EMI Changing Course?
While EMI denies they have scrapped DRM altogether, they have not manufactured any new disks with DRM for months. It’s about time someone started waking up.
Sphere: Related ContentEMI Group Plc said on Monday it was reviewing its use of the controversial content protection technology used on CDs, known as digital rights management (DRM), but has not scrapped it altogether.
Music companies launched DRM in a bid to curb piracy but the software means that the discs are incompatible with the iPod, the market-leading digital music player made by Apple Computer Inc.
Critics also argue that the system has not worked as consumers could be driven to illegal sites to download music to the popular iPod instead.
A spokeswoman for EMI said it had not manufactured any new disks with DRM, which restricts consumers from making copies of songs and films they have purchased legally, for the last few months.
Beverage Prices To Rise
Beverage consumers should expect to see higher prices for soft-drinks on U.S. store shelves this year.
Industry analyst John Sicher said today that the price increase is due to higher costs for aluminum and corn syrup.Sicher says consumers will see soft drinks going up this year in the range of four percent or more.
Bottlers set prices on soft drinks on store shelves. Beverage makers like Coca-Cola and Pepsi set prices on the concentrate they provide to the bottlers.
Four percent doesn’t sound like much.
If you pay $3.99 for a 12-pack of soda, you’ll be paying at least $4.15 later this year.
Unless you drink a lot of soda, this probably won’t impact you too much.
Sphere: Related ContentMicrosoft Brings Software To Ford Cars
Ford Motor Co. unveiled on Saturday a new entertainment and communication system running on software from Microsoft Corp. that aims to bring the connectivity of a computer to the car.
The “Sync” system allows drivers to make hands-free phone calls, listen to music on digital media players, including Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod, and have cell phone text messages read aloud.
Ford and Microsoft announced Sync on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
What happens when it crashes? No, not the car, the “entertainment and communication system”? If it does crash, do you have to pull over and turn off the car, wait a few moments, and start it again? Can you imagine the calls to Onstar when this hits the market?
OnStar call center: “Onstar, what’s your emergency?”
You: “My car just crashed and all I have now is a blue Ford of death!”
[Long pause]
You: “Hello? Hello?”
I can hardly wait to see how you apply patches and bug fixes.
GM To Cut More Jobs
The question is, how many jobs do you have to cut before you can turn a profit?
General Motors Corp. will cut more jobs in 2007 as it closes plants and tries to wrench concessions from its major union in a crucial round of contract negotiations, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said.
Wagoner, speaking to a group of reporters on Thursday, also said GM would not concede its ranking as the world’s No. 1 automaker to Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T) this year without a “fight for every sale.”
GM, which lost $10.6 billion in 2005, cut more than 34,000 jobs last year and unveiled plans to close 12 plants and reduce recurring costs by $9 billion. Wagoner said more limited job cuts were possible in 2007.
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GM’s stock rose more than 50 percent in 2006, but some analysts have said further gains hinge on the company’s ability to sustain profitability against increasingly successful competitors in a weak U.S. auto market.
Although GM still sells twice as many cars in the U.S. market as Toyota, it will likely be overtaken by the Japanese automaker for the global top spot in terms of production in 2007, according to analysts.
It’s sad when companies hav to cut jobs to save money. Far be it from fellow autoworkers to take a pay cut to ensure everyone keeps their job. That’s just a stupid idea, isn’t it?
Sphere: Related ContentDaimlerChrysler Sets Up Shop In China
Car maker DaimlerChrysler AG has received government approval to set up a joint venture to manufacture vans in China, an official Chinese newspaper said on Thursday.
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The creation of the venture, which is expected to have an annual output of about 40,000 mid-sized and light cars, had been approved by China’s Ministry of Commerce, the report said.
The firms expect to start manufacturing DaimlerChrysler’s Viano and Vito minivans and Sprinter transport vans by the end of 2008, it said.
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Chrysler said last week it had signed a pioneering deal with China’s Chery Automobile Co. to produce a new small car that would be made in China and marketed around the world.
How come no one is protesting this news? You know, based on China’s human rights record? Where’s the outrage? Where’s the demand for DaimlerChrysler to stop doing business in China? Is it okay to do business in China as long as your company is not Google, Yahoo!, or Microsoft?
I’m waiting…
More Bad News For U.S. Automakers
They’ve all cut production. They’re all still losing money.
Sphere: Related ContentFord Motor Co.’s December U.S. sales fell 13 percent while sales for DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler unit slid 1 percent as U.S. automakers continued to lose ground to Japanese rivals.
Analysts expect monthly sales from General Motors Corp. to also have fallen, with an expected decline of about 2 percent, according to analysts.
Ford said its sales were hurt a 21-percent decline in sales of its F-series pickup trucks — its top-selling vehicles. Overall truck sales fell 14 percent due to higher gas prices and a soft housing industry, Ford said, adding that it expects “these factors will continue to weigh on these segments in 2007.”
Ford’s car sales were off almost 10 percent.
Chrysler Group, which includes the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands, said its sales rose 1 percent, while Mercedes-Benz sales fell 10 percent, compared to a year earlier.
The combined monthly U.S. market share for Detroit’s Big Three is estimated to be 54.3 percent in December, down from 56.6 percent a year earlier, according to industry-tracking firm Edmunds.com.
Wal-Mart Moves To Unpredictable Shifts
In a move that will effect nearly every Wal-Mart employee…
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - news) will start moving many of its 1.3 million workers from predictable shifts to a system based on how many customers are in stores at a given time, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Wal-Mart will start making the changes this year with the help of a new computerized scheduling system, the paper said.
The move promises more productivity and consumer satisfaction, but could demand more flexibility and availability from workers in place of reliable shifts and predictable pay checks, the Journal reported.
Can you imagine what this will do? Instead of living “predictable paycheck to reliable paycheck”, people will be living “unpredictable paycheck to maybe paycheck”
Cross-posted at Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff
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