today ,I'll show you how to start this busines project.
To perform cleaning services may seem very easy at first sight.But as always in practice are just so.This kind of services are complexe and targets first windows washing,floors,carpet cleaning but may to expand to areas like disinfection/disinsects ,building administration,technical assistance or hire staff(hausehold,managers,technicians) All this activities require a good coordination and strict supervision of employees ,so customer can be offered safety and professinalism.Customer retention is key of success in this busines,perhaps more than another areas because the market is very conpetitive ,but in a continuous development .
A cleaning company is a tempting deal for a small business entrepreneur.It can start with a relatively small capital between 10 000-20 000 euro.
The entrepreneur must identify ,before to invest a eurocent ,permanent potential costumers ,which might be recruited at begining among friends and knowlege.
Brief Information
Idea ...............cleaning services ,especially for companys and self employds
Initial investment.........10 000-20 000 euro purchase required of a equipment and car
Market situation...........conpetition is strong but market is open for development
Annual turnover...........over 35 000 euro
Zynga and Facebook. It's Complicated
By Douglas MacMillan businessweek
The game company can keep growing as long as it stays in Facebook's good graces
"The next three years are a hell of a lot harder than the last three"
More than 120 million people play Zynga's online games. Employee headcount has almost quadrupled in the past year, to 775. Revenue for the three-year-old company should surpass $450 million in 2010, according to two people who have been briefed on its financials.
Mind you, Zynga's games are free. Revenue mostly comes from selling virtual hoes and machine guns and such to players of FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and other titles. "Only a few companies are so privileged to get the rocketship growth that Zynga has," says Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a Zynga director and investor. As for an initial public offering, "All options are on the table," he says.
In an interview at Zynga's overflowing offices in San Francisco, Mark Pincus, the company's 44-year-old founder and CEO, seems giddy. "It's fun," he says, swiveling back and forth in a conference room chair. "It's adrenaline."
It's a sweet gig—although there's one big unknown: Facebook. Zynga's success depends on the good graces of the social network, where almost all of its games are played. "The single biggest challenge is managing growth in the face of total uncertainty," says Pincus. By all accounts he's on friendly terms with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—who has shown a willingness to knock heads.
In March the social network stopped letting Zynga and other app creators promote games in the "notifications" menu users see each time they log on. Facebook said users were complaining about spam-like messages that appeared every time one of their game-playing friends found a baby duck or whacked a mobster. One protest group on Facebook with more than 5 million users called itself "I Don't Care About Your Farm, Or Your Fish, Or Your Park, Or Your Mafia!!!"
Pincus says the policy change has hurt his business in "the short term" by slowing traffic to his games in the first quarter of this year. Still, he says, Zynga and Facebook can help each other, since his company's wares increase the time and attention users spend on the social network. He compares the relationship to that of a cable company and a hit-making network: "I think it benefits Facebook's users if we can create the next Sopranos and if we can be a brand, like HBO, that their customers really want." (Pincus is a minority investor in Facebook. All he'll say about his stake is that it's "basis points.")
Facebook doesn't just get happier users, it also gets big checks from Zynga. Any time a game looks like a potential hit, Pincus says his company deploys millions of dollars on ads promoting it to members of the social network. In total, Zynga spends between $5 million and $8 million per month for banner ads on Facebook, according to NeXt Up! Research. The aggressive promotions make it difficult for rivals to copy an idea for a game and make it as successful as Zynga's version, says Lisa Marino, chief revenue officer of app startup RockYou. "Social gaming is a math equation," says Marino. "When you put millions of dollars down to protect [a franchise], you will win it."
Facebook could force Zynga to adjust its math. More than 90% of the company's revenues come from users converting real cash into proprietary virtual currency. FarmVille, for example, has Farm Coins. Say you buy a tractor for 5,000 Farm Coins, which equals about $3.30. Typically the company pays less than 10% of that to a third-party transaction handler such as PayPal and keeps the rest. (In March, PayPal said Zynga was its second-largest merchant after eBay.)
Facebook is testing a service called Facebook Credits that would offer a single virtual currency for use on many different apps. If the social network forces app makers to use Facebook Credits, as some developers expect will happen this year, Zynga would have to pay the company up to 30% of every transaction. "If Credits become pervasive, I don't think Pincus can stop it. It's going to hit the margin," says Peter Relan, executive chairman of CrowdStar, one of Zynga's many competitors.
"There's just going to be one currency that people use" on all apps, Zuckerberg told Bloomberg TV on Apr. 21. He didn't say when Credits might become mandatory. Pincus is trying out the currency as an option in FarmVille and other games. "There is definite value for users and developers in having the trusted Facebook brand associated with buying virtual goods," he says.
Pincus says he's eyeing other ways to get his games in front of the masses. Apple's (AAPL) announcement on Apr. 8 that it plans to include a program for connecting people in social games played on the iPhone and iPad caught his attention: "It would make a lot of sense for Apple to be interested in doing more to enable social gaming," he says.
For now, Zynga's mission is to keep cranking out those Facebook hits. Work is going on around the clock; Pincus is encouraging employees to develop pet projects during weekend-long programming marathons. And, of course, the company is hiring like crazy. To help fill 300 job openings, it's running an ad on a billboard in San Francisco and has bought local public-radio sponsorships.
Pincus will need all the intensity he can get. Electronic Arts (ERTS) upped the ante in November when it bought Zynga rival Playfish for $275 million. "Zynga is riding high," says Barry Cottle, general manager of EA's interactive unit. "But they may soon find out that the next three years are a hell of a lot harder than the last three."
The game company can keep growing as long as it stays in Facebook's good graces
"The next three years are a hell of a lot harder than the last three"
More than 120 million people play Zynga's online games. Employee headcount has almost quadrupled in the past year, to 775. Revenue for the three-year-old company should surpass $450 million in 2010, according to two people who have been briefed on its financials.
Mind you, Zynga's games are free. Revenue mostly comes from selling virtual hoes and machine guns and such to players of FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and other titles. "Only a few companies are so privileged to get the rocketship growth that Zynga has," says Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a Zynga director and investor. As for an initial public offering, "All options are on the table," he says.
In an interview at Zynga's overflowing offices in San Francisco, Mark Pincus, the company's 44-year-old founder and CEO, seems giddy. "It's fun," he says, swiveling back and forth in a conference room chair. "It's adrenaline."
It's a sweet gig—although there's one big unknown: Facebook. Zynga's success depends on the good graces of the social network, where almost all of its games are played. "The single biggest challenge is managing growth in the face of total uncertainty," says Pincus. By all accounts he's on friendly terms with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—who has shown a willingness to knock heads.
In March the social network stopped letting Zynga and other app creators promote games in the "notifications" menu users see each time they log on. Facebook said users were complaining about spam-like messages that appeared every time one of their game-playing friends found a baby duck or whacked a mobster. One protest group on Facebook with more than 5 million users called itself "I Don't Care About Your Farm, Or Your Fish, Or Your Park, Or Your Mafia!!!"
Pincus says the policy change has hurt his business in "the short term" by slowing traffic to his games in the first quarter of this year. Still, he says, Zynga and Facebook can help each other, since his company's wares increase the time and attention users spend on the social network. He compares the relationship to that of a cable company and a hit-making network: "I think it benefits Facebook's users if we can create the next Sopranos and if we can be a brand, like HBO, that their customers really want." (Pincus is a minority investor in Facebook. All he'll say about his stake is that it's "basis points.")
Facebook doesn't just get happier users, it also gets big checks from Zynga. Any time a game looks like a potential hit, Pincus says his company deploys millions of dollars on ads promoting it to members of the social network. In total, Zynga spends between $5 million and $8 million per month for banner ads on Facebook, according to NeXt Up! Research. The aggressive promotions make it difficult for rivals to copy an idea for a game and make it as successful as Zynga's version, says Lisa Marino, chief revenue officer of app startup RockYou. "Social gaming is a math equation," says Marino. "When you put millions of dollars down to protect [a franchise], you will win it."
Facebook could force Zynga to adjust its math. More than 90% of the company's revenues come from users converting real cash into proprietary virtual currency. FarmVille, for example, has Farm Coins. Say you buy a tractor for 5,000 Farm Coins, which equals about $3.30. Typically the company pays less than 10% of that to a third-party transaction handler such as PayPal and keeps the rest. (In March, PayPal said Zynga was its second-largest merchant after eBay.)
Facebook is testing a service called Facebook Credits that would offer a single virtual currency for use on many different apps. If the social network forces app makers to use Facebook Credits, as some developers expect will happen this year, Zynga would have to pay the company up to 30% of every transaction. "If Credits become pervasive, I don't think Pincus can stop it. It's going to hit the margin," says Peter Relan, executive chairman of CrowdStar, one of Zynga's many competitors.
"There's just going to be one currency that people use" on all apps, Zuckerberg told Bloomberg TV on Apr. 21. He didn't say when Credits might become mandatory. Pincus is trying out the currency as an option in FarmVille and other games. "There is definite value for users and developers in having the trusted Facebook brand associated with buying virtual goods," he says.
Pincus says he's eyeing other ways to get his games in front of the masses. Apple's (AAPL) announcement on Apr. 8 that it plans to include a program for connecting people in social games played on the iPhone and iPad caught his attention: "It would make a lot of sense for Apple to be interested in doing more to enable social gaming," he says.
For now, Zynga's mission is to keep cranking out those Facebook hits. Work is going on around the clock; Pincus is encouraging employees to develop pet projects during weekend-long programming marathons. And, of course, the company is hiring like crazy. To help fill 300 job openings, it's running an ad on a billboard in San Francisco and has bought local public-radio sponsorships.
Pincus will need all the intensity he can get. Electronic Arts (ERTS) upped the ante in November when it bought Zynga rival Playfish for $275 million. "Zynga is riding high," says Barry Cottle, general manager of EA's interactive unit. "But they may soon find out that the next three years are a hell of a lot harder than the last three."
luni, 26 aprilie 2010
Electrabel & GDF Open Biomass Generating System in Netherlands
Electrabel and GDF Suez Group have opened a new biomass generating system at the Gelderland power station in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
The Gelderland power station is a coal/biomass power station with a total capacity of 590 megawatts (MW). Due to conversion of the power station, about one quarter of the coal formerly burned will be replaced by biomass. This is expected to raise the Gelderland biomass capacity from 44 MW to 180 MW.
The biomass reportedly consists of wood pellets (compressed sawdust), with 470,000 tons annually being used as a clean fuel for the power station. The result will be a reduction in CO2 emissions of 750,000 tonnes per year, the equivalent of the CO2-advantage of about 250 wind turbines. The conversion represents an investment of more than €40 million [US $53.2 million].
Hertz buying Dollar Thrifty for $1.2 billion
LONDON (CNNMoney.com)
Hertz is buying Dollar Thrifty in a $1.2 billion deal that combines two of the most prominent players in the car rental business.
Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ, Fortune 500) said late Sunday that it has agreed to buy its rival for $41 a share in cash and stock.
The $41 a share purchase price represents just a 5.5% premium over Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group's (DTG) Friday closing price of $38.85 a share.
But it represents about a 19% premium to the 30-day average price of Dollar Thrifty stock.
The deal is structured as 80% cash and 20% stock, and Hertz plans to keep the Dollar and Thrifty brands.
Hertz CEO Mark Frissora said in a statement that Dollar Thrifty was an "excellent strategic fit" and that the addition of its network will help Hertz extend its foothold in Europe and other international markets.
Asian Stocks Decline on China Real-Estate Concern; CSL Declines
By Jonathan Burgos Bloomberg
April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks declined, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lower for the third time in four days, as concern deepened that China’s steps to cool its property market will curb growth in the world’s third-largest economy.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. sank 2.2 percent in Shanghai on concern lending will slow. PetroChina Co., China’s largest oil producer, lost 1.9 percent on lower oil prices. CSL Ltd., the world’s No. 2 maker of treatments made from blood, slipped 3.7 percent in Sydney after Credit Suisse Group AG downgraded the stock. Elpida Memory Inc. dropped 2.2 percent in Tokyo as memory-chip prices declined.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.2 percent to 127.04 as of 2:17 p.m. in Tokyo, with almost two stocks falling for each one that rose. The gauge has climbed 11 percent from its low this year on Feb. 8 as better-than-estimated economic and earnings reports offset concerns Greece will default on its debt. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday a Greek bailout isn’t a done deal.
“Concerns about potential delays in financial aid for Greece as well as further monetary tightening in China continue to dampen investor sentiment,’ said Michiya Tomita, a Hong Kong- based fund manager for Mitsubishi UFJ Management Co., which holds $65 billion in assets. “Valuations are still expensive. We need to see more earnings improvement
China’s Shanghai Composite Index slumped 2.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 0.3 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.2 percent, led by Fanuc Ltd., which climbed 6.8 percent after reporting earnings
Goldman Sachs shareholders sue execs
By Hibah Yousuf money.cnn
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Two shareholders have sued top Goldman Sachs officials, including chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, in lawsuits related to fraud charges issued last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The investors, Robert Rosinek and Morton Spiegel, said that certain Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) officers and the entire board of directors breached their duties by entering into the sale of collateralized debt obligations linked to subprime mortgages, according to the complaints filed in New York State Supreme Court Thursday.
The lawsuits said the actions "have caused substantial financial loss to Goldman Sachs and damaged its reputation and goodwill."
The SEC charged Goldman Sachs and its vice president, Fabrice Tourre, who is also named as a defendant in the shareholders' lawsuits, with fraud last week for failing to disclose conflicts of interest in the 2007 sale the portfolio, which led to a $1 billion loss for investors.
On Friday, the SEC's Inspector General, David Kotz, agreed to launch an investigation into the SEC's decision to pursue fraud charges against Goldman Sachs.
duminică, 25 aprilie 2010
Startups Find Room to Run on Crowded Social Web
By Olga Kharif Bloomberg Businessweek
Software upstarts such as Playdom, Posterous, and Foursquare capitalize on Web users' desire to make social networks more useful and fun
A little more than a year ago, the young co-founders of social network games maker Playdom were sitting pretty. Hit games including Mobsters had helped make their software among the most popular on MySpace (NWS). "It was very happy. Every night we would gather around the Xbox," says co-founder chief product officer Dan Yue, 26.
Nights are no longer so relaxed for the Mountain View, Calif., startup, thanks to Facebook's popularity. The Playdom entrepreneurs, three of whom are in their twenties, spent most of 2009 transferring games to the hotter site. Since joining the company last year, CEO John Pleasants, a former executive at game giant Electronic Arts (ERTS), has increased head count to 400, from less than 50 a year ago. The company generated more than $50 million in 2009 sales and expects revenues to double this year.
Playdom's co-founders—Yue; co-founder Chris Wang, 26; and Ling Xiao, 28-year-old vice-president of engineering and co-founder—are among the finalists in BusinessWeek.com's annual Best Young Technology Entrepreneurs showcase. Seven of the 13 startups on this year's list are building Web and mobile-device software that extend the capabilities of social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.
It's not surprising that many startups want to ride the coattails of popular social networks. Facebook's monthly U.S. traffic rose to 116 million unique visitors in March, nearly double that of a year ago, according to market researcher comScore (SCOR). Unique U.S. visitors to Twitter increased 140% in March, compared with the year before, comScore said. The rapid ascent of traffic to social networking sites can draw lots of attention for startups that offer new tools or diversions to their members. "Facebook and Twitter have become platforms in the same way Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows became a platform 20 years ago," says Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research (FORR). "There are huge opportunities in social media."
Take Foursquare, a New York-based startup that's built a wildly popular location-based software game. About 1 million users have downloaded Foursquare's software onto smartphones, using it to broadcast information about bars, restaurants, and other public places they're visiting to friends in their social networks. Merchants now offer more than 2,100 specials to the patrons who most use Foursquare to "check in" at their establishments. Businesses don't yet pay to reach Foursquare's users but "eventually, the plan is to charge for it," says co-founder Naveen Selvadurai.
Posterous: business ads will pay
Posterous provides an Internet service that lets users create personal Web sites featuring photos and videos, simply by e-mailing those files to Posterous. Users can also use the service to post to Facebook and Yahoo!'s (YHOO) Flickr photo-sharing site
For now, the service is free to use. Later this year, Posterous plans to introduce a paid version, which would let businesses create marketing campaigns and place ads on Posterous-hosted Web sites, according to co-founder Sachin Agarwal. Satish Dharmaraj, a partner at Redpoint Ventures, which invests in Posterous, says he could "easily imagine a business paying $50,000 to $100,000 to run a campaign."
Sawhorse Media produces the Shorty Awards, an awards ceremony for Twitter users. The company was profitable in 2009, according to CEO Greg Galant. Sawhorse solicits ideas from more than 300,000 Twitterers to honor the best individual posters and organizations on the microblogging site, inviting winners to New York to make 140-character acceptance speeches. FedEx (FDX) and Pepsi (PEP) are among Sawhorse's sponsors for the event. "We are figuring out who matters on the real-time Web," says Galant.
There are risks to riding the success of Facebook and Twitter. Alterations in a social network's popularity can compel startups that write applications or features for it to change plans. As Facebook grew, Playdom had to shift development to that site in order to compete with larger social games developers such as Zynga.
Software upstarts such as Playdom, Posterous, and Foursquare capitalize on Web users' desire to make social networks more useful and fun
A little more than a year ago, the young co-founders of social network games maker Playdom were sitting pretty. Hit games including Mobsters had helped make their software among the most popular on MySpace (NWS). "It was very happy. Every night we would gather around the Xbox," says co-founder chief product officer Dan Yue, 26.
Nights are no longer so relaxed for the Mountain View, Calif., startup, thanks to Facebook's popularity. The Playdom entrepreneurs, three of whom are in their twenties, spent most of 2009 transferring games to the hotter site. Since joining the company last year, CEO John Pleasants, a former executive at game giant Electronic Arts (ERTS), has increased head count to 400, from less than 50 a year ago. The company generated more than $50 million in 2009 sales and expects revenues to double this year.
Playdom's co-founders—Yue; co-founder Chris Wang, 26; and Ling Xiao, 28-year-old vice-president of engineering and co-founder—are among the finalists in BusinessWeek.com's annual Best Young Technology Entrepreneurs showcase. Seven of the 13 startups on this year's list are building Web and mobile-device software that extend the capabilities of social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.
It's not surprising that many startups want to ride the coattails of popular social networks. Facebook's monthly U.S. traffic rose to 116 million unique visitors in March, nearly double that of a year ago, according to market researcher comScore (SCOR). Unique U.S. visitors to Twitter increased 140% in March, compared with the year before, comScore said. The rapid ascent of traffic to social networking sites can draw lots of attention for startups that offer new tools or diversions to their members. "Facebook and Twitter have become platforms in the same way Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows became a platform 20 years ago," says Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research (FORR). "There are huge opportunities in social media."
Take Foursquare, a New York-based startup that's built a wildly popular location-based software game. About 1 million users have downloaded Foursquare's software onto smartphones, using it to broadcast information about bars, restaurants, and other public places they're visiting to friends in their social networks. Merchants now offer more than 2,100 specials to the patrons who most use Foursquare to "check in" at their establishments. Businesses don't yet pay to reach Foursquare's users but "eventually, the plan is to charge for it," says co-founder Naveen Selvadurai.
Posterous: business ads will pay
Posterous provides an Internet service that lets users create personal Web sites featuring photos and videos, simply by e-mailing those files to Posterous. Users can also use the service to post to Facebook and Yahoo!'s (YHOO) Flickr photo-sharing site
For now, the service is free to use. Later this year, Posterous plans to introduce a paid version, which would let businesses create marketing campaigns and place ads on Posterous-hosted Web sites, according to co-founder Sachin Agarwal. Satish Dharmaraj, a partner at Redpoint Ventures, which invests in Posterous, says he could "easily imagine a business paying $50,000 to $100,000 to run a campaign."
Sawhorse Media produces the Shorty Awards, an awards ceremony for Twitter users. The company was profitable in 2009, according to CEO Greg Galant. Sawhorse solicits ideas from more than 300,000 Twitterers to honor the best individual posters and organizations on the microblogging site, inviting winners to New York to make 140-character acceptance speeches. FedEx (FDX) and Pepsi (PEP) are among Sawhorse's sponsors for the event. "We are figuring out who matters on the real-time Web," says Galant.
There are risks to riding the success of Facebook and Twitter. Alterations in a social network's popularity can compel startups that write applications or features for it to change plans. As Facebook grew, Playdom had to shift development to that site in order to compete with larger social games developers such as Zynga.
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