WebCogito

Stop. Stay. Think.

HDMI’s short-lived reign over the TV cable racks could soon be over, thanks to a new usurper that combines several connections into a single, standard network cable. Designed by a coalition of consumer electronics manufacturers, including Sony, Samsung, LG and Valens, HDBaseT promises to not only carry video and audio signals, but also provide a network connection, a USB signal and even electricity using a single cable.

Starting on June 14, 2010, I started getting phone constant phone calls from a strange number: (707) 307-4243. Since I don’t know anyone in Santa Rosa, California, and no one in Santa Rosa should have my private mobile number, I did not answer the call.

Apparently, they didn’t take too kindly to my ignoring their generous offer to communicate with me.

Since that Monday, exactly seven days ago, I have been called FIFTEEN TIMES by that number. Never a message is left. The earliest calls always happen a shade after 9 AM, and the latest just a shade after 6 PM.

Finally, this morning I decided to find out who died and finally answer. That’s when I discovered how lucky I was that someone was calling me OnBehalfOfTheDallasMorningNews, WithAnOfferEspeciallyForFormerSubscribers…. and I type it like that because that is how the caller was talking. I kept trying to interrupt to respond that I was not interested, and not waste his time by allowing him to give me his whole spiel only to be turned down at the end. But God bless his probably-underpaid-soul, he would not give me the chance. I’m guessing he took a deep breath before I picked up the phone, because he didn’t even seem to be pausing for breath, he was so busy speeding through his script, and ignoring my attempts to interrupt him.

It wasn’t until I kept repeating, “no, no, no, no” countless times over him that he finally stopped.
I told him I wasn’t interested, and to stop calling me, and to put me on his Do-Not-Call List, to which he responded, “SureWeCanDoThatLetMeJustTransferYouToMySupervisor” and I heard silence on the line. I checked the screen on my phone, and the timer was still going, so the call was still active. After about a minute of this, I finally hung up.

If you google the phone number that called me, you’ll see that I’m not the only one that has complaints about the Telemarketing company that calls from this number.

Dallas Morning News Circulation Department, you have a call to make. And it’s not to me.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I loaded my browser to my favorite homepage, http://www.google.com, and instead of the fast, minimalistic page with just a search box, I got a shadowed Google image, with a sloooooowly fading-in background.
Now my homepage is black, with some huge image covering my entire browser.
HA! But there’s a link on the bottom left for options! Surely there I can disable this, and return my homepage to the snappy search box to which I’m accustomed. Err… no.

Google Trends: remove google background

I can change the image. To another image. But not disable.
A Baltimore newspaper blog post incorrectly described this as Google giving users the “option” of a background image. This is incorrect. This is NOT an option.

Google: This sucks.

And I’m not the only one that thinks so.

According to Google’s own Trends tool, “remove google background” is the SECOND trendiest search on its engine right now, behind only “blackhawks parade” (the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last night).

Google, your users are trying to tell you something.

FIX FOR THE GOOGLE BACKGROUND IMAGE: If you set your homepage (or links or however you get to google) to https://www.google.com with an “httpS” rather than “http”, you don’t get the background image forced on you. For now. Who knows how long before Google decides to force another “option” on us.

In one paragraph, from the Wall Street Journal:

In the German legend, Faust was a scholar who sold his soul to the devil many years hence in return for a life now of intellectual brilliance and physical comfort. In our version of the legend, Europe’s governments told the devil that, more than anything, they wanted a life of social protection and income fairness no matter the cost. Life was good. A fortnight ago, the bond devil arrived and asked for his money.

Dan Henninger, The Wall Street Journal

(actually, it’s been dozens already, but since this is the first post about it, this starts at one).

Reason #1: 18 minutes on hold before a live person picked up. And all this time, a recorder telling me that I could fix most of my issues if I just rebooted my modem and my PC.

This is not the first time. AT&T Has the absolute worst phone support ever.

And their account people go home at 5 PM SHARP.  So you either have the option of calling during work hours, or be screwed.

The La Coste National Bank, La Coste, Texas, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Community National Bank, Hondo, Texas, to assume all of the deposits of The La Coste National Bank. La Coste is approximately 15 miles west of San Antonio, TX.

The sole branch of The La Coste National Bank will reopen on Monday as a branch of Community National Bank. Depositors of The La Coste National Bank will automatically become depositors of Community National Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Community National Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Community National Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of The La Coste National Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, The La Coste National Bank had approximately $53.9 million in total assets and $49.3 million in total deposits. Community National Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.51 percent to assume all of the deposits of The La Coste National Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Community National Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $3.7 million. Community National Bank’s acquisition of all the deposits was the “least costly” resolution for the FDIC’s DIF compared to all alternatives. The La Coste National Bank is the 18th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Texas. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Madisonville State Bank, Madisonville, on October 30, 2009.

In an article today we predicted that failures by small banks like these will become more and more common as the coming Commercial Real Estate crash gets close.

From the Wall Street Journal: Greek police say a bomb exploded Tuesday evening outside an office of JPMorgan Chase in Athens, the Associated Press reports. No one was hurt, according to the report.

“It was a time-bomb at JP Morgan’s offices in central Athens,” a police official told Reuters. “The explosion damaged the outside door and smashed some windows.”

A local newspaper reportedly received a warning call prior to the explosion, according to Reuters. Police had cordoned off the area after the newspaper received the warning call.

Police cars, ambulances and fire engines have blocked streets in the upmarket central district of Kolonaki, where JP Morgan’s Greek offices are situated, a Reuters witness said.

News accounts in recent weeks have detailed how Wall Street firms helped Greece doctor its balance sheets to lie to the European Union that it was in compliance with rules governing debts to GDP ratios:

Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts.

Even as the crisis was nearing the flashpoint, banks were searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning. In early November — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in the ancient city with a very modern proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting.

The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing instrument that would have pushed debt from Greece’s health care system far into the future, much as when strapped homeowners take out second mortgages to pay off their credit cards.

It had worked before. In 2001, just after Greece was admitted to Europe’s monetary union, Goldman helped the government quietly borrow billions, people familiar with the transaction said. That deal, hidden from public view because it was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan, helped Athens to meet Europe’s deficit rules while continuing to spend beyond its means.

Athens did not pursue the latest Goldman proposal, but with Greece groaning under the weight of its debts and with its richer neighbors vowing to come to its aid, the deals over the last decade are raising questions about Wall Street’s role in the world’s latest financial drama.

As in the American subprime crisis and the implosion of the American International Group, financial derivatives played a role in the run-up of Greek debt. Instruments developed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and a wide range of other banks enabled politicians to mask additional borrowing in Greece, Italy and possibly elsewhere.

So a quick followup to the story we had yesterday, about Republican candidate for Texas Governor Debra Medina stating that Houston is technically bankrupt.  Turns out that a few months ago, a group of CPAs sent an open letter to the members of Houston’s City Government, as well as to major US newspapers.

In it, they don’t beat around the bush on their take of the city of Houston’s finances: Turns out, Houston is broke; it just hasn’t acknowledged it yet:

“Houston is technically bankrupt”

That was the claim that Republican Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina made last night at a press meeting after a primary debate.

Who knew?

In the vernacular, they call this “cliff diving”:

Ford Motor Co. on Monday reported a 32.4% drop in December U.S. sales
Chrysler U.S. December sales drop 53%
General Motors Corp. on Monday reported a 31% drop in December U.S. light vehicle sales
Toyota Motor Co. reported a 37% fall
Honda Motor Co. had a 35% decline

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