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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Elite Eight Wraps With Rick Pitino vs. Coach K, Sizzling Trey Burke
Tom Izzo pitted against Mike Krzyzewski was sensational in the Sweet 16, but coach Rick Pitino's Louisville program may be the most relevant in the country right now, after narrowly losing the national title last year.
Pitino has made six trips to the Final Four and a seventh would tie him for fourth all-time with North Carolina's Roy Williams. Krzyzewski though, is gunning for his 12th, which would tie him with John Wooden for most all time. Don't forget that the last time the two met one another, this happened.
In our other tilt, the combination of speed and athleticism between Florida and Michigan should be incredible. Both teams love to get up and down, and both teams also feature premier head coaches. It will be interesting to see how the Wolverines -- fresh off a highly emotional come-from-behind victory over Kansas, will respond less than 48 hours after the fact.
Here are the can't miss matchups to watch in the Elite 8 games Sunday.
Duke SG Seth Curry vs. Louisville Guards Peyton Siva and Russ Smith
Duke's Seth Curry was lights out against Michigan State, totaling 29 points on 6-9 shooting from three. MSU's Spartans, though, do not feature the same elite quickness as Louisville with its stellar duo of guards. Nor do they trap in the half-court. Louisville's Russ Smith is an electric and hyperactive jitterbug who disrupts the rhythm of scorers with his hands and foot speed. Aside from peaking offensively right now -- he had a career high 31 Friday and is averaging 27 points per game in the tournament -- Smith will trail Curry on every staggered screen and fight over every ball screen. Lousiville's Peyton Siva will do the same thing, albeit not quite as well, but that combination along with the superior length of the Cardinals will make scoring a severe challenge for Curry.
Michigan PG Trey Burke vs. Florida PG Scottie Wilbekin
Amidst his struggles, I'm not sure if anybody has remained higher on Michigan's Trey Burke than myself. His ability to control a game even when he's not scoring is a rare trait and, now that he's rolling once again offensively, he's just a brutal matchup any way you dice it up.
Florida's Scottie Wilbekin though, while under the radar a bit, is a terrific defender who really fights through screens and understands how to play on the ball. He's far from the scoring threat of Burke, but the junior does average 9 points and 5 assists for the Gators while shooting a career high 46 percent from the floor. His No. 1 priority Sunday is to keep Burke out of the paint. However, even when he cannot manage to do so, his powerful teammate Patric Young will be waiting to disrupt and obstruct. The bottom line though, is that as good as Michigan's Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Mitch McGary have been, Burke is the engine and jet fuel that drives the Michigan offense. He has to be really good against the Gators.
Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com or ask me questions about anything sports-related at @Schultz_Report.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/31/elite-8-sunday_n_2985075.html
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Tech firms bumping up perks to recruit, retain
Apple's ring-shaped, gleaming "Spaceship Headquarters" will include a world class auditorium and an orchard for engineers to wander. Google's new Bay View campus will feature walkways angled to force accidental encounters. Facebook, while putting final touches on a Disney-inspired campus including a Main Street with a B-B-Q shack, sushi house and bike shop, is already planning an even larger, more exciting new campus.
More than ever before, Silicon Valley firms want their workers at work.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has gone so far as to ban working from home, and many more offer prodigious incentives for coming in to the office, such as free meals, massages and gyms.
This spring, as the tech industry is soaring out of the Great Recession, plans are in the works for a flurry of massive, perk-laden headquarters.
"We're seeing the mature technology companies trying to energize their work environments, getting rid of cube farms and investing in facilities to compete for talent," said Kevin Schaeffer, a principal at architecture and design firm Gensler in San Jose. "That's caused a huge transition in the way offices are laid out."
New Silicon Valley headquarters or expansions are under way at most of the area's major firms, including eBay, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia and Oracle. Many will be huge: Apple Corp.'s 176-acre campus will be one of the world's largest workplaces. On the outside, many of the new buildings boast striking architectural designs and will collectively be among the most environmentally friendly in the country. Inside, there are walls you can draw on, ping pong tables, Lego stations, gaming arcades and free haircuts.
Critics say that while some workplace perks and benefits are a good thing, the large, multibillion dollar corporate headquarters are colossal wastes of money that snub the pioneering technology these firms actually create.
"Companies led by older management tend to be very controlling, but when I look at people in the 20s or 30s, they're totally capable of working on their own and being productive," said Kevin Wheeler, whose Future of Talent Institute researches and consults on human resources for Silicon Valley businesses. "To have artificial structures that require everybody to be in the office at certain hours of the day is simply asinine."
Wheeler said he thinks Yahoo called everyone back to work "because they had gotten into a culture of laziness," and that the firm will likely loosen the restrictions soon.
Yahoo was, in fact, an early model of Silicon Valley's happy workplace culture, touting their espresso bar and inspirational speakers as a method of inspiring passion and originality. Today yoga, cardio-kickboxing and golf classes at the office, as well as discounts to ski resorts and theme parks, help it receive top ratings as one of America's happiest workplaces.
Companies say extraordinary campuses are necessary to recruit and retain top talent and to spark innovation and creativity.
And there are business benefits and financial results for companies that keep their workers happy. The publicly traded 100 Best Companies To Work For in America consistently outperform major stock indices and have more qualified job applicants and higher productivity, according to the San Francisco-based Great Place to Work Institute. That may not always be obvious, however.
"People do work really, really hard here," Facebook spokesman Slater Tow said as an engineer glided past a row of second floor conference rooms on a skateboard. "They have to be passionate about what they do. If they're not, we would rather someone who is."
He points out the Jumbotron frame for outdoor movies, the Nacho Royale taqueria, a bank branch with tellers standing by, an artist in residence. Traditional benefits are part of the Silicon Valley packages as well. Facebook offers free train passes, a shuttle to work, a month of paid vacation, full health care and stock options.
Facebook staffers are welcome to stop by and play in Ben Barry's Analog Research Laboratory, a large, sunlit studio with laser cutters, woodworking tools, a letter press machine and silk screening supplies.
"I believe if people feel they can control their environment, that leads to a greater sense of ownership over the product," says Barry, who makes posters for the campus walls with mantras like "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" and "Move fast and break things."
About six miles north at Google's headquarters, workers on one of more than 1,000 Google-designed bikes rolled from one building to another. Others stepped into electric cars, available for free check outs if someone has an errand. In one office, two young engineers enjoyed a beer and shot pool.
Google doesn't want its Googlers to have to worry about distractions in their life.
Concerned about the kids? Childcare is on campus. Need to shop and cook? Have the family dine at Google. Dirty laundry piling up? Bring it in to the office. Bring Fido too, so he doesn't get lonely. There's a climbing wall, nap pods (lay down in the capsule, set the alarm, zzzzz), a bowling alley, multiple gyms, a variety of healthy cafes, mini kitchens, and classes on anything from American Sign Language to Public Speaking. In a shared, community garden, Googlers plant seeds, knowing that if they get too busy, a landscaper will pull their weeds.
The company has no policy requiring people to be at work. But officials say Googlers want to come in.
"We work hard to create the healthiest, happiest and most productive work environments possible that inspire collaboration and innovation," said spokeswoman Katelin Todhunter-Gerberg.
Wheeler says the mega-complexes being built today will be hard to staff 10 years from now, and that the next era will see smaller workplaces where employers are responsible for meeting achievements and objectives, and have flexibility about when they come in to their office.
"When you look at how some of these companies operate, they're in effect, sweat shops. ... They want 80, 90, 100 hours of work. In order to even make that tolerable, of course you have to offer haircuts and food and places to sleep or else people would have to go home," he said.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Insert Coin: Dash charts your car data live, with gauges and a dashcam (update: Android)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.
We've seen a few stabs at smartphone-enhanced car diagnostics as of late, but many good solutions like Automatic Link and Delphi's Vehicle Diagnostics are primarily useful after you've parked. The upcoming Dash OBD-II adapter is certainly up to that side of the job, telling a Bluetooth-connected iOS device (and eventually, Android) about your car's problems and estimating fuel costs based on the gas tank's levels. Where it stands out is its usefulness while on the road: the custom app offers custom live gauges, including a Green-Meter for ideal fuel economy that you won't usually find in a real instrument cluster. There's even a dashcam mode that overlays travel details on captured video, whether it's to support insurance claims or just to immortalize a drive through the back country.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Transportation
Source: Kickstarter
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/dRmJJSnfJvw/
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Stock market bull is feeding on corporate profits
Four years after pushing investors into one of the deepest financial holes in a century, the U.S. stock market is now powering ahead in one of the strongest bull markets in a half century.
So it?s no surprise many investors are wondering how much longer it can last.
Fueled by growing signs that the U.S. economy is finally repairing lingering damage from the Great Recession, stock prices have been making new highs for weeks.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 index closed at its highest level in history, after rising for 11 of the past 13 weeks. The Dow Jones industrial average, which tracks just 30 stocks, broke into record territory March 5 and has been setting new highs since. (Neither index, however, has reached a new high after adjusting for inflation.)
In the last 10 months, stocks have risen nearly 25 percent, as measured by the S&P 500 index. Since August, 2010, the broader Wilshire 5000 index has powered ahead by 50 percent ? a rally that?s created more than $6 trillion in wealth for U.S. households, corporations, pension funds and other institutional investors.
To some investors still shell-shocked from the 2008 financial collapse, it?s beginning to feel like October 2007 ? just before the bottom fell out. Or 2000, when the dot-com bubble popped.
Take a deep breath. Those worries are simply misplaced, according to none other than former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who coined the now-famous phrase for the telltale sign that a stock market party is getting out of hand.
"'Irrational exuberance' is the last term I'd use to characterize what?s going on at the moment,? the retired central banker recently told CNBC. ?It's got a ways to go as far as I can see.?
To be sure, bull markets inevitably include sharp pullbacks, as some investors take profits or others have second thoughts about the rally's staying power.
But for now, the millions of investors who are pouring billions of dollars into the stock market every week seem to agree with The Maestro. Here?s why:
So what got this party started?
Much like most market recoveries, the initial stage represented a snap back from one of the worst financial collapses since the Great Depression. Markets often act like a rubber band: If they get pulled too far in one direction, they tend to want to snap back to more ?normal? levels. The 2008 crash left stocks at deeply-depressed, bargain prices. But until the recovery was solidly in place, buyers had to be willing to bear the risk that the down cycle hadn't run its course.
In the last six months, the stock market rally has entered a new phase, driven largely by good news about the economy. The housing market has now bounced back sharply from the deepest recession in generations. Rising home prices have helped rebuild much of the multi-trillion dollar loss in household wealth that was obliterated by the collapse of 2008.
To be sure, it?s not all good news. The economy remains sluggish. Europe is struggling through a recession. The unemployment rate ? through steadily declining ? remains painfully high. Not all companies are taking part in the market rally.
Sorry: What makes stock prices go up and down again?
In the short term, supply and demand ? just like a pair of Red Sox tickets on Stubhub. When there are more buyers than sellers, the price goes up. And vice versa.
Over the longer run, demand for a given company?s stock is driven largely by its prospects for becoming more profitable. As any Red Sox season ticket holder knows, there?s a lot more demand for unused Fenway seats when the team is on a roll than when they?re losing.
As profits go up, so do stock prices. But to make money, you?ve got to own the stock before the company announces higher earnings.
That?s why investors are buying now ? based on the belief that the recent improvement in the economy will continue this year and next.
?I don't think it's all that surprising that the stock market would rise, given that there has been increased optimism about the economy,? the current Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, told reporters earlier this month. ?Profit increases have been substantial. And the relationship between stock prices and earnings is not particularly unusual at this point.?
But didn'tBernanke create this bubble by pumping trillions of dollars cash into the system?
The Fed?s unprecedented, ongoing easy-money policy has certainty had a lot to do with the surge in stock prices.
Ultra-low interest rates have helped two ways. Cheap credit helps boost economic growth; the housing recovery would have taken a lot longer without record low mortgage rates. Ultra-low rates on safer investments like bonds also force investors looking for higher returns by turning to riskier investments like stocks.
It?s a premature to call this rally a bubble. The late-90s Internet craze ?went bubble? when investors began paying Gold Rush prices for companies with no profits whatsoever. They were betting ? based on wildly optimistic forecasts about future growth ? that profits would eventually kick in. But in the end, it turned out that launching the fourth-largest online shopping site targeting left-handed golfers wasn?t a winning business model after all.
Ironically, some of the trends underlying those 1990s forecasts - of a millennial boom in entirely new online products and services ? are now helping boost corporate profits today. In many cases the predictions were right. They were just 20 years too early.
OK.Butif the economy is still weak, where are all these profits coming from?
One big source is workers? wages ? which have been falling, after adjusting for inflation. As business improves, more of that cash is heading straight to the corporate bottom line.
It?s not hard to see why. With unemployment still at 7.7 percent, few workers have leverage to demand a raise. Many companies have also been able to meet increased demand by asking their existing workers to put in more hours and check their email on weekends. Globalization continues to offer opportunities to outsource work to low-wage, overseas markets.
As the job market improves, and companies continue adding more full-time workers, that added profit may begin to slow. Higher health care costs could also take a bite. But for now, much of the revenue from new orders is flowing to the bottom line with little increase in labor costs.
Falling wages are only one of the tailwinds pushing profits ahead. Just as ultra-low interest rates have helped homeowners cut their monthly mortgage payments, companies have gotten a big break on borrowing costs. Those savings have helped boost the bottom lines of the companies in the S&P 500 index by some 4.5 percent, according to financial analyst Stephen Moore.
Moore figures lower corporate taxes ? which have fallen from about 30 percent of overall profits in the 1980s to around 20 percent today ? have added another 1 percent to profits.
We?d add to the list the ongoing savings from lower natural gas and electricity costs thanks to a boom in U.S. energy production.
So how long can all this last?
The only honest answer: No one knows. Including your investment adviser.
The recent recovery from a period of deep, financial malaise, though, is reminiscent of the 1980s emergence from the Great Inflation that destroyed thousands of businesses, trillions of dollars in financial assets and shredded consumer and investor confidence.
Then, for a variety of reasons, the economic storm subsided. In what seemed like a matter of months, it was Morning in America. The resulting stock market rally, which began in August 1982, was one of the longest on record.
To be sure, the over-caffeinated bull briefly passed out when a heart-stopping crash lopped 23 percent off stock prices in a single session on October 19, 1987. Four months later, though, the bull was back on his feet for another 12-year stampede that lifted stocks nearly seven-fold before the tech bubble burst in March 2000.
This bull faces formidable hurdles in the months and years ahead. The ongoing debt crisis in Europe and, worse, the bumbling response of its leaders, could easily spoil the party. So could the inevitable day, probably not until next year, when the Fed starts raising interest rates back to more normal levels. The Washington budget battle over reforming unsustainable federal spending (a problem with no shortage of viable solutions) could also knock the bull off its feet.
And if the gains in corporate profits stall out, investors could quickly lose their appetite for stocks. Until that happens, though, this rally looks like the real thing.
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