Are They Nuts? How We Just Got Locked Out Of RIM's Next Big Announcement (RIMM)


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Like every other big tech company other than Apple, RIM will be at the Consumer Electronics Show next week showing off its latest and greatest stuff.

And like every other big tech company there will be a big press conference where it announces all that latest and greatest stuff to the media.

Except RIM, a company in dire need of good press these days, seems to think it can snub media outlets on its CES announcements.

A little backstory:

Yesterday, I saw some other blogs talking about invites they received to a RIM event on January 10, where the company is expected to show off the latest version of the new PlayBook tablet OS. I didn't get the invite, so I decided to shoot an email to my contacts at RIM asking for one. 

Here's the answer I got, several hours and one "Hey, just checking in..." reminder email later:

Thank you for your interest in RIM at CES 2012. We apologize that our event is at capacity and we will not be able to accommodate additional attendees.

I've been to Vegas several times. I've also been to the Cosmopolitan, where RIM's event is taking place. The venue is massive. It's tough to believe that RIM's press conference was at capacity just a few hours after invites were sent out. 

(By the way, for those non-media folks out there, phrases like "our event is at capacity" is PR-babble for "we don't want you there.")

So the only logical conclusion here is that RIM decided to start playing favorites when it comes to who covers its news. 

What a mistake.

RIM's PlayBook tablet has been on the market for nine months now. And it's still plagued by the same problems it had day one. No email. Horrible app selection. No calendar. No BBM. You get the idea. RIM's press conference on Tuesday is supposed to show how the company plans to fix all that after months and months of promising -- and failing to deliver -- a major update to the PlayBook. 

You'd think after all the horrible PlayBook reviews, lackluster new BlackBerry phones, and losing to Apple and Google in every way imaginable over the last two years, RIM would be tripping over itself to get as much media coverage as possible when it has a new announcement.

But it isn't. 

UPDATE: Another RIM rep (not the one I was going back and forth with yesterday) just sent me an invitation to the event. I'll go.

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New Yahoo CEO Will Earn $1.5 Million In Pay This Year -- If He Passes His Background Check


Scott Thompson

Scott Thompson is getting paid a round $1 million a year in salary and will get a bonus of at least $500,000 this year, according to a Yahoo SEC filing today.

His bonus could be larger -- up to $2 million -- depending on performance.

He's also getting stock grants with a target value of $17 million this year.

There are some other juicy tidbits as well, like a non-disparagement agreement that prevents him from criticizing the company for five years after his departure -- the same agreement that Carol Bartz presumably breached on her way out the door.

But the best part comes at the very end of the letter:

Background Check. Please understand that this offer is contingent upon the successful completion of your background check.

This is probably boilerplate for all new Yahoo hires. At least we hope Yahoo's board wasn't in such a hurry that it hired a guy without even finding out if he had a criminal record.

Ebay hasn't reported details of Thompson's pay for 2011, but in 2010 he earned $1 million in salary and bonus, and about $8 million in stock grants and options, according to Forbes.

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DON'T PANIC: Hackers Broke Into A Major Security Product, But It Was An Old Version (SYMC)


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Hackers successfully broke into an older version of an enterprise security product dubbed Symantec Antivirus, the company confirmed today.

The issue caused a panic on Thursday but by Friday, Symantec had sorted out which products were affected and claimed the risk was minimal to its millions of users.

The products involved were Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Symantec Antivirus 10.2, Symantec told SecurityWeek. While the company still supports them -- meaning there are enterprise customers that still use them -- the first product is four years old and Symantec Antivirus 10.2 has been discontinued.

A Symantec spokesperson told SecurityWeek that the products still work and have not been broken -- they didn't miss a virus, for example.

The hackers broke into servers run by Indian military intelligence, reports CNET, where they were able to read its source code and figure out how it works. However, this does not automatically mean that they can grab corporate data from it, even when it's being used by a customer.

At least the hackers did not get the products by breaking into Symantec's own network, as happened to security vendor RSA last summer.  

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WATCH: Arkansas Football Player Loses His Helmet And Still Makes A Vicious Tackle


In tonight's Cotton Bowl, an Arkansas player lost his helmet, and then got in touch with his inner Rugby.

On a side note, the Cotton Bowl (game) is not played in the Cotton Bowl (stadium). However, there is a bowl game (Ticketcity Bowl) that is played in the Cotton Bowl (stadium). Go figure.

And if you watch ESPN and still had no idea there was a bowl game tonight, you are not alone. ESPN barely mentioned the game today. Why? Because the Cotton Bowl is one of only two (out of 35) bowl games that is not on one of the ESPN channels.

Here is the animated GIF...

 

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Apple Getting Best Of The Android Vs. iPhone Economics

Android is no doubt growing rapidly, winning the smartphone market share and catching up to Apple in total downloads. That said, Apple is still the leader in revenues, with this trend likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/01/06/apple-getting-best-of-the-android-vs-iphone-economics/

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The 5 Dumbest Things Investors Do With Their Money


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The beginning of a new year is usually a good time to reflect on the past in order to make certain resolutions about the coming one. In investing, future success can have little to do with what has worked well in the past. Trying to predict short-term market movements is also generally an investment strategy that can lead you to financial ruin. Keeping these perspectives in mind, below are five of the dumbest things you can do with your money in 2012. 

Trade Volatility

Lately, it has been en vogue to consider volatility its own asset class. Trading volatility has become possible through vehicles based off the Chicago Board Options Exchange Market Volatility Index, or VIX for short. A range of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been created so that investors can make bets on the extent to which the market bounces up and down. There are even ETFs that let investors gain twice the exposure to market volatility, which can be used to make bets on both advances and declines in the market.

The problem, as with most short-term strategies, is developing a compelling trading strategy capable of predicting market volatility. Trading VIX-related indexes may make sense for hedging near-term market fluctuations, but there is simply not going to be any way to predict market moves with any certainty. Major inflection points in the market are missed by the best investors and include the credit crisis, flash crash and latest concerns over sovereign debt levels in Europe. Without a crystal ball, speculating on future market volatility has to be one of the dumbest things investors can do with their money. (To learn more on volatility, read A Simplified Approach To Calculating Volatility.)  

Buy Bond Funds

U.S. interest rates have been on a steady decline since around 1980 when they reached the double digits. These days, shorter-term rates are hovering around zero, while the 30-Year Treasury Bond rate is extremely low at roughly 3%. These low rates qualify as all-time lows in many instances, such as for bank Certificate of Deposits (CDs), mortgages and U.S. Treasury rates.

Savvy investors, including Pimco's Bill Gross, have lamented at the low interest rate environment. Sadly enough, Gross's near-term call on the appeal of U.S. Treasuries has left his flagship Pimco Total Return Fund badly lagging its index and an estimated 84% of its peer group. Given the low historical rates, many see it as only a matter of time before rates start to rise. As bond prices move in the opposite direction of yields, there is the potential for sizable losses for many investors in bond funds. At the very least, investors should consider investing in individual bonds to at least ensure the return of their principal at maturity. (For related reading, see Bond Basics.)      

Speculate in Currencies

As with trading volatility, speculating in short-term currency movements is another dubious investment strategy. As with most investing, a long-term perspective can be much more meaningful. The Economist magazine issues a Big Mac Index, the origin of which has been described as a "light-hearted way to make exchange-rate theory more digestible." Namely, it looks at the price of a Big Mac across the world as a proxy for the extent that currencies are either undervalued or overvalued, relative to each other. Specifically, it states "that in the long run, the exchange rate between two countries should move towards the rate that equalizes the prices of an identical basket of goods and services in each country."

Betting on short-term movements in currencies is a certifiably dumb strategy, as shorter-term fears and emotions can push currency relationships far off from what is reasonable over the long haul. The carry trade, or borrowing in a currency with a low interest rate to invest in one with a higher interest rate, is a case in point. A popular carry trade in recent years involved borrowing in the Japanese yen, and it has unraveled at various times, including during the credit crisis in 2007 and natural disasters earlier this year. As with many short-term market movements, many speculators were caught by surprise. (For more information, read The Big Mac Index: Food For Thought.)      

Load Up on Gold

A market strategist at Fifth Third Bank recently suggested that investors in gold implement a gambling strategy that also works in Las Vegas. After a big win or run up in any investment, put your initial capital back in your pocket and continue to play with house money. This minimizes the potential that an investment, such as gold, which has had an amazing price run, stops for a breather or gives up most of its original gains. Investors in residential real estate back in 2005 and 2006 would have been well served with this strategy, and while gold may continue to have a strong run (gold is up more than 150% over the past five years, while the stock market is flat), buying it aggressively at these levels is likely a very foolish trading strategy.

Invest in Social Media

The fact that many social media firms continue to push through initial public offerings (IPOs) in the face of a difficult stock market should serve as a solid indicator that these companies have unknown underlying business appeal over the long haul. Firms including Groupon, LinkedIn, Facebook, Zynga and Twitter may be growing sales rapidly, but they are spending just as much to advertise and boost sales. 

Collectively, they have unproven business models, barriers to entry are very low as competing sites are rather easy to develop, and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment capital are pursuing only a handful of good ideas in the space. It all spells a recipe for disaster, for investors looking to invest these days. (For related reading, see How An IPO Is Valued.)

The Bottom Line

Smarter investment choices include buying into blue-chip stocks and even residential real estate in many markets in the U.S. With a long-term perspective, many wise investment choices can be made. The dumber ones generally consist of trying to predict short-term market movements and piling into investments that have had very strong price runs or are extremely popular.

This post originally appeared at Investopedia

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Meanwhile, Spain's Unemployment Rate Jumped To 22.9%


The U.S. got some good news from this morning from the BLS, who told us that American business added 200k nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5%.

Sure, 8.5% is still high.  But it's nowhere near the 22.9% rate in Spain.  This is according to Eurostat based on data through November 2011.  Across the euroarea, the unemployment rate was at 10.3% in November. 

Here's a country by country breakdown of Europe's unemployment rates.  At the left, that's Austria with a 4% unemployment rate.

chart

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