Technology Can Save Money, Planet

We must act in order to preserve our planet. This is self evident. One interesting aspect of this important endeavor, in which we all should take part, is that you may help accomplish it by saving money.

Imagine this, you are taking good care of yourself, your pocketbook, you become more generous and this contributes to life on our planet. Let's see, if we do not spend on things that are not really needed, we save money. Therefore, we have more resources (maybe money) to spend on those things that really are important: health, leisure, study, travel, giving, etc. - quality of life. Sounds like good business, doesn't it?

Interestingly, an Internet trend based on this reasoning is gaining momentum -- examining it provides us with interesting examples and opportunities for action. This new trend is called SaaS, an acronym for "Software As A Service". Note the philosophy: why buy word a processor or spreadsheet if you can use them at Google Docs, that you access only when needed? Google's word processor and spreadsheet is a classic example of SaaS. The advertisers pay Google (dearly) so that you have this service for "free."

Well, you can say there is the Open Office, it is free, I agree, but what about disk space? To spend it on something you use occasionally? Use this space for the software you really always use, even if for fun stuff - our hard drives should not be a software cemetery. Via SaaS you have one more gain: your spreadsheets or documents are always at your disposal anywhere in the world and ready to use.

With SaaS it is easy to see the saving action effect. Indeed, if we just need to access the Internet, our computer (laptop, notebook or desktop) can be simpler and cost much less. This equation in itself points to computers becoming cheaper, therefore generating greater social inclusion, more business, more opportunities, etc. And more, light computers use less electricity.

And guess what? This trend is global and irreversible; SaaS is here to stay. SaaS will more than double by 2012, said the analysis firm Gartner in a report last year. There a lot of other providers of SaaS as well. Just two weeks ago, at Intermodal South America, I met people offering something I never thought about. My interview with them is embedded below.

A World Free of Nuclear Weapons

February 2010

Since the first atomic bombs exploded in 1945, some have tried to rid the world of nuclear weapons. President Obama has embraced this goal with new vigor. This issue of eJournal USA examines the challenges to achieving nuclear disarmament. It conveys the hopes of some thinkers, and explains the doubts of others.

Well, back to saving money, resources and the planet we live in. Think about your purchases, and consider the developments that each will cause. Stay tuned, pay close attention to the chain of events that every product you buy follows. Be aware of where the garbage you generate goes, how much space will it use, how often you will really use what you plan buy and so on. Once more, try to see that what you buy doesn't become garbage at all - be generous. That attitude of intelligent saving on everything you bring home (like in your computer) will change the entire planet.

©2010 OhmyNews

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Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

After foreclosure: How long until you can buy again?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Walking away from a mortgage you can still afford to pay has consequences; everyone knows that. Your credit score is shot and it can be impossible to get credit.

Some homeowners, no doubt, believe that the credit score hit is worth getting out from a deeply underwater mortgage. They may owe, say, $500,000 when their house value is only valued at $350,000. And, they figure, there's no way it will ever be worth what they owe so it's better to get out from underneath the burden.

After default, they reason, they can raise their FICO scores by paying all their bills on time and eventually finance another home purchase.

Don't count on it. 

While homeowners who default due to economic hardship, such as a job loss or divorce, normally must wait two to five years before buying a home again, walkaways may face double that time.

"It could be well over seven or eight years before [walkaways] are able to obtain a mortgage to buy a home again," said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

"Credit scores are only one component of a complete credit decision," Brinkmann said. "[In these cases] credit scores are not a good indicator of their willingness to continue to pay their mortgage."

But future underwriters will scrutinize their records very closely, and if they find no precipitating factors leading to the defaults -- no job loss, no health issues --the repaired credit score won't overshadow the black mark of a walkaway.

"If you made a strategic decision to default on paying your mortgage, it will work against you," said Bill Merrell of the National Association of Review Appraisers and Mortgage Underwriters.

Merrell, who teaches underwriting, said banks are looking at several factors in determining whether to grant mortgages: the amount of money borrowers have in the bank; employment histories; payment history.

0:00 /4:51Toll Bros. on a land buying spree

However, banks may be far more lenient if the default resulted from factors somewhat beyond the borrower's control, such as from local economic problems. "They'll give you more consideration if it's job related," he said. But, he added, banks look at strategic defaults "very negatively."

That said, it's not impossible to get a loan. Banks still want to make interest payments, so they might be willing to gamble with a walkaway.

"It might be a little more difficult for them to borrow, but [banks'] drive for market share -- to profit from making loans -- will trump that caution," said Keith Gumbinger, of the mortgage information publisher HSH Associates. "I don't think we'll see a full denial."

It's hard to foresee the state of mortgage lending six or seven months from now, let alone seven or eight years into the future. So lenders may look at applications from one-time strategic defaulters and say, "Yes, they walked away but it's a whole different market now," according to Gumbinger.

Even so, lenders may require more from borrowers who walked away than those who didn't.
"To the extent they could get a mortgage," said Brinkmann, "they can count on needing a heavy down payment."

The lenders may ask for 30% down or more. That would provide enough collateral cushion that the bank could get all or most of its money back in a foreclosure.

Strategic defaulters might also be charged higher interest rates, even above the levels other borrowers with similar credit scores would receive.

By Les Christie, staff writerMay 28, 2010: 3:54 AM ET
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Nokia and Intel birth mobile Linux baby

Fast march on Android

Intel and Nokia have released the first code from their joint mobile Linux project, MeeGo, an effort to challenge Google's Android.

Three months after the project was announced, the two companies have delivered MeeGo 1.0. Intel said it provides a stable core foundation for application development and a "rich user experience" on netbooks. MeeGo for touch-based handsets, tablets, and in-car systems is due to appear in June. MeeGo 1.1, which will combine code for netbooks and touch-based devices, is scheduled for October.

Such is the desire to beat Google's Android, which is now moving from smartphones onto other mobile computing devices.

Mobile Linux efforts come and go, but Intel and Nokia are determined to make sure that MeeGo sticks around. MeeGo aims to be mutually rewarding, to create a viable mobile Linux for Intel's new Atom processor that attracts developers, while giving Nokia an open-source option for smart devices that these same devs are actually interested in.

Announced in February, MeeGo combined the companies' respective Moblin and Maemo Linux mobile projects. They've transferred stewardship to the Linux Foundation so MeeGo doesn't die a death in some corporate backroom. And they're talking tough on patents in Linux - Microsoft's favorite bogeyman - saying they'll go toe-to-toe against Microsoft or anyone else over patents by defending MeeGo with their own, huge portfolios.

MeeGo 1.0 is based on the 2.6.33 Linux kernel, features the next-generation BTRFS file system, Nokia's Qt 4.6 SDK, and what Intel called "various other operating system tools."

Intel called out a "fast and rich" internet experience using Google Chrome but also highlighted support for the open-source Google Chromium, while saying the planned MeeGo Handset edition will use Mozilla Foundation's Fennec browser.

You can read more here. ®

By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco • Get more from this author
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eBay enlists China and US post services

US auction site eBay announced a partnership on Friday with China Post and the US Postal Service in a new bid to re-establish itself in China, where the market is dominated by homegrown rival Taobao.com.

Under the plan, eBay hopes to woo Chinese merchants by developing shipping programs that make it easier for them to sell to US consumers, eBay officials said at a signing ceremony in Shanghai.

"The collaboration will make the most of the advantages of the three while helping expand profits," Jeff Liao, eBay's Greater China chief executive and head of Asia-Pacific cross-border trade, told reporters.

The partnership centres on an express delivery service to the US that will be run by China Postal Express and Logistics Corporation, part of China Post, and which will include online tracking systems, eBay said.

Liao said China's e-commerce market was growing very fast and was worth more than four trillion yuan ($A689.98 billion) last year.

He did not, however, say what eBay's share of that market was, saying only that its Chinese transaction volumes grew "between 50 and 100 per cent in 2009 and so far this year" and provided no specific figures.

The US auction site largely withdrew from China years ago after being overtaken by Taobao, part of China's largest e-commerce firm, the Alibaba Group, which also operates business-to-business marketplace Alibaba.com.

The American firm shut down its Chinese consumer website in late 2006 and folded its China operations into Eachnet, a joint venture run by Hong Kong's Tom Online Group, after Taobao won the lion's share of the Chinese market.

Unlike eBay, Taobao charges no commission to list items for sale and the site's revenue comes from advertising.

Starting as a consumer-to-consumer auction website, Taobao has grown into an online retailer that also features a growing number online shops run by big brands such as US computer maker Dell.

However, eBay is fighting to make a comeback in China, a market with more than 400 million web users, by refocusing on export-oriented Chinese merchants who are keen to reach overseas buyers through international websites.

The firm's current Chinese operations include eBay.cn, a Chinese platform targeting Chinese merchants - mostly small and medium-sized enterprises - by offering online training courses on international trade and listing tips.

It also runs Beibao.com, a Chinese version of payment site Paypal.
© 2010 AFP
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