Archive for April 3rd, 2010
Consumer Reports Discovers Problem With The iPad!
That’s right… It won’t charge when you plug it into the USB port of a Windows PC.
Nice little poke in Steve Ballmer’s eye, Steve.
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Again, The Big Problem With Unemployment Is The LENGTH OF TIME People Are Unemployed
Here is a graph of the unemployment rate seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted – plus, by request, two more graphs of the duration of unemployment.
Click on graph for larger image in new window.
The first graph shows the calculated unemployment rate – both seasonally adjusted (SA) and not seasonally adjusted (NSA).
Some sites noted the NSA rate was “only” 9.5% when the SA moved above 10% last October. Other sites noted that the NSA rate had hit 10.6% in January. Both sites were correct – but there is a clear seasonal pattern for employment, so the SA unemployment rate is the one to use. Note: the SA rate will be above the NSA rate in April.
ALSO – the graph above uses the calculated unemployment rate (unrounded). For March, the calculated unemployment rate was 9.749% up from 9.687% in February. Both were rounded to 9.7% …
And on duration of unemployment, by request:
This graph shows the duration of unemployment as a percent of the civilian labor force (line graph unstacked). The graph shows the number of unemployed in four categories as provided by the BLS: less than 5 week, 6 to 14 weeks, 15 to 26 weeks, and 27 weeks or more.
Note: The BLS reports 15+ weeks, so the 15 to 26 weeks number was calculated.
This really shows the change in turnover – there was more turnover in the ’70s and ’80s, since the ‘less than 5 weeks’ category was much higher as a percent of the civilian labor force than in recent years. This changed in the early ’90s – perhaps as a result of more careful hiring practices or changes in demographics or maybe other reasons – but if the level of normal turnover was the same as in the ’80s, the current unemployment rate would probably be the highest since WWII.
The last graph is a repeat, but the information is stacked in reverse order.
In March 2010, there were a record 6.55 million people unemployed for 27 weeks or more, or 4.3% of the labor force.
For more on duration (and possible causes) see my post yesterday: Duration of Unemployment
Earlier employment posts yesterday:
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Geithner Delays Decision To Call China On Currency Manipulation Until After Hu Jintao Visit
From Reuters: US Delays Decision on China Yuan Manipulation
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Saturday he was delaying an April 15 report on whether China manipulates its currency but pledged to press for a more flexible Chinese currency policy.
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My Excellent iPad Adventure (AAPL)
After spending this morning looking at pictures of people standing in line waiting to buy Apple iPads, I couldn’t take it any more.
So I got on the train, went into Manhattan, and got one!
It was surprisingly quick. From the back of the line to paying only took 15 minutes.
Click here to flip through my excellent iPad adventure! →
See Also:
- Photos Of Giddy People With Their New iPads
- iPad Lines Around The World
- Watch The iPad Launch At The Apple Store On 5th Avenue!
It’s a beautiful day in Brooklyn as I leave my house
Getting on the subway. Destination: Manhattan
Central Park is buzzing on the second nice weekend of Spring
And there’s a swarm outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue
This guy is REALLY happy with his new toy
USA Today reminds us it exists, advertising its iPad app with this ridiculous Segway
This girl, who goes by Happy, says she bought an iPad for family back in the Philippines.
I’m in line at 11:22 a.m. I guess I missed most of the craziness this morning.
Wow, that is a beautiful building. Thinking about how I stood here for FOUR HOURS for an iPhone a few summers ago.
An Apple dude brings Donuts in for the team
Next in line! Just 11 minutes waiting.
As I descend the spiral staircase, Apple folks clap and hoot
Mob scene. All those blue shirts are Apple staffers.
I order a few iPads from a girl near the Genius Bar, she rushes back to get them.
A minute later, after picking out cases, she’s ringing me up.
Here’s Apple’s slick iPod touch-based point-of-sale system in use.
And that’s it! 15 minutes after I got in line, a receipt hits my email.
EVERYONE is here.
Even this dog wants an iPad today.
Easy way to get on TV.
Check out the multi-touch on this one!
Who wants to wait until they get home?
As I left, people were still steadily streaming in. Now I’m headed back home to play with my iPad!
Now don’t miss…
iPad lines around the world! →
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Apple’s Strategy To Kill The Kindle iPad App (AAPL, AMZN)
Here’s how Apple is going to make absolutely, 100% sure that you know there’s an iBookstore before you even THINK about buying a Kindle book: When you first launch the iPad App Store, it pops up this warning, asking you if you’d like to download the iBooks app for free. Worked for us.
Click here to see side-by-side screenshots of what Amazon’s Kindle app and Apple’s iBooks app look like →
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See Also:
- Photos Of Giddy People With Their New iPads
- iPad Lines Around The World
- Amazon Rushes Kindle iPad App, Available In Time For iPad Launch