Download audio here Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets , Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the iPhone’s manufacturing process, why it can only be done in China, and the reasons technology manufacturing will never return to America. We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates . If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show. Related Links: How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work Apple’s results hinge on the iPhone question Making It in America Follow Brad on Twitter Follow Ben on Twitter Follow Francis on Twitter Subscribe to The Transom The hosts and guests of Coffee and Markets speak only for ourselves, not any clients or employers.

http://www.coffeeandmarkets.com/CoffeeandMarkets012412.mp3

View post:
Why the iPhone is Made in China and Why it Will Never be “Made in the USA”

Find or Create Hilarious Merchandise at CafePress

Crowdsourcing a Very Important Question

On December 22, 2011, in Barack Obama, by Cougar01

We were just debating the origin of the phrase “rude, crude, and socially unacceptable” . . . and I can’t immediately locate the answer. At least, I can’t locate it using Google searches on my iPhone in between domino games. I have this vague memory of Steve Martin using the phrase as one of the “wild and crazy guys” on SNL. But I can’t find a link to substantiate that either. So I throw it open to you. First documented and convincing-sounding answer earns its finder a cookie.* * Offer not valid in countries with Internet access.

Excerpt from:
Crowdsourcing a Very Important Question

Find or Create Hilarious Merchandise at CafePress

There’s a new story developing. I’ve touched on it now and then, but the pieces are coming together. The FCC temporarily blocked the AT&T/Qualcomm deal to let AT&T buy spectrum using the excuse that they wanted to evaluate it together with the AT&T/T-Mobile deal. Well, the latter deal has been withdrawn from the FCC, so now what’s the hold up? It turns out that the Obama FCC under Julius Genachowski is looking to change the rules of the game. Genachowski wants to make it harder to for firms to pick up the spectrum they need to serve an ever-growing demand for wireless Internet. He and the FCC are calling it a change to the “spectrum screen.” Why the timing? Well, it turns out that Democrat commissioner Michael Copps, despite being an ardent supporter of the radical George Soros-driven Media Reform agenda, has spoken out against changing the rules midstream. but it may not matter, as he’s quitting, and his replacement is going through the confirmation process right now in the Senate. Though that replacement may be delayed as Chuck Grassley fights for transparency in the FCC, there are no other obstacles to confirmation foreseen. So while Copps has made a due process argument against what Genachowski is doing, Genachowski may be counting on Copps’s departure to prevent that from being an issue. With him gone, the Chairman will apparently be free to do what he wants, declaring what the rules will be anytime he wants, picking one set of rules for one company, and another set of rules for another, with nothing to stop him. Chuck Grassley is fighting for transparency with respect to the FCC and LightSquared. The House Energy and Commerce committee is looking into FCC’s Spectrum Screen treatment. Even FCC Democrats are having to speak up. The FCC is completely out of control, and it’s taking all we’ve got in the Congress just to try to keep up, and to force the Obama administration to submit to oversight and respect the rule of law. SOPA continues. The selective Internet kill switch bill, promoted by the administration’s allies in Hollywood to favor them over Internet-driven industries, now faces a bipartisan, bicameral alternative . Senator Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, has been filibustering PROTECT IP in the Senate, and Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, has been speaking out against SOPA in the House. Together they propose the OPEN Act to keep the Internet open. OPEN can actually work. Unlike SOPA and PROTECT IP , OPEN avoids regulating the Internet in America, and instead calls for us to use the International Trade Commission to target foreign “e-parasites” who infringe on the property rights of Americans. That’s a key. SOPA and PROTECT IP target American firms, harming us without actually reaching out to foreign firms. OPEN goes after the source of the problem. It’s also important that OPEN doesn’t mess with the DNS system in America, a core Internet service. If we tried to censor DNS, we’d simply cut ourselves out of the loop, and become a laggard corner of the Internet like China, not at the thriving core. Darrell Issa says Don’t Break the Internet in promoting OPEN over SOPA. It’s a simple slogan but it’s right, and it’s not exaggerating. Naturally the MPAA is angry , because OPEN calls for government to be neutral, not picking sides with one American industry or another. MPAA wants SOPA, that plays favorites. Secretary Clinton has even spoken out against SOPA and for Internet Freedom . Oh wait, no, she’s going abroad and telling the rest of the world not to censor the Internet, even as Democrats and some Republicans attempt to do it at home. The Government already has a poor track record on this . Censorship inherently defies oversight by the Congress and by the People. Don’t give the government a selective kill switch. Defeat SOPA. Pass OPEN Act if you want to target infringers, but defeat SOPA. Can I get a big, whopping boo for the American Invents Act ? That’s the insane bill Obama signed that favors lawyers over inventors, by changing our patent system to no longer give patents to the first person to make an invention. Dana Rohrabacher and I seemed to be the only ones who even cared. Remember: Even well-intentioned regulation doesn’t always work . PATENT WARS: Apple fends of Samsung attempt to ban the iPhone 4S in France , while Samsung holds off an Apple attempt to ban the Galaxy Tab in Australia . Worldwide, courts seem reluctant to completely ban the imports of popular electronics. This patent system is a wreck, and AIA’s pro-lawyer stance cannot help. We need real patent reform to fight cartels, and protect the interests of the public and not the American Bar Association AT&T withdrew its T-Mobile merger application from the FCC in order to focus on the DoJ and Sprint lawsuits. Well now Eric Holder and Barack Obama Justice department are trying to stall that lawsuit until after AT&T re-files. If this were criminal court then it’d sound like an attempt at double jeopardy, wouldn’t it? But, the government gives itself broader latitude in civil court, it seems. After playing California like a fiddle, in hindsight, Amazon gets ready for a national Internet Sales Tax fight . Conservatives need to watch out here. You’re going to here a lot of arguments about “fairness” and “paying your fair share.” But let me remind you that once the federal government starts collecting sales taxes, then the infrastructure will be in place for a national sales tax. For The Children. Think about the coming Presidential election. Are you confident our next President, Republican or Democrat, won’t get talked into a national sales tax? Nine percent, one percent, even just half a percent. To be “responsible.” To avoid “burdening our grandchildren.” And once it’s passed, what stops it from growing?

Continued here:
Tech at Night: Spectrum Dishonesty at the Obama FCC, SOPA alternative emerges, AT&T Kulaks targeted further

Find or Create Hilarious Merchandise at CafePress
Tagged with:
 

Skip to :56. This iPhone is a 4GS, and you still have a Motorola Sidekick. That’s my name. I have this iPhone because Mitch and Murray asked me to have it. If you don’t like it, you can push your little beverage cart right off this plane, because a loser is a loser. Now let me finish my Scrabble game!

Here is the original post:
Exclusive Footage from Alec Baldwin’s American Airlines Flight

Find or Create Hilarious Merchandise at CafePress
Tagged with:
 

Censorship’s the big word right now. The FCC’s under pressure to ban pro sports blackouts, and the Supreme Court may end national profanity rules . However I consider those things small. Few people have access to television broadcasts. Most of us aren’t actually censored by these regulations. We all have access to the Internet though; that’s how a nobody like me is able to shape the debate against well-funded leftist groups . So I’ll freely admit it: It’s a self-serving thing for me to oppose Internet censorship. I don’t want the Obama administration to have the power to collaborate with private leftist groups to steal people’s domains, and force all ISPs to cooperate with that effective creation of a national censorship blacklist. They want to call the little guys “E-PARASITES,” using copyright as cover to censor whatever the heck they want. Because once you let the government start blanking out parts of the Internet, then what’s to stop them from blanking out oversight of that censorship? Nothing. Just ask Australia , which censored the internet “for the children,” but then started banning oversight of the censorship, as well as unrelated content like American anti-abortion websites. The committee vote on SOPA / E-PARASITES is coming , and I’m hearing that the witness list for the bill is stacked 5-1 in favor of the bill. In the Republican House, we’re rigging the hearings in favor of giving the President more regulatory power over the Internet. It boggles the mind. Please consider contacting the Judiciary Committee and asking them to oppose this censorship power grab. If the US Government starts monkeying around with DNS, the world will ignore it, the same way we ignore Chinese attempts to censor the Internet. We will lose our position as world leader of the Internet overnight. The forces of regulation never give up. They constantly press for more government intervention in the media, more control and less freedom. This is the face of media reform, and I hope Republicans defeat SOPA as one aspect of it in the House. The Democrats in the Senate beat us on Net Neutrality, and we now rely on the courts to act to protect private industry against that power grab. I hope we don’t have to do the same for SOPA. We truly can’t wait. I’m especially interested to see whether House Democrats like Maxine Waters dance for their Hollywood (MPAA), Music (RIAA), Banking (MasterCard), Union (AFL-CIO), and Pharmaceutical (Pfizer) corporate masters and back SOPA, as much as I’d like to see Republicans stand up to these guys. Credit to Google: they seem to be learning. Opposing SOPA, making good on its promise and re-opening the sources to Android , and of course Obama fan Eric Schmidt’s novocaine-fueled rant against big government are all great signs that the company really may be once burned, twice shy since the FTC came against them. Was Search Neutrality all it took to get Google to realize regulation hurts it more than it helps, or was Schmidt taking a lesser role with the firm also a factor? I called it, I called it, I called it. Sprint got the iPhone and now Sprint’s phasing out unlimited data , just like the “evil” Verizon and AT&T . Clearly Sprint is benefiting greatly in the marketplace from the iPhone, and that popularity has an impact on its network. Just imagine how much it’s hurting T-Mobile that they can’t offer the phone.

Excerpt from:
Tech at Night: It is urgent that we stop SOPA; Google wising up?

Find or Create Hilarious Merchandise at CafePress
Tagged with: