CyberCity Reporter

Bernanke On The US Economy

jack — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:53:15 +0000

- In case you missed it -

Bernanke On U.S. Economic Outlook

Thurs. Sept. 8 2011 | 1:44 PM[18:59]

Bernanke Q&A

Thurs. Sept. 8 2011 | 2:04 PM[16:37]

Ed -

10 ways to boost confidence in a job search

jack — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 12:03:45 +0000

Job Search Confidence Booster
As the overall job market remains tight — in August, no new jobs were added — it’s important to know how to stay in the game.
Even if you’re waiting for an offer, there are no shortage of company problems and hiring issues that can erode your self-confidence. Here’s how to bounce back…

Mortgage plan in the offing

jack — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 02:51:40 +0000

White House could unveil mortgage plan next week

The refinancing initiative would allow certain borrowers to refinance loans that are backed by government-owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or the Federal Housing Administration, the sources said.

A broad-based effort to automatically refinance millions of mortgages is not in the works, yet the administration is looking to take targeted changes to an existing program that would allow more borrowers to take advantage of low mortgage rates, including

Chicago Fed: Economic growth below trend in July

jack — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:42:36 +0000

Economic growth below trend in July

According to the Chicago Fed:

A zero value for the index indicates that the national economy is expanding at its historical trend rate of growth; negative values indicate below-average growth; and positive values indicate above-average growth.

This index suggests the economy was still growing in July, but below trend…

Of course there’s good news!!

jack — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:45:56 +0000

Florida home, condo sales up 12% in July
Florida existing home sales rose 12% in July over the same month a year ago, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors. Existing condominium sales were up by the same percentage. The biggest increase came in the Tallahassee market, where home sales jumped 57%…

- a bottom ??? – ed

I’m Back - Continues

jack — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:20:37 +0000

So… anyway - I’m back at work in late January, 2008, things are moving along well until I got a call from my surgeon. It seems that after reviewing the test on what they removed from me, they thought I should see an oncologist. The long and short of it - I ended up with chemotherapy. I found, after the fact that there are different chemotherapies, some that don’t seem to bother you and others that bring you right to your knees. Well as luck would have it I ended up with the latter. I ended up on chemo for 4 months - in three week cycles. Out of the three weeks, two were intolerable stretches of weakness and sickness. I dreaded someone knocking on the door - they were usually gone by the time I got there. The bright spot was the one week that I actually felt human. Of course that week was split with three days at the end of the cycle and three days into the next cycle. It usually took six to seven hours to load me up with the chemo, and I usually drove myself home, much to the chagrin of my family.
I did learn that rides on public transportation are frowned upon since I had nearly no immune system during the four months. And, not that I had much of an appetite, I found that the only time to go shopping was on Saturday, in the evening between 6:30 and 9:00. Really, that’s the only time there is usually no one in a supermarket(ya gotta stay away from the germs).
So here I am, back in the swing of things, not much worst for the wear and tear. I’ll be going in for CAT scans every six months for the next two years. After a year since the operation there is no re-occurrence.
Now all I have to do is get this blog back in order - I think I review some of those past posts and see what updates are in order plus what is current - stay tuned

I’m back !!!

jack — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:25:23 +0000

I guess that begs the question… where have I been.
Well, you may have noticed a gap in postings from mid November, 2007 until first of February, 2008. In mid 2007 I was diagnosed with lung cancer. After the initial denial, leading to procastination, the folks at Mass General in Boston, removed half of my lung(luckily I had a spare - so now I am a 1½ lunger).
The surgery was interesting… having never broken any body parts before paper cuts were my worst wounds. For those of you who may have to go through surgery for something and have no experience, I am happy to report that, at least mine, was a non-event. I approached it as an adventure, and that is how I weathered that experience. The operation was a success, they even had me home for Thanksgiving. About a month and a half afterwards I was ready to go back to work.
I would like say that that was the end of the story, but… that was not to be … I’ll continue this tomorrow or the next day

Microsoft woos Yahoo with $$$$ - like $44.6 Billion

jack — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:41:34 +0000

Well, it took a little longer than expected, but it appears that Microsoft is finally stepping up to the plate with an offer that provides a 62 percent premium over the Thursday, $19.18 closing price of Yahoo.
While indicating that the two companies have had previous conversations, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer wrote that “Microsoft’s consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers”.

“In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected.”

“While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.”

Yahoo, who, over the past few years, has had difficulties in maintaining its market share against search/advertising rival Google, while at the same time Microsoft, after spending considerable time and money on its own search engine Live without the success they had hoped for.

I said back in May of last year, that a Microsoft / Yahoo combination would be beneficial to both companies.

As an interesting side note - Terry Semel, former CEO and member of the Yahoo Board of Directors, tendered his resignation from the Board on Thursday. Jerry Yang, Yahoo co-founder replaced Mr Semel, who had been the Yahoo CEO

Stay tuned

Get a buzz from your blackberry

jack — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:17:59 +0000

Your Blackberry may be friendlier than you thought - Blackberry Buzz

And now the Google Phone

jack — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:37:40 +0000

With the press filled with news about the Google Phone, I decided to see who was behind the brain-team behind this new endeavor from Google.
That person is Andy Rubin, Google’s resident gadget guru. Instead of encapsulating what I found in a long post I found a very good write-up on the New York Times web site. It’s a good informative read.
Andy Rubin article in the NY Times.