RealFlow Attractor Tutorial

Another interesting tutorial on RealFlow found on Youtube

Water filling glass tutorial part 1

Cinema 4D Tutorial - Export UV Map to Photoshop

Interesting tutorial on how to export UV map to any graphic editing software from Cinema 4d

How CINEMA 4D and Photoshop Work Together

CINEMA 4D: Putting Your 3D Model Into a Real Photo or Movie

Simple and easy as always - Cinema 4d tutorial of smoothly blending 3d and real world together

The Execution of Mary Stuart (1895 film)

short (18 sec) motion picture that was shoot by Edison in 1895. It depicts execution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.

Object Tracking with PFTrack and Cinema 4D Tutorial - Part 2 (HD) w/ Cap...

Simple and easy way to track an object in PFTrack and export result to Cinema 4d.

ARTE FIER/ART FIRST BOLOGNA 2011 by ZOOM magazine

Matchmoving Tutorial | Boujou to Cinema 4D

ANother interesting tutorial on matmoving (Cinema 4d, Boujou)

CINEMA 4D - Xray-Cel Renderer - TUTORIAL

Cinema 4D Wireframe Effect - by The696Baby (Optic Gaming Intro Effect)

Pretty nice and cool Cinema 4d tutorial found on Youtube

North Korean Children Playing Guitar 北朝鮮の子供たちによるギター演奏

Zbrush to Cinema 4d to Zbrush to Bodypaint

Ukulele weeps by Jake Shimabukuro

Slavic Soul Promo

Crows

Enjoy the silence

Café talks

Kiyiv

bigger size

Nature

cat

Potichok

Technorati Profile

Clubbing

on music and harmony

Музыка - это, что наполняет нас гармонией. Какая музыка - такая и гармония.

Music is what fills us with the harmony. So the kind of your harmony depends on the kind of music you listen to

MTV: O.B.I.& Fernanda Martines@Cinema Club

One walk in Kiev 2

View Album

Get your own

One walk in Kiev

View Album

Get your own

Martha Stewart Gets A Boost

Shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia are off more than 20% for the year to date, and 13% since late February. But now may be the time for investors to reconsider their opinion on that sinking stock.

So says Bear Stearns analyst Michael Meltz. In a client note posted Tuesday morning, Meltz pointed out that recent price weakness.

"While valuation is still not cheap, the pullback makes the shares somewhat more attractive given the company's growth profile," the analyst wrote.

Meltz told his clients that he thinks shares of the media company, founded by Martha Stewart in 1996, could benefit in coming months from positive news flow related to new deals and products, including its redesigned Web site, MarthaSteward.com

Additionally, Meltz noted that many of the company's previously announced merchandising alliances will be rolled out throughout the spring and summer, such as a collection of paints at Lowe's, crafts at Michael's Stores and home products at Macy's.

Meltz added, "We think the future looks bright for Martha Stewart, and view the company as one of the few real growth stories within the broader media space."

He upgraded his rating on the company to "peer perform" from "underperform."

Traders responded, sending shares of the company climbing 3.9%, or 65 cents, to $17.53 in Tuesday trading.

Separately on Tuesday, homebuilder KB Home said it's teaming up with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to build a community of 97 houses in Los Angeles County.

The community, scheduled to start welcoming residents in the fall of 2007, is the second such community that the two companies have built together in California.

Source Forbes.com

Sporting tycoon buys Adidas stake

Fiona Walsh
Tuesday March 27, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Secretive retail billionaire Mike Ashley has splashed out more than £180m on a 3.14% stake in Adidas, the German sportswear group.
News of his holding saw shares in Adidas, the world's second-largest sporting goods maker, jump €1.15 on the German stock exchange today, to €40.25 (£27.32).

Just weeks ago Mr Ashley raised £929m by floating his Sports Direct empire on the London stock market. At the time, he said he had no plans to spend the cash, but would put it in the bank instead.

Brand Differentiation

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2006/12/achieving_brand.html

Task of the raider

The task (of a bidder; raider ) is to identify asset that not used efficiently, acquire it, make it efficient, and than realise it at competitive price on the market.

Wal-Mart sales drop in November, says December will be flat to up 1%

USA 2day article

Consumer spending rebounds in October after 2 lackluster months

USA 2day infroms

Great men

"Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than material force, that thoughts rule the world."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wall Street

Stones roll by U2 for top-grossing tour ever

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Though they'll surely live to fight another day, U2's brief stint holding the title of top-grossing tour ever is over. That distinction returns to the Rolling Stones, whose A Bigger Bang tour is now the top-grossing tour in history.
Full article from Yahoo! UK& Ireland

Oil rallies towards $60 on Nigeria, dollar

Oil rallies towards $60 on Nigeria, dollar. Source Yahoo!UK&Ireland

Bank of Georgia IPO to raise 83 million pounds

LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of Georgia said on Friday it expected to raise $160 million (83 million pounds) in a share flotation that will make it the first ever company from the former Soviet Union country to list in London. Full article from Reuters UK

We won't chop up Gazporn:)

Russia' President Vladimir Putin denies EU proposal to unbundle Gazprom's upstream and downstream operations -- exploration and production from transportation and distribution. Article from Yahoo! Finance UK

Kerkorian's Tracinda offers to buy 5% more of GM

Article from USA TODAY about Kerkorian's dances around troubled world biggest auto maker

Oil back near $59

ArticleFrom Yahoo!Finance

World's fastest economy could speed to trouble

Article from Yahoo! Finance UK&Ireland about robust speed of Azeibardjan economy caused oil price increase along with the launch of the pipeline through Turkey that opens country's oil export direct access to the Western markets (bypassing Russia)

Is Porsche revving up to take over Volkswagen?

Article from Yahoo!Finance UK&Ireland

Hertz IPO is latest private-equity flotation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Less than a year after private equity funds bought Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTZ), the world's largest car rental company is on track for one of the largest U.S. stock flotations of the year.
Private equity investors, whose appetite for acquisitions is fueling a surge in overall M&A activity, have been shortening the time between leveraged buyouts and the initial public offerings they often use to cash out on the deals.

Companies are also boosting offering sizes after paying themselves larger dividends and loading up with debt.

"When you have so much money in these deals, it increases the pressure to an enormous degree to get liquidity," said Tom Taulli, founder of InvestorOffering.com. "Investors are pushing for faster turnarounds and the deals are becoming flips as opposed to investments."

ML Global Private Equity Fund LP, an affiliate of Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER), and buyout firms Carlyle Group and Clayton Dubilier & Rice bought Hertz from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) last December for $5.6 billion, or $15 billion including debt.

Park Ridge, New Jersey-based Hertz, which also has one of the largest equipment rental businesses in the United States, is scheduled to float about 88 million shares on Wednesday, or about 27.5 percent of the company, according to a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

COULD BE NO. 2 U.S. IPO

The company could raise more than $1.8 billion if the shares price at the top of a $16 to $18 forecast range and over-allotment options are exercised. The company would also be valued at about $5.8 billion.

At an $18 share price, Hertz would be the No. 2 U.S. IPO this year after the $2.6 billion float of credit card association MasterCard (NYSE:MA ).

At that price, Hertz would trade at 57 times annualized earnings, based on current earnings, which are depressed by debt service payments, according to Francis Gaskins president of IPO Desktop, a research firm based in Marina del Rey, California.

Actual earnings would be higher once the IPO proceeds are used to pay down debt, making for a smaller price-earnings ratio.

Still, Hertz's valuation looks lofty compared with rivals Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE:DTG ) and Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAR ), which trade at about 17 and 16 times earnings respectively, according to Reuters Estimates.

The Hertz investors are set to reap a paper gain of nearly $4 billion on $2.3 billion they invested less than a year ago.

The three firms will also receive a special dividend of up to $642 million from Hertz if the deal prices at the midpoint of the range and the underwriters exercise their option to sell 13 million additional shares.

In June, the investors used a $1 billion loan and cash on hand to pay a $999.2 million dividend to current stockholders.

Source Yahoo! Finance

accounting information

The objective of accounting information is to enable decision makers to improve the allocation of resources which they control and to assess the actual results of their decisions against forecasted results.

Emerging markets drive forex reserves

Very comprehensive commentary on the current state of Forex markets and relationship between currencies of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries, their holding in dollar denominated assets. Full text on Forexblog

Money managers bet on cheap mining stocks

By Pratima Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - Fund managers are piling into mining stocks because they are cheap and do not reflect the strength of metals prices that by historical standards are still very high.

Copper, which accounts for almost 30 percent of British miners' earnings, jumped by nearly 85 percent to $8,800 a tonne between August 2002 and May this year.

Prices have fallen since May, but most of the gains bar about 17 percent are still intact.


The sell-off was precipitated by fears of a U.S.-led global economic slowdown, rising inflationary pressure and significantly higher interest rates around the world.

Share prices of leading British miners shot up by an average of around 70 percent between August 2002 and May this year, since when they have tumbled by nearly 20 percent.

"The sell-off ... is really overdone. The fundamentals really haven't changed substantially," said Aljoscha Haesen, senior analyst at British fund manager Forsyth Partners.

"The (fund) managers are taking advantage of these sell-offs in equity prices and are buying quality companies at valuations that are still very compelling."

The market's failure to appreciate the value of natural resource companies is why private equity funds which rarely foray into mining are scouting the sector, managers say
Source Reuters

Quote from Forbes

It is seldom pays to rude, it is never pays to be half rude

CEO stands up for Vonage's prospects despite cable rivals

Vonage Chairman Jeffrey Citron Tuesday defended the Internet phone company's ill-fated public offering and dismissed claims that looming competition from cable companies has dimmed its prospects.
"We (cable companies and Vonage) can both grow nicely at the same time," Citron said in an interview at USA TODAY.

Vonage pioneered voice over Internet protocol service, or VoIP, which uses a regular phone and adapter to send phone calls over a broadband line. Vonage has about 2 million lines.

But the company, which went public at $17 a share in May, fell 13% the first day of trading, largely on fears of increasing competition from deeper-pocketed phone and cable giants.

Its stock closed Tuesday off more than 58% from its opening price. It's the second-worst IPO of the year, based on Monday closing prices, Renaissance Capital says.

Renaissance analyst James DeStefano says the IPO was dominated by short-term investors.

Full text on USA 2day

Keep your eyes on insiders

Investors hurt by the sharp slide in home-builder stocks might now wish they'd kept a closer eye on what industry executives were doing with their own holdings.
CEOs of three of the top eight U.S. home builders sold large amounts of stock last year and avoided some of the financial pain since the shares peaked, a review of regulatory filings for USA TODAY by Thomson Financial shows.

Such insider selling, even as the stocks were hitting highs and home builders were pumping out homes, underscores how executives are often the first to react to swift business changes, says Mark LoPresti of Thomson.

Executives often have much of their wealth tied up in their companies and are closely aware of shifts in their industry. They're acquainted not only with their business' health and outlook but also have an acute understanding of the value of their company's shares.

So concentrated selling, or buying, by insiders can be a cue for individual investors. "We don't know for sure what's in the hearts of insiders," LoPresti says. But in his opinion, "It was extreme activity."

Full text on USA 2day

Canadian oil production may boost Loonie

Canada currently had enough oil reserves to supply all US oil needs for the next three years. The only problem is that much of this oil is trapped in Canada’s oil sands, and it may be costly and difficult to extract. Once the oil starts to flow, however, Canada will likely become one of the world’s top 10 oil exporters, behind such powerhouses as Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. The recent strength of Canada’s currency, the Loonie, can be almost entirely attributed to the high price of commodities, especially oil. It seems forex traders would benefit from studying a little geology
Source Forexblog

Quote from Forbes

"Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things"
-Cicero

Update -- Venezuela, Nigeria To Cut Oil Production

The decision by Venezuela and Nigeria to cut crude oil production will have little immediate impact on U.S. gasoline prices because storage tanks are filled to the brim, an oil analyst says.

Venezuela said on Friday it plans to cut crude oil production by about 50,000 barrels a day. On the same day, Nigeria said it plans to hold back about 120,000 barrels a day.

The cuts, scheduled to take place Oct. 1, are an apparent attempt to jack prices as demand falls.

The price of a barrel of oil has lost about 20% from its July peak of $78.40 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, crude oil declined 1cent to $62.90 a barrel. The price for gasoline fell, but heating oil edged up about 3.5 cents. In London, Brent crude declined 6 cents to $62.48 a barrel.

Full text on Forbes.com

Emerging Market currencies hurt by risk aversion

Forex markets punished emerging market currencies this week, due to heightened economic and political risk. Many traders had piled into carry trade positions, selling low-yielding, stable currencies in favor of higher-yielding, but more volatile currencies. After a string of negative political and economic developments, many traders unwound their positions and moved back into the more stable currencies. After all was said and done, the currencies of Turkey and South Africa had declined more than 3%, while those of Brazil and Mexico declined by almost 2%. However, analysts now feel the sudden drop was nothing more than a long overdue correction, and remain bullish on emerging markets. Daily News and Analysis Online reports:

Post that shake-out, high risk currencies enjoyed a strong rebound. Low interest rates encouraged speculators to re-enter carry trades and build up large speculative positions, going short on the Yen and Swiss Franc.
Source Forex blog

Income tax cuts benefit all payers

Americans of every income have benefited from a drop in federal income tax rates as Bush administration tax cuts enacted since 2000 took effect, an independent analysis of newly released IRS data shows.
But those earning $75,000 to $500,000 are shouldering a larger share of total taxes paid as millions more of them earn higher incomes and get hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax, the analysis also found.

The review by the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan research group that favors low taxes, provides one of the first detailed looks at the impact of federal tax changes phased in between 2000 and 2004.

Alluding to the political debate that often surrounds tax issues, Gerald Prante, a Tax Foundation economist, said, "It is true that in dollar amounts the rich have gained the most. But everybody's tax rates have fallen."

Full article

House prices up sharply this month

LONDON (Reuters) - House prices jumped in September, the Nationwide Building Society said on Thursday, evidence that August's interest rate rise had done little to cool the property market.

The Nationwide said the cost of an average home rose 1.3 percent, bringing the annual rate of house price inflation to 8.2 percent -- its fastest rate since February 2005.

An average home cost 169,413 pounds in September, almost 13,000 pounds more than at the same time last year. Over the year, the typical home has risen in value by more than 35 pounds a day.


Full article from Reuters

EMI shares up on report of Warner bid

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in EMI Group gained as much as 7.1 percent on Wednesday following a report that Warner Music Group was preparing a new bid to buy the world's third largest music company.

The Times, citing unnamed investors, said Warner Music's Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman had targeted the British group's shareholders and emphasised the benefits of a future tie-up during a visit to London earlier this month.

"He is not thought to have discussed a specific future bid for EMI," the report said.
Full article from Reuters

Quote from Forbes

"Character is destiny."
-Heraclitus

Dovish Blanchflower pushes sterling to 1-wk lows

LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Sterling fell to a one-week low versus the dollar and slid from recent peaks against the euro on Wednesday, after Bank of England policymaker David Blanchflower sounded a cautious note on the economy.

Sterling's losses were accentuated by downward revisions to second quarter economic growth and the GDP deflator.

Blanchflower said inflationary expectations had levelled off, the labour market looked set to weaken further and the economy may have more capacity than data have indicated.

BoE's Deputy Governor Sir John Gieve also sounded less hawkish than earlier in the week, warning on Tuesday that a November rate hike could not be taken for granted as any move would depend on how the economy developed.
Full article from Reuters

William Hill ends U.S. gaming on legal issues

LONDON (Reuters) - Bookmaker William Hill said on Wednesday it had stopped its gaming business in the United States, pending clarification of the scope and enforceability of state and federal gaming laws.

William Hill said it had taken steps to stop accepting casino and poker business from clients with a U.S. address or U.S.-issued credit card, the same as steps already in place to prevent Internet betting on sports events by U.S. residents.

This year has seen the arrests in the United States of Sportingbet's chairman on charges of "gambling by computer" and BETonSPORTS's then chief executive on racketeering charges.
Full article from Reuters

Growth turning point means crunch time for investors

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors who have been profiting from the most robust global economic growth in decades are suddenly being forced to decide whether it is all about to come to an end and if so how severely.

One result: Volatility has been, well, volatile.

The VIX and VDAX indexes -- which are measures of expected equity price swings over a period of time -- have been on a yo-yo string throughout September, indicating unusual strong uncertainty among investors.


What is happening is that investors have decided that they are at a turning point. But they are not sure whether it is a mid-cycle slowdown or a more robust end of cycle altogether
Full article from Reuters

Quote

Facts without theory are useless, but theory without facts is unsupported assertion

Inequality in wealth distribution: the causes

The principal causes of rising inequality, in America and much of the rest of the world, are rapid technological innovation and globalisation. These structural shifts, which have spawned enormous prosperity, are boosting the earnings of the most skilled and well-educated far faster than the rest.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index Posted a Gain in September

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which decreased sharply in August, posted a gain in September. The Index now stands at 104.5 (1985=100), up from 100.2 in August. The Present Situation Index increased to 127.7 from 123.9. The Expectations Index rose to 89.0 from 84.4 last month.
Full text on Conference-Board

Dollar getting stronger against majors

The greenback edged up higher against the majors in the Tuesday session, albeit within the confines of the recent ranges. The dollar pushed the euro beneath the 1.27-level to a one-week low at 1.2663, while shooting up past the 117-mark versus the yen. Propping the currency higher was a respite in the stream of soft US economic data, following the release of an upbeat consumer confidence survey and Richmond Fed manufacturing survey.
More on Forexnews.com

Another Billanthropy

The Economist's article about Bill Clinton taking part in charitable giving.

The dark side of debt

The Economist's article about tendencies in modern debt markets and their concequences for the financial system as a whole

Tiger Woods - the giant of marketing ROI

Article from AdAge uncovering the phenomena of golf superstar as the most effecitve product spokesperson in history.

Old Adage

A banker is someone who lends you an umbrella when it is sunny and asks for it back when it starts to rain

Quote from Forbes

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials."
-Chinese proverb

Donald Rumsfeld on US policy on the war on terror, 3/07/2003

"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know and there things that we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
-- Donald Rumsfeld, clarifying U.S. policy on the war on terror at a Pentagon briefing.

Oil slips to six-months low in Monday trade

Oil falls below U$60 per barrel.

Funds brush off Shell's Russia problems

Article from Reuters infroming about Russification of Russia's energy assets

Forbes 400 ricchest Americans

For the first time wealth of each participant in the list is at least 1 000 000 000 US dollars

Like Moths To A Flame

An article from Forbes.com about Amaranth Advisor's misfortune and how energy traders reacted

US dollar dips on dovish Fed statement

US dollar drifts against all major currencies after Federal Open Market Committee meeting. As was expected by the experts, the Fed kept US interest rates on hold at 5.25 per cent.
FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

For how long Kiwi will be in demand?

The New Zealand Dollar, also known as Kiwi has appreciated 10% against US dollar. Analytics suppose this upward trand caused by yeld policy. Forex traders attracted by higher yelds thus drive the demand for Kiwi. Teh points, for how long this trend will last?
Full article Forex Bolg

London slides as Philly Fed spooks Street

Stocks in London slides after weaker than expected Philly Fed data
Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

74th United States Secretary of the Treasury

Henry "Hank" Merritt Paulson, Jr., 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury official bio

Chatting With China

China has long wanted to move discussions with the U.S. over the broad range of contentious trade and economic issues the U.S. has with it beyond the broad range of contentious trade and economic issues the U.S. has with it.
Full article from Forbes.com

Wal-Mart:Quantity of Employees

Wal Mart is the biggest employer in the US, currently employing about 1.3 million workers, according to Forbes.com

Interesting fact: Dow's all-time high

Dow's all-time high of 11,722.98 reached in January 2000

Stocks Slide After Philly Fed Report

Stocks retreated Thursday after the Philadelphia Federal Reserve surprised Wall Street by announcing that its broadest measure of manufacturing activity fell to a negative reading for the first time since April 2003, renewing investor fears that the economy could be cooling too quickly.
Full article from Forbes

MPC decision to hold rates this month was unanimous

Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-0 for keeping the cost of pound sterling borrowing in unchanged after after the surprise quarter percentage point hike the month before. Current rate is 4.75%
Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

John Laing agrees takeover

Construction company John Laing agrees takeover. Its shares rose by 7% signalling that investors believe that offer can increase. Reuters

How To Manage A Virtual Workforce

22.2 million Americans worked from home or another out-of-office location at least one day per week in 2005.How to manage them? How leaders should act in conditions of remote teammates? Article from Forbes shed some light on the question under discussion

Wall Street lower as investors mull housing data

Wall Street opened lower on Tuesday as a report showing a sharp fall in new housing starts offset lower-than-expected inflation data.

By mid-morning, the S&P 500 (news) was down 0.1 per cent or 0.96 points at 1,320.22, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: news) was flat, down 0.71 points at 2,235.04.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2 per cent or 17.53 points to 11,537.47.
Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

Amaranth Won't Scare The Markets

Hedge funds betting on energy - are they worth to invest? Forbes article

Quote from Forbes

"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right."
-Isaac Asimov

Yen hits five-month low after G7 meeting

The yen slumped to a five-month low against the US dollar in European morning trade on Monday, shrugging off an apparently concerted attempt by central bankers to talk up the ailing Japanese currency.

Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, said in the aftermath of a G7 meeting in Singapore at the weekend that: “We noted that [Japan] had exited its zero rate policy, that its recovery is now broad based.

We agreed that the yen will reflect these developments.” Sadakazu Tanigaki, the Japanese finance minister, also argued that the value of the yen should reflect Japan’s recovering economy, adding that the recent fall in the currency had been a “little rough”.

The yen has tumbled 6.1 per cent against the euro since mid-May, hitting an all-time low against the single currency on 16 separate occasions.

However, after an initial jump higher when trading re-opened, the yen more than surrendered these gains to sit weaker than on Friday.

The yen initially spiked to Y148.10 against the euro, but fell back to Y149.59, Y0.7 weaker than Friday’s close.

Similarly the yen sat Y0.6 weaker at Y118.17 to the US dollar, its weakest level since April, having peaked at Y117.15.

The yen was also Y0.3 weaker at Y88.76 to the Australian dollar and Y0.6 lighter at Y221.62 against sterling.

Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

VOD2-new era of video

Two big on-line sellers (Apple and Amazon) both introduced VOD2 (Video On Download) service to their customers. Apple bets on speed of download, Amazon on quality. Who is wrong, who is right? Time will show.
Full article Does Big Beat Fast?

Quote from Forbes

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal."
-Hannah More

Ford deepens cuts

Full article from Forbes

Quote from Forbes

"Experience and enthusiasm are two fine business attributes seldom found in one individual."
-William Feather

Quote

Nothing is sometimes the right thing to say;
-Malcolm Forbes

Thought of day

"Act with a determination not to be turned aside by thoughts of the past and fears of the future."
-Robert E. Lee