Android dethrones Apple application downloads - October 26, 2011

It's the end of a reign without sharing. Android has become the leading provider of applications, thus dethroning Apple. In the second quarter 2011, the interface for mobile and Google has granted 44% market share against 31% for iOS, passing the 500,000 mark downloaded applications.

Android benefits from the significant increase in the number of users, which has increased significantly over the observation period, while the followers of the Apple brand awaiting the launch of the iPhone 4GS in early October. A study by ABI Research, there are now 2.4 Android users for a user to iOS in the world no fax pay day loan. It will be three to one in 2016. However, the number of applications downloaded per capita is higher among Apple fans, who download almost twice as those of Google.

Booming, the market for applications whets the appetite.Analysts forecast 29 billion downloads this year, against only 9 billion last year. Growth related to the use of smartphones, which grow exponentially. Holders of such smartphones are expected to grow 46% in 2011.

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Sony creates a helmet for movies and 3D games - October 23, 2011

The immersion is total. Sony caused a sensation at the Salon of video games Porte de Versailles in Paris, showing for the first time in France, his helmet virtual reality video games and movies in 3D.

By this headset, the viewer looks at the images as if they were in the middle of a movie theater in front "of a screen 19 feet wide and 20 meters away," providing its designers. Perception is indeed surprising. Two small screens (in the technology known as OLED, the most advanced flat panel displays) replace the glass of each pair of glasses. As each screen projects an image of the other complementary to each eye, the viewer has the perception of stereoscopic vision. Refreshing images done in record time (0.01 seconds), giving an impression of fluidity. Immersion increases when the music and the sounds coming out of headphones.Better than a stereo sound quality was improved (as 5.1, for the purists). Suitable for a game console PlayStation 3, Sony headphones, codenamed HMZ-T1, provides a home theater guaranteed approval cash advance loans.

Price from 800 euros

Technology has made progress since the first generation of virtual reality goggles in the late 1990s, designed by the American group including Silicon Graphics.

In the show, to demonstrate the immersion in video games, Sony has coupled his special helmet to the video game Uncharted 3: the illusion of Drake, launched exclusively for the PS3. With a gesture of the hand on the joystick, and the gun is triggered, another movement, the landscape of the game is running.

This revolutionary headset will be sold in mid-November. But technology has a price, very high in this case: 800 euros.What Sony does not expect to sell hundreds of thousands on the occasion of Christmas.

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Post will host mini-markets Petit Casino - October 19, 2011

Post mail, package and fill out the refrigerator in one place. This is the idea of ​​the Post Office, which seeks to exploit its unused surfaces since the closure of distribution centers mail. Casino won the tender and signed a five-year contract with the real estate subsidiary of La Poste, Poste Immo. Fifty convenience stores Petit Casino will open in early 2012 adjacent to the local post offices, in municipalities with fewer than 12,000 inhabitants.

The Petit Casino will have a separate entrance and will be approximately 200 square meters. Their selection will be tailored to local customers, "he will propose a point of warm bread if the village does not have a bakery, and salads to eat on the run over pedestrians in places," said Jean-Pierre Lanzetti, who heads the branch close to Casino.

The distributor further strengthens its leadership in the food trade of proximity.A total of 6700 stores Petit Casino, Casino shopping, shop Casino, Spar and Vival exist in France.

Post this partnership ensures that help to lower its real estate costs and that can "boost territories and improve service provision and attractiveness of city centers."

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Exchange: 216 billion euros went up in smoke - October 3, 2011

The market decline occurred in August and September did go up in smoke the equivalent of 216 billion euros over the market value of CAC 40 companies since January 1. During the one day of 22 September, falling 5.25% of the benchmark index of the Paris Stock Exchange has removed 40 billion euros, as much as the market capitalization of the size groups of EDF and L'Oreal!

Today, all forty major French companies weighed on the stock exchange the equivalent of 794 billion euros. This figure may seem high to the uninitiated, but it is actually little more than the book value of assets of companies entering the CAC 40.The fall in prices has reached such proportions that the largest industrial groups in the rating on the stock exchange deal at the price of factories, stocks of goods or land on which are built warehouses or stores.

Employees of Lafarge in hunger strike - September 28, 2011

To save their jobs, twelve employees of the Lafarge plant in Frangey, in the Yonne, have chosen the weapon of hunger. They begin on Tuesday the eighth consecutive day without food. Their camp of five tents in which they placed cots, is placed just under the windows of the direction of the cement business of the group at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine.

With this strong action, these employees, joined by the mayor of the commune of the Yonne, hoping to push Lafarge to reverse its decision, announced in late May to close their factory. Frangey site, dating back over 80 years and employs 74 employees, should gradually close its doors next year to a permanent closure in April 2013.Lafarge justify its decision with "a local market that is reduced by 40% over-capacity and an inability of the site to produce cement that meets new environmental standards."

The CGT, the majority union in the factory, these sweeping arguments. "The business is viable and profitable. And if the activity of the furnaces is low, it is because the traditional customers come from other sites such as Le Havre. And when asked why they prefer to Lafarge as trucks do 500 km to deliver, they can not be explained, "protested Sylvain Moreno, union leader, who understands that this is part of" the strategy of large ". False, answer a spokesman for the cement, "There was never any agreement between Lafarge and its competitors."

"A pool damaged"

As the situation escalates, Lafarge insists that the closure will be without pay.The group "has provided 100% of reclassification with a job on a site of Lafarge Cement in France," said a spokesman. Other support measures include a support for moving expenses, payment of the new rent for 15 years, or the accompanying spouse in finding a new job. "We want a smooth transition because we understand the emotion and anxiety of employees," said she. "If the goal of Lafarge, CAC 40 company, is close to reclassify, industrial activity in France has fallen very low," said Sylvain Moreno for his part.

Meanwhile in Saint-Cloud, Lafarge claims to be in contact "permanent" with the striking employees who received a "medical assistance, psychological and technical" from the group instant payday loan. Lafarge, which does not want this movement drags on, wants to "find an expeditious solution."But the ground is hard to find since the cement does not reverse its decision so that the strikers call for maintaining a pure and simple activity on the site. "I do not know how long this can last, says Sylvain Moreno. But I know that employees are determined to stay the course. We are ready for us to launch legal proceedings against the group to prove a lack of economic reasons, "said trade unionist.

"What is annoying is that it's 74 fewer jobs in the basin of Tonnerre is already quite damaged. Since 2003, 1,100 jobs have already been lost here, "says Maurice Godard, representative of the local union CGT de Tonnerre (Yonne).

Political turn

An extraordinary central committee (CEC), during which the situation will be discussed Frangey, is expected on Thursday. "There will be others.We want to continue the dialogue process, "says one at Lafarge. "There is no social dialogue, slice Sylvain Moreno, who says that management plans to relocate the appointment for he did not take place in Saint-Cloud," which will result in throwing fuel to the fire, "he warns.

Meanwhile, the movement takes a turn more and more political. Yesterday, Manuel Valls, a candidate for the primary PS, passing the camp, said that "Lafarge is able to maintain this site. This is the direction to move because you have to maintain this site. " Before him, the President of the Republic Standing, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, came to see these "employees thrown like dogs" on the basis of arguments that "does not hold water."

The movement seems however not have the desired resonance within the company.A call to stop work was issued Monday on other sites but there has been little follow-up, pushing the CGT to regret "what little humanity" by other employees of the group.

Player Figaro BFM

Reduced deposit insurance in Germany - September 23, 2011

Excellent sense of timing for German banks … By the time the security deposit is again a concern for investors, the association of German private banks – which include Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, and some 170 players bank – announced Thursday to reduce the protections afforded to their clients.

In Germany, the system operates at two levels. First level, all deposits are guaranteed by law up to 100,000 euros, as in France and in Europe parrout, in case of bankruptcy of a bank. This floor does not move then. What changes is the second level: it is the voluntary scheme set up by private banks. So far, they guarantee all deposits up to 30% stake in the troubled bank no faxing payday loan.Example, an investor putting his money into a small bank capitalized at 5 million the minimum guaranteed to see the money of 1.5 million.

By 2025 this will rise to 437,500 euros. "It's always much more than the legal minimum," pleads Mon officer of the association in Berlin. Not sure as long as this reform is very well received in the current tense situation. Knowing that, across the Rhine, and cooperative state banks maintain 100% protection on deposits.

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Wall Street should still brooding - September 12, 2011

The U.S. stock markets, should re-open in sharp decline on Monday. Future of Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, in fact, retreating from 1.58% to 1134.10 points from 1.32% to 2135.75 points. Friday, Wall Street closed lower for the second straight session, giving back to concerns about the debt of several countries deemed weak in the euro area and undermined by doubts about the strength of growth in the U.S. .

U.S. markets were particularly accentuated their losses Friday after the announcement of the resignation of Jürgen Stark of the European Central Bank (ECB).Initially considered a symptom of divisions in Europe on how to overcome the crisis, the markets will interpret signs from Germany suggesting that Berlin no longer a failure to exclude Greece.

This morning the Asian markets all ended down sharply and European stock markets are displayed in red.

Investors in Europe, in Asia and the United States fear that Greece is not able to meet these budget commitments, which threaten to bankrupt the country and aggravate the crisis in Europe. The German Minister of Economy Philipp Rösler has also not ruled out a bankruptcy ordered Greece to save the euro.

These uncertainties weigh heavily on European banking stocks, weighed down by their exposure to sovereign debt but also by fears about their solvency and funding.Specialists in Harbor Advisory today "Wall Street will evolve with European banks, whose main problem is exposure to sovereign debt."

United States, Barack Obama will submit to Congress today plan to revive the economy and jobs announced Thursday, said on Sunday a senior White House. The President will renew his call "to Congress to adopt this bill, which contains the kind of proposals to grow the economy and create jobs."

Week is low in business results – the retailer Best Buy and diverse manufacturing Pall is the only component of the S & P 500 to publish figures – investors will focus primarily on a series of macroeconomic indicators.The latter include retail sales, the producer prices and consumption as well as statistics on the manufacturing sector.

Note, however, leading indicators of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published this morning, reporting a "slowdown" of the world's major economies.

The euro and oil fall

In the wake of renewed tensions, the euro fell against the dollar, the euro remained sharply lower against the greenback Monday, falling below $ 1.35 even briefly, as a result of a new access market panic response to the crisis in Europe. Mid-session in Paris, the single European currency was worth 1.3603 dollars against 1.3649 dollars on Friday night. Earlier, the euro fell to 1.3495 dollars, its lowest level since Feb. 16. The euro also fell to its lowest level in a decade against the yen.The euro bought 104.64 yen against 105.91 yen Friday. In the early morning, the euro fell to 103.90 yen, its lowest level since June 2001.

Under pressure from a stronger dollar, a barrel of oil has also dropped on the ground. In electronic trading in the morning, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for October delivery lost 1.23 dollars to 86.01 dollars per barrel of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery at $ 1.02 111 $ 75.

The side of values, the French group Technip Engineering said Monday the acquisition of the entire capital of the U.S. Global Industries, a specialist oil services submarines, based on a valuation of 1.07 billion dollars (770 million).Technip will pay $ 8 cash per share, Global Industries, a premium of 55% over the closing price of its prey Friday night on Wall Street.

For its part, the online retailer Amazon is in talks with publishers to launch a book rental service digital subscription, said Sunday the Wall Street Journal in its online edition.

After the unexpected departure of the patron saint of Internet giant Yahoo!, Carol Bartz, rumors of a union between Yahoo! and AOL have resurfaced. The CEO of the Internet service provider America, Tim Armstrong, have consulted with investment companies to test investor appetite for a reconciliation between the two groups advance Bloomberg.Tim Armstrong become the leader of the group.

For his part, extended the Hertz Global date of its offer for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTG) until November 1.

Wynn Resorts, Wynn Macau via its subsidiary announced the acquisition of land over 20 hectares to the government of Macau for approximately $ 193 million. The plot, located on the Cotai area, should allow the development of a resort and recreation.

Moody's deteriorating Japan, Tokyo back - August 24, 2011

Despite the strong rebound on Wall Street Tuesday, Asian stock markets are unable to confirm their good performance yesterday morning. Including the Nikkei Stock Exchange Tokyo loose 1.07% to 8639.61 points, after opening up 0.78%.

Moody's has in fact degraded by one notch (to Aa3) Note the long-term debt of Japan due to the massive debt the country, aggravated by the earthquake of March 11. In the process, the U.S. rating agency also lowered the rating of a crazn debt of large Japanese banks (Mizuho Bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking).Mizuho lost 0.89% to 111 yen in Tokyo Stock Exchange, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial loose 3.21% to 331 yen and Sumitomo was down 1.67% to 2172 yen.

Tokyo takes steps against the high cost of yen

While the yen regained some ground against the euro (110.52 yen per euro) and was stable against the dollar (76.70 yen to the dollar), the Japanese government also announced a series of measures exceptional to help companies: including facilities will be granted to them by creating a special fund of 100 billion dollars taken on the foreign exchange reserves to encourage them to invest abroad guaranteed approval cash loans.

Despite this, the export value, including automobile manufacturers, continued to decline in stock: Honda lost 2.28% to 2,311 yen and Toyota gave up 2.02% to 2707 points.

Chinese financial markets, the Hang Seng lost 0.81% to 19.714.50 points while the CSI 300 gained 0.35% to 2830.83 points.

As for other Asian financial centers, the trend is also mixed: the Taiwan TAIEX was down 0.11% at 7541.80 points, the Kospi Index in Seoul lost 0.61% to 1765.78 points and the FTSE Straits Times of Singapore gives 0.48% to 2752.01 points. However, the BSE Sensex 30 Bombay is stable at 16,502.90 points and the S & P / ASX 200 advance 0.23% to 4182.80 points.

Oil prices rise

Oil prices were up Wednesday morning during electronic trading in Asia, with Brent who was close to 110 dollars a barrel because of uncertainty about the situation in Libya. In morning trading, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery gained 50 cents to 109.81 dollars. A barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in October was appreciating by 18 cents to 85.61 dollars.

That markets expect the agreement after the United States - August 1, 2011

On the night of Sunday to Monday, an agreement was reached between Republicans and Democrats to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. A favorable outcome that immediately reassured the markets: when Barack Obama announced the compromise to 2:45 Paris time, Asian stock markets – open to this hour – surged after learning that the failure to pay the United States was avoided. The Nikkei in Tokyo rose 1.7% immediately before finishing up 1.34%. Later, in Europe, major indices also showed the green, like the Cac 40 in Paris, which opened up 1.35%, and the ragagnant 3700 points, the Footsie Londoner, who took 1.07 % and the Dax in Frankfurt (+1.5%).

Safe haven, gold subside sees the outbreak of the course, which showed great concern on the part of investors.The yellow metal, which was still worth almost 1630 dollars per ounce on Friday, and is around 1615 dollars fell on Monday.

Immediate response as the currency market, the dollar has suddenly taken against major world currencies, particularly against the yen (the dollar rose from 77.3 to 78 yen per hour), just after the announcement.

Reassured the markets for a while

But around noon on Monday, the dollar back down a little already, one euro was trading against 1.4437 dollars (0.23%). Same against the Swiss franc, another safe haven, which goes back to full speed against the dollar and finds its historical levels of force, to 0.78 Swiss francs to the dollar.

Thus, if the news is welcome, the markets are not won by the euphoria. They are waiting because the confirmation of the plan by a vote, or some Republicans have expressed strong opposition to the agreement.Already on the European stock markets, the increases are bunched together in mid-day. And on Wall Street indices predicted a future increase in the Dow Jones 1.3%. Not enough to make up for the fall of 4.4% registered in the past week.

Markets are also wary because the details of the agreement remain unclear. In addition, the debt ceiling would require a new vote in early 2013, after the presidential elections. Now remains to be seen how the rating agencies will react to reductions in planned expenditure, less important than they hoped. However, they have warned: even if the United States are not lacking, this would not prevent the AAA rating of the country may be degraded.In this case, markets may again sink into depression.

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The royal wedding impact growth - July 27, 2011

In London

It would be unfair to put all their back, but the marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William has indeed drag on growth in the second quarter. The holiday offered to the British for the occasion has led to closures of factories, office buildings, helping to slow growth in the second quarter in Britain: 0.2% GDP growth, whichever comes first estimates published yesterday.

Other factors that have sealed-off growth: the heat of April, which reduced electricity consumption, and the drama of Fukushima, resulting in supply problems in the industry. Without these special events, growth reached 0.7%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The general view of economists, these figures are not brilliant but the disaster that some had predicted did not occur.The Economy Minister George Osborne is relieved: "The good news is that the UK economy continues to create growth and jobs." But the goal of annual growth of 1.7% is particularly difficult. Also believes the opposition does the government needs to soften its austerity policy: "These figures show that the return to growth has been strangled by the increase in VAT set up by George Osborne and lower costs budget, "said Ed Ball, a spokesman for Labour cash advance today.

"There is no plan B"

But it seems unlikely that the government changes its mind. "Our economy is stable right now because the government has taken tough decisions to take over the debt, Osborne continued. If we abandon this policy as some want, we will jeopardize the jobs and growth. "The Chancellor of the Exchequer is supported by the Liberal Democrat Minister of Commerce, that "there is no plan B. We must keep our commitment. " Vince Cable, that the Bank of England to support growth by easing monetary policy again.

Small encouraging sign: the sale of tickets for the Olympics began during the second quarter, but according to international conventions, will be counted in GDP at the time of the Games themselves, in a year. Alone it is 0.1 percentage point of growth, the ONS calculates.