Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[vansmack]

French Competition Council: Orange-iPhone Deal Breaches Rules

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- France's competition authority Wednesday temporarily barred an exclusive distribution deal between the country's dominant telecommunications group France Telecom SA (FTE.FR) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) over the blockbuster iPhone mobile phone.

The watchdog said the exclusive rights to iPhone held by France Telecom's Orange mobile telephony unit "by nature introduces a new factor of rigidity in a sector that already lacks competition."

It said any operator can now sell the iPhone.

France Telecom wasn't immediately available to comment.

The measures are in force while the council probes more deeply in to the case.

The original complaint against the Orange-Apple pact was filed by French telecoms operator Bouygues Telecoms, a unit of French diversified construction group Bouygues SA (12050.FR).

[godsshoeshine]

france vs apple? its a fight within the smackie rogues gallery

[vansmack]

france vs apple? its a fight within the smackie rogues gallery

Haha, yes, an odd fight in my lexicon.  I'm rooting for the consumer and hoping that it spreads competition throughout the land.

[vansmack]

Alright experts.  Now that Boston has effectively said they won't be going to a 10 year deal after getting burned by Manny - if you're Anaheim, do you go 10 years and lock Teixiera up or do you take your chances that he'll pick you in the 8-year sweepstakes?

[vansmack]

I had it on pretty good authority last night that the Red Sox knew exactly what they were doing when they announced that they were out of the Teixiera negotiations because the bidding was too high.  They wanted to get a message loud and clear to Boras that he was bluffing, but that was the only way to make certain his client would hear it too.

He'll be a holding a Red Sox uniform by the end of the weekend - that's my prediction.

[vansmack]

Yankees said to Reach Deal with Teixeira

Xmas is ruined.

[godsshoeshine]

is it true they dont pay the luxury tax this year?

[vansmack]

is it true they dont pay the luxury tax this year?

2008 or 2009?  Either way I'm pretty sure the answer is no.  The limit for 2008 was $155 Million and they have been asked top pay $26 Million tax on that.   Next year (2009) the limit will be $162 Million, and even before the Teixeira signing, they were over it.   I have not heard of any exemptions available to them.

[walkonby]

is it true they dont pay the luxury tax this year?

2008 or 2009?  Either way I'm pretty sure the answer is no.  The limit for 2008 was $155 Million and they have been asked top pay $26 Million tax on that.   Next year (2009) the limit will be $162 Million, and even before the Teixeira signing, they were over it.   I have not heard of any exemptions available to them.

merry christmas you 'ole softy.   

[godsshoeshine]

is it true they dont pay the luxury tax this year?

2008 or 2009?  Either way I'm pretty sure the answer is no.  The limit for 2008 was $155 Million and they have been asked top pay $26 Million tax on that.   Next year (2009) the limit will be $162 Million, and even before the Teixeira signing, they were over it.   I have not heard of any exemptions available to them.

i am sorry. revenue sharing was what i was told and i related back wrong

[sonickteam2]

Yankees said to Reach Deal with Teixeira

Xmas is ruined.

  Just wait til they sign Ramirez  too! (cause who else will sign him?)

  Its ok, they havent won in 9 years since all this spending. The Yankees spent years dominating a weak division (yes, the Red Sox blew in the late 90s) and they have been trying desperately to find a way to match the surging Sox , Rays and even Jays.

  so what do they do? take their players and sign free agents.  Teixera couldnt hit an extra base hit against Boston in the ALDS last year and Sabathia got lit up like a christmas tree in 2007 ALCS.

  The Angels did fine without Tex for most of last year.  If anything this just gives more reason to laugh when the Yankees cant win a World Series with the 4 largest contracts in baseball!


 

[vansmack]

Pirates push for salary cap

Pirates president Frank Coonelly told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette he would back commissioner Bud Selig should the sport pursue a salary cap in its next labor negotiations in 2011.

"Having studied the issue for years while working at the commissioner's office, I continue to believe a salary cap is an economic system that works for a sports league as a whole, the individual clubs and, because of the growth it can promote for the league, the players," Coonelly said. "As a result, yes, the Pirates would support an effort by the commissioner's office to secure a salary cap in collective bargaining."

Coonelly worked for a decade in the commissioner's office before taking his current post two years ago.

Brewers' president Mark Attanasio and Astros owner Drayton McLane also have come out in favor of a salary cap in recent weeks

[godsshoeshine]

wait there are baseball teams besides the yankees and red sox?

[vansmack]

I must say, I'm super impressed so far.  I agree with most of the benchmarks that I've seen.  Originally this author did Win7 vs Vista, but was prodded to add XP SP3 later.

It's not even the final product, but if this is any indication, MS is finally headed in the right direction with their OS.

Windows 7 is working a lot faster than even XP on my netbook, although I did have to VLite the install as the regualr installation of Win7 takes up 10GB and I wasn't willing to give up that much space with my smaller SSD.

I feel I should share this too.  Don't use a leaked copy on your music collection.  MS has confirmed that the bug will not exist in the final Public Beta:

Windows Media Player 12 has a Serious Bug

[vansmack]

wait there are baseball teams besides the yankees and red sox?

Hey, smackie loves the little guys...but only smackie.