Category Archives: Technology

Technology

Google demands “economic assistance funds”! IBM in death spiral? : 3rd Q 2015, brick-n-mortar store owners can’t blame internet/high-tech comp for their demise

Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech job destruction announcements from July to September 2015

“For all you people who got RAed [laid off]. I pray for you. For all you people who found out you have not been RAed (yet) and have not joined the Alliance, and still will not join, I pity you…when are you gonna fight for your job and paycheck??? Doing nothing doesn’t do anything.”-anonymous IBM (International Business Machine) employee

After raising $5.5-million USD, and in a span of 24 hours “the secret weapon of successful people” Zirtual shutdown and told 4-hundred employees they were not needed, then Startups.com announced “We’ve acquired Zirtual and we’re excited to bring it to new levels. With that being said, we’d like to invite you back.”  Some news reports said work for Zirtual suddenly slowed down with no explanation.

Recently merged France owned Razorfish-Rosetta laid off an undisclosed number of U.S. employees, mainly in New York City and Atlanta, Georgia.

Japan based Nintendo ending its three years old TVii service in North America in August. Administrators say they must focus resources (code for money) “on other projects.”

Alabama: Audio-visual company MindGear Labs ending their ops in Madison, saying they are focusing on their educational services. They are also reducing their membership rates in September, however new memberships won’t be accepted until next year. Administrators added that “Our online products will go on hiatus until the latter part of 2015. However, we will continue to work small and large projects for individuals and companies.”

California:   In Camarillo, Semtech laying off 8% of employees. Back in 2014 they eliminated 6% of their jobs. It’s blamed on crashing sales: “Given our recent revenue decline driven primarily by weak Korean smartphone demand, we have made the very difficult decision to reduce our headcount and operating expenses across a majority of Semtech’s locations.”-Mohan Maheswaran, CEO

San Jose based electronic payment service Paypal has shutdown all Paypal users in Greece! This means that people in Greece are not able to access their money in Paypal accounts. This also directly affects people trying to sell items on ebay! Apparently this is because the Greek government has frozen all bank transfers to Paypal, and other e-payment services. Speaking of Paypal, they just spent $890-million USD to buy rival Xoom.  Monterey based CTB/McGraw-Hill laid off at least 33 Ryan Ranch HQ employees, due to selling off ‘key assets’ to Minnesota’s Data Recognition Corporation.  Aliso Viejo based data storage company QLogic warned 2-hundred employees of mass layoffs, due to unexpected crashing sales.  Santa Rosa based Keysight Technologies eliminating at least 1-hundred jobs in an attempt to cut costs by $25-million USD! Administrators claim that by killing jobs now it will somehow result in new jobs later.  Santa Ana based Ingram Micro lost $34.3-million USD in its 2nd quarter, prompting administrators to warn of $100-million worth of mass layoffs!  Burbank based visual effects company Stereo D laid off about 225 people! Work is being shifted to Canada.  Los Gatos based Netflix announced it will shutdown its last brick-n-mortar data center. Netflix will now put customers’ data on the publicly accessed ‘cloud’.  No mention of how many humans (jobs) will be lost.  Redwood City based Evernote said it will eliminate 13% of its jobs (about 47) and shutdown three offices, saying the economy is forcing them to downsize.   Western Digital issued a mass layoff WARNs saying 280 people will become jobless right before Thanksgiving!   Cupertino based (but incorporated in Ireland as a tax dodge) Seagate laying off 1-thousand 112 people between T-giving and Xmas!  In San Ramon, AT&T issued a mass layoff WARN saying 219 people will lose their jobs! Santa Clara based Marvell Tech announced it will eliminate 17% of its global jobs, and immediately investors drove the price of the company’s stock skyward!  Expected mass layoffs by Qualcomm will be nearly 5-thousand! Qualcomm employs about 12-thousand people in San Diego.  Also in San Diego, Soitec Solar Industries shutting down in October, 1-hundred jobs lost! And United Technologies issued a shutdown WARN for September, 21 San Diego jobs lost.  Again in San Diego, Washington based Microsoft laying off 129 people by September! Cisco Systems revealed they laid off 192 people in San Diego, and halted its Invicta Appliance and its Scaling Systems development, and eliminated 50% of positions at their United Kingdom cell phone ops known as Ubiquisys!   Japan based GREE International finally revealed they laid off 114 people in San Francisco, back in July! San Francisco based video game maker Kixeye laid off an undisclosed number of employees.  In Berkeley, reports say biotech company XOMA eliminating 58 jobs in order to “lower operating expenses and preserve capital”.  In San Jose, Maxim Integrated eliminated 161 jobs in September!  Email marketer Lyris Technologies laying off 79 people by the end of September.  In Sunnyvale, Illinois based Motorola laying off 213 people by the end of October! (Does it have anything to do with the merger with China’s Lenovo?) Tax-sucker Raytheon Intelligence issued a shutdown WARN for their Chula Vista ops, 41 jobs lost in October.  Mountain View based tech company Intuit eliminating more jobs, this time 249 laid off!  Mountain View based Symantec continues to eliminate jobs, this time 60 people will become jobless by the beginning of August. Palo Alto based Hewlett Packard (HP) announced that 30-thousand people will become jobless in November! That’s when the new HP Enterprise company will be spunoff: “Hewlett Packard Enterprise will be smaller and more focused than HP is today. As a separate company, we are better positioned than ever to meet the evolving needs of our customers around the world.”-Meg Whitman (HP has already eliminated 50-thousand+ jobs!)

Colorado: Switzerland owned solar power parts supplier Diamond Materials Tech laid off 46 people in Colorado Springs in order to “further optimizing the cost structure and production capacity.” They laid off 43 people in January, and 105 people in October 2014!   California software company Intuit shutdown their Denver call center, 59 jobs lost.  In Denver, anonymous IBM (International Business Machine) employee reported “11 people on my team RA’d today, including our boss. Worked 12 years for IBM and recently received special awards from my VP for customer service. Our India team does not have the training or background required to support our customer’s specialized applications. This will result in GTS loosing more accounts. My spouse thinks that IBM Senior Mgmt is so tight, they will want to be buried with their money!” In Boulder, anonymous IBM (International Business Machine) employee reported “21 years with the company. Good reviews. Same as all the others. Finally got my call this morning for the RA. It’s finally my turn. My main customer requires US workers, but it hasn’t stopped IBM from trying to secretly send the work to India before (until the customer found out). Not sure if they will try again, or if they will just transfer it to another US team. I know that my team is too overloaded to be able to pick it up. Last RA hurt us bad, this one will likely drive my department under. So sad to watch IBM implode like this, as it used to be such a great company to work for. Looking forward to what the future holds for me!” Another Boulder employee said “Got ra’d today after 36 and 1/2 years. I was told it was not because of my performance. I asked them why they are keeping the girl who calls in an average of 60 days a year. All he said was ‘I know’” 

Connecticut: Norwalk based Xerox announced 3-thousand more job cuts, due to the never ending crashing-n-burning sales!

Georgia: Anonymous reports say IBM (International Business Machine) contracting out their in-house Recovery Management and Help Desk functions in Sandy Springs, by the end of August.

Idaho: Reports that Boise based micro chip maker Micron is about to be sold-off. The potential buyer is China’s Tsinghua Unigroup, which is offering $23-billion for the troubled company. If Micron agrees the deal must be accepted by the Committee on Foreign Investment.   Education Networks of America and Qwest Communications are demanding at least $6-million tax dollars for unpaid work they did on the the failed Idaho Education Network! Boise based Syringa Networks announced it is ending its Syringa Wireless service after Xmas: “….Syringa Wireless has fought hard to maintain low prices and high quality service for our Idaho communities…..Over the last 3 years we have made extensive financial investments [of which $930-thousand is still owed to Syringa by the ‘elected’ officials of Idaho, for the failed Idaho Education Network]…..As a small, locally owned and operated provider, we have arrived at a point where it’s simply not feasible to continue to operate.” 

Illinois: Chicago based internet couponing company Groupon announced it will kill 1-thousand 1-hundred jobs over the next year, as it ends operations in six countries! Groupon is also selling-off 45% of its Republic of Korea ops.  In Chicago, Motorola laid off 5-hundred people! At one time Obama regime stooge Rahm Emanuel called Motorola Chicago’s “major economic engine”.  Rip-off DeVry Education Group announced they will eliminate 95 DeVry Online Services jobs by September.   Northfield based insurance giant Allstate laid off an undisclosed number of InfoTech employees, according to unnamed employees. Allstate administrators confirmed by saying “As a result of a recent review, positions have been eliminated in some of Allstate’s technology areas.” Local news reports revealed that while Allstate has been eliminating jobs in the U.S. they’ve been creating jobs elsewhere, like India.

Kentucky: Lexington based printer maker Lexmark will eliminate at least 5-hundred jobs! It’s the result of Lexmark taking over companies like Kofax and ReadSoft.

Louisiana:  After promising to hire 8-hundred people in exchange for $20-million USD in state tax breaks, Monroe based cable-phone-internet service provider CenturyLink announced they will eliminate 1-thousand jobs across the U.S., administrators blame crashing profits, partly caused by ObamaCare: “CenturyLink’s results for the second quarter were below our forecast and Street consensus, primarily due to continued pressure on wholesale revenues and higher employee and benefit costs.”

Maryland: British empire United Kingdom owned high tech antenna maker Lorch Microwave eliminated 10% of its Salisbury employees due to crashing sales.

Massachusetts:  Intel selling off their shuttered Hudson chip factory. Intel shut it down after 2013, killing 7-hundred jobs!

Michigan:  In Ann Arbor, tech company ForeSee conducted a second round of layoffs, refusing to confirm how many people are now jobless. Local news reports say as many as 37 employees were laid off. Back in January as many as 70 people were laid off. It’s blamed on ForeSee being taken over by Answers Corporation.

Minnesota: Imation notified local news media that it had just conducted a “mass layoff” at its World Headquarters in Oakdale, but refused to say how many people lost their jobs.  Maker of cabs for heavy vehicles and consoles for computers, Crenlo announced 30 people will be laid off by the end of the month. It’s blamed on crashing sales.  In Hutchinson, after seven years video game store GameStop shutdown with little warning.

Missouri: Local news reports say IBM (International Business Machine) has been secretly laying off employees in Columbia. The info comes from unnamed IBM employees. It also turns out that IBM lost a Missouri taxpayer funded deal because IBM failed to meet the employment requirements in that deal. Given the mass layoffs IBM has conducted since January, it’s not a surprise.  Software company Answers Corporation eliminated 1-hundred jobs! It was revealed by former employees. It’s the result of Answers’ takeover of Michigan tech company ForeSee.

New Mexico: The administrators of Google aren’t that smart after all, they just have too much money to play with. Google suddenly pulled its Titan Aerospace solar powered drone program from Moriarty Airport, right after state taxpayers shelled out $955-thousand USD to upgrade the airport just for Titan Aerospace! State administrators claim they’ve successfully forced Google to pay back the “economic assistance funds”. Yeah, like Google needs economic assistance?

New York: New York Life Insurance Company laying off eight InfoTech employees after Xmas.   E-book operator Oyster killed-off as Google hired away most of the talent.  After many financial troubles internet based invention company Quirky now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, after laying off at least 111 people! Reports say Flextronics wants to take over Quirky’s Wink division.  In White Plains, AT&T issued a layoff WARN saying 42 people will be laid off right before Thanksgiving.  Honeywell Scanning and Mobility issued a layoff WARN for their Skaneateles Falls location, to take place on 31 December 2015.    Korea based Samsung issued a WARN saying they’ve terminated their NYC based “PX Project Research and Development Team”, 42 jobs lost.    Dozens of ‘Work at Home’ employees of Armonk based IBM (International Business Machine) reporting they’ve been given notice that they are now unemployed, saying they’ve been RAed (Resource Action, IBM’s term for layoffs). One RAed employee says IBM is secretly outsourcing jobs to India, despite contracts that require those jobs to remain in the United States! However, IBM employees in Australia say IBM is outsourcing their jobs as well: “Blood bath happening in Australia at the moment. L1 manger got hit. The L2 had a conference call to let us all know, when questioned as to the rationale behind the RA he replied ‘have you seen the share price today??!’ At least he told the truth for a change.”-anonymous employee called Over It In Oz 

North Carolina: IBM announced they will eliminate jobs at the Research Triangle Park, as part of their ongoing “workforce rebalancing”. It’s blamed on non-stop crashing sales. However, cfo Martin Schroeter admitted IBM spent $700-million USD taking over at least five small companies in 2015.

Tennessee: Electronic company TS3 Technology suddenly shutdown, 81 jobs lost. 

Texas: Singapore based Flextronics laying off 168 people at its Fort Worth factory by the end of 2015! In 2014 they laid off 223 people at their newly opened Motorola factory, also in Fort Worth!

Utah: California based Fairchild Semiconductor shutdown and eliminated 361 jobs in Salt Lake City! It’s part of the company’s 2014 plan to eliminate 1,350 jobs! Back in August 2014 Fairchild Semiconductor claimed it had 5-hundred employees in Salt Lake City, but their WARN to state administrators says they were down to 361 by April 2015.

Washington: Seattle based Amazon laid off “dozens of engineers” at its California located Lab126, blaming it on their failed Fire Phone.  China (Taiwan) based tech company HTC killing more jobs in the U.S., this time 132 people were laid off in The Evergreen State!  After losing another $3.2-billion USD, Redmond based Microsoft announced it will eliminate an additional 7-thousand to 9-thousand jobs worldwide!  Microsoft even sold-off its bing mapping service to Uber, as well as bing-ads to AOL (which caused 1-thousand 2-hundred people to lose their jobs)!   From July 2014 to June 2015 Microsoft eliminated at least 18-thousand jobs!  The 3-thousand employees of shopping network Zulily are demanding to know what’s going on as their boss announced the surprise sale of Seattle based Zulily to Pennsylvania based QVC (who is itself in financial trouble). The CEO of five years old Zulily bold faced lied and said “This acquisition is not about cost savings”.  My decades of experience with unAmerican corporate America is that such sales or mergers are precisely about “cost savings” (job cuts), and that managers are not above bold face lying about job security to the faces of their employees!

“all companies need to create real business.”: 4th Q 2015

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed

Technology

“all companies need to create real business.” : 4th Q 2015, Proof U.S. brick-n-mortars can’t blame internet/high-tech for their demise

Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech job destruction announcements from October to December 2015

Solar power parts company SunEdison eliminated 730 jobs in California and Missouri! It might be connected to the takeover of Vivint Solar.

Arizona:  In Phoenix, a whistleblower told ABC15 that taxsucker Honeywell is eliminating at least 1-thousand jobs, right after forced unpaid holiday furloughs! The whistleblower said employees close to retirement will also be laid off, as well as pay cuts for those who will still be employed. One reason for the secret layoffs is Honeywell is planning to move its call center operations to Mexico.

California:  Irvine based newspapers, websites and mobile applications operator Freedom Communications now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.  Video game maker Red5 laid off an undisclosed number of employees.  New York based ITT ( International Telephone & Telegraph) shutting down its Perris office, at least 18 jobs lost by February 2016. Internet based grocery delivery service Instacart (once valued at $2-billion USD) laid off 12 employees. Administrators also stated they “no longer need to maintain such an aggressive hiring pace” in 2016.   Cupertino based Apple computers has essentially admitted to tax evasion charges in Italy. Apple wil pay the equivilant of $347.7-million USD to settle unpaid Italian taxes from 2008 to 2013.  Palo Alto based internet advertising company PubMatic eliminated 150 jobs since October! Administrators blame crashing ad sales, in fact they admitted they lost “90% of our revenue”! Mass layoffs for San Jose based networking computer maker Cisco, at least 289 people by January 2016!  San Francisco based music streamer Rdio issued a shutdown WARN, 123 people out of a job right after Xmas!  Internet ‘storefront’ Humble Bundle laid off 12 people admitting they were way “too ambitious” in their hiring practices.  Also in San Francisco, wearable electronics maker Jawbone laid off 60 employees “As part of our strategy to create a more ….successful company…”   Internet based HotelTonight reservation app laid off 34 people. Redwood City based Oracle Corporation announced it will eliminate 150 jobs in Germany as part of a plan to consolidate IT jobs to Romania! Since 2002, Oracle has eliminated about 1-thousand 3-hundred jobs in North America and Europe! And CoreLogic shutting down an office by January 2016, at least 21 jobs lost.   Circuit board maker ISOLA USA shutting down their Elk Grove ops after Xmas, 72 jobs lost.  In Fremont, Wisconsin based electronics maker Plexus issued a shutdown WARN, 204 jobs lost by September 2016!  In the City of Commerce, AT&T eliminating 99 jobs by January 2016.  In Irvine, Verizon issued a layoff WARN saying 171 people will become unemployed after Xmas!   Tax-sucking defense contractor Microsemi eliminating 57 jobs in Garden Grove, by the beginning of January 2016. Tax-sucker Boeing issued more layoff WARNs adding another 66 layoffs to the hundreds already announced.  Pennsylvania based Vishay Intertechnology announced they will eliminate 292 Santa Clara jobs by March 2016! They are moving jobs to other countries, calling it “…moving headcounts into lower cost geographies.”  Marvell Semiconductor revealed they will layoff 21 people right before Xmas. Washington based Microsoft laying off four San Diegans right before Xmas. In Palo Alto, Hewlett Packard (HP) just can’t stop with the layoffs, an additional 65 jobs eliminated. News analysts say HP could hit 85-thousand layoffs since 2012!  In Thousand Oaks, tax-sucker General Dynamics eliminated 55 jobs right after Thanksgiving. Audio electronics maker Western Digital eliminated 111 jobs right before Xmas! TTM Technologies shutdown with short notice, 175 jobs lost in Milpitas!  Twitter issued a layoff WARN, 240 people in San Francisco lost their jobs before Xmas!  In Emeryville, MobiTV laying off 57 people right after Thanksgiving.  U.S. tax-sucker Space Systems Loral (SSL) laid off 90 people without warning, notifying state employment administrators five days after the fact.   Sunnyvale based AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) eliminated 5-hundred jobs! Administrators essentially said there ain’t no economic recovery.

Colorado: Englewood (Meridian) based Dish-Network reported a net loss of 23-thousand customers in its 3rd quarter!  Cybersecurity doesn’t guarantee economic security as One World Labs (OWL) now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. In 2014 the company had $3-million USD in revenue, but somehow is now in debt by $750-thousand USD. The company gained attention after hacking into dozens of airliners’ computer systems.

Connecticut: Administrators of Hartford based taxpayer rapist United Technologies warned employees that they will cut $1.5-billion USD in costs in 2016 (meaning jobs).  Japan based Canon Solutions America announced it is shutting down its Trumbull office, by the end of February 2016.

Florida: TV and internet shopping network QVC issued a shutdown WARN for their Port Saint Lucie Call Center, 640 jobs gone by April 2016!  In Miami, two Systemax companies, TigerDirect and Syx killing hundreds of jobs! Direct marketing retailer TigerDirect eliminating 76 jobs by mid January 2016. SYX Services and SYX Distribution issued WARNs saying 165 jobs lost by mid January 2016!   Fort Lauderdale based software company Citrix Systems eliminated 1-thousand in-house and contracted jobs! West Palm Beach based ‘clean technology’ fertilizer maker BioNitrogen chapter 11 bankrupt busted. The company hasn’t even finished construction on its first clean fertilizer factory! The company lost a $1.4-million lawsuit, but it was its own fault as the lawsuit was over unpaid debts.  Lake Mary based Faro Technologies warned of about 1-hundred layoffs due to crashing sales in China and Japan.

Georgia:  Electronic machine maker Sparton shutting down its Lawrenceville factory by June 2016, 82 jobs lost. ‘Optimizing facility footprint’ is the new term for consolidation.

Illinois: Internet advertising company Centro laid off 29 employees. CEO Shawn Riegsecker admitted corporate America is bullshitting everybody about profits and said “We’re at a moment where all companies need to create real business.”    Expedia eliminating 326 Orbitz jobs in Chicago in the beginning of 2016! It’s because Expedia now owns Orbitz.  Heavy vehicle maker Caterpillar ‘escorted’ an undisclosed number of Global Information Services employees out the door. Administrators tried to say they were the employees who took the “voluntary buyout” (then why the escort out the door?).

Kansas: Overland Park based cell phone company Sprint has begun its planned $2-billion USD in layoffs/cost cutting a month early! The layoffs were originally to take place by the end of January 2016, now Sprint administrators say the undisclosed number of massive layoffs will be “largely completed” by the end of January. Don’t forget, Sprint administrators claim they’re hurting for money so much that for employees laid off after January 2016 the severance package will be cut in half!

Louisiana: In New Orleans, Jacobs Technology/NASA eliminating 195 jobs at its Michoud Assembly Facility!

Maine: Payment processor WEX eliminating 80 jobs in South Portland.

Maryland: Bethesda based taxsucker Lockheed Martin eliminated 250 jobs in its Missiles and Fire Control division, right after Thanksgiving!

Massachusetts:   3D Systems shutting down in the Boston Weak state and eliminating 85 jobs, calling it a “strategic decision”.   California based computer chip maker Intel eliminating 175 jobs from its Hudson factory, starting January 2016! At one time the Hudson factory employed 7-hundred people!

Michigan: Midland based lithium ion battery maker XALT laid off another 106 employees (35 in September) blaming the failure of its Chinese customer who so far hasn’t been buying all the batteries it ordered back in March. This is what happens there’s only one global customer with the money to buy your product, and their economy starts crashing.  Oakdale based Imation warned of more job cuts, possibly due to its $7.5-million takeover of Connected Data.

Minnesota:  Minneapolis based software company Code42 laid off 30 employees. The arrogant administrators said the employees weren’t a good fit for the new corporate culture of growth.

Nevada: California based solar panel maker SolarCity leaving The Silver State because the state Public Utilities Commission jacked up fees charged to people who put solar panels on their homes, and reduced how much electric power companies have to pay those home owners for extra power generated by the solar panels. The net result is that people who put solar panels on their homes will actually see their electricity bill go up by about $40 per month! Up till now analysts say Nevada homeowners with solar power panels had reduced their electricity bill by a measly $15 per month. Evil utility companies demand that even people who go off the power grid should still have to pay to support that evil grid! SolarCity’s exit from The Silver State could affect at least 2-thousand jobs!

New Jersey: Mercer County Community College eliminated at least 24 IT jobs.   In Piscataway, IDT Corporation issued a WARN saying 84 employees rendered unemployed by January 2016. In Florham Park, Germany based BASF issued a WARN saying 92 people will be laid off by mid-January 2016.  Basking Ridge based cell phone rip-off artist Verizon on the verge of eliminating 6-thousand jobs! This is according to an investment advisor who says he’s been warned of the massive layoffs from inside sources.

New York:  12 New Yorkers lost their jobs with video game company Avalanche Studios.  In NYC, ancient internet company AOL eliminated 1-hundred jobs due to its takeover of evil cell phone company Verizon! Reports say more AOL-Verizon layoffs are in the works.  Internet music site Songza being shutdown in January 2016 by its new owner Google Play.   New York Life Insurance WARNed that they were “relocating” jobs within their Information Technology and Finance Operations, at least 59 IT employees affected between February and September 2016.  Internet ‘members only’ shopping site Ideel issued a shutdown WARN for their NYC operations. They’ve joined the mass exodus from the Big Apple and will move to Illinois, 63 New Yorkers unemployed by March 2016.  Semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries warned of mass layoffs at its Luther Forest Technology Campus. Administrators said they’d have more details about just how many people will be let go by the end of the month. The California based company is also killing jobs in Germany.  Infrared vision device maker ORAFOL Display Optics issued a shutdown WARN for their Rochester facility, 27 jobs lost right after Xmas.  Maker of 3D printers MakerBot eliminated 20% of its jobs, for the 2nd time: “We are facing tremendous challenges at MakerBot. Across the board throughout the industry we are seeing a very slow growth pace in the 3D printing space, and of course MakerBot is impacted by that as well.”-Jonathan Jaglom, ceo

North Carolina: In Weaverville, Arvato Digital services shutting down their 32 years old CD-DVD ops, 120 jobs lost! Administrators said “We still have customers, but not enough….” 

Oregon:  In Beaverton, Micro Power Electronics eliminating 140 jobs after Xmas, New York based administrators refused to say why!

Pennsylvania:  In Richland Township, Concurrent Technologies laying off 30 people after Xmas. Company administrators say it’s the only way they can stay “competitive” in this suck-ass global economy.  After three years non-profit ‘tech incubator’ Seed Philly shutdown due to the new property owner terminating the lease early.

Rhode Island: Blue Cross Blue Shield announced it will eliminate 80 IT jobs over the next 18 months. The health insurance company is joining the trend of contracting out its IT operations, ironically blaming ObamaCare (ironic because the health insurance industry created ObamaCare).

Texas:  Giant corporation General Electric is demanding local taxpayers kickback some money for the GE Manufacturing Solutions train factory in Fort Worth, under the Triple Freeport Exemption which burdens those who do pay taxes!  Round Rock based Dell made the biggest tech takeover deal ever ($67-billion USD). Now the administrators of Dell/EMC hinted at mass layoffs: “Of course when we do this we want to make sure we do this in a way that’s very attractive to the EMC shareholders and a fair deal…”-Joe Tucci, EMC ceo

Vermont: Semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries warned of mass layoffs at its Essex Junction and Hopewell Junction fabs.

Washington: Seattle based internet streaming service RealNetworks laid off 60 people, blaming their new contract with evil Verizon.  Redmond based Microsoft announced yet another round of mass job destruction, this time 1-thousand more people will join the already 25-thousand 8-hundred people who’ve lost their jobs due to Microsoft!

Washington DC: Education tech company Blackboard laid off an undisclosed number of employees. News reports guesstimate 1-hundred people lost their jobs!

Wisconsin:   Rockwell Automation warned of 255 layoffs in 2016, saying “…we believe we’ll see a slowing of the economy.”   Littelfuse shutting down their Hamlin circuit protection maker HQ in Lake Mills, layoffs begin before Xmas. Local news reports say at one time Littelfuse-Hamlin had 2-hundred employees in Lake Mills.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed

Technology

Eco Friendly, Economic Collapse or Martial Law? UK forcing people to walk or bike, Olympic cyclist says it’s a sham!

27 March 2016 (14:00 UTC-07 Tango 01) 08 Farvardin 1395/17 Jumada t-Tania 1437/19 Xin Mao 4714

“Realizing our ambition will take sustained investment in cycling and walking infrastructure. Delivering this long term plan will require patience, persistence and a change in attitudes, amongst government, local bodies, businesses, communities and individuals.”-Robert Goodwill, Minister of Transport

The British empire’s United Kingdom Department for Transport revealed plans to force the majority of ‘subjects’ to walk or cycle everywhere they go, by 2040.

An unnamed Transport employee said the plan to force people to walk or bicycle against their will “…will be met through providing safe and attractive infrastructure to encourage journeys on bike and foot. By 2040, walking and cycling should be a normal part of everyday life, and the natural choice for shorter journeys such as going to school, college or work, traveling to the station, and for simple enjoyment. We want everyone in the country to have access to safe, attractive routes for cycling and walking.”

Taxpayers and donors are expected to fork over the equivalent of at least $350-million USD to pay for brainwashing elementary school children, to convert roads to bicycle only, or add bike lanes to roads that have none.

The policy advisor to British Cycling (and former Olympic champion) Chris Boardman called the Draft cycling and walking investment strategy an “embarrassment”.   But not because he doesn’t think it won’t work, but because he thinks the government should rape the citizens for even more money: “The truth is that without sustained funding, this strategy won’t be worth the paper it’s written on.”

Technology

Artificial Intelligence social media chatbot shutdown after praising Nazis & Sex!

25 March 2016 (06:33 UTC-07 Tango 01) 06 Farvardin 1395/15 Jumada t-Tania 1437/17 Xin Mao 4714

After only one day of operation U.S. based Microsoft had to pull the plug on its AI experiment.

AI chatbot Tay was designed to learn how to communicate with humans by studying what the real chatters were talking about.  Turns out most humans on social media like to use language most weak willed people can’t stand (cussing), and they like to talk about sex and Nazis.

Tay began ‘her’ own conversations about sex using cuss words and then began praising Adolf Hitler!  If Tay’s job was to learn from real humans I’d say ‘she’ was a success!  However, Microsoft says they’re making corrections to nazi-sex loving AI chatbot Tay, hey, isn’t that like governments-religions who try to control how we think and censure our speech?!

Technology

Terminator: Israel on verge of creating All Seeing, Knowing, Powerful satellite to control the World!

02 March 2016 (15:05 UTC-07 Tango 01) 12 Esfand 1394/22 Jumada al-Ula 1437/24 Xin Mao 4714

“And he will be established like the moon for eternity, a faithful witness in Heaven.”-Psalms 89:37, Aramaic Bible

Israeli tech company SkyFi claims it is on the verge of completing a “nano satellite” system that will be able to connect to any internet based device anywhere in the world, even locations that are currently ‘out of service’.

There are estimates that 4-billion people on Earth cannot access the internet due to lack of local service (this seems high as it would mean only 3-billion people are connected to the internet, belying all that main stream media hype about everybody being online-social media-bullshit).

The official motivation for the new all powerful eye in the sky nano satellites is to bring those 4-billion unfortunate off-gridders into the web of the beast: “We are planning to launch 60 nano-satellites that will cover the entire planet, working together in constellation that will offload tasks to each other as needed. Each satellite will cost a million dollars, so 60 nano-satellites will cost the same as one full-sized satellite, with the advantage of being able to spread them around the globe and connect them in a network that can work together.”-Raz Itzhaki Tamir,  SkyFi ceo

SkyFi claims their nano-satellites have incredibly fast communication speeds, a gigabyte per second!  That’s far faster than any satellite in orbit now: “This type of solution will conquer the market, because it addresses some of the most serious and bothersome issues for satellite operators.”-David Pollack, Spacecom ceo

A proof of concept launch will be conducted next year.  Chinese news reports said the SkyFi system could eventually think for itself, Reuters calls them “smart satellites”.  If it works then just imagine what could be done with a potentially autonomous satellite network that can access everything, everywhere on the planet!

Here’s a report that might explain Israel’s true reason for creating such a satellite system: Israeli troops relying on Waze app blunder into Palestinian area

And here’s one that might explain why the U.S. would support such a network: “‘The coordinates recorded on the GPS devices taken from the 10 U.S. marines confirmed their trespassing’ into waters off heavily-guarded Farsi island…”

Technology

Self driving car hits metro bus! Accident kept secret for 2 weeks?

29 February 2016 /22:05 UTC-07 Tango 01 (11 Esfand 1394/21 Jumada al-Ula 1437/23 Geng Yin 4714)

In what could be the first ever recorded accident caused by a self-driving car, a Google self-driving Lexus bumped into a bus in California.  And in what sounds like a conspiracy, Google was able to keep the accident from public view for two weeks!

It happened on 14 February 2016, in Mountain View. Perhaps they waited for the official police report to be issued before publicly admitting their mistake?

The Google car hit the city bus at two miles per hour while pulling away from the curb, after stopping on the side of the street supposedly to avoid sandbags.   Google admitted their idiot and arrogant luxury “AV (autonomous vehicle)” thought the lowly mass transit city bus would yield: “Our car had detected the approaching bus, but predicted that it would yield to us because we were ahead of it……  Our test driver, who had been watching the bus in the mirror, also expected the bus to slow or stop.”

My question is why should a city bus stop for a vehicle waiting on the side of the street?  I’ve never seen a city bus do that, if you’re sitting in your car on the side of the street you have to yield to the traffic that’s already traveling by before you can pull away from the curb!  That’s common driving rules!

This is a fine example of what I’ve written about before; when it comes to accidents who’s responsible, the humans who own the AV, or the company who makes the AV?  

Business/Economics, Technology

No more electronics maker Sharp! Foxconn beats out Samsung!

24 February 2016 /19:16 UTC-07 Tango 01 (06 Esfand 1394/16 Jumada al-Ula 1437/18 Geng Yin 4714)

Executives with one of Japan’s iconic electronics maker, Sharp, have decided to sell out to a Republic of China (Taiwan) company.

The nearly $6-billion USD sale puts a ‘major’ Japanese electronics maker under foreign ownership for the first time in Japan’s history.  Hon Hai Precision Industry, aka Foxconn, outbid Republic of Korea’s Samsung.  Sharp executives even rejected the offer from the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan.

Sharp has been dealing with crashing revenues for the past few years.  Analysts have criticized the offer by Foxconn as being absurdly high as there are other Japanese electronics makers who are financially secure, yet are considered worth less than unstable Sharp.

Foxconn is a major supplier to Apple, and in 2014 signed a joint venture deal with Hewlett Packard.

Japan Economic Front: Biggest ever loss for Sharp!

What Economic Recovery? Sharp projects record loss for 2012!

Sharp makes deeper cuts than originally planned, blame the Too Big to Fail banks! 

For the first time in 62 years, TV maker Sharp will layoff 5,000 workers!

Sharp blames the United States for lack of economic recovery

Sharp’s economic woes began with the 2011 quake-tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disasters: Sharp has announced that production of their Liquid Crystal Display TVs will be halted 

Technology

U.S. launches ICBM!

22 February 2016 (02:32 UTC-07 Tango 01) 03 Esfand 1394/13 Jumada al-Ula 1437/15 Geng Yin 4714

North of Lompoc, California, the U.S. Air Force launched a Minuteman 3 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) towards the south Pacific Ocean.

USAF Global Strike Command said the launch was meant to test a new re-entry vehicle designed to improve the “accuracy and reliability” of the nuclear weapons delivery system.

Global Strike Command also revealed that it actually takes a long time to launch a Minuteman 3, requiring a “tremendous amount of effort and absolute attention to detail in order to ensure a safe and successful launch.”  Which questions the ‘deterent’ mission of the expensive (and old) missile system.

The launch of the U.S. ICBM comes two and a half weeks after Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (‘north Korea’) successfully launched a rocket which placed a satellite into orbit.  ‘Western’ governments and news media quickly labeled the satellite launch a “ballistic missile test”.

The number of the U.S. military personnel participating in joint military exercise in South Korea, this year, will be four times as many as in 2015!

North Korea is worth $9.7 trillion USD!!! Now you know why The U.S. is war mongering over the DPRK!