Category Archives: Technology

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

What Economic Recovery? Hewlett Packard to layoff 300 British employees, government officials calling it a “quarterly cull”! HP has too much debt, turns to GE for help!

“This is not part of the global program, it’s just a quarterly cull.”-unnamed government source

03 August 2012, news media in the United Kingdom have discovered that Hewlett Packard (HP) has told the British government they will let go at least 268 employees.

British law requires companies that are laying off more than 20 employees to notify the government.

Despite the unnamed government official’s statement, some analysts believe this is part of the planed layoff of 27,000 HP employees by October 2014.

HP officials in France and Germany said they’re planing to cut their workforce by 10%.  In Sweden it could be as high as 14%.  Italy and Spain are still awaiting HP’s layoff estimates.  Even the announced 268 layoffs in the U.K. are not considered the final cut.

Unions in Britain are claiming that HP will end up laying off at least 1,600 employees.  CEO Meg Whitman, refused to answer British media questions.

On 30 July 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported that HP was finding it harder and harder to get credit default swaps on its debt.  The cost of such swaps has quadrupled for HP since last year.  That’s because more and more investors are worried that HP will end up busted.

Also, HP’s debt load is now at $21 million USD, no thanks to its recent purchase of a company called Autonomy.

As a result HP has turned to General Electric (GE) for financial help.

On 02 August 2012, GE Capital announced they will offer credit to HP resellers. The offer includes 60 days of no interest re-payments: “Resellers of any size can view this kind of financing as working capital that they can use to help grow their markets and expand their businesses. We’re pleased to be working with HP to support its resellers.”-Mike Marcolina, GE Capital Commercial Distribution Finance

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

What Economic Recovery? For the first time in 62 years, TV maker Sharp will layoff 5,000 workers! Despite profits Panasonic will let go 7,000 workers! Sony 10,000!

01 August 2012, Sharp announced that it will layoff 5,000 employees between now and March 2013, then, on 02 August reported a record loss of $1.6 billion USD for the quarter April-June!  That’s three times its loss from the same quarter last year!

The layoffs will affect workers in Japan, and in other countries.  Sharp hopes most of the layoffs will come from convincing older workers to retire early.

Sharp now expects to lose $3.2 billion for the year 2012!

Sharp has reported record losses, but, Panasonic recently reported profits and still plans to layoff 7,000 employees!

On 30 July 2012, Panasonic revealed that it plans to reduce its headquarter staffing by 7,000, leaving only 150 HQ staff employed!

Panasonic reported profits for the past quarter, but they (just like Sharp) suffered huge losses in 2011, and they expect sales to drop for the rest of 2012.

Panasonic executives say they hope to find other jobs for the 7,000 HQ staffers in Japan.

Back in April 2012, Sony revealed they will layoff 10,000 employees, both in Japan and in other countries.  On 02 August 2012, Sony reported a loss of $315 million for the quarter Arpil-June.

Sony officials revised their expected losses for this year, almost doubling it!

All three of these companies are losing big money in one sector of their industry: Televisions with LCD screens!  They say people around the world just aren’t buying enough LCD TVs.

Or is it that company execs messed up and ordered the production of way too many TVs with liquid crystal displays?

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

What Economic Recovery? Hoku Corporation voluntarily de-lists, chapter 11 coming soon, “Liquidate Hoku Materials”

“How much longer can Hoku Corp keep the tsunami of debt, liabilities, liens, foreclosures and material breaches of contract at bay? What’s the delay in filing for bankruptcy protection? I believe that it may be driven by their energetic attempts to sell their solar subsidiary before the much tighter restrictions on selling assets that would come under bankruptcy.”-Marco Mangelsdorf, ProVision Solar

Hoku Corporation, parent company of failed Hoku Materials in Pocatello, Idaho, voluntarily de-listed itself from NASDAQ, and will probably file chapter 11 bankruptcy.

On 29 June it was reported that Hoku Corp had enough cash for only nine weeks of operation!

“If Hoku is unable to secure additional financing, it believes it will need to seek protection in bankruptcy from its creditors and to liquidate and wind-down Hoku and Hoku Materials. “-Hoku SEC statement, 25 June 2012

Officials also said they were unable to complete required financial reports and would miss the filing deadline for the end of the fiscal year.

At the beginning of July 2012, Hoku Corp announced it would voluntarily de-list from NASDAQ.  This after NASDAQ stopped trading of Hoku stocks, after share price fell to below $1.00 back in December 2011.  Hoku said their de-listing would take place on 10 July.

Now, Hoku has been trading as a penny stock, and as of 17 July was worth only 4 cents per share!

HOKU CORP GOING BUST! POCATELLO WASTED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS ON TAX BREAKS!  WHO’S GONNA BUY ALL THOSE NEW HOMES NOW MR MAYOR?

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

Corporate Incompetence or Evil? Investigation into Bile duct cancer spreads from Printing industry to Semiconductors and Metal industries. U.S. workers suffering same cancer!

“The research conducted in the United States shows that the hazardous nature of dichloromethane had been pointed out some time ago. The warning of the health hazard to humans was issued more than 20 years ago!“-Shinji Kumagai, University of Occupational and Environmental Health

Back at the end of June 2012, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced an investigation into the high rate of bile duct cancer among workers in the printing industry.  Now, they are warning the semiconductor and metals industries they will be investigated as well.

The common factor is a cleaning chemical called dichloromethane (aka methylene chloride).  “Dichloromethane is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in experimental animals.”-Report on Carcinogens, Twelfth Edition (2011)

According to a study by University of Occupational and Environmental Health, cancer rates among printing industry employees is 600 times higher than than the average Japanese man who dies from bile duct cancer!

The identification of dichloromethane, and other cleaning solvents, is leading investigators to look at other industries that also use those chemicals.

Japanese doctors will now question people who get bile duct cancer (or related cancers), as to what industry they work in.  Health officials are concerned that industries are not taking the proper precautions, such as proper ventilation of work place.

On 10 July 2012, a report by The Mainichi revealed that workers in certain U.S. industries suffer high rates of cancer.  The thing is the study was released back in 1990, not in U.S. publications but in a European magazine!  (Mortality update of cellulose fiber production workers)

U.S. health researchers studied 1,271 people who worked at a factory in South Carolina between 1954 and 1977.  Workers had developed liver cancer, from cancerous bile duct cells.  The mortality rate was 20 times higher than the U.S. average! The main culprit;  dichloromethane!

When Japanese health researchers read the study, more than a decade later, they decided to investigate Japanese industries. It was that initial study that revealed the outrageously high cancer rates of printing industry workers!

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

What Economic Recovery? GE outsources innovation, spends millions building new China Innovation Center!

“These facilities…will play an instrumental role in building out much needed local innovation capabilities in the critical industries that are key to the region’s long term growth.”-Mark Hutchinson, president and CEO of GE Greater China

On 18 July 2012, unAmerican Corporate America giant, General Electric (GE), announced they’ve opened the China Innovation Center.

This as the Obama administration has been calling for more spending on innovation, but I thought he meant in the United States!  Here’s what he said: “We now live in a world where technology has made it possible for companies to take their business anywhere. If we want them to start here and stay here and hire here, we have to be able to out build and out educate and out innovate every other country on Earth.”-Barack Obama, September 2011

How can you “out innovate every other country on Earth”, when your own corporations are outsourcing the innovation?

The GE China Innovation Center in Xi’an cost $60 million USD to build.  I wounder if GE somehow got any U.S. taxpayer money, or some kind’o U.S. tax break, for their China project?

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

World War 3: Computer Trojan attacks both Iran & Israel! Is the coming War being manipulated by a shadow government?

“While the malware and infrastructure is very basic compared to other similar projects, the Madi attackers have been able to conduct a sustained surveillance operation against high profile victims.”-Nicolas Brulez, Kaspersky Lab

19 July 2012, several security companies have discovered a new trojan program that’s targeting several countries including Iran and Israel!

“Statistics from the sinkhole revealed that the victims were primarily business people working on Iranian and Israeli critical infrastructure projects, Israeli financial institutions, Middle Eastern engineering students, and various government agencies communicating in the Middle East.”-Seculert statement

The Madi (Mahdi) malware allows remote users to take data from Windows computers.  The fact that most of the programing is in Farsi leads computer security experts to believe it came from Iran, yet the strange thing is that the majority of computer infections are in Iran.

Is this really a covert CIA op using Iranians who’re sympathetic to U.S. interests, you know, use Iranians to spy on Iranians?

Idaho, Technology

S-70 Firehawk caught in rain storm, Pocatello Airport 2012

Image

After weeks of hot dry weather, and lots of wildfires, eastern Idaho gets hit with random thunder/rain storms!

Click on pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make bigger:

EAST IDAHO WILDFIRES 2012: MAINTENANCE DAY FOR SKYCRANE FIRE FIGHTER @ POCATELLO AIRPORT

Idaho, Technology

East Idaho Wildfires 2012: Maintenance day for Skycrane fire fighter @ Pocatello Airport

Image

Photos by AAron B. Hutchins. Pics get bigger when you click on them:

EAST IDAHO WILDFIRES 2012: CURRENT FIRES FOR 12 JULY

BUSY 30 MINUTES AT POCATELLO AIRPORT, AS FIRE FIGHTING AIRCRAFT FLY INTO ACTION

SIKORSKY SKYCRANE LEAVES POCATELLO AIRPORT FOR COX’S WELL FIRE

Idaho, Technology

East Idaho Wildfire 2012: Busy 30 minutes at Pocatello Airport, as fire fighting aircraft fly into action

Image

The following pics (which you can make bigger by clicking on them) were taken by AAron B. Hutchins, within a thirty minutes period, at the Pocatello Regional Airport (USFS Air Tanker Base), on 12JUL2012, between 11:30 hours and 12:00 hours.

Remember, these pics were taken within a 30 minute period.

EAST IDAHO WILDFIRES 2012: MORE NEW FIRES ON 11 JULY, FIRE NEAR NUKE REACTOR, CRATERS OF THE MOON

Crews preping S-64 Skycrane to join in battle against Cox’s Well Fire. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins, 10JUL2012.

SIKORSKY SKYCRANE LEAVES POCATELLO AIRPORT FOR COX’S WELL FIRE