Samsung goes where Apple won't - CNET

PALO ALTO, CALIF.--The Samsung Galaxy Tab has found a sweet spot the Apple iPad will miss--apparently.

Steve Jobs was wrong: a 7-inch diagonal is fine. Samsung Galaxy Tab on right.

(Credit: CNET Reviews)

I'm writing this on Wednesday during a brief sojourn in Silicon Valley. I had some time to burn so I spent about 30 minutes using the Galaxy Tab at a local Best Buy. Granted, that isn't a long time by product review standards, but it was long enough for me to realize that I was hooked on the size.

Let me be clear, I have no gripes about the 10-inch screen on the iPad (which, by the way, I use all the time and frighteningly at the expense of my MacBook Air--but that's another post for another day).

And I'll confess that I have a bias for small, light designs: the smaller and lighter, the better. To a point. Seven inches is that point. Without descending into tedious punditry about the merits of a 7-inch design, suffice to say that it just feels better in my hand and the screen size is more than adequate. And on-screen typing presented no problem for me.

In fact, if Apple came out with a 7-inch iPad, I can say with pretty much certainty that I would be in line to buy one (and I think that would be a long line on product launch day). That said, Steve Jobs has already apparently precluded that possibility, proclaiming--as I have touched on before--that Apple isn't interested in offering a 7-inch model.

Is this a giant opportunity for the Android camp? We'll see of course. Preliminary reports claim that the Galaxy Tab is not exactly flying off the shelves--what Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, has characterized as the Galaxy's "poor sell through." That may be partially due to the reluctance to buy a tablet with Android apps that are not yet ready for a larger screen, as this CNET review says. But it's more likely due to price--the Galaxy Tab is not cheap--and to consumers being unfamiliar with any device that's not an iPad. Something akin to the I-want-nothing-but-an-iPhone-4 syndrome. Plus, not all reviews have been favorable.

But Motorola, HTC, Dell, HP, and others would be well advised to follow Samsung's lead with similarly sized tablets. Sorry, Mr. Jobs, I think you're wrong on this one.

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Tom Dart won't run for Chicago mayor - Chicago Tribune

Tom Dart, on paper, looked like an almost ideal candidate for Chicago mayor: A likable Cook County sheriff who had attracted positive press and boasted a solid, South Side pedigree.

So it was easy to overlook a few factors. He lost the only tough race he'd ever run, for Illinois treasurer eight years ago. He's a father with several young kids. And he's never raised the kind of cash he'd need to run for such a high office.

When it came time for a final gut check, Dart looked inside and decided running for mayor wasn't for him.

"I'm disappointing people, but at the end of the day I have to look myself in the mirror," said Dart, clad in jeans and a Mount Carmel High School basketball fleece at a hastily called news conference outside the County Jail he oversees.

Dart's decision clears the field of one of the top candidates vying for the job to succeed Mayor Richard Daley, who said last month that he wouldn't seek another term in February. In recent weeks, the field has thinned as numerous aldermen, congressmen and county officials have bowed out.

Since Daley's announcement, Dart had been telling supporters he planned to run and was gearing up his campaign, even gathering more than 25,000 signatures — twice the required amount — to get his name on the ballot.

Dart was expected to be a top-tier candidate, a counterweight to Rahm Emanuel, the former North Side congressman and White House chief of staff who has been bruising his way through Chicago as he ramps up a run. Dart, who hails from the 19th Ward, had stronger ties to progressive unions and working-class voters who weren't necessarily predisposed to support Emanuel.

Dart has long yearned to be mayor. But as he sought support around the city, the contrast with Emanuel was clear to ward committeemen and political powerbrokers.

"(Dart) wasn't making the hard sell," one committeeman said. "There was an opinion out that that he wasn't up to the battle, especially with Rahm coming in like a bulldozer."

Even when Dart was aggressive in working the phones, he trod into territory Emanuel already covered, sometimes twice. Many Democrats said they noticed Dart's fledgling campaign was somewhat disorganized and having difficulty gaining traction.

Although Dart had hired Joe Trippi, a political strategist with a national profile, the two had never worked together. In the past, both Dart and Emanuel employed AKPD Message and Media, the political consulting firm once run by President Barack Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod. But Emanuel hired them before Dart had a chance.

Dart's departure was viewed in many political circles as a boon for Emanuel.

"There's little doubt this helps Emanuel's campaign," said another Democratic ward committeeman who spoke on the condition of anonymity, "but it helps all the candidates in the race to some degree."

One of the city's most knowledgeable political pros, Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd, said Dart's decision gives Emanuel a distinct advantage. "I think Rahm would be the beneficiary of that," he said.

Emanuel acknowledged Dart's decision changes the race's "dynamics" but dismissed the idea he pushed him out.

"He took a gut check of that decision," Emanuel said. "Tom Dart does not get scared" out of a race.

Dart said no back-channel overtures were made by other candidates to encourage him not to run.

Others potential candidates include City Clerk Miguel del Valle, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, former Chicago Board of Education President Gery Chico, Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, state Sen. James T. Meeks, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, and Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr.

Dart said fundraising, political support and the fear of losing had nothing to do with his decision. Instead, it was all about his family. He and his wife, Patricia, have five children ranging in age from 1 to 9. Dart said running a mayoral campaign and then running the city if he won was too much.

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HP won't say if CEO to testify in SAP-Oracle case - Reuters

* HP does not release executive schedules

* Oracle said HP trying to keep CEO from testifying

By Gabriel Madway and Jim Finkle

SAN FRANCISCO/BOSTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) has declined to say whether its incoming chief executive, Leo Apotheker, will testify in a high-profile trade secrets case involving Oracle (ORCL.O) and SAP (SAPG.DE).

HP, the world's largest technology company by revenue, would not say whether Apotheker, a former CEO of SAP, will start his new job at the company's Palo Alto, California, headquarters.

Those offices are close enough to the Oakland courthouse, where the trial is being held, to make it easy for Oracle to formally serve him a with subpoena to testify.

The trial begins Monday, which is also Apotheker's first day at HP, and is expected to last for five weeks.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has accused Apotheker of supervising the theft of his company's software. He said on Tuesday that he suspected HP's board planned to keep Apotheker away from the company's headquarters until the trial is over.

SAP spokesman Saswato Das defended HP, saying that Ellison's facts about his old boss, Apotheker, are wrong.

"In his personal campaign against HP and desire to create a sideshow, Larry Ellison doesn't even bother to get the facts straight," Das said. "Our focus in the case is on determining fair and reasonable compensation, and we won't let personal vendettas interfere with the court's judgment."

An HP spokeswoman on Wednesday would not say where Apotheker will be when he starts work. The company said it does not release schedules for its executives, and declined to comment further.

Apotheker said earlier this month he planned to spend the "following weeks and even months" traveling the world to talk to HP employees. HP named him CEO at the end of September.

SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott told Reuters that he would testify if called by Oracle and that he will be in the courtroom next Tuesday when his company's attorneys present their opening argument.

"I want to show that the co-CEO of SAP has a personal and professional interest in our company, in our brand and the way this matter is handled," he said in an interview. (Reporting by Gabriel Madway and Jim Finkle; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

*We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.

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Social Security benefits again won't go up - Washington Post

For the second year in a row, the nearly 54 million retirees and other Americans who receive Social Security benefits will not get any cost-of-living increase in 2011 in their monthly checks, government officials announced Friday, renewing debate over whether the system offers enough help in a weak economy.

The absence of any growth in Social Security checks for consecutive years is unprecedented in the 31/2 decades that payments have been adjusted automatically based on the nation's inflation rate.

The news that retirement benefits will remain static was part of a trio of developments on Friday that drew attention to lingering effects of the recession. Taken together, the new reminders of the country's economic fragility carry large political stakes, coming 21/2 weeks before a midterm election in which the deficit and jobs are paramount concerns among voters.

In the White House and on Capitol Hill, Democrats immediately responded with fresh calls to give extra money to older Americans, a potent voting bloc, and other people who depend on Social Security. Republicans disparaged the idea, contending that it would deepen the deficit and skirt a more fundamental need to put the retirement system on solid financial footing for the long term.

While the parties argued in Washington, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled during a speech in Boston that the Fed was prepared to undertake a new round of unconventional efforts to spur economic growth, with inflation persistently low and unemployment high.

Separately, the Obama administration reported that the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that ended in September hit $1.29 trillion, in part because of lagging tax collections. The budget gap was lower than the record of $1.4 trillion for 2009 but, as a percentage of the overall economy, was the second-highest since World War II.

The static Social Security payments are a side effect of the nation's low inflation. The Social Security Administration made its announcement moments after the Labor Department released the latest figures for the consumer price index. They show that prices for the third quarter of this year rose by 1.5 percent compared with a year earlier, but fell by 0.6 percent compared with the same period in 2008.

Last year marked the first time consumer prices fell since the automatic adjustment formula has existed, and Social Security recipients did not get an increase in their checks.

This year, the picture is more complicated. Consumer prices have risen slightly from a year ago. But under the government rules, consumer prices must have risen past their level when the last Social Security increase was awarded - in this case, 2008 - for another boost in benefits to take effect. The Labor figures show they did not increase that much.

About 73,000 District residents receive Social Security benefits, while Maryland and Virginia have about 826,000 and 1.2 million beneficiaries, respectively.

Leaders of the AARP, the influential lobby of Americans age 50 and older, said the organization has been deluged lately with complaints from members who depend on Social Security.

"It's like being stuck in neutral," said John Walker, 62, of South Arlington, who was laid off in 2008 from his trucking job and now lives on veterans' benefits and the early Social Security payments he began to collect this year. "I have the same income, but . . . seems like the basic necessities we have from day-to-day living go up. I don't think it's fair."

In early 2009, as part of its efforts to stimulate the economy, Congress approved a one-time $250 payment for each person on Social Security, even though the size of monthly checks had gone up that January by nearly 6 percent.

In his 2011 budget, President Obama proposed another such payment, and many congressional Democrats, courting older voters before the elections, have called for the same thing. So far, Congress has not acted.

On Friday, the White House renewed its call for another payment. "Many seniors are struggling in the face of the economic downturn, having seen their savings fall," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement. "Today's news that the Social Security Administration will for a second year not provide a cost of living adjustment for social security benefits highlights these struggles."

In July, Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee's Social Security subcommittee, introduced legislation to provide a $250 payment to the program's recipients, at a cost of about $14 billion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she will schedule a vote on the measure when lawmakers return for a lame-duck session after the election. The legislation has 127 Democratic co-sponsors and none who are Republican.

In the Senate, which defeated a similar proposal in March, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that chamber would consider a $250 payment in its lame-duck session, as well.

GOP leaders oppose the idea. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said, "He has a real deficit concern about this," noting that the $14 billion price tag is greater than the entire Kentucky state budget.

House Republican leaders on Friday avoided direct comments on the $250 payments. Instead, they attacked Democrats for not passing a measure earlier, if it was a priority for that party.

And Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the ranking Republican on Ways and Means, said: "It will be difficult for many seniors to deal with the lack of a COLA for a second year in a row, but that will pale in comparison to the actual hardships future Social Security recipients will experience if Congress continues to ignore the program's underlying financial problems."

In addition to the nation's 38 million retirees age 65 and older, the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment will affect several other groups of people. They include family members of workers who died prematurely who receive Social Security survivors' benefits, as well as people who qualify for Social Security disability payments.

The formula that determines whether Social Security payments go up also is applied to benefits paid to retired and disabled veterans and retired railroad workers.

The typical retiree receives a Social Security payment of nearly $1,200 per month, or roughly $14,400 a year. A $250 payment would amount to a 1.7 percent increase.

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Obama won't sign bill that would affect foreclosure proceedings - Washington Post

Amid growing furor over the legitimacy of foreclosure proceedings, White House officials said Thursday that President Obama will not sign a bill passed by Congress without public debate after critics said the legislation could loosen standards for foreclosure documents.

The bill, named the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act, would require courts to accept document notarizations made out of state. Its sponsors intended to promote interstate commerce. But homeowner advocates warn the bill could allow lenders to cut even more corners as they seek to evict homeowners.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president did not believe Congress meant to undermine consumer protections regarding foreclosure challenges. Still, Obama will use a "pocket veto" on the bill, which will effectively kill it.

Democratic leaders on the Hill were scrambling to figure out how the legislation managed to sail through the House and Senate without any objection. The episode may prove embarrassing for Democrats, who in recent weeks have been calling for federal investigations into flawed paperwork, forged documents and other misconduct in foreclosure proceedings initiated by big lenders.

The House passed the bill in April by a voice vote, meaning there's no record of who voted for or against the legislation. The Senate passed the bill on Sept. 27, just before recess, without any debate.

Even the bill's main sponsor, Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), was surprised by how quickly the legislation was greenlighted, according to D.J. Jordan, a representative for Aderholt.

Congressional staffers said lawmakers will revisit the bill to add protections for consumers.

Jordan said Aderholt had been working on the issue since April 2005, soon after hearing complaints from a court stenographer in his district that courts in other states were having trouble using documents notarized in Alabama.

"The authors of this bill no doubt had the best of intentions in mind when trying to remove impediments to interstate commerce," said Dan Pfeiffer, White House communications director. "We will work with them and other leaders in Congress to explore the best ways to achieve this goal going forward."

This would be Obama's second pocket veto. Last December, he killed a short-term resolution that turned out to be unnecessary for extending defense funding.

Obama's veto comes as the uproar over document processing from lawmakers, law enforcement and union officials and other stakeholders intensified on Thursday, turning the foreclosure mess into a political issue.

National civil rights groups, including the NAACP, National Council of La Raza and the Center for Responsible Lending, joined labor unions Thursday in calling for an immediate national moratorium on foreclosures.

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