All You Want to Know

Telecom services provider Sprint is hoping to make that possible by offering excess capacity on its cellular network available to gadget makers, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

"Sprint understands that we are getting to a point where almost every digital device would want to be connected to a fast ubiquitous network," says Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy for Los Angeles based analytics firm Interpret. "Wi-Fi isn't everywhere and consumers want the assurance of ubiquitous connectivity that wide area networks can offer."

Sprint has already taken the first step towards this model through its partnership with Amazon. Amazon kicked off the first version of its e-book reader Kindle with Sprint's wireless connectivity to help users download e-books over the air. In its latest version, Kindle allows users basic web surfing using Sprint's network without paying any additional data access charges.

This kind of unobtrusive wireless capability is something other gadget makers are likely to jump at. Sprint is already in talks with Garmin, SanDisk and Eastman Kodak, says WSJ.

"More and more we are going to see this become attractive to all sorts of vendors, especially if they can integrate it at a low cost," says Gartenberg.

BOSTON, March 23, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ ----John Hancock led the industry in total individual life insurance sales in 2008, according to a recent survey of 78 major life insurers by LIMRA International (LIMRA).

According to LIMRA, John Hancock Life Insurance had sales in 2008 of $835 million in premium*. The company also increased its industry-leading market share to more than seven percent and led the industry in average face amount of approximately $1.3 million.

"We are extremely pleased to lead the industry in life insurance sales, especially in light of the challenging economic backdrop in 2008. Our sales results again demonstrated strength across our entire product portfolio," said Steve Finch, President, John Hancock Life Insurance. "We strive to be an industry leader in product innovation, continually enhancing our portfolio to meet our clients' needs."

John Hancock finished first in the industry in variable life (including variable universal life) sales, with sales of approximately $237 million*, according to LIMRA.

"We have placed strong emphasis on variable universal life over the past few years. We believe that for clients with long term horizons our variable universal products are well designed to meet their needs. They remain an attractive and appropriate product," Mr. Finch said.

John Hancock finished second in the industry in universal life sales with sales of nearly $496 million*, and the company maintained its market share of nearly 10 percent, according to LIMRA.

Term and whole life sales again produced strong results, with sales of $84 million and $17 million respectively.

"We remain committed to further strengthening our product portfolio, our service capabilities and our underwriting expertise to provide even greater value for our clients and producers," Mr. Finch said. "We know that our customers and their advisors have many options for meeting their financial objectives and we appreciate that they have chosen to place their trust and confidence in John Hancock."

*Annualized premium plus 10% of excess premium for US individual life insurance as reported to LIMRA

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial Corporation

John Hancock Financial is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation (the Company), a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and in most of Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$405 billion (US$330 billion) as at December 31, 2008.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '0945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at www.johnhancock.com.

Survey Source: LIMRA International, U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Survey, Fourth Quarter YTD 2008 results. Sales based on annualized new premium.

Source :

http://www.jhancock.com

A study for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that nationwide nearly one in five workers is uninsured, a statistically significant increase from fewer than one in seven during the mid-1990s.

In Illinois, the study found that 16 percent of workers between ages 19 to 64 were uninsured in 2007, the latest year such figures are available. In 1995, 11.6 percent of workers in Illinois were uninsured.

The study found that the problem is cost. Total premiums for employer plans have risen six to eight times faster than wages, depending on whether individual or family coverage is picked.

About 20.7 million workers were uninsured in the mid-1990s. A decade later, it was 26.9 million, an increase of about six million.

Source : http://www.examiner.com

Dell's Adamo ultraportable is finally here.

Ever since Apple first introduced its MacBook Air, consumers have been lusting after ultra-thin, ultra-light laptops that still pack a solid performance punch. While many manufacturers have come to challenge the Air, from Lenovo's X300 series to Voodoo's Envy 133, Apple's offering has maintained its dominance. As of today, that dominance will be challenged yet again.

Dell's Adamo will go on sale later today, with an expected shipping date of March 26. The Adamo (Adamo means "to fall in love with" in Latin) carries many of the high end features one would expect with an ultraportable of this caliber. The 13.4-inch, 720p display is made from "edge-to-edge" mineral glass, and the entire laptop chassis is machined from one piece of aluminum. For storage, SSD is the only option, with 128 GB being standard.

"Great design needs to be timeless and evoke emotion in people", said Alex Gruzen, Senior VP of Dell's consumer products division. "While a premium computing experience was assumed for Adamo, the intent was for people to see, touch and explore Adamo and be rewarded by the select materials and craftsmanship you would expect in a fine watch." Judging from the sentiments of Gruzer and the Adamo's insides, Dell undoubtedly put style before performance with this ultraportable.

One area where the Adamo beats the MacBook Air is thickness. While the Air has a maximum thickness of .75-inches, the Adamo maxes out at .65-inches. However, it should be noted that the Air comes up to .75-inches from .16-inches, whereas the Adamo is .65-inches throughout its body. The Adamo also comes in about one pound heavier than its veteran rival.

While the Adamo is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the ultraportable market, it's lackluster hardware may be an Achilles heel.

The text that replaces an abbreviation can be as simple as your name and address, or as complex as a rich text document that contains formatting and images. TypeIt4Me works with variables such as date and time, and can insert the current contents of your clipboard. You can control the position of the cursor, defining its location after TypeIt4Me expands an abbreviation; trigger AppleScripts; or nest other TypeIt4Me clippings within the current expanded abbreviation.

TypeIt4Me is available for $27. A 30-day demo is available.

Look at the picture above. It’s an original Steve Ballmer created before my eyes on the wall of a conference room here at The Times.

Simple, isn’t it?

Well, that’s the point that Mr. Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft, was trying to make when he drew it. I was talking to him about Microsoft’s plans to offer companies cloud computing services — software that will run on Microsoft’s new network of big data centers. As I learned about the Azure system, Microsoft’s new cloud operating system, I started to wonder if it is overly complex. I asked if Microsoft was risking taking on too much, as it did with Longhorn, the operating system rewrite that led to the ill-fated Windows Vista.

“It’s not anything like Longhorn,” Mr. Ballmer said. “And it’s not really that complicated.”

He jumped up, grabbed a marker and drew a big black rectangle divided into smaller rectangles on the white board.

“This is what we look like in the data center,” he said.

He was referring to all of the software Microsoft currently sells to run on corporate servers and the tools to develop them. That currently is a $13 billion-a-year business for Microsoft (22 percent of its total revenue) and its fastest growing segment. All of those products, Mr. Ballmer said, are being rewritten so customers can run them on Microsoft’s computers in addition to their own.

“Anything that has been a server needs to be a service,” he said.

So in the center box he wrote “Windows Server”—the company’s core product for data centers.

“Windows Server becomes Windows Azure,” he said. Steve Ballmer

That is going to be a service that will let companies build applications to be run from Microsoft’s data centers.

The next block up represented SQL Server — Microsoft’s database product.

“I’ll bet by the time we’re done, if I win, this will be called SQL Azure,” he said, implying a bit of a branding debate. Nearby were boxes for Microsoft’s other server products — Exchange for e-mail, SharePoint for collaboration, etc.

The trapezoid at the very top of Mr. Ballmer’s picture represented Office and other PC software products that it sells to big companies, much of it meant to interact with the server software, like Exchange.

As he has before, Mr. Ballmer insisted that these PC programs are not all going to be replaced with Web sites, like Google Docs or Gmail.

“Everyone says ‘You have to run in a browser.’ That’s nonsense,” he said. “When you run in the browser, you are not running HTML, you are just downloading code to the browser instead of downloading code to the PC.”

What is important, Mr. Ballmer argued, is giving Microsoft software the ability to use the Internet as needed. For example, corporations will be able to start their own social networks to enable employees to work together better. You’ll use this network from within Office.

He also suggested that the move will increase Microsoft’s earnings from corporate services. That’s because it will be able to charge both for the software itself and Microsoft’s service to operate that software on its own machines.

The company’s costs will rise and its profit margins will fall as it builds out its data centers. Software, after all, has remarkable margins because it doesn’t really cost anything to deliver an additional office license to a corporate client. But Mr. Ballmer said that Microsoft will still come away with more dollars in profit for every worker using its cloud-based services than it does from software.

“Shareholders don’t get fed by percentages,” he said.

So far, little of this is actually making money for Microsoft. It started selling the early version of cloud-based Exchange and SharePoint services last year. And it is testing its new systems with big companies including Coca-Cola Enterprises and Nokia. But Mr. Ballmer said he didn’t think Microsoft was behind its potential rivals.

“This is all so early,” he said. “It’s early for Amazon. VMware is just barely there. We’re barely there. Google isn’t there yet.”

Most of these companies don’t have much experience selling to big companies, he said.

“It took us 10 years to establish our enterprise capability and this company, Google, hasn’t really begun to focus,” Mr. Ballmer said. “We understand what the enterprise needs: security, compliance, archiving.”

That’s why I keep wondering about the scope of what Mr. Ballmer is trying to do. Azure and the related products are meant from the start to have all the features that a multinational company might need to run sophisticated applications. His picture may well look simple to chief information officers who see in it a mirror of the software they already buy from Microsoft.

I said one more time to Mr. Ballmer that his approach seemed much riskier than that used by Google and Amazon, which can start by offering simple services and then can build them up over time.

Mr. Ballmer replied he was quite confident that Microsoft’s “story is right.”

He added, “We are taking the complexity out, not the capabilities.”

Cisco watchers are largely unimpressed with the deal. In short, analysts and writers who cover Cisco consider the Flip's market of 2 million units too small for Cisco to bother with, and Pure Digital's selling price of $590 million too small a return for investors Benchmark Capital and Sequoia Capital.

Gartner analyst Nick Jones:

This leaves me totally puzzled. $590 million is loose change for Cisco. But why spend even loose change on a brand no-one has heard of outside the US and which has sold about 2 million units in its entire history. Last year the mobile industry shipped well over 800 million handsets with cameras, the latest models like the Samsung Omnia can already shoot HD video which is on the cusp of mainstream mobile adoption. The chips and camera modules on mid to high-end devices will all head to HD over the next couple of years. So products like Flip are going to be buried under an avalanche of HD enabled handsets. I can understand Flip wanting to sell out before the tsunami arrives but why would Cisco buy?

Network World columnist Brad Reese:

A spectacularly successful cash out for Pure Digital's venture capital investor - Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital (keep in mind that Moritz and Sequoia were also the original venture capital backers of Cisco), [but] not be a wise acquisition for Cisco.

First, how do Cisco's valuable channel partners benefit with Cisco capital and management attention focused on products sold in mass retail outlets for between $130 and $230, and whose success has spawned a large group of copycat competitors?

Second, Cisco's expertise is in developing and supporting complex technology. I fear Cisco risks being "dumbed down" ... for example, a recent report shows Cisco gaining market share in [small to medium business] routers but losing ground in the high-end router segment to Juniper Networks.

PEHub blogger Lawrence Aragon, who writes about private equity:

It sounds like a pretty good deal, but you have to understand that the VCs put $95 million into Pure, which makes the Flip digital video camera. Assuming they own half of the company, that’s a return of just over 3x their money. For a middle-of-the road VC firm, that would be a decent return, but for big name backers Benchmark Capital and Sequoia Captial that’s pretty much a dud.

Did Pure Digital's investors push for a relatively cheap acquistion before the Flip loses its market share? Does Cisco have plans for the Flip, or for Pure Digital, that aren't obvious from outside the company? Cisco's press release suggests Cisco, an enterprise IT colossus, is trying to become a household brand as well:

"The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco's strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture the consumer market transition to visual networking."

The consumer market transition to visual networking? Sounds like Cisco is looking to sell cameras to the makers of YouTube home videos. Good luck competing with Apple and Logitech.

Source : http://www.thestandard.com

It is beautiful, an engineering marvel. It is fanless, silent and slim. For anyone who's ever hated carrying a briefcase—or wanted a computer that goes well with Gaultier—the Vaio P is the ne plus ultra of ultraportable computers.

For the rest, it's a $900 laptop that can barely keep up with netbooks half its price.

Sadly hobbled by Windows Vista's bloat, only those with undemanding performance requirements will enjoy it straight out of the box. Install XP or Windows 7, however, and its promise becomes more apparent.

About as small as a laptop can be while retaining a decent keyboard, the P is 9.7" x 4.7" x 0.8" and weighs just 1.4 pounds. It has a high-definition 8" LED-backlit display, 2GB of RAM, 3G internet, WiFi and GPS. The base model has a 60GB hard drive, with optional SSD upgrades. That keyboard is nearly full-size, and in the chiclet style long used by Sony and Apple, recently adopted by cheaper brands.

It has a GoBi radio, which means in principle that it can get 3G data from both Evdo and HSDPA networks. In the U.S., however, it is exclusive to Verizon. U.S. units also lack the faster processors available in Europe and Japan (you can buy imports from Dynamism) but gain integrated GPS, a feature not found abroad.

It's a nice package, for sure, but it uses a slower version of Intel's Atom chip, the Z520, which leaves it huffing and puffing to keep up with cheaper alternatives like the HP Mini.

Battery life is also poor: you'll get a little over 2 hours on balanced settings. The long-life battery doubles that, but makes the P about a third of an inch thicker. Small type on the 200dpi display can be hard on the eyes. The track-nub is surprisingly good — there was simply no space for a trackpad — but some people find it irritating and difficult to use.

More disappointing was poor video and gaming performance, even accounting for the low specifications. This is almost certainly a software issue: Intel and Sony need to step up and provide better drivers for the P's GMA 500 video chip. While it looks gorgeous, the plastic finish is fingerprint-friendly and it doesn't feel very durable.

It's hard to talk about the Vaio P without talking about its ads. After announcing it at CES to the technology tribes, Sony turned its marketing attention to professional women, deploying a bizarre campaign centered around robot fashion mannequins who wandered Manhattan making geolocated Facebook updates.

At a party at the company's Madison Avenue flagship store, I got to observe the mannequins do their thing--stand very still, looking pretty, holding Vaio Ps out for the fashion press to nervously inspect.

It's art, and I kind of liked it, but it makes one wonder just how much it would have cost Sony to make sure OpenGL worked better.

Whoever Sony wants to sell it to, here's who I think will like it: portability junkies who find netbooks too cumbersome, but who still want a usable keyboard. If the idea of that appeals to you — and you're prepared to pay for it — go for it. If you're even slightly ambivalent, however, wait until Windows 7 is out so you can avoid the hours of tinkering that the Vaio P demands to get the most from it.

I has a 160GB hard drive, a webcam, gigabit ethernet and WiFi, and is sold with Windows XP. There are 5 USB ports and a memory card reader.

How, then, does it differ? Where the Eee is round, the X50 is square. And it has a handle.

Shuttle x50 [Slashgear]

Source : http://gadgets.boingboing.net/

Unlike Microsoft's silly but sort of understandable proscription against mice on home consoles, Sony doesn't mind letting gamers use a mouse on their lap. Swiss peripherals maker SplitFish has released a new model of their FragFX mouse, the V2, with offers "significant improvements", but is presented here primarily because it looks odd. It is eighty of your dollars.

When learning to write you put the pen between your thumb and finger. With a traditional mouse the ball is right in the middle of the mouse as that’s the only place it would fit. Since optical mice have been around they have also had their optical sensors right in the middle of the mouse. However, Elecom have made the M-SN1UL with a sensor out side of the mouse where if you were holding a pen, the tip would be. By doing this it means that your mouse gets the precision of holding a pen while moving it around. The optical sensor on the M-SN1UL is 1600dpi.

Will it actually work as described? or will it just seem the same as any other mouse? I expect the latter but if anyone has used one or will do in the future then let us know if it’s worth buying.

Via: EverythingUSB

Source: http://www.gadgetvenue.com

Heaven Media have also confirmed the attendance of eSports broadcasting company QuadV, in the form of Paul Chaloner, Stuart Saw, and Jason Atkins, who bring with them many years of experience in broadcasting, both online and to television networks around the world.

Source: http://ve3d.ign.com

Universal File System Driver Creates Two-Way Communication Channel Between Mac OS X and Windows, Includes New MacBrowser for Dual-Boot Capabilities

Paragon's NTFS for Mac OS X 7.0 is based on Paragon's own unique technology -- the Universal File System Driver (UFSD). UFSD was specially developed to provide full access (read/write, format, etc.) to volumes of the most popular file systems (NTFS, FAT, Ext2/3FS, etc.) under various platforms (DOS, Windows, Linux, and Mac) when these file systems are not supported. The product is simple to install on a Mac system through user-friendly wizards, with no additional configuration required after installation. It is also simple to use, as every attached Windows NTFS partition works like a native Mac HFS partition after installation. By mounting any NTFS partition like a native Mac partition, the need to perform special commands to obtain access is eliminated. NTFS for Mac OS X 7.0 provides improved write performance enabling the same transfer rate for NTFS volumes as the native Mac OS file system.

Paragon's new MacBrowser is a unique tool that allows fast, easy and transparent read/write access to Mac HFS partitions from within Windows. After the user has installed the software on a Windows operating system, a special unmapped folder under 'My Computer' can be used to browse content, read and modify files, copy, create, open, and delete files and folders on Mac partitions from Windows. To modify a file from a Mac volume, the user would copy it to a Windows partition, make the desired changes and copy it back to Mac after the modifications are completed.

Source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com

The Globe tested four monitors, including a tiny 7-inch USB monitor and three wide-screen monitors.

We tested the 25.5-inch Asus VW266H for $399, the 25.5-inch Hewlett-Packard w2558hc for $549.99, and we were given an exclusive first look at one of Dell's new "green monitors," the 24-inch G2410 G-Series at $349. We also tested the Mimo UM-710 7-inch USB monitor, which costs $129.99.

We found that all four monitors had strengths. The Asus is big, uncomplicated, and inexpensive. The HP has lots of plugs, ports, and goodies like digital camera card readers and a webcam. Dell claims its offering uses less energy than competitors and is made from recycled materials - bonuses for people conscious about their carbon footprint.

The Mimo monitor, while small, was a fun solution for people who want to use a second monitor. It plugs into any available USB port, so it will work on nearly any modern computer. Its size also allows you to have two monitors without two big monitors taking up your whole desk.

Andy Trask, the co-owner of Geek Housecalls Inc. of Burlington, selected the HP as the best overall monitor because of the glossy finish to the display and HP's positive reputation.

"In my experience with HP monitors, they tend to be of a higher quality," Trask said.

We liked the HP monitor a lot, but were most enamored with the Asus monitor. While it didn't have all the bells, whistles, and ports of the HP monitor, we were impressed with its quality and even more so with its price.

Both the HP and Asus monitors had traditional VGA and DVI (digital visual interface) ports for your computer, but they also had HDMI ports (one on the Asus and two on the HP), which let you plug in your Blu-ray player, HDTV cable box, or video game system to the monitor instead of using a television.

"A lot of people are looking for a way to put together as much technology as they can without having to repeat steps," Trask said. "As a simple solution, this really makes it easy to put the computer and the TV together in the same box with high quality and high resolution."

As far as shopping tips, Trask says to look for the biggest monitor you can find for your budget. He also recommends going to your local electronics store to view the monitors in person, just as you would with a TV - instead of just checking them out online.

Computer-virus infections don't cause your machine to crash anymore.

Nowadays, the criminals behind the infections usually want your computer operating in top form so you don't know something's wrong. That way, they can log your keystrokes and steal any passwords or credit-card numbers you enter at Web sites, or they can link your infected computer with others to send out spam.

Here are some signs your computer is infected, tapped to serve as part of "botnet" armies run by criminals:

_ You experience new, prolonged slowdowns. This can be a sign that a malicious program is running in the background.

_ You continually get pop-up ads that you can't make go away. This is a sure sign you have "adware," and possibly more, on your machine.

_ You're being directed to sites you didn't intend to visit, or your search results are coming back funky. This is another sign that hackers have gotten to your machine.

So what do you do?

_ Having anti-virus software here is hugely helpful. For one, it can identify known malicious programs and disable them. If the virus that has infected your machine isn't detected, many anti-virus vendors offer a service in which they can remotely take over your computer and delete the malware for a fee.

_ Some anti-virus vendors also offer free, online virus-scanning services.

_ You may have to reinstall your operating system if your computer is still experiencing problems. It's a good idea even if you believe you've cleaned up the mess because malware can still be hidden on your machine. You will need to back up your files before you do this.

How do I know what information has been taken?

_ It's very hard to tell what's been taken. Not every infection steals your data. Some just serve unwanted ads. Others poison your search result or steer you to Web sites you don't want to see. Others log your every keystroke. The anti-virus vendors have extensive databases about what the known infections do and don't do. Comparing the results from your virus scans to those entries will give you a good idea about what criminals may have snatched up.

Source : http://www.google.com

• A banker responds

A University of Otago business student is celebrating the end of a year in which the banks provided him with $500 of free money.

The student, who prefers to remain anonymous, employed a system known as "stoozing", which works in a similar way to the international "carry trade" - where money is borrowed at a low rate in one country and invested at a high rate in another.

The student realised banks trying to attract students as customers had created a similar, legal, opportunity for free money within New Zealand.

"Stoozing" is a slang term to describe an activity where money is borrowed at 0% interest and invested elsewhere. Eventually, the borrowed money is repaid but the interest it has earned remains with the "stoozer".

Most major banks offer low-cost overdrafts for students in the hope of encouraging them to become regular customers.

At the beginning of last year, the student visited four banks and set up bank accounts with 0% overdrafts. He then withdrew all the money - amounting to $6000 - and invested it for one year in a safe term deposit at a rate of 9.25%.

The idea came to him while he was taking advantage of a bank promotion offering students $40 to open an account - "an easy way to make some fast beer money".

While he was filling out forms for an account with a $2000 overdraft, he noted the "very small" bank charges if the account was in overdraft - $2 a month.

"It was virtually the same as giving me $2000 for free for 20 months."

The student then opened similar accounts at other banks.

Because two of the banks required the account to show activity during the year, he also set up automatic transfers.

He asked the bank where he held his usual bank account to make an automatic $150 payment each Tuesday to one of the overdraft accounts.

"I then went to the bank where the $150 would be going and asked them to transfer that same amount of money to the overdraft account at another bank.

"I then went to the third bank and got them to transfer the money back to my spending account (where it had been on Tuesday) and the $150 showed up in my account on Friday. This happened every week for a year."

Bank staff did not realise what he was doing and the scheme had not been hard to co-ordinate.

"It only took a couple of minutes talking to the tellers, telling them what I wanted, and checking to make sure they had got it right."

He chose to invest the overdraft money at Kiwibank because it was one of the few banks where he did not have an account.

"I didn't really want to go into [one of the other banks] and try to set up a $6000 term deposit when I had a $2000 debit on my other account."

People he had told about the scheme had considered the rewards too small, and even smaller now that interest rates had gone down.

It was only after he had set up the scheme that he realised it had a name.

Wikipedia suggests stoozing was named after an internet discussion board contributor, Stooz, who was a prolific stoozer.

"Stoozing isn't exactly a way to get rich," the student said. "That's why I just took one afternoon to go around and do it - because the profit isn't that much."

The most important aspect of the scheme was to ensure the borrowed money remained intact - invested safely and repaid by the due date.

"Mostly, I just did it because it seemed like a way to make some money and figure out some of the systems banks have in place. It is sort of my chosen field of study."

Source : http://www.odt.co.nz

Money-market mutual funds hold about $3.9 trillion in assets, and have become increasingly popular places to park cash amid the beating that stocks and even bonds have taken lately. Here are tips from experts on how to find the best money funds:

1. FIND THE RIGHT FIT: While their yields are pretty low across the board, different types of money funds invest in different types of debt. So pick the right type to balance how much safety you're willing to give up for a slightly higher yield.

Many funds buy super-safe government debt such as Treasury bills, and generally carry the lowest yields — currently averaging a minuscule 0.1 percent or so. So-called prime funds seek slightly higher yields but accept marginal risk by venturing into some forms of corporate bonds, which carry the risk of default.

Money-market funds can also invest large sums in bank certificates of deposit, and command higher interest rates than you could get on your own. So-called tax-free money funds can invest in debt issued by state or local governments, which can offer tax advantages.

2. RESIST THE CHASE FOR YIELD: If you're comparing money fund yields, resist the temptation to buy a fund just based on a higher yield. Be sure to research the fund. Try to determine what risks the fund may be taking to generate the higher return — such as a soured investment in Lehman Brothers bonds, that led one money fund to expose investors to losses last fall.

3. CHECK EXPENSES: Fund expenses are a big consideration because a small difference in the amount you pay can offset the relatively modest yield of a money fund. Generally, look for expense ratios below 0.5 percent.

4. MONITOR FEES: With money fund yields at historic lows, fund companies are finding they can barely meet fund expenses and make a profit. That pressures the companies to pass on higher fees. Monitor disclosures about such fee increases.

Source: http://www.google.com

SIPPED: Bordeaux past
In a blast from what seems a distant past, a new investment fund for wine is opens this month with allegedly 15 to 20 million pounds of assets. Investors will need to meet the 500,000 pound minimum for the closed-end fund. Send checks to Richmond Park partners Steven Berger and Pascal Maeter who will manage the Lunzer Wine Investments Institutional Fund. [Bloomberg]

SIPPED: industrial waste over Givry
The Burgundy village of Givry has to contend with plans for a new industrial waste treatment plant on the outskirts of town. Last year’s mayoral campaign was fought largely around this issue with an anti-plant activist winning town hall. But the regional authorities later approved the plant, winemakers sued, and now a tribunal has suspended the approval. Score one for the winemakers! Check out the story at washingtonpost.com.

SPIT: excise tax
California’s legislature approved a new budget without increasing the excise tax on wine.

SIPPED and SPIT: wine blogs
The wine blog award winners have been announced. Alas, this blog is not among them. But thank you for your clicks of support! And hearty congratulations to the winners! [Fermentation]

SIPPED: insurance!
A “Master of Coffee” (not Mister Coffee) in England has insured his tongue for £10 million ($13.95 million) via Lloyd’s of London (not to be confused with the newly nationalized Lloyds Banking Group, ahem). Take that Robert Parker–his policy is 14 times bigger than your policy! [BBC via sdelong]

Source: http://www.drvino.com

As a Costa Coffee taster insures his tongue for £10m, here are 10 other unusual risks covered by the Lloyd's insurance market.

1. Lloyd's has insured the smile of America Ferrera, star of the hit television show Ugly Betty, for $10m.

2. The London insurance market has also insured Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' fingers and Marlene Dietrich's legs – and, according to one history book, actress Bette Davis once insured her waistline against expansion.

3. Lloyd's developed a policy to cover loss of chest hair which could adversely impact a person's image or career. Under the terms of the policy, the policyholder would have to lose more than 85pc of his chest hair through an injury to his chest in order to make a claim. This loss would have to be verified by a panel of trichologists.

4. In 2008 Dutch wine maker Ilja Gort insured his nose for €5m to cover against any incident that could threaten his livelihood.

5. It has also insured Santa's beard, providing coverage for Brady White – the professional Father Christmas at Macy's department store in New York who also visits the likes of Pamela Anderson and Rene Russo.

6. In June 2004, history was made when SpaceShipOne became the first privately manned aircraft to reach space. Lloyd's insurer Amlin was lead underwriter for the $100m liability policy for the craft.

7. One film company took out a million-dollar policy with Lloyd's against the possibility of one of their actresses falling in love and getting married during her contract service. In the early part of the 20th century, Lloyd's insured cinemagoers against death from excessive laughter while at the cinema.

8. Formula One racing drivers at the front of the grid can buy cover for up to £50m, while those at the back are likely to have protection of around £500,000.

9. Golf: Hole-in-one insurances are regularly placed at Lloyd's, sometimes for as much as $50,000 a time.

10. In 2004, Lloyd's insured the £27m worth of jewellery worn by the stars at the Oscars.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk