| Name : steven | New York law firms are cutting associates for the first time since 2001 as the collapse of the subprime mortgage and credit markets causes private equity deal volume and structured finance work to slow.
Clifford Chance, the world s highest-grossing law firm, dismissed six senior associates who worked on mortgage-backed securities in its structured finance practice on Nov. 5. At least two other firms asked associates, or salaried lawyers, to take sabbaticals or switch departments, a move that often precedes job cuts. Partners, about one-fourth of the attorneys at the biggest firms, may also face some belt tightening.
The subprime collapse and its effect on the credit market and the volume of deals have brought a slowdown in work, probably leading to job cuts. While structured finance practices have been hit the hardest, mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices also face a slowdown, legal consultants said.
| | Name : jhon | morgage crise will be groving fastly after this actings..
| | Name : new ipod | New generation iPhone at dolar199
The new model of the popular mobile phone, iPhone, to be first released in July, has been introduced. The new iPhones will be sold for dolar199 in the USA.
The new model has been introduced of the infamous mobile phone iPhone which will be first released in July.
The new iPhones will be sold for dolar199 in the USA. This updated version will be both lighter and thinner.
Previous models of the phone were sold for dolar499 and they will be introduced to the Turkish market by the end of this year.
Although Vodafone has made a deal to be Turkeys iPhone distributer, it is not certain yet whether Vodafone will be the only communication company to sell the new generation iPhones.
Everything is uncertain for Apple which has not yet initiated providing the iTunes service in Turkey yet. The new iPhones will be sold in 11 countries, including the USA, in July and the phones will arrive in Turkey by the end of this year.
The phone has a very glamorous design and is very chic with its large touch screen.
The phone weighs 133 grams is compatible with 3N technology and has a storage capacity of 8GB.
The new iPhones will be sold for dolar199 in the USA. Previous models were sold for dolar499. www.newstime7.com
| | Name : us economy stagnate | IMF: US economy is set to stagnate
The US economy is likely to �stagnate� in the second half of this year, the IMF warned on Friday, as stock markets in the US and Europe fell to their lowest levels since March.
The US economy is likely to stagnate” in the second half of this year, the International Monetary Fund warned on Friday, as stock markets in the US and Europe fell to their lowest levels since March and US bank shares hit a five-year low.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 12,000 for the first time since March, while the broader S&P 500 fell 1.9 per cent, as oil rallied and concerns about the financial sector intensified.
The S&P financials index hit its lowest level since April 2003, 5 per cent below its March low.
Commercial and regional banks have borne the brunt of the recent pullback, because of fears about rising housing and consumer debt delinquencies.
The IMF said continued economic weakness would result in inflation risk going down, not up, in the coming months, and urged the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold for the time being – challenging market expectations that rate increases will soon be required.
The IMF also suggested that the dollar had declined to a level at which it was closer to, if not at, its medium-term equilibrium value, on a broad trade-weighted basis.
John Lipsky, second-ranking IMF official, said: We anticipate the economy will slow to virtual stagnation in the second half of the year.”
The IMF is now forecasting no growth at all in the US this year, measured from the final quarter of 2007 to the final quarter of 2008.
That is a modest upgrade from its prior projection, but it remains far below the average of private sector and US authorities forecasts.
Lipsky said the IMF does expect that growth will start to pick up in 2009 but said that recovery will be gradual rather than aggressive”.
Friday s financial sector weakness followed a barrage of negative earnings and ratings downgrade news this week.
Morgan Stanley fell 3.8 per cent yesterday after reporting a slump in profits and credit losses from a suspected rogue trader on Wednesday.
Citigroup fell 4.3 per cent after saying on Thursday that it would report substantial second-quarter writedowns linked to mortgages.
Further downgrades for bond insurers MBIA and Ambac and forecasts of rising losses at mortgage finance groups Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cast a wide shadow over the sector.
Financial Times
| | Name : marry | The BRR found that host nation security at overseas nuclear- capable units varies from country to country in terms of personnel, facilities, and equipment, the federation quoted the report as saying. There were security lapses in support buildings, fencing, lighting, and security systems, the report found. One example cited was putting conscripts with as little as nine months active duty to protect nuclear weapons against theft. The number and location of nuclear weapons in Europe are secret, but the federation estimated the number at 200 to 350 B61 nuclear bombs
| | Name : mahmal | The Gulf Crisis has quite simply transformed the perceptions of nuclear power among many politicians. Don t press me as to whether this is rational. It s occurred. I also think that a contributory cause of these changed perceptions has been Dr Bill Wilkinson, who is deputy chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels, addressing the British Nuclear Forum on the economics and environmental impact of nuclear power. Wilkinson told the all party group: There are many contributions to the overall cost of nuclear power, notably capital, operating costs and nuclear fuel cycle costs. I will deal here only with fuel cycle costs.
| | Name : admin | A US investigation concluded that most sites used for deploying nuclear weapons in Europe lack the minimum security requirements of the US Department of Defence.
A US Air Force investigation concluded that most sites used for deploying nuclear weapons in Europe lack the minimum security requirements of the US Department of Defence, according to the Federation of American Scientists that pushed for release of details of the report.
A summary of the report was released in February, but declassified details obtained by the federation reveal a much bigger nuclear security problem in Europe than was previously known, the group wrote on its website.
As a consequence, the US military plans to withdraw its nuclear custodial unit from one base and possibly consolidate remaining sites into fewer bases.
www newstime7 com
| | Name : tommy. | US nuclear weapons are stored in underground vaults at bases in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom, the federation said, mostly at US Air Force bases.
| | Name : jenny | not only Belgium, Germany, Holland and Italy each have nuclear weapons at one of their national air bases.
The weapons at each of the national bases are under control of the US Air Force in peacetime but would, upon receipt of proper authority from the US National Command Authority, be handed over to the national Air Force at the base in a war for delivery by the host nations own aircraft, the federation wrote.
| | Name : El Atentado en contra Jose Ramos Horta | Varios reportes noticieros declaran que José Ramos Horta, Presidente de Timor de Leste, se encuentra en estado de coma. Si llega a partir, su espiritó dará una buena carcajeada, dando como echo que sobrevivió a Suharto quien mato una tercera parte de su población , y una carcajeada irónica al echo de que las primeras balas que le hallan echo contacto fueron disparadas por un Timores del Este.
El hombre detrás de las balas, fue un rebelde con el nombre de Alfredo Reinado, quien se ha reportando como fallecido, siendo ese dato verídico esa crisis ridícula que se apodero de Timor del Este, lentamente disipara.
En algunos países, una revuelta que dura dos años, mata a mas de una docena y que protagoniza un atentado doble (Xanana Gusmao, el primer ministro, al igual fue atacado, pero no fue herido) podría calificar como el evento mas prominente en la historia reciente, pero en Timor no es asi..
Los ocupantes de las Fuerzas Armadas de Indonesia Armados y aprobados por los Estados Unidos mataron esa misma cantidad en un centenar de madrugadas. La aniquilación de la población era tan vasta que los ponía al mismo nivel proporcional que los Nazis (Ver publicación del 3 de Diciembre, 2007, “Knowing Where the Bodies Are Buried. The Indonesian Generals and Putin Laugh,” y tambien las publicaciones del 16 de Agosto, 2005, 13 de Noviembre, 2007, 5 y 7 de Diciembre, 2007 y 13, 27 de Enero, 2008).
El Territorio ocupado de Timor fue el lugar mas aterrorizador que haya visto. Existía una amenaza perpetua de ejecusión.
Pero, como en ocasiones suele pasar, la gente oprimida gano.
Y con Independencia gradual, comenzando en 1999, los Timoreses se ganaron el derecho de comportarse tan mezquino como cualquier otro, al igual que sus dirigentes lo ponían en practica.
El Rebelde Reinado no representaba nada que el publico no pudiera distinguir, y la generación madura de dirigentes se ha estado peleando, aun cuando tiene gente hambrienta el los campos, paralela a la gente de dinero nuevo, adquirido por las ganancias del petróleo.
Comparado con la ocupación holocasta Indonesa, todo esto sorprendentemente es algo diminuto para Timor, pero esa diminuta comparación, en muchos sentidos se puede omitir: Solo una muerte acaba con el mundo de un individuo, y cuando es prevenible, es inexcusable .
Gente pobre esta pasando hambres innecesarias en Timor Leste, bajo un régimen que no es malo ni opresivo.
El País puede lograr cosas mejores. Puede ser un ejemplo para el mundo, así como fue su victoria política contra el terror.
Cuando regrese Ramos Horta y ojala que lo hace, los dirigentes de la Independencia deberían retornar a sus puestos, tomar asiento y reflexionar. Después, cavar un pozo y enterrar sus rivalidades y alimentar a los hambrientos, o moverse a un lado y dejar que los jóvenes sobrevivientes se hagan cargo de la situación.
Por Allan Nairn, News and Comment, http://www.newsc.blogspot.com
| | Name : Is this really Kanye West? | Is this really Kanye West?
Of all the stories Donda West read to her little son at bedtime, Pinocchio must have been a favorite. The tale of the puppet who longed to be human obviously resonates with Kanye West.
On Pinocchio Story, the bonus live track that turns out to be the key to his audaciously introspective fourth album, he freestyles about the character, repeatedly singing, I want to be a real boy.
808s and Heartbreak, released on Monday on Roc-A-Fella Records and streaming on MySpace, is a meditation on realness as it is been defined by materialism and machismo in the hip-hop world, and by love and sorrow in the larger one. Wrought in hushed mechanical beats, computer-altered vocals and samples so subtle they’re barely noticeable, it is West is foray into confessional music.
But this star is constant craving to be original leads him away from the rawness that characterizes such revelations. On an album that he has said is about emotional nakedness, West finds his beating, bleeding heart in inanimate objects -- the Roland TR-808 drum machine that revolutionized electronic music of the 1980s and the Antares Auto-Tune pitch-correction software that is such a prevalent tool in today is pop sound.
This is high-concept stuff and likely off-putting to the casual listener. Although several tracks -- the oddly peppy Paranoid and Robocop, about a monstrous ex -- are danceable, 808s and Heartbreak heavily endorses the rave scene is concept of chill. Its mood comes closest to the vaporous electronica of obscure artists such as the Junior Boys and M83.
A Tears for Fears song forms the melodic basis for one track, but West never reaches for the primal release of that band is New Wave classics. He also resists the impishness so artfully deployed by his friend T-Pain (and his forefather, Zapp is Roger Troutman) in many Auto-Tuned hits. Instead, West reins in his natural wit and frothiness in search of a more contemplative experience.
This in itself already has some fans dismissing 808s and Heartbreak as self-indulgent or even crazy: Why would someone so skilled at making smart hit songs tone down his golden touch? And why would a rapper who is not a great singer insist on singing on every track?
The answer, I think, has to do with that underlying Pinocchio story. As New Yorker pop-music critic Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in his excellent June piece on Auto-Tune, the program has given producers a way to foreground the unnaturalness of the recording process. Drum machines did something similar 30 years ago, feeding a shift in pop away from a search for authenticity and toward a fascination with technology and the imagined worlds it inspires.
Because they’re so obviously fake, the sounds that come from primitive drum machines and manipulative software force the listener to question what she does consider real -- regarding not only the sounds she hears but also the emotions they invoke.
Puppets have historically been associated with the same questions Auto-Tune raises now. They seem to be more human than human and if manipulated well can cause that uncanny feeling of not knowing where an object stops and humanity starts.
Grace appears most purely in that human form which either has no consciousness or an infinite consciousness. That is, in the puppet or in the god, wrote the German poet and philosopher Heinrich von Kleist in 1810. Watching the dance of a beautiful marionette, which has no sense of self, we begin to ponder our own self-awareness -- the very essence of humanity. West seeks a similar effect on 808s and Heartbreak, a heavy trip indeed.
West has played with puppet-like personas throughout his career. My 5-year-old daughter still thinks he is a cartoon bear, because he so frequently plays one in the artwork and videos by frequent collaborator Takashi Murakami. The heart pin he is been wearing of late is a direct steal from the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. And on this album, he connects puppet imagery, one of the oldest routes to pondering the question of real versus fake, with computerized music, one of the newest.
West is obsession on 808s and Heartbreak is grief. He is trying to express the way it alienates a person from himself and throws a fog around every former pleasure. The album explicitly confronts the death of West is mother after plastic surgery last fall and his subsequent breakup with longtime companion Alexis Phifer. Having lost his nurturers, West found himself lonelier and less confident than he knew he could be; this is the soundtrack to his bewilderment.
Having lost his fervently beloved mom -- and blaming materialism partly for her death -- West confronts the void. Auto-Tune masks and distorts his voice in ways that play up how alien such self-doubt and regret seem, coming from a blustery hip-hop star. I got homies, but in the end it is still so lonely, he intones in Heartless, one of the few tracks on which he actually raps. As if to prove that point, cameos elsewhere from Jeezy and Lil Wayne are all swagger, no tears.
West undoubtedly will find his way out of this purgatory, and fans will be happy when he returns to the wider vision he is communicated on past projects. But as strange and even tedious as 808s and Heartbreak might strike some listeners, it is not just a puppet show. Or rather, it is, and all the more fascinating for that. © Los Angeles Times, 2008
26 November 2008, Wednesday
ANN POWERS
| | Name : Ahmedinejads visit to Turkey, Two neighbors oscillate between threat and friendship | This article considers the August 2008 visit to Turkey by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and analyzes relations between Turkey and Iran in general. The tensions and crises that followed the 1979 Iranian Revolution are briefly presented in order to provide a better understanding of the present state of relations.
Then we draw a picture of the situation after the Justice and Development Party AKP came to power in 2002, bringing widespread changes to Turkish foreign policy. We also call attention to Turkeys changing role in the regional balance of power, and to the significance of that role both in Turkeyis relations with Iran and with the United States.
On July 13, 2007, there was perhaps a single political item on Turkeyis agenda the general elections that would be held some 10 days later. The Justice and Development Party AKP government that had governed the country since the end of 2002 had initiated early elections following a series of turbulent developments. Turkish citizens and the world at large waited impatiently for the outcome of the polls. Just at that moment, a statement by Hilmi Guler, the Minister for Energy, made ripples in Washington Ankara relations. Washington was disturbed by Gulers declaration that Turkey had signed an agreement with Iran to send Turkmen gas over Iranian oil in order to reach Turkey and, from there, to Europe. Circles close to the AK Party met the statement with applause.
The Country Officially Declared a Threat
In debates about Turkey Iran relations, the argument is often raised that the two countries have not experienced any crisis since the Treaty of Kasrı Sirin in 1638. This is indeed true, yet we have to keep in mind the fact of an ongoing regional competition between the two countries. Before turning to this competition, however, it is necessary to remember an important crisis in the recent history of Turkish Iranian relations in order to analyze what is happening today.
Many countries in the region perceived the Islamic Revolution of 1979 as a serious threat with many possible ramifications for the region
Many countries in the region perceived the Islamic Revolution of 1979 as a serious threat with many possible ramifications for the region. Turkey did not have much time to discuss this threat as the Turkish military took control shortly after on 12 September 1980. Iran became the focus and often the culprit for two important agenda items in Turkey during the 1990s First was the accusation that Iran supported the Kurdistan Workers Party PKK that carried out terrorist acts against Turkey. Second, Iran was suspected of supporting Islamic movements in the country, usually referred to as the exportation of the revolution. Tensions between the two countries increased with the claims that Iran was behind several political assassinations in Turkey.
The Welfare Party and its leader, Necmettin Erbakan who became a partner in the coalition government in 1996, were keen on improving relations with Iran. The first official visit by Erbakan was to Iran. Turkey signed a natural gas agreement with Iran during his a year long government. Trade relations were growing as well. All these developments made Iran a contentious factor in domestic political debates.
Most interestingly, Iran was defined by Turkey as a threat in the 28 February 1997 ultimatum drafted by the military that paved the way for ousting the Erbakan government.
The coalition government in which Erbakanis party was the major partner was shortly dissolved. The Constitutional Court duly closed the Welfare Party and its successor, the Virtue Party. Tensions grew in Turkeyis relations with Iran in the wake of these events, as Tehran did not appoint an ambassador to Turkey for quite some time.
The Normalization Process
Turkeyis Islamic political parties were left outside the government following the 1999 general elections as other parties of different political leanings established a coalition. The Milli Görus National View tradition led by Erbakan went into a period of self critique and an eventual break up that produced a new middlestream party. After 2000, little and cautious steps by Iran and Turkey led to a normalization in bilateral relations. Especially important were Iranis changing attitude towards the PKK, marked by increased border security that softened the lines in the focus of security. The debate over Iranis alleged export of its regime to Turkey almost faded out.
The AK Party governments that came to power following the November 2002 elections created a breakthrough in relations. The first AKP government under Abdullah Gul, and the second under Erdoğan took fast steps in improving relations with Iran. The AK Party government, unlike the Welfare Party, perceived these relations as a pretext for carrying Tehran to the international system and reprimanding her. The new political language that the AKP created diminished the pressure on mutual relations.
It would be appropriate to recall the speech by Abdullah Gul, then foreign minister in Tehran, in which he criticized the Islamic World We need a new and fresh vision. This vision must be the one where you have good governance, transparency, and accountability. It must be a vision by which fundamental rights and freedoms as well as gender equality are upheld, devoid of blunt rhetoric and useless slogans. In short, we need to take care of our home first. The AK Party government has always sustained this critical tone in its relations with Iran as well as with the Islamic world.
The Rise of Iran in The Region
The positive developments in Turkish Iran relations were unquestionably affected by regional and international crises and conflicts. This made the Washington Ankara Tehran line more vulnerable and critical. The US invasion of Iraq and subsequent arms wrestling with Iran in that country presented a new phase of struggle in a large area from Syria and Lebanon to Afghanistan. Iran augmented its influence in regions and countries where sizeable Shiite populations lived, leading to accusations that Iran was creating a Shiite crescent. Supporting these accusations were the military and political success of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranis amassing of power in Iraq at such a level that it could sit at the negotiation table with the US.
While obviously important for Iran, these developments also imply a special role for Turkey, which is now portrayed as the leader of the Sunni block against the rising Shiite crescent. Although the AK Party government and the establishment in Turkey are trying to stay away from such a competition, major powers are eyeing on Turkey with every step that Iran takes in Shiite politics.
Iran and Its Nuclear Program
The American administration is closely watching the rise of Turkey in the region under the AKP government, as well as Turkeyis involvement as a mediator in the region
The single most important issue that carried Tehran to the center of a hot debate is, of course, its nuclear program. Iran claims that the program is pacific, yet the US is using all its power to persuade the world that Iran is actually running a secret nuclear program. The reports by the IAEA suggest that Iranis uranium enrichment activities are directed toward the production of arms rather than nuclear fuel. Despite increasing international pressure, Iran asserts that it will continue with its nuclear program. Turkey has become the centerpiece of pressure policies against Iran, and a critical player in a possible assault on Iran. Needless to say, Washington knows that the Ankara government does not harbor any sympathy towards a limited or a broad military intervention against Iran. A long crisis of trust took place between Turkey and the US when the US failed to gain permission to station US troops on Turkish territory in preparation for war against Iraq on 1 March 2003. Has the time that has passed since then produced a rapprochement by which Washington can now ask for support from Turkey on critical issues? The Iran crisis will determine whether this question can be answered positively.
The American administration is closely watching the rise of Turkey in the region under the AKP government, as well as Turkeyis involvement as a mediator in the region. Concrete examples are Ankarais role in the recent Lebanese elections and its ongoing mediation in indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel in Istanbul. It is crucial to see what direction Turkey will take in continuing the sanctions on Iran and forcing Iran to take a step back. The US certainly does not want Iran to find a breathing hole through Turkey, breaking that embargo. Therefore it is concerned over Turkeyis deepening relations with Iran, especially its increasing energy dependence on Iran. The critical visit by Ahmedinejad took place against such a background and in the shadow of hidden American messages whispering we keep an eye on you.
The Contours of Ahmedinejadis Visit
Just prior to the visit by Ahmedinejad, a debate arose in Turkey which could almost be considered a hallmark of domestic politics. The secular circles began to ask whether Ahmedinejad would pay a visit to the mausoleum Anıtkabir of Ataturk, the founder of the Republic in Ankara. The government, however, put an end to these ruminations by declaring that the visit would take place in Istanbul. The most urgent issue in Ahmedinejadis visit was, of course, whether an agreement could be reached on energy issues, especially natural gas. The international media speculated that the US had warned Turkey against signing any such agreement. For instance, Financial Times pointed out that in visiting Turkey, Ahmedinejad was visiting a NATO country for the first time, the Times argued that Mr. Erdoğan is seeking to strengthen energy ties with Tehran, step up cooperation against Kurdish separatists and intensify Turkeyis efforts to defuse the dispute over Iranis nuclear programme.
The meetings in Istanbul proved that relations between the two countries were positioned in warm yet turbulent waters. Questions were raised whether there had been a disagreement between Abdullah Gul and Ahmedinejad as the meeting lasted longer than planned and they met the press late. But both leaders gave positive messages to the media, emphasizing friendship and cooperation between the two countries. Still, a new energy agreement was not signed during the visit. The Iranian president shed light on the reason in his press conference As you know, natural gas and energy require investments. Therefore such negotiations may take quite some time. But we agreed on the possibility of making new agreements on natural gas and energy. Agreements were signed in such fields as drug smuggling, organized crime and anti terror measures.
Under the terms of the agreement signed between Turkey and Iran on 13 July 2007, natural gas amounting to 30 billion m3 would be pumped from Iran and Turkmenistan to Europe via Turkey. More importantly, Turkey would exploit three large gas reserves in the Southern Pars region without any bid. The signing of these agreements will undoubtedly lead to very important changes in Turkeyis energy policy and contribute to a significant rapprochement with Iran.
The US would not want to see Iran included in a Russia centered block, especially in a time of mounting tensions with Russia
Following the visit by Ahmedinejad, the British daily The Guardian suggested that the US torpedoed the gas agreement between Turkey and Iran A western diplomatic source told the Guardian that Turkey had pledged not to sign any major energy deals with Iran in return for Washingtonis blessing for Ahmadinejadis visit after the Bush administration officials had privately criticized it. The paper also claimed that Steve Hadley the US national security adviser voiced objections to Ahmadinejadis trip when he visited Ankara a month ago.
The Turkish government officially denied the allegations of US pressure. But Turkey does not deny that it is indeed using its improving relations with Washington to persuade Iran to reach reconciliation on the subject of its nuclear program. This bargaining chip in the hands of Ankara surely helps to ease American pressure but cannot remove US concerns altogether on these relations. Ankara does not rule out the possibility that Washington is taking seriously negotiations with Tehran. The US would not want to see Iran included in a Russiacentered block, especially in a time of mounting tensions with Russia.
Following the visit by Ahmedinejad, President Abdullah Gul and the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan suggested that the problem of Iranis nuclear program needs to be resolved through diplomatic efforts – but they also underlined that Iran must adopt a more constructive approach to this end. President Gul argued that the solution should take into consideration the uneasiness of the international community, and that it should protect Iranis legitimate rights within the scope of the treaty on the non proliferation of nuclear weapons. One of the important aspects of the meeting between Gul and Ahmedinejad was that both leaders considered the questions of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the crisis in Georgia. Ahmedinejad also asserted that Iran supports Turkeyis membership in the EU.
A Near Future Perspective
The visit by the Iranian president, although concluded short of signing energy agreements, seems to have produced important outcomes. Turkish energy minister Guler announced right after the visit that energy agreements will be signed with Iran, implying that the momentum is still on. However it is also clear that relations between the two countries cannot go on solely on the grounds of domestic balances. The crisis in the Caucuses has shifted US attention towards the north of Iran, yet the Iranian question remains at Turkeyis eastern borders. Even if the US government expresses concerns, Washington is aware that the only channel it can use talk to Iran is Turkey. Besides, they also know that Turkey is not a country that obeys US interests in all issues, and that Turkey has an increasing selfesteem in determining the color of the relations. Also the possibility of a serious energy crisis as a result of the conflict between Russia and Georgia makes Iran a more valuable and even indispensable actor in terms of energy. The security hazards in the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline, and bottlenecks in the Nabucco project are some of the other reasons that encourage Turkey to think over its relations with Iran.
Energy is the breaking point of the Turkish Iranian relations that were enhanced on the premises of security and an increased trade volume. But when considered from a larger perspective, possible developments involving the triad of US Israel Iran will influence the entire region, including Turkey. The Turkish government had gained an unexpected boost of prestige in the region and the Muslim World, to its surprise, following the refusal of its Parliament to let US troops station in Turkey on 1 March 2003. The Ankara government is conscious of the fact that a policy that co opts, and even support an intervention in Iran will pose huge risks. We can say that difficult times are ahead for Turkey in the Iran conundrum when we consider the new calculations of power between Russia and Turkey that will emerge as a result of the recent developments in the Caucuses.
The Tehran government is surely aware of Turkeyis energy problem and is therefore seeking ways to reap benefits from it. However, it is also aware that Turkey is the only country that can provide Iran an exit and a space for dialogue. Turkey and Iran do not have enough time to play their respective advantages against each other. The level that has been achieved so far forces both countries to enter a difficult, yet achievable and balanced cooperation.
Today’s Zaman
| | Name : Negotiations intensify on final stimulus plan | WASHINGTON Negotiators hoped to seal agreement on President Barack Obama s economic stimulus package Wednesday after making good progress in the first rounds of closed door talks.
Obama s negotiating team insisted on restoring some lost funding for school construction projects as talks began Tuesday in hopes of striking a quick agreement, but by late in the day it appeared resigned to losing up to $40 billion in aid to state governments.
Earlier Tuesday, the Senate sailed to approval of its $838 billion economic stimulus bill, but with only three moderate Republicans signing on and then demanding the bill s cost go down when the final version emerges from negotiations.
Negotiators were working with a target of about $800 billion for the final bill, lawmakers said.
That s in the ballpark, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D Mont., said of the $800 billion figure late Tuesday.
Baucus had said earlier that $35.5 billion to provide a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, approved in the Senate last week, would be cut back. There was also pressure to reduce a Senate passed tax break for new car buyers, according to Democratic officials.
Within hours of the 61 37 Senate vote, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and other top Obama aides met in the Capitol with Democratic leaders as well as moderate senators from both parties whose support looms as crucial for any eventual agreement.
House Democratic leaders promised to fight to restore some of $16 billion for school construction cut by the Senate. Those funds could create more than 100,000 jobs, according to Will Straw, an economist at the liberal Center for American Progress.
The moderate senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania are demanding that the final House Senate compromise resemble the Senate measure, which devotes about 42 percent of its $838 billion in debt financed costs to tax cuts, including Obama s signature $500 tax credit for 95 percent of workers, with $1,000 going to couples.
The $820 billion House measure is about one third tax cuts.
Collins said last week she won t vote for any final bill exceeding $800 billion in spending and tax cuts. Specter warned that the Senate bill must stay virtually intact.
The GOP moderates also want the final bill to retain a $70 billion Senate plan to patch the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, for one year. The provision would make sure 24 million families won t get socked with unexpected tax bills during the 2010 filing season.
The AMT was designed 40 years ago to make sure wealthy people pay at least some tax, but it is updated for inflation each year to avoid tax increases averaging $2,300 a year. Fixing the annual problems now allows lawmakers to avoid difficult battles down the road, but economists say the move won t do much to lift the economy.
House leaders are tempering expectations that they ll restore many of the cuts.
You cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the effective and of the necessary, and we will not, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D Calif.
While they re fighting to preserve cuts to Obama priorities, Specter is fighting to preserve an enormous $10 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, while Collins obtained $870 million for community health centers in talks last week.
| | Name : David G | U. of Texas System to Cap Nonfaculty Hiring and Executive Pay
Austin, Tex. The new chancellor of the University of Texas system announced today a partial statewide hiring freeze for non faculty positions and proposed that salaries for senior executives like himself also be frozen.
The hiring freeze, which takes effect immediately, is expected to last through August 2010. It will allow the presidents of the system s 15 academic and health institutions to decide which positions should be frozen and which are critical to the campus s functions.
I am not dictating to them what positions to fill only that the hiring decisions be carefully scrutinized at the appropriate level of the institution, said the chancellor, Francisco G. Cigarroa.
He said that after consulting with senior system and campus officials, he decided to recommend the salary cap for top executives at the 15 campuses and the system office.
The leadership of the UT system and its institutions are keenly sensitive to the current economic climate, which has touched every corner of our great state and nation, Dr. Cigarroa said. Just as Texans are tightening their belts, so must we.
The steps that Texas is taking aren t unusual today. The flagship universities in several other states are carrying out similar measures to deal with their budget woes. But Texas is generally considered to be a well off state whose universities have been able to hire away faculty members from struggling states, so today s announcement is another indication of just how widespread the nation s higher education budget problems have become. Katherine Mangan
Arizona State U. President Outlines Additional Cuts and Enrollment Cap
Arizona State University will shut down dozens of academic programs, cap enrollment, and require employees to take two to three weeks worth of unpaid leave, its president, Michael M. Crow, told The Arizona Republic today. The moves come as the state faces a $1.6 billion budget shortfall for 2009 and possibly a $3 billion deficit for 2010.
Mr. Crow also said that the university might have to raise tuition, and that even though the institution had already eliminated 550 jobs and declined to renew the contracts of about 200 faculty associates, several hundred more people would probably have to be let go. The university will scale back operations at two of its four campuses this year, Mr. Crow said, and next year it might have to close the two campuses altogether.
The Legislature is still working on measures to deal with the revenue shortfalls, but lawmakers are waiting to hear details of the federal stimulus package before making final decisions. Lawrence Biemiller
Financial and Psychic Costs of College Slow Community College Students Progress
A new report suggests that students at two year institutions learn more slowly than those in four year programs because higher education exacts greater financial and psychic costs from people in community colleges.
The report, The Other College: Retention and Completion Rates Among Two Year College Students, acknowledges that student characteristics like family income and academic preparation explain some of the differences in the rates at which two and four year students stay in college and graduate on time. But those characteristics don t completely explain the gap, and the authors hypothesize that differences in relative costs might.
For example, community college students may struggle more with college level work, causing college to exact a greater psychic cost from them. Two year students, particularly if they are attending a community college less than half time, also tend to have more limited access to financial aid than their counterparts in four year programs.
The authors Molly F. McIntosh, an analyst at the nonprofit CNA, and Cecilia E. Rouse, an economics professor at Princeton University conclude that more research is needed to test the theory and possible policy solutions. They call for an appropriation of federal money to do so, and Ms. Rouse may have the ear of President Obama, who recently named her to his Council of Economic Advisers. Elyse Ashburn
New School Faculty Members Renew Standoff With President Bob Kerrey
New York If Bob Kerrey s recent comments on his blog are any indication, the New School s president evidently feels that, with the new year, a new era of improved communication and shared governance has begun at the university.
The New York institution, which Mr. Kerrey, a former U.S. senator from Nebraska, has headed since 2001, was roiled late last year by protests stemming from his handling of the abrupt departure of the institution s provost, who had served just three months in the post, and Mr. Kerrey s announcement that he would fill the office on a temporary basis himself. The protests featured a no confidence vote and a sit in.
If the comments and questions at an emergency faculty meeting here today were any indication, however, Mr. Kerrey s attempts at smoothing over his differences with faculty members and students have failed. But it was also clear that, as long as Mr. Kerrey retains the support of the Board of Trustees, there is little the protesters can do to oust him before his contract ends, in 2011.
Although the meeting was intended as a forum for faculty members, a student representative was allowed to briefly address the gathering. She read from a prepared statement announcing that student activists were calling for the resignation of Mr. Kerrey and the New School s vice president, James Murtha, by April 1. If, on that day, the current leadership remains in place, we will shut down the functions of the university, she said. We will bring it to a halt. We will make it stop. The assembled faculty members warmly applauded her comments.
During the two hour session, a succession of speakers made clear that relations between Mr. Kerrey and the academic staff have irretrievably soured. Neal Gordon, dean of the New School s Lang College, for example, spoke of the profound degradation of relations between the administration and the academic side of the institution.
On his blog, Mr. Kerrey wrote of his efforts to mend fences with academics, including scheduling a series of dinners with smaller groups of faculty. Julia Foulkes, an associate professor of history who spoke on behalf of faculty members in the New School for General Studies, sarcastically noted the joy of things like dinner with Bob and asserted that Mr. Kerrey was not up the challenges of his job.
Among the many sources of faculty discontent are Mr. Kerrey s apparent refusal to disclose the size of the university s endowment. Mr. Kerrey s compensation package, totaling nearly $1 million with his expense account, also drew fire.
Richard Boukas, who spoke on behalf of faculty members in the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, referred to the fundamental disconnect between academic values and the leadership of the institution. Alluding to what he called chaos at the university, he told the packed auditorium, We need change. Period. End of story. Aisha Labi
Past Recessions Suggest Current Downturn Will Bring Permanent Cuts in State Funds
In 1983 tuition made up about 23.5 percent of revenues for public higher education. After 25 years and two major economic recessions, public colleges are much more reliant on tuition revenue, with that figure having climbed to more than 36 percent, according to a new report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers.
While state and local funds for higher education have increased by more than 45 percent during the past quarter century, using constant dollars, a 25 percent increase in full time student enrollment over the same period has eroded the ratio of per student support.
And as the growth of per student spending by governments has slowed, tuition has become a greater share of college revenues, especially during the recessions that began in 1990 and in 2001, the report concludes. Over the past decade, per student appropriations from state and local governments have actually declined by nearly 7 percent, the report says, while tuition has grown by nearly 20 percent.
Those past trends in higher education finance should be a warning to both lawmakers and college leaders about what effects the current recession could have.
All the signs in the current recession point toward further decline, renewing and accelerating the long term trend for public higher education to become more expensive for students and their families, said Paul E. Lingenfelter, president of the group, in a written statement. Eric Kelderman
White House Names Interim Leader for Humanities Endowment
Washington The Obama administration today named Carole McAlpine Watson as acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has filled that role since last month s departure of Bruce Cole, who had led the endowment since 2001. Today s announcement may be a sign that the White House does not plan to name a permanent chairman who would be subject to Senate confirmation for several weeks or months.
Ms. Watson has served on the endowment s staff since 1978, most recently as assistant chairman for partnership and national affairs. She earned a doctorate in American cultural history at George Washington University and is the author of a well regarded book, Prologue: The Novels of Black American Women, 1891 1965, published in 1985.
When The Chronicle spoke with several scholars last month about their hopes and fears for the NEH, two of them singled out Ms. Watson for praise.
Clement A. Price, a professor of history at Rutgers University at Newark, who led the Obama transition team s review of the endowment, said Ms. Watson would be such a strong interim leader that there was no reason for the White House to rush its search for a permanent chairman.
And Wilfred M. McClay, a professor of humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a member of the NEH advisory board, said Ms. Watson is, in many ways, an embodiment of the endowment, for me and for many others. She has deep institutional memory. David Glenn
Produce More Graduates, Says President of Cal State Long Beach
Washington Higher education s obsession with graduation rates has stolen the focus away from the desperate societal need for more college graduates, said F. King Alexander, president of California State University at Long Beach, during a presentation here today at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education.
He said those misplaced priorities can lead some universities to admit fewer lower income students, who are typically less prepared academically and less likely to graduate. For example, Mr. Alexander cited an unnamed public institution that improved its graduation rate by enrolling a higher percentage of wealthier, out of state students.
Poor students cost more to graduate, he said. But underserved populations and the nation s economy require that colleges tackle those extra costs and risks.
Graduation is the No. 1 priority at Long Beach, a campus with 31,000 undergraduates, 35 percent of whom are eligible for Pell Grants. That effort includes everything from asking faculty members to report on class skipping students to the printing of napkins for the dining halls that read, Graduation begins today. Paul Fain
Minority Football Players Are More Apt to Cluster in Majors, Study Finds
Minority athletes are more likely than their white peers to cluster in certain academic majors, a new study suggests.
The study, described in a paper by researchers at Nova Southeastern University and published in the Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, examined the prevalence of clustering among football players in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The researchers defined clustering, which has raised concerns at the NCAA, as having 25 percent or more of the players on a team choose the same academic major.
The study covered 394 upperclass athletes at 11 of the 12 ACC universities. Fifty nine percent were identified as minority students. The universities were not identified by name in the study.
The minority players clustered into a single major at a higher rate than their white peers at nearly every university in the study, the authors note. Four teams had 62 percent or more of their minority upperclass athletes clustered into a single major.
White athletes also tended to cluster, although not to the same degree as their minority counterparts. Over all, of the 11 colleges examined, six had one third or more of all upperclass football players in a single major. The highest concentration was at a university at which 73 percent of the athletes in the study were majoring in business management. Libby Sander
U. of the District of Columbia Will Divide Into 2 and 4 Year Colleges
Washington The District of Columbia s only public university plans to change its open door policy and split into two schools, a four year college with admissions standards and an open enrollment community college, The Washington Post reported today.
The University of the District of Columbia s president, Allen L. Sessoms, has said it needs big changes and called the graduation rate 16 percent graduate within eight years an abomination.
Mr. Sessoms, who has tangled with the faculty in the few months since he took office, has suggested admissions criteria of a 2.5 GPA and 1200 SAT or a 2.0 GPA and a 1400 SAT for four year students.
The plan, which has been endorsed by the university s trustees, also calls for changes in tuition, which is now about $3,800 for District residents. Tuition for four year students would be raised to $7,000 for District residents and $14,000 for everyone else, while the community college would have a tuition of $3,000.
The changes are needed to provide more revenue for the university, Mr. Sessoms said.
Some students plan to pitch tents on the campus and boycott classes to protest the proposed changes, the Post reported.
University officials are looking for a site for the proposed community college. Beckie Supiano
February 9, 2009
For Better GRE Results, Stop Thinking About Friday s Game
Attention, college football players: The next time you take an exam, don t wear a sports jersey. Student athletes may be vulnerable to stereotype threat if they think about their jock identities before they take a test, according to a new paper by an economist at Swarthmore College.
The researcher, Thomas S. Dee, recruited 84 Swarthmore students, 44 percent of whom were athletes, and gave them half an hour to answer a set of moderately difficult questions drawn from the Graduate Record Examination. The students were randomly assigned into a control group or an experimental group. In the experimental group, the students both athletes and nonathletes were asked a series of questions about their participation in college sports before they took the test. Athletes in this experimental group performed significantly worse on the GRE questions than did the athletes in the control group. Among nonathletes, there was no such difference.
Over all, Mr. Dee estimates, the pre test reminders of their athletic identities hurt the athletes test performance by 7.3 to 9.5 percentage points. The effect was strongest among students in sports that are stereotypically associated with low academic performance.
Mr. Dee is not the first scholar to plow this field. A 2005 paper by a pair of social psychologists also found that athletes can suffer from stereotype threat.
Stereotype threat is a much debated concept that suggests that anxiety can temporarily impair students cognitive functions if they re reminded (even very subtly) of negative stereotypes about groups that they belong to.
The new study has several potential limitations, all of which are duly noted by Mr. Dee. For one thing, it was conducted in an experimental setting that might not perfectly mimic students everyday classroom experiences. For another, Swarthmore is just a single small Division III institution and one with an idiosyncratic culture. As Mr. Dee puts it, A fairly long history of animus in the college community with respect to the relationship between athletics and the core academic mission of the college suggests that a definite athletic stigma exists in the community. David Glenn
| | Name : Sony Music woes extend to digital sales | The struggling music units of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG merged in 2004 so that a combined company could better fend off illegal file sharing and shrinking CD sales.
The new recording company, named Sony BMG, was expected to wield the kind of resources that could challenge Universal Music Group as the largest of the four top labels. Sony BMG would own a chunk of U.S. music sales almost as big as Universal s.
To say the deal failed to deliver on the promise is probably an understatement. More than four years after the merger, there isn t a more troubled major label around.
In fairness, Sony is trying to regroup after buying out Bertelsmann late last year. It remains the second largest recording company and currently has the No. 1 album in the country: Bruce Springsteen s Working on a Dream. Sony Music could also become the first major to renew its music licensing agreement with YouTube, according to sources close to the deal. For the recording industry, YouTube represents a potential new market.
But in recent weeks, Sony s woes have taken center stage, overshadowing at times the accomplishments of its stars. Last month, Sony Music reported a 22 percent decline in revenue from the previous year. In December, the Federal Trade Commission fined the label $1 million for collecting information on 30,000 children without obtaining parental consent. The New York Times recently reported CEO Rolf Schmidt Holtz was steamrolled in negotiations with Apple s Steve Jobs. There is the unflattering press about the unorthodox managerial style of Rick Rubin, the record producer hired to run Colombia Records he doesn t wear shoes or show up at the office and the controversial hiring of Amanda Ghost, a songwriter with little administrative experience, to run Epic Records. A Sony spokeswoman declined to comment for this story.
As for Sony Music s digital efforts, the news isn t any less gloomy. The company s market share of digital album and song sales has plunged from 28.6 percent at the time of the merger to 22.5 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The setbacks at Sony s music division were a hot topic in Los Angeles last week as the industry gathered for the Grammy Awards. To outsiders, the label s troubles can be traced to Sony and Bertelsmann s conflicting corporate cultures. The deep fractures at Sony BMG first became public when executives from the Bertelsmann side of the venture worked to oust Andy Lack, the company s first CEO. Lack had been handpicked by Sony Chairman Howard Stringer, but he lasted just two years.
On the technology side of the house, insiders say Sony has struggled to recover from the Rootkit scandal. In 2005, Sony attempted to quietly place copy prevention software on CDs. The technology, however, opened security holes on a person s hard drive when a CD was loaded into a computer. The software made the PC vulnerable to malware.
Sony was sued by several parties and was widely attacked by the public and press.
Behind the beat
Since then, Sony has rarely been out in front of the music industry s most important digital initiatives. For example, Universal was the first major recording company to sign a licensing deal with social network, MySpace, and was instrumental in the formation of MySpace Music, the jointly operated music service founded by all four major labels and Rupert Murdoch s News Corp.
When it came to partnering with YouTube, the Web video powerhouse, Warner Music was the first to sign a licensing deal. Sony Music was even the last of the majors to join Sony Ericsson s PlayNow online music store, according to an October story in The Los Angeles Times.
Sony Music s missteps have opened the door for rivals. As the company s share of digital music has declined, Warner Music s has increased. Warner s share of digital sales jumped from 18.10 percent in 2004, to 22.08 percent in 2008, according to SoundScan. This is a vital area, as digital download sales are expected to replace CD sales in coming years.
Certainly, Sony Music has plenty of resources to fuel a comeback. The company owns one of the largest music libraries as well as a stable of established and promising young artists, including Springsteen, Beyonce, and the band Franz Ferdinand. Sony also has a long history in music. The Sony Walkman, its iconic tape and CD players, were synonymous for decades with mobile music.
Of course, the Walkman was eclipsed by the iPod as the public s favorite mobile music player years ago and Sony s attempts to compete with the iPod and iTunes have gone nowhere.
Nobody can say that Sony Music hasn t tried new approaches to building a recording company equipped to compete in the digital age. The trouble is that few of the company s ideas have caught on.
In 2007, Sony raised eyebrows when it began turning to the industry s creative wing for managerial talent. The label hired Rubin, the bushy bearded co founder of hip hop s pioneering record label, Def Jam Recordings. Rubin has produced hit albums for the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, and Neil Diamond, but his maverick managing style he continues to produce records for bands at other labels has irked some at Sony Music, according to The Times piece.
Sony hasn t had much more success on the digital side. Remember the Ringle?
In 2007, Sony BMG spearheaded an effort to combine songs with ringtones and package them on CDs. This half single, half ringtone offer was supposed to help record stores cash in on the ringtone craze as well as help boost physical sales. At best, consumer adoption has been lukewarm.
Unfortunately, the same can be said for much of what Sony Music has been trying to sell.
| | Name : Sony Chases Apple s Magic | Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer bristles every time he gets the question Why can t the Japanese electronics giant be more like Apple The maker of the iPod, iPhone, and Mac computers consistently delivers supercool gadgets that are easy to use, while Sony sells music players, TVs, and cameras that get mixed reviews and often don t even work well with other Sony SNE products. Sony is a very big company, Stringer says by way of explanation. Our toughest competitors are niche organizations.
Stringer is quick to admit, though, that Sony may face a troubled future if it can t rival Apple AAPL in creating simple software that makes its gadgets fun and in giving consumers easy access to music and videos. Apple s iTunes store has long made filling iPods a cinch, but Sony s consumer electronics and PlayStation divisions have only recently started to integrate their offerings with those of the company s movie studio and music label. That s one likely reason why Sony s products earn profit margins of 10% or so, compared with the 30% margins that Apple s devices command.
So Stringer went straight to the source. Three years ago, he hired Tim Schaaff, a top lieutenant of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and created the title of senior vice president for software development for him. Although Schaaff was expected to spend most of his time in California, he s so integral to Stringer s plan to remake Sony that he has a direct reporting line to the CEO. Schaaff s role has grown quickly, and today he also has a hand in product design, licensing, planning, and engineering. When we brought Tim on board, it was a recognition that we needed someone whose experience crosses multiple borders, Stringer says.
A KNACK FOR KILLER PRODUCTS
Schaaff doesn t come across as an agent of change. The 48 year old Dartmouth grad studiously avoids the press. When he speaks, he does so slowly and deliberately, giving the impression that he is reading from index cards inside his head. But at Apple, Schaaff showed a knack for translating geeky ideas into killer products. The self taught software engineer oversaw development of Apple s QuickTime video streaming format, which serves as the foundation of iTunes, the iPod, and the iPhone.
Stringer is clearly hoping Schaaff can seed Sony with Apple s Silicon Valley entrepreneurial culture. When the Welsh born Stringer became Sony s first non Japanese CEO in early 2005, he pledged to make the company cool again. While Schaaff has made important strides toward that goal, Sony clearly needs to inject some zing into its products. On Oct. 29 the company said net earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 were off by 72% from the year earlier period. The report came on the heels of a warning that profits for the year would fall by more than half, due to the strengthening yen and lackluster sales of TVs and digital cameras.
It was more evidence that after a three year makeover, Sony is still struggling to get its groove back. Now, as consumers rein in spending, they re even less likely to buy the expensive gizmos Sony plans to unveil over the coming months. That would be a major setback for Sony United, Stringer s program to turn the company s fractured family of products and services into a model of integration. The goal is to sell Bravia televisions that connect to the Web and download the latest Spider Man movie, Walkman phones that offer tunes from Sony artists such as Beyoncé, and e book devices that ask if you want to purchase that new John Grisham thriller.Stringer has given Schaaff unprecedented freedom to conquer resistance and boost cooperation among Sony s myriad—and often warring—units. Schaaff has also served as something akin to secretary of state, working with other companies to help make Sony products more appealing. Last summer, for instance, he led a high stakes effort to persuade Hollywood to allow downloads of films and TV shows via Sony s PlayStation 3 game console. Sony wanted to introduce the service at the annual E3 video game convention in Los Angeles in July to highlight the versatility of the PS3, which includes a Blu ray disk player and a hard drive that can store hundreds of movies. With just six months to rally the studios, Schaaff s days became a blur of airplane lounges and conference rooms as he shuttled from Hollywood to Sony offices in California and Tokyo. But the studios held off, waiting to see whether rivals would sign up. Nobody wants to be the only guy licensing content, Schaaff says.
THE DOORS ARE MORE OPEN
Finally, as workers were installing giant flat panel televisions at Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium for Sony s news conference, Schaaff s team started to make some real headway. Promising to include technology that would prevent users from sharing films over the Internet, Schaaff managed to convince studio executives that the PS3 network could provide a new outlet for their movies—and serve as a counterweight to Apple s growing clout in the market for downloads. At its launch on July 15, the PlayStation Network offered both rentals and purchases from six of the seven largest movie studios. To many at Sony, the deal signaled increasing cooperation among the PlayStation team in Northern California, Schaaff s group, and Sony s film division. Today there s much closer integration between hardware and software, says Peter Dille, the Sony executive responsible for the PlayStation Network. The doors are more open, and people are finally realizing that their phones can connect to other offices.
The result of the growing spirit of cooperation Sony in January partnered with retailer Amazon.com AMZN on an online music store, called MyPlay, that lets consumers download tracks from various record labels without copy restrictions. After years of criticizing the quality of Microsoft s programs for phones and handheld devices, Sony last fall astounded the industry by scrapping its own software and online store and embracing the software giant s Windows technology for its Walkman portable media players. Then in February, it chose the Windows Mobile operating system for a new line of phones called Xperia. And since July consumers have been able to bypass Sony s online store and download content for its e book device, the Reader, from rival Web sites. Schaaff knows how to speak the same language as both the entertainment and technology folks, says Sony Pictures Television President Steve Mosko. And he knows what a 16 year old wants as well.
Despite Schaaff s successes, there s still plenty of resistance to his efforts. Some colleagues praise him for his quiet thoughtfulness, but others say he has accomplished little in his three years at the company. He came in lecturing everybody, saying Well, we did it this way and this way at Apple, says one executive in Sony s consumer electronics division. Others grouse that Schaaff has demonstrated little of Jobs take charge attitude. To expect a storm the castle, everyone pulls in the same direction attitude, forget it, says another executive who has worked with Schaaff.
SERIOUS ABOUT CHANGE
Sensing the opposition to his new hire, Stringer has worked to shore up Schaaff s position. At a 2006 management meeting, Stringer asked young software engineers to sit in the front. That forced some senior executives to the back, sending the message that the CEO was serious about change.
And in May 2007, Stringer put Schaaff in charge of the United Service Steering Committee, a group of 30 top executives that meets monthly to air grievances and come up with ideas to boost profits.
When veterans such as PlayStation chief Ken Kutaragi balked at sharing power, Stringer didn t budge. Kutaragi was moved into a new advisory role, and he eventually resigned. Since then, Stringer has tapped executives once based in the U.S.—whom he has worked with over the years—to head up key divisions mobile phones, PlayStation, and the fledgling digital books unit, which sells the Sony Reader. While those new faces are more willing to work with Schaaff, Tim [still] has to do things very gently, says longtime friend Ty Roberts, a former Apple executive who is now chief technology officer at Sony subsidiary Gracenote, which maintains a database of information about virtually every music CD ever made. Sony is not like Apple. You can t just tell people to do something. It s all about building consensus here.
It s easy to see that Stringer and Schaaff, at least, have come to a consensus on Sony s future. Sitting side by side during a breakfast meeting at Tokyo s Westin Hotel in late September—Schaaff s first press interview—the two often complete each other s sentences. There are a lot of people who were waiting for this..., Stringer says. To fail, Schaaff and Stringer say in unison. Exactly, adds Schaaff.
Sometimes roadblocks have even come up on Stringer s pet projects. Early in Schaaff s tenure, Stringer started trumpeting the Reader as proof that Sony could out Apple Apple. Meeting with engineers at Sony s sprawling U.S. consumer electronics campus nestled in the canyons near San Diego, Schaaff discovered the e book device was hung up by infighting among rival camps. The dispute confirmed the silo mentality he had detected in his first few weeks on the job. I was hearing, Sony doesn t do this and Sony doesn t do that, says Schaaff. I was a little suspicious.
One group wanted to make the gadget compatible with Mac computers, but designers balked at that idea. Sony had never bothered with Apple software, they said, and there was no reason to start now. And the online bookstore remained in such a muddle that even technically savvy users were having problems finding and purchasing the titles they wanted. The Reader launched in October 2006 to a lukewarm reception with those issues unresolved.
Although the Reader won points for design, the limelight has been stolen by the Kindle, a rival device released last year by Amazon. The Kindle has been widely derided for its blocky look and feel, but analysts say it has been selling far better than Sony s Reader. A key reason is that Amazon made it simpler to download content by including a free wireless connection to its online store, while the Reader must be attached to a PC to load new books. Sony on Oct. 2 released a third generation Reader that still lacks wireless downloads. Steve Haber, president of the e books division, concedes the company could be nimbler but says changes are under way. We ve got a lot of good things coming, he says.
You hear the same thing from executives across the company. But will the good things come soon enough to help Stringer meet his goal of transforming Sony by 2011 While Stringer and Schaaff say they ll get there, some former Sony executives wonder when Schaaff might help the company develop anything as iconic as the iPod or iPhone. Apple is the Sony of the 21st century, says one. In the past two years, Sony has had plenty of time to come up with an iPhone. Why hasn t it
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