U.S. Allows $500 Rollovers in FSA Health Savings Accounts

The Obama administration loosened rules governing health-care savings accounts known as flexible-spending arrangements, or FSAs, allowing consumers to roll over as much as $500 in unused funds each year.The change—likely to be popular with consumers—modifies the use-it-or-lose-it rule that has governed the tax-advantaged accounts for decades.Currently, FSA accounts are used by about 14 million families. They allow employees to set aside pretax dollars to pay for many health expenses that aren’t covered by insurance, such as deductibles or dental and vision services.The plans provide significant benefits. But for the past 30 years, they have been subject to a rule that meant any funds left unused at the end of the year have been forfeited to the employer. That has led to an annual rush to spend down the accounts that critics say has led to wasteful end-of-year spending. The rule also has discouraged some people from signing up,colourful double wall stainless steel vacuum flask including lower-income people who could benefit most.The idea behind the use-it-or-lose-it rule was to prevent people from sheltering large amounts of money in the accounts. But President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul reduced the amount of employee contributions to $2,500 for 2013, cutting the need for the use-it-or-lose-it rule, Treasury officials said Thursday.High Quality Lamp Shade From China LAMPLO CO.,LTD

In 2005, the Treasury allowed a 21/2 month grace period for spending down FSAs,double wall stainless steel thermos vacuum flask as a way of softening the use-it-or-lose-it rule. Employers now will be able to offer either the grace period or the $500 rollover provision, though not both. They can also offer neither.High Quality Lamplo Hexagon Silk String Lamp Shade LS30004The change comes at a time when the Obama administration has been under criticism, particularly from Republicans, over the rocky rollout of core provisions of its health-care overhaul. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Thursday’s announcement underscores the administration’s continuing efforts to provide “added flexibility and common-sense solutions to how people pay for their health care.”Despite the partisan battle over the Affordable Care Act, a longtime Senate Republican praised the latest move.double wall stainless steel thermos bottle“This was a good decision by the Treasury Department,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), who has sponsored legislation to achieve many of the same goals. “Allowing Americans who have one of these accounts to roll $500 over to the following year just makes sense and will give people more help to pay for out-of-pocket health-care costs,” Mr. Hatch said.

Autodesk's Idea to Knit the Hyperloop Out of Carbon Fiber

Elon Musk tantalized the world in August with his plans for the Hyperloop, a mode of travel that would blast people between cities at 800 miles per hour in capsules zipping through an above-ground tube. In a 58-page report, Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Motors (TSLA) and SpaceX, outlined his vision for the technology, which would use supercharged electric motors for propulsion. Musk’s paper called on the public to help refine the design and bring the Hyperloop to fruition. Armchair advisers have since arrived en masse.

Most of the helpful suggestions have centered on perfecting the performance and the look of the people-carrying pods inside the Hyperloop. At Autodesk (ADSK), the San Rafael (Calif.quantum magnetic analyzer suppliers)-based company whose computer-aided design software is used by everyone from architects to carmakers, Jordan Brandt zeroed in on the design of the tube and came up with a novel means of manufacturing it. “Elon has done a great job working on the aerodynamics of the capsule and the energy requirements—the things you would expect,Quantum Analyzer QMA201 With Chinese &Malaysian Version” says Brandt. “I found there wasn’t as much creativity put into the infrastructure part, which is the most expensive part. It seemed like we were almost obligated to pitch our approach.”

The tube in Musk’s plan is made out of prefabricated steel sections that must be welded together. Critics have pointed out that could leave the Hyperloop prone to air leaks, which would undermine the internal low-pressure system it needs to run. Brandt, who studied building technology at Harvard University and holds the title of technology futurist at Autodesk,colourful double wall stainless steel thermos coffee pot proposes making the tube out of one very long stretch of braided carbon fiber infused with an epoxy resin. The strong, lightweight material is used to make everything from jumbo jets to race cars.Chinese meridian health analyzer

There are machines that can churn out limited qualities of the braided carbon fiber. Brandt envisions building a supersize version and mounting it onto a rig loaded with reels of carbon fiber so it could roll along the Hyperloop’s route. Working at a rate of 1 meter per minute, this factory on wheels could weave a Hyperloop tube from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than two years, and, says Brandt, require fewer support pylons. “Elon’s estimate calls for about $2.6 billion for concrete, but we’d get that down to more like $1.5 billion,” he says.

Autodesk has run computer simulations of Brandt’s design, and there’s evidence it may work. “The machines that can do this exist,” he says. “It’s just a matter of bulking up the technology.” Musk plans to build a small prototype of the Hyperloop to test out the propulsion technology.Cast iron tubs Other aspects of the project will begin to take shape now that a new corporation has been established to turn Musk’s concept into a business. Yet even if the Hyperloop never becomes reality, it’s a good bet the world will find uses for innovations it inspired.

Driver cited for wearing Google Glass may be first in California

With every technological advance, society must answer certain questions.One of those questions may have been answered Tuesday night on a busy freeway in San Diego County.Yes,High Quality Lamplo Cotton Mushroom Floor Lamp Shade LS30014 you can get a ticket for driving while wearing the new eyewear-like Google Glass wearable computer, which is now being tested nationwide for possible entry into the consumer market.Cecilia Abadie, 44, who lives in Temecula and works at a golf store in San Diego, got just such a ticket Tuesday night after being stopped for speeding by a California Highway Patrol officer.Quickly,Tire Shape PU Stress Reliever Abadie posted a note on the Internet: "A cop just stopped me and gave me a ticket for wearing Google Glass while driving! ... Is Google Glass illegal while driving or is this cop wrong??? Any legal advice is appreciated."The CHP on Wednesday said that the ticket was issued as a violation of California Vehicle Code 27602 that makes it illegal to "drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at a point forward of the back of the driver's seat,scissor lift or is operating and the monitor, screen, or display is visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle."

While there is no official count, CHP officials in San Diego and at the agency's headquarters in Sacramento said they believe the ticket to Abadie may be the first issued for wearing Google Glass.Google, in a statement, noted that its product is meant to help the wearer be in contact with the world and not to make them be distracted from something important like driving.CHP spokesman Jake Sanchez, in the San Diego office, said that while there has not been a specific directive to patrol officers about Google Glass, discouraging distracted driving is a priority."Anything that takes your attention away from driving -- putting on makeup, eating food, talking to a passenger, watching a video, talking on the phone -- is dangerous," Sanchez said.Individual officers have leeway in issuing a Microcirculation analyzerticket for distracted driving, in this case in addition to a speeding violation, Sanchez said."It's every officer's own judgment on whether the law has been violated," he said.Abadie's post garnered more than 200 comments, including many urging her to fight the ticket in court."Please please please, fight this in court. We need to get a ruling on this," said one commenter.Used cranesAbadie said if she fights the ticket, the result might hinge on whether the judge is a techie."It's all in how a judge will interpret it and I suspect their love or hate and understanding of the technology might help or the opposite," she wrote.

Demand drives soybean imports

Soybean imports are likely to rise to a new high in the 2013-14 market year (September 2013 to August 2014) following a drop in domestic output and greater demand for animal feed and edible oil.double wall stainless steel thermos bottleHeilongjiang province in Northeast China, the nation's largest soybean producer, endured heavy rain and flooding over the past four months.There are more than 235 million hectares of soybean farmland, which had an output of 4.64 million metric tons in 2012, according to Heilongjiang's agriculture commission."The adverse weather conditions have severely undercut Heilongjiang's soybean production this year and will force China to import more foreign soybeans to meet its domestic demand," said Hu Zengmin, an analyst at the China National Grain and Oils Information Center in Harbin."Based on rising market demand, China's soybean imports in 2013-14 are likely to rise by 15 percent from the previous market year," making 10 consecutive years of rising soybean imports, Hu said.Soybean imports rose 11.2 percent to 58.4 million tons in 2012 from a year earlier, while prices were up 5.8 percent year-on-year to $599.30 per ton, according to the General Administration of High Quality Lamplo Hexagon Silk String Lamp Shade LS30004Customs.Hu said Heilongjiang's soybean production may drop by between 650,000 and 500,000 tons this year.The grain and oils information center forecast that China's soybean output would fall by up to 2.6 percent to 12 million tons from a year ago, which would mark the third year running of declining output.The US Department of Agriculture also forecast China's soybean imports to hit 69 million tons in the 2013-14 market year, a 16 percent increase over the previous year.

Zhang Xiaoping, director for China at the US Soybean Export Council, said that because the price of corn has remained high, many farmers in Heilongjiang switched from growing soybeans to corn, even though the latter crop costs more to cultivate.Data show that the declining cultivation of soybeans in Heilongjiang has been because of higher corn prices as well as government guarantees of minimum purchase prices.Farmers in Northeast China can get between 9,000 yuan ($1,470) and 12,000 yuan per hectare from corn, while soybeans earn them only 7,500 yuan per hectare.China imported 17.7 million tons of colourful double wall stainless steel vacuum flasksoybeans from the US in September, an increase of about 18 percent over the same period last year."This is a positive sign for China to import more US soybeans at the beginning of the 2013-14 market year," Zhang said. "From a short-term perspective, Chinese companies will keep a close eye on the US market until April and May of next year, before the South American market starts its soybean selling season.High Quality Lamp Shade From China LAMPLO CO.,LTD"China purchased 21.5 million tons of soybeans from the US in the 2012-13 market year. Zhang expects it will import between 22 million and 24 million tons of US soybeans in the next market year.China did not become a major international soybean market until the 1990s. Rising financial capability and the desire to improve the nation's diet by raising the consumption of pork, poultry, eggs and vegetable oil have pushed China to become the world's largest importer and consumer.

To further meet domestic demand, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp, China Grain Reserves Corp and Chinatex Corp signed a number of deals with US grain traders Archer Daniels Midland Co, Bunge Ltd and Columbia Grain to import 4.83 million tons of their soybeans in late September. Those beans will ship to China between now and next March.Zhang said South America's weather conditions and infrastructure, especially regarding Brazil's and Argentina's efforts to improve road and port facilities, will play a key role in determining the size of their soybean exports to China.The soybean sector covers a double wall stainless steel thermos vacuum flaskrange of businesses that involve food and oil processing, production, animal husbandry, chemical fiber and other industries."With difficulties concerning land, water resources and temperature conditions, it is hard for China to meet the growing demand for soybeans domestically. Under such circumstances, it must buy soybeans from large foreign sources," said Ding Lixin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.

Apple profit falls despite strong iPhone sales

Apple watchers, that group of investors and tech geeks who anticipate every new iProduct iteration with bated breath, were even more excited than usual about the company’s earnings call Monday. A lot rode on the outcome: Angst about Apple’s potential decline has grown since game-changing new products such as a television or a smartwatch failed to appear, iPad sales have flattened and rivals such as Samsung sold more phones last quarter.Part of the problem in the earnings report may be the fact it did not capture some of the new toys in Apple’s pipeline.colourful stainless steel thermos flask Although demand for the iPhone 5S was strong, supply backlogs meant that consumers couldn’t buy them as quickly as they wanted. And the newly announced products — a lighter full-sized iPad, an iPad mini with a sharper display and the most powerful desktop ever — won’t go on sale for weeks.koyo bearing Typically, profits improve as manufacturing costs decline with higher volumes, and the full suite of products will be available for the blockbuster holiday season.High quality Quantum Analyzer QMA201 

The other problem, though, is that Wall Street’s expectations for Apple are incredibly high. The company missed expectations for iPad sales by 400,double wall stainless steel coffee pot000 units, for example, despite the fact that sales were steady at 14.1 million in advance of the release of two new models, which usually depress sales of the old ones. And Apple often notes defensively that Wall Street wouldn’t expect quarterly miracles from any other company.“All of these are products that only Apple could have delivered, and most companies would be happy with just one of them,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said on the earnings call after having run through the suite of updated gadgets.Apple’s shares dove sharply in after-hours trading as soon as the earnings were released, but rebounded to less than 1 percent down. The stock hovered below $528 which, for perspective, is up from a low of $390 in April but down from its all-time high of $700 in September 2012. 

To offset a mixed report, Apple executives focused on how much consumers love their products, citing one survey that puts satisfaction rates for the iPhone at 93 percent, and another that shows that people use their iPhones 53 percent more than Android users.Skin analyzer App developers have made $13 billion through the iTunes store, over half of that over the past year.Apple is using a bit of its $146.8 billion cash stockpile to keep them happy, coming out with its first free upgrade to its operating system for Macs. That probably won’t satisfy activist investor Carl Icahn, who last week embarked on a campaign to get Apple to instead buy back stock, which would bolster the price for shareholders.

Valley engineers want kids to program robots

Vikas Gupta lives and works among Silicon Valley's brightest engineers, but he worries about his 2-year-old daughter's chance for a decent education to thrive in a world run by technology.The serial entrepreneur, who had better opportunities growing up with India's schools, sees a U.Microcirculation analyzerS. education system lacking to deliver programmers. He wants to change that.Gupta and others formed Play-i,scissor lift a startup focused on programmable robots aimed at children as young as five. Their idea is to make learning how to program robots easy."The question was, how can we make something that's fun, that's extremely inviting, and gets parents and kids into the magical world of programming at a young age?" says Gupta.Mountain View,High Quality Lamplo Cotton Mushroom Floor Lamp Shade LS30014 Calif.-based Playi 's two robots, named Bo and Yana, allow kids to manipulate their bright-colored orbs that make sounds,Used cranes flash lights and move. 

The robots are controllable by an iPad and are intended for kids to customize their functions and progressively learn building blocks of programming. Bo can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a miniature xylophone and could offer infinite song possibilities if programmed. Yana can be programmed to make sounds such as a helicopter or ambulance and to flash.Google Ventures and other investors injected $1 million in seed funding to get Gupta's team of seven started earlier this year. The start-up began a crowd-sourced funding campaign Tire Shape PU Stress Relieverto finance the completion of its first small production to test the market.Bo and Yana will cost $149 and $49, respectively. Play-i expects to deliver 1,500 of the robots if the company reaches the $250,000 goal of its funding campaign. Play-i plans to ship customers the completed robots by June."It's a tangible way for kids to get programming at a much younger age." says Google Ventures partner Andy Wheeler. "Hopefully, within a few years they are expanding into retail and expanding the software and hardware components ... to allow the toy to grow with the child."Play-i wants its robots in the hands of kids for testing and feedback. The company is planning to put them into an after school program for girls called Techbridge, based in Oakland, Calif."They are playful in a way that kids would connect with and see this as more than looking at a screen. It would be fun for kids," says Linda Kekelis, executive director at Techbridge.

Apple shows off thinner iPad Air and retina iPad Mini

Its 7.9in (20cm) screen has been upgraded to feature 2048 by 1536 pixels - the same as the larger model.Quantum Analyzer QMA201 With Chinese&English Version It is being branded as "retina" to highlight the increased resolution.Amazon and Google have already announced small tablets - the Kindle Fire HDX and Nexus 7 - with similar high definition displays."We've got the retina upgrade to the smaller iPad that many thought should have been there in the first place," Tony Cripps, principal analyst at tech consultants Ovum, reflected after the announcement in San Francisco."Market share slip is inevitable because so many rival devices are coming out, which is not necessarily a bad thing as the overall sector is growing."Apple does now have a cheaper model thanks to it offering the original iPad Mini at a lower price - but the firm doesn't really want to go to the low-end because that's not where the greatest profit is extracted."Apple also announced that the latest version of its Mac operating system, Mavericks, would be offered at no cost to owners of computers already running any version of OS X released since 2009. It is the first time the company has not charged for a major Mac OS upgrade.quantum analyzerBy contrast the full version of Windows 8.1 is sold for about ￡100, although it is free to existing Windows 8 users.Linux-based Ubuntu has always been offered without charge. Chromebook computers also get free upgrades for Google's PC operating system.

New laptops, productivity and leisure apps were also unveiled. However,colourful double wall stainless steel thermos bottle Apple did not show off a new TV set-top box as some had speculated.The California-based firm's most recent financial release said that its iPad range accounted for $25.8bn (￡17.6bn) worth of sales in the nine months leading up to July.That represented 19% of its revenue for the period.However,Chinese meridian health analyzer Apple acknowledged that the amount of money it was making from the product line was growing three times slower than the growth in unit sales since many customers were opting for its cheaper iPad Mini and iPad 2 models rather than its top-of-the -range "retina display" versions.Apple's iOS operating system accounted for 53.9% of all tablets shipped in 2012, according to Gartner.The tech research firm forecasts that Android will become the market leader with a 49.6% share, versus Apple's 48.6% this year, adding that it expects that gap to widen further in 2014.However, consultants at IHS iSuppli said those figures needed to be put in context thanks to Apple's success at making money by taking a cut of app sales."It is in terms of revenue per active device where Apple's lead is strongest," said the firm's mobile media analyst Jack Kent.

"An iOS device generates around three to four times as much app revenue through Apple's App Store as an Android device through Google Play."Apple has so far offered a more compelling range of tablet-specific content, but Google is clearly looking to address this."He added that many Android tablets, including Amazon's Kindle and most products sold in China,Quantum Resonance Magnetic Analyzer QMA101 manufacturers did not have Google's store pre-installed.Apple's chief executive Tim Cook noted there were now 475,000 apps designed for iPads available through its online marketplace.But another market watcher suggested that Apple's priority remained securing a "premium" margin on the shop price of its hardware, and that add-on software sales were of secondary interest."Some players, like Amazon, can afford to slash prices because they have a different business model based on content and commerce," said Thomas Husson, from the tech industry analysts Forrester."While Apple has shared $13bn to developers since 2008, it has made less than $6bn out of apps."It's a huge stat, but low in comparison with Apple's quarterly results."

Dollar slumps on weak U.S. jobs report

The U.S. dollar plunged against major currencies Tuesday after a report showed U.S. non-farm sector added less jobs than expected and speculations that the Federal Reserve may delay tapering bond-buying program rose again.The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against six major currencies, dropped to the lowest level of 79.2 in eight months. The dollar slipped to nearly two-year low versus the euro and broke through the level of 1.37.Skin analyzerU.S. employers added 148,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department said Tuesday, missing market estimates.nsk bearing The unemployment rate edged down to a near-five-year low of 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent in August, mainly due to a lower labor- force participation rate.Marcus Bullus, trading director with MB Capital, commented the jobless rate may have improved to its best level in nearly five years, but the rate of jobs creation has slumped.

"The full impact of the government shutdown is still unknown, and while that remains the case, don't expect the Federal Open Market Committee to start turning off America's QE taps when it meets later this month,"said Bullus.U.S. Congress struck a last-minute deal last Wednesday to reopen the U.S. federal government and raise the debt ceiling. President Barack Obama signed the bill to fund the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt ceiling until Feb. 7.Analysts generally believed colourful double wall stainless steel vacuum flaskthat the U.S. central bank would not taper its quantitative easing policy until early next year, since the government shutdown had dampened consumer sentiment and posed a negative effect on the economy. The Fed's next two policy meetings will be held on Oct. 29-30 and Dec.17-18.

Moreover, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday that construction spending advanced 0.6 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 915.1 billion U.S. dollars.In late New York trading, the euro soared to 1.3783 dollars from 1.3677 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.6239 dollars from 1.6145 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.Cast iron clawfoot tubsSlap Bracelet9707 dollar from 0.9657 dollar.The dollar bought 98.12 Japanese yen, lower than 98.19 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved down to 0.8974 Swiss franc from 0.9021 Swiss franc and dropped to 1.0287 Canadian dollars from 1.0299 Canadian dollars.

YouTube Announces that 40% of Traffic is Mobile Views

YouTube Announces that 40 percent Traffic is Mobile ViewsLast year, YouTube created a buzz when its app disappeared on iPhone and later returned in an overhauled version. Today, the reason for that action could finally be explained. The video-sharing Website may have been aiming to control and Quantum Analyzer QMA201 With Chinese&English Version improve its mobile experience. It could be on the way to finally become a ‘mobile-first’ firm.The company has recently announced that up to 40% of its current traffic comes from mobile devices. That figure was up from 25% last year. Interestingly, in 2011, it was just 6%. Needless to say, mobile users account for fast-increasing market share. And anyone could logically see where this would possibly go.YouTube’s latest traffic number clearly includes both smartphones and tablets. However, it did not provide a breakdown of the difference split between the two types of devices.High Quality Lamp Shade From China LAMPLO CO.,LTD But most analysts think that majority of YouTube views on mobile happen on handsets.

However, this may not mean that majority of mobile views of YouTube happen ‘on the go.’ There are higher chances that many of the site’s mobile Lanyard Strap viewers do their activities within the comfort of their living rooms and even in bedrooms. It is assumed that many smartphone users these days also prefer to use their mobile devices in accessing the Internet even if they are at home or in the office.But there could be a possible issue about the rising number of mobile views of YouTube. That is because going mobile may mean generating less advertising money,colourful double wall stainless steel thermos bottleif the current setup would be continued. This may not be due to a possibility that advertisers may pay lower rates to mobile apps because YouTube’s ad rates are uniform throughout regardless of venue.

The problem could be that there are various ways to acquire ads on the conventional Web page. In comparison, there could only be a single way to do it on YouTube app. That is because it features the ‘TrueView’ skippable ads that could easily be turned off. Thus, there could be smaller ad revenue for each mobile view.In general,colourful double wall stainless steel vacuum flask it makes for a better experience especially for YouTube users out there. It could even be better for YouTube and its partners. But today, that may mean the move towards going mobile would provide video creators even greater reasons to complain.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5. The Two Phones Compared

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5. The Two Phones Compared. Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5 under the Microscope. What Would you Choose?

The new Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5 are two great smart phones that the public has availablle, but which one is actually the better phone? The iPhone 5 is most obviously the smaller and less dense of the two with the length of your thumb being able to slide from top to bottom. The Galaxy S4 is about 19% wider than the iPhone 5 and is significantly taller. The iPhone 5 is great for those days when you just want to pull your phone out and snap a picture,Quantum Resonance Magnetic Analyzer QMA201 manufacturers or quickly have access to it from your jeans. The smaller the phone, the easier it is to be able to cart it. Now, iPhone quickly became that phone that was a portable computer in your hands, but in personal opinion, the Samsung Galaxy S4 surpasses it.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is also a certified featherweight phone, no matter how large it may seem. In fact, the Galaxy S4 beats the iPhone in relative weight by being 11% lighter. The Galaxy S4 is the lightest big high-end smartphone that is available on the market right now. The Galaxy S4 is made of plastic, while the iPhone is made of a anodized aluminum .Now, the Galaxy S4 may seem cheap in hand, but the phone makes up for it when it comes to accessories. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a removable battery pack,nsk bearing where you can switch batteries easily through the day,PET protective film it has a microSD card slot where you can save and load pictures on to the phone, as well as, the option to expand your media storage. The iPhone 5 doesn't do any of that.

The iPhone's button layout hasn't changed since the beginning of 2007, and probably will never do so. The Galaxy S4 is the same with having the lower 'home' button , but switching it up with a 'back' switch and a 'menu' button. The displays on the phone are also dramatically different. The iPhone 5 has a four inch screen with a 16.Skin analyzer9 ratio, and the Galaxy S4 has 5 inch screen with the exact same ratio. The difference: the iPhone 5 only gives you 63% of what the Galaxy S4 can give you in screen property. So which one is the better? iPhone 5 is the phone of the generation, being the first hi-tech phone available, the popularity is still there. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the newer, much simpler, and bigger phone that is gaining a high buy ratio.Vintage bath fixtures You must choose the phone that fits your needs- iPhone5 or Samsung Galaxy S4.

Twitter's Loss Widens

The San Francisco social network also Tuesday said it plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, NYX -0.61% a strong endorsement of the Big Board's effort to be a trading hub for technology companies.The filing advances Twitter toward an initial public offering that could take place in November. The roadshow for the IPO could begin as soon as Oct. 25, according to people close to the discussions, although it isn't clear if it will.For the third quarter, Twitter said its net loss widened to $64.6 million, from $21.double wall stainless steel thermos bottle6 million, in the same period a year earlier. The company booked big increases in expenses for research and development, and sales and marketing.Quarterly revenue more than doubled, to $168.6 million, from $82.3 million a year ago. That was roughly the same growth rate as in the second quarter.Helping to drive revenue was advertising on mobile devices, as users increasingly access Twitter on their smartphones.

The company said more than 70% of advertising revenue came from mobile devices in the third quarter, compared with more than 65% in the second quarter.To put Twitter's ad business in perspective: Users clicked on or retweeted 15 times as many ads in the third quarter as in the first quarter of 2012. Meanwhile, the average price of each ad is down over 75%.Twitter said it averaged 232 million active users per month in the third quarter, 6% more than in the second quarter. The growth rate slowed, from 7% in the second quarter and 10% in the first quarter. By comparison,Quantum Analyzer QMA201 With Chinese&English Version Facebook Inc. FB -0.02% has more than 1.2 billion monthly users.Lanyard StrapThe filing also revealed new details about Twitter's biggest shareholders. Private-equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management LLC holds the biggest stake with 17.9%, followed by J.P. Morgan JPM -0.76% with 10.3%. Other major holders include Spark Capital, Benchmark Capital Partners, Union Square Ventures and DST Global. Other than J.P. Morgan, those firms were listed in Twitter's initial filing, but their stakes weren't specified.

Twitter's choice of the NYSE was a setback for Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., NDAQ -0.double wall stainless steel thermos vacuum flask60% whose Nasdaq Stock Market has historically been the home for many technology shares. Nasdaq last year oversaw Facebook's glitch-filled IPO.Twitter executives have sought to avoid some of the pitfalls that befell Facebook, people close to the company have said."This is a 180 [degree turn] from Facebook," said Patrick Healy, chief executive of Issuer Advisory Group LLC, which advises companies on stock-exchange issues. "It's Twitter's way of saying, 'don't paint me with the same brush.'"Landing Twitter burnishes the NYSE's claim as a home for Internet and social media companies. The exchange is a unit of NYSE Euronext, which is in the process of merging with Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc. Over the last two years, NYSE also landed high-profile tech firms LinkedIn Corp. LNKD +3.04% , Yelp Inc. YELP -0.75% and Pandora Media Inc., P +0.72% while Nasdaq won Zillow Inc., Z -0.10% Groupon Inc. GRPN +1.54% and Zynga Inc."All of us at Nasdaq wish Twitter well as they pursue their initial public offering," a Nasdaq spokesman said."This is a decisive win for the NYSE, and a continuation of our momentum in the technology sector. We look forward to joining with Twitter on this landmark IPO,ntn bearing" said Scott Cutler, NYSE's head of listings.

Apple invites go out for Oct. 22 event in San Francis

Apple sent out invitations Tuesday to an event on Oct. 22 in San Francisco, where the tech giant is expected to unveil new versions of its dominant iPad tablet computers."We still have a lot to cover," Apple said in the invite for the event, which will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater.glass refillApple has been under pressure from investors to release new gadgets to prop up its sagging growth rate.The company's recent iPhone launch, in which it released two new versions for the first time, generated strong demand globally.However, the cheaper model, the iPhone 5c, was deemed not cheap enough by Wall Street,spherical roller bearing which was hoping that Apple would release a phone more suited to emerging-market customers with less money to spend.On Oct. 22, Apple is expected to unveil a new full-size iPad and an upgraded version of its iPad mini, ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season.PET protective film The latter will likely get the crisper "Retina" display that is already on the bigger tablets.Apple may also release details of its new OS X Mavericks operating system and refresh some of its Mac computers, which will likely run the new OS."While (CEO) Tim Cook has said to expect an amazing year, the reality is that we've just seen iterative refreshes," said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners.Quantum Resonance Magnetic Analyzer QMA201 manufacturers "This doesn't necessarily propel the stock to the heights it was once at."

Apple shares rose almost 1% to trade above $500 on Tuesday afternoon. However, the stock traded above $700 last year. It closed at $498.68, up $2.64, Tuesday.Gillis expects upgraded iPads with the same pricing model and a new Retina screen for the iPad mini."While this is happening, tablet share for Apple continues to drop because of decent offerings from Amazon and Google at much lower price points,Drawstring Backpack" he said.Apple often hints at what new products might entail in its invitations. The latest hint — "We still have a lot to cover" — probably doesn't mean the company will release iPads in different sizes, Gillis said."I think it means the covers are going to be redesigned," the analyst said. "This is iteration again."Still, demand will likely be strong for Apple's new iPads.A recent survey of customers waiting to buy the high-end iPhone 5s, by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, found that 70% already owned in iPad. Of those, half expected to upgrade their iPads in the next year.Of the iPhone 5s customers who did not own an iPad already, 38% said they planned to buy a tablet from Apple in the next year. That was up from a previous survey that Munster conducted when the iPhone 5 was launched.

S.Korean shares fall on U.S. debt woes

South Korean shares ended slightly lower on Monday as uncertainties remained over negotiations in the United States over the budget plan and debt ceiling.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4. 63 points, or 0.23 percent,Cheap Clocks & Watches on sale, to close at 2,020.27. Trading volume stood at 218.43 million shares worth 3.58 trillion won (3.34 billion U.S. dollars).Market optimism emerged on a possible fiscal deal in Washington after U.S. President Barack Obama met with Republican leaders to solve the fiscal deadlock that led to a partial government shutdown for around two weeks.Although no decision was made at the meeting, it was the first serious talks between Obama and the Republicans, boosting optimism over breakthrough of the fiscal impasse.Foreign investors bought a net 197.7 billion won worth of local stocks, keeping their buying spree for 32 straight sessions.Used loaders It was the longest winning streak since the Korea Exchange began to compile such data in 1999.

Institutional investors,double wall stainless steel thermos vacuum flask however, sold stocks worth 243.7 billion won due to lingering uncertainties over the U.S. debt deal. Three days were just left for the deadline of the debt ceiling talks.If Congress fails to raise the debt limit of 16.7 trillion dollars by the deadline of Oct. 17, the U.S. government will fall into default on debt for the first time in the country's history.Large-cap shares ended mixed. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics slid 0.4 percent, and memory chip giant SK Hynix declined 0.8 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor declined 1 percent, and the nations' biggest life insurer Samsung Life Insurance lost 1.4 percent.Leading chemical firm LG Chem gained 1.4 percent, and top steelmaker POSCO added 0.3 percent. The country's No.3 banking group Shinhan Financial Group rose 0.9 percent.The South Korean currency finished at 1,071.5 won against the greenback, down 0.1 won from Friday's close.Bond prices ended lower. The yield on the liquid three-year treasury notes rose 0.Quantum Resonance Magnetic Analyzer QMA201 manufacturers02 percentage point to 2.88 percent,High Quality Lamplo Bell Silk Lamp Shade LS30003 and the return on the benchmark 10-year government bonds gained 0.04 percentage point to 3.54 percent.

Google Adds More User Photos to Ads in Joust With Facebook

Google Inc. is expanding its use of profile names and photos in advertisements, stepping up competition with Facebook Inc. in social marketing.Users who endorse a restaurant or give an album a high rating could have their profile information show up as part of an ad that’s seen by Vintage faucetsfriends, Google said today on its website. The changes, which go live Nov. 11, were outlined in an update to the company’s terms of service.Google, the world’s biggest search engine, is adding social features to its ad products amid increased competition from Facebook and Twitter Inc. (TWTR:US), which are taking market share. The changes under “shared endorsements” apply to properties such as search, Google Maps and Play, the store for buying digital music, movies and books.“Feedback from people you know can save you time and improve results for you and your friends across all Google services,” the Mountain View, California-based company said in today’s post.Google previously added profile photos and names to promotions after users hit a button called “+1” signaling they liked a page or a search result. With the updates, Google expands that to other types of endorsements, including reviews.

For example, a Web surfer could search for a restaurant and see an ad for a pizza place with a friend’s opinion. Or someone’s four-star rating on a new album may be visible to a friend who visits the band’s page on Google Play.Users under the age of 18 are excluded from the service. The profile information, drawn from the Google+ social network, will only be shown to people who already see the content,Used komatsu and users can adjust privacy settings to block the new feature, the company said.Privacy is a growing concern as companies including Google, Facebook and LinkedIn Corp. dig deeper into user data. Last month, privacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission to prevent Facebook from changing its data-use policies,glass refill citing concerns on how the information was being used for ads.“The FTC needs to closely examine this new change in Google policy,” Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy,ntn bearing a Washington-based privacy group, said in an e-mail.PET protective film This move “reflects the growing and unchecked expansion of online data collection by the industry,” Chester said.

Broadcasters take Aereo battle to U.S. Supreme Court

The four major broadcasters asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to hear their case against Aereo Inc, arguing the online service steals copyrighted television content.Walt Disney Co's ABC network, CBS Broadcasting Inc, Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal, and Fox Television Stations Inc said allowing Aereo to operate is "already transforming the industry and threatening the very fundamentals of broadcast television."The broadcasters are appealing an April decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that denied their request to shut Aereo while litigation moved forward.A spokeswoman for Aereo said the company would respond "in due course."The Supreme Court will likely decide by the end of the year whether to take the case.Aereo, backed by Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, charges users a low monthly fee to watch live or recorded broadcast TV channels on computers or mobile devices. Aereo does not pay the broadcasters.The broadcasters have said the service violates copyrights on television programs and is a threat to their ability to control subscription fees and generate advertising.Aereo has countered that its service does nothing more than provide users with what they could get with a personal television antenna.Several lawsuits between Aereo and television providers are playing out across the country,Cast iron clawfoot tubs including in federal courts in New York, Massachusetts and Utah. The Supreme Court appeal stems from the New York litigation.This week, a Boston federal judge denied a request by Hearst Television Inc's local station, WCVB-TV, that Aereo be prevented from providing WCVB programs to subscribers while the lawsuit there is pending.While the broadcasters have not had success so far against Aereo,BOPP tape they did convince a California federal court to force Aereo competitor FilmOn X to shut down while a lawsuit there goes forward.FilmOn X appealed the lower court's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments in the case in August but has yet to issue an opinion.

A Washington D.C. district court judge also ruled in September that FilmOn X must cease to operate everywhere in the country, except the region covered by the 2nd Circuit, while the lawsuit brought by broadcasters there moves forward.It is difficult to predict if the Supreme Court will accept a case, but one of the factors the justices use to decide is whether the case presents an issue of national importance, said David Wittenstein, a media attorney with the law firm Dow Cast iron tubsLohnes.There is not an official split between the U.S. appeals courts on whether Aereo and services like it violate U.S. copyright law, he said. The necessity of resolving different circuit court rulings is often a reason the high court accepts a case.Still, Wittenstein said, the disparity between the way the district courts in New York and Massachusetts, on one side, and California and Washington D.C., on the other,double wall stainless steel thermos have applied what is supposed to be uniform U.S. copyright law could give the justices reason to take the case.A spokesman for Fox said broadcasters "rely on enforcement of the law to receive fair value" for their programming, and the Supreme Court filing "underscores our resolve to see justice done."NBC and CBS declined to comment.fag bearing ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stocks Soar on Budget-Deal Hopes

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared more than 300 points as investors breathed a sigh of relief that lawmakers showed signs of breaking the political gridlock in Washington.Hints of an end to the political brinkmanship which led to a partial government shutdown raised hopes that a deal to lift the federal debt ceiling could be reached in time to avoid the U.S. Treasury defaulting on debt payments.The Dow climbed 323.09 points, or 2.2%, to 15126.07, closing near the session’s highs. Thursday’s advance was the biggest one-day point gain since Dec. 20,cc composite 2011 and the biggest on a percentage basis since Jan. 2, when the blue chips gained 2.3% after Congress reached a deal to avoid an earlier budget-disaster scenario,Drawstring Backpack the so-called fiscal cliff.While the big rally served to break the gloom that has been building among investors since the government shutdown began, many investors said they remain wary of jumping into the market until it’s clear that a deal really is at hand.High Quality High temperature resistance Polyimide tape Products From China Should progress toward resolving the impasse falter, stocks could easily fall back, they said.“We’re getting signs of a thaw; it does make me feel better,” said Chris Bertelsen, chief investment officer at Global Financial Private Capital,skf bearing which manages $2.3 billion. “But I tend to be skeptical until there’s an actual agreement.”The S&P 500 index jumped 36.16 points, or 2.2%, to 1692.56, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 82.97 points, or 2.3%, to 3760.75. The rally returned the Dow to within a fraction of a percent from where it ended September, before the U.S. government entered its first shutdown in 17 years. The Dow is up 15% so far in 2013.The advance continued in Asia early Friday. Japan’s Nikkei, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and South Korea’s Kospi were each up more than 1% early Friday, with the Shanghai composite opening up 0.ina bearing5% higher.

The rally came as House Republicans said that on Thursday they will offer the White House a six-week extension of the nation’s borrowing limit in exchange for wide-ranging negotiations on spending.“The intransigence is melting away” in Washington, said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “All that was needed were signs that both sides are continuing to talk.”Despite the broad advance in stock prices, there was muted enthusiasm on Wall Street trading desks. Traders said the snap back in stocks was led by investors buying as they exited from bearish positions built to protect portfolios from declines in the stock market. Others said that hedge funds that had trailed the broader market were being forced to buy stocks to chase the rising market.Timothy Leach, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said to expect market volatility until lawmakers “cross the goal line” and pass the debt-limit extension. “We’ve been through this tug-of-war before, and I think there’s still going to be some disappointment,”Reflecting the lack of broad interest in jumping into stocks, total composite trading volume was only a hair above the 2013 average.Rick Fier, director of equity trading at Conifer Securities, said longer-term-oriented clients weren’t yet committing much new money to buying stocks.“It’s not euphoric,” Mr. Fier said. “Washington is less of a question mark, but we’re not at a point where we can say this is off the table and can focus on earnings.”Financial, industrial and consumer discretionary stocks—those hit hardest in recent days—jumped most on Thursday. All 10 of the S&P 500′s sectors rose by at least 1.4%.Some this year’s best-performing stocks, bruised in recent days, reclaimed lost ground Thursday. Tesla Motors Inc. climbed $4.15, or 2.5%, to $172.93 after shedding 7.8% over the past two days. Netflix Inc. shot up 15.56, or 5.4%, to 303.99 and Facebook jumped 2.28, 4.9%, to 49.05.European markets rose, with the Stoxx Europe 600 climbing 1.7% to bounce off a one-month low. The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate and bond-buying program intact, as was widely expected.The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.686% from 2.652% late Wednesday. October gold futures fell 0.8% to settle at $1,296.60 a troy ounce. November crude-oil futures advanced 1.5% to settle at $103.01 a barrel. The dollar gained ground against the yen but slipped against the euro.

BlackBerry founders consider takeover of smartphone maker

The two men who founded BlackBerry Ltd.Silicone Phone Case say they may bid for the 92 percent of the struggling Canadian smartphone maker they don't already own.Co-founder Mike Lazaridis, who was forced out as co-chief executive officer and vice chairman in January 2012, and Douglas Fregin, vice president for operations until 2007, said in a regulatory filing they hired Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and independent private equity investment firm Centerview Partners LLC as advisers."In light of [BlackBerry's] recent announcement that its board of directors has formed a special committee to explore strategic alternatives to enhance value and increase scale, the reporting persons are considering all available options with respect to their holdings of the shares, including, without limitation, a potential acquisition of all the outstanding shares of the issuer that they do not currently own, either by themselves or with other interested investors," the men said in a regulatory filing with the U.S.modern lamps Securities and Exchange Commission.Their filing comes amid increasing corporate interest in the company, which last month reported a nearly $1 billion quarterly loss and said it would slash 40 percent of its workforce after consumers largely rejected BlackBerry's new smartphones that were supposed to revitalize the smartphone pioneer.

BlackBerry was betting the devices would help it catch up with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and phones running on Google Inc.'s Android software.Fairfax Investment Holdings Ltd. made a conditional, non-binding offer last month to take the company private by buying the 90 percent of BlackBerry shares it does not own for $9 each. The bid values the company at about $4.7 billion.But investors and analysts are unconvinced Fairfax will be able to finance the offer, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported.Lazaridis and Fregin aren't working with Fairfax, at least for now, people close to the matter told the newspapers.Cerberus Capital Management LP, a private-equity firm known for investing in distressed companies,koyo bearing has asked for a non-disclosure agreement so it can get access to BlackBerry's confidential financial information ahead of a possible bid, those newspapers and the Financial Times said.High Quality PET protective film Products From ChinaIn addition, technology giants,kapton tape including Google Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and German software company SAP AG, are reported eyeing BlackBerry or parts of the business or its assets, Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail said.It's not clear if any of these companies will bid.Lazaridis and Fregin, who own a company that invests in quantum computing technology, had no immediate comment. BlackBerry declined to comment.The two men, who have known each other since fifth grade, founded Research In Motion Ltd. in 1984, originally making bar code technology for film. The company, which introduced the first BlackBerry smartphone in 2000, changed its name to BlackBerry earlier this year.

Huddersfield University team joins machine tool research project

Experts at Huddersfield University have joined an international research project to double lifespan of machine tools used in the engineering industry.A large machine tool can cost a firm many hundreds of thousands of pounds – so potential savings are enormous if its working life can be extended.The 6.High Quality High temperature resistance Polyimide tape Products From China2m euro project – named EASE-R3 – is funded by the European Union. Fourteen partners,ina bearing including universities, research institutes and engineering companies throughout Europe, are taking part.Huddersfield is the only UK university to be involved. The university is home to the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology – the science of measurement – which is part of the internationally-renowned Centre for Precision Technologies.The research is being co-ordinated by Italian engineering firm Fidia, which has been a frequent collaborator with metrologists at Huddersfield and invited them to take part in the new project.Dr Andrew Longstaff, Dr Simon Fletcher and Prof Alan Myers are cc compositethe university experts who will lead development of one module of the three-year EASE-R3 project.The overall goal is to increase the longevity of computer-controlled machine tools by developing new and cost-effective systems for repair, renovation and re-use.

Dr Longstaff said: “The carcass of the machine probably won’t be damaged after years of use,Drawstring Backpack but it becomes necessary to replace the drive systems and all the components that can wear down and need to be repaired.“Not only would better maintenance and repair mean cost savings for a company, but there would also be wider environmental benefits resulting from the reuse of skf bearingparts and lower energy consumption.”EASE-R3 aims to develop new models for maintenance and repair and the university team will take the lead on the design and prototype production of a compact module, incorporating laser technology that can be fitted to a machine tool to ensure that it retains its accuracy at the point of renovation.

Siemens and Kuka join forces on machine tool robotics

At the centre of the joint development is the operator-friendly use of robots to load machine tools. As part of their cooperation, Siemens and Kuka also intend to work on innovative techniques for machining new materials such as composites.They point out that robots offer extended working zones that can improve the machining of large items such as aircraft wing parts or car bodies. In such applications, the components are often too big and complex to move them or to machine them using conventional Cartesian techniques. In such cases, robots can often replace expensive specialised systems.Robotic machining can also be used in a similar way to CNC machines for multiple machining of parts, handling tasks such as drilling, riveting, trimming, deburring and simple milling, as well as performing auxiliary roles such as measuring, marking and testing. Robots often cost less than machine tools,SKF 6212 deep groove ball bearings from China if precision is not critical.tire changer Programming and operation can be performed in a Siemens Sinumerik CNC environment, and robots can be inteVintage tubsgrated into the CAD/CAM/CNC design chain.Lanyard StrapUsers who already use engineering tools such as NX CAM can continue to design and simulate parts in a familiar environment and can implement parts directly from engineering in production. 

“With this joint approach, the two companies are strengthening the fundamental idea of integrated production and can, for example, develop new markets by close intermeshing of machine tool tasks and loading tasks,” says Kuka CEO, Manfred Gundel.“The CNC control from Siemens and the robot controls from Kuka are ideal for integrating robot and CNC technology,spherical roller bearing” adds Dr Robert Neuhauser, CEO of Siemens’ Motion Control Systems business. “With this cooperation, we are deepening our many years of cooperation and together advancing intelligent automation solutions as outlined by the Industry 4.0 project for the benefit of both partners and to expand business.”The companies plan to develop scalable, integrated systems for machining workpieces with robots. These will range from robots with added CNC machining functions, to pure CNC machining systems. They aim to integrate the robots into PLM processes.

Samsung Hangs Hopes of White House Import Ban Veto on False Equivalence

In August, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman overturned an exclusion order (import ban) against some versions of Apple's iPhone 4. Samsung had won the import ban from the U.High Quality High temperature resistance Polyimide tape Products From ChinaS. International Trade Commission because the iPhone model in question infringed on a Samsung patent.Mr. Froman overturned the ban because the Samsung patent was a standards-essential patent (SEP). There was also concern over how Samsung was negotiating terms for a license to the SEP, terms that run contrary to the fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) commitments Samsung had in getting its patent accepted as a SEP.The White House has expressed concern over the use of SKF 6217 deep groove ball bearings from ChinaSEPs to win import bans, a position echoed by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. The veto of Samsung's exclusion order was seen as part of the White House effort to curb abuse of SEPs.In comparison, the exclusion order Apple won was based on utility and design patents Apple uses to differentiate its products. Apple has no FRAND commitments tied to these patents, and Apple won't license them to anyone to begin with.Which is why Samsung's pious bleating about being treated fairly ring false. The company wrote U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on August 28th, saying "The world is watching how Samsung is treated by the United States in this 'smartphone war.' The administration has a significant interest in avoiding the perception of favoritism and protectionism toward U.S. companies."

If Apple had won an exclusion order based on SEPs,tapered roller bearing Samsung would have a great argument, but that's not the case, and Samsung's efforts to equate the two exclusion orders—to say that it must be given a pass for its infringement because Apple got a pass—is a false equivalence.Remember that all Samsung has to do to get royalties for its SEP is to offer Apple FRAND terms. That's the case with all of the SEPs Samsung has ineffectively tried to use to defend itself against Apple non-SEP patent infringement claims.Samsung has refused to do so because its SEPs are all it has. The company has no portfolio of design and utility patents it can assert against Apple in defense because that's not how Samsung competes. Instead, the company copies its Antistatic PET protective filmbetters while draped in its own delusions of software relevance.At every turn, Samsung has shown that it is unrepentant, that it will continue to copy where it can, that it will cheat where it can, and that it did nothing wrong by trying to extort non-FRAND terms from SEPs. That the company will publicly call for a veto on Apple's exclusion order in the name of fairness is merely the latest example.fag bearing

Lucent cuts 10,000 jobs in turnaround plan

Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent unveiled plans on Tuesday to cut an overall 10,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2015, hoping to save 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) and turn the company around after years of losses.The product of a 2006 Franco-U.S. merger aimed at creating a global giant,Coin Silicone Wallet Alcatel-Lucent told a European works council meeting it intends to axe 4,100 posts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa,Silicone Purse 3,800 in Asia Pacific, and 2,100 in the Americas.This is the latest step in its "Shift Plan" announced in June to focus on networking products and high-speed broadband, and to lower fixed costs by more than 15 percent."The Shift Plan is about the company regaining control of its destiny," Chief Executive Michel Combes said in a statement.Shares in Alcatel rose 2 percent in early trading and were up 1.7 percent at 2.937 euros by 0921 GMT. The stock has almost tripled in value this year on buyers' hopes that Combes, a former CEO of Vodafone Europe, can shore up the business.The group, which employs 72,ina bearing000 staff worldwide and competes with larger rivals Ericsson of Sweden, China's Huawei and Finland's Nokia, has posted five straight quarters of net losses.France's CFDT union said it would fight a plan that entailed cuts to about 15,000 posts, although 5,000 new jobs will be created, giving the overall loss of 10,000. Nine hundred jobs would go in France, with the closure or disposal of five sites.

"The CFDT is aware of the seriousness of the situation and deplores this," it said in a statement. "But once again it is the staff that are paying the price .crystal light.. We will fight this plan and make proposals to change it."A source in the Socialist government, which has watched Alcatel-Lucent's problems closely as it battles rising unemployment in France, emphasised that the plan was an attempt to push the group on to a growth track."They are investing to get the machine going again,pendant lamp" said the source, who declined to be identified. "The situation is serious, but it is understandable the unions are very upset."The Alcatel-Lucent merger was an attempt to pool resources but any savings were lost due to fierce price competition in the sector and as slow economies, particularly in Europe, dented demand for telecom equipment.Last year it swung to a net loss of 1.2 billion euros - the biggest since 2008 - largely because of a writedown on its mobile unit and restructuring costs from an earlier plan to lay off 5,000 workers.The restructuring move will heighten speculation of a possible approach by Nokia, a move which sources close to the matter said last month the Finnish group was discussing internally.Alcatel-Lucent confirmed it would dedicate 85 percent of its research and development budget in 2015 to next-generation technologies, up from 65 percent today. Spending on older technologies would be cut by 60 percent.By the end of 2015, Alcatel-Lucent will halve the number of its business hubs globally, it added.The CFDT union said Alcatel was planning to close its sites in the French cities of Rennes and Toulouse quickly, and sell its Eu, Ormes and Orvault sites by the end of 2015.