Intel finds flaw

On January 9th of this year(2011) Intel released its second generation of the i series processors, with Sandy Bridge micro-architecture. With the introduction of these new 32nm processors a new chipset was required to make them work, and being there are no third party chipsets that are compatible with the Sandy Bridge editions of the i3s i5s or i7s the only viable option is what is referred to as "Cougar Point" inside Intel. With these chipsets  a major flaw has been discovered, it has to due with the Serial ATA ports in your computer which typically connect your hard drive to your mother board. This defect has halted production and caused a billion dollar recall.

The problem that's caused Intel to initiate a billion-dollar chipset recall affects the SATA ports on all 6-series chipsets, including the H67 and P67 chipsets most prominently used in consumer products. All of these chipsets are collectively referred to as "Cougar Point" inside of Intel. Because there are no third-party chipsets compatible with Sandy Bridge processors, all Sandy Bridge-based systems are potentially affected, including desktops, laptops, and DIY motherboards. 

 Beside the obvious inconvenience and bad PR, this little slip-up will cost Intel quite a bit of money, too. The firm expects to see a $300-million dent in first-quarter revenue (since full volume production of 6-series chipsets won't resume until April), not to mention $700 million in total repair and replacement costs.

With the need for such a major recall Intel is going to lose over a billion dollars in a new chipset, replacing the recalled chipsets, and repairing damage to mother boards and other computer components of the unsuspecting consumers who went out and purchased the new generation of six core processors. This overall will stain the companies image and reliability which will cause a massive drop in sales and a inversely proportional rise in the sales of companies such as AMD. With this change in consumer consumption Intel's first quarter profits for the year will either be extremely low or will even report a loss. Also this puts extra pressure on the company's consumers. Not only do they have to worry about getting their computers in for the recall, they must also worry about replacing them. Most likely causing a almost complete rebuild of their system. Intel's failure to notice this problem during testing could also be related toward the Microsoft Windows Vista failure a year or so back. This just further proves why it is crucial for companies to beta test their products for an extended period of time when working in unfamiliar territories such as 32nm architecture. Yes it will cost them more money up front, but it removes the potential of billion dollar recalls which are detrimental to a company.

World's Most Economical Car

Here's the breakdown, Volkswagen made a hybrid car that is the most economical car, which runs on a diesel engine and an electric motor. Plugging it into a regular electric outlet at home can also charge the lithium ion battery. The body is made out of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer parts to lower drag. See Here

Volkswagen says the XL1 hybrid consumes 0.9 liters per 100 km (313 mpg) and its CO2 emissions are 24 g/km. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 11.9 seconds, and its top speed is electronically limited to 160 km/h (99 mph).

Let's just assume that these stats are completely accurate, if they are then this probably is the world's most economical car. The demand for oil will definitely decrease in the UK and Germany seeing as the release of the car is in those two countries by 2013. 313 miles per gallon is absolutely ridiculous, but that's only if you charge the car at night or whenever. Just a few downsides to point out here, the rear tires seem like a complete hassle to change along with getting snow or ice out of them. This car probably takes up a ridiculous amount of electricity if it gets 313 miles per gallon. If one is fine with paying for a higher electric bill and being more nature friendly than paying for gas, then by all means roll with it. At least the car will make a large enough impact in the UK or Germany in demand for gas that the suppliers will send more to the U.S.

Egypt's Web Shutdown

According to cnn Egypt has begun to shutdown access to communication sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Some are reporting that entire areas are without access to the internet completely. It is believed that Egypt's government is coordinating the shutdowns in retaliation to the recent riots occurring from the people wanting to remove their dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

This is not only hurting the local economy of Egypt, but it is hurting our economy as well. The Egyptian economy will take a hit from this because companies lose ad space and will start to lose business therefore less money will be spent locally. Our economy will be hurt because internet providers and social websites that use ads to make a profit will no longer have access to the people therefore they won't make any money and so they will have less to spend in our country. Cell phone providers have also been told to halt there services, until further notice by authorities, which means that they will be taking a hit economically for the same reasons as the internet providers. A bunch of the landlines have stopped working as well which makes for a major inconvenience for everyone since phones have become all but necessary in modern day. With all of these forms of media and social interaction not functioning the riots should come to an end quite soon, since most of the planning and preparation has been done using the internet. Hopefully these riots can be quelled quickly enough so as to prevent an economic backlash in both Egypt and the US.

Innovation Revelation

The July/August issue of the CEA's Vision magazine reveals some interesting details about the gaming industry including a $16.51 billion rise in shipment revenue this year.

The interactive magazine (accessible via the CEA website) also discusses gamer/consumer trends such as gamers buying into 'franchise titles' such as Halo and Mario Kart, the rise in accessory purchases for our consoles and digital delivery of video games through websites like Steam.

The gaming industry has always relied on new innovation in game play and fresh new ideas to keep consumers coming back. Unfortunately for gaming developers and publishers in this tough economic time, they can't afford to gamble. With hit franchises like Call of Duty and Halo selling record numbers, video game publishers just aren't as willing to risk creating a new intellectual property. Developers are being pushed to develop their main franchises because of publishers stubbornness. Take the publisher Activision for example. Activision has some of the top franchises in gaming, including Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and the Tony Hawk series. As the years have progressed Activision has pushed the developers of these titles to churn out one game every year. In the gaming industry it usually takes around a two to three year cycle to create a quality game. By forcing their developers to finish new titles in only a twelve month span, Activision has seen its revenues fall and its heavy hitting franchises reduced to a shadow of what they once were. With executives like Bobby Kotick running things it seems as though these frivolous precedents will continue for years to come. For the gaming industry it seems like until the economy improves and gaming is on the rise, all bets are off.

Cold Fusion?

To start he is the definition of cold fusion: " the hypothetical near-room-temperature reaction in which two smaller nuclei join together to form a single larger nucleus while releasing large amounts of energy."

Recently in Bologna, Italy, a small group of scientists claimed to have perfected a small, near cold fusion reactor as seen depicted here. This reactor takes 1000watts of power, hydrogen, and nickel to get started. Once the reaction has begun, the power is reduced from 1000watts to 400watts where is it remains to maintain the reaction. 

"Rossi and Focardi say that, when the atomic nuclei of nickel and hydrogen are fused in their reactor, the reaction produces copper and a large amount of energy. The reactor uses less than 1 gram of hydrogen and starts with about 1,000 W of electricity, which is reduced to 400 W after a few minutes. Every minute, the reaction can convert 292 grams of 20°C water into dry steam at about 101°C. Since raising the temperature of water by 80°C and converting it to steam requires about 12,400 W of power, the experiment provides a power gain of 12,400/400 = 31. As for costs, the scientists estimate that electricity can be generated at a cost of less than 1 cent/kWh, which is significantly less than coal or natural gas plants."

With this use of common easy to find materials and the high ratio of energy used to energy produced this type of energy generation becomes highly profitable drastically changing the price of electricity. Also being that this type of nuclear reaction does not produce radioactive waste it would be possible to build such a device for your own personal use with the correct type of radiation shields. With this availability of cheaper, less pollutant and safe way to not only make electricity but also create copper. I can see this causing an effect to both the energy market and to the copper market, with its currently high price and this new way of creating copper it is safe to assume that the price of copper will drop. This one device could and probably will change the common trade of electricity and minerals due to the theology behind supply and demand. With the two materials needed to start and maintain this reaction having a higher demand the companies that gather and sell these minerals will raise the price. With more people wanting these elements, they can get away with overcharging as long as people will pay for it. In addition the supply of these elements will dwindle faster being the frequency and amount of uses has risen. The lower the supply and higher the demand the more the item costs. Then you have the output of this reaction, energy and copper. Currently there is a scarcity of copper in the world. Not only is the supply of this mineral low, yet the demand is extremely high being it is used for electrical wires and tubing for certain chemicals. It is even among one of the items/materials upon the list of most stolen objects. With this noted, when these type of reactors are put into mass operation or even used in small amounts the element copper will have a higher supply, and it will also be a high value of copper being it will be 100% pure copper. With an enriched supply of high grade copper and demand that is not changing or predicted to change drastically you can assume the price will drop. Being that people are no longer competing to get a small amount of copper, they are simply sharing a large abundance they will be less willing to pay high amounts for the substance.

The end result is not only will this cold fusion reaction cause the price of energy to drop being we have a new, cheaper, and more efficient way of producing it. It will have a trickle-down effect causing a change in the cost for several other materials. So not only will this change the energy market, yet also will change the world mineral exchange.