Sydney Morning Herald

High price of petrol OK with some
Trade between Iran and Turkey will exceed $US8billion ($9.3billion) by the end of the year following rising oil and gas prices, it was announced yesterday.
The mounting prices contributed to the increase and resulted in a trade deficit of $US5.5billion for Turkey, Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said.
Iran-Turkey trade rose from $US1.3billion in 2002 to $6.7billion in 2006. Mr Tuzmen said he hoped the figure would reach $10billion next year.
Iran and Turkey trade $2billion of non-oil commodities each year.
Iran's Commerce Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi said he hoped the ground would be paved for the expansion of co-operation between private sectors of the neighbouring countries.
Iran and Turkey signed an agreement yesterday after the three-day Joint Economic and Trade Commission meeting in Ankara.
Earlier, Iran announced it and Russia had increased mutual trade more than 100percent in the past year.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made the announcement in a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow.

http://business.smh.com.au/high-price-of-petrol-ok-with-some/20071216-1hb7.html



US rattled by signs of surging inflation
December 16, 2007 - 12:35AM
Wall Street took a beating yesterday as a report showing resurgent consumer inflation heightened fears that the Federal Reserve would turn its focus away from efforts to stimulate a faltering US economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 135.46 points to 13,335.46 at the closing bell in a volatile session.
The Nasdaq Composite shed 32.35 points to 2636.14 and the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index retreated 20.48 points to a preliminary close of 1467.93.
Ahead of the opening, a report showed US consumer prices surged 0.8 per cent in November, bringing the year-over-year inflation rate to 4.3 per cent.
The report fuelled fears that the central bank, which has been cutting interest rates to stave off an economic downturn, would turn its focus more towards inflation.

http://business.smh.com.au/us-rattled-by-signs-of-surging-inflation/20071216-1hb8.html



Google to launch new Wiki whacker
December 16, 2007
Google is building its own version of communally-constructed online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
The internet search powerhouse is inviting people to test a free service dubbed "knol", to indicate a unit of knowledge, vice-president of engineering Udi Manber said in a posting on Google's website on Friday.
"Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it," Mr Manber wrote.
Millions of people possess knowledge they would like to share and "there are billions of people who can benefit from it", he said.
While Wikipedia lets visitors make changes to its pages, trusting that people with accurate information will correct errors, Google is inviting people to write their own articles.
Pictures of authors will be displayed on their knol web pages, a sample provided by Google reveals.
"Books have authors' names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors ... the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors' names highlighted," Mr Manber wrote.
Google hopes knols will be written on all conceivable topics and says it has no plans to edit or endorse content. Editorial responsibility will rest with authors, whose reputations will be at stake, Mr Manber said.
Knols on the same subjects will "compete" for the attention of visitors, who will be able to give feedback.
Knol authors will have the option of letting Google post ads on their pages and sharing in the revenues.
Luring Wikipedia users to its own community-created online encyclopedia promises to be another rich vein of income for the search giant.
Wikipedia is consistently ranked among the top 10 websites by research firms Hitwise and comScore.

http://business.smh.com.au/google-to-launch-new-wiki-whacker/20071216-1hb6.html



US inflation hottest in two years
December 15, 2007 - 7:12AM
US consumer prices rose have risen the most in more than two years in November as energy costs surged and a host of other prices marched higher, damping prospects of further interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
At the same time, production at the nation's mines, factories and utilities rose a stronger-than-expected 0.3 per cent last month, suggesting the economy may have a bit more steam than many analysts had thought.
The Labor Department said on Friday that the consumer price index jumped 0.8 per cent in November, the biggest gain since September 2005, as energy costs leaped 5.7 per cent.
Even stripping out fast-rising food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI rose a relatively steep 0.3 per cent, the largest increase since January and ahead of the 0.2 per cent rise expected on Wall Street.
"It puts the Fed in a little bit of a bind and people have to question how aggressive the Fed can be in cutting rates if inflation is rearing its ugly head," said Firas Askari, head currency trader at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.

http://news.smh.com.au/us-inflation-hottest-in-two-years/20071215-1h8f.html



Australian dollar closes weaker
December 14, 2007 - 5:46PM
The Australian dollar closed weaker today as the local currency struggled to regain ground lost during the overnight session.
At 1700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.8778/83, down from yesterday's close of 0.8820/25.
During the day, the Australian dollar traded between a low of $US0.8757 and a high of 0.8791.
The Australian dollar opened the day weaker, falling back below 88 US cents in overnight trade as the US dollar strengthened on the back of some better than expected economic data.
Figures released overnight showed US retail sales rose 1.2 per cent in November - double market expectations.

http://news.smh.com.au/australian-dollar-closes-weaker/20071214-1h0j.html



Fashioning technology
Rachel Wells
December 9, 2007
Suits that power your iPod; shorts that chill your beer; and dresses that can be programmed to fit perfectly: Rachel Wells explores the brave new world of haute technology.
If you thought Maxwell Smart's shoe phone was a hoot, you ain't seen nothing yet. Exciting progress in the booming, intelligent clothing and textiles industry means mobile-phone shirts (just speak into the collar) and socks that mend themselves could soon be a reality. Meanwhile, iPod-playing suits and clothes that change size and shape to fit the wearer are already here. Such garments are set to become part of our daily wardrobes as advances in smart fabrics mean our clothes will do more than just preserve our modesty, protect us from the elements, or, for some of us, make a fashion statement.
In recent years, smart clothing has progressed significantly from wearable computers - where devices such as MP3 players or mobile phones are seamlessly integrated into clothing - to "intelligent" fabrics and clothes that can conduct electricity, change shape and even colour.
"The world is your oyster when it comes to the sorts of things you can do with clothing and technology. You're only limited by your imagination, really," says Dr Adam Best, a research scientist at the CSIRO division of energy technology, who has developed a shirt that produces electricity simply by being moved, such as when the wearer is walking.
The power shirts - or flexible, integrated-energy devices - are basically wearable batteries that charge whenever the person moves. While they are being developed for military purposes - for energy supply for soldiers in the field - Best says they could be used to power mobile phones, portable music players and other small electrical devices. "The technology basically enables you to get rid of the battery as we know it and will open up a whole new world for designers to put things in places that have merely been the realm of science fiction, so to speak," he says. "So, for example, you could quite easily build a device into your shirt, where your shirt literally becomes a mobile phone or iPod."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/fashion/fashioning-technology/2007/12/06/1196812927346.html



Venezuela steps back in time
December 11, 2007
Advertisement
CARACAS: The President, Hugo Chavez, does not usually do things by halves but he has made an exception: he has put Venezuela's clocks back half an hour.
By presidential decree on Sunday the country stepped back in time 30 minutes in a one-off adjustment to its relationship with Greenwich Mean Time. It would put Venezuelans biologically more in tune with the sun, Mr Chavez explained.
"It's about the metabolic effect, where the human brain is conditioned by sunlight."
The adjustment was widely seen as a quixotic initiative of a leader who seems to want to change everything.
"Loco," Atonio Machado, a newspaper seller in Caracas, said. "Mad. I don't see it doing much harm. But what's the point?"
Much the same was said when Mr Chavez ordered the horse on the national flag to face left instead of right to reflect his socialist orientation. He also renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela after the independence hero Simon Bolivar.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/venezuela-steps-back-in-time/2007/12/10/1197135374675.html

continued...