Symantec?s Norton Fights Off Windows 8 Threat, Heads To $20

Symantec is now facing new competition from Microsoft's Windows 8 that boasts of providing comprehensive security features and poses a challenge to the consumer antivirus market as a whole. We currently have a Trefis price estimate of $20.35 for Symantec stock, about 25% above the current market price.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/09/30/symantecs-norton-fights-off-windows-8-threat-heads-to-20/

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OCCUPY WALL STREET: Analyzing Their List Of Grievances...


Occupy Wall Street

The Occupy Wall Street protestors hit the big time this afternoon, when they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge.

They also infuriated a construction worker, who denounced them as "hippies."

So, what are the Occupy Wall Street protestors protesting, anyway?

What do they want?

On Friday, the two-week old protest group finally issued a manifesto detailing what many are calling their "demands."

But the manifesto isn't a list of demands so much as a list of grievances.

Some of these grievances, it turns out, are perfectly reasonable. 

Others are dubious.

Still others are ridiculous.

The protestors still haven't stated what they want. But at least now we know what they're upset about.

So let's have a look, shall we?

Here's an annotated copy of the manifesto... My comments are in red, the protestors' in black.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

[Nice echo of the Declaration of Independence.]


As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice [good start—the bailout WAS mass injustice—I'm still pissed-off about it], we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. [More Declaration of Independence cadence.]

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people [unfair blanket smear], self-interest over justice [also an unfair smear], and oppression over equality [oh, please—Procter & Gamble makes toothpaste—it's not their job to worry about "equality"], run our governments ["run" is a bit strong, but "influence" is certainly fair].

We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. [Yes, they appear to have taken some houses through an illegal process. But, to be fair, in almost all cases, they took them because you did not make your payments.]

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. [Oh, yes]

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. [In some cases, yes, but, again, a blanket smear]

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence [In some cases, yes], and undermined the farming system through monopolization. [You probably mean "consolidation," not "monopolization," but fine. Your food is now cheaper as a result of this consolidation, though.]

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices. [Fair.]

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. [You mean they've tried to discourage the formation of unions? Okay. But unions cause a lot of problems, too. See the car industry bankruptcy, for example.]

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. [Oh, please. Grow up. The students borrowed the money. Don't blame the lenders for asking them to pay it back. And since when is education a "human right"?]

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. [You mean they have reduced costs to remain competitive? Yes, some of them have. And they've had to. Many corporations have increased pay, however—see Google, Facebook, Apple, and Wall Street. And it's not fair to blame the healthcare mess on companies. Employer-provided health insurance should be a benefit, not a right.]

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. [The second part is wrong—plenty of companies get in legal trouble—but I'll leave first part to the legal scholars.]

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. [In aggregate? Possibly true. But many, many companies—probably the vast majority—have provided good health coverage for their employees, despite not being legally obligated to.]

They have sold our privacy as a commodity. [Seems unlikely that any company has actually sold your "privacy." Maybe your "private information"]

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. [Examples, please. And please note that "the press" is generally owned by corporations, too, so they don't need the military and police to exercise control over it.]

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. [Some bad or sleazy companies, yes. Most, no.]

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. [No, they do not "determine" economic policy. They do have a lot of influence over economic policy But inasmuch as economic policy directly and primarily affects corporations—and the ~100 million Americans who work for corporations—it seems reasonable that they should have some influence here. Or do you exclude those ~100 million employees from "the people."?]

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them. [True.]

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. [Well, oil and coal companies certainly aren't eager to see safe cold fusion or mass-solar or geo-thermal commercialized anytime soon. But alternative energy corporations would be stoked to see us forgo oil. And many other companies—most, actually—couldn't really care less what their power comes from, as long as it's affordable.]

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit. ["Block?" You mean try to enforce their patents? Developing drugs is expensive. How would you like it if you spent $1 billion developing a boner pill only to have your competitor instantly reverse-engineer it and start selling it for 1/10th your price? Having at least some period of exclusivity seems perfectly reasonable.]

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. [Yes, some have.]

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. [Oh, come on. Take off the tinfoil hats. People aren't THAT stupid. And the media LOVES to trash corporations. And besides, now there's the Internet and Twitter, so you don't need the media anymore.]

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. [Sounds horrible. Need some details. Again, almost certainly not something the vast majority of companies have done.]

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. ["Perpetuated colonialism." Need some more detail there. And with respect to the "murder of innocent civilians overseas," you probably want to direct some blame at governments, too.]

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. [Okay, but let's rephrase that, shall we? They make weapons that governments order.]

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/jCIzEYS7dj4/occupy-wall-street-analyzing-their-list-of-demands-2011-10

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How to Win the Hearts of Underbanked Consumers

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When trying to woo underbanked consumers, financial institutions (FIs) must have a strategy because these consumers are a volatile group - they are cautious, demanding, and are liable to run away and never look back. They have the potential to bring substantial profitability to financial institutions, but have thus far appeared to be fickle and highly risky.

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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6591822

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Red Star Rising: Is U.S. Losing the Space Race to China?

On Sept. 29, 2011, the first module of a new space station blasted into orbit, initiating a new dawn of space exploration. However, this is different in one key aspect: We didn't launch the space station. China did.

Named Tiangong 1 ("Heavenly Palace 1"), China's 8.5-ton unmanned test module is the first orbital building block of what will eventually become the country's answer to the International Space Station -- a new space station, definitively not international, belonging solely to China.

In as little as a few weeks, it will be mated with a second unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou 8, in a practice run at orbital docking. Then, next year, the Chinese plan to conduct two additional space missions in which astronauts will briefly occupy and live aboard the rump station.

While China admits it will be several years before the new station is fully operational, the fact that the Middle Kingdom is expanding its reach into space poses existential questions to NASA, and to America: Are we still a superpower? Is there a future for America in space?

U-S-A! U-S-A! Space Is Big Enough for Two

You can hardly open a newspaper these days without running into one (or more likely, several) articles describing America's perilous debt situation. A common theme running through these pieces is how extremely fragile our economy appears in contrast to China's booming business environment; how every year, our trade deficit sends hundreds of billions of dollars flowing out of America, and into China ... where those dollars are apparently being used to finance a new space race.

And yet, despite China's undeniable ascendance, I still believe there is a future for the U.S. in space.

Sure, China is catching up to the U.S. in many respects -- building stealth fighter jets to match our own, developing homegrown unmanned aerial vehicle technology, and even floating its own aircraft carrier. But the world's a big place, and space is even bigger. There's still more than enough room for two (or more) space powers.

Two Ways to Get to Space

What's interesting is the stark difference between how the U.S. and China are approaching this new space race.

At one end of the spectrum, we have China -- statist, authoritarian, centralized -- conducting a methodical conquest of space that's planned, orchestrated, and financed by Beijing.

At the other end, there's the U.S. -- starved for capital, wallowing in debt, and, largely because of these factors, moving away from the government-centric model for space exploration and more toward a space "race" that's privately funded and conducted by private enterprise.

U-S-A ... or You-S-A?

Historically, America's space efforts have been run by NASA. To the extent that private business has been involved, it's come mainly in the form of hiring aerospace giants like Lockheed Martin (LMT), Boeing (BA), and Alliant TechSystems (ATK) to build NASA's rocketships.

In recent years, however, we've seen tech pioneers such as Elon Musk (co-founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors (TSLA), and most recently SpaceX) and Amazon.com (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos deploy their personal fortunes to create privately funded commercial space companies. Musk and Bezos are joined in this effort by airline mogul Richard Branson of Britain, whose Virgin Galactic startup promises to put private citizens into space.

Meanwhile, midsize space companies like Orbital Sciences (ORB) are angling to break the monopoly formed when Lockheed and Boeing merged their space operations to create the United Launch Alliance. GeoEye (GEOY) and DigitalGlobe (DGI) build and operate surveillance satellites, then lease photography time to NASA and other U.S. government agencies who want to take a peek at what's happening down here on terra firma.

Evolution of a Cosmic Ecosystem

The plethora of innovative initiatives being offered by private companies, and the dozens of private firms angling to break into this new field of business, are strong signs that America still has the edge in space exploration. We're shifting our cosmic aspirations onto the shoulders of private enterprise primarily out of necessity. Let's face it folks: We're broke.

Necessity has always been the mother of invention. What China hopes to do in 2020 with Tiangong 1 is essentially what America did nearly 50 years before, when we put Skylab in orbit in 1973. Today, American companies are taking the next "giant leap" forward in space exploration. We're creating an entire ecosystem of cost-efficient, innovative, and profit-seeking businesses aimed at the exploration and commercial exploitation of space.

So let's give a polite round of applause to China, please, as it takes its first small step toward contributing to mankind's understanding of the cosmos. But kindly hold the panic about how America's "losing the space race." Despite all our problems, we're still No. 1 -- and widening the lead.

Motley Fool contributor Rich Smith does not own shares of any companies named above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Lockheed Martin. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Orbital Sciences and Amazon.com.


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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/30/red-star-rising-is-u-s-losing-the-space-race-to-china/

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The Navy's New Drone Is One Step Closer To Carrier Landings


X-47B

Northrop Grumman successfully tested its new unmanned aircraft designed to take off and land on aircraft carriers.

The tests pave the way for its scheduled introduction into the fleet in 2013.

From AOL:

During Flight Four, which occurred on Aug 12, the first of the two X-47Bs supplied to the Navy reached an altitude of 7,500 ft (above mean sea level), and a top speed of 180 knots. These tests were designed to help validate software and hardware changes made to the jet during the spring and summer, spokesman Brooks McKinney said in an email.

These tests are part of what the Navy has said is a year-long, 50-flight test program at Edwards. When the first aircraft flew in February the Navy said the first aircraft was scheduled to complete initial testing in late 2011.

Check out the video of the test below.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/yBtXJTVyoT8/x47b-the-navys-new-drone-is-one-step-closer-to-carrier-landings-2011-10

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FLASHBACK: 20 Years Ago The Richest Athletes Were Boxers


evander holyfield

Twenty years ago, Tiger Woods was just a teenager, and boxing ruled the sports world when it came to cranking in the cash, according to Forbes.

Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson topped the list back then, when boxers were in their prime.

Now, the list is made up of golfers, a lot of basketball players, and tennis stars.

#1 THEN: Evander Holyfield

Forbes

#1 NOW: Tiger Woods

Forbes

#2 THEN: Mike Tyson

Forbes

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/wpEwbEDI2_s/highest-paid-athletes-1991-2011-10

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After Hard Times A Bankruptcy Car Loan Can Be Your Best Ally

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Discover in this article why it is a good idea to get a car loan after your bankruptcy. A bankruptcy car loan can be the key factor in that fresh new start toward rebuilding your credit.

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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6595606

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