Coleman Research Group’s Healthcare department highlights Tax-Loss Carryback in Congress and Japan Helps Consumer Lenders

Coleman Research Group’s Healthcare Team facilitates consultations between our clients (institutional investors) and leading healthcare professionals on a wide variety of topics including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, clinical research, medical devices, healthcare providers, insurance, and regulatory issues.

Our Healthcare network spans technology industries across the globe and includes doctors, researchers, scientists, healthcare executives, consultants, and former regulatory officials.

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Tax-Loss Carryback Provision Glides in Congress

Congress appears to be on the verge of giving a $30 billion-plus handout to U.S. corporations but—unlike so many other spending provisions—this one is provoking little opposition on Capitol Hill.

The legislation would tweak corporate tax rules that would allow businesses to apply losses sustained in recent years against taxes on profits paid in earlier years. It would do this by extending the so-called net-operating-loss carryback period for firms of any size from two years to five years and would apply to losses for both 2008 and 2009. A similar expanded loss-carryback provision was part of the Obama Administration's original fiscal stimulus plan, but the final bill was cut back to apply only to small businesses.

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As Japan Helps Consumer Lenders, Bankers Worry About Zombies

In Japan’s consumer lending industry, there has been little to cheer about lately. Less than three years ago, the government began tightening rules on consumer financing firms to discourage them from charging consumers exorbitant rates on loans. It also let borrowers who had crushingly high interest payments request a refund. Then came the global financial crisis, piling on the pain for consumer lenders.

One sign of just how bad things have gotten: In late September, Aiful, Japan’s second-biggest consumer lender, asked its own creditors for more time to pay off debts. With new tougher regulations set to go into effect next June, including a lower cap on what consumer lenders can charge, the industry was starting to resemble a train wreck in slow motion. Last fiscal year, Promise and Takefuji swung to an operating loss, while Acom’s profits fell to less than half the previous year’s level. By the end of September, the number of consumer lenders had fallen to less than 5,000, from more than 14,200 in March 2006, according to the Financial Services Agency.

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Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom department highlights G-Oil bio-based motor oil and time-lapse movies with your iPhone

Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom Group facilitates consultations between our clients (institutional investors) and leading technology professionals on a wide variety of topics including semiconductors, data storage and security, computer hardware and software, satellite system operators, telecom equipment, cable and wireless providers, and advertising spending.

Our TMT network spans technology industries across the globe and includes CTOs, CIOs, marketing and business development executives, engineers, buyers, and resellers.

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G-Oil bio-based motor oil now available for cars

Green Earth Technologies (GET) announced Wednesday that its environmentally friendly motor oil for cars will soon be available on shelves across the U.S.

The manufacturer of the biodegradable, carbon neutral motor oil made in part from the animal fat of beef slaughter byproducts has been waiting on certification from the American Petroleum Institute before selling its G-Oil to the public.

G-Oil has received API starburst certification, a symbol put on a product's packaging to signify it meets specific standards and is recommended for use by leading vehicle manufacturers. GET's car oil was additionally granted the API service symbol donut, a seal signifying an oil product has "energy-conserving properties in a standard test in comparison to a reference oil."

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Make easy time-lapse movies with your iPhone

Time-lapse movies can be a complicated affair, and quite often involve either a lot of special equipment, and/or post-processing skills. For just a buck though, you can use the recently released Timelapser app (link opens in iTunes) to turn your iPhone into a tool that can do this time-bending filming technique using nothing more than the onboard camera.

Timelapser's interface tells you how long your movie will be, and how many shots it's taken. Depending on what model of phone you have you can use the app to take a picture anywhere from every three seconds to once per half hour. All the while it grabs each frame and stitches it into a movie that's saved on the phone, and that can also be e-mailed to friends.

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Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom department highlights charges swirl around Intel/AMD deals and virtual world Meez sees profit

Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom Group facilitates consultations between our clients (institutional investors) and leading technology professionals on a wide variety of topics including semiconductors, data storage and security, computer hardware and software, satellite system operators, telecom equipment, cable and wireless providers, and advertising spending.

Our TMT network spans technology industries across the globe and includes CTOs, CIOs, marketing and business development executives, engineers, buyers, and resellers.

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Charges swirl around insider trading on Intel, AMD deals

Think of it as a twist on the old rivalry between chip giants Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. But this time, the rivalry is about which company can make a hedge fund more money.

The complaint filed by the government against six people on Friday details how a relatively obscure Intel treasury executive and a prominent hedge fund manager allegedly participated in an insider-trading ring centered on an Intel investment. The document also shows alleged insider trading of AMD shares by an adviser from McKinsey & Company before the chipmaker spun off of its manufacturing operations.

The case revolves around Raj Rajaratnam, who founded the Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund that manages $7 billion in funds. Federal prosecutors charged Rajaratnam and five others on Friday with securities fraud, alleging they were involved in insider trading of some of the most well-known tech companies including Intel, Google, AMD, and IBM.

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Teen virtual world Meez sees profit

Meez, a start-up that expanded last year from an avatar creation service into a full-out virtual world for teens, is touting some good news: it's been profitable since April and "every month is better than the last month," CEO John Cahill told CNET News.

Right now, Meez has about 13 million registered users, 3 million unique hits per month, and only 20 full-time employees plus about 10 contractors.

Where's the money coming from? Premium subscriptions, ads on the free version of the site, and virtual goods bought and sold with its internal "Coinz" currency--which includes a mobile virtual-gift deal with Verizon.

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Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom department highlights Acer, Dell and Bluetooth

Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom Group facilitates consultations between our clients (institutional investors) and leading technology professionals on a wide variety of topics including semiconductors, data storage and security, computer hardware and software, satellite system operators, telecom equipment, cable and wireless providers, and advertising spending.

Our TMT network spans technology industries across the globe and includes CTOs, CIOs, marketing and business development executives, engineers, buyers, and resellers.

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Acer overtakes Dell in PC shipments

Turns out Acer President Gianfranco Lanci wasn't just idly boasting earlier Wednesday when he said his company would pass Dell in the PC rankings "very soon." By very soon he clearly meant "today."

IDC released its PC tracker report Wednesday afternoon for the third quarter of 2009 and for the very first time, Acer is indeed the No. 2 producer of PCs in the world, with 14 percent. Hewlett-Packard remained on top with 20.2 percent of PCs shipped, and Dell dropped to 12.7 percent.

While not a total surprise considering that Acer's and Dell's momentum have been headed in opposing directions for some time, Acer's rise is indeed impressive. Just a few years ago most people would probably not have been able to recognize the Taiwanese brand, but that changed when it scooped up Gateway and began its aggressive attack on retail laptops in the U.S and Europe. Meanwhile Dell has fallen from the top vendor of PCs as recently as mid-2006 to No. 3 today as it navigates the changing PC market.

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New Wi-Fi spec challenges Bluetooth

A new Wi-Fi specification will let wireless devices discover and connect to one another without a router.

The spec, called Wi-Fi Direct, was announced Wednesday by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry group that promotes the technology. By making it much easier for devices to connect directly to each other using Wi-Fi, the new spec could pose a challenge to wireless technologies such Bluetooth.

The way Wi-Fi Direct works is that it allows Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as phones, cameras, printers, computers, keyboards, and headphones to connect to other Wi-Fi devices individually or to multiple devices at once. The spec will support standard Wi-Fi data rates, and devices will be able to connect to one another within about 100 meters of each other. This would allow just about any device that has Wi-Fi built into it to use wireless broadband instead of Bluetooth. It could even eliminate the need for Wi-Fi routers in some places.

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Coleman Research Group’s Healthcare department highlights Rex Healthcare and National Health IT Week

Coleman Research Group’s Healthcare Team facilitates consultations between our clients (institutional investors) and leading healthcare professionals on a wide variety of topics including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, clinical research, medical devices, healthcare providers, insurance, and regulatory issues.

Our Healthcare network spans technology industries across the globe and includes doctors, researchers, scientists, healthcare executives, consultants, and former regulatory officials.

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Rex Healthcare installs 'virtual community'

NORTH CAROLINA – Rex Healthcare, a North Carolina-based not-for-profit health system, is implementing a “virtual community” to promote collaboration between patients and physicians.

Through a new contract with MEDSEEK, a Birmingham, Ala.-based provider of enterprise healthcare portal connectivity solutions, Rex Healthcare will deploy the eHealth ecoSystem.

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National Health IT week begins in nation's capital

WASHINGTON – With 2009 designated by the Obama administration as the year of healthcare transformation, organizers say National Health IT Week delivers a timely message on the potential for healthcare information technology to improve the nation's healthcare system.

Beginning today, the weeklong forum serves as a platform upon which public and private healthcare constituents – vendors, provider organizations, payers, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, government agencies, industry/professional associations, research foundations and consumer protection groups – can raise awareness about the value of health IT among industry leaders and policymakers.

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Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom department highlights iTunes and Freeware Apps

Coleman Research Group’s Technology, Media & Telecom Group facilitates consultations between our clients (institutional investors) and leading technology professionals on a wide variety of topics including semiconductors, data storage and security, computer hardware and software, satellite system operators, telecom equipment, cable and wireless providers, and advertising spending.

Our TMT network spans technology industries across the globe and includes CTOs, CIOs, marketing and business development executives, engineers, buyers, and resellers.

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Music publishers: iTunes not paying fair share

Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance fees from Apple and other e-tailers for not just traditional music downloads but for downloads of films and TV shows as well. Those downloads contain music after all.

These groups even want compensation for iTunes' 30-second song samples. In the future, Apple may be required to pay licensing fees to ASCAP and BMI for the downloads of TV shows and films it sells.

At a time when many iTunes shoppers are still fuming over Apple's first-ever increase in song prices, the demands by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), and other performing-rights groups, would likely lead to more price hikes at iTunes. For many, this would also undoubtedly confirm their perception that those overseeing the music industry are greedy.

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Who needs Microsoft Office? Freeware puts twists on old apps

Most people become so accustomed to using Microsoft Office that they never consider its alternatives. But there are more than one way to process words and spreadsheets: Word and Excel aren't the only games in town.

In fact, it's getting easier and easier to do without the most popular Office applications. Other than Outlook--which my company uses--I haven't opened a Microsoft Office app since last February, when my HP laptop died prematurely.

In fact, it wasn't easy removing the trial version of Office Enterprise 2007 that was preinstalled on the Sony Vaio that replaced the piece-of-crap HP that died. I've been working just fine using the free Jarte word processor and Gnumeric spreadsheet.

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Coleman Research Group’s Healthcare department highlights Abortion Debate and Obama on Canada’s healthcare system

Coleman Research Group’s Healthcare Team facilitates consultations between our clients (institutional investors) and leading healthcare professionals on a wide variety of topics including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, clinical research, medical devices, healthcare providers, insurance, and regulatory issues.

Our Healthcare network spans technology industries across the globe and includes doctors, researchers, scientists, healthcare executives, consultants, and former regulatory officials.

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Abortion Debate Could Make or Break Healthcare Reform

Antiabortion groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family Action have spent the last month pummeling Democratic healthcare reform proposals over abortion coverage. They've attacked the House Democrats' healthcare bill, for instance, for leaving the door open to abortion coverage in the public health insurance option and for using federal funds to underwrite private healthcare plans that cover abortion. But conservative Christian groups have also made little secret of their opposition to the very idea of a greater government role in healthcare, the abortion controversy aside. A recent E-mail update from the Family Research Council blasted President Obama's push for healthcare reform without ever mentioning abortion. "The American people," it said, "...don't want healthcare delivered with the empathy of the IRS, the efficiency of FEMA, or the mismanagement of the post office."

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Obama: Canada’s healthcare system is “too radical”

When President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress last week in a desperate attempt to push his healthcare agenda through, he described Canada’s single payer healthcare as too much of a radical shift from the current American medical system.

Gee Barry, do you think that when the government of Canada first became involved in the medical care of its citizens it was by way of a single payer system? Okay you probably do but the reality is that Canada’s present single payer healthcare was not designed or created – it evolved over time into what it is today.

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