Construction of Shanghai Disney Resort speeding ahead - People's Daily Online

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7801366.html

" Intended to open at the end of 2015, the resort will initially be comprised of Shanghai Disneyland, a Magic-Kingdom-style park as well as two themed hotels, a large retail, dining and entertainment venue, recreational facilities, a lake and parking and transportation hubs.

Covering an area of 1.16 square km, the theme park inside the 3.9-sq-km Shanghai Disney Resort will be the world's sixth Disney amusement park and the first on the Chinese mainland. It will also be the third of its kind in Asia, after the company's theme parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

During preparation work over the past year, the Shendi Group adopted cutting-edge vacuum preloading technology to level and consolidate the ground formation to prevent from it subsiding in the coastal site.

Howard Brown, senior vice president overseeing development of the Shanghai Disney Resort, said the soil formation project is the largest ever undertaken anywhere."
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Samsung estimates record quarterly profit of $5.15B with strong Galaxy Note sales | 9to5Google | Beyond Good and Evil

http://9to5google.com/2012/04/06/samsung-estimates-record-quarterly-profit-of-5-15b-with-strong-galaxy-note-sales/

Correction: 44m shipped was not Samsung's estimate.

" Reuters' survey of analysts predicted Samsung shipped approximately 44 million smartphones during Q1, accounting for an increase of 25 percent when compared to stats from the quarter before. "

Apple Profit Rises on Higher iPhone and iPad Sales (NYT) ; The Two-Horse Smartphone Race: Apple vs. Samsung (WSJ.com)

Apple's Q1 results are in and quarterly profit has DOUBLED to $11.6B, and they've passed Samsung as the #1 smartphone seller. But, if Samsung has sold 44M smartphones in Q1 as they have started to let leak, Apple will only wear the crown for a few days until Samsung's Q1 announcement. And try this on for size: in 2011, Samsung shipped 300 million handsets. (not smartphones) Mind boggling!!

"But Apple's single-product strategy is likely to be tested as smartphones become common, particularly in less affluent markets like India and China.

"Apple is reaching a fork in the road where it needs to decide whether it remains a high-priced player or enters the midrange mass market," said Mr. Mawston. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/technology/apple-profits-up-as-iphone-sales-grow-88.html

"Apple said it sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter, an 88 percent increase from the period a year ago. It sold 11.8 million iPads, more than double the number it sold in the same quarter last year.

"It was an incredible quarter in China," Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive, said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts. "It is mind-boggling that we could do this well."

For the quarter that ended March 31, the company reported net income of $11.62 billion, or $12.30 a share, compared with $5.99 billion, or $6.40 a share, in the period a year earlier.

Apple's revenue was $39.19 billion, up from $24.67 billion a year ago.

Mr. Cook said that Apple's quarterly revenue from China was $7.9 billion, about 20 percent of total company revenue. Furthermore, that was triple Apple's China sales in the same period a year ago. In contrast, Apple's China sales during its last fiscal year were about 12 percent of total revenue. Two years ago, Apple sales in China were 2 percent.

"China has grown from a rounding error to a massive new market," said Robert Cihra, an analyst at Evercore Partners. "Their premium price point clearly has not been any hurdle to them growing there."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303978104577362140799316460.html

" Samsung's momentum is particularly striking. Analysts expect the company, relying heavily on phones run by Google Inc.'s Android software, to double the size of its smartphone shipments this year. Last year, Samsung shipped 94 million units, according to IDC, compared with Apple's 93.2 million.

Samsung, which reports earnings on Friday, is expected to show an 80% jump in net profit to around $4.4 billion, driven largely by cellphones but also boosted by strength in chips and a rebound in its TV business, the world's largest."

Singapore, Gulf, Europe

Had to break the posts into 2 parts due to blogger limits.

Fascinating port activity (via MarineTraffic)

Here's the port activity near Hong Kong, Beijing/Shanghai, Singapore, the Gulf, and Long Beach. What's amazing is that these were captured mid afternoon Pacific time on a Sunday. The Asia activity would have been around 5 in the morning, on Monday, or earlier, for them. Europe, maybe around 10 Sunday night I believe. I'm surprised that, of all of these, the activity in Long Beach in the middle of the day was so low. While the rest of the world apparently never sleeps.
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The "Wall of Meat" at Vallarta supermarket in Escondido

This Mexican mega-grocery store is amazing. Inside is a tortilla factory, and a taco shop, and a bakery, and a fresh cheese shop, and a jeweler! The place goes on and on. The meat section has all the Mexican cuts of meat. Their carne asada tastes exactly like it does at a taco shop. We tried the Salsa Roja, it's good and very hot. I can also vouch for their flan. :) We will be back.

Thanks to the Paynes for turning us on to this place! There seem to be a few in LA also.

FlightAware Screenshot

After a brief search, this free flight tracker app seemed like a good one. It has an "around me" feature that lets you browse what's overhead. It also shows you the flight plan and the actual route flown. But map redraw seems hosed sometimes - only showing plane silhouettes, no geographic map - so I will keep searching.

Screenshot from MarineTraffic: Dark Blue boats are the pleasure boats

I spotted the Crystal Serenity and Carnival Inspiration.

And Check out the Android App "MarineTraffic.com"

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marinetraffic

Marine Traffic: Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

Analogous to flight tracker websites. Click on ships names for detailed ship information.

Vua Kho Bo Inc., Southern California dried fruit purveyor

http://vuakhobo.us/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=guava&x=27&y=14

Oh Dried Guava, how I love thee: let me count the ways.

The Twitter IPA: What Does “Defensive” Really Mean? | TechCrunch

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/17/twitter-ipa-analysis/

Short but well-written article about Twitters new Innovators Patent Agreement.

" The final element of the definition is incredibly broad and allows for Twitter to interpret almost anything as a defensive use. For example, could Facebook have sued Yahoo for patent infringement before being sued itself and call it a defensive use? If so, I am not sure what would not be a defensive use, short of a pure non-practicing entity asserting a patent or a litigation against a company that has no patents of its own. With such a broad catch-all clause, Twitter may be put into an uncomfortable position with current or former employees when deciding to assert its IP assets."
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From HP to Amazon, the Tablet Dilemma: Go Big or Go Home | Epicenter | Wired.com

http://m.wired.com/epicenter/2011/08/tablet-dilemma/

"The real foundation, though, is both companies' success in selling digital media and media digitally: music, movies and apps for Apple, books and magazines (and in an earlier time, CDs and DVDs) for Barnes & Noble. Apple and Barnes & Noble were both able to create devices that were first and foremost stores that you carry around with you.

The store ensures that the customer continues to engage and invest in the device after its sale, and that the engagement and investment continue to profit the company who made the device and administer the store. Size and price are fundamentally secondary to the device's continued retail potential.

HP could not play this game, at any price or in any form factor. But if not HP, who? "
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Review: Aakash tablet disappoints-Tech News - IBNLive Mobile

http://m.ibnlive.com/news/review-worlds-cheapest-tablet-akash/192812-11.html

The $35, yes,$35, 7" tablet from India: "Also, despite its Android operating system, the tablet won't install anything from the Android App Market. That puts thousands of applications out of a student's reach. Plus,the battery hardly lasts three hours " not enough for an average day in college. Unless you bunk most of your classes. "

Yosemite HD on Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/35396305

The above is a collage of timelapse photography taken in various places in Yosemite. I especially like the nighttime sequences with the Milky Way turning overhead and meteors flying by. Amazing! Watch it on the biggest screen you've got.
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Studies fault Bayer in bee die-off - CSMonitor.com

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0406/Studies-fault-Bayer-in-bee-die-off/

"The pesticides most widely used now are among a class of nicotine-based chemicals called neonicotinoids that are designed to become an intrinsic part of the plant. They were developed in large part because they are much less toxic to humans and other mammals than previous pesticides. But in high doses, they are a neurotoxin to insects.

Since their introduction in the 1990s, they have exploded in popularity among farmers and in products for home gardeners. Today, 90 percent of seed corn is coated with the pesticides before planting, and the chemicals are the active ingredient in hundreds of backyard products.

The pesticide is sprayed on plants and, when used as a seed coating, it grows into all parts of the plant, including the pollen and the nectar that bees eat.

When used properly, say both Bayer and the EPA, the toxin levels are not high enough to hurt bees. But many scientists and beekeepers say that, as in all pesticide regulation, the field research is questionable because it's done by the manufacturer. "
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The Chinese Try to Harness the Nevada Sun - Businessweek

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-05/the-chinese-try-to-harness-the-nevada-sun

"ENN, based in the northern city of Langfang, is buying 14 square miles of land from Clark County for $4.5 million, less than one-eighth of the $38.6 million assessors told the county the property was worth last year. The company plans to manufacture solar panels on the site and then operate a solar farm generating 700 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 175,000 homes. It says the construction of the complex would put 2,505 people to work. County officials say a statute allows governments to sell property for development at a below-market rate if the project creates jobs."
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Solar-power plants booming in Gila Bend

Just drove by Solana power plant (350 megawatts) as we exited the Gila Bend area. 1400 acres of solar arrays are indeed impressive.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2011/08/28/20110828gila-bend-solar-power-plants.html

"The three projects under way near Gila Bend now reveal the variety of solar-power technologies being commercialized in large power plants, and also the harsh working environment for those building them.

West of town, 3 square miles of land are being cleared for Solana. Abengoa Solar of Spain is using a variety of contractors, including Kitchell Corp., Sundt Construction and R.E. Monks Construction Co.

Soon, large, curved mirrors resembling oversize livestock water troughs will begin arriving on the site from a factory in Surprise, with other equipment coming from New Mexico.

So far, only the hardware that will hold the mirrors has been placed in the ground.

That hardware gets so hot in the sun that workers use lights and conduct much of the labor after dark.

Solana's mirrors will concentrate sunlight on tubes filled with oil, and the hot oil will be used to make steam, spinning a turbine and generating electricity much like natural-gas or coal-fired power plants.

Large tanks of salt will store heat after dark, letting the plant generate electricity in the early evening, when it is in highest demand in the Phoenix area. That gives the plant a significant advantage over traditional solar panels that don't make electricity without direct sunlight.

The same intense sunlight that makes Gila Bend ideal for solar-power plants also makes the work building them intense. On a recent day when temperatures approached 110 degrees outside, workers gathered under a shade for a quick break at the Cotton Center Solar Plant on the eastern side of town... "

Google Readying 7-Inch Tablet for Late Summer Release - Mobile and Wireless - News & Reviews - eWeek.com - eWeek Mobile

http://mobile.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Google-Readying-7inch-Tablet-for-Late-Summer-Release-773313/

"Google CEO Eric Schmidt let it slip to an Italian newspaper last December that the company would have a tablet "in six months." Well, the project is pretty much on schedule after all. Device Website The Verge reported April 6 that Google originally planned to launch the tablet next month but decided to push it back because the device was becoming too expensive.

In order for any device to compete with the iPad and Amazon's Kindle Fire, a lower price is going to have to be the main attraction, and Google knows it. Google opted to spend a few more months modifying the tablet to bring the price down, the site reported.

The company's product team is making these design changes now with the goal to drop the price at least $50 below the original retail tag of $249, so it can compete directly with the Kindle Fire (same 7-inch size, $199)."

San Diego Home Prices Down in January

http://m.voiceofsandiego.org/mobile/toscano/article_32eaa9f2-7872-11e1-a832-001871e3ce6c.html

Prices are starting to fall below the 2009 trough and are clearly still headed down.

125 million year old TRex precursor had feathers

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=934816&f=20

" Fossils discovered in northeastern China of a giant, previously unrecognized dinosaur show that it is the largest known feathered animal, living or extinct, scientists report.

Although several species of dinosaurs with feathers have already been uncovered in the rich fossil beds of Liaoning Province, the three largely complete 125-million-year-old specimens are by far the largest. The adult was at least 30 feet long and weighed a ton and a half, about 40 times the heft of Beipiaosaurus, the largest previously known feathered dinosaur. The two juveniles were a mere half ton each.

The new species was a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, the mighty predator that lived 60 million years later, at the end of the dinosaur era."
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First O.C. Umami Burger opens Saturday | Fast Food Maven

http://fastfood.ocregister.com/2012/03/30/first-o-c-umami-burger-opens/152394/

Click thru for pictures

" Finally, the news burger fanatics have been waiting for: Umami Burger will open its first Orange County location on Saturday.

The gourmet burger sensation is taking over the old Valhalla Table space at The Camp in Costa Mesa. It opens at noon Saturday, a Los Angeles rep told me today via email.

The critically acclaimed burger eatery is also planning to open restaurants in Anaheim and Laguna Beach."
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Is the US the New Middle East? | The Big Picture

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/04/new-middle-east/

Tried to find the whole Bloomberg article but couldn't. I point you to the eye-catching graph at The Big Picture.

" "Shipments of gasoline, diesel fuel and other products surpassed imports by an average of 439,000 barrels a day in 2011, according to the department. Last year was the first time since 1949 that the U.S. was a net exporter. Crude-oil output exceeded 2 billion barrels for the first time since 2003.

"The U.S. has become the fastest-growing oil and natural-gas producing area of the world," Edward L. Morse, Citigroup's New York-based head of global commodities research, and half a dozen colleagues wrote in the report. Greater output from Canada and a rebound in Mexico point to bigger increases in North American production "than all of OPEC can sustain." "
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