source: Norway Post
Kongsberg Automotives Fluid Transfer division has won EUR 2 millon (NOK 16 million) in new contract awards from one of Europe's largest Truck & Bus manufacturer with a production start date of Q3 2009.
This is one of several new contracts acquired by the Norwegian auto parts manufacturer recently, and the company sees this as a sign that auto sales have reached bottom.
In the last two months alone, the company has received orders worth altogether more than NOK 600 million.
The latest contract award is for low pressure plastic based fuel lines that are formed using KA's unique processes. The project concerns a design change on running production to improve the fire safety of the engine. Kongsberg Automotive was elected based on the competitiveness and provided engineering support and will substitute the existing supplier.
"This is further evidence that KA's product portfolio is ideally suited to the challenging needs of modern fuel systems, we have a variety of fuel lines that provide heat resistance & bio-fuel compatibility" Stated KA's Sales Director David Redfearn.
Kongsberg Automotive is headquartered in Kongsberg, Norway and has approx. 50 facilities in 20 countries on all continents. Kongsberg Automotive, with over 8,000 employees, provides system solutions to vehicle makers around the world.
The product portfolio includes gearshift systems, cables for a wide variety of applications, fuel lines, tubing and hoses, couplings, clutch actuation, stabilizing rods, seat heaters, seat ventilation, lumbar supports, head restrains, arm rests, steering columns, pedals, electronics and displays.
(NRK/Press release)
Rolleiv Solholm
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
State mechanisms accelerate criminalization process
Is the most regrettable fact that human beings are getting more criminalized than ever before for the sake of money and selfish ends. Newer and more horrible crimes are happening in the human society labeled as advanced and civilized. World mechanisms are working for individuals who hold power and resources.
Dividing the people into different subgroups, rulers are sharing their heaven. Unless the world people understand this and baffle their design with the help of their conscience, such ill-intentioned rulers are not going to admit to their crimes.
Smugglers are celebrating their days for ever. Criminals believe the existing laws are not for them. They think the laws only bind the helpless and the deprived people. For those with access to power and resources, the law is just a scrap of paper.
Criminalization process is increasing mainly because of state mechanisms and selfish characters holding them.
People need to be really educated. They must be taught to think and act rightly and ethically. They must be educated enough to understand that this world runs with co-existence, not with ultraselfish motives. Of course, individual interests and ends matter. But trying to grow prosperous by torturing or murdering others is not a sign of humanity. It is an obvious sign of bestiality.
Let the people of USA, Australia, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italiy, Russia, Japan, China and many other nations understand this. Advocate against massacre politics.
Dividing the people into different subgroups, rulers are sharing their heaven. Unless the world people understand this and baffle their design with the help of their conscience, such ill-intentioned rulers are not going to admit to their crimes.
Smugglers are celebrating their days for ever. Criminals believe the existing laws are not for them. They think the laws only bind the helpless and the deprived people. For those with access to power and resources, the law is just a scrap of paper.
Criminalization process is increasing mainly because of state mechanisms and selfish characters holding them.
People need to be really educated. They must be taught to think and act rightly and ethically. They must be educated enough to understand that this world runs with co-existence, not with ultraselfish motives. Of course, individual interests and ends matter. But trying to grow prosperous by torturing or murdering others is not a sign of humanity. It is an obvious sign of bestiality.
Let the people of USA, Australia, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italiy, Russia, Japan, China and many other nations understand this. Advocate against massacre politics.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Man assaults 2 women with umbrella in Tokyo
Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun
In two incidents Monday morning, a man hit two women with an umbrella in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, breaking one woman's nose, police said.
In the first attack, at about 11:05 a.m., a female company employee in her 20s was shopping at a FamilyMart convenience store near JR Shinjuku Station when she felt some water droplets fall on her back. When she turned around, a man hit her left shoulder with a plastic umbrella and fled.
About three minutes later, on a street about 350 meters from the convenience store, a 25-year-old woman who was crossing a pedestrian crossing was hailed by a man whom she had just walked past. When she turned around, he hit her in the face with an umbrella breaking her nose.
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incidents as suspected cases of aggravated assault and believes the attacks were committed by the same person.
According to a senior MPD official, the man is thought to be in his 20s or 30s and about 170 centimeters tall. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
In two incidents Monday morning, a man hit two women with an umbrella in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, breaking one woman's nose, police said.
In the first attack, at about 11:05 a.m., a female company employee in her 20s was shopping at a FamilyMart convenience store near JR Shinjuku Station when she felt some water droplets fall on her back. When she turned around, a man hit her left shoulder with a plastic umbrella and fled.
About three minutes later, on a street about 350 meters from the convenience store, a 25-year-old woman who was crossing a pedestrian crossing was hailed by a man whom she had just walked past. When she turned around, he hit her in the face with an umbrella breaking her nose.
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incidents as suspected cases of aggravated assault and believes the attacks were committed by the same person.
According to a senior MPD official, the man is thought to be in his 20s or 30s and about 170 centimeters tall. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Oil price falls in London with US closed
source: AAP
NYMEX - Floor trading in commodities futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange was closed on Friday for the July 4 public holiday. On Thursday, light sweet crude for August delivery fell $US2.58 from Wednesday's closing price to $US66.73 per barrel.
In late-afternoon trade in London on Friday, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in August had dropped 52 cents to $US66.13 a barrel.
COMEX - On Thursday, August gold fell $US10.30 to settle at $US931 an ounce, July silver lost 34.7 cents to $US13.393 an ounce, and July copper was down 2.5 cents to $US2.29 a pound.
NYMEX - Floor trading in commodities futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange was closed on Friday for the July 4 public holiday. On Thursday, light sweet crude for August delivery fell $US2.58 from Wednesday's closing price to $US66.73 per barrel.
In late-afternoon trade in London on Friday, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in August had dropped 52 cents to $US66.13 a barrel.
COMEX - On Thursday, August gold fell $US10.30 to settle at $US931 an ounce, July silver lost 34.7 cents to $US13.393 an ounce, and July copper was down 2.5 cents to $US2.29 a pound.
Feds reviewing Google book settlement
San Francisco Business Times
The Justice Department is reviewing for antitrust issues a settlement between Google and book authors and publishers, according to reports published Thursday.
The $125 million settlement reached in October gives Google the right to make available online millions of books it has digitally scanned. The company said it is confident the settlement will stand.
The judge reviewing the settlement told the Justice Department to file its objections by Sept. 18. A hearing is scheduled in federal court in Manhattan on Oct. 7.
The Justice Department is reviewing for antitrust issues a settlement between Google and book authors and publishers, according to reports published Thursday.
The $125 million settlement reached in October gives Google the right to make available online millions of books it has digitally scanned. The company said it is confident the settlement will stand.
The judge reviewing the settlement told the Justice Department to file its objections by Sept. 18. A hearing is scheduled in federal court in Manhattan on Oct. 7.
Tech blog titan Michael Arrington’s next big thing: Hardware
By Patrick Hoge
Source: San Franscisco Business Times
In four years, Michael Arrington has gone from knowing relatively little about the Internet or journalism to presiding over the hugely popular, influential and profitable Palo Alto-based TechCrunch network of blogs.
Now, Arrington appears to be on the verge of entering the computer hardware business, promising big news this month about a product he has been developing with reader input called the “CrunchPad,” a touch-screen tablet designed for web surfing, video chat and light email use.
“We’re going to make some really big announcements,” said Arrington, who predicted a prototype would be ready for unveiling by the end of July. “We’re full on. These prototypes are real.”
Arrington started work on the Crunchpad after meeting an expert in electronics manufacturing in China, and these days he estimates the project commands three-quarters of his time.
“There’s factories that just churn stuff out. It’s pretty simple,” said Arrington, who has incorporated a separate company called Crunchpad Inc. that has 14 employees in Singapore.
Whether selling the Crunchpad will be easy remains to be seen, but Arrington has already made it seem fairly straightforward to create a growing media empire.
Doubled revenue
Launched in June 2005, the “Crunch Network” includes the main TechCrunch blog, separate sites for coverage of technology in Europe, France and Japan, mobile technology, gadgets and technology used by large corporations and a database of companies to which users can contribute. Together they claim 5.5 million unique visitors and more than 15 million page views a month.
TechCrunch has quickly taken a place among the most visited technology-oriented web site, said Andrew Lipsman of web traffic measurement firm ComScore. It’s one of only a few blogs with more than a million monthly visitors, he said, though ComScore’s numbers are about half what TechCrunch counts.
TechCrunch, which has 21 full-time employees and others working on contract, had revenue of about $3 million in 2007 and more than double that last year, Arrington said. This year looks like
it will be even better, though revenue growth has slowed, he said.
In addition to advertising, TechCrunch makes money off nearly monthly events that are well attended by Silicon Valley illuminati. The most profitable is the TechCrunch50, which last year featured some 250 startups and early-stage companies pitching to an audience of nearly 2,000, including venture capitalists and corporate buyers. This year’s event is scheduled for September.
TechCrunch has benefited from a tight relationship with entrepreneurs and financiers, and Arrington boasts of scoring some big news scoops, such as MySpace’s recent layoffs.
Arrington “understands the inner workings of Silicon Valley, and because he’s been around the valley so long, people trust him and trust his judgment,” said prolific angel investor Ron Conway, an early Google backer and an adviser to TechCrunch. Conway said he wants to invest in the Crunchpad.
Despite such relationships, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, said TechCrunch stays admirably focused on products and ideas, and not personalities. “Even here at Google, they don’t cut us any breaks. Every new product is a
completely new day with them,” she said.
Shedding conflicts
Arrington previously practiced corporate and securities law but became fascinated with startups while working at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. In 2000, he co-founded Achex, an online payments company, which was acquired the following year by First Data Corp. for $32 million. He also worked at a startup in London, founded and ran two companies in Canada, and was chief operating officer at RazorGator, a ticket reseller.
After taking time off, a friend suggested starting a company and, in an effort to educate himself about the Internet, Arrington started researching companies and posting his findings online in a blog. Entrepreneurs started coming to Arrington for coverage, and advertising produced enough money to hire employees who, like Arrington, worked out of his house in Atherton.
Arrington said he didn’t expect to become an online journalist when he started blogging. He continued investing “very small amounts” in startups, a practice he is discontinuing after criticism that it creates a conflict of interest.
It was only in March that TechCrunch moved into a regular office in Palo Alto after his Atherton neighbors complained and city officials told Arrington things had to change.
That was a welcome relief to Arrington, who had been living with employees — most young and not the most cleanly — in his house at all hours. “We had a team of housekeepers come in every day,” he said. “The only rule was ‘don’t go in my room.’”
Source: San Franscisco Business Times
In four years, Michael Arrington has gone from knowing relatively little about the Internet or journalism to presiding over the hugely popular, influential and profitable Palo Alto-based TechCrunch network of blogs.
Now, Arrington appears to be on the verge of entering the computer hardware business, promising big news this month about a product he has been developing with reader input called the “CrunchPad,” a touch-screen tablet designed for web surfing, video chat and light email use.
“We’re going to make some really big announcements,” said Arrington, who predicted a prototype would be ready for unveiling by the end of July. “We’re full on. These prototypes are real.”
Arrington started work on the Crunchpad after meeting an expert in electronics manufacturing in China, and these days he estimates the project commands three-quarters of his time.
“There’s factories that just churn stuff out. It’s pretty simple,” said Arrington, who has incorporated a separate company called Crunchpad Inc. that has 14 employees in Singapore.
Whether selling the Crunchpad will be easy remains to be seen, but Arrington has already made it seem fairly straightforward to create a growing media empire.
Doubled revenue
Launched in June 2005, the “Crunch Network” includes the main TechCrunch blog, separate sites for coverage of technology in Europe, France and Japan, mobile technology, gadgets and technology used by large corporations and a database of companies to which users can contribute. Together they claim 5.5 million unique visitors and more than 15 million page views a month.
TechCrunch has quickly taken a place among the most visited technology-oriented web site, said Andrew Lipsman of web traffic measurement firm ComScore. It’s one of only a few blogs with more than a million monthly visitors, he said, though ComScore’s numbers are about half what TechCrunch counts.
TechCrunch, which has 21 full-time employees and others working on contract, had revenue of about $3 million in 2007 and more than double that last year, Arrington said. This year looks like
it will be even better, though revenue growth has slowed, he said.
In addition to advertising, TechCrunch makes money off nearly monthly events that are well attended by Silicon Valley illuminati. The most profitable is the TechCrunch50, which last year featured some 250 startups and early-stage companies pitching to an audience of nearly 2,000, including venture capitalists and corporate buyers. This year’s event is scheduled for September.
TechCrunch has benefited from a tight relationship with entrepreneurs and financiers, and Arrington boasts of scoring some big news scoops, such as MySpace’s recent layoffs.
Arrington “understands the inner workings of Silicon Valley, and because he’s been around the valley so long, people trust him and trust his judgment,” said prolific angel investor Ron Conway, an early Google backer and an adviser to TechCrunch. Conway said he wants to invest in the Crunchpad.
Despite such relationships, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, said TechCrunch stays admirably focused on products and ideas, and not personalities. “Even here at Google, they don’t cut us any breaks. Every new product is a
completely new day with them,” she said.
Shedding conflicts
Arrington previously practiced corporate and securities law but became fascinated with startups while working at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. In 2000, he co-founded Achex, an online payments company, which was acquired the following year by First Data Corp. for $32 million. He also worked at a startup in London, founded and ran two companies in Canada, and was chief operating officer at RazorGator, a ticket reseller.
After taking time off, a friend suggested starting a company and, in an effort to educate himself about the Internet, Arrington started researching companies and posting his findings online in a blog. Entrepreneurs started coming to Arrington for coverage, and advertising produced enough money to hire employees who, like Arrington, worked out of his house in Atherton.
Arrington said he didn’t expect to become an online journalist when he started blogging. He continued investing “very small amounts” in startups, a practice he is discontinuing after criticism that it creates a conflict of interest.
It was only in March that TechCrunch moved into a regular office in Palo Alto after his Atherton neighbors complained and city officials told Arrington things had to change.
That was a welcome relief to Arrington, who had been living with employees — most young and not the most cleanly — in his house at all hours. “We had a team of housekeepers come in every day,” he said. “The only rule was ‘don’t go in my room.’”
Sustainable development is not unsustainable
By Dr Peter Courtland Agre M.D.
With apologies to English teachers everywhere, my position to this statement is the double negative—"sustainability is not unsustainable." But this may be true only if we in America get a firm national grip on reality. I focus my argument on America as it is the world's biggest economy and (with China) its worst polluter.
Our situation is indeed exceedingly grim—increasing release of toxins into the environment, energy gluttony and the appearance of epidemic obesity. Compounding these problems is the nearly total lack of thrift among Americans whose uncontrollable consumerism is sufficient to support multiple shopping channels on the television 24 x 7 x 365 at a time of unprecedented debt.
To have the world's biggest economy is irrelevant if we squander our wealth on fluff. Popular television advertising revenues alone could sustain significant educational reform in the US. Consider for example that one second of advertising during the Super Bowl retails for $100,000—twice the annual salary of a beginning schoolteacher. The wisdom behind the rising economy in China must be questioned, since they now have 3% of the world's paved roadways but 21% of the world's highway fatalities. If this truly reflects giving the public what it wants, we are most certainly doomed.
Rather than arguing that science will save us simply through new inventions, let me suggest that it is wisdom from our history that may save us.
Altering behaviour is exceedingly difficult but not impossible. Before the arrival of the Europeans, North America was home to the Native American Indians. Their culture had remarkable beauty but was technologically primitive. Native Americans lacked the wheel, had no units to measure time shorter than one day, and often faced starvation in winter. But in terms of wisdom, they had remarkable ability. Important tribal decisions were only made after the elders considered consequences their decisions would have seven generations in the future.
The concept of "Seven Generation Sustainability" was known to our Founding Fathers. If we consider the mindset of America's leaders seven generations back, it would include wisdom not commonly articulated by many of our leaders today. Moreover, is it possible that the Founding Fathers' wisdom is still current? Let us revisit some pearls dropped by two of our Founding Fathers who also happen to have been scientists—Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned" and "Poor man, said I, you pay too much for your whistle." Would our current Federal Reserve Chairman question Franklin's thoughts on thrift? "Never spend your money before you have earned it": excellent advice from Jefferson, but a trait that he did not adhere to personally. While Franklin was not well known for his positions on natural conservation, his wit was poignant: "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." Jefferson was more outspoken on issues of the natural world. "There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me."
Wisdom and political mobilisation of the sort achieved by the Founding Fathers are needed today to bring about sustainable development. Given proper investment, scientific development of renewable and environmentally friendly sources of energy is likely. Design of modern, livable cities with expedient forms of public transportation is feasible. But the determining factor is likely to be our national will. Are we willing to do the necessary belt-tightening? Do we want this enough to make the sacrifices necessary?
Achievement of sustainability can only occur if the public demands it. My view is that a populist revolt for sustainability must be initiated, and it must include the young. Jefferson claimed that "Every generation needs a new revolution," and Franklin that "Many people die at 25 but are not buried until they are 75." Our younger generation will determine if the right decisions are undertaken by becoming engaged in the most important issue of our time.
Specifically, we must place greater emphasis on what can be done currently and less on wishful thinking about miracle inventions that are allegedly imminent. Ranks of the progressives are consumed with internecine conflict about use of coal, our most plentiful energy source, for the generation of electricity. Let us not delay the opportunity, both in the US and in China, to convert from traditional coal-burning technology to modern integrated coal-gasification power with dramatic reductions in greenhouse gases because perfection has not yet been achieved.
We Nobel laureates are often congratulated on being brilliant and important (in truth we like it), but this needs to be reconsidered from a different perspective. As President Kennedy stated at the White House dinner for 49 Nobel laureates in May 1962, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
This underscores Jefferson's view that "One man with courage is a majority." A call for national activism is necessary. If Franklin and Jefferson were here today, I suspect that they would tell us that the future of society and the future of the planet seven generations from now will most certainly reflect the decisions made by today's leaders and the actions of our younger generation.
While Barack Obama may not be a modern-day Thomas Jefferson, he demonstrated remarkable wisdom by appointing Nobel laureate Steven Chu as secretary of energy. Chu is a hero to many young scientists and environmentalists in the United States, and as a first-generation Chinese-American, he is celebrated widely in China. At last we may have national leadership that can pull us up to our full stature. I choose to be optimistic.
With apologies to English teachers everywhere, my position to this statement is the double negative—"sustainability is not unsustainable." But this may be true only if we in America get a firm national grip on reality. I focus my argument on America as it is the world's biggest economy and (with China) its worst polluter.
Our situation is indeed exceedingly grim—increasing release of toxins into the environment, energy gluttony and the appearance of epidemic obesity. Compounding these problems is the nearly total lack of thrift among Americans whose uncontrollable consumerism is sufficient to support multiple shopping channels on the television 24 x 7 x 365 at a time of unprecedented debt.
To have the world's biggest economy is irrelevant if we squander our wealth on fluff. Popular television advertising revenues alone could sustain significant educational reform in the US. Consider for example that one second of advertising during the Super Bowl retails for $100,000—twice the annual salary of a beginning schoolteacher. The wisdom behind the rising economy in China must be questioned, since they now have 3% of the world's paved roadways but 21% of the world's highway fatalities. If this truly reflects giving the public what it wants, we are most certainly doomed.
Rather than arguing that science will save us simply through new inventions, let me suggest that it is wisdom from our history that may save us.
Altering behaviour is exceedingly difficult but not impossible. Before the arrival of the Europeans, North America was home to the Native American Indians. Their culture had remarkable beauty but was technologically primitive. Native Americans lacked the wheel, had no units to measure time shorter than one day, and often faced starvation in winter. But in terms of wisdom, they had remarkable ability. Important tribal decisions were only made after the elders considered consequences their decisions would have seven generations in the future.
The concept of "Seven Generation Sustainability" was known to our Founding Fathers. If we consider the mindset of America's leaders seven generations back, it would include wisdom not commonly articulated by many of our leaders today. Moreover, is it possible that the Founding Fathers' wisdom is still current? Let us revisit some pearls dropped by two of our Founding Fathers who also happen to have been scientists—Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned" and "Poor man, said I, you pay too much for your whistle." Would our current Federal Reserve Chairman question Franklin's thoughts on thrift? "Never spend your money before you have earned it": excellent advice from Jefferson, but a trait that he did not adhere to personally. While Franklin was not well known for his positions on natural conservation, his wit was poignant: "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." Jefferson was more outspoken on issues of the natural world. "There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me."
Wisdom and political mobilisation of the sort achieved by the Founding Fathers are needed today to bring about sustainable development. Given proper investment, scientific development of renewable and environmentally friendly sources of energy is likely. Design of modern, livable cities with expedient forms of public transportation is feasible. But the determining factor is likely to be our national will. Are we willing to do the necessary belt-tightening? Do we want this enough to make the sacrifices necessary?
Achievement of sustainability can only occur if the public demands it. My view is that a populist revolt for sustainability must be initiated, and it must include the young. Jefferson claimed that "Every generation needs a new revolution," and Franklin that "Many people die at 25 but are not buried until they are 75." Our younger generation will determine if the right decisions are undertaken by becoming engaged in the most important issue of our time.
Specifically, we must place greater emphasis on what can be done currently and less on wishful thinking about miracle inventions that are allegedly imminent. Ranks of the progressives are consumed with internecine conflict about use of coal, our most plentiful energy source, for the generation of electricity. Let us not delay the opportunity, both in the US and in China, to convert from traditional coal-burning technology to modern integrated coal-gasification power with dramatic reductions in greenhouse gases because perfection has not yet been achieved.
We Nobel laureates are often congratulated on being brilliant and important (in truth we like it), but this needs to be reconsidered from a different perspective. As President Kennedy stated at the White House dinner for 49 Nobel laureates in May 1962, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
This underscores Jefferson's view that "One man with courage is a majority." A call for national activism is necessary. If Franklin and Jefferson were here today, I suspect that they would tell us that the future of society and the future of the planet seven generations from now will most certainly reflect the decisions made by today's leaders and the actions of our younger generation.
While Barack Obama may not be a modern-day Thomas Jefferson, he demonstrated remarkable wisdom by appointing Nobel laureate Steven Chu as secretary of energy. Chu is a hero to many young scientists and environmentalists in the United States, and as a first-generation Chinese-American, he is celebrated widely in China. At last we may have national leadership that can pull us up to our full stature. I choose to be optimistic.
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