CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A non-profit foundation wants to recruit a man and a woman - possibly a married couple - for a bare-bones, 501-day journey to Mars and back that would start in less than five years, project organizers said on Wednesday.
The mission, expected to cost upwards of $1 billion (659.4 million pounds), would be privately financed by donations and sponsorships.
Project founder Dennis Tito, a multimillionaire who in 2001 paid $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station, said he will pay start-up costs for two years to begin development of life-support systems and other critical technologies.
Currently, there are no U.S. human spaceships in operation, but several are under development and expected to be flying by 2017.
That leaves little time to take advantage of a rare planetary alignment that would allow a craft to loop around Mars, coming as close as about 150 miles (241 kilometres) to the planet's surface, before returning to Earth.
The launch window for the mission opens on January 5, 2018. The next opportunity is not until 2031.
"If we don't make 2018, we're going to have some competition in 2031," Tito told Reuters.
"By that time, there will be many others that will be reaching for this low-hanging fruit, and it really is low-hanging fruit," said Tito, who set up the non-profit Inspiration Mars Foundation to organize the mission.
Project chief technical officer Taber MacCallum said U.S. industry is up for the challenge.
"That's the kind of bold thing we used to be able to do," said MacCallum, who also oversees privately owned Paragon Space Development Corp.
"We've shirked away from risk. I think just seriously contemplating this mission recalibrates what we believe is a risk worth taking for America," he said.
TIGHT QUARTERS
The spacecraft will be bare-bones, with about 600 cubic feet (17 cubic meters) of living space available for a two-person crew. Mission planners would like to fly a man and a woman, preferably a married couple who would be compatible during a long period of isolation.
The capsule would be outfitted with a life-support system similar to the one NASA uses on the space station, which recycles air, water, urine and perspiration.
"This is going to be a very austere mission. You don't necessarily have to follow all of NASA's guidelines for air quality and water quality. This is going to be a Lewis and Clark trip to Mars," MacCallum said, referring to the explorers who set out across the uncharted American Northwest in 1803.
If launch occurs on January 5, 2018, the capsule would reach Mars 228 days later, loop around its far side and slingshot back toward Earth.
The return trip takes 273 days and ends with an unprecedented 31,764-mph (51,119-kph) slam into Earth's atmosphere.
Once the spaceship is on its way, there is no turning back.
"If something goes wrong, they're not coming back," MacCallum said.
The crew would spend much of their time maintaining their habitat, conducting science experiments and keeping in touch with people on Earth.
Tito said he expects the cost to be similar to a robotic mission to Mars. NASA's ongoing Curiosity rover mission cost $2.5 billion. A follow-on mission scheduled to launch in 2020 is expected to run $1.5 billion.
"You're really flying this mission without a propulsion system on the spacecraft. It's in the most simple form," Tito said.
NASA is working on its own heavy-lift rocket and Orion space capsule that could carry crews of four to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.
"We can just barely, every 15 years, fly by Mars with the systems we have right now," MacCallum said. "We're trying to be a stepping-stone."
Not everyone?in the House of Representatives wanted to pass the Senate's version of the bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act ? which the House succeeded in doing on Thursday afternoon. (The bill is now headed to President Obama,?who has promised to sign it.)
RELATED: Scott Brown's Decision Is Not Good for the GOP
After all, efforts to reauthorize the bill, which funds a bevy of programs designed to helps victims of violence, have languished for more than a year in the GOP-controlled House, whose members have either ignored or tinkered with Senate versions of the reauthorization bill, which provisions funding for the Act for the next five years. (Since expiring at the end of 2011, VAWA has survived on temporary funding.) It's a relief, certainly, but also an opportunity to recognize the Congressmen and -women who?still didn't want to reauthorize an important bill that has?always been reauthorized, without?controversy,?since being passed in 1994.
RELATED: What's Next for the Violence Against Women Act
A total of 138 House members voted against reauthorizing the intact bill, including nine GOP Congressmen ??Paul Broun, Scott Garrett, Louie Gohmert, Tim Huelskamp, Walter Jones, Steve King, Thomas Massie, Tom McClintock and Matt Salmon ? who vowed on Wednesday to strike down?any version of the bill ? even the heavily amended version their colleagues tried to push through (unsuccessfully) before considering, and passing, the Senate's bill.
RELATED: The House GOP Can't Stop the Senate's Violence Against Women Act
And yes, in case you were wondering: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor ? the de facto leader and brain behind the post-2012 Republican Party ? voted nay.
Here's the full list:
Aderholt
Amash
Bachmann
Barton
Bentivolio
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Brady (TX)
Bridenstine
Brooks (AL)
Broun (GA)
Burgess
Campbell
Cantor
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Collins (GA)
Conaway
Cotton
Crawford
Culberson
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Fincher
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Garrett
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Guthrie
Hall
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hensarling
Holding
Hudson
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hurt
Johnson (OH)
Jones
Jordan
Kelly
King (IA)
Kingston
Labrador
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Lankford
Latta
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Marchant
Marino
Massie
McCaul
McClintock
Meadows
Mica
Miller (FL)
Mullin
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Neugebauer
Noem
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Perry
Petri
Pittenger
Pitts
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Radel
Ribble
Rice (SC)
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rohrabacher
Rooney
Roskam
Ross
Rothfus
Salmon
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stewart
Stockman
Stutzman
Thornberry
Wagner
Walberg
Weber (TX)
Wenstrup
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoho
And, for old time's sake, here's the list of Senators who voted against the Senate version of the bill in April of 2012:
This is one guy Rihanna definitely doesn't want to stay.?The "Unapologetic" singer obtained a temporary restraining order Tuesday at Los Angeles Superior Court against a man who mistakenly broke into her neighbor's house thinking it was the star's home on Friday.
Ri-Ri has asked the court to order that Steveland Barrow stay 100 yards away until the next court hearing on March 21.
View the court documents
According to Rihanna's restraining order request, Barrow was arrested for breaking into her neighbor's house believing it to her residence.
Barrow, who reportedly claimed he had been invited into the singer's house, "removed various items from the home and slept in a bed thinking it was Ms. Fenty's," along with having numerous pieces of poetry for her, according to court documents.
Rihanna says Barrow has caused her to fear for her safety. The filing states that Barrow, "will go to great lengths to come into contact with (Rihanna) and has no regard for her privacy."
The hearing on March 21 will decide whether to make the restraining order permanent.
Luckily, Rihanna was away celebrating her birthday during the break-in
ST. PAUL, MN - JUNE 3: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) (R) and his wife Michelle Obama bump fists at an election night rally at the Xcel Energy Center June 3, 2008 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination following today's primaries in South Dakota and Montana, although his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has not yet conceded the race. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama acknowledges the crowd as he exchanges fist bumps with the audience after speaking at Hyde Park Academy, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Obama Fist Bump
President Barack Obama fist-bumps custodian Lawrence Lipscomb in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building following the opening session of the White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, Dec. 3, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama does a fist bump
President Barack Obama does a fist bump with Ethan Gibbs, the son of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, after arriving by Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Washington, DC, April 19, 2009. President Barack Obama returned from the Fifth Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad and Tobago. AFP PHOTO/Aude GUERRUCCI (Photo credit should read Aude GUERRUCCI/AFP/Getty Images)
Barack Obama Campaigns Across U.S. Ahead Of Primaries
SPRINGHILL, WV- MAY 12: Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) (L) bumps fists with Iraq war veteran Paul Scott after playing a game of pool during a stop at Schultzie's Bar & Hot Spot May 12, 2008 in Springhill, West Virginia. Sen. Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) continue to battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
McCain And Obama Address LULAC National Convention
WASHINGTON - JULY 8: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (L) gives a 'fist bump' to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during the national convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) at the Washington Hilton July 8, 2008 in Washington, DC. Obama has been recently criticized for moving to the political center after calling for a slowing of withdrawal of troops from Iraq, supporting a proposed wiretap law and government funding of faith-based programs. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Barack Obama Campaign Weeks Away From Election Day
CHANTILLY, VA- OCTOBER 22: Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) fists bumps with Ethan Gibbs the son of Robert Gibbs the campaign communication director as he arrives at Dulles International Airport October 22, 2008 in Chantilly, Virginia. Obama continues to campaign with election day less than two weeks away. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
US Democratic presidential candidate Ill
US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama (R) and North Carolina Governor Mike Easley bump fists at Sen. Obama's surprise appearance at a North Carolina Democratic Party dinner October 4, 2008 at the The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - APRIL 7: In this handout provide by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama (L) receives a fist-bump from a U.S. soldier as he greets hundreds of U.S. troops during his visit to Camp Victory on April 7, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq. Obama is serving as the 44th President of the U.S. and the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images)
President Barack Obama
WASHINGTON - APRIL 8: In this handout provide by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama (L) holding a football, offers a fist-bump, to senior staff member Pete Rouse (R), during a meeting with senior advisors in the Oval Office of the White House on April 8, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama is serving as the 44th President of the U.S. and the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama gives a studen
US President Barack Obama gives a student a fist bump while touring the Wind Turbine Manufacturing and Fabrication Lab at Lorain County Community College, in Elyria, Ohio, January 22, 2010. Obama is visiting Ohio to tour local businesses and hold a town hall meeting on jobs and the economy. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama bumps fists wi
US President Barack Obama bumps fists with a school children after reading Christams book 'The Polar Express' to an audience of elementary school children at the Richard England Clubhouse and Community Center in Washington, DC, on December 21, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Jewel SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama fist-bumps wit
US President Barack Obama fist-bumps with a supporter after speaking at a fundraiser for Senator Michael Bennet February 18, 2010 at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama (2nd-R) fist b
US President Barack Obama (2nd-R) fist bumps with Marvin Nicholson as he plays golf at Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on August 26, 2010. The US First Family is vacationing on the Island until August 29. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
President And Mrs. Obama Host Annual Easter Egg Roll
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 25: (AFP OUT)U.S. President Barack Obama gives a fist bump to a young boy during a 'Let's Move' tennis clinic during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House April 25, 2011 in Washington, DC. About 30,000 people are expected to attend the 133-year-old tradition of rolling colored eggs down the White House lawn. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama gives a young
US President Barack Obama gives a young boy a fist bump as he greets guests after speaking about the economy at Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, on January 4, 2012. Obama announced plans to appoint Richard Cordray as acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a recess appointment, bypassing Congress and setting up a bitter election-year legal showdown with Republicans. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama fist bumps service members after he addressed troops at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
US President Barack Obama (L) asks for a
US President Barack Obama (L) asks for a fist bump from a young girl as he speaks with patrons outside the Kozy Corner restaurant in Oak Harbor, Ohio, July 5, 2012, where he made an unannounced visit to speak with supporters while on a bus tour of Ohio and Pennslyvania. AFP PHOTO/Jim Watson (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/GettyImages)
Obama Welcomes 2012 NCAA Women's Basketball Champions To White House
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 18: U.S. President Barack Obama gives a fist bump to Baylor University basketball guard Terran Condrey while welcoming the 2012 NCAA Women?s Basketball champions in the East Room of the White House July 18, 2012 in Washington, DC. The Baylor Lady Bears became the first NCAA basketball team to complete a 40-0 season by defeating Notre Dame 80-61 in the NCAA women's championship. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Barack Obama, Odyssey Sims
Point guard Odyssey Sims gets a fist bump from President Barack Obama at a ceremony honoring the 2012 NCAA Women's basketball champions Baylor University Bears in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
US-VOTE-2012-DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN
US President Barack Obama (L) fist bumps with supporters after delivering remarks during a campaign event at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, August 21, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/GettyImages)
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama pounds fists with a supporter after speaking at a campaign event at The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center at Kent State University Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, in Kent, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
US-VOTE-2012-DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN
US President Barack Obama fist-bumps with a woman during a lunch visit to the West Tampa Sandwich Shop and Restaurant in Tampa, Florida, September 8, 2012, during the first day of a 2-day bus tour across Florida. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages)
US-VOTE-2012-DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN
US President Barack Obama (L) fist bumps a supporter after speaking at a campaign rally in Nashua, New Hampshire, on October 27, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Android has a long history of playing host to ridiculously large smartphones. First there was the Dell Streak. Next came the original Samsung Galaxy Note. And now in 2013 we have the ASUS Fonepad, a 7-inch tablet that's also a 7-inch phone. On first inspection the Fonepad looks a little bit like a another 7-inch ASUS tablet, the Nexus 7. But unlike that device it's also a full 3G/HSPA phone, complete with earpiece and microphone. That's right, you can hold this seven-inch slab of electronics to your head and make telephone calls.
Where other large smartphones -- including Huawei's gigantic Ascend Mate -- trim down their bezels to make them more pocket and hand-friendly, ASUS has chosen to incorporate a tablet-sized screen trim on the Fonepad. As a result, using the device as a telephone in the usual way is the binary opposite of ergonomic. If you felt awkward making phone calls on a Galaxy Note, that's nothing by comparison. Assuming you posses digits large enough to palm the Fonepad to your ear, you're going to feel like an idiot walking around with it pressed to your face.
As it struggles to deal with rising royalty costs, streaming radio service Pandora is bringing back an old idea by capping free monthly usage at 40 hours. The company previously limited free desktop usage to 40 hours per month, but it lifted the cap in September 2011. CEO Joe Kennedy suggested that Pandora's mobile business is in a similar position to its desktop business a few years ago ? it needs to make more money. At the same time, Kennedy said his goal is still to offer free music to everyone.
A 1993 photo shows Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in the U.S. for his role in terrorist attacks, including an explosion at the World Trade Center in 1993.
By Jonathan Dienst, Joe Valiquette and Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com
An FBI informant who has helped catch some of the world's most dangerous terrorists is coming out of witness protection to warn that a terrorist sheik in prison remains a significant threat to the U.S.
Emad Salem is urging the U.S. to keep the ailing 74-year-old sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, often known as the Blind Sheik, behind bars and to not transfer him, even as governments overseas continue to press for his release.
"He will kill Americans," said Salem. "He will kill anyone who disputes what he says with a fatwa."
Salem, a one-time Egyptian military officer, had warned officials about the looming 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but his warnings were ignored after a lie-detector test was inconclusive and he said he would never testify at any trial.?
After the bombing, Salem agreed to become an FBI informant and managed to become the sheik?s personal assistant and bodyguard. Salem was able to record the sheik ordering the killing of Americans during his time in Jersey City, N.J., and Brooklyn, N.Y.?
Salem was also able to link the sheik to the 1993 World Trade Center bombers. Six people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in that first attack.
Now Salem is concerned about the mounting pressure on the U.S. from Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and other Mideastern government leaders to get Rahman out of American custody.
'A terrible price' In one letter dated Feb. 26, 2008, the justice minister of Qatar relayed a request from Rahman's family asking U.S. officials to have him transferred back to the nation to serve the rest of his sentence. They said they wanted to be able to visit him more easily, according to the letter by Qatar Attorney General Dr. Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri.
More recently, on this 20th anniversary week of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Rahman's sons wrote on their family website that "America will pay a terrible price" if he is not released soon.
"The rain begins with one drop. America should expect more violent reactions if it does not release the sheik," the sons wrote on the website.
The sons pointed to the killing of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens as an example of terrorists acting on behalf of the sheik. The terrorists in that attack are believed to have called themselves the ?Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman Brigade? in honor of the Blind Sheik.
Read more from NBCNewYork.com
The family also pointed to the recent attack on a gas plant in Algeria where hostage takers demanded the sheik be set free or American hostages would be killed.
The sons said they were hopeful that Morsi would make progress in working to free the sheik next month or they will "review their options."
Experts said the sheik?s family was intensifying an already active campaign to both seek the sheik?s release and inflame passions among the sheik?s extremist followers.
Calls monitored The sheik has also been able to call his relatives twice a month from his prison, NBC 4 New York has learned. Officials said the calls are monitored, and his relatives tell NBC News' Ayman Moyheldin that the calls are personal in nature and do not include calls for a violent jihad.
But in one posting on their website, Rahman's sons posted a political message they said was from the sheik. In that message, Rahman urged Egyptians to vote for Morsi in the recent presidential election "because he is the candidate who represents Islam and represents the revolution."
A Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman declined to discuss the specifics of the sheik's phone privileges.
Rahman's lawyer, Lynne Stewart, was arrested in 2002 and later convicted for her role in sneaking out terror messages for the sheik in which he called for more attacks on Western tourists in Egypt after the Luxor massacre killed 58 people.
?When are we going to wake up and smell the coffee?? asked Salem. ?This man is dangerous in prison. What will happen when he is out of prison??
A Justice Department spokesman insisted the U.S. government will not be swayed by the appeals from Mideast leaders calling for Rahman's release.?
?The Blind Sheik will spend the rest of his life in a U.S. federal prison. Period,? said DOJ spokesman Dean Boyd.
Still, Rahman remains an inspiring figure for al-Qaida and radical jihadist figures across the globe. Salem said he was risking his life stepping forward because the sheik and his followers want him dead.
?They are seeking to get me killed to be a feather in their hat, that 'We killed the man who helped America,'? Salem said.
But he said not stepping forward to warn about the potential threat the sheik and his followers still pose could be an even greater danger.
A New York Police Department spokesman said there is no new specific threat to New York but intelligence officials are aware of the Rahman family website and the terror warnings posted there this week.
While security experts said the sheik does not have operational capability from prison, they agree that as long as he is alive in a U.S. prison he could serve as inspiration for extremists to act.?
?This guy -- 1990 or 2013 -- sadly, unfortunately, [is] still in charge of his followers,? Salem lamented.? ?He is the 'Prince of Jihad? and will continue to be.?
Related:
New York-area politicians condemn Egypt's new leader over bid to free terrorist
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The political standoff over the U.S. budget is slowing the U.S. economy ? more so than any hesitance by Americans to spend freely.
That consensus emerges from the latest Associated Press Economy Survey just as the budget impasse in Washington is about to trigger automatic spending cuts across the economy.
Many of the economists think consumer spending has slowed in response to higher tax burdens but will rebound later in the year. By contrast, they worry that the budget fights in Washington will persist for much of 2013 and drag on economic growth.
Twenty-three of the 37 economists who responded to the survey last week say the paralysis in Washington is a significant factor in slowing the economy. The next-biggest factors they cite, in order: too little job growth, excessive government regulation and taxes, stagnant wages and cautious bank lending. Only eight say they worry about consumers saving more and spending less.
The budget impasse that will set off $85 billion in spending cuts starting Friday will shave an estimated half-percentage point from economic growth this year.
It will be followed by other key deadlines: Much of the government will shut down March 27 without new legislation to authorize spending. Congress must also agree to raise the government's borrowing limit in May or the government will risk defaulting on its debt.
Meeting those deadlines could involve more spending cuts or tax increases. Either could further slow growth.
The economists' views suggest that the budgetary paralysis hurts the economy in at least two ways: It's eroding consumer and business confidence, which could reduce spending and investment. And it will trigger the government spending cuts that are about to kick in.
These come on top of the reduced take-home pay for most workers caused by the Social Security tax increase that took effect Jan. 1.
Businesses "aren't willing to hire people or invest in plant and equipment knowing the uncertainty," says Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University Channel Islands. "The prudent thing to do is to postpone."
The AP survey collected the views of private, corporate and academic economists on a range of issues. Among their views:
? The economy will grow 2.2 percent this year, a modest pace that roughly matches the average annual rate since the recession ended in June 2009. In a typical economy, such growth wouldn't be a concern. But it hasn't been enough to repair the damage from the Great Recession. Faster growth ? 4 percent to 5 percent annually ? would be needed to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate, which is still painfully high at 7.9 percent.
? Growth should increase in 2014 to 2.9 percent, economists expect. That would be the fastest for a full year since the recession ended and would roughly match the average for the five years preceding the Great Recession. Still, the economists foresee the unemployment rate at 6.3 percent by the end of 2015 ? nearly three years from now. In a normal economy, the unemployment rate is below 6 percent.
? Just over half think Europe's recession will end this year. That could benefit U.S. exporters. The 17 nations that use the euro have been in recession since mid-2012. But some encouraging signs have emerged: Germany reported a larger-than-expected budget surplus this month. And German business confidence rose in February for a fourth straight month.
? Nearly half think sales of previously occupied homes will return to normal levels next year. More than six years after the housing bubble burst, residential real estate is finally rebounding. Sales in 2012 reached 4.7 million. That's still well below the 5.5 million in annual sales considered healthy. But 17 of the economists think sales will return to that level in 2014. Ten others think it will happen in 2015.
? Though the economists favor reducing the government's budget deficit, nearly all prefer doing so over the long run rather than immediately.
One consequence of the Washington budget battles was a deal between the White House and Congress to let a cut in Social Security taxes expire Jan. 1. That tax increase cost a typical household with $50,000 in income about $1,000. Retail sales slowed last month as a result. And some big retailers, notably Wal-Mart, blamed the Social Security tax increase for a darker outlook for sales in coming months.
But when asked to choose the biggest reasons the economy isn't growing faster, barely one in five economists cite consumers' reluctance to spend.
Why the lack of concern?
Many economists think the damage from higher Social Security taxes will prove temporary. Most think consumer spending will slow in the first three months of this year but then pick up as companies add jobs. Some employers are even willing to pay more: After stagnating since the recession ended, hourly pay has been rising faster than inflation the past three months.
Analysts also generally think consumers' finances have recovered from the excesses of the housing bubble, when many piled up debt and bought larger houses than they could afford. As Americans repaid debts, they spent less.
But now, home values are up. Stocks have roughly doubled since June 2009. Americans who feel wealthier are typically more likely to spend. After years of delaying big purchases of autos, appliances and other items, consumers are spending more for them. Auto sales in January were the best for that month in five years.
"It's been nearly four years since the recession ended," says Beth Ann Bovino, deputy chief economist at Standard & Poor's. Consumers "have been saving more, and they've put more money in the bank, and I think they're ready to spend more. There's a lot of pent-up demand."
?ACOs most assuredly will not?deliver the disruptive innovation that the U.S. health-care system urgently needs,? wrote Clay Christensen, godfather of disruptive innovation, et. al., in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal of February18, 2013.
In the opinion piece, Christensen and colleagues make the argument that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) as initially conceived won?t address several key underlying forces that keep the U.S. health care industry in stasis:
Physicians? behavior will have to change to drive cost-reduction. Clinicians will need ?re-education,? the authors say, adopting evidence-based medicine and operating in lower-cost milieus.
Patients? behavior will have to change. This requires patient engagement, adherence to treatment protocols that doctors prescribe based on evidence-based medicine (see previous bullet).
The cost structure of health care delivery in the U.S. must ratchet down. As Uwe Reinhardt, pioneering health economist at Princeton, has written in Health Affairs, ?It?s the Prices, Stupid,? when it comes to health care costs in America. Any doubters of this should read TIME Magazine?s piece on the Bitter Pill of U.S. health care, published last week.
What to do? The authors argue for moving care to lower-cost settings, changing regulation and payment to allow clinicians (doctors and nurse practitioners, among others) to perform duties up to their full licensed capabilities (vs. referring to more expensive specialists), and leverage communications platforms to deliver more care in the community.
Health Populi?s Hot Points:?What Christensen and friends are talking about is making Accountable Care Organizations act more like Accountable Care Communities. With this nuance toward ?community,? we embrace more of the patient-consumer?s broader local health ecosystem ? beyond health ?care,? and including pharmacies, schools, grocery stores, and other venues where ?health? and wellness are bolstered.
For example, pharmacies bolster medication therapy management which helps patients avoid readmissions to hospital and manage chronic conditions. Pharmacies are also low-cost, convenient channels for getting flu shots and vaccines to consumers. Grocery stores, like Safeway?s expanding wellness program, are morphing into health destinations. Schools for many kids are already de facto medical homes, but not recognized (or funded) as such. Most employers are adopting value-based benefits, incorporating artfully designed wellness programs and worksite clinics that do more than traditional occupational medicine.
To fulfill the promise of the accountable care community, a communications and technology infrastructure must be in place. This means adopting open information standards (such as the continuity of care record) and mobile health tools that enable care outside of iron-bound providers. If the information follows the patient, then continuity of care is ensured and health providers can better anticipate patient needs well before more expensive, complicated medical challenges emerge in the doctor?s office.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Weitz was out of options. The Californian had endured chemotherapy, radiation and surgery but his lung cancer still spread to his bones and brain.
With time running out, the emergency room physician entered a Phase I study - the earliest stage of human testing for a new medicine - of crizotinib. The drug works for about 4 percent of advanced lung cancer patients with a mutated form of a protein called ALK.
"Once I knew that I had that mutation, I knew that I had an exciting new chance," said Weitz, now 55, who is cancer-free after three years of taking the drug now sold by Pfizer as Xalkori after an unusually swift development process.
It typically has taken a decade and $1 billion to bring a new treatment to market. But in the last two years a handful of cancer drugs - including Onyx Pharmaceutical Inc's Kyprolis for multiple myeloma, Roche's Zelboraf for melanoma, and Pfizer's Xalkori - were approved in about half that time because of improved genetic screening, more definitive Phase I trials and the dire need for new, effective treatments.
"We hope to be able to shave years off the time it takes to get final approval and save hundreds of millions of dollars per drug," said Robert Schneider, director of translational cancer research at New York University Cancer Institute. "We're going to see this as a sea change over the next five years."
Weitz's story is a dramatic example of how personalized medicine is advancing 10 years after researchers sequenced the human genome, enabling drugs to target specific genetic variations. The emerging trend is likely to bring more effective treatments to desperate patients faster, increase the number of annual drug approvals and cut research costs through earlier and more reliable data. It will also help drugmakers identify ineffective therapies sooner, although it may not necessarily lead to lower priced medicines.
There are some concerns about the faster approval process but most agree that the benefits of a potentially life-saving drug outweigh the risks. "The accelerated development of new drugs can be a double-edged sword," said Mace Rothenberg, head of oncology for Pfizer. "As you move more quickly some questions may be unanswered."
He said those answers can come from trials conducted after drugs are approved, and the Food and Drug Administration often requires post-marketing studies following expedited approvals
Historically, Phase I trials did little more than reveal the dose of an experimental drug that could safely be tolerated before larger studies determined clinically meaningful benefit. But advances in genetic screening and an improved understanding of the biology of cancer are enabling researchers to identify patients most likely to benefit from specific cancer treatments.
"You can see positive signals much more quickly, and clinically you can spare patients for whom the drug is not likely to work," said Dr. Michael Davies, assistant professor in the department of melanoma medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Richard Scheller, head of research and early development for Roche's Genentech unit, which has produced most of the company's top-selling cancer medicines, said, "you can cut a couple of years out of the clinical trial process by basically doing your pivotal trial straight from Phase I."
Drugmakers who have benefited from the expedited approval process declined to discuss how much money was saved from the industry average for drug development.
FDA'S NEW "BREAKTHROUGH" DESIGNATION
With impressive enough early results, health regulators are more willing than ever to accept early or midstage trials as adequate proof of safety and effectiveness, rather than insisting on larger, more expensive and time-consuming pivotal Phase III studies that have been a standard requirement.
"The drugs are simply better," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said of the new targeted cancer medicines.
With older highly toxic chemotherapy drugs, he said, "many of the discussions we had at the agency dealt with whether we should approve the drug or not. With some of these newer drugs, the issue is how fast we can approve them, not whether they should be approved," Pazdur said.
The FDA has come up with a new breakthrough designation for drugs it views as a substantial improvement over existing therapies. With the designation - five have been awarded so far with 12 more drugs currently under consideration - the agency works more closely with drugmakers to identify approval requirements and work out commercial manufacturing issues.
DRAMATIC RESPONSE
Key to faster approval is that drugs are becoming more narrowly targeted as researchers better understand the pathways of cancer - a series of biochemical steps that fuel the growth of cancer cells. The aim of the treatments is to block the culprit proteins, or biomarkers, within a pathway.
"It's much easier for us to offer patients in Phase I studies the real possibility of a dramatic response," said Paul Sabbatini, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Now far fewer patients need to be tested in order to get definitive results in early trials because they are selected only if their tumors contain proteins or gene mutations that the experimental drug is targeting. Patients typically learn about these studies from their doctors or websites such as ClinicalTrials.gov.
"What we're looking at many times is Phase I data where we're seeing levels of response that we haven't seen before in patients that have exhausted most of the therapies in a disease," said FDA's Pazdur.
Scheller estimated that cancer researchers are working on 50 different targets that could yield effective future therapies.
NYU's Schneider, a co-founder of the biotech company ImClone, said historically perhaps only 3 percent of oncology drugs that began Phase I trials went on to be approved. With new diagnostic tools and targeted drugs, he said, "one would hope that 10 or even 15 percent of drugs might be approved for the right patient populations in the next five years."
Roche's Zelboraf and Pfizer's Xalkori both were developed along with companion diagnostic tests to identify the specific gene mutations in patients that the drugs were designed to target. They proceeded relatively rapidly through clinical trials.
The company said development of Zelboraf, which costs $56,000 for a six-month course of treatment, was the fastest conducted by Genentech and Roche. The clinical trial process took less than five years.
Pfizer's Xalkori took just over four years to develop. Had it been tested in the traditional manner among the general lung cancer population rather than on those with the specific ALK mutation, it would likely have been dismissed as a failure or required further research to try to glean which subgroup of patients were helped by the drug that costs $115,000 a year.
FINDING FAILURES FASTER
In the past, large pharmaceutical companies were reluctant to develop drugs for limited patient groups, preferring to search for medicines to treat ailments such as high cholesterol and arthritis that could be taken by a large swath of the population and become huge money-makers.
Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Read has embraced the newer personalized approach. Noting recent advances in genetic understanding, Read said: "We can get clearer results earlier. That will clearly speed up our development, as you saw with Xalkori."
The recent advances may also grant a long-held wish of drugmakers - identifying failed drugs faster.
"It's much better to find that out in Phase I than half a billion dollars later in Phase III," Genentech's Scheller said.
"If you have a targeted therapy and you don't see activity in your first 10 or 20 patients that have your particular diagnostic marker or particular biomarker that you're looking for, forget it, we're through, project ends," Scheller said.
Even with all the recent successes, many hurdles remain. Researchers have yet to figure out why drugs that work by spurring the immune system to fight cancer, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb's Yervoy, have long-lasting effects on some patients and not others. And they need to figure out why cancer often comes back even when targeted therapies worked.
"We need to know why these drugs stop working sometimes," said Sloan Kettering's Sabbatini. "If we understand the cause, we could preemptively combine drugs, or at the first sign of (disease) progression, understand what is the most logical next step as we learn more about the pathways."
But as long as the United States does not have price controls for medicines as Europe does, and the FDA does not consider economics in its approval decisions, quicker, less expensive development may not translate into lower prices.
"I would hope it would bring down the cost of drugs, but whatever the market bears is what the market will get," Schneider said.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Jilian Mincer, Edward Tobin and Claudia Parsons)
Google Glass will undoubtedly change how people consume information, share content on the Internet, and interact with the world around them.?
But one of the biggest issues to consider, while the concept of Glass is still relatively new to people, is privacy,?James Bareham recently wrote in a forum on The Verge.?
By now, we're all used to people taking photos and shooting videos on their mobile devices.
With a mobile phone or tablet, it's obvious if someone is recording because they have to hold up the device.?But with Glass, it will be nearly impossible to know whether or not someone is taking photos or capturing video.?
"The issue is not whether Glass users WILL be shooting surreptitiously; the issue is that they CAN," Bareham writes. "And that?s potentially a real problem; wearing Google Glass could be banned from many public and government places."
That's why there will be a need for some type of "Glass etiquette," The Verge's Josh Topolsky wrote in his review of Glass.
Otherwise, when someone walks into a restaurant wearing Glass, for example, non-Glass users may feel uncomfortable because they may think they're being recorded.?
"In many circumstances, the only way to convince authorities or the general public that you?re NOT recording anything with your Google Glass device will be to take it/them off," Bareham writes. "And then you can?t use it for anything else. You?ll be back to using your phone."
Granted, there is a light that goes on when you're recording with Glass, but as Topolsky notes in his review, he got the feeling that most people didn't know what they were looking at.?Obviously, this will change as more people become familiar with Google Glass.?
"Uh Facebook Gift Card?", the Jamba Juice cashier said with a twang. "I don't even know what that is." But that didn't stop her from ringing up my purchase with Facebook's big move into brick-and-mortar commerce. Facebook announced the card last month, and today I was one of the first to try it out. Here's how it felt to swipe Facebook's hopeful disruptor of the $100 billion US gift card market.
Giancario Gemignani-Hernandez, 2, of Pittsburgh has his ear examined by Dr. Alejandro Hoberman.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
Giancario Gemignani-Hernandez, 2, of Pittsburgh has his ear examined by Dr. Alejandro Hoberman.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
Hoping to reduce unnecessary antibiotics use, the American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday issued new guidelines for how doctors should diagnose and treat ear infections.
Every year, millions of parents take their children to the pediatrician for ear infections, and most of them end up going home with antibiotics. In fact, ear infections are one of the most common reasons kids see doctors and the leading reason kids get antibiotics.
"Parents, if their child is up all night screaming and tugging the ear, they want something to make the child feel better," says Dr. Richard Rosenfeld of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, who helped write the new guidelines.
But about 70 percent of children get better on their own within two or three days, and about 80 percent are better within a week to 10 days, he says.
And he says there are some real downsides to using antibiotics when they're not necessary: They can cause upset stomachs, allergic reactions and other problems. And they can contribute to the development of superbugs ? infections that are getting harder and harder to cure.
"The bacteria that do survive the antibiotic get tough, and next time you get an ear infection or any other type of infection, they're harder to manage," Rosenfeld says.
The first thing the new guidelines say is: Make sure the child really has an ear infection.
"There are dozens of reasons an ear can hurt," Rosenfeld says. "In this guideline we say, 'Listen, if you're not sure of the diagnosis, don't even think about giving an antibiotic. Please, don't even think about it.' "
The only way to know for sure is to take a close look at the eardrum and see if it is clearly bulging.
"If it's pushed outward ? looks like it wants to pop ? that is a very, very accurate sign of an ear infection," Rosenfeld says.
But even kids who really do have ear infections don't necessarily need antibiotics. The guidelines say doctors have the option of just watching kids who don't have intense pain, a high fever or other symptoms of a severe infection.
"You don't have to freak out as a parent. [Ear infections] tend to go away on their own quite often with just some pain medicine," Rosenfeld says.
But there are some kids who definitely should get antibiotics, such as those ages 6 months to 2 years who have infections in both ears or any child who has severe symptoms, such as severe pain for several days and a fever of at least 102.2 degrees. Any child who has a ruptured eardrum should also get antibiotics, according to the guidelines.
"If you have a severe infection, no point discussing it further. Those children are going to get antibiotics. And the reason is they'll get the most benefit," Rosenfeld says.
Other experts praised the guidelines. But some worry they might make some doctors a little too hesitant to use antibiotics.
"When the diagnosis is correct, then antibiotic treatment is never wrong," says Dr. Ellen Wald of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. "Kids tend to recover more often and they recover more quickly if they're treated appropriately with antibiotics."
That's especially important for working parents, Wald notes.
"We live in a society where there is so much pressure for both parents to be working outside the home and it's just complicated when our child is sick. Besides which, there's always parental anxiety and concern when their child is sick," she says.
Rosenfeld stresses that doctors are free to figure out the best way to treat each child. In many cases, they can give parents a "safety net" or "wait-and-see" prescription and say: "Hold on to this antibiotic. Give some pain medicine the first day or two. And if they're not better after two days, then we do want you to let us know and start the antibiotic," Rosenfeld says. "But if they are better, just throw it out and they'll do fine.'"
The new guidelines also recommend ways parents can protect their kids from ear infections in the first place, such as by breast-feeding and keeping kids away from cigarette smoke.
(Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co announced the launch of a $169 tablet powered by the Android operating system, a centerpiece of the company's effort to expand in mobile devices and reduce its dependence on the shrinking personal computer market.
The launch of the Slate 7 marks HP's latest foray into the consumer tablet market. It follows the 2011 failure of its WebOS-based TouchPad, which the company stopped selling after just seven weeks, citing poor demand.
Powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Slate 7 offers Google Inc services including search functions, YouTube and Gmail, as well as Beats Audio for improved sound, HP said.
The 13-ounce device also includes access to apps and digital content through Google Play, and cameras on both sides of the 7-inch screen.
HP said it expects U.S. sales of the Slate 7 to begin in April, and said the product offer a "compelling entry point" for people looking to buy tablets.
Google's Nexus 7 tablet costs $199, as does Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire HD.
HP also makes the ElitePad tablet for businesses, which is powered by Microsoft Corp's Windows 8. WebOS had been developed by Palm Inc, which HP bought in 2010.
The Slate7 is part of a multi-year plan by HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman to turn around the Silicon Valley icon.
HP in recent years has struggled with costly acquisitions, management turnover, governance issues, and falling sales and margins from PCs, where the Palo Alto, California-based company still has the largest U.S. market share.
Shares of HP closed Friday 12.3 percent higher at $19.20 on the New York Stock Exchange, a day after HP reported quarterly results and an outlook that exceeded analysts' forecasts.
The company's market value has nevertheless dropped by nearly two-thirds since April 2010.
HP announced the Slate 7 on the eve of the Mobile World Congress, a wireless industry trade show taking place this week in Barcelona, Spain.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Maureen Bavdek; )
Samsung girds for life after Apple | SouthCoastToday.com
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A man uses a Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy S III smartphone to record a video outside the Apple Inc. store on George Street in Sydney, Australia, last September. The end may be nigh in the relationship between Samsung and Apple.
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SEOUL, South Korea ? Samsung Electronics' reclusive chairman has long warned employees against complacency and obsolescence.
"Change everything except your wife and kids," Lee Kun-hee told them in 1993, charting a course that would turn a $2 billion maker of cheap TVs into the $200 billion giant it is today. Two decades on, his message remains the same: "Forget about the past and start anew," Lee exhorted employees in his New Year's address on Jan. 2. "We must search out new businesses that Samsung's survival depends on."
That commitment to disruption has served Lee well. Samsung's pioneering of flat-screen TVs crippled Tokyo-based Sony and Sharp. Its relentless focus on chips helped bankrupt Elpida Memory Inc. Nokia's 14-year dominance in phones fell last year. With Samsung now preparing to shed Apple as a customer as their rivalry intensifies, the Korean company's smartphones are already outselling the iPhone and its share of the market for tablet computers has doubled in a year.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based maker of iPhones and iPads is already taking steps to distance itself from Samsung, according to a person familiar with Apple's thinking, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. Rivalry in smartphones and tablets, and lawsuits in which both insist the other is stealing ideas, are undermining the relationship, the person said.
Samsung has zoomed past Apple in the smartphone market that the U.S. company pioneered. Samsung's market share rose to 30.4 percent last year from 19.9 percent, while Apple's remained at about 19 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.
In tablet computers, the market Apple created with the iPad, Samsung doubled its market share in the fourth quarter, to 15 percent from 7.3 percent a year earlier, according to IDC. Apple's lead dipped to 44 percent from 52 percent.
Apple's purchases of chips, screens and other components now account for about 3 percent of Samsung's earnings per share, roughly half the level at the beginning of last year, said Marc C. Newman, whose team of Sanford C. Bernstein analysts published a 211-page study of the Korean company in September.
While Samsung is searching out new customers, Apple has expanded its list of suppliers, according to a statement from Apple as well as so-called tear-down reports in which analysts take gadgets apart to identify parts. Samsung's reliance on Google's Android operating system and more recent adoption of Microsoft's wireless software also strengthens its ties with Apple's two biggest U.S. rivals.
"Samsung is trying to get ready for a possible breakup with Apple," said Lee Jin-woo, who holds the South Korean company's stock in the $6.6 billion he helps oversee as a senior fund manager at KTB Asset Management in Seoul. "Samsung will make another big push into tablets, its multiple products driving sales of components and making up for any losses from Apple."
The struggle between the two will gauge not just their ability to reap the biggest gains from more than $400 billion in global sales of handheld wireless devices, it also tests two contrasting business models.
Where Apple is defined by a handful of products, Samsung sprawls across industries; where Apple outsources its manufacturing, Samsung's mastery of industrial processes is its biggest strength; where Apple seeks markets for its designs, Samsung designs for the market.
Disentangling from the relationship with Samsung will take time, said Newman, a senior analyst at Sanford in Hong Kong.
Apple needs Samsung's processors to avoid shortages of iPhone and iPads. Alternative suppliers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. aren't able to meet demand and Samsung is withholding investment in new capacity.
"It may take a few more years before they're entirely separated from Samsung because it's a severe lock-in, extremely complicated," Newman said. "Samsung is a phenomenal manufacturer and even TSMC, which is also a phenomenal manufacturer, is going to have a lot of trouble to ramp up."
Innolux and AU Optronics, Taiwan's largest makers of liquid-crystal displays, were named among the iPhone maker's suppliers last month, according to an Apple statement.
Samsung's processor sales will continue to rise along with Apple's revenue this year at least, and in the meantime the Korean company is supplying more parts for its own phones and tablets as well as finding new customers, Newman said.
"Samsung makes the best-quality parts, and if Apple rules out Samsung, they have to make a compromise," said Baik Jae-yer, a fund manager at Korea Investment Trust, which holds a 2.7 percent stake in Samsung.
Jason Kim, a Samsung spokesman, declined to discuss any changes in the relationship with Apple.
Weaning Samsung away from its relationship with Apple is a task that will increasingly fall to Lee Jae-yong, the 44-year- old grandson of the company's founder. Lee, also known as J.Y. Lee, was named vice chairman in December, the clearest signal yet on the succession for his 71-year-old father. Educated at Seoul National University, Keio University in Japan and Harvard Business School, he has helped run the components business, which provides parts for Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com, Google and Dell, as well as Apple.
The younger Lee "has worked hard over the past 10 years and can have actual influence now," said Lim Hyung-kyu, who ran Samsung's chips, research and new business divisions in a 33- year career beginning in 1976 and remains an adviser to the company. In any event, Samsung has grown to the point it's no longer reliant on any one person: "There's no one giving orders in Samsung. Even the chairman doesn't give orders ? just broad guidelines."
Full-year net income may reach 30 trillion won ($27.4 billion) this year, according to the average estimate of 44 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That's a 142-fold increase from 1993, and would make Samsung the world's sixth-most profitable company, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Samsung last month reported net income for the fourth quarter jumped 76 percent, more than analysts had forecast. The company's shares fell 6 percent in the following two days after it said smartphone sales may slow as developed countries are saturated and cheaper Chinese manufacturers crowd out the bottom of the market.
The phone division now accounts for almost 70 percent of Samsung's operating profit. The company is also pushing forward on parts. On Jan. 10, it unveiled a new, faster processor ? chips that make other components work together. Samsung is focusing on integrated processors, memory chips and display screens to capture more of a smartphone and tablet market forecast to reach $416 billion this year.
"The only company that has logic, memory and display is Samsung," Woo Nam-sung, head of System LSI, the division making the Apple processors, said at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month.
The company also said it was targeting a 50 percent jump in sales of home appliances such as fridges and washing machines over three years. Samsung's 43 percent hold over the global market for DRAM (dynamic random access memory) memory chips may also cease to be a drag as prices rebound this year, Sanford C. Bernstein said. A gauge of DRAM chip prices has jumped 24 percent this year.
"We love Samsung," said Olaf Rogge, London-based chief executive officer at Rogge Global Partners, which manages about $50 billion in bonds. They're "very well diversified. It's not Apple. Remember, one day, a company like Apple will go ex-growth. One day, everybody has this iPhone 4 or 5."
That day may be arriving. As Samsung's fortunes waxed, Apple's have waned.
Even though 51 out of 64 analysts recommend buying Apple's stock, with full-year earnings forecast to hit $46 billion, the most for any company, investors have dumped the shares. Since peaking in September, about $240 billion has been wiped from Apple's market value as it failed to keep pace with customer demand and on increased competition from rival operating systems ? particularly Google's Android.
Unlike Apple, Samsung isn't locked into any system ? including its own. That gives the Korean company insurance against missteps by Google and time to keep working at its own software designs.
"If they can be better at making software, of course, it'd be great, but it's like expecting one company to be able to control everything," said Baik. "Samsung relies on Google a lot now, but they can also build a relationship with Microsoft."
Google and Microsoft are also among companies entering the top end of the smart-device market, while faster growth in the middle of the range, where Apple hasn't been competing, has eroded its share.
A cheaper iPhone may be added to the iPad Mini Apple brought out last year, a person familiar with the plans told Bloomberg News last month. Apple CEO Tim Cook already reversed a vow by late founder Steve Jobs that the company wouldn't introduce a scaled-back and cut-price version of the iPad. By positioning the company at the peak of design, quality and price, Apple may have limited options to expand.
"We can only do a few things great," Cook said in an interview in December. "That's a part of our base principle: that we will only do a few things. And we'll only do things where we can make a significant contribution."
Samsung didn't seem so well-placed when the elder Lee inherited the family business in 1987. The company was four years into a gamble by his father and Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul to develop DRAM. The U.S. pioneers of the industry had just been overwhelmed with relentless investment in plant and technology by Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp.
Lee was "betting the company's future," recalled Lim. "It was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-Friday- Friday," he said. "We worked seven days a week, 14 hours a day."
Not only did Samsung survive, it became the biggest DRAM maker in less than 10 years and developed a taste for market domination: "We wanted to be number one in all our businesses," Lim said.
TVs were next: three-and-a-half decades after shipping its first black and white sets to Panama, Samsung passed Sony in 2005, and was growling at the heels of Helsinki-based Nokia in telephones.
And then came the iPhone. Apple's 2007 foray into smartphones made the once near-bankrupt maker of desktop and laptop computers an overnight threat in several new markets.
BlackBerry shares have slumped more than 80 percent as bankers ditched their once-totemic handsets; gamers shunned consoles, sending Super Mario creator Nintendo to a first annual loss last year; and demand for Microsoft's software was crushed in the stampede for Apple's integrated, connected and portable devices.
While Apple's phone was a boon for Samsung's components business, the device was a disaster for the company's mobile phones. Within two years, Apple was selling four times as many smartphones as Samsung.
The gulf between the iPhone and latest Samsung was a "crisis of design," managers at the Korean company's mobile division wrote in a February 2010 internal memo used by Apple at last year's trial. "Do you know how difficult the Omnia is to use?" the memo said. "It's better to not make anything at all than to make it in a laughable way."
Just four months later, Samsung released a new smartphone that a California jury in August last year ruled was too much like the iPhone, landing a $1 billion fine and possible import ban for infringing Apple patents. The companies returned to court Dec. 6: Apple seeking to broaden the judgment to cover more models; Samsung to have the case thrown out.
"What we would like, in a perfect world, is for everyone to invent their own stuff," Cook said in the interview.
Samsung Electronics has struggled to shake off the copycat tag that has dogged it since its foundation in 1969, when engineers ripped apart Sony TVs to learn how they were made. And while Samsung made the world's first MP3 phone in 1999, and followed that a year later with the first camera handset, it has remained an innovator of gadgets and industrial processes.
"They aren't the kind of company that makes products no one else can mimic," said Lim, the veteran. "Samsung has been making small, incremental improvements, but haven't been as successful with radical, big changes. But they're getting close."
About six miles from Apple's 1 Infinite Loop home, and a five-minute stroll from Google's sprawling campus in Mountain View, Samsung is building a 385,000-square foot (36,000-square meter) complex. When finished, it will house engineers to design mobile software, the company announced Sept. 19.
"We've seen their investment in software really spike," said Amit Pandey, CEO of Redwood City-based Zenprise Inc., which designs software to manage employees' mobile devices and works with Samsung.
Luring the best talent away from freewheeling West Coast startups or market leaders like Google may prove tricky in an industry where demand for skilled workers allows the picky to be pickier still.
"Mobile is super-hot. It's very easy to find work,'" said Leah Culver, a San Francisco-based software developer for Apple's iOS operating system and Android, used by Samsung. "I'd care more about what particular product I am working on."
Samsung represents a stepping stone on a career path, said Dave Howell, CEO of Avatron Software in Portland, Oregon. "I don't think of working for Samsung as a lifestyle, I think of it as a job," he said. "People go to Apple to retire."
That's not how it is back in South Korea, where the company is the most sought-after employer, according to a survey last year by SaraminHR, an online job-site operator.
About an hour's drive southeast of Seoul is Samsung's headquarters at Suwon, once a sprawling industrial complex churning out TVs and other household appliances. Factories have made way for pizzerias and ice-cream parlors, basketball courts and soccer pitches.
A 30-story center under construction will house 10,000 people working on networks and telecommunications, one of five new R&D units to open by 2015 at a cost of more than $3.6 billion. An industrial complex for new businesses ? part of a $20 billion search for the next drivers of growth ? will open in three years, and employ about 30,000 people. Samsung plows about 6 percent of revenue back into R&D, more than three times the rate at Apple, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Globally, Samsung has more than 55,000 engineers and other researchers ? about a quarter of its workforce ? looking at robotics and semiconductors, or seeking new applications for advanced materials that may yield game-changing advances from batteries to medical scanners and displays. Apple's total headcount was 72,800, according to its latest annual report.
The South Korean company was granted 5,081 patents in the U.S. last year, the most after IBM Corp., a Jan. 10 report by IFI Claims Patent Services shows.
"Samsung in its back pocket has got an increasingly relevant portfolio of patents," Vlad Cara, a London-based analyst at Pacific Investment Management Co., said by email.
As their legal fight spills across the globe, some decisions are going against Apple: a Dutch court Jan. 16 ruled Samsung's Galaxy Tab products didn't infringe Apple's design rights. Apple last month lost a U.S. appeal to block sales of Samsung devices pending the result of its patent-infringement case. The U.S. company itself is fighting suits from Samsung, as well as other phone and software providers.
"Everybody's talking about the patent war," said Pruksa Iamthongthong, who holds Samsung preference shares at Aberdeen Asset Management in Singapore. "It's a game all these players are playing, and it'll continue to be there," she said. "It'll just speed up the product life cycle."
The aggressive legal tactics of Apple, Samsung and other technology companies reflect the need to monetize intellectual property before the erosive effects of emulation. History is littered with examples of innovators who failed to keep hold of their first-mover advantage, according to Anil Gupta and Haiyan Wang, authors of "The Quest for Global Dominance."
While the Altair computer is regarded as the spark behind the personal computer industry, Jobs and fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak took over the market just two years later when they began producing the first Macintosh PCs, the authors noted in a March article on the website of Paris-based Insead business school. By the early 1980s, IBM was the dominant player in an industry crowded with rivals that drove Apple close to failure by 1997.
Apple was "lucky enough to seize the moment of change successfully," said C.W. Chung, a Seoul-based analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Seoul. As for Samsung: "They haven't run their course, and they're still evolving."
One of J.Y. Lee's biggest challenges will be picking those businesses he wants to remain in. His father's success coincided with the decline of Japan Inc. Japanese chipmakers failed to react as Samsung began to outspend them, turning a $1 billion capital expenditure gap with nearest rival Hitachi in 2004 into a $15 billion chasm last year.
The scale of investment Samsung needs to stay in front of competition means it risks getting caught on the wrong side of the market. It also means the company has to keep expanding to offset the cost of depreciating fixed assets, said Kota Ezawa, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in Tokyo.
All the time, hungrier rivals are eyeing Samsung's patch ? and business model.
Huawei Technologies Co., the world's biggest seller of communications networks, is unveiling more phones and tablets. Based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Huawei was the sixth-biggest phone manufacturer in the world during the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to Bloomberg Industries data.
ZTE Corp., also Shenzhen based, is already the fourth- biggest phone manufacturer. Then there's Lenovo Group Ltd., poised to become the world's biggest computer manufacturer, surpassing Hewlett-Packard Co. Lenovo, the maker of Thinkpad laptops, is bringing out phones, tablets and TVs.
"Long term, they will become a bigger threat," said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp. in Tokyo, which manages $300 million in assets. "So you have to keep running very fast."
Yang reported from Hong Kong, Krishnamoorthy from Singapore. Contributors: Olga Kharif in Portland, Aaron Ricadela in San Francisco and Ben Richardson in Hong Kong.
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A man uses a Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy S III smartphone to record a video outside the Apple Inc. store on George Street in Sydney, Australia, last September. The end may be nigh in the relationship between Samsung and Apple.
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SEOUL, South Korea ? Samsung Electronics' reclusive chairman has long warned employees against complacency and obsolescence.
"Change everything except your wife and kids," Lee Kun-hee told them in 1993, charting a course that would turn a $2 billion maker of cheap TVs into the $200 billion giant it is today. Two decades on, his message remains the same: "Forget about the past and start anew," Lee exhorted employees in his New Year's address on Jan. 2. "We must search out new businesses that Samsung's survival depends on."
That commitment to disruption has served Lee well. Samsung's pioneering of flat-screen TVs crippled Tokyo-based Sony and Sharp. Its relentless focus on chips helped bankrupt Elpida Memory Inc. Nokia's 14-year dominance in phones fell last year. With Samsung now preparing to shed Apple as a customer as their rivalry intensifies, the Korean company's smartphones are already outselling the iPhone and its share of the market for tablet computers has doubled in a year.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based maker of iPhones and iPads is already taking steps to distance itself from Samsung, according to a person familiar with Apple's thinking, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. Rivalry in smartphones and tablets, and lawsuits in which both insist the other is stealing ideas, are undermining the relationship, the person said.
Samsung has zoomed past Apple in the smartphone market that the U.S. company pioneered. Samsung's market share rose to 30.4 percent last year from 19.9 percent, while Apple's remained at about 19 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.
In tablet computers, the market Apple created with the iPad, Samsung doubled its market share in the fourth quarter, to 15 percent from 7.3 percent a year earlier, according to IDC. Apple's lead dipped to 44 percent from 52 percent.
Apple's purchases of chips, screens and other components now account for about 3 percent of Samsung's earnings per share, roughly half the level at the beginning of last year, said Marc C. Newman, whose team of Sanford C. Bernstein analysts published a 211-page study of the Korean company in September.
While Samsung is searching out new customers, Apple has expanded its list of suppliers, according to a statement from Apple as well as so-called tear-down reports in which analysts take gadgets apart to identify parts. Samsung's reliance on Google's Android operating system and more recent adoption of Microsoft's wireless software also strengthens its ties with Apple's two biggest U.S. rivals.
"Samsung is trying to get ready for a possible breakup with Apple," said Lee Jin-woo, who holds the South Korean company's stock in the $6.6 billion he helps oversee as a senior fund manager at KTB Asset Management in Seoul. "Samsung will make another big push into tablets, its multiple products driving sales of components and making up for any losses from Apple."
The struggle between the two will gauge not just their ability to reap the biggest gains from more than $400 billion in global sales of handheld wireless devices, it also tests two contrasting business models.
Where Apple is defined by a handful of products, Samsung sprawls across industries; where Apple outsources its manufacturing, Samsung's mastery of industrial processes is its biggest strength; where Apple seeks markets for its designs, Samsung designs for the market.
Disentangling from the relationship with Samsung will take time, said Newman, a senior analyst at Sanford in Hong Kong.
Apple needs Samsung's processors to avoid shortages of iPhone and iPads. Alternative suppliers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. aren't able to meet demand and Samsung is withholding investment in new capacity.
"It may take a few more years before they're entirely separated from Samsung because it's a severe lock-in, extremely complicated," Newman said. "Samsung is a phenomenal manufacturer and even TSMC, which is also a phenomenal manufacturer, is going to have a lot of trouble to ramp up."
Innolux and AU Optronics, Taiwan's largest makers of liquid-crystal displays, were named among the iPhone maker's suppliers last month, according to an Apple statement.
Samsung's processor sales will continue to rise along with Apple's revenue this year at least, and in the meantime the Korean company is supplying more parts for its own phones and tablets as well as finding new customers, Newman said.
"Samsung makes the best-quality parts, and if Apple rules out Samsung, they have to make a compromise," said Baik Jae-yer, a fund manager at Korea Investment Trust, which holds a 2.7 percent stake in Samsung.
Jason Kim, a Samsung spokesman, declined to discuss any changes in the relationship with Apple.
Weaning Samsung away from its relationship with Apple is a task that will increasingly fall to Lee Jae-yong, the 44-year- old grandson of the company's founder. Lee, also known as J.Y. Lee, was named vice chairman in December, the clearest signal yet on the succession for his 71-year-old father. Educated at Seoul National University, Keio University in Japan and Harvard Business School, he has helped run the components business, which provides parts for Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com, Google and Dell, as well as Apple.
The younger Lee "has worked hard over the past 10 years and can have actual influence now," said Lim Hyung-kyu, who ran Samsung's chips, research and new business divisions in a 33- year career beginning in 1976 and remains an adviser to the company. In any event, Samsung has grown to the point it's no longer reliant on any one person: "There's no one giving orders in Samsung. Even the chairman doesn't give orders ? just broad guidelines."
Full-year net income may reach 30 trillion won ($27.4 billion) this year, according to the average estimate of 44 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That's a 142-fold increase from 1993, and would make Samsung the world's sixth-most profitable company, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Samsung last month reported net income for the fourth quarter jumped 76 percent, more than analysts had forecast. The company's shares fell 6 percent in the following two days after it said smartphone sales may slow as developed countries are saturated and cheaper Chinese manufacturers crowd out the bottom of the market.
The phone division now accounts for almost 70 percent of Samsung's operating profit. The company is also pushing forward on parts. On Jan. 10, it unveiled a new, faster processor ? chips that make other components work together. Samsung is focusing on integrated processors, memory chips and display screens to capture more of a smartphone and tablet market forecast to reach $416 billion this year.
"The only company that has logic, memory and display is Samsung," Woo Nam-sung, head of System LSI, the division making the Apple processors, said at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month.
The company also said it was targeting a 50 percent jump in sales of home appliances such as fridges and washing machines over three years. Samsung's 43 percent hold over the global market for DRAM (dynamic random access memory) memory chips may also cease to be a drag as prices rebound this year, Sanford C. Bernstein said. A gauge of DRAM chip prices has jumped 24 percent this year.
"We love Samsung," said Olaf Rogge, London-based chief executive officer at Rogge Global Partners, which manages about $50 billion in bonds. They're "very well diversified. It's not Apple. Remember, one day, a company like Apple will go ex-growth. One day, everybody has this iPhone 4 or 5."
That day may be arriving. As Samsung's fortunes waxed, Apple's have waned.
Even though 51 out of 64 analysts recommend buying Apple's stock, with full-year earnings forecast to hit $46 billion, the most for any company, investors have dumped the shares. Since peaking in September, about $240 billion has been wiped from Apple's market value as it failed to keep pace with customer demand and on increased competition from rival operating systems ? particularly Google's Android.
Unlike Apple, Samsung isn't locked into any system ? including its own. That gives the Korean company insurance against missteps by Google and time to keep working at its own software designs.
"If they can be better at making software, of course, it'd be great, but it's like expecting one company to be able to control everything," said Baik. "Samsung relies on Google a lot now, but they can also build a relationship with Microsoft."
Google and Microsoft are also among companies entering the top end of the smart-device market, while faster growth in the middle of the range, where Apple hasn't been competing, has eroded its share.
A cheaper iPhone may be added to the iPad Mini Apple brought out last year, a person familiar with the plans told Bloomberg News last month. Apple CEO Tim Cook already reversed a vow by late founder Steve Jobs that the company wouldn't introduce a scaled-back and cut-price version of the iPad. By positioning the company at the peak of design, quality and price, Apple may have limited options to expand.
"We can only do a few things great," Cook said in an interview in December. "That's a part of our base principle: that we will only do a few things. And we'll only do things where we can make a significant contribution."
Samsung didn't seem so well-placed when the elder Lee inherited the family business in 1987. The company was four years into a gamble by his father and Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul to develop DRAM. The U.S. pioneers of the industry had just been overwhelmed with relentless investment in plant and technology by Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp.
Lee was "betting the company's future," recalled Lim. "It was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-Friday- Friday," he said. "We worked seven days a week, 14 hours a day."
Not only did Samsung survive, it became the biggest DRAM maker in less than 10 years and developed a taste for market domination: "We wanted to be number one in all our businesses," Lim said.
TVs were next: three-and-a-half decades after shipping its first black and white sets to Panama, Samsung passed Sony in 2005, and was growling at the heels of Helsinki-based Nokia in telephones.
And then came the iPhone. Apple's 2007 foray into smartphones made the once near-bankrupt maker of desktop and laptop computers an overnight threat in several new markets.
BlackBerry shares have slumped more than 80 percent as bankers ditched their once-totemic handsets; gamers shunned consoles, sending Super Mario creator Nintendo to a first annual loss last year; and demand for Microsoft's software was crushed in the stampede for Apple's integrated, connected and portable devices.
While Apple's phone was a boon for Samsung's components business, the device was a disaster for the company's mobile phones. Within two years, Apple was selling four times as many smartphones as Samsung.
The gulf between the iPhone and latest Samsung was a "crisis of design," managers at the Korean company's mobile division wrote in a February 2010 internal memo used by Apple at last year's trial. "Do you know how difficult the Omnia is to use?" the memo said. "It's better to not make anything at all than to make it in a laughable way."
Just four months later, Samsung released a new smartphone that a California jury in August last year ruled was too much like the iPhone, landing a $1 billion fine and possible import ban for infringing Apple patents. The companies returned to court Dec. 6: Apple seeking to broaden the judgment to cover more models; Samsung to have the case thrown out.
"What we would like, in a perfect world, is for everyone to invent their own stuff," Cook said in the interview.
Samsung Electronics has struggled to shake off the copycat tag that has dogged it since its foundation in 1969, when engineers ripped apart Sony TVs to learn how they were made. And while Samsung made the world's first MP3 phone in 1999, and followed that a year later with the first camera handset, it has remained an innovator of gadgets and industrial processes.
"They aren't the kind of company that makes products no one else can mimic," said Lim, the veteran. "Samsung has been making small, incremental improvements, but haven't been as successful with radical, big changes. But they're getting close."
About six miles from Apple's 1 Infinite Loop home, and a five-minute stroll from Google's sprawling campus in Mountain View, Samsung is building a 385,000-square foot (36,000-square meter) complex. When finished, it will house engineers to design mobile software, the company announced Sept. 19.
"We've seen their investment in software really spike," said Amit Pandey, CEO of Redwood City-based Zenprise Inc., which designs software to manage employees' mobile devices and works with Samsung.
Luring the best talent away from freewheeling West Coast startups or market leaders like Google may prove tricky in an industry where demand for skilled workers allows the picky to be pickier still.
"Mobile is super-hot. It's very easy to find work,'" said Leah Culver, a San Francisco-based software developer for Apple's iOS operating system and Android, used by Samsung. "I'd care more about what particular product I am working on."
Samsung represents a stepping stone on a career path, said Dave Howell, CEO of Avatron Software in Portland, Oregon. "I don't think of working for Samsung as a lifestyle, I think of it as a job," he said. "People go to Apple to retire."
That's not how it is back in South Korea, where the company is the most sought-after employer, according to a survey last year by SaraminHR, an online job-site operator.
About an hour's drive southeast of Seoul is Samsung's headquarters at Suwon, once a sprawling industrial complex churning out TVs and other household appliances. Factories have made way for pizzerias and ice-cream parlors, basketball courts and soccer pitches.
A 30-story center under construction will house 10,000 people working on networks and telecommunications, one of five new R&D units to open by 2015 at a cost of more than $3.6 billion. An industrial complex for new businesses ? part of a $20 billion search for the next drivers of growth ? will open in three years, and employ about 30,000 people. Samsung plows about 6 percent of revenue back into R&D, more than three times the rate at Apple, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Globally, Samsung has more than 55,000 engineers and other researchers ? about a quarter of its workforce ? looking at robotics and semiconductors, or seeking new applications for advanced materials that may yield game-changing advances from batteries to medical scanners and displays. Apple's total headcount was 72,800, according to its latest annual report.
The South Korean company was granted 5,081 patents in the U.S. last year, the most after IBM Corp., a Jan. 10 report by IFI Claims Patent Services shows.
"Samsung in its back pocket has got an increasingly relevant portfolio of patents," Vlad Cara, a London-based analyst at Pacific Investment Management Co., said by email.
As their legal fight spills across the globe, some decisions are going against Apple: a Dutch court Jan. 16 ruled Samsung's Galaxy Tab products didn't infringe Apple's design rights. Apple last month lost a U.S. appeal to block sales of Samsung devices pending the result of its patent-infringement case. The U.S. company itself is fighting suits from Samsung, as well as other phone and software providers.
"Everybody's talking about the patent war," said Pruksa Iamthongthong, who holds Samsung preference shares at Aberdeen Asset Management in Singapore. "It's a game all these players are playing, and it'll continue to be there," she said. "It'll just speed up the product life cycle."
The aggressive legal tactics of Apple, Samsung and other technology companies reflect the need to monetize intellectual property before the erosive effects of emulation. History is littered with examples of innovators who failed to keep hold of their first-mover advantage, according to Anil Gupta and Haiyan Wang, authors of "The Quest for Global Dominance."
While the Altair computer is regarded as the spark behind the personal computer industry, Jobs and fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak took over the market just two years later when they began producing the first Macintosh PCs, the authors noted in a March article on the website of Paris-based Insead business school. By the early 1980s, IBM was the dominant player in an industry crowded with rivals that drove Apple close to failure by 1997.
Apple was "lucky enough to seize the moment of change successfully," said C.W. Chung, a Seoul-based analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Seoul. As for Samsung: "They haven't run their course, and they're still evolving."
One of J.Y. Lee's biggest challenges will be picking those businesses he wants to remain in. His father's success coincided with the decline of Japan Inc. Japanese chipmakers failed to react as Samsung began to outspend them, turning a $1 billion capital expenditure gap with nearest rival Hitachi in 2004 into a $15 billion chasm last year.
The scale of investment Samsung needs to stay in front of competition means it risks getting caught on the wrong side of the market. It also means the company has to keep expanding to offset the cost of depreciating fixed assets, said Kota Ezawa, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in Tokyo.
All the time, hungrier rivals are eyeing Samsung's patch ? and business model.
Huawei Technologies Co., the world's biggest seller of communications networks, is unveiling more phones and tablets. Based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Huawei was the sixth-biggest phone manufacturer in the world during the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to Bloomberg Industries data.
ZTE Corp., also Shenzhen based, is already the fourth- biggest phone manufacturer. Then there's Lenovo Group Ltd., poised to become the world's biggest computer manufacturer, surpassing Hewlett-Packard Co. Lenovo, the maker of Thinkpad laptops, is bringing out phones, tablets and TVs.
"Long term, they will become a bigger threat," said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp. in Tokyo, which manages $300 million in assets. "So you have to keep running very fast."
Yang reported from Hong Kong, Krishnamoorthy from Singapore. Contributors: Olga Kharif in Portland, Aaron Ricadela in San Francisco and Ben Richardson in Hong Kong.
We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Rules. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment or fill out this form. New comments are only accepted for two weeks from the date of publication. Not sure how to add your comment? Here's how
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