| Seattle Investor Group Calm as Markets Swing
It certainly could be. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages have been dropping since Christmas. The average is now 5.5 percent, quite low by historical standards. So if you have an adjustable rate mortgage that's going to reset, now could be an excellent to time to swap into a fixed-rate loan. Lending standards have changed since the "anything goes" days of the housing bubble that burst last fall. "Here's why," says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with bankrate.com, a personal finance Web site. "There are actually standards now. Instead of the loan requirement being the ability to fog a mirror, the people now in the best position to get mortgages have good credit, proof of income and either money for a down payment or equity in an existing house." Lower interest rates will take some of the sting out of adjustable rate loans that are resetting higher.
April 2007
Born in May, this bird had emerged slimy, black, reptilian, no more capable of flight than a rock. Its transformation over the next month, from a miniature dinosaur stuck full of pinfeathers to an approximation of an adult bird, occurred at a pace that seemed like time-elapsed footage. That this awkward-looking creature had, after many clumsy attempts, learned to fly seemed surprising; that it had learned to dive for fish with any competence even more so. But that it was now, after barely earning its wings, ready to embark on a trip to South America and back, without the guidance of parents, was nothing short of astounding. My original goal had been to follow the general course of osprey migration, not specific birds. But by happy coincidence, a North Carolina biologist named Rob Bierregaard had put satellite tracking devices on five birds on Martha’s Vineyard, so by simply checking the Internet, I could follow those individuals, too.
Beyond the BlackBerry crowd: life in a post-32nm world
Nonetheless, it's an agreement that takes one more major party out of the running at 32nm. For the real scoop on this IBM-Toshiba announcement and what it means for the semiconductor industry, there's no way that I can top Dave Manners's blog entry on the topic, so I won't even try. I do, however, want to zoom in on one fascinating part of the post, which explains quite a bit of what's driving Intel and others into commercial competition with the OLPC Project. Finally, for everyone with a 32nm fab there's going to be a new problem. If 450mm wafers are adopted, and the companies which buy most of the world's manufacturing equipment are pushing hard for 450mm manufacturing equipment to be developed, then there's the problem that only seven fabs will be needed to make the world's total demand for transistors.
Silverchair given a Knight to muse
Perennial favourites and hard-rockers the Foo Fighters had the sixth most popular song, with The Pretender and the 82nd, with Long Road to Ruin. Likewise, seminal dance act Daft Punk also did well, with their live version of Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger at No.7 and Kanye West's Stronger, which heavily samples the track at No.20. Indie rockers the Cold War Kids and The Panics came in at eight and 10 with Hang Me Up to Dry and Don't Fight It respectively, but the year's success story belonged to Soko, who nabbed No.9 with I'll Kill Her, despite not having a any record deal. Triple J found the French artist's endearingly vitriolic love song online and listeners took it to their hearts. Australian bands accounted for 10 of the top 20 positions and a little more than half of all the songs.
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