10 Best Cars Under $15,000
By Jason Notte - 09/21/12 - 12:46 PM EDT
Tickers in this article: F GM
NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Yes, you can still buy a new car for less than $15,000. No, it's not the size of your coffee table or a pockmarked misfit in your local dealer's "hail sale" section.
According to auto pricing site TrueCar, the average amount paid for a car in August was $30,274. That's 0.3% lower than what buyers paid in july, but 1.4% higher than what they were parting with a year ago. Meanwhile, average incentives dropped from $2,614 (or 8.8% of the total price of a car) to $2,457 (8.1%).
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That's wonderful for the auto industry, but not so much for the poor souls shopping in a recovering market.
Despite this, there are still some deals to be found. TrueCar's Brandi Schaffels crunched the numbers and came up with five cars that can be had for less than half the national average without checking out buying used or holding a paddle at a police auction:
2012 Suzuki SX4
MSRP: $14,614
Average sale price: $13,156
The SX4 is one of the most affordable all-wheel drive vehicles on the market, but this isn't that SX4. No, this is a front-wheel drive with 150 horsepower, a six-speed manual transmission and extremely basic features including power windows and locks. The absolute base model doesn't even include a radio and has combined mileage of 25 mpg, the lowest on this list. The price is about as small as you'll find for even a small sedan, but considering how stripped down the rest of the vehicle is, we're surprised Suzuki even bothered to name it SX4 when "Car" would have done just fine.
2012 Ford Fiesta Sedan
MSRP: $13,995
Average sale price: $13,442
Don't call it an econobox. The Fiesta sedan may not be as sexy as the hatchback version, but it still has Bluetooth and digital media player compatibility through Microsoft's(MSFT) SYNC system, tons of available apps and its 29 miles per gallon city in the city and 38 on the highway. Granted, you have to make do with a manual transmission and without available playthings such as a power moonroof, heated leather-trimmed seats and capless fuel intake, but there's a price to be paid for frugality.
2012 Chevrolet Sonic Sedan
MSRP: $14,660
Average sale price: $13,999
General Motors(GM) isn't too big for a small sedan. The relatively new Sonic's comfortable ride, smooth steering and combined mileage of nearly 30 miles per gallon (including 35 on the highway) make up for the manual transmission, but drivers get a lot of toys for the money. The base LS model includes a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, a 60/40-split rear seat, a trip computer, OnStar emergency system and a four-speaker AM/FM stereo with an auxiliary audio jack.
2012 Kia Forte
MSRP: $15,950
Average sale price: $14,442
Kia and Hyundai just don't do deals. Their cars are selling for 6% more than they were at this time last year. Their average incentives dropped 17% over that span to just about $1,100 per car, the least generous in the industry. When those companies offer a vehicle such as the Forte with standard MP3 and Sirius-XM (SIRI) in the audio system, audio control and Bluetooth wireless in the steering wheel, a fuel-efficiency monitor, combined 29 mpg fuel efficiency and nearly 15 cubic feet of cargo room and a 10 year, 100,000-mile warranty at this price, you give it some serious thought.
2012 Nissan Sentra Sedan
MSRP: $17,210
Average sale price: $14,830
Among vehicles in the price range, the Sentra's practically a luxury car. Its combined 27 miles per gallon lags behind pricier Sentras' 30 mpg efficiency, but its audio system has a jack for mobile devices, its interior is packed with power everything and its safety features are among the best in its class. It also helps that it's being offered by Nissan, which gave away an average of nearly $3,000 in incentives per vehicle last month.
-- Written by Jason Notte in Boston.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Chameleon Launcher. For those that want multiple home screens on their Android Tablet
Custom launchers, or home screen alternatives, are aplenty throughout the Google Play Store, and if ever you’re weighing up the Google side of the ongoing Android vs. iOS debate, the launchers are certainly apart of what makes the Big G’s mobile OS tick.
Don’t get me wrong, not all custom launchers are mind-blowing, but there are a growing number of launchers in the wild that can enhance the usability of a device twofold. Nova Launcher, which we’ve featured before here at Redmond Pie, is a prime example of a custom launcher done properly, and today, we bring you a tablet-specific launcher of the same class.
Chameleon Launcher allows you to create multiple home screens, and you can apply your own layout of widgets and apps within each. Windows 8′s tiled interface not only looks the part, but presents your most relevant info in a more prominent manner. The Chameleon Launcher, in essence, takes that same idea in offering its own "context-based" home screen system, which shows you the most important info as you require it.
To elaborate, Chameleon also allows you to create rules based on specific events, such as GPS locations, Wi-Fi networks and time ranges, so your home screen can be programmed to change with you – no matter where you may be.
The manner in which widgets are laid out within Chameleon is also something to savor, and it’s as customizable as they come. If you’ve ever delved into building custom widgets, then you’ll be pleased to know the Chameleon Launcher team has also laid on a custom API, enabling you to easily add any widget you desire.
So, how much will this beautiful interface set you back? Well it doesn’t come cheap, that’s for sure. It’s currently retailing for $9.99 over at the Google Play Store, which translates to £6.32 if you reside in the United Kingdom. Then again, the Chameleon Launcher is packed with features, so if you’re in the market for a nicely-polished home screen alternative for your Android tablet, it’s certainly worth checking out.
Facebook takes the ad business seriously. Is it going too far?
updated 2:35 GMT 09.24.12
Facebook raises fears with ad tracking
By Emily Steel in New York and April Dembosky in San Francisco
A A A (resize font)
(Financial Times) - Facebook is working with a controversial data company called Datalogix that can track whether people who see ads on the social networking site end up buying those products in stores.
Amid growing pressure for the social networking site to prove the value of its advertising, Facebook is gradually wading into new techniques for tracking and using data about users that raise concerns among privacy advocates.
"We kept hearing back [from marketers] that we needed to push further and help them do a better job," said Brad Smallwood, Facebook's head of measurement and insights.
Datalogix has purchasing data from about 70m American households largely drawn from loyalty cards and programmes at more than 1,000 retailers, including grocers and drug stores. By matching email addresses or other identifying information associated with those cards against emails or information used to establish Facebook accounts, Datalogix can track whether people bought a product in a store after seeing an ad on Facebook.
The emails and other identifying information are made anonymous and collected into groups of people who saw an ad and people who did not. Datalogix compiles a report for Facebook and its advertisers to measure which creative approaches and demographic targeting persuade people to buy specific products offline.
Facebook said it is paying Datalogix for the data-matching. So far, the two companies have measured 45 campaigns and in 70 per cent of cases, for every dollar a marketer spent on Facebook it earned an additional $3 in incremental sales, Mr Smallwood said.
Marketers are eager for more data to see how their Facebook ad campaigns perform, but some said they still are figuring out how to evaluate the new data. Ford said the information was promising, but a spokesman added that it was too early to give a formal opinion."
Some privacy advocates question whether the practice violates the $9.5m settlement Facebook struck with the US Federal Trade Commission over charges that it deceived consumers by not keeping privacy promises.
Facebook users are automatically included in the advertising studies conducted with Datalogix, and cannot directly opt out through their Facebook account. Instead, they must go to the Datalogix website, for which Facebook has a link posted in its help centre.
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy group, said this practice does not provide Facebook users with sufficient control over their data or with transparency over how it is being used.
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Real-time updating is enabled. (Pause)
updated 2:35 GMT 09.24.12
Facebook raises fears with ad tracking
By Emily Steel in New York and April Dembosky in San Francisco
CONTINUED...
A A A (resize font)
"We don't believe any of this online-offline data should be used without express consumer approval and an opt-in," he said.
Facebook and Datalogix said individual-level purchasing data were not shared with Facebook or its advertisers. Individual Facebook user data are not shared with advertisers. Facebook said it was working with an outside auditor to monitor its practices.
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CNN Home
Facebook raises fears with ad tracking
By Emily Steel in New York and April Dembosky in San Francisco
A A A (resize font)
(Financial Times) - Facebook is working with a controversial data company called Datalogix that can track whether people who see ads on the social networking site end up buying those products in stores.
Amid growing pressure for the social networking site to prove the value of its advertising, Facebook is gradually wading into new techniques for tracking and using data about users that raise concerns among privacy advocates.
"We kept hearing back [from marketers] that we needed to push further and help them do a better job," said Brad Smallwood, Facebook's head of measurement and insights.
Datalogix has purchasing data from about 70m American households largely drawn from loyalty cards and programmes at more than 1,000 retailers, including grocers and drug stores. By matching email addresses or other identifying information associated with those cards against emails or information used to establish Facebook accounts, Datalogix can track whether people bought a product in a store after seeing an ad on Facebook.
The emails and other identifying information are made anonymous and collected into groups of people who saw an ad and people who did not. Datalogix compiles a report for Facebook and its advertisers to measure which creative approaches and demographic targeting persuade people to buy specific products offline.
Facebook said it is paying Datalogix for the data-matching. So far, the two companies have measured 45 campaigns and in 70 per cent of cases, for every dollar a marketer spent on Facebook it earned an additional $3 in incremental sales, Mr Smallwood said.
Marketers are eager for more data to see how their Facebook ad campaigns perform, but some said they still are figuring out how to evaluate the new data. Ford said the information was promising, but a spokesman added that it was too early to give a formal opinion."
Some privacy advocates question whether the practice violates the $9.5m settlement Facebook struck with the US Federal Trade Commission over charges that it deceived consumers by not keeping privacy promises.
Facebook users are automatically included in the advertising studies conducted with Datalogix, and cannot directly opt out through their Facebook account. Instead, they must go to the Datalogix website, for which Facebook has a link posted in its help centre.
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy group, said this practice does not provide Facebook users with sufficient control over their data or with transparency over how it is being used.
1 2
CNN Home Full Article
Email »
We Recommend
More Japanese plants, stores close in China amid rising anger
Opinion: Why the supermarket threat is India's biggest bluff
Yahoo to return $3B to shareholders
From the web
SEAT Ibiza FR (Auto Express)
Is Content Marketing the New Advertising? (Triangle AMA)
Uber Launches Taxi Service In NYC – App’s Legality May Still Be In Question (Mobile Leaders Alliance)
iPhone 5 (So Freaking Cool)
[What's this?]
Add New Comment
CNN welcomes a lively and courteous discussion here, so we do not pre-screen comments before they post. See our Community Guidelines for the rules of the road. Also note that anything you post may be used, along with your name and profile picture, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Service.
Real-time updating is enabled. (Pause)
updated 2:35 GMT 09.24.12
Facebook raises fears with ad tracking
By Emily Steel in New York and April Dembosky in San Francisco
CONTINUED...
A A A (resize font)
"We don't believe any of this online-offline data should be used without express consumer approval and an opt-in," he said.
Facebook and Datalogix said individual-level purchasing data were not shared with Facebook or its advertisers. Individual Facebook user data are not shared with advertisers. Facebook said it was working with an outside auditor to monitor its practices.
1 2
CNN Home
New 911 Turbo on the way?
Posted on 09.23.2012 18:00 by Simona
Filed under: Porsche | Coupe | Spy Shots And Rendering | Video | Porsche 911 | Sports Cars | Porsche Turbo | Porsche 991
New Porsche 911 Turbo 2013 - 991 series - barely disguise prototype
There have been tons of spy images of the upcoming Porsche 911/991 Turbo, but unfortunately, all of those images have had a camouflage-donning prototype. Now, however, a very lucky guy managed to catch the next Porsche Turbo testing on the streets of Stuttgart in Germany wearing almost nothing in terms of camouflage.
The upcoming Porsche 911 Turbo will be powered by a twin-turbo six-cylinder engine that will deliver about 540 HP. The engine will be mated to a standard manual gearbox, but the PDK will also be offered as an option. The model will also be offered with a four-wheel steering system that will work in conjunction with the car’s all-wheel drive system.
The upcoming Porsche 911/991 Turbo will be making its world debut at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. Sales will begin shortly thereafter.
gallery: 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo
Saturday, September 22, 2012
iOS 6. Is it for you? The best and the new.
Complete guide to using iOS 6 (roundup)
September 19, 2012 | Jason Cipriani
iOS 6 has finally launched, bringing with it a slew of new features. Here are some of the best tips and tricks for you.
iOS 6 was first previewed during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last June, revealing a few big changes, and many more minor tweaks to the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
You'll need to update to iOS 6 before you can take advantage of the new features, so be sure you've done that before diving into the new features. Here are just a few of the best features and how to use them. We'll continue updating this page with more tips and tricks as we have them.
The basics
Download it
The latest version of Apple's mobile operating system is now available for download to most iOS devices. Here's a list of compatible devices and a quick guide to downloading the update over the air or through the App Store.
Read: How to install iOS 6
Maps
The Maps app in iOS 6 is arguably the biggest change in the latest OS. You can expect to find new features such as voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, Yelp integration and a new 3D mode.
Read: Getting to know Maps on iOS 6
Bringing back Google Maps
Unfortunately, Apple's new Maps app has met with some harsh (and sometimes hilarious) criticism. Incorrect location data, roundabout directions, and awkward satellite images have many early adopters wishing they could get Google Maps back on their iPhone. Well, you can -- though it's not a perfect solution.
Read: How to bring back Google Maps in iOS 6
Using the Maps app on an iPhone 5.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Siri gets smarter
Siri has learned a few new tricks in iOS 6, including how to launch apps, update your Facebook or Twitter status, and make restaurant reservations. Here's how you can use them.
Read: How to use Siri's new features in iOS 6
Do Not Disturb
Do Not Disturb is a welcome feature that allows iOS users to completely silence their device(s) on demand, or on a schedule. To be sure you don't miss any important phone calls, you can customize which calls will get through no matter what.
Read: Set up Do Not Disturb on iOS 6
Politely decline incoming calls
Instead of just sending a caller to voice mail, you can now send them a message explaining why you can't talk, or set yourself a reminder to return the call in a few hours.
Read: Send a message, set a reminder when declining a call on iOS 6
FaceTime over 3G
The Achilles' heel of FaceTime has always been its Wi-Fi requirement. Unless you were to jailbreak your iOS device, then install a tweak to get around the 3G requirement, you could only use FaceTime when you were connected to a Wi-Fi network. With iOS 6, and depending on your carrier and device, you can now use FaceTime anywhere your iOS device has a cellular signal.
Read: How to enable FaceTime over 3G with iOS 6
Shared Photo Stream albums
Sharing photos using your iCloud account and Photo Stream is now possible thanks to iOS 6. You can share with iOS and non-iOS users directly from your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
Read: How to create a shared photo stream album on iOS 6
Passbook
Passbook is a new app included in iOS 6 aiming to provide one location to store membership cards, tickets, coupons, and potentially payment information on your iPhone. Passes are easy to add, manage, and use. Hopefully this feature will take off once developers begin releasing updates with Passbook integrated into their apps.
Getting started with Passbook on iOS 6
iOS 6 and Privacy Settings
You now have better control over which apps can access your personal data. It's no longer up to the developers to request access to your calendar or contacts, iOS 6 handles it now. If you want to adjust your privacy settings, you'll need to know where to look.
Read: How to control your privacy settings on iOS 6
Insert photos and videos into an e-mail
There are some great new features in the Mail app on iOS 6, including VIPs, pull to refresh, and (my favorite) the ability to insert a photo or video directly into an e-mail while composing it. It's easy to use, you just have to know it's there.
Attach a photo, video when composing an e-mail on iOS 6
Multiple e-mail signatures
Being limited to one e-mail signature, no matter how many accounts you have on your iOS device, is now a thing of the past. With iOS 6 you're able to set an e-mail signature up for each account and not have to worry about managing when it's used.
Read: How to set multiple e-mail signatures on iOS 6
Safari
Safari goes full screen
Mobile Safari now allows you to browse in a full-screen mode, in landscape orientation, on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Read: How to use Safari's full-screen mode on iOS 6
Upload photos in Safari
The inability to upload a photo while browsing the Internet has been annoying iOS users for years. Thankfully, Apple finally addressed it in iOS 6. You can now upload photos from your Camera Roll and Photo Stream directly to Web sites in just a few taps.
Read: With iOS 6, you can upload photos in Safari
Extras
Panorama
When Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, it also showed us the new Panorama feature for the first time. If you have an iPhone 4S or an iPhone 5, you can now take panoramic photos directly in the native camera app.
Read: How to take a panoramic photo with iOS 6
Photo taken with the new Panorama app.
Jason Cipriani/CNET
Facebook has finally been integrated in iOS. Like the Twitter integration, Facebook is a sharing option throughout the entire operating system, and it's easy to set up. The link below will take you to a complete rundown of Facebook on iOS 6.
Read: Get started with Facebook integration on iOS 6
Weather, Game Center, and a few other little improvements
Apple's iOS 6 sees an adoption rate that's twice as quick as iOS 5
iOS 6 Sees Record-Breaking Adoption Rate, More Than Twice As Quick Compared To iOS 5 In The First Two Days
By Ben Reid | September 23rd, 2012
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Despite the shockingly-bad Maps app upsetting a vast number of iOS 6 users, the Cupertino company’s latest and greatest mobile firmware has been downloaded and installed in record numbers. Fuelled by the frenzied consumer rush for the new iPhone 5, the new operating system has been adopted at a rate 122 percent faster than iOS 5, which released last October.
Such figures are pretty flabbergasting, and features such as Siri for iPad, Facebook integration and Passbook will no doubt have swayed some of those sitting on the fence. One app which probably prevented the number of early adopters from soaring even further, however, is Apple’s new Maps offering.
Apple does like a gimmick or two, and in waving 3D Mapping in everybody’s faces, grossly underestimated consumer reliability on the native Maps service. If Apple had realized iOS users like their app to be smooth and functional as well as offering a fancy feature or two, perhaps the current backlash would never have ensued.
Having today managed to spend an hour or so with an iPhone 5, I’m not nearly as impressed by the new software as I am with the hardware. At present, it’s certainly cool to slate Apple Maps, but in reality, the criticism is justified. Google’s Maps app was never mind-blowingly exceptional, but it did a good job, and despite 3D mapping and turn-by-turn navigation from Apple’s new Maps service, I – along with many iDevice users – will put my faith in the Mountain View-based company delivering a solid Maps app over at the App Store in the near future.
The YouTube app, which was also ditched as a native offering, has been significantly improved and is now slicker than ever, and I think most iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users running iOS 6 will be holding out more hope for something similar in the mapping department.
Meanwhile, Apple has promised it will update and improve its Maps offering in an almost apologetic press statement, but is certainly in a race against time to convince consumers scrapping the old Google Maps was the correct decision.
Ultimately, with such a high adoption rate, the Cupertino company will be pleased, but there’s still much work to be done if this launch is to be as successful as billed.
(via TechCrunch)
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CEO's in tech. Should they be visionaries?
Meg Whitman and HP: Everything That Is Wrong With Tech
By Rocco Pendola - 09/17/12 - 8:07 AM EDT
Tickers in this article: EBAY HPQ AAPL
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I heard a rumor that Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman went on Fox Business News the other day and said her company will, at some point in the future, produce a smartphone.
I didn't witness the interview firsthand. And even though a simple Google search confirms it did indeed happen, I want to treat it like a nasty rumor.
See if Cramer and the Real Money Pros are trading (EBAY)
Let's not rule out the possibility that an impostor put on a leftover Meg Whitman Halloween costume, went on national television, discussed plans for a smartphone and, somehow in this connected world, HP never got wind of what happened so they did not issue a press release to refute it.
Even though I would not have voted for her in your booth, I liked Whitman better when she ran for Governor of California. At least as a politician, it's acceptable to be unoriginal and have no vision. That shouldn't fly as a CEO in tech.
Interestingly, HPQ's share price does not go the way of Dell's (NASDAQ:DELL). For one reason or another, investors give Whitman a sliver of the benefit of the doubt. It probably has something to do with her time at eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY).
Of course, when Whitman joined a 30-employee eBay, it needed a leader to guide its growth. I hesitate to take credit away from Whitman in that regard. At the same time, eBay was not Whitman's idea.
Pierre Omidyar had the revelation and founded the company. Whitman was little more than one of dozens, maybe hundreds of executives who could have ably babysat an idea whose time clearly had come.
Simply put, she is not a visionary. That's a problem for HP.
Generally, I like to consider situations like this from a more complex perspective. You know, way more than two sides exist to every story.
In this case, however, we're looking at something that could not be more black and white. HP requires a rock star visionary and it doesn't have one.
Whitman repeats the same behaviors and processes that have held back innovation in some corners of tech for years. She culls from the pool of what exists. That ensures mediocrity. And it's one of the reasons Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) can remain so dominant. Even with him gone, the current team at Apple can milk Steve Jobs's legacy and use some of their own talent to sustain things for a while.
HP, however, is not eBay.
Whitman has no coattails to ride on. She has no direct marching orders. She has not been given a task that somebody of her ilk can make magic with.
When she joined eBay, it was easy enough to put her MBA-geared brain to work and navigate the waters from startup to mega-corporation. HP requires wholesale change. It's not about taking what you've been given and managing it for growth and stability. It's about creating something entirely new.
At least that's what it should be about at HP.
Meg Whitman should not be talking about a smartphone. She should not be sending her team off to take their time on the project because, of course, we would rather get it right this time than get it out the door fast. What a complete and utter waste of human capital and shareholder money.
Whitman should not be saying anything. She should be holed up in her office or wherever she does her best thinking ... thinking. Yes, thinking.
Thinking about how HP can shape the world with something original two, three, five years down the line. Instead, she does like every other lame company that bites at Apple's ankles. She sends these poor employees off with vague marching orders - Let's build a smartphone!.
Just what we need. Another iPhone knockoff. This will not end well.
At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
Follow @RoccoPendola
This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.
By Rocco Pendola - 09/17/12 - 8:07 AM EDT
Tickers in this article: EBAY HPQ AAPL
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I heard a rumor that Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman went on Fox Business News the other day and said her company will, at some point in the future, produce a smartphone.
I didn't witness the interview firsthand. And even though a simple Google search confirms it did indeed happen, I want to treat it like a nasty rumor.
See if Cramer and the Real Money Pros are trading (EBAY)
Let's not rule out the possibility that an impostor put on a leftover Meg Whitman Halloween costume, went on national television, discussed plans for a smartphone and, somehow in this connected world, HP never got wind of what happened so they did not issue a press release to refute it.
Even though I would not have voted for her in your booth, I liked Whitman better when she ran for Governor of California. At least as a politician, it's acceptable to be unoriginal and have no vision. That shouldn't fly as a CEO in tech.
Interestingly, HPQ's share price does not go the way of Dell's (NASDAQ:DELL). For one reason or another, investors give Whitman a sliver of the benefit of the doubt. It probably has something to do with her time at eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY).
Of course, when Whitman joined a 30-employee eBay, it needed a leader to guide its growth. I hesitate to take credit away from Whitman in that regard. At the same time, eBay was not Whitman's idea.
Pierre Omidyar had the revelation and founded the company. Whitman was little more than one of dozens, maybe hundreds of executives who could have ably babysat an idea whose time clearly had come.
Simply put, she is not a visionary. That's a problem for HP.
Generally, I like to consider situations like this from a more complex perspective. You know, way more than two sides exist to every story.
In this case, however, we're looking at something that could not be more black and white. HP requires a rock star visionary and it doesn't have one.
Whitman repeats the same behaviors and processes that have held back innovation in some corners of tech for years. She culls from the pool of what exists. That ensures mediocrity. And it's one of the reasons Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) can remain so dominant. Even with him gone, the current team at Apple can milk Steve Jobs's legacy and use some of their own talent to sustain things for a while.
HP, however, is not eBay.
Whitman has no coattails to ride on. She has no direct marching orders. She has not been given a task that somebody of her ilk can make magic with.
When she joined eBay, it was easy enough to put her MBA-geared brain to work and navigate the waters from startup to mega-corporation. HP requires wholesale change. It's not about taking what you've been given and managing it for growth and stability. It's about creating something entirely new.
At least that's what it should be about at HP.
Meg Whitman should not be talking about a smartphone. She should not be sending her team off to take their time on the project because, of course, we would rather get it right this time than get it out the door fast. What a complete and utter waste of human capital and shareholder money.
Whitman should not be saying anything. She should be holed up in her office or wherever she does her best thinking ... thinking. Yes, thinking.
Thinking about how HP can shape the world with something original two, three, five years down the line. Instead, she does like every other lame company that bites at Apple's ankles. She sends these poor employees off with vague marching orders - Let's build a smartphone!.
Just what we need. Another iPhone knockoff. This will not end well.
At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
Follow @RoccoPendola
This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.
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