and we are still debating about Net Metering..

In my view, this is simply hoax being created by Utility Companies in advance to protect slide in their business in long term. Solar panel based electricity production is dampening their growth in short term and in long term going to kill them.. They are starting all this noise so these net metering could be killed and solar panels become un-attractive for future home owners. They know for sure that solar panel prices are continue to fall and within 5-10-20 years, they will become norm at each house.

Here is my take on why net metering is valid and in fact not only eligible for retail rate but in my view even higher prices then retail. Here are some of thoughts on this:

•  Solar Panels usually produce maximum when we have peak demand and help reduce peak demand of the grid. Utilities maintain specific peakers (small power plant or additional capacity in power plants) which they can get rid of or at least reduce capacity
• Regarding this talk about retail Vs wholesale price paid for electricity pumped back to grid by homeowners - this electricity is produced right next to the consumption point.. theoretically, your next door neighbor might be consuming the additional electricity generated by solar panels. It is not that this power is bloody going back to power station traversing all the transformers and grid.. NO.. It just uses few meters of the power cables and it gets consumed right next door.. It actually takes out the stress of grid and in a way help elongate life of the equipment. Reducing their failures and thus reducing their maintenance costs.. In a way it reduces overall transmission and distribution losses incurred while transporting electricity from central power plants to your home. In my view, they should be paid more than retail price!! and this is no joke..  even utility companies knows the value of this distributed generation.. 

There can be hundreds of more logical reasons be listed in favor of these solar panels.. there is no end to this discussion.. Ultimately , they are good for consumers and they are good for  environment.. It is definitely not good for utilities in long run.. However, utilities need to decide, whether they want to die gracefully or they want to die in anguish and pain.. moreover, they are not going to die completely any how.. at least in 30-50 years for sure.. there role could become infrastructure service provider instead of providing electricity itself..

‘NET METERING’

Analysis says solar will carry high cost

Industry battles news that nonusers may pay $1.1B per year by 2020

By Dana Hull

dhull@mercurynews.com 

A long-awaited analysis of “net metering,” the policy that allows homeowners, school districts and businesses to offset the cost of their electric use with the rooftop solar power they generate and export to the grid, finds the policy will cost California’s nonsolar customers $1.1 billion a year by 2020.

The lengthy “California Net Energy Metering Evaluation,” released Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission, will strongly influence discussions among state regulators about how to restructure electric rates.
The solar industry is already crying foul, saying the study design was stacked against solar. Others say it’s time for net metering to be overhauled.

“There’s no question that there’s a subsidy to solar customers,” said Marcel Hawiger of TURN, the Utility Reform Network. “Net metering was a policy designed to jump-start the solar industry in California, but it’s not a sustainable policy.”

Large utilities like PG&E have a four-tiered rate system: The more electricity you use, the more you pay. Tier 1 customers pay 13.2 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity, while at Tier 4 it’s 35.1 cents. The tiered rate structure has been a big driver of rooftop solar in California, since many homeowners who go solar do so to cut down on high monthly bills. Solar customers are reimbursed for the electricity they generate and export to the grid at the retail rate.

Utilities have argued that under the current rate structure, customers using net metering do not pay their fair share of the costs of the transmission and distribution grid. And since solar customers tend to be more affluent, utilities argue that lower-income, nonsolar ratepayers are subsidizing solar customers.

The solar industry is already fighting back against the report, noting solar is increasingly being adopted by middle-income consumers, creates jobs for installers and that everyone benefits from “avoided costs,” or the need for utilities to build additional power plants.

“The study design was stacked against solar,” said Susannah Churchill, solar policy director at Vote Solar, a solar advocacy group in San Francisco. “To do a cost-benefit analysis and not include benefits like public health and jobs just inflates utility claims. Rooftop solar is a threat to the utility business model, and they are doing everything possible to stop its momentum.”

The report, by the San Francisco- based consulting group E3, found that most homeowners who have solar systems are high energy users with an average household income of $91,000, well above the state average of $54,000, and that the savings that solar customers achieve on their own bills is shifted to other ratepayers who must make up the difference.

PG&E has more than 93,000 customers on net metering and adds roughly 2,000 more each month at a pace that, from a utility perspective, is not financially sustainable.

“PG&E has long supported solar for its environmental benefits,” said spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo. “We are the largest buyer of solar energy in the nation, and lead the nation in the number of customers who have installed solar on their rooftops. We look forward to working with lawmakers, regulators, industry and our customers to chart a path to a bright and sustainable solar future.”

E3 will present the results of the NEM study in the PUC auditorium at 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, on Friday, and is accepting public comments until Oct. 10.

Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.

and.. the iPhone 5S/C saga continues..

Whatever critics might say about new iPhone, public seems to love it.. Kudos to Apple to continue delivering such a great product which keeps on meeting expectation or I should say keeps on beating expectations of critics and every common sense..

It is amazing to see how quickly these phones evaporates or seems to evaporate.. I am sure this is also Apple's marketing strategy to make them evaporate.. but that is minor or small part of all the story..

Bigger piece of story is Apple's pricing strategy.. Everyone was hoping for cheaper iPhone as part in iPhone product line up.. but in my view, Apple has done exactly opposite.. they have increased price  (or at least margins) on so called older generation phone.. To understand this, you have to compare last year's launch.. Till last year, Apple used to reduce price of previous generation iPhone by $100. This year, they officially removed previous generation (iPhone5) and instead of launched iPhone5c. Which in-fact is iPhone5 from inside. Only thing different is that it has now even cheaper plastic back (though in beautiful bright colors) thus reducing cost of manufacturing of this so called iPhone5.

Essentially, Apple has launched same phone but increased price realization. So, Apple's strategy is very simple:

1. They are NOT going to launch cheaper iPhone. They will maintain their premium pricing position in market. 
2. They are NOT going after mass market or volume. They are trying to increase profitability. At the same time, they are solving supply chain issues.. 5c will use different back covers and hopefully, it will cost less to manufacture.. 
3. They are going after new segment - kids of affluent parents and young crowd with iPhone5c. Instead of iPod touch, these kids will get iPhone5c. Normally, in US these kids often used to get hands down iPhone from parents. Now, these kids will demand iPhone5c as it is more likely not to break with robust use.. 
4. They have in-fact created teaser price for Adults as well. All agree that there is no quantum difference between 5s and 5. To avoid iPhone5 cannibalizing their 5s market, they shut down new iPhone5s and created relatively speaking inferior 5c for same price they would have offered iPhone5. 
5. Regarding low cost alternative, Apple is simply going to rely on their exchange program. They will get lot of exchanged phones, probably change their battery and push it to emerging cost conscious market. I am guessing that duties on these returned/re-furbished phones will also be substantially lower helping them keep costs and prices low in those markets. 

In my view, it is brilliant pricing strategy and it will continue Apple as true leader in smartphone space.. They may not be leader by volume but I am sure they will continue their lead by other metrics such as actual usage and apps/music/videos etc..

Nevertheless, people are enjoying their new iPhones.. I am guessing this next quarter is going to be stellar quarter for Apple with significant jump in their profitability leading to significant jump in their share prices!!

PALO ALTO’S APPLE STORE

Shortage of iPhones mutes buying frenzy

CEOCook greets legions of Bay Area Apple fans; devices quickly run out

By Heather Somerville

hsomerville@bayareanewsgroup.com 

PALO ALTO — For the first time ever, Apple released two iPhones simultaneously, but fans did not get double the choice, as a widespread shortage kept supplies low in stores.

The dual iPhone release finished out a tumultuous couple of weeks for the tech giant, which took a hit on the stock market, rebuffed backlash over the pricing of its low-cost iPhone option and discovered a security glitch in its new operating system. The pressure was on for Apple to post big sales of the new iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S, and assure consumers and investors that the Cupertino company still had something revolutionary up its sleeve.

Apple fans turned out in droves to stores across the Bay Area, many camping in line for days in hopes of getting one of the coveted iPhone 5S, the company’s new flagship device loaded with Apple’s latest and greatest. On Palo Alto’s University Avenue, fans got another surprise when the store opened Friday morning — an upbeat Apple CEO Tim Cook, who shook hands, posed for pictures and joined the crowd for a few celebratory cheers. 

Cook then paid a visit to the store at Stanford Shopping Center and later sent his first tweet: “Seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we do.” 

---

JANE TYSKA/STAFF PHOTOS

CEO Tim Cook celebrates the release of the new iPhones as he leaves the Apple Store on University Avenue in Palo Alto.

---

Dorothy Arndt, left, and veteran Bob Younger, of San Jose, showed up in Palo Alto along with a group from Gift A Vet, an organization supporting veterans in need. Arndt left the store with an iPhone 5S to give to a 53-year-old disabled Santa Clara County veteran.
==========================================================================

Spectrum of colors 

First in line to meet Cook and get the new iPhone was a group from San Jose-based Gift A Vet, an organization dedicated to supporting veterans in need. Dorothy Arndt said she had been camped out since Monday, trading 12hour shifts with vets and colleagues. She left the store with a 16GB iPhone 5S in “space gray” to give to a 53-year-old disabled Santa Clara County veteran struggling to make ends meet on public assistance. 

The iPhone 5S rolled out in metallic colors and with super-speedy processing power and upgraded camera features, and the lower-cost, heavier iPhone 5C is offered in a spectrum of candy-coated colors. Along with the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the U.K. launched the iPhone 5S and 5C on Friday. But Apple released only a limited number of the coveted iPhone 5S for the worldwide launch and only a handful of those in gold — the color that most fans were lusting after. “Everyone wanted gold,” said Benjamin Smith of Sunnyvale, who settled for gray at the University Avenue store. The iPhone 5C was more plentiful, but few fans were willing to pull out their credit cards for what some have called a repackaged version of the older iPhone 5, dressed in colorful plastic. It starts at $99. 

Megan Davidson, 21, arrived at the Sprint store in Palo Alto at 3:45 a.m., where she avoided the crowd at the Apple store and was first in line for the 5S. “I think the 5C is more geared toward kids and cheaper,” she said. “I want the legit Apple phone.” 

Gold is first to go 

Shortages of the iPhone 5S were apparent in stores across the Peninsula, with websites showing shipments delayed until October. The location at Stanford Shopping Center ran out of unlocked units — phones sold without the software code that limits them to work only on one wireless carrier — before 9:30 a.m. An employee said the gold phones were first to go and the store had “a very limited number.” The Best Buy on Almaden Expressway in San Jose had 28 units of the 5S and sold out before 11:30 a.m., said store manager Mark Fragoza. The store had more than twice as many phones when the iPhone 5 launched last year. The picture wasn’t much better on the other side of the pond. Carriers in the U.K. told the BBC there was a severe shortage of the iPhone 5S, and customers in Asia and Australia were told they’ll have to wait until October. 

“Demand for the new iPhones has been incredible and we are currently sold out or have limited supply of certain iPhone 5S models in some stores,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans said Friday. 

Opening sales crucial 

Opening-weekend sales are crucial for Apple after about a year without releasing a new device while rivals have begun to chip away at Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a note to investors he expected Apple would sell 5 million to 6 million iPhones, including pre-sale orders that started Sept. 13. BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk wrote that he was encouraged because “lines were the strongest we have seen at both Apple and carrier stores” but wouldn’t know until Monday if unit sales would meet his expectations of 6 million during launch weekend. Apple has reportedly asked its suppliers to increase production of the gold-colored iPhone 5S by an additional one-third after seeing strong demand, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. What remains unclear is whether there are still manufacturing constraints that may keep supplies low. Apple did not respond to questions Friday about production. 

Contact Heather Somerville at 510-208-6413. Follow her at Twitter.com/heathersomervil. 
===================================================
 

JANE TYSKA/STAFF 

Hoa Tran, of San Jose, leaves with a new iPhone at the Apple Store on University Avenue in Palo Alto on Friday. Customers were lined up around the block. 

It is still not too late to move to bay area!!

Job market is still booming and expected to continue to boom.. not sure about rest of the california, however, SF/SJ and surrounding bay area counties are booming and if you have good skills in technology, it is still good time to move in.. Agreed, that housing has gone to the roof again, but that is expected to stabilize or get some minor correction when mortgage rates come off from their historical lows.

Come on friends.. it is great time to be back in valley!! and build or help build new FBs..

AUGUST HIRING

Growth in jobs gaining steam

South Bay labor market has best month in 13 years, while Bay Area overall gains 12,700


By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The Bay Area job market boomed in August, adding 12,700 jobs for its best one-month performance since October 2012, state labor officials reported Friday.

Santa Clara County did even better, adding 8,500 jobs, the best one-month performance for the county in more than 13 years. Those gains accounted for two-thirds of the jobs added in the Bay Area and more than one-fourth of the jobs gained in California last month, this newspaper’s analysis of data from the Employment Development Departmentshows. “The South Bay knocked one out of the park in August,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist with San Francisco-based Bank of the West.

The strong gains in August were a sharp contrast to July, when the Bay Area lost 4,400 jobs, sparking fears among some analysts that the region’s economy had begun to sputter, and the rebound might falter. 

The most recent results show that the tech sector, primarily in Silicon Valley, continues to serve as the foundation of a rebound that is gaining strength in a range of other industries across the Bay Area. 

“The tech sector is definitely doing well,” added Jordan Levine, director of economic research with Beacon Economics. “Companies are still investing in software, equipment, and intellectual property.” 

The East Bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, added 2,300 jobs in August, the EDD figures showed. The San Francisco- San Mateo-Marin region added 1,900. 

California added 29,100 jobs during August, labor officials reported Friday, in a second straight month of robust employment gains statewide. The statewide and Bay Area numbers were all adjusted for seasonal factors. 

The statewide jobless rate worsened to 8.9 percent, the EDD reported, from 8.7 percent in July. That can occur because the jobs data and the jobless rate are compiled in separate surveys. 

Improving rates 

In contrast, unemployment rates improved throughout the Bay Area in August, according to a Beacon Economics analysis of the EDD figures. The Alameda County-Contra Costa County jobless rate was 7.1 percent, versus 7.4 percent the month before. The Santa Clara County-San Benito County jobless rate was 6.6 percent, compared with 6.9 percent. The San Francisco-San Mateo- Marin August jobless rate was 5.3 percent, better than the month-before rate of 5.5 percent, the Beacon analysis showed. During the one-year period that ended in August, job totals expanded by 1.9 percent in the Bay Area. The U.S. job market expanded by 1.6 percent and California by 1.5 percent over the same period. 

“The Bay Area is growing more robustly than California and the nation as a whole,” said Jon Haveman, chief economist with Marin Economic Consulting. And, he added, “it is creating more jobs with better wages” than the nation and the state. 

Strong sectors 

The strongest industry in Santa Clara County during August was the tech-focused professional scientific and technical service sector, which gained 1,500 jobs. Another tech sector, information services and products, gained 900. But manufacturing added 1,200, administrative support was up 1,100, retail gained 800 and construction added 700 jobs, according to Beacon. 

“Tech is still the economic engine for Santa Clara County, but the majority of the new jobs that were added were outside of tech,” said Michael Bernick, a research fellow with the Milken Institute and a former director of the state EDD. “You are seeing real diversity in the Santa Clara County job market.” 

The strong gains during August aren’t an anomaly, said Steve Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy “The trend in the Bay Area is real,” Levy said. “Very strong job growth is building. You see expansion everywhere from San Jose to San Francisco, and now the East Bay has turned modestly positive. Because of tech, the Bay Area will continue to do well. You have Google, Apple, LinkedIn, Microsoft and other companies expanding their office space because they are hiring employees.”Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167 or 408-3733556. Follow him at Twitter.com/georgeavalos. 

Is independent Internet possible?

By name itself, Internet in network of networks.. how can you make it independent? I guess, you can only do it by creating island and controlling gateways for inbound and outbound traffic from your country to another if there is any such well defined things..

I totally understand President Dilma's anger on US. Is she also angry at China (her biggest buyer of raw materials) and Russia and many other countries/nations who do it all the time? Instead of getting angry at US, she should focus on more emphasis on technological build up in Brazil... then she can launch her counter offensive against any country she would like to as most of the other countries do it to her country..

Build infrastructure in your country so Google/facebook like companies are created in your own country rather than relying on silicon valley for all such critical to time passing applications and infrastructures.. Attack at fundamentals.. don't try to dress up the fact that your country let go the golden time of minting money on your natural resources without fixing core issues like infrastructure and education.. Now that you are facing the anemic growth music again, you are creating issues out of almost non-sense issues..

Work on fundamentals.. rest nature will take care of you..

---

Angered over espionage, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is postponing a visit to Washington.


Brazil seeks online independence

President angered over revelations of U.S. spying

By Bradley Brooks and Frank Bajak

Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil plans to divorce itself from the U.S.-centric Internet over Washington’s widespread online spying, a move that many experts fear will be a potentially dangerous first step toward fracturing a global network built with minimal interference by governments.

President Dilma Rousseff ordered a series of measures aimed at greater Brazilian online independence and security following revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted her communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company’s network and spied on Brazilians who entrusted their personal data to U.S. tech companies such as Facebook and Google.

The leader is so angered by the espionage that on Tuesday she postponed next month’s scheduled trip to Washington.

Internet security and policy experts say the Brazilian government’s reaction to information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is understandable, but warn it could set the Internet on a course of Balkanization.“The global backlash is only beginning and will get far more severe in coming months,” said Sascha Meinrath of the Washington-based New America Foundation think tank. “This notion of national privacy sovereignty is going to be an increasingly salient issue around the globe.”

While Brazil isn’t proposing to bar its citizens from U.S.-based Web services, it wants their data to be stored locally as the nation assumes greater control over Brazilians’ Internet use to protect them from NSA snooping.

The danger of mandating that kind of geographic isolation, Meinrath said, is that it could render inoperable popular software applications and services and endanger the Internet’s open, interconnected structure.

The effort by Latin America’s biggest economy to digitally isolate itself from U.S. spying not only could be costly and difficult, it could encourage repressive governments to seek greater technical control over the Internet to crush free expression at home, experts say.

In December, countries advocating greater “cyber-sovereignty” pushed for such control at an International Telecommunications Union meeting in Dubai, with Western democracies led by the United States and the European Union in opposition.

U.S. digital security expert Bruce Schneier says that while Brazil’s response is a rational reaction to NSA spying, it is likely to embolden “some of the worst countries out there to seek more control over their citizens’ Internet. That’s Russia, China, Iran and Syria.”

Brazil is now pushing more aggressively than any other nation to end U.S. commercial hegemony on the Internet. More than 80 percent of online search, for example, is controlled by U.S.-based companies.

Most of Brazil’s global Internet traffic passes through the United States, so Rousseff’s government plans to lay underwater fiber optic cable directly to Europe and also link to all South American nations to create what it hopes will be a network free of U.S. eavesdropping.

LinkedIn membership surpasses 200 million

This number may seem really small as compared to Billion+ of FB.. but there is one very clear difference.. Business Model.. and consequently revenue generation as well.

LinkedIn is

• default site for professional networking
• default site for head hunters who pay small monthly subscription fees to get access to so called premium features
• default site for job seekers who are more or less willing to pay small amount as monthly subscription for premium services offered by linkedIn

Further..

• There are lot of amazing communities around variety of professions
• Mobile app works like charm.. in-fact I feel it is somewhat better than to go thru their full desktop/browser based portal
• Though I do like their summary of professional news on their portal. Which obviously is way to the mark based on your professional career as they have pretty good profile of yours.. 

There is no overhead of managing huge amount of image or videos or millions and billions of updates/likes as FB has to handle.. Which should result in really low cost of ownership or operations for linkedin as compared to FaceBook..

I think from stock performance basis I would be much more longer on LinkedIn as compared to FB. Though as of now I don't own either of them nor I have any plans in near future...


Let me know your thoughts..

LinkedIn membership surpasses 200 million

By Jeremy C. Owens

jowens@mercurynews.com 

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Professional networking service LinkedIn announced Wednesday that its membership rolls now surpass 200 million people, as international expansion has helped the company double its user base in less than two years. The new tally is “an important and exciting milestone for the company,” Deep Nishar, senior vice president for products and user experience at LinkedIn, wrote in a blog post.

“This milestone is more than just a metric — it’s a reminder of the global footprint and the scale of impact our network has each day,” Nishar wrote.

LinkedIn passed 100 million users in March 2011, and has focused on other countries to grow that number, adding 13 new languages in the interim. Now offering its service in 19 different languages, LinkedIn says that more than 64 percent of its users live outside the United States.

India has proved to be the best source for growth, as the country’s 18 million LinkedIn user base ranks second behind the 74 million in the United States, the Mountain View company said Wednesday.

Turkey and Colombia have provided the fastest year-over-year growth for membership, while China and Brazil have experienced the greatest rise in mobile usage of the social network, LinkedIn reported.

The total members LinkedIn claims seems to rank it fourth among U.S.based social networks, behind Silicon Valley cohorts Facebook and Twitter. Comparisons are not simple because the sites use different standards and can release information sparingly, but Facebook is known to have more than a billion users, making it the largest social network.

Silver lining of tragedy..

It is sad fact but universally true.. Tragedies natural or man-made do happen.. However, after every tragedy we have something new or better which simply couldn't have happened without those tragedy happening.. This news clip reminded me of same.. I was in dilemma.. whether to express my thoughts on it or not.. mainly due to another natural tragedy in east coast by Sandy. Honestly.. I feel that this subject is so prickly.. by writing this, I don't want to look rude and materialistic.


Couple of things gave me courage to express my thoughts on this topic.. There was controversy around New York Marathon.. which was finally cancelled.. but arguments "for" and "against" this event were loud and clear messages.. I could also express my views openly..

In this article below.. it seems that there is big change in attitude of Japanese youth in particular.. I hope it results in some kind of revival in Japanese economy which is shrinking for last two decades. There are some really interesting and innovative ideas being executed by Japanese youth and hopefully something great will come out of it. Hopefully it will result in great entrepreneurship which hopefully will take out Japanese economy from the grip of large multi-nationals who are primarily engaged in production and exports..

More importantly, it should hopefully change culture of workaholism to enjoy family and spending money in and outside of Japan. Hopefully, Japanese youth will take it as a message and work harder on stopping 3-4 decade long population decline ;-) Hopefully Japan will work on better economic and political relationships with its neighbors and more importantly with China.

Now, adding Sandy into this mix.. Agreed, it has resulted in big financial loss.. and it will result in significantly higher insurance claim payouts.. However, all these tragedies are boon to these insurance companies, who get more new enrollments which essentially more than compensates these claims.

Only thing, which is absolute loss in these tragedies is life.. There is no replacement or compensation for the lives lost... We can't even think about human sufferings and pains due to lost lives.. I am not good in expressing myself in this area so I won't even go near to this area.

However, despite all the difficulties and loss and pain in east coast due to Sandy.. there is upbeat tone.. about economy.. everyone is expecting revival of local economy in next couple of years and hoping for even more stronger economy.. a real solid stimulus to that area which will definitely percolate to rest of the country and even to global economy..

New York Marathon became controversial not because of health or any other sentimental benefits.. or loss... at stake was simple 340 million dollars for local economy.. The number which was calculated by economists.. that New York City/State will benefit around 340 million dollars from the event.. Finally, human pain and suffering was weighed more than 340 million USD..

I was told by someone long time ago.. US has only (or let us say significantly) grown when either of these two things happen:

1. There is stalemate in Washington DC.. i.e. Government is totally ineffective.. 
2. During/After War or some other tragedy of National scale.. 

Off-course, it grows at fastest rate when both of the conditions are met together at same time..

There is gridlock in DC.. Which will hopefully continue as Obama is more or less sure to be back for second term. Sandy stamped his tenure extension.. I am sure Congress/Senate will still dominated by republicans. That should ensure this stalemate to continue. We are wrapping up war and hopefully finish it by 2013... at the same time Sandy is going to create mini stimulus to economy.. which all together should create perfect conditions for US economic revival.. That is the real silver lining which I am talking about!!!!  

AFTER THE 2011 EARTHQUAKE

Young entrepreneurs seize the day in Japan

Psychological aftershocks trigger new urgency among young professionals

By John Boudreau

jboudreau@mercurynews.com 

TOKYO — Before last year’s devastating earthquake, college student Tatsunori Hirota envisioned a life as a “salaryman,” one of the nation’s countless tradition-bound corporate foot soldiers in white shirts and black slacks who fill the city’s subways every morning and night commuting to and from nondescript offices.

But the psychological aftershocks of the disaster have created a new sense of urgency among a small but growing number of young professionals and college students like Hirota. They are abandoning the path of the corporate salaryman to chart their own way by launching tech startups and connecting to Silicon Valley.

“We lost family,” said Hirota, a Tokyo University economics student who, after the magnitude 9.0 quake, began studying programming and cofounded an e-learning website, Mana.bo, that received positive feedback from Silicon Val­ley venture capitalists after he visited the Bay Area over the summer. 

---

LIPO CHING/STAFF PHOTOS

HEALING: From left, Ken Iwasaki, Emi Tamaki and Masaaki Sugimoto of H2L created a device to deal with hand injuries.

---

HELPING:

Dan Nagayama, above left, and Sid Umeda founded Dennoo, a measurable advertising platform.

---

EDUCATING:

Tokyo economics student Tatsunori Hirota, left, co-founded the e-learning website Mana.bo.

---

“We felt death closer than before,” he said. “Now we don’t want to work for the big company. We want to work for ourselves. The biggest risk is that something could happen to you before you do something you really love. It could happen anytime, anywhere.” 

Seismic shift 

The shift in attitude comes as Japan’s technology sector, once a rival of Silicon Valley, struggles to remain relevant in a global economy that is leaving it behind. Observers say Japan’s inward-looking and risk-averse culture has for years dampened the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit. In its 2010 report, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor ranked Japan lowest among advanced economies in terms of attitudes toward launching new businesses. It noted that Japanese were the least likely to consider becoming entrepreneurs. 

In the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, which cost some 16,000 lives and triggered widespread power outages and radioactive leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, there was a “shattering of trust in big institutions” across Japanese society, said Phil Libin, CEO of Mountain View-based Evernote, a provider of note-taking and archiving technology that has operations in Tokyo. 

That collapse of faith extended to large tech companies, many of which have broken with long-held promises of lifelong employment with mass layoffs. 

“The younger generation — their parents are getting fired from the big companies,” said Nobuyasu Kondo, an executive with Tokyo-based GNT, a Japanese mobile and gaming platform. “They realize if you work for the big company, you can still get fired. So why not take a risk and start your own company?” 

At the same time, Japanese realize their nation’s future prosperity and economy, surpassed recently by China as the world’s second-largest economy, is vulnerable in the global market, said Ted Yamamoto, a general partner at UTEC, a venture firm tied to Tokyo University whose mission is modeled after Stanford University, which long has fostered tech entrepreneurship among faculty and students. 

“It’s obvious the Japanese market is shrinking,” he said. “The population is shrinking. You bypass Japan to go to China and India.” 

Government officials, academics and industry leaders say that if the nation is to regain its technological mojo, it needs to jump-start an entrepreneurial culture, and that includes tapping into Silicon Valley. 

“To come to Silicon Valley, that is the dream of many startup companies and entrepreneurs in Japan,” said Yukiko Pollard, general manager of Tokyobased image processing software company Morpho, which opened a San Jose office this year. 

But young Japanese entrepreneurs face daunting obstacles. In Japan, there is nothing resembling the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Silicon Valley. And while companies like Mana. bo are able to tap into venture capital here for initial startup funding, there is a dearth of investors willing to spend the larger sums needed to fund deep research and development to prepare startups for the global market, experts say. 

“In Silicon Valley, you can get $20million (in startup funding) without owning a suit. In Japan, it’s much harder to raise money,” said Evernote’s Libin, a big fan of Japanese technological prowess looking to make investments in the country. 

Most Japanese entrepreneurs have no ties to Silicon Valley. Unlike Chinese and Indians, relatively few Japanese venture abroad for studies. Last fall, a mere 54 students from Japan were enrolled at Stanford, while 757 Chinese and 488 Indian students were on campus. So Japanese are far less likely to know people embedded in Silicon Valley’s startup culture. 

Beyond Japan 

But that’s changing as Japanese, from school students to young professionals, look beyond their borders for study and careers. And at home, there has been an upsurge in interest in learning English in a society that previously saw no need to speak languages other than Japanese, observers say. “Our embassy just put on a college expo and I can’t tell you the number of students who came up to me and said, ‘I would like to study at Stanford,’” said U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, the former CEO of the powerhouse Palo Alto law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, which works with many Silicon Valley companies. “We are seeing more and more of that — Japanese having an interest in going to school in the United States, connecting with the Silicon Valley. Everywhere I go now, there is a lot of this type of discussion.” 

For sure, there is brainpower aplenty in Japan, whose engineering brilliance has never been in question. 

“The creativity of the Japanese people is as strong as it has ever been,” said Allen Miner, founder of SunBridge Partners, a Sunnyvale venture capital firm pursuing startups in Japan. “The Japanese are as ambitious as ever. Pretty much every Japanese startup founder is thinking about how to create a company that will thrive for 100 years.” 

A sense of rejuvenation was in the air recently at an informal networking cafe established by a Tokyo University student. The cafe, which includes a large blackboard for brainstorming, acts as an informal think tank for young people looking for change. 

Emi Tamaki, 28, said she dreams of participating in a new startup culture in Japan, an area with a high concentration of startups she calls “Silicon Reef.” 

“I want to make many companies,” said Tamaki, co-founder of H2L, a maker of a device that can be used to rehabilitate a hand injury through therapeutic movements controlled by a computer, or to teach someone to play a musical instrument by directing finger movements. 

Issei Takino, co-founder of Mujn, which makes software that aims to revolutionize assembly line robots, spoke with the brashness of a young Steve Jobs: “We can change the world.” 

Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496. 




LIPO CHING/STAFF H2L’s Ken Iwasaki demonstrates the principle behind the company's PossessedHand system. 

This is definitely bad news for all of us..

FedEx and UPS are slowing down.. In general this is really bad news for all of us as these guys are best indicators of global economy.

If I take optimistic approach.. It could be possible that more and more people are buying local (going green and organic) or using e-signature kind of services.. ahhhh.. I totally forgot the main culprit.. blame it on Apple.. Apple delayed iPhone5 release. that is causing entire global economy especially this high end shipping type of work.. more and more I think about it.. I get certain that it is iPhone5's delayed launch which is causing all the global economy meltdown. FedEx and UPS should sue Apple ;-) unfortunately, Apple has entangled FedEx and UPS as well as their one of the bigest customer.

Jokes apart, I think we should brace ourselves for slowdown in coming months/years. Global economy is still in bad shape.. with slowdown in China and little bit in India... very few sweet spots are left. Europe is in bad shape and doesn't look like it is going to come out anytime soon.. US economy is still limping at the best.. We need something to drive growth.. in my view there has to be really strong spending on infrastructure. That is the only thing which can revive economy in both short term and long term if right kind of infrastructure projects are started.

After these recent blackouts in India.. India should be investing heavily into infrastructure.. Power, Road, Rail, Internet.. They have to do it and have to do it big.. I was hoping for massive investment from US in internet side.. but doesn't look like anything is going to happen any time soon.

Let us hope for best and do our part by spending more and more to avoid this impending slowdown!!

Buyouts to pare FedEx staff

Forecast for current quarter fell well below expectations

By Samantha Bomkamp

Associated Press

NEW YORK — FedEx will soon begin offering buyouts to U.S. employees in an effort to cut costs in the face of a weakening global economy. The world’s second-largest package delivery company hinted at cutbacks earlier this summer when it said that slowing economic growth would crimp its earnings well into next year. It has already removed some aircraft from its fleet of more than 600 to account for a loss of demand. While FedEx hasn’t yet decided how many positions will be eliminated, it is likely to focus on slow-growth areas like its Express and Services units.

Express is where FedEx got its start in 1971, and it’s still the company’s biggest segment by far. The speedy shipping division, which moves 3.5 million packages on an average day, has been hit hard as people shift to slower delivery methods to conserve cash. The unit is also being dragged down slowing Asian growth and a reduction in demand for Asian goods from the U.S. and Europe. The unit reported revenue of $26.5 billion in the latest fiscal year and has more than 146,000 employees worldwide — 102,000 of those in the U.S.

Services is FedEx’s behind- the-scenes logistics division, but it also includes FedEx Office, formerly Kinko’s. It was formed in 2000 and with annual revenue of $1.7 billion in 2012, is one of FedEx’s smallest units. It has 13,000 employees, all of whom are U.S. based.

FedEx said those that are close to retirement are also eligible for buyouts.

When it reported fourthquarter earnings in June, FedEx vowed significant cost cuts to offset any drop in shipments. Its forecast for the first-quarter, which ends this month, fell well below Wall Street expectations.

And second-quarter results released in late July by larger rival United Parcel Service suggested that the global economic slowdown may be even worse than FedEx anticipated.

UPS lowered its forecast for all of 2012 and said its third-quarter earnings will fall below last year’s results, with many customers fearing what’s in store for the second half of the year. Their skittishness was also felt in the second quarter, where UPS missed analysts’ expectations for both earnings and revenue.

Shares of FedEx fell 3 cents to close at $87.77 Monday. UPS lost 15 cents to hit $76.15.

Do we really need another Stimulus?

In my view, it is the Stimulus packages which is resulting in such a muted recovery. Recession comes for a reason.. that reason was very simple in this latest one.. it was suppose to clean up the mess created by banks and financial industries in and around housing area. It was suppose to clean it up and wipe out all the bad apples from The Big Apple.. I don't know why we tried to stop its natural process by inserting and saving and preserving those bad apples. We came up with all sorts of excuses but in the end net effect is going to be same.. Either you take a big hit once and be done with it or you try to defer those hits and then keep on prolonging sufferings for everyone in long term.

Moreover, because of these stimulus packages, I feel we have created business atmosphere where we are encouraging everyone to take even more risks and and continue to do this so called innovative but unruly behavior which by no means is acceptable business practice.

If we try to insert more of these stimulus, we will be further delaying this pain and suffering.. We better get rid of this and should clearly tell that neither we need any stimulus nor we will provide any. Let Nature Take care of it!!!!

Bernanke makes no pledge on new stimulus

Senate panel seeks to quiz him about Libor

By Binyamin Appelbaum

New York Times

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the Fed was seeking greater clarity about the health of the recovery as it weighs the need for a new round of economic stimulus.

In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke also strongly defended the Fed’s actions after it learned of problems in 2008 with the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. And he renewed his warnings that congressional inaction on fiscal policy threatens to upend the recovery and tip the economy into recession.
Repeating a formula he first articulated earlier this summer, Bernanke told the committee that the Fed’s decision about additional economic stimulus would turn on its judgment about the likely pace of job growth in coming months.

The crucial issue, he said, is “whether or not there is in fact a sustained recovery going on in the labor market or are we stuck in the mud.”

Bernanke avoided commitments to Fed action, saying that Fed officials were continuing to review the data and to consider their options. He also noted that the Fed could take steps other than asset purchases.

“We are looking for ways to address the weakness in the economy should more actually be needed,” Bernanke told the committee.

The members of the committee seemed little interested in questions of monetary policy, however, instead preferring to question Bernanke about revelations that banks had manipulated Libor, a benchmark rate used in determining the value of a wide range of financial assets.

We need Gigabit Ethernet in everyone's home

Just like telephone lines, water pipes, roads, electric cables.. We now need Gigi ethernet at everyone's home.. I think time has come for all the governments to mandate it.. start with at least new houses or developments.. Once everyone sees advantages of it and usage explodes.. it will usher us into new era of growth and all together different era when we will mock about current DSL/Cable connection the way we are mock dial-up connection or even worse, the good old Plain old Telephone (POT).. 


all these advancements in wireless have very limited application unless, pipes coming to home gets fatter and with their current diet restrictions, they need to be substantially fatter.. 


Though, 11ac will have its own application.. especially for in-home media center to multiple display device video on full HD or even super HD (with Apple's Retina display push..). It will definitely eliminate any need of any wiring in the houses which will be good relief.. 


Keep up the good work!!!


Cheers!!!

New Wi-Fi standard speeds up streaming

Protocol will provide faster coverage throughout home

By John Boudreau

jboudreau@mercurynews.com 

It wasn’t long ago families squabbled over who was hogging the TV remote control. Now they face off over who’s hogging the bandwidth.

As the number of wireless devices increases in homes — multiple TVs, smartphones, tablets, laptops — networks are getting bogged down.

But help is on the way.

A new Wi-Fi protocol — dubbed 802.11ac — will increase data speeds by as much as three times over the most recent standard to 1.3 gigabytes per second. It is also six times more power efficient and will provide faster and more reliable Wi-Fi coverage throughout the home.

Broadcom is the first wireless chip manufacturer to come out with what it is calling 5G Wi-Fi. While the new standard won’t increase the speed of data coming in through the so-called Internet pipes to the home — such as DSL or fiber-optic cables — it will enable people to view and stream video already stored on, say, PCs or DVRs, much more quickly.

“If you are paying for 50 megabytes per second from AT&T, having a 5G Wi-Fi router in your home doesn’t change that,” said Dino Bekis, Broadcom’s senior director for access and wireless entertainment. “What it does do is allow you to share content between devices — smartphones, smart TVs, etc. — much faster and more reliably than before.”

The new standard underscores the surging demand for bandwidth to handle the large amounts of video Americans are consuming every day. “Video use has been growing exponentially,” he said.

According to research by Cisco Systems, 1 million minutes of video content will race across networks every second by 2015, and the number of gadgets connected to the Internet will be twice the world’s population. Between 2010 and 2015, mobile data traffic is expected to soar 26 times.

“The need to stream multiple videos simultaneously (in homes) is there,” said Philip Solis, analyst with ABI Research. “There is a need for 802.11ac.” 

A number of manufacturers, including San Jose-based Netgear, are now rolling out routers embedded with Broadcom’s 5G Wi-Fi chips. And makers of devices, from smartphones to laptops and smart TVs, will start embedding the new chips in coming months. Taiwan computer maker Asus recently launched the first laptop equipped with the new Wi-Fi protocol. 

The new technology could add to the momentum of Americans turning away from cable TV for their entertainment, said David Henry, Netgear vice president of product management. “If folks are going to cut the cord, they need to be able to stream multiple videos at the same time,” he said. 

The new Wi-Fi standard, which operates on the wider 5 GHz radio spectrum provides more room to transfer data with less traffic, Bekis explained. “Think about it as a brand new freeway opening up with no cars,” he said. 

It’s a faster and more efficient way to move information, Bekis added. So it would be like packing a bus that can move down the highway at the speed of a Ferrari. 

In the home, that would mean the kids can watch a video in the family room, Dad can stream a movie from the DVR to his bedroom TV, and a visiting cousin could transfer a vacation video from a tablet to another TV — all simultaneously, he explained. 

Because the protocol is able to transfer data more quickly, and more efficiently, it uses significantly less power, Bekis said. “For a given amount of data, you can transmit it at one-sixth the power,” he said. 

The new protocol will make Wi-Fi signals faster and more reliable throughout the home, which usually get weaker the further one is from the router, said Netgear’s Henry. 

Routers sold with the new 5G Wi-Fi chip are expected to be compatible with devices that don’t have the new technology and operate on the more congested 2.4 GHz radio spectrum. 

“When you put this in your home, you won’t notice anything different,” Bekis said. But “as soon as you have a device that is embedded with 5G Wi-Fi, you are immediately going to be able to transmit data at these higher rates.” 

Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496; follow him at Twitter.com/svwriter 

Is world's 8th largest economy really on recovery path?

If you guessed it.. California.. you are right about it!!! California economy happens to be approximately 2 trillion worth!! and if and IF it was a nation on its own, it would have be world's 8th Largest economy!!

I think California is biggest state of US in terms size of economy.. Northern California's Silicon Valley and Southern California's Entertainment Industry is more or less flagship which almost defines US in rest of the world. I agree.. New Yorkers.. don't get angry.. I was coming to you.. You also define US big time.. it doesn't mean rest of the states are Chillar Party (coin change - sorry folks, couldn't come up with better term in English).  for those who are interested in finding about California.. please visit Wikipedia page for California for more interesting facts an figures.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California

Any how.. coming back to basics.. Is California really recovering? One point of time unemployment was around 12%. Recently it has come back to less than 10%. Which is progress.. and once people's mentality changes about California, that it is back on track.. there could be easy rush towards further growth and development.

There are some dangers ahead.. Weather is one of them.. This year's almost negligible snow falls on Sierra mountains has forced irrigation water cut for central valley farmers. Which will definitely hit the progress.. Central Valley is responsible for almost half of the entire US' fresh farm produce.. I agree that US mostly imports.. but whatever is freshly produced locally, our California's central valley contributes half of it. So it could be big hit to those farming community. Fortunately or unfortunately there share in economy is still very small but job impact could be high.

Everyone is saying that housing has bottomed out.. but I thought I heard this more than year back and still prices are going down and down.. Hopefully this time economists are correct!! Even I want to see some equity in my house back. Once housing turns around, that would be big sentimental shift and that can drive many other things here. If you are educated or rather than that, if you are in High Tech there is already almost boom time for jobs. But beyond high tech things are still bad. Hopefully this growth in Hight Tech will spill over to other areas of economy and spur growth over there..

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20275337/california-economic-outlook-brightens-bit-new-study-says

Forecast: California to continue job growth

Researchers see state jobless rate dipping below 10% next year

By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The economic outlook for California has perked up and the state should escape double-digit jobless levels more quickly than previously thought, researchers said Wednesday.

“Things look slightly better,” said Jerry Nickelsburg, a senior economist with the UCLA Anderson Forecast, which released its quarterly outlook.

California is expected to suffer a 10.8 percent average jobless rate this year, but that should improve to an average of 9.8 percent next year.

That outlook is brighter than the group’s previous view. In December, the Anderson Forecast predicted a 10.5 percent unemployment rate for 2013.

“We are seeing improvement in the labor markets,” Nickelsburg said.

What’s more, job growth should steadily improve in the coming years, the researchers predicted.

The number of payroll jobs in California increased 1.2 percent last year, according to the Employment Development Department.

The Anderson Forecast said that pattern of job growth should continue, with statewide payroll increases of 1.3 percent this year, 1.9 percent next year and 2.5 percent in 2014, the economists said. “Things do look like they are going to be a little better in California, given the recent sharp drop in the state’s unemployment rate,” said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific. 

The nationwide job market is also on the upswing. But growth in the United States still doesn’t look that great, according to a report for the Anderson Forecast that was prepared by senior economist David Shulman. 

“We are growing, but curb your enthusiasm,” Shulman said. 

The economy added an average of 250,000 jobs in the first two months of this year. That would work out to a rate of 3 million jobs a year. But Shulman said he doesn’t think that kind of growth can be sustained. 

Instead, the nation is more likely to add 160,000 to 200,000 jobs a month on average, he said. That would equate to an annual pace of 1.2 million to 2.4 million jobs. 

The strong job growth in January and February was boosted by mild weather around the country, Shulman said. 

“There was more construction, more outdoor work, people went to restaurants and the mall,” he added. 

The rebound in California is being led by industries that are strong in the Bay Area. 

“Tech industries, professional, scientific and technical services, health care, computers and electronics — those are all doing very well,” Nickelsburg said. 

More recently, improvements have begun to surface in some industries that have lagged. Retail, along with leisure and hospitality, are rebounding, Nickelsburg said. 

The Bay Area is likely to remain in the vanguard of the recovery for California, analysts said. 

“The Bay Areahasdefinitely been leading the rebound for the last six months or so,” said Michael, the UOP economist. “We think the Bay Area will continue to outpace the rest of the state in job gains.” 

During the one-year period that ended in February, job totals in the Bay Area grew 1.9 percent, more than double the pace of statewide job growth of 0.9 percent. 

“The rebound started in Silicon Valley and now the improvement is spreading throughout the Bay Area,” Michael said. 

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos. 

Go Silicon Valley.. Go!!

Keep on pumping up Silicon Valley's job machine!! Everyone who is not in Silicon Valley, this is perfect time to move back in.. Hurry up :-)

Cheers!!

‘TURNING THE CORNER’

Bay Area tallies strong job gain

Region adds nearly 14,000 workers in January as East Bay, in turnabout, accounts for lion’s share of growth

By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The Bay Area economy zoomed out of the starting blocks in January by adding nearly 14,000 jobs, according to a new state government report issued Friday.

Meanwhile, employers nationwide added 227,000 payroll jobs in February, although the U.S. jobless rate remained unchanged at 8.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Last month’s upswing follows a gain of 284,000 jobs in January. The two months of steady hiring nationwide are a strong indication that robust job growth in the Bay Area will continue.

“The economy is gaining momentum,” said Brad Kemp, director of regional research with Beacon Economics. “I do think things are turning the corner.”

In contrast to the Bay Area and national trends, California struggled in January, a report released Friday by the Employment Development Department showed.

Statewide, employers cut 5,200 jobs, although the jobless rate improved to 10.9 percent in January, down from 11.2 percent in December and the lowest rate since April 2009. 

“The Bay Area is leading the state, it has been running ahead of the state, and the gap has even widened,” said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific. 

Perhaps the most encouraging development in the Bay Area employment picture was the gain of 9,300 jobs in the East Bay, which accounted for two-thirds of the 13,800 jobs added in the Bay Area in January. 

“What is striking about the numbers is the job growth in the East Bay,” said Michael Bernick, a San Franciscobased research fellow with the Milken Institute, and a former EDD director. “The South Bay has had dramatic job growth, the San Francisco metro area has had high job growth, but the East Bay has been lagging.” 

The East Bay upswing means all three of the Bay Area’s major metro areas are poised to expand in tandem. 

“The good news is no longer limited to the South Bay, which is growing strongly,” Michael said. “The San Francisco area is showing solid growth. It’s been a tough four or five years for the East Bay, but this month was a big positive.” 

The East Bay’s jobs uptick follows a string of economic calamities over the past two years, including the shutdown of an auto plant and solar factor, and the continuing consequences of the housing meltdown. 

“This January number is encouraging for the East Bay, although you have to see how it plays out,” Michael said. “But it’s time for the East Bay to come around.” 

The East Bay’s job gains were led by a surge in an array of industries, according to a Beacon Economics analysis. Administrative support and temporary employment gained 2,200 jobs, retail added 2,100, construction was up 1,500, health care gained 1,400 and the techheavy professional scientific and technical services sector added 1,200 jobs. 

In the South Bay, admin-istrative support and temporary employment was up by 1,000 jobs, while professional, scientific and technical services gained 900. 

Unemployment rates in the Bay Area have improved steadily. The South Bay jobless rate of 9.1 percent in January was down from 10.8 percent a year earlier. The East Bay jobless rate was 9.6 percent, compared with 11.1 percent a year ago, and the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region’s rate was 7.5 percent, compared with 8.9 percent in January 2011. 

The state’s annual revision of previous estimates for job trends provided additional sparkle for the region’s economic picture. 

The Bay Area had 6,800 more jobs during 2011 than analysts thought initially, according to the EDD revision. 

The South Bay had 1,600 additional jobs and the San Francisco metro area had 4,200 more jobs compared with the original data. The East Bay job market was a bit weaker than thought, with 800 fewer jobs. 

“The strength in high-tech areas supports the finding that the state economy is continuing to recover with the largest gains in technology and foreign trade and in the urban coastal regions,” said Steve Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. 

With the gains in January, the Bay Area has now added jobs for six straight months. 

“This is a trend and not a bend,” Kemp said. “The Bay Area is doing better than most regions.” 

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_ avalos. 




DAMIAN DOVARGANES/ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Statewide, employers cut 5,200 jobs in January, as job hunters in Southern California fill out employment forms Friday to get an interview at a Goodwill job fair in Bell. 

Brazilian economy overtakes UK's, says CEBR

Brazilian economy overtakes UK's, says CEBR. Russia & India forecasted to be 4th, 5th respectively by 2020.


Interesting forecast by CEBR.. Important thing is that overall World economy should be growing... Aditya better learn good Hindi and be ready to get Indian H1 ;-)


here is the table:

here is the link for details on article.. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16332115