Category Archives: Technology

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: South Korea changes tune on recent cyber attacks. Now blaming United States!

25 March 2013/13 Jumada l-Ula 1434/05 Farvardin 1391/14 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

A few days ago the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) National Police Agency (NPA) blamed a crippling cyber attack on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) via China.

Now ROK’s National Police Agency has changed its claim and is blaming Europe and the United States!!!

South Korean cops now say the cyber attack that shut down three major TV broadcasters and three major banks, and disabled 32000 computers, came from IP addresses in three European countries and the U.S.

ROK NPA investigators suspect other countries are involved.  The question now is why were U.S. and South Korean officials so quick to blame China and the DPRK?

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: South Korea reporting computer network crashed by hackers!

20 March 2013/08 Jumada l-Ula 1434/30 Esfand 1391/09 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

The Republic of Korea’s National Police Agency is reporting that three major South Korean TV broadcasters and two banks have been the targets of cyber attacks that shut them down. It’s still unknown how it happened, police are investigating.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Long time Boeing customer switches to Airbus!

18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

Indonesia’s Lion Air has always been a big customer of the U.S. company Boeing, but not anymore.

With the ongoing problems with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, Lion Air has just signed a huge contract with Europe’s Airbus.  Lion Air just bought 234 A320 airliners, they could have been Boeing 787s!

The deal with Airbus is the largest ever for Lion Air.  It’s estimated to be worth 18.4 billion euros ($23.8 billion USD)!  It’s good news for France as 5,000 jobs will be created.

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: Japan finds nuclear equipment on cargo ship coming from North Korea!

18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

The Japanese government is filing a complaint with the UN Security Council, alleging violations of UN sanctions by DPRK.

Japanese Customs inspectors say they found aluminum rods on a cargo ship that had left North Korea, bound for China.  The rods could be used for nuclear centrifuges, and are covered in the latest UN sanctions.

This is the first time Japan has found such contraband items from North Korea.  The inspection of the ship was done under a 2010 UN sanctions rule.

International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: North Korea says threats of war are for real, they are able to launch nuclear strikes now! Launch new short range missiles as proof!

I’ve seen several war ‘experts’ interviewed on U.S. and U.K. main streamer TV news programs.  Basically they believe the DPRK threats of war are rhetoric, as in the past, and that the East Asian country is years away from having enough nukes to back up those threats.

The officials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea must be watching those Western news programs because this is how they responded on 14 March 2013/02 Jumada l-Ula 1434/24 Esfand 1391/3 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711.

“….the army and people of the DPRK have taken positions for a final attack for national reunification and all sophisticated strike means including nuclear strike means are waiting for an order to hit the targets.”

“All legal mechanisms for preventing military conflicts have become defunct in this land due to the unprecedented moves of the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces to stifle the DPRK and their endless provocations, pushing the grave situation beyond control.”

“They are sadly mistaken if they misinterpret the present grave situation as a verbal confrontation just as they did in the past.”

Also, on 15 March 2013/03 Jumada l-Ula 1434/25 Esfand 1391/04 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711, DPRK forces launched new versions of a Soviet era short range ballistic missile. They landed in the Sea of Japan.  The KN-02 missile has an estimated range of 120 kilometers (74.5 miles).  It can be used as a tactical nuke missile.

DPRK officials also say they’ve detected large scale cyber attacks from the United States and Republic of Korea (ROK), and warned they will respond in kind.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: Iran to stop exporting crude oil! More reasons for inflation!

“We plan to get to the point where we would not need to export crude oil anymore…..it would be of great benefit to our country.”-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran

14 March 2013/02 Jumada l-Ula 1434/24 Esfand 1391/3 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

Iranian leaders want to end their oil exports, as a way to guarantee self sufficiency, and counter economic sanctions by the West.

It’s estimated that if Iran builds more refineries to make fuel and petrochemicals for export, it can make three to four times more money than from exporting raw crude oil.  (this is exactly what the U.S. oil industry is doing, and the real reason why U.S. domestic fuel prices go up when U.S. oil prices have been relatively constant)

Domestically, it’s estimated that by producing more petrochemicals for Iranian industries as much as five times more money could be made: “The country’s oil industry has witnessed big developments, among them launching gasoline making unit of Abadan oil refinery. By launching the project the country no longer needs to import gasoline.”-Rostam Qassemi, Iranian Oil Minister

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: South Korea accuses Idaho’s Micron of international price fixing!

11 March 2013/28 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/21 Esfand 1391/30 Yi-Mao 4711

As war drums are beating, unnamed officials in Republic of Korea (ROK) are blaming Idaho based Micron Technology of fixing prices for computer memory chips: “It’s quite strange that the global memory chip market is seeing unexpected price rises amid less demand for conventional personal computers. It’s highly possible that the chipmakers are engaged in price-fixing. Among other firms, Micron Technology is apparently using its commanding position to manipulate computer chip prices. We are watching it closely.”

Micron apparently controls half the World’s chip market! ROK’s SK Hynix controls 30%, and Samsung 15%.  Those three companies are the only major memory chip makers left in the World, several years ago there were more than ten!

Officials from ROK base their claim on decreasing computer demand on information recently released by International Data Corporation.

This isn’t the first time Idaho’s Micron has been accused of price fixing.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: United States behind most cyber attacks!

10 March 2013/27 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/20 Esfand 1391/29 Yi-Mao 4711

For all the whining the United States government does about cyber attacks, even going as far as making it an act of war and justifying the extra-judicial killing of hackers, it turns out that the biggest perpetrator is the United States.

According to China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Coordination Center, between September 2012 to February 2013 89 cyber attacks were made against Chinese public and company websites.  39 of those attacks originated from U.S. IP addresses.

According to China’s National Vulnerability Database, between November 2012 to January 2013, 5792 attempted cyber attacks were launched from U.S. IP addresses.  Also, 2194 of servers using viruses or botnets to control Chinese mainframes are located in the U.S.  And, 73% of phishing sites targeting Chinese e-commerce are based in the U.S.

China is not the only country to point to the United States as being behind most cyber attacks, Iranian officials say they are constantly dealing with cyber attacks coming from the U.S.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Get ready for more inflation, petrochemicals prices on the rise. You’ll pay more for gas, eyeglasses & presrciption drugs!

04 March 2013/21 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/14 Esfand 1391

While glancing at news reports out of Japan, my eye was caught by a report that said eyeglass prices were going up, because of oil, or more specifically petrochemicals!

Most eyeglasses are actually plastic made with petrochemicals, and petrochemical prices have jumped.  In January 2013 overall petrochemicals prices were up 12% from January 2012.

Towards the end of 2012 reports said prices started to come down due to decreased demand.  But then supplies dipped so low that prices recovered in January/February 2013.  Now prices are going to go higher because demand is going back up!

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, their equity market closed up on 02 March 2013 because of increasing demand for petrochemical shares.

The latest Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report said that Dow Chemical is upset because many U.S. oil companies want to export their petrochemicals feedstock.  This will reduce supply available within the U.S. and affect the price Dow, and other companies will pay for their feedstock (basic ingredients used to make  products).

The same WSJ report also said that U.S. oil companies’ desires to export their product is part of why fuel prices are going up at the pump, even though U.S. oil prices are stuck in the $90 USD per barrel range.

According to a 2005 CATO Institute commentary, petrochemicals make up 17% of every barrel of oil used in the United States. It doesn’t sound like much, but realize that petrochemicals are used to make a huge variety of products, most  taken for granted by the average consumer.

Here’s a small list:  Carpeting, clothing, crayons, plastics (including kitchen items, toys, model kits and eyeglasses/medical devices), detergents, deodorants, fertilizers, ink, paint, pesticides, chewing gum, adhesives/glue, even those recyclable plastic grocery bags (please recycle them), and prescription and non-prescription drugs.

Corporate officials in Japan are warning consumers to expect to pay more for their everyday consumer goods.

As far as economic recovery in the real estate market, a report out of the Cityscape Jeddah Residential and Affordable Housing Summit, in Saudi Arabia, sums it up: “With maximizing profit as main objectives, banks are not incentivized to diversify their business to cover real estate projects. You might see a bank financing a petrochemical project, but you will not find any bank interested in financing a real estate project for low and mid-income people. In addition, we don’t see enough effort from SAMA [Strategic Account Management Association(?)] to encourage banks to finance residential projects.”-Stephen Atkinson, ARIEIT Investment Holdings

In other words, petrochemicals are King (Beast), and we are at their mercy!

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? List of U.S. job losses & store closings for 01 February 2013: More proof there ain’t no economic recovery! No more Viking stoves? Obama/Romney Care causing even more layoffs!

Telecommunications company, Tellabs, will have to layoff at least 300 employees in 2013!  That’s because of $172 millin USD in losses for 2012. The Illinois based company already laid off 730 people in 2012!

Also in Illinois, two video rental stores shut down.  The owner of Video Villager said she got a sign: “Business has been very, very poor. This week, we didn’t get our new movies we were supposed to. We took that as a sign maybe it was time to close the doors.”-Sherry Reitzel

Stefanini, a Michigan based information technology company, lost their contract with Ford and is forced to layoff 107 employees! Ford outsourced their new IT staff.

In Connecticut, Harman International Industries said that sales for 2012 were so bad they have to layoff 500 employees! This is on top of the planned layoff of 500 people in their European operations!

In Mississippi, high end stove maker Viking Range to layoff 140 people!  They blame crashing sales.  But wait there’s more: Viking’s founder, Fred Carl Jr, is retiring after earlier saying he would stay on for several more years.  That’s because Viking is being taken over by a company called Middleby.  On top of that, Viking is closing two cooking schools, one in Mississippi, and the other in Tennessee.

Smith & Nephew Orthopedics laying off 100 people in Tennessee and Massachusetts.  They laid off 80 employees back in 2011, but this time they’re blaming the current round of layoffs on the new Obama/Romney Care excise tax on orthopedic device companies.

In Massachusetts, the D. Garbarino Company tobacco shop closed down. The family run business was 135 years old!

Pennsylvania based AmerisourceBergen closing down its New Jersey pharmaceutical distribution warehouse.  At least 72 people out-o-work.  Company officials refused to give a reason why.  The company did recently renew a contract with nursing home pharmacy PharMerica.  However, AmerisourceBergen is being investigated for possible kickbacks in several states, and facing a class action lawsuit by stockholders.

Advertising agency, Robinson Radio, now bankrupt.  The Virginia based company blamed it on “…overly aggressive investments in personnel and additional operating expenses just before the 2008 economic crash and the continuing challenges of the advertising marketplace in the four years since the start of the recession.”

Also in Virginia, AZZ Galvanizing in Benwood closed down without notice. 20 people out-o-work. Corporate owners gave no reason, and a now former office manager is pissed: “We showed up to work as though it were any other workday and they were waiting there to take our jobs and leave us with nothing but a final paycheck. No severance package, no nothing!”-Tiffany Beckett  (at least they got final paychecks, I didn’t even get that when my last employer, Metro Couriers, shut down)

Then there’s Impressions Plus Printing and Copying in Winchester, Virginia. They’ve shut down, 11 people laid off.  Owners of the 27 years old business blame declining sales on the internet.

In Arizona, used car company Aufmuth now bankrupt. It’s because of massive debt.  Officials with the 38 years old company hope the bankruptcy will let them re-group and continue business.

In Butte, Montana, Richards and Rochelle Men’s Store out-o-business. The clothing store first opened for business in 1915!   The current owner says he can’t keep the store going anymore, and will now work part time as a pharmacist (he remembers when men’s pants were only $1.00).

In California, the Fremont Theater shut down after 70 years of operations.