New Crop of Monstrous 4K TVs

Another series of TVs which will take home entertainment to another level!! are you ready for it? Saw this in  newspaper.. seems really nice.. so does the price.. Will you be ready to spend this big amount on TVs.. probably same amount as cars like Accord/Camry!!! Depends on your priorities.. How much time you spend on your cars vs in front of TV.. or do you like more comfort and safety while going to office or you care about more bigger better experience in the evening while watching games or movies..

On the other hand.. assuming 8 years of life for such TVs... it will cost you 3K per year.. Assuming you watch them 300 days of year... it will be $10 per day just the cost of display.. which is not that much.. Obviously, you will be spending another 4-5 dollars on content, electricity..  Let us say $15 per day.. for $15 two people can go and watch movies in theatre.. Live games can cost more.. may be you will have to sacrifice a weeks worth of super TV.. Ideal thing would be to enjoy all sort of things without worrying about these small things like $10-15 per day.. but for that our economy needs to grow much more faster and everyone needs to make much higher income levels..

then I am sure there will be 240K or 2.4 million dollar worth TVs as well.. what would be next to 3D/4K TV? May be something like a entertainment room where you will be sitting right in the middle of actual content.. theater kind of experience.. only difference would be that you will be right on the stage and you can probably roam around with holograms adjusting themselves so you get best viewing angle and you can change your view to top view, bottom view and what not.. just kidding.. but you never know if someone is already working on these type of TV or entertainment system sets..

there is no end to it as innovations will continue to drive new things and new prices.

Giants keeps on rolling..

with the momentum which is difficult to stop now. In all probability Giants will win put closure on World Series on Sunday itself.. if not Sunday.. Latest by Monday.. Unless they want to come back home and win in front of home crowd.. They will have to work really hard with the risk coming really close to loss in series.. I think they will and should try to close this series. Don't know in baseball, but in cricket or other sports we could have easily fixed rest of the series to increase number of games and excitement.

Though, I am not big fan of watching games on TV and seldom watch games on TV, love these reports to read.. Great summary and reporting from Purdy on this..

Go Giants!!!!

ONE ... AND

DONE ON A COLD NIGHT, TIGERS ARE COLDER STILL AS GIANTS MOVE WITHIN A GAME OF SERIES TITLE

DETROIT — The Giants are no longer a mere baseball team. They are a soul-sucking force that journeys to the Midwest and obliterates the hopes and aspirations of entire industrial metropolitan areas. Or something close to that. Seriously.

First in these postseason playoffs, the Giants wounded dreams in Cincinnati. Then in St. Louis. And on Saturday night here at Comerica Park, their 2-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers gave the Giants a three-games-to-none lead in the World Series. It was quite a scene to witness and feel. The 42,262 loyalists who filled Comerica Park were fueled to howl and scream. They were ready to applaud and feast on anything that looked like one step toward a victory that would have put the Tigers right back in the Series.

The Giants gave them nothing.

Absolutely nothing. Ryan Vogelsong, the starting pitcher, threw almost six shutout innings. Tim Lincecum came out of the bullpen and was lights out. 

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TOP: NHAT V. MEYER/ STAFF; ABOVE: MARK BLINCH/REUTERS

Giants center fielder Angel Pagan, right, jumps with shortstop Brandon Crawford as left fielder Gregor Blanco, left, and right fielder Hunter Pence run past. Starter Ryan Vogelsong, top, led the Giants staff to another shutout.

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MARK PURDY

COLUMNIST

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Sergio Romo, the closer, took care of the rest. The crowd came to life between innings when the scoreboard implored them to, plus a few times for a few at-bats that eventually went nowhere. But otherwise, it was … well, whatever passes for crickets on a 44-degree night in a packed ballpark. 

For the Giants, that nonsound was a gorgeous thing to not hear. 

“Definitely,” Romo said. “It’s very uplifting for us in the clubhouse and the dugout. We’re up 3-0. They have to beat us four straight games to win.” 

Correct. You might wonder how often such a comeback has previously occurred in a World Series. The answer: Never. 

So, yes, the Giants are in a 99 percent unbeatable situation. The only question left is whether they finish off the Tigers here on their home field or back in San Francisco. The way Saturday night went, you wouldn’t make odds of seeing baseball at AT&T Park again until 2013. 

Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland, a pragmatic human, was not sugarcoating the situation. 

“Our guys know,” Leyland said. “They can count. There’s no secret formula or message for us.” No runs, either. 

“We’ve been shut out for 18 innings,” Leyland said. “So that’s pretty hard to win a game.” It’s tempting to say the Giants can’t ever lose again, either. Their performance in Game 3 reflected the run they’ve been on since Game 5 against the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. Beginning with the first inning of that game, the Giants have never trailed on the scoreboard. And once more Saturday, they stared down and vanquished every possible obstacle that could thwart them. 

Cold? The Giants scoffed at the cold Saturday night, when the thermometer dipped to 44 degrees. 

The American League’s best batter? The Giants never let Miguel Cabrera get to second base for the second straight game. 

The Tiger named Prince? The Giants made him swing the bat like a lowly serf — and struck him out twice. Prince Fielder is a large man but he has seemingly shrunk in size ever since he was called out on that home plate slide in Game 2. 

And what of potential late-inning rallies? Are you kidding? In the ninth inning, with Romo on the mound, the Tigers’ Jhonny Peralta lofted a deep fly toward the left field foul pole that seemed to have a chance to go out of the park. Instead, the ball fell slightly short — and Giants’ outfielder Gregor Blanco sprinted over with vengeance to make a nice catch in foul territory just a few feet from the padded wall. 

Other than that, the only moment of true concern all night was when Cabrera came to the plate in the fifth inning with the bases loaded against Vogelsong. Here was the AL’s Triple Crown winner in a perfect position to do some real damage. But facing Vogelsong’s best stuff, Cabrera could only pop up to shortstop and end the inning. 

“He made a great pitch at the right time,” Leyland said. “I thought we had Ryan on the ropes a couple of times. We couldn’t get the killer hit, the killer blow.” 

In case you’ve forgotten, the last runs scored by the Tigers were way back in the ninth inning of Game 1 when Peralta hit a home run over the center field fence — but he even had some help with that one. Angel Pagan, the Giants’ center fielder, reached up and banged his glove on the ball as it reached the top of the fence, helping send it over the top. 

That play seems like a month ago. The Giants have been so dominant, it’s almost not fair. In the locker room here after Saturday’s victory, they were trying not to be too giddy but also not act as if they are stunned. 

“I’m not surprised,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said, “because of how good our staff has been. We’re playing a good team. I think they’re 4-0 this postseason (at home).” 

Make that 4-1, after a crushing Tiger loss on a chilly evening. Although Romo, for one, didn’t feel cold at all. 

“No,” he said. “Adrenaline is a beautiful thing.” 

You know the old saying about it not being over until the fat lady sings? With the Giants, it’s not over until the bearded reliever slings. One more sling job to go. 

Contact Mark Purdy at mpurdy@mercurynews.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/ MercPurdy. 





KARL MONDON/STAFF 

Giants fan Wayne Friedman, of New York, is mauled by Detroit Tigers mascot PAWS, who was posing with a group of Detroit Tigers volunteers Saturday. 



NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF 

The Giants' Hunter Pence cheers with his teammates in the dugout before their game against the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the World Series. Giants pitchers have held the Tigers scoreless for the past 18 innings for a 3-0 lead in the Series. 



PAUL KITAGAKI JR./SACRAMENTO BEE 

Center fielder Angel Pagan dances in the dugout during the eighth inning with the Giants up 2-0. San Francisco’s second consecutive shutout has Detroit on the brink of elimination. 

Rajat Gupta.. Sad decline from fame and honor..

These type of news makes you think..

99% other folks who does this may not ever get caught.. that may make you believe that you will be most likely never be in this 1% category of who gets caught. But still once in a while these things do happen and in general create big deterrent for repetition of such things.. It also makes you wonder about how link between personal character and professional character and success.. Are such things worth tarnishing your reputation... Rajat was The icon and legend in his field..

It reminds me of one of my very good friend's email signature..

"Success is Journey.. Not the destination!!!"
how true..

Moment we assume that we are successful.. it is the start of our decline.. in any aspect.. it applies universally..

Good thing about US is that they are good in catching such folks.. even though it is really easy to catch such folks.. In stock market if some one is getting continuous success without any significant failures.. that has to be some kind of insider info.. as a simple rule if you are making more than double of the average market gains over 3-5 years of horizon you have to have some kind of extra information.. It is simply not possible to get continuous extraordinary gains in stock market..


Ex-Goldman Sachs exec gets prison in insider trading case

By Peter Lattman

New York Times

NEW YORK — Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble director, was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday for leaking boardroom secrets to former San Francisco hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Gupta, 63, who ran the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and served as a top adviser to the foundations of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, is the most prominent figure to face prison in the government’s sweeping crackdown on insider trading.

He was also ordered to pay a $5 million fine. In a statement, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, said of Gupta, “His conduct has forever tarnished a once sterling reputation that took years to cultivate.” Bharara added, “We hope that others who might consider breaking the securities laws will take heed from this sad occasion and choose not to follow in Mr. Gupta’s footsteps.” The Justice Department’s campaign has reached onto the trading floors of some of Wall Street’s largest hedge funds and inside the most revered boardrooms of corporate America. Over a three-year stretch, more than 70 traders, bankers, lawyers and corporate executives have been convicted of insider trading crimes.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff of U.S. District Court in Manhattan handed down a more lenient prison sentence than the eight to 10 years stipulated by nonbinding federal sentencing guidelines.

An Indian from Kolkata and a graduate of Harvard Business School, Gupta rose swiftly through the ranks of McKinsey and headed the firm for a decade. He was a trusted adviser to captains of industry, including Henry Kravis of the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Peter Dolan, the former chairman of Bristol-Myers Squibb. A noted humanitarian, he has also played a leading role in organizations fighting diseases in poverty-stricken nations.

Gupta is one of 23 people criminally charged in a seven-year insider trading conspiracy orchestrated by Rajaratnam, who headed the Galleon hedge fund and was convicted in 2011.

In May, a jury found Gupta guilty of providing Rajaratnam with advanced word of secret, market-moving news that he learned as a Goldman director.

Gupta’s sentence is far less than the 11 years being served by Rajaratnam in a federal prison in Ayer, Mass. But it is in line with prison terms handed down by Rakoff in other recent insider trading cases.

The judge rejected the recommendation from Gupta’s lawyers for a sentence of probation combined with a “rigorous and lengthy program of community service” that included a proposal to work in Rwanda on a health program to combat HIV.

Zynga's demise.. sad but nothing unexpected

I feel bad seeing such a great talent pool going away... but this is one company.. for which I never had any sympathy.. Honestly.. I couldn't understand their games.. neither their business model.. In my view it was at the best a fad.. which is either reached maturity level or just simply going away. Their business model was to make money by selling virtual goodies in games.. how lame anyone could go.. that is simply beyond my comprehension.. Why on earth any sensible person will spend money on these virtual goodies.. I can not empathize neither with their players nor with the company which created these super moronic games..

Then, finally, company is making biggest blunder by firing employees.. at this time of crunch.. if they want to save their company they should be hiring more and come up with innovative games which  can bring back life to the company.. I would prefer to take a shot at revival rather than committing a definitive but slow suicide by firing my talent pool.. But all this non-sense is due to fact that management has to report numbers to wall street and they have to show SOME actions to prove that they are still in control and have plan to revive company.. But does it matter at this stage.. Wall Street should be last thing which they should be worried about. They should worry about innovation and their customer.. Customer is king and god for you.. you do whatever you can to please your king and / or god..


It’s no game: Zynga is falling fast

Revenue is decent, but company losing fans, firing workers

By David Streitfeld

New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — Zynga is putting all its chips on a game called survival.

The company, which practically invented the notion of using Facebook as a games platform, is firing employees, shutting games and losing fans. Its reversal of fortune since going public less than a year ago has been steep, raising the specter of Internet companies like Pets.com and theglobe. com that dazzled investors briefly a dozen years ago.

That earlier crackup was part of a broad-based downturn that took everything tech along with it. This time around, the bubble is bursting selectively, one promising but overvalued outfit at a time. Groupon, Netflix and, most visibly, Facebook have all been hammered in recent months as investors began to realign their rosy expectations with cruel reality.

Zynga is by far the most embattled of this select group. Even as its partner Facebook staged a tentative revival Wednesday — its shares rising 19 percent on the heels of better-thanexpected third-quarter numbers — Zynga’s own earnings report, released after the market closed, was grim.

The good news: It was not the apocalypse some investors were apparently anticipating.

Revenue was $317 million, an improvement over the $300 million to $305 million the company had forecast in early October when it warned that tough times were ahead. Revenue was significantly higher than the $256 million that cautious analysts had expected.

But revenue was up only 3 percent over the third quarter of 2011. That is not the sort of success story Wall Street had been looking for.

Zynga makes most of its money by selling virtual goods to committed players. These bookings, at $256 million in the third quarter, were in line with the company’s lowered expectations. In the third quarter of 2011, bookings were $288 million. Wall Street, which had expected outright disaster, reacted positively to the news. Zynga shares fell slightly in regular trading Wednesday to $2.12 but spiked 12 percent in afterhours trading. Zynga went public in December at $10.

Zynga began this week to implement some measures designed to salvage its chances. It is dismissing about 5 percent of its 3,000 employees and turning off 13 older games that never had much popularity. But that is unlikely to be enough, said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne Agee.

“The Zynga model was flaky to begin with,” Bhatia said.

He noted that it was heavily dependent on Facebook, on a few hit games like FarmVille and CityVille, and on just a few players who were willing to buy virtual goods to speed their play.

“If they could find a hit, maybe things could turn around,” he said. “But the recent track record doesn’t give you a lot of confidence.”

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STEPHEN LAM REUTERS

General Manager Manuel Bronstein speaks during the Zynga Unleashed event in San Francisco in June.

is iPad Mini worth $80 premium over Nexus 7

Here is disagree with Troy. Time will tell who is/was right but I think overall experience of iPad mini will well make it worth $80 premium over comparable Google Nexus 7 tablet. Overall experience includes both hardware form factor (apple factor + 30% more real estate) and software ecosystem. On top of it, it will make lot more sense for families to buy iPad mini and continue to take advantage in the investments in Apps and games they already bought for iPad/iPhone. With huge customer base, here Apple has big advantage over Nexus 7.

If I am existing iPad/iPhone user at home, and if I have to buy extra tablet for my kids so they can leave my iPad/iPhone then I am better of spending $80 more and get iPad mini instead of buying Nexus 7 where I will have to spend another 10-20-30-40 bucks on games and apps.. Well.. that is my logic..It could be flawed.. or may be it is just another lame excuse to spend another few hundred bucks on Apple..

However, event was pleasantly surprising from iMac's perspective. It was looking real cool.. though I am kind of against Apple for keep on removing DVD drive and not offering blu-ray drive.. but then, I am in minority any how on that aspect. more and more people are moving away from discs and slowly DVD is going to get status of what floppy drive have today.  As long as internet access speed keeps on growing and service providers don't discriminate against Netflix traffic and impose unnecessary monthly limits/caps on download I am fine.. Coming back to iMac again, despite all the beauty and cleanliness, I am still not going to buy anytime soon as I still feel that performance to price ratio is really poor. moreover... there is very little expand-ability.. 

I would have appreciated higher resolution for regular 13 inch mac book pro. 13 inch MBP is still my favorite except for it's screen resolution. I really can't understand why can't Apple make is same as Mac Book Air.

I am big fan of mac mini and love its form factor. Though price/performance ratio is still high but still, it I love it and worth all the dollars being asked for it. It is portable enough that you can carry it with you in your laptop bag as long as you get lcd screen to connect it to.

Finally, I was more or less disappointed by sudden out of turn upgrade of iPad.. It suddenly reduced value of my iPad from 3rd generation.. Though, from Apple's perspective it makes sense to upgrade it and more importantly change upgrade cycle to align with pre-holiday season. Though, current shortage of accessories for lightning connector might be risk for Apple.. very minor though..

APPLE’S SMALL TABLET

A maxi price kinda spoils the iPad Mini

SAN JOSE — In many ways, the iPad Mini is an amazing device. If it were $200 or even $250, it would be a steal.

But at $330? Not so much.

I briefly tested one at Apple’s event here Tuesday. I was blown away by the physical design of the Mini, which consumers can pre-order beginning Friday.

I really like the original iPad, but it can be tough to hold for extended periods. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve liked some of the smaller tablets that have hit the market over the past year — they’re much more portable than the iPad and more comfortable for reading or watching movies.

But the design of the iPad Mini puts even the latest rival mini-tablets to shame. Despite a screen that is a third larger than those of its nearest rivals, Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD, the iPad is lighter and about half as thick. Amazingly, it’s also narrower than the Kindle Fire HD. 

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KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES

The iPad Mini, left, is a little less than half the weight of the fourth-generation iPad; both were unveiled Tuesday in San Jose.

TROY WOLVERTON

TECH FILES

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Better yet, despite its lighter weight, it feels much more solid. The Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7 have plastic cases; the iPad Mini’s is aluminum. You might worry about scuffing the iPad Mini’s case, but not about breaking it. It feels great in the hand; I didn’t want to put it down. 

Another great feature of the iPad Mini is that it will run all of the apps available for the larger iPad, a big advantage over rivals. Users can choose from some 275,000 apps that have been customized for the iPad, far more than you’ll find for Android- based tablets such as the Nexus 7, not to mention the Kindle Fire. 

Here’s a good example of that advantage. Mini-tablets are great e-readers. On the iPad Mini, you’ll be able to read e-books sold by Amazon’s Kindle store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook store or Apple’s iBook store. 

On the Kindle Fire, you can choose from Amazon’s e-books — and that’s about it, unless you want to go to the trouble to play with your settings so the device can install apps from outside the Amazon app store. 

One other advantage of the iPad Mini: versions with 4G radios so you can access the Internet in far more places. You’ll pay a cool $130 extra, but at least you have the option. 

Like the latest iPhones, iPod Touches and the bigger iPad, the iPad Mini includes Siri, Apple’s speech command system, can make video calls, runs the latest version of Apple’s iOS software and appears to include all the same apps as the larger iPad. 

Still, as much as there is to like about the Mini, I’m not willing to say it’s worth the premium price. Partly that’s because it has some shortcomings compared with its rivals and the bigger iPad. 

The display’s resolution, for example, is lower than not only the larger iPad but also the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire. Thanks to that difference, text and video on the Mini’s screen are likely to be less sharp than on its rivals. If I were a betting man, I would put a lot of money on Apple upgrading the display of the Mini to Retina quality within two years. 

One other way the iPad Mini comes up short is that its chip is the same one that came with last year’s iPad 2, not the ultrafast nextgeneration one that’s in the newer iPad. I didn’t notice much of a difference — the game “Real Racing HD” ran smoothly on the iPad Mini and the device seemed plenty responsive — but the slower processor could matter when Apple upgrades iOS and adds new features that require more power. 

And while the iPad Mini is a great device, it’s not so much better than its rivals that it’s worth a more than 50 percent premium. The Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire may not be built of aluminum or as lightweight as the iPad Mini, but they are well-built, easy-to-use devices that offer consumers a reasonably large selection of apps, movies and music. For $200, they look like bargains compared with the Mini. 

If you’ve been itching to get an iPad, but couldn’t swallow the $500 price, $330 for the Mini will look pretty tempting. But if what you really want is a mini tablet, and it doesn’t have to be the iPad, the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD are much better deals. 

Which is too bad. I like the iPad Mini a lot. But I would have loved it at a better price. 




KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES 

Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the new iPad Mini at the California Theatre in San Jose on Tuesday. The fourth-generation iPad was also unveiled at the event, along with updates for the iMac and MacBook Pro. 

Is it time to let go AMD..

10+ Years later! This is the example of applying sound management and innovation principles. AMD, can be seen as one of the biggest comeback in the history of tech companies!

Couple of years back it was more or less requirement to keep AMD alive. Otherwise we would have ended up with monopoly, I mean absolute monopoly of Intel. Any how it was Intel's monopoly..

Times have changed.. Intel itself is struggling to change and reformat themselves for new mobile device market. PC market is shrinking. It is still huge market but shrinking market and loosing it's old charm to ARM based or other mobile chips. Lot of new players in that market and there is full blown war out there in that segment. Good news is that, mobile/tablet market is still in its infancy stage and there is ample of growth opportunities and hopefully it will continue to remain fragmented market.

Unlike PC/Server chips market which become monopolistic right from the beginning and then it was literally choked by one big monster called Intel.. No offense to Intel.. I am writing this blog leveraging their chip only.. However, monopolies are never good for anyone in long term.. not even for the company who has monopoly on it.. as it is sure shot signature on its own death certificate. If you want to be thrive for longer time, you have to be competitive and always on your toes and ready take up new challenges..

However, times have changed and time themselves have signed death certificate of Intel.. It will be slow death unless, Intel takes up big gamble and transforms themselves completely by calling themselves company who primarily makes brains for mobile/tablets. But it is so difficult to let go their own cash cow. Best thing they can do at this time is to acquire one leading mobile/tablet chip maker and don't even think about integrating.. When time is right, they can merge themselves into its umbrella as PC/Server chip maker.. Knowing big companies.. I know for sure that they can't do such transforms themselves.. Last such transformation happened when Intel was really small company and was nimble and agile.. not any more.. They have to go external route now..

Coming back to AMD.. they can be easily shut down.. nobody will even notice them..

SLOWING DEMAND FOR CHIPS

AMD will slash its workforce

Sunnyvale firm blames tough PCmarket, will cut jobs by 15 percent

By Steve Johnson

sjohnson@mercurynews.com 

Blaming the tough market for personal computers, troubled Sunnyvale chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Thursday said it will trim its workforce by about 15 percent to reduce expenses and announced third-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street’s expectations.

The company didn’t specify the number of job cuts, which will be mostly done by the end of the year. But the layoffs presumably would affect about 1,665 positions based on the 11,100 employees it said it had in its most recent annual report. The company said it does not yet know how many of the trims will be in the Bay Area, where it has 925 employees.

“We faced a very challenging selling environment,” CEO Rory Read told analysts in a conference call. Although the company is trying to get its chips into other new markets, the slowdown in PC sales caught AMD by surprise. “We underestimated the speed of this change in our industry and expected to have several years to transform AMD’s business. But we must implement our transformation on a more aggressive timeline.”

But the announcement left some analysts skeptical.

“I’ve got to say I don’t like this,” Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon said. “They have to cut 15 percent. I think it’s going to be disruptive,” especially as AMD attempts to compete in new markets against other chip suppliers. 

The layoffs come on top of 1,400 job cuts the company announced in November. AMD also laid off 2,300 workers in September 2001. For the quarter, AMD said its sales totaled $1.27 billion, a 25 percent drop from the same period ago. It also reported a loss of $157 million, or 21 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average had expected a loss of 16 cents a share on sales of $1.28 billion. The company’s shares fell 15 cents, or more than 5 percent, to $2.62 at the market’s close and before the layoff announcement. It stayed at that price in after-hours trading. In recent quarters, AMD’s sales have steadily shrunk and it has dipped into the red on several occasions. But its problems have been brewing for years. Founded in 1969, it soon ran afoul of chipmaker Intel. They feuded over patents and other matters in the early 1980s, when both companies began supplying IBM’s personal computers with brainy x86 microprocessors. The bickering continued and in 2005, AMD filed an antitrust suit against Intel, accusing it of unfairly discouraging computer makers from using AMD’s chips. Similar allegations were leveled against Intel over the next few years by Japan, South Korea, New York state, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Europe, with the latter fining the company $1.45 billion. Intel denied wrongdoing and is appealing the European penalty. But in 2009, it agreed to give AMD $1.25 billion to resolve its complaints, and it later settled the suits by the FTC and New York. 

After that, AMD executives had hoped to grab a bigger piece of the PC microprocessor business. Instead, AMD, which had owned 23 percent of the market in 2006, saw its share slide to about 19 percent while Intel’s share rose from 75 percent to about 80 percent. 

Although AMD was often praised for its chip quality, its earnings in recent years disappointed investors and it was criticized for not branching out from the personal computer market. AMD’s failure to get its chips into smartphones and tablets reportedly was behind a decision in 2011 to oust CEO Dirk Meyer and replace him later that year with Rory Read, former CEO of PC and tablet maker Lenovo. 

After his new company suffered manufacturing glitches and announced a round of layoffs last year, Read had hoped to revive AMD’s fortunes by developing more power-efficient, low-cost processors for mobile devices and finding more customers for its graphics chips. He also announced plans to begin complementing its traditional x86 chip design with another design predominately used in smartphones and tablets from British firm ARM. 

But AMD’s difficulties continued and its stock price has been in a nose dive since April. 

Reed said he hopes to sell more of its chips for communications, industrial and gaming uses, boosting the share of revenue it gets from those markets from five percent today to 20 percent a year from now. 

But tech analyst Patrick Moorhead said it often takes three years to develop chips for those markets and he said he wished AMD had disclosed more about how it intends to do that. 

“It’s the lack of details that I think is challenging to really understand what AMD is going to be doing,” he said. 

Ambrish Srivastava, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets, was similarly unclear how AMD would be able to turn its fortunes around. 

“You never give up hope, that’s what I tell my kids,” he said. But he added, “they’re in a tough spot.” 

Contact Steve Johnson at 408-920-5043. Follow him at Twitter.com/ steveatmercnews. 

Amazing peek into one of the World's biggest new manufacturing facilities..

Great pictures of their Data Center.. Most of them are classic pictures even from photography point of view.. you have to visit to enjoy these breathtaking pictures.. definitely reminded me of thermal power plant where I used to visit as child with my dad..  although 90% of that plant was really dirty and ugly.. still used to fascinate me at that time.. now these newer cleaner..

Off course these Data centers also have ugly side.. which is hidden in those power plants who churn out thousands of megawatts of electricity to power them.. Here we only see cleaner part.. but behind the scene there is whole lot ugly and dirty pictures in power plants (whatever kind of it may be).. mines.. I think, Google should also post pictures of power plants and mines for the power sources of their Data Centers. Some stats on their power consumption and how much CO2 they emit annually (even with +/-20% range to hide actual real numbers is okay.. ). I don't know how much CO2 will be emitted to host this blog?

It makes me go on internet dieting... forces me limiting my time on internet and bytes I transfer or host.. That will be something like going on Oxygen dieting (consume less Oxygen and emit less CO2 from your own body..).. I don't think that will be possible as long as humanity is their on this planet earth.. Whatever we do, our energy consumption is bound to increase.. let us see what is limit of this planet..

http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/all/12

Virtual window looks

into Google data centers

Search giant gives an online tour of its computer sites

By Michael Liedtke

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers where an intricate maze of computers process Internet search requests, show YouTube video clips and distribute email for millions of people.

The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled Wednesday at www.google. com/ about/ datacenters/ gallery. The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google already has running in the U.S., Finland and Belgium. Google is also building data centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Chile.

Virtual tours of a North Carolina data center also will be available through Google’s “Street View” service, which is usually used to view photos of neighborhoods around the world.

The photographic access to Google’s data centers coincides with the publication of a Wired magazine article about how the company builds and operates them. The article is written by Steven Levy, a journalist who won Google’s trust while writing “In The Plex,” a book published last year about the company’s philosophy and evolution.

The data centers represent Google’s nerve center, although none are located near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View.

As Google blossomed from its roots in a Silicon Valley garage, company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked with other engineers to develop a system to connect low-cost computer servers in a way that would help them realize their ambition to provide a digital road map to all of the world’s information.
Initially, Google just wanted enough computing power to index all the websites on the Internet and deliver quick responses to search requests. As Google’s tentacles extended into other markets, the company had to keep adding more computers to store videos, photos, email and information about their users’ preferences.

The insights that Google gathers about the more than 1 billion people that use its services has made the company a frequent target of privacy complaints around the world. The latest missive came Tuesday in Europe, where regulators told Google to revise a 7-month-old change to its privacy policy that enables the company to combine user data collected from its different services.

Google studies Internet search requests and Web surfing habits in an effort to gain a better understanding of what people like. The company does this in an effort to show ads of products and services to the people most likely to be interested in buying them. Advertising accounts for virtually all of Google’s revenue, which totaled nearly $23 billion through the first half of this year.

Even as it allows anyone with a Web browser to peer into its data centers, Google intends to closely guard physical access to its buildings. The company also remains cagey about how many computers are in its data centers, saying only that they house hundreds of thousands of machines to run Google’s services.

Google’s need for so many computers has turned the company a major electricity user, although management says it’s constantly looking for ways to reduce power consumption to protect the environment and lower its expenses.

The company’s data centers are in: Berkeley County,S.C.;CouncilBluffs, Iowa; Douglas County, Ga.; Mayes County, Okla.; Lenoir, N.C.; The Dalles, Ore.; Hamina, Finland; and St. Ghislain, Belgium.

The Web link coincides with aWiredmagazine article on how Google builds and operates its data centers.

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CONNIE ZHOU/GOOGLE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Google technician works on some of the computers in The Dalles, Ore., data center. A website gives viewers a tour of Google’s nerve centers.

Two interesting news..

Finally iPad mini.. and price for Microsoft Surface  Tablet. As usual, it will be some kind of surprise on Apple side.. Nobody is expecting just a simple small mini version of iPad. There are rumors that it will have not only iPad mini will have Cellular Data but will also have cellular voice capability. It is easier to do that.. no biggie.. it will be competitor to Samsung Galaxy Note.. kind of.. Knowing Apple, if they can get some other interesting Voice + Data Plan to make it affordable.. so instead of iPad mini as purely Cell phone, it can be an extra cell phone possible with pay as you go/use.. I think it is easily doable considering Apple's clout. Hope something useful comes out.. not just min/micro version..

As far as Microsoft Surface is concerned.. looks like Microsoft is positioning it to enterprise customers with enterprise discounts which usually can be any where from 40-60%. Or some real fool/idiot is sitting in their pricing who is thinking that people will pay same price as iPad just because we are adding physical keyboard in cover of surface tablet. or... I am too dumb to understand great Microsoft strategy.. but whatever I know.. in my view this price will make surface DOA (dead on arrival). Even if it 10 times better than iPad.. perception is that iPad is gold standard and you can only raise price later on if your product was successful. Lot of people have tried it out.. Motorola I know tried with docking station kind of nonsense.. but nobody even remember Motorola's tablet's name..

TECHNOLOGY GIANTS THINK SMALL

Apple expected to lift curtain on iPad Mini

Oct. 23 event is set for San Jose’s California Theatre

By Jeremy C. Owens

jowens@mercurynews.com 

SAN JOSE — Apple sent out a media invite Tuesday to an event on Oct. 23, expected to be the introduction of a longrumored smaller iPad to compete with Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7. The invite, brightly colored with the top of an Apple logo, simply says “We’ve got a little more to show you” and invites media members to an event at the historic California Theatre in downtown San Jose. Apple last introduced a new product at the theater in 2005, when late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs showed off the company’s first video iPod and the debut of television shows on iTunes; the iPod U2 Special Edition was also introduced there in 2004.

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APPLE

Above is the e-mailed invitation sent to journalists Tuesday, advising them of Apple’s Oct. 23 event presumably to introduce the new iPad Mini.

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A smaller and less expensive iPad would be a logical step by the Cupertino company to thwart sales of similar tablets by Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Rumors have focused on a screen size of about 7.85 inches diagonally for the so-called iPad Mini, notably smaller than the standard iPad’s 9.7-inch screen. Smaller devices are easier to carry in a purse or suit pocket and cost about $200, far more affordable than the latest version of the iPad, which starts at $499. An “iPad Mini” would allow Apple to protect its retail flank, experts have said, effectively corralling off that lower price point from its rivals. 

Analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee told Bloomberg News last week that while “these competitors have a tough enough time competing against the 10-inch iPad,” a smaller, less expensive iPad Mini “will make the competition even tougher. It tells you how hard it is to beat Apple. These other companies have to either lose money or break even on these products.” 

Several news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and Reuters, have reported this month that Apple has already begun production of the device. Other reports have said that Apple will also introduce a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, smaller than the current 15-inch model. 

Jobs famously denounced a smaller iPad model as late as 2010, when he said “One naturally thinks that a 7-inch screen would offer 70 percent of the benefits of a 10inch screen. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. … The reason we won’t make a 7-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit a lower price point, it’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software.” 

However, business needs seem to have trumped the thinking of Jobs. 

“Even though we all remember Steve Jobs saying you’d have to file down your fingers to use a 7-inch tablet, it sounds like it’s finally going to happen,” Needham analyst Charles Wolf told this newspaper earlier this month. “But while it’s been proven there’s a market for a smaller iPad, I think it’s the lower price point that Apple’s concerned with.” 

Apple stock, struggling since the launch of the iPhone 5 led to concerns of production delays, shot up Tuesday, gaining 2.4 percent to close at $649.79. Before Tuesday’s gains, Apple — the most valuable U.S. company in terms of market capitalization — had fallen 9.4 percent on Wall Street since the launch of its newest smartphone on Sept. 21. Staff writer Pat May contributed to this report. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak. 

======================
Enterprise version pricing? with 60 or 70% discount?

Microsoft Surface to start at $499 — same as iPad

By Salvador Rodriguez

Los Angeles Times

The long-awaited pricing of Microsoft’s Surface tablet has finally been revealed — four months after the product was first announced. Microsoft said Tuesday it was taking pre-orders for its tablet, which starts at $499 for the 32 GB model that runs Windows RT, a lighter version of Windows 8 built for tablets. Prices go up to $599 for a 32 GB model that includes a cover with a built-in keyboard, and up to $699 for a 64 GB version with the keyboard cover, according to the pricing page. Additionally, covers can be purchased separately starting at $119.99 for a touch keyboard cover, $129.99 for a type cover. The type cover includes real keys and is built for quicker typing, while the touch cover comes in five color options. 

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DAMIAN DOVARGANES/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Microsoft’s Surface tablet is 9.3 millimeters thick.

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The Redmond, Wash., company announced the pricing of the Surface on the same day that Apple sent invitations to an Oct. 23 event where it is widely expected to announce an iPad Mini tablet. 

When Microsoft revealed the Surface, the company promised it would sell the tablet at competitive prices, and the tech giant has delivered. By comparison, the 9.7-inch Apple iPad also starts at $499, albeit for a 16 GB model. A 32 GB model costs $599, and that’s without a cover or keyboard. 

The Surface features a 10.6-inch display with a 1,366-by-768 resolution. The tablet features two 720p HD cameras. The body is 9.3 millimeters thick and comes with a kickstand. The Surface also features two microphones and includes ports for microSD cards, USB and HD video out. 

The Surface will go on sale alongside Windows 8 on Oct. 26. 

Besides unveiling prices, Microsoft also uploaded its first commercial for the tablet to YouTube on Monday night. 

iPhone 10 feature --> digital coffee!!!

The way we are progressing towards digitization.. very soon we will have digital Starbucks coffee available on your iPhone 10.. just kidding.. read this interesting news..

but my future job is getting better benefits..

STARBUCKS

Now you can ‘digital tip’ via mobile phone

Want to leave your barista a tip? Starbucks is making an app for that.

The Seattle-based coffee company says a digital tip function will be added to its mobile payment application starting next summer. A similar option will also be available on Square, a new payment app that Starbucks customers will be able to use starting in November.

To use either of the programs, customers download the app then link a credit or debit card to the account. When it comes time to pay at the register, they open the app and wave their phone in front of the scanner.
— Associated Press 

Mostly good news for Bay Area..

Seems that I need to be prepared to even worse traffic in coming days... You can very easily gauge local bay area economy by amount of time you spend on roads during peak commute hours.. We can already see growing delays due to increased cars on the road.. Cars on the road or commute time under normal circumstances is directly related to local economic conditions.. They have improved over last few years.. despite substantial investments in local freeways you can see that peak commute hours are getting worse..

If this news about Dell, Arista & Palo Alto Networks is true then we should be expecting even further delays.. Even though it gives some pain during office commute.. it is kind of enjoyable pain.. it gives you lot of comfort to see bay area coming back to its glory days (last time it was dot.com boom??)...

However.. Kahi dhoop.. Kahi chaya..  (best English translation I can think of is.. "Somewhere Sunny... Somewhere Shade".. I am sure there has to be better proverb in English.. In case you guys know.. let me know it's English equivalent..)..

Seems that our friends in Zynga are suffering a lot.. though they are still doing good for an average company.. but it seems that wall street is not happy with them.. so does.. many of the employees over there.. I could never understand their business model.. how can anybody be so dumb to procure virtual goodies with real money.. it is beyond my comprehension.. but then I am old school person.. Looks like many more folks are converting to old school like me!!!and that is causing grief to Zynga..

I think Zynga should do more of in game advertising or start some payer club who can pay some kind of monthly subscription and will be allowed to play their games not only free of advertisements but also will get some special latest and greatest games (aka beta testing).. Free gamers should be forced to view advertisements and limited sponsored merchandise while playing.. May be it is already in place.. I really can't think of any viable sane revenue model for Zynga..

Good news for employees is that SF is even more hot for job perspective as most of the newer start-ups are setting their shop in SF instead of suburbs of SF.

Overall.. I hope to see golden days back in bay area again very soon..

Cheers!!!

THOUSANDS OF JOBS POSSIBLE

Tech’s South Bay deals

Dell, Arista Networks, Palo Alto Networks could bring big payroll 1st

By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

SANTA CLARA — Three high-profile tech companies — Dell, Arista Networks and Palo Alto Networks — have struck deals to expand their South Bay operations in agreements that could bring thousands of jobs to Santa Clara.

All together, the companies have agreed to lease 600,000 square feet in Santa Clara. Buildings with that much space typically can accommodate 2,400 or more employees.
Palo Alto Networks has rented 300,000 square feet on Great America Parkway near the amusement park. Just up the street, south of Highway 237, Dell is renting 150,000 square feet, while Arista is leasing 150,000 square feet at a site next door to Dell.

In the largest of the expansions, Palo Alto Networks is taking over spaces once occupied by struggling Internet titan Yahoo.

“We have experienced significant growth,” said Mike Haro, a spokesman for Santa Clarabased Palo Alto Networks. “We needed space to account for that moving forward. We want to accommodate customer demand. We are in a hiring mode.”

At present, Palo Alto Networks has roughly 300 employees in the South Bay, Haro estimated. The company went public in July, pricing its shares at $42 each and raising $260 million through the initial public offering. Since the IPO, its shares have soared 57 percent. 

A short distance away, Dell and Arista have leased two of three buildings that haven’t even been constructed yet by developer Irvine in a project known as Santa Clara Gateway. The buildings are due to be completed by mid-2013, and the deals were arranged through commercial realty firm CB Richard Ellis. Arista wouldn’t confirm its lease, but sources with direct knowledge of the transaction and Arista’s expansion plans confirmed the tech company has signed a lease for the building. The company, based in Santa Clara, has 500 employees worldwide, spokeswoman Amanda Jaramillo said. She wouldn’t disclose the company’s local employee count. 

Dell, which confirmed its latest lease, in February announced it would expand its Silicon Valley outpost and add offices to allow the company’s workforce to reach 850 jobs. Now, Dell’s Silicon Valley workforce is around 1,500, said spokeswoman Katelyn Davis. 

“We are very happy to be expanding our presence in Silicon Valley,” Davis said in comments emailed to this newspaper. For Dell, the Silicon Valley hub is a springboard for the company to evolve beyond its traditional roots as a computer manufacturer. It is eyeing a push into additional technologies such as storage, networking and cloud computing. “Silicon Valley is a center of technological innovation, and Dell continues to tap the great talent pool here,” Davis said. “We have added hundreds of new positions in engineering, sales and marketing and services.” 

A growing host of technology giants have gobbled up offices in the South Bay. The flurry of deals involve large blocks of space in Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View and Cupertino. Sunnyvale has sizzled with unprecedented expansions by Google, Apple and LinkedIn. 

“The path of expansion keeps heading south,” said Chad Leiker, a vice president with Kidder Mathews, a commercial realty firm. “Companies are taking large blocks of space in Santa Clara, and now they are looking to push into North San Jose.” 

That’s spurred a building boom in multiple markets in the South Bay. 

“There is new development coming out of the ground,” Leiker said. “And some developers plan to redevelop existing buildings or build on older parcels if they are in prime locations. Developers hope to ride the next wave of company expansions.” 

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. 

==============================

Battered Zynga faces a third-quarter loss

Weak demand for some titles, charge linked to OMGPop acquisition will hit Q3 bottom line

NEW YORK (AP) — Zynga, the maker of “FarmVille” and other online games, expects a loss for the third quarter because of the weak demand for some of its titles. It’s also taking a charge related to its acquisition of OMG-Pop, a mobile game maker, which it bought for $183 million in March.

The San Francisco-based game company said Thursday that it sees a net loss of 12 to 14 cents a share for the three months that ended Sept. 30. Excluding one-time items the company expects to break even or post a loss of 1 cent per share.

Zynga also forecast revenue of $300 million to $305 million.

Analysts, on average, expect break-even earnings on revenue of $286.7 million, according to FactSet.

Zynga said it will take a charge of $85 million to $95 million on its acquisition of OMGPop, the company behind “Draw Something.” The charge — which amounts to roughly half of what Zynga paid for the company, represents its diminishing value. While user numbers soared earlier this year, “Draw Something” quickly lost footing in the months after the acquisition. 

Zynga also cut its guidance for the full year. It expects bookings of nearly $1.09 billion to $1.1 billion, down from earlier expectations of $1.15 billion to $1.23 billion. Bookings reflect in-game purchases of virtual goods in the quarter they occur. 

“The third quarter of 2012 continued to be challenging and, while many of our games performed to plan, as a whole we did not execute to our satisfaction,” CEO Mark Pincus said in a statement. 

He added that the company remains “optimistic about the opportunity for social gaming and the power of our player network of 311 million monthly active users. When we offer our players highly engaging content, they respond.” 

Investors were not as optimistic. Zynga shares tumbled 54 cents, or 19 percent, to $2.28 in after-hours trading. 

Re-invent HP - begun at top by firing entire Board of Directors

It is unfortunate that such a great company has one of the worst Board of Directors.. Who despite mistakes after mistakes are still allowed to sit on top. I have no personal grudge against them but professionally and collectively.. it stinks.. before HP lays off any single employee for whatever reason.. they should first get rid of their board..

How can they hire/hire/hire such a incompetent CEOs.. or I should also add fire some competent CEOs.. whatever they got... I have no sympathy with HP share holders.. ultimately it is shareholders who are electing and re electing this incompetent board years after years.. yesterday's stock plunge serves them right.. I hope they look at the root of this problem and fix it... sooner the better for them.. otherwise HP is going to be history very soon.. it will be really sad day for bay area but I am sure our vibrant economy and ecosystem will take care of it and get probably ten other equally great companies..

On the other hand, we don't know about future.. it could be a great buying opportunity and stock may turn around in future.. however, under current circumstances it looks pretty dim..

I am no expert in finance or strategy but as far as I know about Meg.. her only contribution to this society was that she happen to be at right place and at right time during dot com boom.. and eBay's core business model worked well.. but during her later years at eBay.. in my view.. she didn't contributed anything to the top line, but instead bled it.. It was fortunate for eBay that she was fired at right time before she could bleed it to death.. and then her race for California governership was no less a fiasco..

Her good fortune was HP's highly incompetent board who hired her in quick move to save themselves from embarrassment of firing Mark..

HP CEO SPEAKS, STOCK DROPS 13 PERCENT

Pep talk disappoints investors

Whitman says company is making progress but faces long turnaround

By Steve Johnson

sjohnson@mercurynews.com 

SAN FRANCISCO — Beleaguered Hewlett-Packard saw its stock price plunge nearly 13 percent Wednesday after CEO Meg Whitman failed to wow Wall Street with her strategy to revive the company.

In what she presumably hoped would be a pep talk to bolster investor confidence, Whitman told analysts at a San Francisco gathering that the troubled company is making progress with new products, streamlining its operations and getting its costs under control. But she warned that her efforts are being hindered by “a worsening macroeconomic environment,” particularly in Europe and China, and repeated her previous prediction that it could take four to five years to turn the corporation around.

“It’s going to take longer to right this ship than anyone would like,” said Whitman, who was named CEO a year ago. Noting that the Palo Alto company has been beset by numerous problems — many caused by its frequent shifts in leadership — she added, “I believe all of this is fixable, but it’s going to take some time.”

HP’s chief financial officer, Cathie Lesjak, added that the company’s next 12 months are “going to be another challenging year,” projecting its 2013 fiscal year earnings at $2.10 to $2.30 a share.

That didn’t sit well with Wall Street, where analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters generally had expected earnings per share of $3.09. Shortly after Whitman began her presentation, the company’s stock price began slipping and eventually closed at $14.91, a drop of $2.22 or about 13 percent. HP’s shares haven’t been that low since 2002. 

 “It’s going to take longer to right this ship than anyone would like.

... I believe all of this is fixable, but it’s going to take some time.”

— HP CEO MegWhitman

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HP’s presentation drew mixed reviews from industry experts. 

In general, “they did an excellent job,” said analyst Rob Enderle, adding that he was particularly impressed by the company’s new emphasis on more clearly quantifying how well its business units are doing. 

“It’s a good sign,” he said. “They are cleaning the windshield, which makes it easier for them to stay on the road. It gives them a view of what’s going on.” 

But while tech specialist Patrick Moorhead credited HP for providing “a very candid and honest evaluation of the company today,” he said it needs to better detail how it intends to succeed in some markets, such as smartphones and tablets. He added, “they will need to do this for Wall Street to view them as a growth company.” 

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, was especially disappointed in HP’s earnings projections for next fiscal year. 

“We should have expected something better,” he said. “The current management team has been in place for a year. There is hardly anything to get excited about.” 

Many investors have cooled on HP as its sales have flattened, its profit has slumped and its debt has ballooned to $30.6 billion, prompting it recently to announce it is eliminating 29,000 jobs over the next couple of years. 

Analysts have criticized the company for entering too many business niches. It sells everything from networking switches, routers and data storage devices to calculators, software and printers. On Wednesday, Whitman said it plans to trim its product lines to make them more efficient. 

She and other HP executives also said the company is coming out soon with an array of new servers, printers and personal computing devices that will make it more competitive. 

Another source of analyst criticism is that HP has failed to adequately address the increasing pressure its PC business faces from smartphones and tablets. HP previously had no luck selling smartphones and a 

tablet based on technology it obtained from its 2010 purchase of Sunnyvalebased Palm. 

Nonetheless, HP is again developing a smartphone, and on Monday the company introduced a tablet aimed at business and government customers. 

Some analysts contend the corporation is so far behind other smartphone and tablet makers that it should get rid of its PC and printer division. Whitman disagreed with that assessment Wednesday. Insisting that HP is headed in the right direction, she told the analysts, “We have a real handle on what the challenges are in front of this company and we have a plan in place to take on those challenges. 

“I believe with every single bone in my body that if we do this right we can set up HP to be a world-class technology leader” well into the future, she added. 

Contact Steve Johnson at 408-920-5043. 

Stone age or what?

These type of news items really annoy me. I still can't believe that this is still happening. Amazing.. I am literally out of words for such news..

How can this be still allowed.. only explanation for this could be.. Saudis have oil and they are ready to provide un-interrupted supply of it to my car's tank.. Otherwise, US would have come after them long time back or ignored them to an extent that no news about them could percolate in our media.. Why doesn't Ms. Clinton goes to Riyadh and lectures her Saudi counterparts on this..

Even, Ikea is no less..  It doesn't absolves them of responsibility by saying that this is against their values. If it doesn't align with your values then come out of Saudi Market..


Ikea’s Saudi Arabian catalog erases women

By Tiffany Hsu

Los Angeles Times

Ikea removed images of women from the Saudi Arabia version of its catalog, a decision that the furniture giant now says clashes with its values. Swedish publication Metro posted a comparison of the Saudi Arabian mailer and the Swedish version, showing that women present in the latter were missing from the former.

In the Muslim country, women are not allowed to travel or study without male permission and are expected to avoid driving and to conceal their bodies and hair.

The image of a pajamaclad woman — shown standing at a bathroom sink along with a young boy, a man and another young child nearby — is erased in the catalog distributed in the Arab state. Some tableaux feature a coed mix of models for the Swedish catalog but no models for the Saudi Arabian copy.

More than 200 million households receive a free Ikea catalog each year, according to Inter Ikea Systems, which oversees the chain’s franchisees. A separate branch, Ikea Group, makes the catalogs.

Ikea Group said in a statement that its values “support the fundamental human rights of all people” and “do not accept any kind of discrimination.” Ikea Saudi Arabia, it said, is run by a franchisee outside the Ikea Group.

“As a producer of the catalog, we regret the current situation,” Ikea Group said. “We should have reacted to the exclusion of women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalog since it does not align with the Ikea Group values.”

The company continued: “We are now reviewing our routines to safeguard a correct content presentation from a values point of view in the different versions of the Ikea catalog worldwide.”

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IKEA VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

A photo in the Swedish Ikea catalog, left, includes a woman who has been erased from the Ikea catalog distributed in Saudi Arabia, right.