China Mobile – 7th most valuable global brand. Interested to know what the measurement criteria was here.

[From Google Tops List of Top 100 Global Brands -- Seeking Alpha]

Better Answer:
-Evernote (Private Info)
-1Password (Bank Cards, Serial Numbers and Passwords of All Types)
-Ecto (Info you can make public)

Additionally, keep Sync’ed with:
-DropBox
-Plaxo
-Google Reader (and Reader Notifier Plugin)

[From Unclutter your computer with a Personal Information Manager | Unclutterer]

Ever wonder how to interface directly with the Skype API? It’s easier than you think.

• Command identifiers
• Making and managing voice calls
• Sending and managing SMS messages
• Call cost information
• Making and managing video calls
• Leaving and manipulating voicemails
• Managing call forwarding
• Creating chats and sending messages
• Public Chats
• Managing contacts and groups
• Search commands
• >Managing history
• Controlling Skype user interface
• Custom Menus and Events
• Application to application commands
• Voice Streams
• Testing connections

[From Docs/ApiDoc/Commands - Skype Developer Zone]

My obligatory post over at SeekingAlpha…

This is very enlightening. “In 1966, $1 dollar of debt boosted GDP by $.93. But by 2007, $1 dollar of debt lifted GDP by less than $.20″. Most on SeekingAlpha would agree that “Savings and Investment (rather than borrowing and spending) are the sure recipe for a strong economy.”

Regarding housing starts and job losses, I think that a difference in perspective can help us to better conceptualize the scope of this correction.

Think of the free market as a natural law like gravity as it applies on the surface of the earth. We can jump, we can fly, we can temporarily “defy gravity”, but every effort to do so uses a tremendous amount of resources, and in the end will eventually fall back to the ground.

In the late 90′s, we had a bubble in technology companies. The bubble burst in 2000 and Obamma successfully attacked in 2001. The Fed responded by lowering interest rates.

Low interest rates and favorable borrowing terms fueled a housing boom, which created jobs in finance and construction.

Demand creates Supply. The demand for Internet Stocks in the Tech Bubble created a distortion in the economy – a deviation from the natural law. Too many IT jobs were created and after the bubble burst, we had to re-allocate those people into jobs based on where the market required them.

Unfortunately, the boom in housing created a much bigger distortion in the economy, this time in both Finance and Construction. The housing boom lasted longer, grew larger, and affected a bigger sector of the economy (housing and finance vs/ IT) so it’s going to be much more difficult to recover from.

Instead of thinking of these adjustments as “job losses”, would it be more productive to think in terms of rebalancing the economy along the lines of competitive resource allocation?

[From Jim Welsh on the Economy: Past the Point of No Return -- Seeking Alpha]

China has started to claim waters in the Yellow Sea as part of China’s Economic Zone. Apparently, to assert control over this area, China is either encouraging or permitting civilian vessels – fishing ships to harass US ships in this area.

The USN will have to begin sending armed escorts along with these civilian ships to discourage the harassment.

Question: How does the USA deal with Russia in Int’l waters equal distance from Russia’s coast line and how does Russia respond?

My suspicion is that the USN doesn’t need to be so close to Chinese waters, and that there are some diplomatic issues that the two countries need to discuss candidly and come to a mutually beneficial understanding. Heck, wouldn’t the USA save money by letting China be responsible for patrols in this region? Or, let Japan be responsible…

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two Chinese fishing vessels came “dangerously close” to a U.S. military ship in the Yellow Sea off the coast of China last week — the fifth such incident in the past few months, two U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday.

The USNS Victorious is an unarmed ocean surveillance ship operated by a civilian crew.

…

After the Impeccable incidents, the U.S. Navy provided armed warships to escort some USNS ships in the region, but as one of the officials said, “it’s international waters, we should not have to do that.”

The Chinese claim much of those waters as an economic zone over which they have sole authority.

[From Chinese boats harassed U.S. ship, officials say - CNN.com]

It’s a little funny to see an article like this. Just outsource everything… just focus on strategy and marketing. But look at what companies in the west are successful right now, in spite of the economic downturn. Apple comes to mind. Does Apple outsource everything? No – Apple controls and manages the entire customer experience. Assembly and production are outsourced to Foxconn, but Apple still keeps a close eye on the process to manage quality.

How to be profitable? Just need to be innovative. You need to create things that people are willing to pay you for.

Is there any evidence that suggests with a 1:1 exchange rate between the USD and CNY that the Chinese way of manufacturing would be competitive with the American one? Or more importantly, man-hour per man-hour does anyone believe that Chinese manufacturing can compete with manufacturing in Japan or Germany?

Schooled by China and India
What US tech companies can learn about innovation from abroad. Hint: it isn’t just about cheap labor.

NEW YORK (Fortune) — It would be a groundbreaking deal if consummated: According to press reports, telephone operator Sprint is in serious discussions with Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson to outsource management of its wireless network to the Swedish equipment maker. If finalized, the arrangement would make Sprint (S, Fortune 500) the first major U.S. wireless operator to cede total maintenance of its network to a third party consultant.

But in parts of Asia, outsourcing whole swaths of a tech business is old hat. India’s leading wireless operator, Bharti Airtel, for example, does little more than set strategy and handle marketing and sales of phones and service. Contractors, including Ericsson (ERIC) and IBM (IBM, Fortune 500), take care of running and upgrading the actual phone network, operating call centers and other day-to-day operations.

Global consultant John Hagel expects to see more U.S. companies plucking ideas from their international counterparts. Hagel, co-chairman of Deloitte Consulting’s Center for Edge Innovation, says Asian companies have started to implement some innovative management ideas that could resonate in the United States. And while many of these ideas on the surface seem like cost-cutting initiatives, Hagel says they also give tech companies flexibility and leverage, two things that benefit companies in good times and bad. “Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs understand that the only way to get scale is to be very modular in terms of how you define activities,” Hagel says.

[From What US tech companies can learn from China and India - May. 5, 2009 ]