Recent Comments:
Corel earnings drop 60% {BloggingStocks}
Jul 5th 2008 10:40AM Like pretty much every other company that has been touched by Borland, Corel suffered the Kiss of Death. But this one goes beyond that. Neither Draw nor Paint Shop are better than the open-source GIMP. And what used to be their flagship product (WordPerfect, which I personally liked much better than anything produced by Microsoft) is now a forgotten bit of computer history, again thanks to the Borland legacy. Unless Corel can find something else that they can excel at, the company's a goner. Actually, I'm surprised that they are still around.
Is the Volt nothing more than bailout bait? {Autoblog Green}
Jul 2nd 2008 8:16PM GM is far enough in debt that it is not possible to save the company by selling cars. It's going to have to sell big chunks of the company itself, and that may not be enough.
Without a large government bailout, GM will be out of business within 10 years.
The Wal-Mart Weekly: Those shoes aren't fit to run in {BloggingStocks}
Jun 21st 2008 11:11PM I once bought some brand-name walking shoes at WalMart. They hurt my feet bad enough that I will never buy that brand of shoe again from any store, and I will never buy any kind of shoe from WalMart again.
I am careful not to buy anything at WalMart unless the quality is a matter of federal law, or I am personally able to judge the quality myself.
WalMart is notorious for squeezing margins so tight that suppliers have to cut corners just to stay in business. If I was a supplier, I would not let WalMart have more than 5% of my business -- any more than that, and WalMart has you by the gonads, and they won't hestitate to squeeze.
They play similar games with other vendors. I know of a store-fixture contractor who simply returns WalMart RFQs with "no bid" stamped on them, because he got burned by trying a loss-leader bid in hopes of getting follow-on business. Guess what? The follow-on business went to another contractor with another loss-leader bid.
If you are a vender and you aren't big enough (or smart enough) to be able to say "no" to WalMart, they will destroy you.
Toyota wonders what comes after lithium? {Autoblog Green}
Jun 16th 2008 9:20PM "but it is hard to beat lithium" -- Chris M
For energy storage/weight, yes. Due to some fundamentals of chemistry and physics, it is unlikely that anything will beat lithium there. However, potassium or sodium might be able to compete on price and availability. Especially sodium; It is one of the most abundant metals on Earth.
Why tax cuts ruin the economy {BloggingStocks}
Jun 7th 2008 11:56AM Low taxes don't ruin the economy. Government wasting money on things it has no business doing are what is ruining the economy.
No $30K Chevy Volt without Congress' help {Autoblog Green}
May 26th 2008 3:06PM If it needs taxpayer subsidy, then it's a bad idea.
VIDEO: Take a guided tour of the Aptera factory {Autoblog Green}
May 2nd 2008 9:46PM The building of every component in-house is obviously for prototyping. When (if) they get to production, they will obviously have to do things a bit differently. Especially to produce a less-than-$30K vehicle.
I'm happy to see that they think they will be in production this year, but a bit disappointed that they are limiting sales to California residents. Oh, well, you gotta crawl before you walk. I wish them luck.
Two Nova Biosource Fuels biodiesel plants operating at reduced capacity {Autoblog Green}
Apr 19th 2008 10:03PM "Well, there goes the last shred of possibility that I might one day use biodiesel for some purpose." -KarenRei
Well, that just leaves more for those of us who are not burdened with impossible belief systems.
SAE Congress '08: the problems of fuel cell commercialization {Autoblog Green}
Apr 19th 2008 9:58PM The biggest problem with fuel cells is that using hydrogen as an automobile fuel is insanely stupid, due to some fundamental laws of chemistry and physics which cannot be either wished or legislated away.
Big Oil launches counteroffensive {Autoblog Green}
Apr 12th 2008 10:25PM "Indeed we have fought wars based on our need for oil." -- Lad
If you are talking about Iraq, you might note that it would have been cheaper just to buy all the oil they could produce for $500/bbl.
