Liverpool confirm wish to redevelop Anfield and not move to new stadium

Liverpool have moved a step closer to redeveloping Anfield after formally confirming their preference is to remain at their existing home and not build a new stadium in Stanley Park.

Symbolically, on the day of Fenway Sports Group's two-year anniversary of buying the club, a definitive way forward in relation to the long-running ground issue was identified by the managing director, Ian Ayre.

Liverpool City Council has announced extensive plans for a regeneration of the Anfield area having secured a £25m grant with a housing association set to also invest heavily.

On the back of that, the club plan to push ahead with proposals to extend and improve their only home since 1892.

"Today represents a huge step forward for the Anfield area. Everyone at the football club knows the importance of today," said Ayre. "We welcome the opportunity to be part of this partnership – we want to thank Joe Anderson [the mayor of Liverpool] and the council for the time and the support they've given us to help make the right decision.

"LFC celebrated its 120th year in 2012 at Anfield and there is no doubt Anfield is the spiritual home of the club – our preference was always to remain at Anfield. This is a major step forward for the football club, but more importantly the residents.

Ayre added: "This is step one as there is land to acquire, plans to be approved etc, but this is a significant moment. Questions about capacity and cost are not for today – not until we have certainty."

Redevelopment is likely to see major improvements to, and extensions of, the Main Stand and the Anfield Road end, although that is all subject to planning permission, which has been made possible by the regeneration plans to clear some streets close to the ground, and the support of homeowners and the community.

However, redevelopment is entirely dependent on being able to get the necessary permissions to carry out the work the club want – which means a new-build on Stanley Park cannot be conclusively ruled out until those have been secured.

One of the main reasons a new stadium did not fit the bill was the financial aspect. The club would have spent upwards of £300m and yet increased match-day capacity by only around 15,000.

Ayre always maintained that even with a naming rights deal, a new stadium did not make good financial sense and that is why they always leaned towards a redevelopment of Anfield.

FSG has updated a historic old stadium before. It did a similar thing at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, and it will now look to do the same on Merseyside.

"Over the last two years one of the things that we've had to do, and was important to do, was analyse the detail of what works, what doesn't work, what the economical situation is for either solution," Ayre told Liverpool's official website. "If you build a new stadium, for example, one of the big challenges is that you don't get 60,000 new seats in a new stadium, you only get the difference [with the existing capacity]. That makes it very difficult to make it viable because the cost of building such a big new stadium doesn't work economically, particularly in this market.

"The work we've done on that showed us that as long as we could find the right solution to stay at Anfield, and get through the barriers and hurdles that we needed, we would have to find the best long-term solution for the club that had sustainability and worked economically.

"Added to that is the fact that I'd say it was very much the preference for our fans, the majority of our fans, and certainly for all of us. We've had some of the greatest triumphs in our history here, so it makes sense if there's a right solution that this is the place we should continue to play our football.

"I know a proposition of staying at Anfield has been looked at before, but fundamentally the difference is that for the first time ever all of the relevant parties are coming together for a common initiative, and that common initiative is not for the needs of the football club but actually the needs of the community."

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Long-form travel writing with Mike Carter

For all that technology has transformed how we see the world, it's the written word that still provides the most eloquent descriptions of travel. This Masterclass is for anyone who wants to learn to write first-person travelogue pieces to a professional standard. Lead tutor Mike Carter writes regularly for The Guardian and Observer, and is the author of two travel books.

Over the weekend, you'll learn how to structure a piece, write a compelling introduction, avoid common pitfalls and find your USP for pitching yourself as a writer – with advice from guest speaker and Guardian Travel editor Gemma Bowes.

Class size has been kept small to allow for personal feedback and an informal and inspiring atmosphere.

Tutor profile

Mike Carter has been travel writing for 10 years. He writes regularly for the Guardian and the Observer newspapers, and had also written for the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Harper's Bazaar and Daily Express. He is the author of two travel books – Uneasy Rider, which won the 2008 Oldie Travel Book of the Year, and One Man and his Bike, published in 2011, which documented his 5,000 cycle ride around the entire coastline of Britain – but considers his spell as a professional podium dancer in Turkey to be his greatest achievement

Details

Dates: Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 November 
Times: 10am-5pm
Location: The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, King's Cross, London N1 9GU
Price: £400 (inclusive of VAT, booking fees, lunch and refreshments)
Maximum class size: 15

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Small-town America: readers' tips

Jerome is a small town between Prescott and Flagstaff, and was once the fourth-largest city in Arizona. Now only about 450 people live here, many of them artists and musicians. It is known as America's most vertical city as well as its largest ghost town. We didn't see any ghosts but can vouch for there being some steep hills. We ate the best burger we ever had at the Haunted Hamburger (thehauntedhamburger.com) on Clark Street.azjerome.com 
skymancloudnine

East coast

New Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is under an hour from New York by ferry. Explore the lovely small towns, from Wildwood with its two-mile boardwalk, 1950s architecture and sweeping beaches, to Long Beach Island, with towns such as Ship Bottom and Loveladies. My favourite is Asbury Park – you can always hope Bruce Springsteen turns up for an impromptu gig at the Stone Pony (stoneponyonline.com).
newjerseyshore.com
troutiemcfish

Photograph: Alamy

Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a picture perfect town two hours' drive from Manhattan and home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (baseballhall.org). Its Main Street is like a Norman Rockwell painting, especially in autumn with the leaves turning red and gold and pumpkins in front of the clapboard houses.
thisiscooperstown.com
wendytravels

Photograph: Alamy

Intercourse, Pennsylvania
Immune to sniggers, Intercourse is in Amish country. Black buggies trot along, often full of small, bonneted children. Roadside stalls selling fresh produce abound, as do all-you-can-eat Mennonite and Amish restaurants. Stay in a collection of old railway carriages at the Red Caboose Motel (redcaboosemotel.com), in Strasburg.
800padutch.com/intercourse.shtml
bowbank

Danville, Pennsylvania
Montour County's seat, population less than 5,000, has revolutionary roots and picturesque churches. Its Main Street has abookstore,a family-owned Five and Dime and a soda fountain/diner where you can read the local paper and try the Pennsylvania take on blood pudding, scrapple, with syrup.
danvillepa.com
Bee Smith

Pink Cadillac Diner, Natural Bridge, Virginia
The diner experience doesn't get any tackier and greasier than this. Wander off the South Lee Highway, get your picture taken next to King Kong and the Pink Cadillac outside the diner, eat a humongous Elvis burger with fries and coleslaw and say yes to all those refreshing pink lemonade refills!
pinkcadillacdineronline.com
canaria

South and south-west

Tubing on the Guadalupe river in New Braunfels. Photograph: Alamy

New Braunfels, Texas
This small town has a strong German influence and is home to one of the best water parks in the world, the Schlitterbahn (schlitterbahn.com), where you can take your own coolbox with drinks and a picnic. The park is fed with cold spring water from the Comal river: you can rent a tube and float downriver for hours. For food try Schobels, on the banks of the Guadalupe river. It is an all-you-can-eat home-style buffet. German pastries and coffee are best at Naegelin's Bakery (naegelins.com) on the historic town square. Finish your day at Gruene Hall (gruenehall.com), a famous honky tonk and Texas's oldest dance hall.
nassaubay

Photograph: Alamy

Kanab, Utah
Far more B-movie westerns were made in Kanab than in Monument Valley. The wide Main Street has info about the stars, recreations of stage sets and souvenir shops selling Kanab sandstone. Eat at the Mediterranean Table (themediterraneantable.com), or try a cowboy lunch at Frontier Movietown (frontiermovietown.com).
visitsouthernutah.com
magistrate

Photograph: Alamy

Cedar Key, Florida
Cedar Key is an island 130 miles north of Tampa on the west coast. The silvery grey shingled houses, often on stilts, contrast vividly with the dark red waters, coloured by the cedar trees. Take a canoe out into the Gulf of Mexico, try the seafood and watch the sunset from the Harbour Master Suites (cedarkeyharbourmaster.com) right on the water.
geriblake

Gainseville, Florida
This small college town doubles in size when the University of Florida is in session, and doubles again on football weekends. For more local colour, on Thursday nights, attend one of the high school football games, or, just sit back in one of the terrace restaurants in the centre. During the day, climb to the bottom of the Devil's Millhopper sinkhole (floridastateparks.org/devilsmillhopper), then take a dip in the crystal-clear, waters of the Ichetucknee river. 
visitgainesville.comektosplasmas

Photograph: Alamy

Lynchburg, Tennessee
A tour of the Jack Daniel's Distillery (jackdaniels.com) is free, and if you're lucky, you get to inhale 120% proof spirit – JD in the making! Lynchburg itself retains enough soul and style to offer a sense of real small town America. Its pretty square with red brick courthouse and porched shops even has a dinky gas station. Sit on a rocker outside one of the stores and play checkers. This is the South. You can do that without buying anything. Then drop into the friendly BBQ Caboose Cafe (bbqcaboose.com) for pulled pork and raspberry lemonade.
mariaglp

Prescott, Arizona
Prescott, between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon, has developed around grassy Courthouse Square. On the first Friday evening after the lighting of the large Courthouse Christmas tree, Prescott holds the Acker Music Festival Showcase, a fundraiser for local performing arts, with more than 100 groups performing for three hours. This year it's on 7 December.
ackershowcase.com, visit-prescott.comtoughtina

West coast

Petaluma, California
This Victorian town north of San Francisco has been the backdrop for films such as American Graffiti and Pleasantville. The historic centre is small and easily walkable, with boutiques, cafes, antique stores, a Carnegie library (now a museum) and a beautiful 1933 post office. Volpi's on Washington Street is a 1925 grocery store with a prohibition-era speakeasy bar in the back.
visitpetaluma.com
londonpenguin

Julian, California
Just a couple of hours from San Diego this unspoilt place is great for a night or two. The Julian Hotel (julianhotel.com) on Main Street was opened as Robinson's Hotel in 1897 by a former slave and is super-friendly with great breakfasts, and afternoon teas inspired by 1930s films. The town has plenty of independent shops and restaurants.
julianca.com
Jane Radford

Volcano, California
The little town of Volcano, population around 115, sits in a bowl-shaped valley at the base of the Sierra Nevada. In the mid-1800s, when it was established, gold miners thought it was the remains of a volcanic crater. It wasn't, but the name stuck. One popular attraction is the four-acre farm of Daffodil Hill (daffodilfestivals.com). Every spring 300 varieties of daffodil carpet the farm's rolling hills. People come to picnic and stroll through the blooms for free.
loverskitchen

Springfield, Oregon
Springfield was recently confirmed to be the real-life inspiration for the Simpsons. You won't find any bright yellow people here, but the museum mentions rivalry with near neighbour Eugene – better known to Simpson's fans as Shelbyville. A guide to the main street points out some gems including the period railroad station and a lovely art deco Buick dealership.
lozster

Midwest

Raspberries and blueberries at a farmers' market in South Haven, Michigan. Photograph: Alamy

South Haven, Michigan
This part of Michigan supplies a third of the US's blueberries. Heavy winters, cool damp springs and long hot summers suit this fruit. I love the gentle way blueberries are promoted throughout South Haven, culminating in the Blueberry Festival (blueberryfestival.com) in August. It's two hours' drive from Chicago, with a sandy beach on Lake Michigan.
southhaven.org

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Felix Baumgartner makes record-breaking skydive from space – video

Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner jumps from more than 24 miles above Earth, breaking the speed of sound before he releases his parachute. The 43-year-old broke the record for highest jump set by Joe Kittinger at 19.5 miles in 1960. Kittinger was in the control room in Roswell, New Mexico, together with Baumgartner's family

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Hang up on sickening phone scams

Every week we receive tales of fraud, scams and rip-offs. The most distressing involve the callous exploitation of elderly savers, often through the telephone equivalent of "door stepping" where the scamsters won't hang up until they have fleeced their victim. But a tale we were sent this week is one of the most sickening I've heard.

It involves a 75-year-old woman – we won't say her name – who was phoned by a firm, ostensibly in Dubai, that appealed not just to her vulnerability and naivety, but her good nature, too. The caller knew the lady had shares (how? she probably once had a holding in a privatisation or demutualisation, and names on share lists are swapped mercilessly between "boiler room" crooks). He convinced her to sell her existing shares – did she know they'd been under-performing? – and buy "carbon credits" instead. They're green, environmental and backed by governments around the world. What could go wrong?

The crook could scarcely believe his luck when she handed over half her life savings, £133,690. When, later, she thought better of it, the crook said she'd signed a contract and if she didn't pay up he'd pursue her through the courts. Under pressure, she paid up – and the money disappeared into an account in Williamsburg, New York.

Once you have been stung once, they try to sting you again. She was pestered and persuaded to hand over a further £100,000 – a sum that would leave her virtually penniless – to an account in Coconut Creek, Florida. Thankfully, her son found out, and at the last moment halted the transfer.

He has since tried desperately to recover the money, but with no success. The Financial Services Authority is not interested ("incredibly unsympathetic" in his words) because carbon credits are outside the remit of regulators. In the looking-glass world of consumer investor protection, regulators can only intervene on "authorised" investments. Carbon credits are a recent invention, so you're on your own.

They told him to contact the police, who helpfully gave him a crimereference number, but precious little else. The victim's bank was negligent, too – use your card on holiday in Dubai and it will block your account unless warned – but hand over £133,690 to an account in America and that's fine and dandy.

The final twist in this story comes from JP Morgan, the giant US bank, who rang the lady to promise help in recovering the money, for a £2,000 fee. She nearly paid. Of course, it wasn't JP Morgan but the same fraudsters trying to squeeze out the last drop of cash.

Sadly, we can do nothing to help, except to warn others. There is a real market in "certified" carbon credits, but the "voluntary" credits sold to our victim are almost worthless.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, run by the City of London Police, is blunt. In June it issued a statement which said: "If you buy carbon credits you WILL NOT make any money no matter what the salesman says."

The low-lifes and toerags who target the elderly will stoop to anything. Always put the phone down – and tell everyone you know to do the same.

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PAYE or off-payroll: the employers and employees dodging tax

There are more than 1.5 million freelance contractors and consultants in the UK. Most are genuine and pay tax in full. Indeed, many would rather be on the payroll and taxed through PAYE, but aren't given the choice by employers, some of whom are abusing the tax system. But other freelances are, to put it bluntly, on the fiddle.

A committee of MPs, led by Margaret Hodge, have expressed their shock and disgust at how many of the BBC's high-earning stars are paid through "personal service companies". By channelling their earnings through a personal service company an individual is paid gross and can cut their tax to around 20%, especially by avoiding national insurance.

The revelations led to an orgy of BBC-bashing – the corporation admitted to 25,000 off-payroll contracts, allegedly including some of its biggest stars, but the issue runs far wider. Across Britain, employees paying full tax through PAYE can for years be sitting next to individuals classified as contractors and freelances, who pay far less. Typical is this online comment from a reader of the Telegraph's coverage on the story: "I work with a contract worker going to the same office as me for over 20 years. He can claim his rail fares to from work and other perks. It's not fair [to those of us] on PAYE."

The official term used by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is a "disguised employee", which describes individuals who are directly employed by a company, but cheat the tax system by claiming they are a freelance or contract worker. But many would argue that the "cheat" is as likely to be the employer as the individual. Employers use outsourcing and casualising of their workforce to save on national insurance, pensions, holiday pay, and above all to skirt employment law. In general, employees have rights – especially regarding dismissal – that casuals and contractors don't. Indeed, some employers insist that individuals structure themselves into a personal service company so they don't have to pay national insurance and can fire them at will.

HMRC has long tried to weed out disguised employees. The law already states that employees cannot resign and start work again in their previous job employed as a company. As long ago as 1999, then chancellor Gordon Brown ordered a clampdown on disguised employees through what became known as "IR35". It set out a number of tests designed to catch companies and individuals avoiding tax.

So how can you spot a disguised employee? It's not only about the length of engagement; a contractor can, legally, remain with one company for years. HMRC looks at a number of tests. Broadly speaking, if someone behaves like an employee and is treated like an employee, they probably are an employee, and can't be paid gross. HMRC couches it in terms such as "control" and "substitution".

• Control Does the employer have control over the individual, deciding when and where they work? Can the employer move the individual to a variety of tasks? Does the employer require the individual to work the same hours as other workers? Does the employer decide which part of a project the individual will carry out? Does the individual have to request when they can take time off? Is he or she expected to "busy themselves" when work on a particular project dries up? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it's likely the individual is an employee, not a freelance or contractor.

• Substitution If the individual can't substitute someone else to do their work, they may be regarded as an employee. This is where some high-profile figures in the media may find the rules challenging. They can set up a company that provides services, but if the TV or radio station won't accept anyone but them HMRC may argue they are, in fact, an employee.

• Right of refusal This is crucial. In an employee/employer relationship, there is something called "mutuality of obligation". If a contractor can't prove they have the right to refuse work, it suggests they are an employee.

• Business premises Does the individual own or rent business premises separate from their home and from where they are contracted to work?

• Efficiency Can the individual finish a contract early? Can they, for example, agree a £10,000 fee for three months work and finish it in two? If so, they are a contractor. If they are expected to do something else for that other month, they are probably an employee.

• Assistance Does the individual engage other workers who bring in at least 25% of turnover? Then the "personal service company" would, in the eyes of the HMRC, appear genuine.

• Advertising Has the individual spent at least £1,200 in the past 12 months on advertising? This is evidence they are a genuine small business seeking work.

These tests are designed to catch people who behave like employees, but get paid by a limited company. In the last budget the tests were tightened further, with a package of measures to "tackle avoidance through use of personal service companies".

Yet IR35 has, in reality, only had limited impact on the growth of personal service companies. It was expected to raise around £300m a year in lost national insurance and income tax from disguised employees, but a September 2011 freedom of information request revealed that figure was less than £2m. The Professional Contractors Group, established in protest against IR35, has fought thousands of battles on behalf of freelances against HMRC – and won nearly all. It published figures in 2010 revealing that its legal advisers had won 1,485 cases for members, while HMRC won just eight.

Meanwhile. HMRC has lost its appetite for IR35 challenges. In 2003 it carried out 1,000 "enforcements" of the legislation; that fell to just 23 last year.

John Brazier, managing director of PCG, says: "The solution is not to outlaw freelancing wholesale within the public sector. The jobs market is changing, not just here but across Europe. The government, rather than taking the retrograde step of attempting to push back against that change simply because it causes a few taxation difficulties, must develop a more sophisticated tax policy that changes with it."

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Winsor McCay: Little Nemo in Slumberland Google Doodle celebrates a comics great

Google has celebrated the 107th anniversary of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland with one of the search engine's most elaborate doodles ever.

The doodle recreates the adventures of the main fictional character from the illustrator's comic strips, which first appeared on 15 October 1905 in the New York Herald.

Widely regarded as one of the great figures in the comics form, McCay's bold and stylistic innovations in the early part of the 20th century redefined what the medium could do and set a standard followed by Walt Disney in decades that followed.

Born in Michigan in either 1869 or 1871 – the date is disputed – McCay received some basic art training while attending business school before going to work in the printing and engraving industry in Chicago. He later moved to Cincinnati, where his first major comic strip series was A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle, which appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer over more than 40 instalments.

Little Nemo, based on the adventures of a boy of around six-years-old, ran in the New York Herald from 1905 to 1911. The strip, which ran only on Sundays, features Nemo's adventures as he tries to reach the Princess of Slumberland, daughter of King Morpheus, who desires Nemo for a playmate.

McCay was hired by William Randolph Hearst in 1911 and went to work on Hearst's New York American, a morning newspaper, as an editorial cartoonist. He also started to experiment with animated cartoons and creating the classic Gertie the Dinosaur as well as a short Little Nemo film.

McCay died on 26 July 1934 of a cerebral embolism.

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Study reveals secret of increasing followers on Twitter

Clinical study showed by Beevolve Foundation on Twitter about the secret of increasing the number of fans in the right way and natural.

The study analyzed more than 36 million users have written more than 28 billion note, a rate of 794 a note to a person in an average of three years.
The study came as a result of that user base who follow on Twitter directly linked by sent Ngredat.
And has stated that the terms of the user who wrote less than a thousand note, be a has on average between 51-100 observer, while the published more than 10 thousands of its note,
Have had between 1001-5000 observer. It is estimated that the user who wrote more than 15 thousand note that a number of Mtabaah between 100 thousand and one million follow-on average within this domain.
The study took into consideration demographic factors as well as the favorite keywords and use Twitter applications preferences and favorite platform such as smart phones.
It considered that the average user in Twitter will be English speaking woman and 28-year-old and has about 208 observer.
The most frequently used keywords in Peep personal Bio: Family, entertainment, technology, education, publishing.
The conclusion was for the public social network Twitter is often a young man and a young and about 73% of users are aged between 15 and 25 years old.

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Facebook and Twitter more tempting than sex or smoking a cigarette

Concluded a U.S. study conducted by the University of Chicago that found on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook by sending tweets or publish photos or make comments is more seductive than sex or smoking a cigarette for some people.

 

Seems to be found on the website "Facebook" or "Twitter" is more tempting than sex or smoking a cigarette, according to a study published Friday.
This study has considered that access to social networking sites by sending tweets or publish photos or make comments is more seductive than sex or smoking a cigarette.
Was conducted by researchers from the University of Chicago this week-long study in Germany.
The values ​​and inspires Hoffman on this study in the "Los Angeles Times" that "it is difficult to resist the temptation of these means of communication because it is available widely and it is inexpensive."
The study included people between the ages of eighteen and eighty-fifth regularly used their smart phones to inform researchers in every time you feel a desire to see the social networking site.
The participants also had to express their desires other, such as sex or smoking a cigarette or a drink.
It turns out that the desire to see the social networking site are more willing to make it difficult to resist.
This study showed also that the work is a great addiction, as the participants were able to curb their desires in sexual relations or shopping, but it was harder for them not to meet the call to action.

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Baisse pour les Radeon 7850, 7870 et 7950

AMD vient d'annoncer une nouvelle baisse des prix pour une partie de ses cartes graphiques Radeon HD 7000.

Lancée à 449$ fin janvier, la Radeon HD 7950 était passée à 399$ en avril et 349$ en juillet. La carte perd encore 30$ pour atteindre les 319$.

La Radeon HD 7870 avait fait son apparition en mars au tarif de 349$ avant de passer à 299$ en juillet. Elle baisse de nouveau de 50$ pour atteindre 249$.

Enfin la Radeon HD 7850, lancée à 249$, passe à 209$ en version 2 Go et 189$ en version 1 Go.

Compte tenu du taux de change et de la TVA, ces nouveaux tarifs correspondent à environ 310, 240, 205 et 185 € pour les Radeon HD 7950, 7870, 7850 2 Go et 7850 1 Go. Les modèles Sapphire sont même déjà trouvables pour un peu moins cher : 299 € pour la 7950, 229 € pour la 7870 et 189 € pour la 7850.

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti, Asus DirectCU II TOP et MSI Power Edition en test

Avec la GeForce GTX 650 Ti, Nvidia finalise la famille GeForce 600 Kepler et a pour ambition claire de s'attaquer, enfin, à la Radeon HD 7770. Cette nouvelle référence milieu de gamme va cependant avoir fort à faire, AMD ayant progressivement repositionné la Radeon HD 7850 1 Go dans les parages…

La Radeon HD 7770 dans le viseur…

Si la famille Kepler a permis à Nvidia de rattraper AMD au niveau du rendement énergétique et d'opposer une concurrence féroce dans le haut de gamme, sa déclinaison vers le bas se fait avec plus de difficultés. En cause ? Une architecture au coût supérieur qui, à taille de puce équivalente, ne permet pas à Kepler de lutter à armes égales avec l'architecture GCN d'AMD.

Les GPU Pitcairn et Cape Verde d'AMD ont ainsi l'avantage en termes de performances sur les GPU GK106 et GK107 de Nvidia. Certes, l'aspect physique des GPU ne dicte pas directement leur positionnement commercial, mais compte tenu des coûts de production en hausse sur le 28nm, un tel avantage donne à AMD plus de marge de manœuvre pour pouvoir proposer un rapport performances / prix plus élevé.

Nous l'avons vu récemment avec la GeForce GTX 650, équipée du GK107, qui se contente de proposer les performances d'une Radeon HD 7750, mais pour le prix d'une Radeon HD 7770. Pour attaquer cette dernière avec la GeForce GTX 650 Ti, Nvidia doit avoir recours au GPU supérieur, le GK106, dans une version bridée. Son bus mémoire passe de 192 à 128 bits et un des 5 blocs d'unités de calcul (SMX) est désactivé. Vous pourrez retrouver plus de détails sur ce GPU dans le dossier que nous avons consacré à la GeForce GTX 660.

Une configuration qui laisse facilement penser que la Radeon HD 7770 sera effectivement battue… mais à quel prix ? Comptez 150€ voire 140€ pour la GeForce GTX 650 Ti, contre 120€ pour la Radeon HD 7770. Un positionnement qui s'annonçait relativement efficace : AMD a laissé un trou énorme dans sa gamme entre cette dernière et la Radeon HD 7850, et Nvidia profite d'un avantage en terme d'image qui ne l'oblige pas à faire la course au rapport performances/prix. 

… mais la Radeon HD 7850 est en embuscade !

Malheureusement pour Nvidia, qui va finir par s'arracher les cheveux, AMD manie plutôt bien le levier tarifaire pour ne relâcher la pression sur aucun segment. Depuis quelques temps, une Radeon HD 7850 1 Go est en train de s'approcher de ce segment et AMD a bien entendu profité de l'arrivée de la GeForce GTX 650 Ti pour finaliser ce nouveau positionnement. 

Introduite il y a 6 mois à 210€ en version 2 Go, la Radeon HD 7850 est aujourd'hui disponible en version 1 Go pour 150€ chez les plus gros revendeurs, avec qui plus est un bundle sympathique qui reprend Sleeping Dogs ou DiRT Showdown, voire les deux ! Laissera-t-elle une chance à la GeForce GTX 650 Ti ?

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Al Gore has thrived as green-tech investor

Before a rapt audience, Al Gore flashed slides on a giant screen bearing the logos of 11 clean energy companies he predicted could help slow climate change.

“We can’t wait. . . . We have a planetary emergency,” the former vice president told industry leaders and scientists at the 2008 conference. “Here are just a few of the investments that I personally think make sense.

Today, several of those clean tech firms are thriving, including a solar energy start-up and a Spanish utility company that has dotted rural America with hundreds of wind turbines.

Al Gore is thriving, too.

The man who was within sight of the presidency 12 years ago has transformed himself, becoming perhaps the world’s most renowned crusader on climate change and a highly successful green-tech investor.

Just before leaving public office in 2001, Gore reported assets of less than $2 million; today, his wealth is estimated at $100 million.

Gore charted this path by returning to his longtime passion — clean energy. He benefited from a powerful resume and a constellation of friends in the investment world and in Washington. And four years ago, his portfolio aligned smoothly with the agenda of an incoming administration and its plan to spend billions in stimulus funds on alternative energy.

The recovering politician was pushing the right cause at the perfect time.

Fourteen green-tech firms in which Gore invested received or directly benefited from more than $2.5 billion in loans, grants and tax breaks, part of President Obama’s historic push to seed a U.S. renewable-energy industry with public money.

Over the course of his metamorphosis, Gore became an environmentalist hero with release of his award-winning film and book warning of carbon emissions dangerously overheating the planet. He founded an investment firm devoted in part to backing green-minded companies and later partnered with a leading venture capital firm to invest in clean energy start-ups.

“We have work to do!” Gore recently exhorted an audience while showing his trademark slide show about melting polar ice caps and the urgent need to stop burning so much oil and gas.

That declaration, his friends say, captures his obsession — he’s unable to rest in his self-appointed mission to save the planet.

“Maybe there’s someone as knowledgeable and passionate about climate change. I just haven’t met that person,” said Orin Kramer, a leading New York hedge fund manager, friend of Gore and top Democratic campaign bundler. “His schedule is intensely busy, and my sense is he lives a life that profoundly reflects his values and passions.”

In building his new career, Gore’s name has become ensnared in a broader criticism from Republicans, who put him among political allies they say the Obama administration has unjustly enriched with stimulus and clean-energy funding.

In last week’s presidential debate, Romney criticized the $90 billion that went to promote green technology, saying a number of businesses owned by Obama campaign contributors were winners.

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