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To: Jon Koplik who wrote (90852)	4/16/2010 6:08:55 PM
From: engineer	1 Recommendation Respond to of 197209

Broadcom chipset or apple design????? Many Puzzled by Israel's iPad Ban Text .By CHARLES LEVINSON JERUSALEM—Israel this week has been blocking travelers from bringing Apple Inc.'s new iPad into the country saying the device's wireless technology threatens to create interference with other products, a move that has puzzled people both in Israel and Silicon Valley. The Ministry of Communications said the ban was instituted earlier this week because the iPad's Wi-Fi wireless technology was built to the U.S. standard, which allows stronger signals than those allowed in Europe and Israel. "This device's wireless strengths violate Israeli law and will overpower other wireless devices in Israel," ministry spokesman Yechiel Shavi said. Mr. Shavi said once Apple releases a version of the device built according to European wireless specifications, the ban will be reversed. An Apple spokeswoman said the "iPad complies with international industry standards for Wi-Fi specifications." The decision has left many scratching their heads. Travelers have been bringing laptops and cellphones configured to U.S. standards, including other Apple devices with the same wireless configuration, into Israel for years without incident. Some Israeli lawmakers alleged on Friday the decision undermines Israel's status as a global leader in the high-tech industry. Richard Doherty, an analyst with technology consulting firm Envisioneering Group, said Apple is using a standard Wi-Fi chip based on a widely-used industry standard in the iPad, and the Israeli government's decision "does not make sense." "If they're paranoid about the iPad then they should be paranoid about BlackBerrys and the iPhone," he said, adding that the decision "seems to have no technical reason." According to tests that Envisioneering has run on iPads, Mr. Doherty said the iPad has a smaller antenna and the Wi-Fi transmission is weaker, if anything, compared with other devices of similar size and power. That's because the computer is encased in solid aluminum, and the radio waves transmit only through the small Apple logo in the back of the case. Customs authorities have confiscated at least 10 iPads so far from travelers arriving to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. Travelers have been required to pay for storage fees until they pick up their devices on the way out of the country. The ban has triggered an angry wave of criticism in Israel, as gadget-happy Israeli consumers fear they will once again be forced to watch with envy as the rest of the world enjoys the latest high-tech toy, as happened with Apple's iPhone which was released in Israel months after it debuted in the U.S. and Europe. Retailers who ordered shipments of the iPad fear their stock will be confiscated at customs. Mr. Shavi, the ministry spokesman, said anyone who brought wireless devices configured to U.S. standards into Israel in the past should have declared them to customs officials and could have had their devices confiscated. But he didn't know of any incidents in which devices were confiscated. Some technology experts have speculated the ban could have to do with fears that the more powerful wireless frequency used by American devices could interfere with Israeli military communications technology. Unlike MacBook computers, the iPad uses the same wireless chip as the iPhone, which has a radio receiver and transmitter. Israel's government has in the past stood up to tech powerhouses. In 2003, the government temporarily suspended purchases of Microsoft Corp.'s software and openly encouraged open source alternatives due to a pricing dispute. Apple has long lacked a strong presence in Israel. That began to change in late 2008, after Nehemia Peres, the son of Israeli President Shimon Peres, bought the company that has exclusive rights to sell Apple products in Israel, iDigital. Israel's first Apple store opened in Tel Aviv in January 2009. iDigital couldn't be reached for commentabout the ministry's decision to ban imports of the iPad. —Yukari Iwatani Kane contributed to this article.

To: Jon Koplik who wrote (90852)	4/18/2010 11:44:39 AM
From: Jon Koplik	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197209

Reuters -- Goldman CDO case could be tip of iceberg ..................................... April 17, 2010 Goldman CDO case could be tip of iceberg By Aaron Pressman and Joseph Giannone - Analysis BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> over a 2007 mortgage derivatives deal it set up for a hedge fund manager could be just the start of Wall Street's legal troubles stemming from the subprime meltdown. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman <GS.N> with fraud for failing to disclose to buyers of a collateralized debt obligation known as ABACUS that hedge fund manager John Paulson helped select mortgage derivatives he was betting against for the deal. Goldman denied any wrongdoing. The practice of creating synthetic CDOs was not uncommon in 2006 and 2007. At the tail end of the real estate bubble, some savvy investors began to look for more ways to profit from the coming calamity using derivatives. Goldman shares plunged 13 percent on Friday and shares of other financial firms that created CDOs also fell. Shares of Deutsche Bank AG <DB.N> ended down 9 percent, Morgan Stanley <MS.N> 6 percent and Bank of America <BAC.N>, which owns Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup <C.N> each declined 5 percent. Merrill, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank were the top three underwriters of CDO transactions in 2006 and 2007, according to data from Thomson Reuters. But most of those deals included actual mortgage-backed securities, not related derivatives like the ABACUS deal. Hedge fund managers like Paulson typically wanted to bet against so-called synthetic CDOs that used derivatives contracts in place of actual securities. Those were less common. MORE LAWSUITS? The SEC's charges against Goldman are already stirring up investors who lost big on the CDOs, according to well-known plaintiffs lawyer Jake Zamansky. "I've been contacted by Goldman customers to bring lawsuits to recover their losses," Zamansky said. "It's going to go way beyond ABACUS. Regulators and plaintiffs' lawyers are going to be looking at other deals, to what kind of conflicts Goldman has." An investigation by the online site ProPublica into Chicago-based hedge fund Magnetar's 2007 bets against CDO-related debt also turned up allegations of conflicts of interest against Deutsche Bank, Merrill and JPMorgan Chase. Magnetar has denied any wrongdoing. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Merrill and JPMorgan had no immediate comment. The Magnetar deals have spawned at least one lawsuit. Dutch bank Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A., or Rabobank for short, filed suit in June against Merrill Lynch over Magnetar's involvement with a CDO called Norma. "Merrill Lynch teamed up with one of its most prized hedge fund clients -- an infamous short seller that had helped Merrill Lynch create four other CDOs -- to create Norma as a tailor-made way to bet against the mortgage-backed securities market," Rabobank said in its complaint filed on June 12 in the Supreme Court of New York. Regulators at the SEC and around the country said they would be investigating other deals beyond ABACUS. "We are looking very closely at these products and transactions," Robert Khuzami, head of the SEC's enforcement division, said. "We are moving across the entire spectrum in determining whether there was (fraud). Meanwhile, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement his office had already begun a preliminary review of the Goldman case. "A key question is whether this case was an isolated incident or part of a pattern of investment banks colluding with hedge funds to purposely tank securities they created and sold to unwitting investors," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement. (Reporting by Aaron Pressman and Joseph Giannone. Additional reporting by Dan Wilchins and Rachelle Younglai, editing by Leslie Gevirtz) © Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved.