Google, Apple, & Samsung are once again comScore winners, Microsoft & RIM not so much

1. Droid_X_Doug posted on 7 hours ago 0 0

Why am I not surprised that RIM's sales are tanking? Uninspiring handsets, an O/S that is having problems with bricking handsets and the new and improved O/S and related handsets won't be available until probably 4Q2012 at the earliest all conspire to give consumers a reason to shop elsewhere.

2. gallitoking posted on 7 hours ago 1 0

never in my chicken mind I would have thought that RIM would collapse so fast... still waiting for MS to rise...not!..

3. Droid_X_Doug posted on 6 hours ago 2 0

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you have thought RIM would fall so fast?

They have consistently been approximately 12 to 18 months behind both Apple and Android handsets in release cycle. There have been problems with each version of the O/S going back to v. 5.0 (they are now on v. 7). The handset specifications are obsolete before the handset even starts to ship. And, and, and. Even the U.S. govt. got fed up with the obsolescence and has been testing/certifying alternatives to RIM handsets.

No issues with your post, but I have been predicting RIM's sales declines since mid 2010 when I moved to the Droid X.

10. gallitoking posted on 4 hours ago 1 0

all valid points... however BB fans were loyal... and jumped ship so fast... it caught me by surprise..

12. protozeloz posted on 3 hours ago 0 0

To me it's rather slower I was expecting 10% already and there are tons of reasons why its dropping

-RIM waisted lots of precious time
- little efforts trying to gather devs and pump the store
- waist of valuable time
- concentrating resources on useless Android port apps
- no outstanding features that makes people want to switch
- believe the enterprise will remain loyal
- waisted time
- too many DOA products

Did I mentioned all the time waisted? I mean seriously their only hope could be BBX or whatever that's gonna get named and will arrive when everyone has their game geared up an extra lvl or two

5. godsarmylds posted on 5 hours ago 0 0

I think Droid, gallitoking was more going along the lines. That RIM so big and had once a long time ago had a strong OS compared to the compitition at the time. It's kind of hard to believe that they would have fallen to fast as they did. But I do agree with you droid that as soon as I got my first android (mytouch) all those years ago I knew that Black berry was going down. Up against Apple and Android. It really didnt have a chance. But it has drop so fast. Mainly cause they didnt really change anything big for like 3 years or even 4 years. And always slow to release new devices that came compatable with the newest 3g or 4g services that came out. Same problem with Palm no innovation really. And I'm sorry. Apple is on the same track edging to their nearly 6th year of being relased and still very little big signs of innovation. I hope Android doesnt do the same thing. ICS is a very nice update to the phone OS. And I hear the Apple 5 will be different. So I'm excited fr 2012. Hope to see some great innovation and hopefully not so many court cases.

6. Droid_X_Doug posted on 5 hours ago 0 0

Yeah, RIM does seem to be repeating the Palm experience. Nothing like arrogance to drive a company into the ground. It will be interesting to see how Android and iOS fare in 2012. I suspect they will both continue to push each other along, which at the end of the day is good for consumers of both brands. ICS is supposedly taking some cues from WP7/7.5, I wonder what iOS 5 looks like? ICS (laughing)?

7. ardent1 posted on 5 hours ago 0 0

"And I'm sorry. Apple is on the same track edging to their nearly 6th year of being relased and still very little big signs of innovation"

Apple is a software company at heart, so the innovations will be software based, i.e. Siri in beta, using software to manage the dual antennae, using software for image stabilization for the camera/camcorder, etc. iOS 5.0 is the first software where the OS is updated based on deltas ... the list goes on. Again, as the hardware improves, it allows Apple to do more with its software.

Here are some more Apple innovations: (a) a two-year-old smartphone (3GS) that continues to outsell the leading or cutting edge android devices, (b) Apple to maintain its margins in a very competitive market for so many years, which is basically unheard off, (c) being awarded patents, which is a sore points for the android camp, etc.

It takes great software to make great handsets and the recent Samsung fiasco of how it couldn't update 10 million phones due to bad software only reinforces Apple's strengths of integrating software and hardware.

Judging Apple's products based on hardware and spec's is the main reason why android OEMs failed to duplicate the success of the 3GS.

8. willardcw4 posted on 4 hours ago 0 0

Stop comparing 3 phones (3GS, 4, 4S) with dozens (android). It makes no sense. They are different platforms with different appealing features to various individuals, and although they are in direct competition, it's not an apples to apples comparison.

The most recent software innovations you speak of (including Siri beta) are not 'innovations'. They are modified or altered from other existing ideas / programs operating systems. Nothing is truly unique. The one thing they really are masters at is producing a really smooth and clean product, but the devices experience problems just like any other phone. Try writing an OS and updates for 25 phones with differing hardware and a fast release cycle.. it's tough. On top of that, different phone manufacturers have their own skins, even more of a programming nightmare, but it offers a unique experience that isn't shared by other products. Apple has a lot more time to develop software since they release products ~1 a year.

Oh ya, they are being awarded patents because they have really good lawyers who patent things that shouldn't be accepted as patents by the USPTO... not their fault, obviously, but just because they are filing a patent doesn't mean they created the system or technology (face unlock anyone..?!?!).

13. ardent1 posted on 3 hours ago 0 0

> Stop comparing 3 phones (3GS, 4, 4S) with dozens (android).

Actually, it's one phone (i.e. the 3GS) compared to the "leading edge" or "cutting edge" android phones like I wrote originally. I can't make this point any clearer (or any more lucid) in regards to the never-ending and always-used argument that spec's help drive sales. Thanks.

> The most recent software innovations you speak of (including Siri beta) are not 'innovations'.

Then we have a difference of opinion. I believe bring Siri in beta form to the mass consumer market that totals in the tens of millions users is "innovation" and you are more than welcome to disagree.

> Try writing an OS and updates for 25 phones with differing hardware and a fast release cycle.. it's tough.

Google created this problem by itself. Look at MicroSoft, they have minimum hardware spec's and Google failed to heed MicroSoft's wisdom.

> On top of that, different phone manufacturers have their own skins, even more of a programming nightmare

That is the OWN manufacturer's choicing, thus causing the great fragmentation and user experience of android. Samsung has no problem selling 10 million units of one phone, but will not fix it's software so its 10 million users cannot obtain ICS. They created their own nightmare.

> just because they are filing a patent doesn't mean they created the system or technology

That is not correct. As you know, there is a patent examiner assigned to the patent application so there is some standard Apple must pass. Also, people tend to think there is only one face unlock invention -- I beg to differ as I understand patents can't be too broad.

18. ILikeBubbles posted on 2 hours ago 0 0

as much as i'm fully on team android, i do have to agree that Ardent1 makes many good points and made them pretty objectivly..no one here can say that any iphone has been laggy or fc's. this is because of software.

and i'm sure there are MANY details and technicalidies that the general public doesn't know about that allows apple to patent things like face unlock or a touch integrated screen..

everyone knows pattents aren't based on who created the technology lol :p

9. Sniggly posted on 4 hours ago 2 1

Chugging the Kool Aid tonight, aren't you?

Samsung originally said they wouldn't update two lines of devices with hardware that's a year and a half old. The hardware isn't bad, the software isn't bad, the hardware is just OLD. Now Samsung is possibly releasing a neutered version of ICS for those devices to placate customers who probably wouldn't have given a s**t about having new software on a year and a half old phone before it was mentioned that they might get it by overspeculative news writers.

In other words, Samsung may take the Apple route: release a neutered update to hardware that's not even optimized for it.

Ardent, have you had the opportunity to handle a brand new 3GS preloaded with iOS 5? I have. It lags and stutters worse than my Droid X did on its worst day with Froyo.

The 3GS outsells other Android devices even now because it's a FREE IPHONE. Before that it was a 50 dollar iPhone. Before that it was a 100 dollar iPhone.

It's all about brand recognition. The iPhone is considered the premium product by those who don't know any better. I compare it to the brand recognition of Mercedes or BMW versus Cadillac. The car magazines and news teams and everyone else will compare the Caddy to the Mercedes or BMW, not the other way around. Even if the Caddy totally kills the other brand, it's still considered inferior by the snobs.

Another apt comparison is between the name and store brands of cereal. The store brands are usually pretty damn good, and often cheaper, but everyone wants the god damn brand name. They want that Apple logo on the back of their phone.

11. RORYREVOLUTION posted on 4 hours ago 1 0

I want Google to do some serious marketing for the Nexus devices. They need to go all out and make it a true Android top brand. If Verizon continues where they left off and offers the next Nexus device, I will become a loyal Nexus brand buyer. I really love my Galaxy Nexus and I think they are going in the right direction. They just need to market it and hype it up, then maybe it will be the antidote to the apple fever.

14. protozeloz posted on 3 hours ago 0 0

:O I'll like to hear some feedback about it. So think on buying GSM version for my main line. Talk the other day with John V. He seems to like the razr a bit more but playing with ICS made me like stock by a lot

16. RORYREVOLUTION posted on 3 hours ago 0 0

The screen is gorgeous, the device fits very nicely in your hand despite it's large size. ICS is really really nice, couple of bugs to work out but it works very nice. I have no urges to root, put a custom rom, overclock, or even use a launcher. I LOVE ICS, it feels complete and looks great.

Yes the speaker volume is pretty weak, if you want to watch youtube videos or listen to music, you might just wanna put in your headphones. Maybe it's just my hearing but the RAZR was way louder. Battery life is what you should come to expect. I have had no issues with signal/data connection or have I had any dropped calls.

I would get it in a heart beat if you have the chance to.

15. ardent1 posted on 3 hours ago 0 0

Sniggle, do you know what your problem is? You actually believe you own nonsense.

> The 3GS outsells other Android devices even now because it's a FREE IPHONE.

That is patently NOT true. There are lots of FREE android devices, many with better specs, and these devices cannot match the 3GS sales.

I said this before and I will say it again, the reason(s) why the 3GS sells well must also HOLD TRUE for any android device.

So the question right back to Sniggly et al is why doesn't free android devices (even those with brand recognition) sell as well as the 3GS?

17. protozeloz posted on 2 hours ago 0 0

Simple my friend

While your average droid has a killing robot commercial your iPhone has Santa using siri while your droid is and Android phone the 3GS is an iPhone how much does the actual consumer know it care? The iPhone is main stream just like the BB and BBPin where. I asked ppl why would they Use bb pin when they have the MSN and FB chat all the time anyways they couldn't pull an actual answer they simply use it because "yes" so why iPhone sells more?

- is more popular: when people hear "this is an iPhone"tuey know what it is . But what's a Nexus? What's a Galaxy? Is that the same as that crappy low end LG my cousin gave his GF?

- is better promoted: have you seen that awesome TV commercial promoting voice actions on various Android phones? Have you ever saw a comercial showing off latitude? Or other Android functions? People don't buy more Android because they don't know more Android. From how to operate it to its features.

19. protozeloz posted on 2 hours ago 0 0

Also companies have different live cycles for their products while 3GS is started to get discontinued the S1 is already out of commission not because they can't sell it but because it has a shorter life circle so it's not that Samsung or other are trying to replicate apples numbers but because its being the way the sell phones even before apple jumped the boat.

21. Sniggly posted on 23 min ago 0 0

You only paid attention to one paragraph of my post. I already gave the answer. Brand recognition and marketing.

Jesus, at least READ what I write.

Google, Apple, & Samsung are once again comScore winners, Microsoft & RIM not so much

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/phonearena/ySoL/~3/tBHcz8e8U2g/Google-Apple---Samsung-are-once-again-comScore-winners-Microsoft---RIM-not-so-much_id25214

lottery winning numbers pro bowl roster quirky chrissy teigen chia seeds embers metta

BRAND NEW IPAD 2 32GB WIFI 3G *** STILL SEALED *** : Central London : £500

RRP is ?580 so grab yourself a bargain

Black version, Am based in Central London (Aldgate / Liverpool St)

Please only get in touch if you are serious - no offers ?500 is a great price for this. It hasn't been registered yet so full warranty will work on it also.

Reply to this ad or 07985440240

http://gumtreecouk.widget.criteo.com/pgi/

sendEvent

wi=7711396&pt1=2&i=93760627

Source: http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/brand-new-ipad-2-32gb-wifi-3g-still-sealed--central-london-500/93760627

world series october 28 2011 october 28 2011 jenelle evans jenelle evans miami hurricanes vlad the impaler

Will Sandusky and wife talk to Oprah?

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters file

Will Oprah Winfrey land an interview with Jerry Sandusky and his wife?

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Many observers were shocked when Jerry Sandusky, the retired Penn State football coach charged with dozens of counts of child sexual abuse, spoke to Bob Costas on NBC's "Rock Center" in November.

Jon Stewart even did a "Daily Show" segment questioning what Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, could have been thinking. "It seems to me when you're accused of one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, you may not want to literally phone in your defense on national television," Stewart wryly pointed out.

But Sandusky may not be done speaking to famous reporters. The Harrisburg Patriot-News reported that Amendola told them that Sandusky and his wife Dottie may do another interview after the new year, and that they're considering speaking to talk queen Oprah Winfrey, returning to "Rock Center," or speaking with Barbara Walters or "60 Minutes."

Winfrey especially would be an interesting choice, as she's famous for celebrity interviews. Although her famed self-titled talk show ended in May, the interview would be a coup for her lesser-known OWN channel. Winfrey is debuting a new primetime talk show, "Oprah's Next Chapter," on?Jan. 1, with Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler as her first guest. What better way to get the show's name known than to land a guest who's all over the news, even if for the wrong reasons?

Sandusky's wife has staunchly defended her husband, saying Dec. 8 that "I continue to believe in Jerry?s innocence and all the good things he has done."

In one recent indictment, Dottie Sandusky was specifically mentioned. According to the Patriot-News, one victim claims he screamed for help while being assaulted in the Sanduskys' basement, knowing that Dottie was upstairs, but no help came. Dottie Sandusky responded to those claims in a statement, saying "I have been devastated by these accusations. I am also angry about these false accusations that such a terrible incident ever occurred in my home."

Costas told Willie Geist that the "Rock Center" interview was supposed to be just with Amendola, but that at the last minute, the attorney asked if Costas would like to speak to his client directly.

Perhaps the oddest part of the interview came when Sandusky was asked if he was sexually attracted to young boys. First Sandusky repeated the question, then gave a rambling answer, saying "Sexually attracted? You know, I enjoy young people. I love to be around them. I ... but, no, I am not sexually attracted to young boys."

Joked Stewart?about that answer: "?"Everyone knows the only time when you answer with a question is when you're guilty. You can't even bring yourself to lie emphatically. It's like in that phone conversation you're fighting the urge to come clean."

?Should Sandusky and his wife speak out in another national interview? Who should they speak to? Tell us on Facebook.

Related content:

Also in The Clicker:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9768565-will-sandusky-and-wife-talk-to-oprah

chris hansen ehlers danlos syndrome diners drive ins and dives band of brothers being human being human the closer

UAW takes aim at foreign automakers

The United Auto Workers union is staking its future on the kind of struggle it hasn't waged since the 1930s: a massive drive to organize hostile factories.

This time, the target is foreign car makers, whose workers have rebuffed the union repeatedly. Specifically, Reuters has learned, the union is going after U.S. plants owned by German manufacturers Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG, seen as easier nuts to crack than the Japanese and South Koreans.

It's a battle the UAW cannot afford to lose. By failing to organize factories run by foreign automakers, the union has been a spectator to the only growth in the U.S. auto industry in the last 30 years. That failure to win new members has compounded a crunch on the UAW's finances, forcing it to sell assets and dip into its strike fund to pay for its activities.

In dozens of interviews with union officials, organizers and car company executives, a picture has emerged of UAW President Bob King's strategy. By appealing to German unions for help and by calling on the companies to do the right thing, King hopes to get VW and Daimler to surrender without a fight and let the union make its case directly to workers.

Central to this effort is the belief that if car companies refrain from actively opposing a UAW organizing push, workers at German-American factories will gladly join the union.

Volkswagen tops the 10 best car ads of 2011

But that belief may be off-base. Workers know that almost every job lost at U.S. car factories in the last 30 years has occurred at a unionized company, while almost every job gained has come at a non-union company. And most of the factories the UAW is targeting are in the South, which is historically hostile to unions.

"People have a different opinion in the South about unions," said Robert Plisko, a retired autoworker who helped UAW organizing efforts at German and Japanese plants in the 1970s and 1980s. "It's a lot harder now than it has ever been, and I don't see it getting any easier."

German auto executives declined to talk in detail about the UAW's push. Privately, they remain wary of the union and its confrontational past. "They view the UAW as a disaster," said a Wall Street banker who has worked extensively with the industry.

King dismisses skeptics of his plan, but on one point he agrees with his fiercest critics: If the UAW fails to crack the transplants, as it calls foreign car factories in the United States, the union has no future. "I have said that repeatedly, and I believe it," he said in one of several interviews.

US automakers revved up for the new year

This do-or-die imperative helps explain why his offensive sometimes feels passive.

In early December, the UAW's executive board convened at its riverfront headquarters in Detroit in a room outfitted with Swedish midcentury furniture. King, 65, had set a goal of winning one of the organizing battles by year end, and auto executives expected him to ratchet up the pressure by naming a target. But by the end of the meeting King concluded that naming a target would be seen as a hostile act and could undo the progress made behind the scenes with VW and Daimler.

"It really is ultimately up to the companies," King told Reuters after the meeting.

Whatever the outcome, King's march through the South will be a milestone in U.S. labor history. Famous for winning hard-fought campaigns at General Motors, Chrysler and, eventually, Ford between 1937 and 1941, the UAW was once one of the mightiest unions - and political forces - in the country.

But its membership has fallen 75 percent in the past three decades, and last year it started dipping into its strike fund. If it fails to boost its ranks, the richest union in the United States will hit a cash crunch.

Winning over 'heathens'
A decade ago, King led a campaign to organize a union at a Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee.

As part of the campaign, Nissan employee Chet Konkle recalls visiting hundreds of workers in their homes. He sat in their kitchens, shook their hands and asked for signatures on union cards.

"Sometimes I felt like I was a Baptist preacher trying to win over the heathens," he said of his efforts as a labor evangelist in a southern state.

In October 2001, Nissan workers rejected the union by a two-to-one vote, with hundreds defecting from the UAW cause. For Konkle, that was an epiphany. "The UAW in its current form is on its deathbed," he said.

Now 47, Konkle leads a team that cuts waste at the plant and which is credited with saving over $10 million for Nissan.

Tennessee is once again a union battleground. At the geographical midpoint of a band of foreign auto factories stretching from Texas (Toyota) to Ohio (Honda), the state has worked hard for its piece of the U.S. auto industry.

In 1979, Gov. Lamar Alexander flew to Tokyo to meet with Nissan executives, showing them a picture of the United States with the Eastern seaboard lit up. When they asked where Tennessee was, Alexander recalled pointing to a relatively dark spot "right in the middle of the lights." Tennessee looked like an industrial blank slate within a short ride of a big market. Nissan also liked the state's law preventing mandatory union membership, he said.

A quarter century later, when VW was looking for a place to build a new plant, Alexander again made the case for Tennessee, this time as a member of the U.S. Senate. As part of the charm offensive, the state's junior senator, Bob Corker, invited VW executives to his home, where Alexander serenaded them on the piano.

The offensive worked. In July 2008, VW announced that it would invest $1 billion to build a plant near Chattanooga, the city where Corker had been mayor until 2005.

That plant is now at the top of the UAW's list. King traveled to Chattanooga himself in late November to meet with workers sympathetic to the union.

"The German companies have a better history of recognizing workers' rights around the world," King said.

But in a state with 9 percent unemployment, the task is daunting. For 2,500 jobs paying $30,000 a year, VW turned away 83,000 hopefuls at Chattanooga, which started up this year. Statistically, an applicant to Harvard University had a better chance of admission.

On the site of an old munitions depot, the plant is gleaming new, and a natural creek flows through the property. There is no obvious sign of the stresses that can drive workers to organize.

Rodney Barrett, a 42-year-old production worker, said there was no need for a union. "Things would have to change drastically for me to change my mind," he said in an interview arranged by VW.

German connection
Even some UAW officials concede that, if it comes to a vote at an automaker that is hostile to the UAW, the union will lose. Instead, the goal is to convince the automakers to open their doors and let the union make its case at town hall meetings.

That approach helped the UAW organize parts supplier Dana Holding Corp in 2007, including a plant in Kentucky that had voted the union down four years earlier.

Key to winning that kind of cooperation is the backing of the German union IG Metall, union leaders say.

In recent months, King has traveled to Germany to meet with IG Metall. In August, a pair of German union officials visited a Mercedes SUV factory in Vance, Alabama, another plant the UAW is focusing on. In November, representatives of both unions met again at a summit of union leaders in India.

IG Metall, which wants to keep the United States from becoming a cheap-labor alternative to Germany, is also helping the United Steelworkers try to organize a ThyssenKrupp steel plant that opened in Alabama last year.

"We will support the UAW, but we will not do the UAW's work," said Peter Donath, an IG Metall official.

Back in 1978, IG Metall helped the UAW organize the first big foreign factory in the United States, VW's Westmoreland Assembly Plant in Pennsylvania.

In that instance, a former senior VW executive recalled, IG Metall told VW to look favorably on the UAW's efforts. The message was, "Help them organize, or else," said the former executive, who asked not to be identified.

King is eager to show IG Metall and the foreign automakers that a new UAW has emerged from the wreckage of Detroit and that the union can be a better partner with management. He points to new contracts with U.S. automakers as an example of the UAW's flexibility.

But the GM contract alone runs to over 1,800 pages. IG Metall has proposed that the UAW agree to work rules for up to 15 years with the German automakers, which would be a radical break from laborious plant-by-plant negotiations every four years.

In public, VW executives maintain their neutrality on whether the UAW should represent its workers. But they note that workers already take part in corporate decisions, under policies first enforced by British military officers in Germany after World War Two. "Volkswagen has proven good at this," VW Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn told Reuters in September.

VW managers also have more recent history in mind.

The company closed its Westmoreland plant in Pennsylvania in 1988, in part because of flagging demand for the VW Rabbit and its successor, the Golf. Unauthorized walkouts in the first two years and chants of "No money, no bunny" left a bitter taste.

If he had the chance again, the former VW executive said, he would have argued to build that plant somewhere in the South.

Daimler, too, maintains an impartial stance. "Our legal requirement is to remain neutral in these questions. That's what we are," Chairman Dieter Zetsche told Reuters.

But Daimler has its own history with the UAW. In 2006, Zetsche pleaded with the union for concessions at Chrysler, before giving up and selling the company the next year. The UAW already represents workers at Daimler's Freightliner truck plants in several states, including North Carolina. Its Mercedes installation in Alabama is Daimler's only other plant in the United States.

Won't be easy
Other companies are more overtly hostile. Hyundai, Honda and Nissan have not taken King up on his offer for talks, people close to the effort say.

Hyundai Vice Chairman Yoon Yeo-cheol was blunt when asked about the chances for the UAW at its plant in Montgomery, Alabama. "It will not be easy," he told reporters in Seoul. "Hyundai employees there don't like it."

The UAW knows it has a fight with Hyundai ahead. Late last month, the union sent pickets to more than 80 U.S. Hyundai dealers in a show of support for the automaker's South Korean union over a complaint by a woman who said she was harassed by her supervisor at a factory there.

In a conflict, foreign automakers can turn to an army of outside consultants to hammer home the message that the union needs members more than members need a union.

"When we spin this to employees, we say, 'What do you think they want? They want your dues money and they need it," said Walter Orechwa, chief executive of Projections Inc, a consulting firm that has worked with BMW and Toyota.

On one crucial front, the effort to keep wages at union plants above those at non-union plants, the UAW has already lost a lot of ground.

Newly hired workers earn $14.50 an hour at VW in Chattanooga. That is just below the $14.78 that a new hire would make at a unionized GM plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Adjusted for monthly dues at Spring Hill, the VW worker is behind by only about $15 per month.

King concedes the UAW's past mistakes contributed to Detroit's near-demise.

Since 2001, the Detroit Three have slashed over 200,000 jobs, eliminating more than 60 percent of their hourly work force. In the same period, Japanese, South Korean and German automakers have opened eight assembly plants in the United States, creating almost 20,000 factory jobs.

Even the UAW's friends recognize the union's past as a problem.

"Obviously, the union lives with the legacy of all that's happened," said Ron Bloom, a member of the Obama administration task force that oversaw the bailout of GM and Chrysler in 2009, saving thousands of union jobs. The UAW backed President Obama in the 2008 election, but the White House has said nothing on the UAW's organizing drive.

Myth of the south
Top union officials say it is a myth that the South cannot be organized. But the UAW has been overly confident before. Just before the vote at Smyrna, King's predecessor, Ron Gettelfinger, privately predicted a UAW victory.

Then workers were shown a message from Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn. "We'll be making decisions on where future growth will occur in the U.S. and in Mexico based on the efficiency of operations," Ghosn said in a video, shown to workers in groups. "Bringing a union into Smyrna could result in making Smyrna not competitive."

The message swayed "the middle 40 percent" of workers, said Konkle, the former UAW supporter, and the fight was lost by a vote of 3,103 to 1,486.

Now, Konkle's job is to find ways to save money for Nissan. Two years ago, he and others noticed Nissan had been using the same device to take a car off the line for inspection since 1992. In the intervening years, the cars had become heavier and harder to handle, and the device took up to five workers to operate.

So Konkle and his team devised a lift that could be operated by a single worker, at a cost of about $1,800. Konkle's supervisor handed over his credit card to make the needed purchases - an on-the-spot fix that would have been unimaginable in a unionized factory.

Thanks to such innovations, it took 18.6 hours to build a car at Smyrna in 2008, compared with 20.6 hours at GM's plant at Spring Hill, according to The Harbour Report.

As well as saving money, giving workers a say in how work gets done makes for a happier labor force.

"You've eliminated, for the most part, the reasons people organize," said John Hancock, a management-side labor attorney at Butzel Long in Detroit.

At Smyrna, Nissan is expanding. It is opening a battery plant and adding production of the all-electric Leaf.

Many of the new jobs are lower-wage temporary positions working for contractor Yates Services. Those workers wear brown uniforms to distinguish them from Nissan's regular hires in blue or gray. In some parts of the Smyrna complex, temporary workers now account for up to 60 percent of the jobs.

At a pair of hiring fairs this month, about 5,000 people applied for temporary jobs at the plant. About one in five applicants would get jobs that pay about $26,000 per year.

One of the new temporary workers is Konkle's 19-year-old daughter, who makes $12.50 per hour. Although he has no patience for the UAW, Konkle worries the lower wages are "generating renters, people who will never be able to buy their house."

Others had more immediate worries.

Ben Nurse, 42, stood in line on a cold Saturday morning to apply for a contract position. A father of two, he said he was three months behind on his mortgage payments and had been out of work for a year since he left the U.S. Army.

"A year without a job, you'll take anything," he said. "I don't have a problem not working with a union. A job is a job."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45815126/ns/business-autos/

history of halloween eagles cowboys eagles cowboys trick or treat times trick or treat times madoff bernie madoff

China reveals its space plans up to 2016 (AP)

BEIJING ? China has released its next five-year space plan to help it on its way to its eventual goals of building a space station and putting a man on the moon.

The white paper released Thursday says that by the end of 2016, China will launch space laboratories, manned spaceships and ship freighters, and make technological preparations for the construction of space stations.

It says the country will carry on exploring the moon using probes, start gathering samples of the moon's surface, and "push forward its exploration of planets, asteroids and the sun."

China places great emphasis on the development of its space industry, which is seen as a symbol of national prestige.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_re_as/as_china_space

palindrome palindrome asana als disease brittany norwood lindsay lohan condoleezza rice

epaomanipur: #EPAO 4 UG cadres, one foreigner arrested: Troops of 27Assam Rifles of 9 Sector under HQ IGAR S in an... http://t.co/1n4I7QdU #MANIPUR

  • Passer la navigation
  • Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
  • Passer cette ?tape
  • Connexion
Loader Twitter.com
  • Connexion
#EPAO 4 UG cadres, one foreigner arrested: Troops of 27Assam Rifles of 9 Sector under HQ IGAR S in an... bit.ly/sx7kVx #MANIPUR epaomanipur

E-Pao Manipur

Pied de page

Source:

patrice o neal patrice o neal paulina gretzky paulina gretzky wayne gretzky wayne gretzky occupy los angeles

KOLO8: Person of Interest No Longer Sought in Taxi Debt Death: Reno police are no longer looking for a the person who w... http://t.co/k7VzL7qK

  • Passer la navigation
  • Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
  • Passer cette ?tape
  • Connexion
Loader Twitter.com
  • Connexion
Person of Interest No Longer Sought in Taxi Debt Death: Reno police are no longer looking for a the person who w... bit.ly/uErgYk KOLO8

Pied de page

Source:

grammys 2011 mike leach mike leach billy graham scion fr s elf on a shelf elf on a shelf

Oil hovers below $100 as US economy improves (AP)

SINGAPORE ? Oil prices hovered below $100 a barrel Friday in Asia amid encouraging signs the U.S. economy is slowly improving.

Benchmark crude for February delivery rose 12 cents to $99.77 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 29 cents to settle at $99.65 in New York on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude was down 6 cents at $107.95 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Crude has traded near $100 since mid-November after jumping from $75 in October as investors eye growing evidence the U.S. economy could avoid a recession next year. The government reported Thursday that claims for jobless benefits fell to a four-week average of 375,000, the lowest level in three and a half years.

The National Association of Realtors also reported that contracts to buy U.S. homes rose last month to the highest level in a year and a half.

Some analysts worry Europe's debt crisis will drag the continent into recession next year and undermine global crude demand.

"From a longer term perspective, we continue to zero in on the euro zone as the primary driver of oil pricing during the first quarter of 2012," energy consultant Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report. "We still view the euro zone debt issues as intractable."

Traders are also closely watching tensions between Iran and Western powers over Tehran's nuclear power program. Iran threatened this week to close the key oil export passage of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf if the U.S. and other nations tighten sanctions. The U.S. Navy said it would not tolerate any move to limit the strait's traffic.

Energy trader Blue Ocean Brokerage said oil prices would likely eventually jump by about $50 if Iran, OPEC's second-biggest crude exporter, tried to close the strait.

"Let's start with an easy $20 spike, then add in a risk premium for insurance costs, delays, costs to push oil through alternative routes and the obvious loss of 3.5 million barrels a day from Iran," energy trader Blue Ocean Brokerage said in a report.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 0.7 cent to $2.93 per gallon and gasoline futures slid 0.3 cent at $2.67 per gallon. Natural gas futures were down 2.3 cents to $3.00 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices

suh suh school closings lindsey vonn lindsey vonn josef stalin kourtney and kim take new york

Kris Humphries Just Misses Double-Double in Loss to Magic


Kris Humphries and the New Jersey Nets endured another blowout loss last night, falling by 16 points to the Magic in Orlando.

It was a relatively quiet night for the former Mr. Kim Kardashian, who only attempted five shots and finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. He also had an assist and a block in 35 minutes of action; or 37 fewer minutes of action than days his marriage to the reality star lasted.

Magic superstar Dwight Howard fell two boards shy of a career high, pulling down 24 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson scored 22 for Orlando.

The Nets will remain on the road for the next two games, playing at Atlanta and Cleveland tonight and Sunday night, respectively.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/kris-humphries-just-misses-double-double-in-loss-to-magic/

pabst blue ribbon mac miller omarion gabby gabby marcel the shell with shoes on ecu

Cast your vote for the year's weirdest science

Kyoto U. / INAH / The Daily Citizen / NBC

The weirdest science stories of 2011 include (clockwise from top left) the one about the game-playing chimps, the update on the 2012 Maya apocalypse, a bird-death epidemic and the zodiac debate.

By Alan Boyle

Even with the supposed Mayan doomsday coming up, it's going to be hard for?2012 to match 2011 when it comes to weird science: What other year can boast a bird-killing?"aflockalypse," a chupacabra prowling around?the nation's capital, two Loch Ness-type monster sightings and two doomsday predictions. (News flash: The predictions?were wrong.)

That's why the Weird Science Awards exist: To pay tribute to the strange but scientific (or pseudo-scientific) tales of each year. This year's?winners of the fifth annual Weirdies will take their place alongside glow-in-the-dark cats and dogs, reattached rabbit penises, the 2,700-year-old marijuana stash and the Stone Age sex toy as talismans of this wacky age.


We're offering 30 nominees from the past year, and it's up to you to pick the top 10 award-winners. One of the nominees ? the one about pee pressure ? is a?laureate from this year's Ig Nobel award ceremony, which honors "research that makes people laugh and then think." You can use that as your judging criterion, or you can go for the article that makes you laugh, and then ask, "What on earth?were they thinking?"

Write-in votes and second-guessing are encouraged;?you can register them in your comments below.

The 10 nominees that get the most votes as of noon ET on Jan. 3 will be recognized as the 2012 Weirdy winners, and to mark the occasion, we'll review the year in weird science on Wednesday with Ig Nobel creator Marc Abrahams.

Live Poll

Weirdest story of 2011?

  • 171809

    Animals die in 'Aflockalypse'

    7%

  • 171810

    Pole-shift makeover

    5%

  • 171811

    13th zodiac sign

    4%

  • 171812

    Tiny periodic table

    2%

  • 171813

    Gorilla walks like human

    2%

  • 171814

    Zombie ants

    16%

  • 171815

    'Bownessie' pictures

    0%

  • 171819

    Weird-life debate

    2%

  • 171820

    Flies on meth

    5%

  • 171821

    Chimps play games

    1%

  • 171822

    He-she birds

    1%

  • 171823

    Nessie in Alaska?

    3%

  • 171824

    Cryonics founder frozen

    1%

  • 171825

    Dog's off-and-on glow

    3%

  • 171826

    Undersea anomaly

    2%

  • 171827

    Orange goo in Alaska

    3%

  • 171828

    Chupacabra or fox?

    1%

  • 171829

    Rock, paper ... win!

    2%

  • 171830

    Tool-using dolphins

    3%

  • 171831

    Corpse-dissolving machine

    5%

  • 171832

    Cleverbot passes test

    1%

  • 171833

    Tool-using fish

    2%

  • 171834

    Pee pressure

    4%

  • 171835

    Doomsayer doubly wrong

    6%

  • 171836

    Holding hands for 1,500 years

    3%

  • 171837

    The devil in the fresco

    1%

  • 171838

    New brick in Maya legend

    3%

  • 171839

    77,000-year-old beds

    0%

  • 171840

    Shroud made in a flash?

    2%

  • 171841

    Samoa skips Friday

    2%

  • 171842

    None of the above

    8%

VoteTotal Votes: 416

Here are the nominees from the past year, in chronological order:

Review the nominees, then cast your vote. We'll?talk about the winners?next Wednesday on "Virtually Speaking Science." In the meantime, take a walk down memory lane with these Weirdies from past years:

More year-end reviews:


Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.?

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9779631-its-boom-time-for-weird-science

pumpkin seed recipe mark madoff disturbia ufc results nick diaz michael myers power outage