I have almost no coverage at home. I hardly ever get a bar. Now that is too much? Wait. How can ‘barely any’ be too many, if I can still make calls?

Apple Inc. said Friday that it was “stunned” to find that its iPhones have for years been using a “totally wrong” formula to determine how many bars of signal strength they are getting.

Apple said that’s the reason behind widespread complaints from users that the latest model, iPhone 4, can show a sudden plunge in signal strength when they hold it in a way that covers a small black strip on one edge of the phone. Users have jokingly called this the “death grip” for the phone.

Nice try guys.

Investors pummeled shares of oil drillers and BP on Tuesday, after President Obama talked tough about dealing with the worst oil spill in the nation’s history.

Analysts added fuel to the sell-off by cutting their earnings outlooks on companies that figure to be hurt by the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf or the temporary delay in issuing permits for drilling in shallow water.

Don’t you find it interesting that investors are ‘fleeing‘, but within 3-6 months they will be “returning’ because they can’t resist those huge profits.

Because making cigarette taxes so prohibitively high worked to make people quit smoking, it’s time to take on the sodas and pizzas!!

U.S. researchers estimate that an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda can push down U.S. adults’ calorie intake enough to lower their average weight by 5 pounds (2 kg) per year.

The researchers, writing in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine on Monday, suggested taxing could be used as a weapon in the fight against obesity, which costs the United States an estimated $147 billion a year in health costs.

For the record, I have had pizza three times since November, and I have lost 16 pounds. That’s unfair taxation without representation I say.

ITT Educational Services (NYSE:ESI – News) didn’t pay $20.8 million for debt-ridden Daniel Webster College in June just to acquire its red-brick campus, 1,200 students, or computer science and aviation training programs.

To ITT, the third-biggest higher-education company in the U.S., the Nashua (N.H.) college’s “most attractive” feature was its regional accreditation, says Michael Goldstein, an attorney at Dow Lohnes, a Washington firm that has long represented the Carmel (Ind.) company. Regional accreditation, the same gold standard of academic quality enjoyed by Harvard, is a way to increase enrollment and tap into the more than $100 billion the federal government pays out annually in financial aid.

It may be the same regional accreditation, but saying you went to ITT rather than Harvard sure doesn’t raise any eyebrows.

There have been reports for two months that the recession is waning.

U.S. consumer confidence posted its biggest jump in more than three years in April while the slump in home prices showed signs of slowing in February, adding to hopes that the recession may be waning.

Revisionist accounting will tell us, in six months, that the recession ended when President Obama was elected. Wanna bet?

I can’t help but wonder… If all of these bailouts and stimulus packages hadn’t been passed, and so much money wasted, where would we be right now?

The nation is losing jobs so quickly that the government, racing to deal with the crisis, is having trouble keeping up.

The U.S. unemployment rate last month leapt half a percentage point, to 8.1 percent, the highest level since 1983, according to data released yesterday. The stunning pace of job losses raises the possibility that, perhaps as early as this summer, one in 10 Americans will be out of a job even though they are actively looking for work. It also means that the government faces even more pressure to take further action to stabilize the economy and the financial system.

I guess it’s too late to wonder about the what ifs, huh?

Three days and counting…

Talks between the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp central to a turnaround plan for the struggling automaker have broken down over the issue of retiree healthcare costs, a person briefed on the talks said on Saturday.

A parallel set of talks between Chrysler LLC and the UAW over similar concessions were continuing over the weekend but little progress had been made, a person briefed on those negotiations said.

The breakdown of talks at GM and the stalled negotiations at Chrysler come with just three days remaining until both automakers must submit new restructuring plans to the U.S. government as a condition of the $17.4 billion in federal aid that has kept them both operating since the start of the year.

After some of the stuff I have seen this week, I won’t be surprised if the automakers miss their bailout deadlines.

Oh no! Are we going to have bailout Dow Chemical now too?

Kuwait decided on Sunday to scrap a deal to form a $17.4 billion petrochemical joint venture with U.S. company Dow Chemical.

The cancellation of the deal, which had met opposition in Kuwait’s parliament, was acknowledged Sunday by Dow and is a blow to the largest U.S. chemicals company. Dow had planned to use the proceeds to repay a large part of $13 billion in debt it will have to shoulder once its acquisition of rival Rohm & Haas closes, which is expected to be in early 2009.

Hell, we own everything else already, why not a chemical company too?

When I saw the headline, “Pending home sales tumble in May“, I couldn’t help but click the link. I guess I am a compulsive clicker.

Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes plummeted by 4.7 percent in May, far more than expected and a sign of more trouble ahead for the beleaguered housing market, a real estate trade group report showed on Tuesday.

How can this be a sign of “more trouble ahead” when we haven’t even hit bottom yet from the first trouble? That’s like worrying about a small boulder that happens to be in the path as your car plummets off a 1000ft cliff.

In other words, are you really worried about hitting that boulder? Take a moment to see what’s coming when you hit bottom.

It seems Wal-Mart is willing to do just about anything to get people to walk through the door these days.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), looking to capitalize on consumers’ growing interest in sustainable coffees, is rolling out its own line of organic, Rainforest Alliance and fair trade certified coffees.

This month, the world’s largest retailer will begin selling six coffees under the Sam’s Choice brand in all of its U.S. stores.

The line includes Sam’s Choice Fair Trade certified coffee, Sam’s Choice Rainforest Alliance certified coffee, and Sam’s Choice USDA organic decaffeinated coffee.

Wal-Mart also said the six coffees are certified as “carbon neutral” because Cafe Bom Dia, its Brazil-based coffee roaster, has cut its net carbon emissions to zero.

Imagine how much better the world would be if Wal-Mart cared about it’s employees as much as it cares about it’s Brazil-based coffee roaster.

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