Apple Patents Live Voicemail Screening, Would Let Users Pick Up And Answer Mid-Message

Source: TechCrunch

Apple has a new patent published by the USPTO today (via AppleInsider), and this one is a result of its deal to acquire Nortel’s considerable trove of intellectual property with theRockstar consortium of tech companies. The patent describes a method for letting user listen in on, as well as interrupt and answer remotely hosted voicemail recordings.

Essentially, this is what old landline phones with physically attached answering machines used to make possible as a standard feature: you receive a call, let it go to the machine, listen to part of the message being left and then can decide whether to let the caller finish, or whether to interrupt, pick up the phone and talk to them live. This patent, however, applies to remotely hosted voicemail services, and can apply to cellular voicemail services, in theory.

It’s sort of a strange tech advancement to think of for cellular devices, as it’s actually a legacy telephony feature, but it could also potentially be very useful to end users as another way to control their inbound communications. Call screening is often now limited to checking the incoming number or caller ID before deciding to answer, and adding the ability to check out voicemails as they’re being left definitely adds an additional degree of call control.

Again, this is a patent resulting from an acquisition, and not one that Apple itself has invented, but it’s still interesting to see which IP from the deal Apple is scooping up and using to bolster its own portfolio, rather than just as part of the larger legal resource aims of the Rockstar pool in general.

Facebook Looking Into Buying Drone Maker Titan Aerospace

Facebook, one of the primary backers of the Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring affordable Internet access to the 5 billion people in the world who still lack connectivity, is in talks with a company that could help further that agenda. TechCrunch is hearing that Facebook is buying Titan Aerospace, makers of near-orbital, solar-powered drones which can fly for five years without needing to land. According to a source with access to information about the deal, the price for this acquisition is $60 million*.

From our understanding, Facebook is interested in using these high-flying drones to blanket parts of the world without Internet access, beginning with Africa. The company would start by building 11,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), specifically the “Solara 60″ model.

You can see an example of these UAVs, first introduced last year, here on YouTube. As the video explains, these drones are “atmospheric satellites” that can conduct most of the operations of an orbital satellite, but are cheaper and more versatile. The drones could potentially have many uses, including weather monitoring, disaster recovery, Earth imaging, or communications, the company has said, but clearly Facebook would be interested in that latter part.

China to pass US as top importer of electronics from Germany

China is about to dislodge the United States from another perch. This time, it's as the main recipient of German electric exports.

A survey by the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association shows China-bound German exports of electrical and electronic goods last year came to 13.1 billion euros ($17.99 billion) - within reach of the 13.2 billion euros of electric goods Germany shipped to the US.

The survey result coincides with China's surpassing the US as the world's largest merchandise trader, according to data cited by the Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry said World Trade Organization figures showed that China's merchandise trade totaled $4.16 trillion in 2013 with exports reaching $2.21 trillion and imports of $1.95 trillion.

Data from the US Commerce Department showed that the US' combined exports and imports stood at $3.91 trillion in 2013, about $250 billion less than China's.

The latest milestone in the electrical field caps off a decade-long climb for Chinese imports from Germany, a period when China's economy was growing at a double-digit clip, compared with its approximately 7.5 percent rate today.

"German electrical exports to China quadrupled from 2001 to 2011," according to an article on the Germany electrical and electronic manufacturers' website.

Improved coordination between European electrical suppliers and China in the past seven years on technical legislation and standards has contributed to the rise in exports to the Asian nation from Germany, according to the website.

"An extensive network has been built up between the member companies and the Chinese ministries, authorities and organizations," according to the website. EuropElectro - the voice of the European electrical and electronics industry in China under the leadership of the German electrical and electronic manufacturers' group - "is equally recognized and acknowledged today by the Chinese authorities and is appreciated as a technical adviser," according to the website. EuropElectro provides the Chinese organizations with "reliable information on market access conditions in Europe," the website said. The group's central location in Beijing, just 30 minutes from a major airport, also helps to keep the goods flowing into China, according to the website.

In 2004, the dominant export market for the German electric goods sector was France, leading the UK and the US, according to the survey.

Germany, with the world's fourth largest economy, and Europe's largest, typically does most of its export business with France, which has a 9.4 percent share. The US is second at 6.8 percent, and China sixth at 5.7 percent.

China, with $334 billion in exports, is the biggest exporter to the US, according to US Census Bureau data. Canada is the second largest US exporter, at $252 billion.

Source: ChinaDaily

Asian shares jump, yen licks wounds on Ukraine relief

 Asian stocks jumped and the safe-haven yen licked its wounds after a sharp tumble on Wednesday, following remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin that allayed fears of an imminent military conflict in Ukraine, and revived investor risk appetite.

Putin said Russia reserved the right to use all options to protect compatriots who were living in "terror" in Ukraine, but that force was not needed for now.

Soichiro Monji, chief strategist at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo, said the markets took Putin's words positively though the Russian leader did not rule out military intervention.

"While it looks like Russia's control of Crimea is becoming a fait accompli, there is no further escalation and no major sanction by the G7 other than skipping the G8 meeting," Monji said.

With wariness over the Ukraine easing for now, focus shifted back to fundamentals, notably Thursday's European Central Bank monetary policy meeting and Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.

"As long as the situation does not worsen in Ukraine over the next 24 hours, investors will start to shift their focus to the outlook for the U.S. labour market," Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York, said in a note to clients.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei jumped 1.5 percent.

On Wall Street on Tuesday, Putin's remarks helped the S&P 500 attain another record closing high. The yield on benchmark U.S. Treasuries pulled back from one-month lows to trade at 2.6887 percent in Asia, hovering near its U.S. close of 2.690 percent.

Despite the widespread relief, market watchers warned that the crisis in Crimea was not over, warning of further jolts for the financial markets ahead.

The dollar index traded at 80.14, moving away from Friday's two-month low of 79.688.

Economists polled by Reuters expect Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for February could show a more solid increase of 150,000 jobs last month.

The yen, which rallied on its safe-haven appeal this week as tensions mounted in Ukraine, remained on the back foot after a heavy reversal on Tuesday.

The dollar was buying 102.14 yen, moving away from a one-month low of 101.20 hit on Monday, while the euro bought 140.29 yen, after touching a two-week low of 138.75 yen on Thursday.

The euro was nearly flat on the day against the greenback at $1.3734, below Friday's high of $1.3825.

The single currency was likely to tread water ahead of Thursday's ECB monetary policy meeting. The ECB could take steps to bolster the region's recovery, as euro zone inflation has been running well below the ECB's target of just under 2 percent.

On the commodities front, U.S. crude pulled back sharply on Tuesday as Ukraine tensions eased and was up 0.1 percent in early Asian trade at $103.40 per barrel.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was flat at $7,045 a tonne, after gains of 1.2 percent in the previous session.

Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,336.14 an ounce after dropping 1.2 percent on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters

China services activity ticks up in January - HSBC PMI

Activity in China's services industry ticked up in February from a 2-1/2-year low the previous month, a private survey showed on Wednesday, confirming other data showing a pick-up in services even as manufacturing activity slows.

The HSBC/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 51.0 in February from January's 50.7, buoyed by new orders, remaining above the 50 line that separates expansion from contraction.

The rise tallied with the official non-manufacturing PMI, released earlier in the week, which showed activity at a three-month high, and contrasted with two surveys that showed manufacturing activity slowed in the month.

"February data signalled stronger expansions of business activity and new work at Chinese service-sector firms," HSBC/Markit said in a statement.

"That said, the rates of growth remained subdued in the context of historical data."

The PMI found that service-sector firms remained optimistic in February, generally expecting business activity to be higher than current levels in one year.

Source: Reuters

China's Xi ramps up military spending in face of worried region

China announced its biggest rise in military spending in three years on Wednesday, a strong signal from President Xi Jinping that Beijing is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness in Asia, especially in disputed waters.

The government said it would increase the defence budget by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), partly to develop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defences.

The increase follows a nearly unbroken run of double-digit hikes in the Chinese defence budget, second only to the United States in size, for the past two decades.

"This is worrying news for China's neighbours, particularly for Japan," said Rory Medcalf, a regional security analyst at the independent Lowy Institute in Sydney.

Those who thought Xi might prefer to concentrate on domestic development over military expansion in a slowing economy had "underestimated the Chinese determination to shape its strategic environment", he added.

"We will comprehensively enhance the revolutionary nature of the Chinese armed forces, further modernise them and upgrade their performance, and continue to raise their deterrence and combat capabilities in the information age," Li told the largely rubber-stamp National People's Congress.

At a time when Washington has stepped up its military presence in the region as part of a strategic "pivot" toward Asia, China is building new submarines, surface ships and anti-ship ballistic missiles, and has tested emerging technology aimed at destroying missiles in mid-air.

Toshi Nakayama, a security expert at the Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan, said Tokyo saw a stronger Chinese military as a worry "but a more capable submarine force would be a particular threat".

Source: Reuters

China signals focus on reforms and leaner, cleaner growth

China provided its strongest signal yet that it will shift toward balanced and clean economic growth, promising to reduce the pace of investment to the lowest in a decade and wage a "war on pollution".

In a State of the Union style address to China's annual parliament meeting that began on Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang said Beijing aims to grow the world's second-largesteconomy by 7.5 percent this year, the same as last year's target. Analysts have said maintaining the target after years of breakneck expansion signals that Beijing will remain focused on reforms and rebalancing the economy.

Li said enacting reforms was his first priority even as he keeps an eye on growth. Idle factories will be shut, and work on a new environmental protection tax will be sped up to create a greener and more balanced economy powered by consumption rather than investment, he said.

"Reform is the top priority for the government this year," Li told around 3,000 hand-picked delegates in a cavernous meeting hall in central Beijing.

"We must have...the mettle to fight on and break mental shackles to deepen reforms on all fronts."

To aid the transformation, China's economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, told parliament that the government will target 17.5 percent growth in fixed-asset investment this year, the slowest in at least 10 years.

Investment is the largest driver of China's economy and accounted for over half of last year's 7.7 percent growth by expanding 19.6 percent, exceeding an 18 percent target.

Analysts welcomed slower investment growth although some worried about the impact of environmental measures on jobs and incomes.

"There have been a lot of environmental protection-related initiatives, but the issue has started to have some negative impact on people's livelihood and in the economy," said Paul Tang, an economist at Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong. "It is an area that needs to be addressed."

Li said the battle against pollution will be waged via reforms in energy pricing to boost non-fossil fuel power and cutting capacity in the steel and cement sectors which are the sources of much air pollution.

Li, China's first premier with an economics doctorate, said the government would maintain an inflation target of around 3.5 percent for 2014. Broad M2 money supply growth would be kept at 13 percent, also widely expected.

He said authorities would set up a deposit insurance scheme, a step toward China's goal of freeing up bank deposit rates. The scheme would protect depositors as Beijing is concerned some smaller lenders could go under as banks compete for deposits in a more open regime.

Li also said the government would push forward reform of the yuan exchange rate. Convertibility of the yuan on the capital account would be brought forward, Li said.

The government plans 15.3 trillion yuan ($2.5 trillion) in budgeted spending in 2014, which would produce a deficit of about 2.1 percent of GDP, unchanged from the actual shortfall in 2013, the finance ministry said.

Source: Reuters

China February export, import growth seen slowing further

China's export and import growth likely slowed in February, causing its trade surplus to shrink by more than half, a Reuters poll showed, reinforcing views that its economic momentum is weakening as leaders prepare to unveil key targets for 2014.

Soft manufacturing numbers for February have heightened concerns about the extent of the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, thought its services sector appears to have regained some momentum.

Export growth is expected to ease to 6.8 percent in February compared with a year earlier, compared with 10.6 percent in January. Import growth will also dip, to 8.0 percent, from 10.0 percent.

As a result, the February trade surplus is likely to drop to $14.50 billion, from $31.86 billion in January.

Still, analysts cautioned against reading too much into the figures for the first two months of the year.

"Chinese New Year continues to play havoc with incoming data," Mark Williams and two other Capital Economist economists in a note.

"The rush to complete orders ahead of the festival appears to have boosted exports in January. With this factor no longer supporting exports in February, we suspect that headline export growth will have cooled."

To help smooth out distortions from the week long holiday, which fell predominantly in early February this year, the statistics bureau will release combined data on retail sales, industrial output and investment for January and February next week.

The combined figures for all three indicators are expected to show a slightly slower rate of growth than in December.

"We expect January and February's combined data set to show the Chinese economykicking off 2014 on a weaker, but still acceptable pace," Tao Wang and other economists at UBS in a note.

A surge in new loans last month will also likely taper off sharply in February, the poll showed.

Recent economic data for the economy has been mixed, and the long Lunar New Year holiday has made it harder to assess momentum. Weak investment and declining manufacturing PMI readings have been countered by surprisingly buoyant exports and bank lending.

But weakening output has created concern that the Chinese factory sector is dragging on global activity alongside that of the United States, while European manufacturers have enjoyed a solid start to the year.

In a State of the Union style address to China's annual parliament meeting that began on Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang said Beijing aims to grow the world's second-largest economy by a simular 7.5 percent this year. Analysts have said maintaining the target after years of breakneck expansion signals that Beijing will remain focused on reforms and rebalancing the economy.

Some analysts have said weak numbers would encourage the government to loosen monetary policy to keep the economy growing at that level.

Source: Reuters

Engine Maker Backed by Bill Gates Enters China Joint Venture

       The Wall Street Journal reports,''U.S.-based EcoMotors Inc., which says its engines offer as much as 20% greater fuel economy and are around 30% lighter than traditional engines, hopes it can play a role in China's efforts to combat pollution. Venture-capital firm Braemar Energy Ventures also is an EcoMotors investor''.

The joint venture initially will focus on building diesel engines in China. Such engines typically are used by trucks, for which China is the world's largest market. More than four million commercial vehicles—including trucks and vans—were sold in China last year. That was up 6.4% from a year earlier, though down from the record 4.3 million sold in 2010.

Trucks account for around one-fifth of China's vehicles but contribute a disproportionate share, almost 80%, of vehicle particulate matter, according to China's Ministry of Environmental Protection. Last year, the country pledged to increase fuel standards for diesel and gasoline over the next four years to levels similar to those in the U.S. and Europe.

FAW Jingye Engine Co. will hold 51% of the joint venture, which was signed last week, with EcoMotors owning the rest.

FAW Jingye will invest more than $200 million, according to Andrew Chung, a partner at Khosla Ventures. Instead of contributing capital, EcoMotors will provide intellectual property on a nonexclusive basis, he said.

Presentation of BPZ Energy at Raymond James Conference, March 4th 2014

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/BPZI/2998566209x0x730688/48bf4a0f-8d92-4255-8749-33e2425dbe0c/RJ%20March%202014%20Presentation%20Final.pdf

Two oil plays in Peru GTE and BPZ

Remember there are two oil plays in Peru, BPZ Resources Inc. and Gran Tierra Energy INC.
I have posts for both of them.

Asia-Pacific Equity Indexes close for March 4th, 2014

Major Asia-Pacific Stock Indexes

9:02 AM EST 3/4/2014

	TODAY			5 DAY			1 MONTH		52 WEEK		YTD
	LAST	CHANGE	% CHG	CHANGE	% CHG		CHANGE	% CHG	RANGE	% CHG	% CHG
Source; WSJ
Asia Dow	2956.12	11.66	0.40%	-13.50	-0.45%		149.14	5.31%	SLIDER	-0.33%	-2.98%
DJ Asia-Pacific TSM	1413.76	2.85	0.20%	-0.12	-0.01%		62.20	4.60%	SLIDER	3.04%	-2.40%
Australia: All Ordinaries	5411.70	14.30	0.26%	-32.30	-0.59%		297.60	5.82%	SLIDER	6.36%	1.09%
Australia: S&P/ASX	5400.20	15.90	0.30%	-33.60	-0.62%		303.10	5.95%	SLIDER	6.40%	0.90%
China: DJ Shanghai	271.03	-0.18	-0.07%	-2.97	-1.08%		3.98	1.49%	SLIDER	-7.05%	-2.26%
China: H-Share Index	9776.77	25.12	0.26%	36.21	0.37%		267.12	2.81%	SLIDER	-12.47%	-9.61%
China: Shanghai 50	1464.28	1.60	0.11%	23.39	1.62%		-13.06	-0.88%	SLIDER	-23.60%	-7.02%
China: Shanghai Composite	2071.47	-3.76	-0.18%	37.25	1.83%		38.39	1.89%	SLIDER	-10.95%	-2.10%
China: Shenzhen Composite	1106.35	-3.06	-0.28%	17.13	1.57%		25.08	2.32%	SLIDER	14.69%	4.60%
Hong Kong: Hang Seng	22657.63	156.96	0.70%	340.43	1.53%		1259.86	5.89%	SLIDER	0.43%	-2.78%
India: S&P BSE Sensex	21209.73	263.08	1.26%	357.26	1.71%		997.80	4.94%	SLIDER	10.80%	0.18%
India: S&P CNX Nifty	6297.95	76.50	1.23%	97.90	1.58%		297.05	4.95%	SLIDER	8.88%	-0.10%
Indonesia: JSX Index	4601.28	17.08	0.37%	23.99	0.52%		249.03	5.72%	SLIDER	-3.17%	7.65%
Japan: Nikkei 225	14721.48	69.25	0.47%	-330.12	-2.19%		713.01	5.09%	SLIDER	26.00%	-9.64%
Japan: TOPIX Index	1204.11	7.35	0.61%	-29.55	-2.40%		64.84	5.69%	SLIDER	21.80%	-7.54%
Japan: DJ Japan TSM	750.73	4.40	0.59%	-15.39	-2.01%		26.75	3.69%	SLIDER	20.91%	-7.42%
Malaysia: FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI	1826.46	1.77	0.10%	-7.29	-0.40%		47.63	2.68%	SLIDER	11.23%	-2.17%
Malaysia: DJ Malaysia TSM	3445.86	8.51	0.25%	-5.89	-0.17%		44.99	1.32%	SLIDER	12.50%	-1.59%
New Zealand: NZX 50	5033.26	25.86	0.52%	65.75	1.32%		230.64	4.80%	SLIDER	17.90%	6.25%
Philippines: PSE Composite	6394.60	-12.92	-0.20%	99.05	1.57%		508.59	8.64%	SLIDER	-4.72%	8.57%
S. Korea: KOSPI	1954.11	-10.58	-0.54%	-10.75	-0.55%		67.26	3.56%	SLIDER	-3.10%	-2.85%
S. Korea: KOSPI 50	1661.77	-10.06	-0.60%	-9.89	-0.59%		62.83	3.93%	SLIDER	-5.17%	-4.21%
S. Korea: KOSPI 100	1926.95	-12.03	-0.62%	-11.51	-0.59%		72.29	3.90%	SLIDER	-4.69%	-3.96%
S. Korea: KOSPI 200 Composite	254.78	-1.51	-0.59%	-1.46	-0.57%		9.48	3.86%	SLIDER	-4.41%	-3.58%
Singapore: Straits Times	3104.71	17.24	0.56%	1.09	0.04%		138.91	4.68%	SLIDER	-4.42%	-1.98%
Taiwan: TAIEX	8554.54	-47.44	-0.55%	-21.08	-0.25%		91.97	1.09%	SLIDER	7.84%	-0.66%
Thailand: SET	1345.82	6.61	0.49%	41.94	3.22%		68.98	5.40%	SLIDER	-13.13%	3.