School leasing.
China's Solar Industry Is Bankrupt. The goal of any business is to sell goods or services for more than it costs to produce said goods and services. If you can't sell goods or services for more than their cost you no longer have a viable business. It should now be clear that Chinese solar companies are no longer viable businesses as they're currently constructed. Not only are margins so low that it would be tough to make a profit, they all have debt that makes them less competitive than healthier suppliers. The straw that broke the camel's back I've been negative on Chinese solar for quite a while, but I've generally kept my strongly negative opinions limited to those with so much debt that it's unlikely they could ever compete. But today's earnings report from Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ ) , coupled with Trina Solar's (NYSE: TSL ) updated guidance on Monday, have me thinking that China's entire solar industry will eventually be bankrupt, or bailed out in some form.
Source: Company filings. UAVs: Flying Cell Towers | dailywireless.org. Until recently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were strictly used for military and defense applications, but that is quickly changing. The FAA re-authorization bill paves the way for UAVs to venture into commercial U.S. airspace. Among other things, they are becoming flying cell sites. Bouncing a signal off a UAV can extend the range of a handheld radios more than 100 miles.
With the development of small cells, and internationally approved operating frequencies near 5 GHz, flying cell towers may be coming to a city near you. Boeing last year unveiling its hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye UAV. With a 150-ft. wingspan and 450-lb payload, it is designed to stay aloft at altitudes to 65,000 ft. for four days at a time. The ScanEagle has also been converted to Hydrogen power. In collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, an operator on the ground, with only a laptop computer and tactical radio, demonstrated command over a “swarm” of UAVs. What happens when communications infrastructure is down? Clear reception. You may have long ago thrown out your outmoded 2G “dumbphone” to keep up with the times, but keep in mind that roughly 1 billion phone owners worldwide still rely on them.
But how does one make a dumbphone viable in 2012? You can start with a cellphone base station that can fit in the palm of your hand. Cambridge Consultants, an international research and development outfit, has designed the Sidewinder , a miniature 2G base station that runs a complete, low-power GSM network on a single circuit board. Eight phones can run on its platform from up to 43 yards indoors and 218 yards outdoors, useful for police and first responders. For consumers, such a device can be used at small businesses to handle mobile payments in a simple, secure way. After turning down the range of the device, a store owner can charge against a phone’s SIM card, keeping the point-of-sale information on their local mobile network and away from hackers. Q&A with Tom Blaxland of Comcast on the future of TV. - Philadelphia Business Journal. Tom Blaxland is the senior director, product management, for Xfinity TV for Comcast’s Cable Communications unit.
He says Comcast's latest TV innovation, X1, is available in several major markets already and will be coming to Philadelphia in a few weeks. Edited by Peter Key, Special to the Business Journal Most people like watching television, but Tom Blaxland likes thinking about how people watch it. Blaxland is the senior director, product management, for Xfinity TV for Comcast Corp.’s Comcast Cable Communications Inc. unit, which runs the Philadelphia behemoth’s cable-TV, Internet and phone operations. Blaxland, who was previously a recording engineer and record label producer in his hometown of Sydney, Australia, joined Comcast in 2003 to oversee the entertainment, movie and TV areas of its website. Recently Blaxland shared his thoughts on how Comcast keeps up with innovation, and the future of television.
PBJ: What exactly do you do? Maryland News. City school police cast vote of 'no confidence' in chief. Members of the Baltimore school police union cast a vote of "no confidence" in their police chief last month, pointing to what they said was his lack of responsiveness to their concerns, union leaders announced Thursday. In a letter addressed to city schools CEO Andrés Alonso, Sgt. Clyde E. Boatwright, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5, said that between Oct. 14 and Oct. 21, 84 of 110 officers cast a vote of "no confidence" in Chief Marshall "Toby" Goodwin's ability to run the school system's police department. "Since the FOP has taken over responsibility of being the bargaining agent for school police officers, we have attempted to have and maintain a working relationship with Chief Goodwin," read the letter, obtained by The Baltimore Sun. "Recently all communication on issues relevant to the membership have been ignored and or unanswered.
" Boatwright and Goodwin declined to comment Thursday on the letter, which was sent to all union members. erica.green@baltsun.com. Google. The Baltimore Sun | Breaking news, sports, weather and traffic in Baltimore - baltimoresun.com.