Apple IPAD and Hitler’s response
Before I dwell into Hitlers parody of Apple’s Ipad, there has been a cult following for the movie Downfall(German: Der Untergang). The movie was released in 2004 and depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler in his bunker. The movie was a nominee for the Academy Award in the best foreign film category. Now for the fun part. There are atleast 50 parodies of the last scene where Hitler is yelling at his staff. Below is the latest parody about the Ipad. Enjoy.
Happy New year
Wishing our readers, viewers, advertisers, contributors and everyone who helped increase our audience 1000% in 2009 a very very Happy New Year.
Millions Lose COBRA subsidies today.
Millions of laid off workers will lose their COBRA subsidies today. The subsidies that ran out today were provided to workers starting in March 2009, for nine months, and paid 65% of a person’s health insurance. COBRA subsidies will continue for people who started after March for a period of nine months. Anybody who signs up by Dec 31st is still eligible from that day for a period of nine months.
For a family of four, the federal government was picking up an average tab of about $650. Finding affordable health care is a huge concern for laid off workers. The federal government threw a lifeline in the midst of the worst economic crisis of this generation. Congress is considering new legislation to resume the subsidies but costs and other issues make passage unlikely anytime soon, health leaders say. With the imminent expiration of this program in place, what can one do to take care of their Health Insurance ?
One suggestion – try to get a part time job the covers health care. A friend of mine got a part time job as a baggage handler for a local airline just so he can get health coverage. Starbucks is famous for its Health Insurance coverage – even for part timers. While you are at it – don’t forget the real reason you are there – to get a full time job.
What Google knows about you
Ever wonder what Google knows about you ? Now there is an easy way to find out. Google just released a tool called the Dashboard Privacy tool. Essentially it is a collection of everything that you do on Google in one place. Most of us can probably recall what we did … but logging into Google’s Dashboard tool is still an eye opener. I did not think I used Google as much nor spent as much time on their products till I logged in. Here are a few - Search, Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa, Wave, Gears, Maps, Blogger.
Google’s been under a lot of fire from a host of privacy advocates and this tool is their way of placating them. The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, which has been critical of the amount of personal data Google stores, called the dashboard a small step in the right direction.
The following message was posted on Google’s official blog -
In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over your own data, we’ve built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. The scale and level of detail of the Dashboard is unprecedented, and we’re delighted to be the first Internet company to offer this — and we hope it will become the standard.
Check out the tool for yourself at www.google.com/dashboard.
Check out Google reviews and salaries here.
“Real” Unemployment rate: 17.5%
There was a story on CNBC today that the “real” unemployment was 17.5%. That is nearly one in 5 Americans that are out of jobs. Scary joke …but i thought we are already past Halloween. Curious … I dug around to see where this number came from and if there is any merit to it. The Federal Government reports two unemployment numbers U3 and U6.
U3 is the “official unemployment rate” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. This is the current measure of unemployment focused by all media and hence you and me. It 
has, over the years, slowly excluded many of the factors that USED to go into how the US reported unemployment. Hence, there was a gradual decrease in the unemployment rate regardless of what was happening in the Job market. As reported by us previously, unemployment rate was 10.2% in October. This was the U3 number.
U6, on the other hand, is the broadest measure of Unemployment: It includes those people counted by U3, plus marginally attached workers (not looking, but want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past), as well as people employed part time for economic reasons (they want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule).
According to the government’s U6 number, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994. Not sure what the true unemployment rate is at this point, but my guess would be that it is somewhere between the U3 and U6 numbers. If we were to guess that the true unemployment rate was 15% – all inclusive – I bet we would not be too far off.