President Obama marked the lowest point in General Motors’ 100-year history — its bankruptcy filing on Monday — by barely mentioning it, instead focusing his remarks on the second chance G.M. will have to become a viable company with more government aid.

“I’m confident that the steps I’m announcing today will mark the end of an old G.M., and the beginning of a new G.M.,” Mr. Obama said.

While the moment had been anticipated for weeks, the bankruptcy filing nevertheless included more crushing news to G.M.’s home state, Michigan, which is already reeling from waves of layoffs and plant closings.

Shortly after filing for Chapter 11 in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, G.M. said it would close 14 more American factories — including seven in Michigan — and cut up to 21,000 more jobs.

“This is a ton of bricks hitting us,” said Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan. “These are real jobs, real families and real communities, with real names of real factories that are going to be closed.”

Among the Michigan plants facing shutdown are its Willow Run transmission factory in Ypsilanti, which was built in 1943 to assemble B-24 bombers during World War II.

“I was angry at first, then I cried, then I got angry again,” said Don Skidmore, the president of United Automobile Workers Local 735, which represents the plant’s 1,100 workers. “I’m hurt for the people. The looks on their faces are horrible.”

After the factory closings, which will leave 12 in Michigan, G.M. will have fewer than 40,000 workers building cars in the United States — one-tenth of a work force that in the 1970s numbered 395,000 people.

Mr. Obama acknowledged the pain associated with G.M.’s drastic downsizing, but said that he saw no option other than bankruptcy to fix the company’s bloated cost structure.

“I will not pretend that the bad times are over,” he said. “Difficult days are ahead.”

The White House and G.M. hope a speedy trip through bankruptcy, in 90 days or fewer, will limit further damage to the company, its employees, dealers and suppliers.

A quick restructuring appears possible because of new agreements with the U.A.W. and a majority of G.M.’s bondholders who agreed to swap their debt for equity in what is being referred to as the “new G.M.”

The expectations for an accelerated court process were buoyed by the quick proceedings in the Chrysler bankruptcy. Chrysler, which entered bankruptcy on April 30, could now emerge shortly as a new corporate entity owned by a U.A.W. health care trust, the Italian automaker Fiat, and the American and Canadian governments.

On Monday morning, lawyers representing a group of Indiana pension funds appealed a bankruptcy judge’s approval of Chrysler’s sale to Fiat. But the judge, Arthur J. Gonzalez, later that day entered his final approval of the sale and agreed to shorten a customary 10-day stay of such a sale to 4 days. That would allow the Chrysler deal to take effect at noon on Friday.

Fritz Henderson, who will stay on as G.M.’s chief executive at least until a new board is formed later this summer, said he was eager to exit bankruptcy.

“We’re confident we will move fast,” Mr. Henderson said at a news conference in New York. “Not with a sense of urgency, but with pure, unadulterated speed.”

The company is hoping to spread a sense of optimism. It created a new Web site, GMReinvention.com, where it posted the first ad in a new campaign.

The company filed first-day motions in court Monday to allow it to keep paying employees and suppliers while in bankruptcy. The plan from the president’s auto task force calls for G.M. to receive $30.1 billion in federal aid, in addition to the $19.4 billion it has already received. The governments of Canada and Ontario will contribute $9.5 billion more.

A reconstituted G.M. is expected to emerge from bankruptcy with its best assets, including its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands, and with 60 percent government ownership. The remaining stock will be split among a U.A.W. health care trust, bondholders and the Canadian governments.

But closed plants and discontinued brands — Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer — will be among the assets that will not remain with the company.

Mr. Henderson said the bankruptcy represented a “defining moment” for the automaker that would allow it to “permanently” unshackle itself from the cost of supporting hundreds of thousands of retirees and the $27 billion in debt held by investors.

Still, it will take more than a restructuring to stem G.M.’s decades-long slide in market share, from more than 50 percent in the 1960s to about 20 percent now.

Fixing the balance sheet is only the beginning, said Joseph Phillippi, an industry consultant. “The second half is going to be cultural,” he said. “G.M. was No. 1 for so long, and now it’s going to be another carmaker in the middle of the pack.”

Mr. Henderson promised a renewed commitment to its customers, and even offered an apology of sorts for the poor quality of past G.M. products. “The G.M. which let too many of you down is history,” he said.

The fall of G.M. was also marked by its removal from the group of 30 blue-chip companies that comprise the Dow Jones industrial average.

Mr. Obama said the government would take a hands-off approach to managing G.M., and would divest its stock in the company as soon as it could. But that is likely years away.

Meanwhile, the Ford Motor Company — the only member of Detroit’s Big Three to not require federal assistance — expressed concern that it could be hurt by the level of aid given to G.M.

“We look forward to working with the Obama administration to ensure that the government’s majority ownership of G.M. will not change the industry’s competitive dynamics and that a level playing field will be maintained,” Ford said Monday in a statement.

Once G.M. has finished cutting jobs, brands and models, it could fall behind Ford in terms of sales.

The cuts at G.M. include two assembly plants in Michigan, and two in Delaware and Tennessee. Other large plants that stamp metal parts or build engines will be shut in Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and New York.

Workers at the Willow Run plant in Michigan learned their factory was closing when they arrived at the union hall at 7:30 a.m. They were told that some production would stop immediately, and all but 300 of 1,100 workers would be laid off within months.
“It’s like being at a funeral,” said Mr. Skidmore, the plant’s union leader.

Labels: gm

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this is the MIT US$100 laptop, this is the MIT 'One Laptop per Child' project, will ship by 2006.

The new software also aims at preventing access to certain software on the same computer for different groups. So, a parent wanting to give restricted computer access to his or her child can do so through the Shares Computer Toolkit.

Through this tool, access to features like control panel, the command prompt, different drives of the computer, the registry editor, and several other system utilities can be regulated. In addition, the owner of the computer can also ensure that unauthorized software is not used on the computer. A Windows Disk Protection tool erases any changes made to the hard disk every time the computer is rebooted.The Windows Accessibility tool refreshes the desktop, user settings, and user data every time a new user logs into the system.
The new software might come as a welcome relief for many who are plagued by spyware and viruses, so much so that instead of fixing their computers, they prefer to trash them and buy new systems.
To download the software go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sharedaccess/overview.mspx#Restrict

MTV previews Xbox 360
Posted on : Sat, 14 May 2005 02:06:00 GMT Author : Nigel WrightNews Category : Technology

Software giant Microsoft has finally thrown the long expected gaming challenge to rivals Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft unveiled their latest offering the Xbox 360 at a glamorous show on MTV aired in the US yesterday. The new gaming console optimizes high definition TV technology making the characters in games look very realistic. The show’s highlights, apart from the Xbox360, were Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood who unveiled the gaming console and popular bands Snow Patrol and Killers. The unveiling on MTV is a clear departure from tradition as gaming consoles are usually debuted at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expos). Fro Microsoft, the Xbox360 is an important step in its effort to dominate the multi-billion dollar world of video games. The new console’s features include an array of interchangeable face plates that will allow players to personalize the console. It also has a wireless controller. Every game on the new console will be designed for high-definition wide-screen TV.

The console is well-equipped for the task, powered with three IBM PowerPC 3.2GHz chips, with a custom ATI 500MHz graphics processor and 512Mb of RAM.

Although the system requires that much processing power to deliver games in HD which are expensive, it works also on older TV sets.

Microsoft is taking a gamble by specifying HD TV for optimum benefit, but a spokesman said the company anticipated more consumers to migrate to the new technology as prices of HD TVs continued to fall suggesting that they could become more affordable in the near future.
With the new console, players will be able to see for the first time more believable characters with realistic facial animation and body movements, particularly in games like 'The Godfather,' 'Need For Speed: Most Wanted' and 'Madden NFL 2006. Earlier these characters had been flat and zombie-like.Another improvement is the absence of film footage in games that are based on movies. The in-game visuals are so realistic that there will be no need for real footage from films. On 'The Godfather' game everything looks so real that no film footage is needed.

The Xbox 360 can stand on its end or on its side and can be also used to watch DVDs (with built-in progressive scan), play music and stream media from portable devices. The company did not mention whether current Xbox games can be played on this new console. They also did not state a price but according to a guesstimate it could be worth approx. $300 (£162).

It will be shipped with two game controllers but can support up to four. It also has broadband connectivity with free online access to basic Xbox Live Silver.

It is the first major home game console launch since November 2001 when the first Xbox video games console was launched (a year behind Sony’s PlayStation 2 launch). The same machine was launched in Europe three months later. A total of 15.5 million units of the first console had been sold worldwide.

The new console will be released in the North American markets by Christmas this year, followed by Europe and Japan.

Rivals Sony (for their PlayStation 3) and Nintendo (Revolution) are expected to provide more details about their consoles next week at the annual games trade show, E3 in Los Angeles. As Robbie Bach, chief Xbox Officer at Microsoft said “It will change the way people think about video games.” A local wag was quick to quip “It will certainly change the way Sony and Nintendo think about video games.”
The two gaming majors are expected to provide more details about their consoles at the E3 in Los Angeles, next week. Analysts predict that the gaming market will be worth $11.3bn (£6.1bn) in five years' time.