via rawstory.com
Thursday, July 14, 2011
U.S. May Have Its Credit Ratings Cut by S&P - Bloomberg
The U.S. may have its AAA long-term and A-1+ short-term credit ratings cut by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, which said there is an increasing risk of a substantial policy stalemate enduring beyond any near-term agreement to raise the debt ceiling.
S&P put the ratings on Creditwatch negative, meaning there’s a one-in-two chance they may be cut in the next 90 days. The outlook on the AAA rating was revised to negative from stable by S&P on April 18.
The long-term rating may be lowered by one or more notches into the AA category in the next three months if S&P concludes Congress and President Barack Obama’s administration haven’t achieved a credible solution to the rising U.S. government debt burden and aren’t likely to achieve one in the foreseeable future, according to the statement.
via bloomberg.com
Do the Math: Amazon is Planning Three New Tablets | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
Amazon tablet rumors are flying fast and furious these days. A new report Thursday from Taiwan-based supply chain scoop sniffer DigiTimes may only serve to muddy the waters regarding the online retail giant's plans to take on Apple's iPad with a touch screen device of its own before the year is out.
The crux of the DigiTimes report is that Amazon has contracted with Kindle assembler Foxconn to put together 10.1-inch tablets for a release date sometime in 2012, while Quanta Computer is now shipping a 7-inch tablet to the online retailer.
At first blush, the rumored deal with Foxconn on a 10.1-inch tablet for 2012 doesn't jibe with this week's report from The Wall Street Journal that Amazon will have a 9-inch device with an outsourced design ready for release before October of this year.
But as TechCrunch points out, the 9-inch tablet reportedly arriving in the third quarter could be "a sort of placeholder" for a larger model that Amazon plans to design itself and release next year.
In that sense, both the Journal's article and the DigiTimes report could be on the money.
What's a bit more confusing is the part in the DigiTimes report from Thursday about a 7-inch Amazon tablet being assembled by Quanta Computer. ZDNet's Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has cited sources who have identified Quanta as the maker of the Amazon tablet, so that much is consistent. The trouble is, Vaughan-Nichols' sources seem to be referring to the 9-inch tablet identified in the Journal report from Wednesday.
Here again, there may be an answer that indicates both reports are correct, though it takes some digging through the growing backlog of Amazon tablet rumors to find it.
Back in May, Boy Genius Report cited sources who claimed Amazon was readying not one, but two tablets for release in the second half of 2011—specifically, a more powerful model codenamed Hollywood (the 9-inch tablet named by the Journal?) and an "entry-level" version codenamed Coyote (the 7-inch device identified by DigiTimes?)
So here's the skinny, as far as we can tell: Putting together all the different rumors and assuming that everybody's information is more or less accurate, it sure looks like Amazon has not one, not two, but in fact three separate tablets in the offing.
First, there would be two color, multi-touch tablets running Google's Android Honeycomb 3.1, designed and assembled by Quanta and set for a September release—the 7-inch Coyote tablet with Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 chip, and the 9-inch Hollywood tablet, powered by either the dual-core Tegra 2 or perhaps by the upcoming quad-core "Kal-El" chip from Nvidia.
The third rumored tablet is the mysterious Amazon-designed, Foxconn-assembled 10.1-inch device mentioned by DigiTimes' sources. Not due out until 2012, this tablet would likely sport Nvidia's Kal-El processor and run a more advanced version of Android.
via pcmag.com
Source: Obama says he'll risk job for debt deal - CBS News
(CBS/AP)WASHINGTON - Amid new warnings and fresh signs of strain, President Obama and congressional leaders are entering a perilous debt-limit endgame. The president, declaring "enough is enough," is demanding that budget negotiators find common ground by week's end even as the Senate's top Republican gained followers for his own last-ditch scheme to avoid a government default.
The continuing impasse was unsettling Wall Street, which up to now had performed as if an increase in the debt ceiling was not in doubt. And the looming Aug. 2 cutoff for action was creating new tensions between the president and Republican leaders.
Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday it will review the government's credit rating, noting there is a small but rising risk that the government will default on its debt. If Moody's were to lower the ratings, the consequences would ripple through the economy, pushing up rates for mortgages, car loans and other debts. A Chinese rating agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., also warned of a possible downgrade.
via cbsnews.com
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