tzumii » manufacturer LG

Japan Certifies Its First LTE Modem

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:57:13 +0000

Japanese regulators have certified the country’s first data modem based on LTE technology, manufacturer LG Electronics said on Wednesday. the step takes the country a little closer towards the planned launch of its first LTE network.

LTE is a development on current 3G cellular technology and will accelerate data transmission by several times to at least 100Mbps.

The company’s LD100 modem will be used by NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest cellular carrier, when it begins tests of LTE later this year, said LG. Pending a successful conclusion to the tests, NTT DoCoMo plans to launch commercial LTE data services in Japan towards the end of this year.

LG Electronics is a major supplier of 3G data modems to the carrier so its inclusion in the tests doesn’t come as a big surprise.

NTT DoCoMo is also working with NEC, Fujitsu and Panasonic on LTE data terminals and handsets and plans to demonstrate some of its first prototypes at the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona later this month.

Japan Certifies Its First LTE Modem

Japan Certifies Its First LTE Modem is a post from: tzumii

Forget Gold, Buy The Unexpected

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:57:09 +0000

Ken Fisher, founder and chief executive of Fisher Investments, is a 25-year Forbes columnist and a New York Times bestselling author.

Fisher: So I think an important thing about 2010 is that we’re at a state today where the combined so-called emerging markets countries in collective GDP are half again as big as the United States. We’re used to thinking of the United States as big and them as small. But collectively, they’re bigger.

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The collective developed world outside of the United States is a little bigger than the United States. We’re at a point where it’s the emerging markets world with an emergent, vibrant middle class that’s growing at a fairly rapid rate that’s pulling us along faster than we would otherwise. Too much commentary about the economy is U.S.-centric. Sometimes America will lead. Sometimes America will lag. right now, America’s lagging.

Whenever we’ve had a huge bear market decline and then a positive 12 months, the subsequent 12 months after that have almost always been nicely positive. So my view is that history’s telling us, with the non-U.S. world pulling us along, we’re probably going to have a positive year in 2010.

Wally Forbes: that sounds very encouraging indeed. perhaps now you could touch on some ways you think the individual investor could take advantage of the situation.

Fisher: well first I’m going to warn against something: there is a near-ubiquitous interest today in gold. and one of the points about gold that I think is not well-appreciated is that since the time of Bretton Woods gold actually has had a nice, single-digit positive return. That’s all come from six very brief periods, the longest and the biggest one of which is the most recent one, the most recent few years.

But if you take those few periods out, those few periods total only 15% of modern history. The other 85% of that history it actually lost money, and at a 3.6% average annual rate.

Forbes: So you would be negative on gold at the moment?

Fisher: well my point would be I’m not a good enough timer to have a view. But I think probably most people probably aren’t good enough timers.

On the positive side, I do believe we’re in the early stages of a normal bull market led by foreign and emerging markets. and one stock that I like a lot is Vivo ( VIV – news – people ), which is Brazil’s largest cellular telephone operator with about 50 million subscribers and about one-third of the market.

Forbes: this is an ADR?

Fisher: yes, this is an ADR. VIV is a symbol. and one of the points that I don’t think people appreciate is that while they’ve grown tremendously in Brazil they also have the potential to expand in Hispanic America outside of Brazil.

Forbes: Terrific.

Fisher: Consumer discretionary stocks do well at a time when people can’t see why they do well. As things improve, the surprise is on the upside. Industrial manufacturers also have that same feature. An industrial manufacturer that plays into the consumer discretionary market is LG Display ( LPL – news – people ) from Korea.

This is the world’s second-largest maker of liquid crystal displays, used in things like personal computers, TVs, cellphones. and this world is one that has gotten crunched terribly. But as near as I can see it, [LG Display] is today operating at what is about what I think of as 10 times this year’s earnings as the earnings are bouncing back. and in this world I see this as a terribly strong stock because it combines the roles of industrial manufacturing while feeding into consumer discretionary with leading market share. The only bigger player is Samsung Electronics.

One more that’s really hard for Americans to see is an Irish company called CRH ( CRH – news – people ). It’s an extremely diversified building materials firm that is arguably one of the best-managed building materials firms around. Amazingly they remained profitable throughout 2009. They operate throughout three dozen nations in the world. They make concrete, cement, asphalt, glass, roofing supplies, pretty much the full spectrum. You’re looking at something that is currently selling at about half annual revenues, five times cash flow, 12 times trailing earnings, probably nine times 2010 earnings. in my mind it’s just a cheap, easy way to go.

Forbes: well, that is a terrific set of items that I am sure are going to be of great interest. Ken, thank you for your time.

Forget Gold, Buy The Unexpected

Forget Gold, Buy The Unexpected is a post from: tzumii

Dragons: Half nots… halfs

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:57:05 +0000

Published January 30, 2010 02:50 am – CHARDON – Friday night gave onlookers a glimpse of what the Lakeside boys look like when they are playing their game, and also when they are not.

Dragons: half nots… halfs
Lakeside puts together enough solid play to knock off Chardon

STEVE GOLDMAN
Star Beacon

CHARDON – Friday night gave onlookers a glimpse of what the Lakeside boys look like when they are playing their game, and also when they are not.

Fortunately for the Dragons, there was enough of the former to come out of Chardon with a 52-33 win.

Emilio Parks led Lakeside with 24 points, including three dunks, and 12 rebounds. But the win wasn’t as easy as the score might indicate. After a 10-0 run helped the Dragons (10-2, 7-2 in the Premier Athletic Conference) to an 18-7 lead in the first quarter, Lakeside scored just four points in the last 10:52 of the half. using a 9-point streak, the Hilltoppers tied it twice, with the score 22-22 at halftime.

Lakeside coach Rob Pisano explained that whereas his team is used to pressuring and converting steals into layups, it wasn’t able to do that on Friday. After the break, the Dragons played a zone, with much better results.

“Our second quarter was terrible,” he said. “We got a little cocky, I think (after we built the early lead).

“We started to get away from our game plan. We were shooting the ball off of one pass; we were trying to drive to the hoop off of one pass. We’re not a one-on-one, one-pass team.

“We were playing at their pace in the first quarter, and we didn’t want to do that,” Chardon coach Matt Moran said. “They want to press, get the game going.

“In the second quarter, we pulled out and we wanted to be patient with the offense. We executed just the way we wanted to.”

Chardon (2-10, 2-8) took two brief advantages, the second one coming at 26-25. however, the Dragons then took over. they had the upper hand by a 27-7 count over the final 13 minutes of play, with Parks terrorizing the Hilltoppers on the inside for 18 of those points, 12 in the fourth frame.

Parks had temporarily gotten away from his inside game before sitting out the last four minutes of the first half with two fouls.

“I give my team a heck of a lot of credit in the second half,” Pisano, whose team took its second decision from Chardon, said. “They got back to their offensive fundamentals. they played that zone the way we had to.”

“They made better adjustments at halftime than us,” Moran said.

Chardon was hurt by the fact Ryan Weed, its outside threat, didn’t play because of food poisoning. The Hilltoppers didn’t hit a 3-pointer all night, but not for lack of trying.

“My assistants told me, ‘Hey, they aren’t shooting the ball (well),’” Pisano said.”’ Let’s just take away their two big guys (Jake Hollinger and Brett Reiter), because they hurt us in the first half.’”

“(Weed’s absence) does hurt,” Moran said. “I have to give Rob and his staff credit. once they noticed that he wasn’t in there, he packed it in on us, and they did a great, great job doing that to us.”

Dragons: Half nots… halfs

Dragons: Half nots… halfs is a post from: tzumii

Nokia retains mobile crown, Samsung grows

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:57:07 +0000

Mobile phone shipments 2009 Q4 by manufacturer

Despite it’s weakened position in the smartphone segment and the iPhone grabbing all the headlines, Nokia still managed to maintain 37.7 percent of the overall handset market in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2009. But mobile phone rival Samsung is getting closer.

336.5 million mobile phone handsets were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2009 – up 15.1 percent on Q3. ABI Research forecasts shipments to expand to 1.2 billion handsets in 2010

“2009 may have started with a whimper but by 4Q-2009 the global mobile handset market ended with a pretty reasonable bang,” said Jake Saunders, Vice-President for Forecasting at ABI Research.

“Renewed consumer confidence in the second half of 2009 meant that shipments for the whole year only shrank 4.5 percent to 1.153 billion. Dire scenarios were mooted in early 2009. there is cautious optimism about 2010 despite the fragile nature of the global recovery.”

Samsung, the market-share juggernaut, seems unstoppable. Between June 2008 and December 2009, Samsung increased its market share from 15.2 percent to 20.5 percent. Samsung has benefited from a strong line-up of feature phones as well as a strong reputation for innovative smartphones.

Korea’s level of influence over the handset market is further underscored by LG, the third-largest handset vendor (10.1 percent). LG has been counting on its S-Class smartphone series to help it secure a bridgehead in the market.

“In 3Q-2009, Motorola, under the direction of Sanjay Jha, has come out of its corner fighting with a refreshed portfolio,” adds practice director Kevin Burden.

“The Droid has received critical acclaim. however Motorola’s market-share continued to contract to 3.6 percent.”

Sony-Ericsson also experienced a contraction to 4.3 percent but has high hopes that its Android-based handsets will generate renewed interest.

HTC’s market share did not fare well early last year, but its circumstances improved slightly in 4Q to 1.0 percent share. Notably, HTC announced a revamped handset portfolio strategy, not just targeting high-end smartphones but also launching smartphones that appeal to purchasers with smaller wallets. These low cost “HTC Smart” devices will rely on BREW.

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Nokia retains mobile crown, Samsung grows

Nokia retains mobile crown, Samsung grows is a post from: tzumii