Berlin 01-04-2010

Daimler -Benz has announced it will produce a new breed of transmission-integrated electric engines for its future hybrid Mercedes-Benz vehicles at its plant in Berlin,  commencing in 2012. – part of the companies overall strategy of actively shaping sustainable mobility.

The company will invest around 40m Euro in the development and production of the new engine.

The necessary machinery and equipment is to be set up in new production buildings the company already owns, by 2011. Fifty employees will work in the development and later production of the electric engines at the Berlin site.

This particular Berlin plant has already accumulated a wealth of expertise in the manufacture of electronic   components and with this decision, the Berlin site will play an even more important part in future drive systems for Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz will produce a new generation of transmission-integrated electric engines for its hybrid vehicles at its plant in Berlin, starting in 2012.

The company has disclosed that its electric engine is a transmission-integrated version,   and can develop   15kW of engine power.

When so required it boosts performance by interacting with the combustion engine – it also reloads the batteries by recovering energy during braking.

The internal combustion-engine is bascially a century old idea and Mercedes-Benz Cars is – with this build-out – continuing its strategy of building up new technology for the electrification of drive systems as a core competence.

OTA-Berlin takes the view that electronic cars can only enhance living in larger cities and welcomes the move to create in Berlin a competency centre addressing the growing need for non-polluting eletronic modes of transport.

         

Wikipedia pictures of the unique counter-prop propulsion and undercarriage landing systems on the A400M.

Berlin   07-03-2010

A financing agreement has finally been reached with user governments after more than a year of uncertainty concerning the A400M program, which EADS/Airbus  had threatened to cancel to preserve the company’s long-term viability.

Purchasers of the A400M military transport plane have agreed to a 10 % per unit price increase, which will assist in any further   cost overruns and allow the troubled project to continue.

EADS/Airbus and the 7 European government-customers for the A400M announced in Berlin that they had agreed to the small increase for the 180 planes on order.

They will also provide circa 1.5 billion Euros in loans in return for a share of the revenue from future sales of the aircraft.

The A400M project was like a rock around the neck of EADS/Airbus and was costing the company around 100 million Euros a month – and because it is not a bank – put a heavy strain on its cash flow.

Germany, Belgium, Britain, France, Spain, Luxembourg and Turkey have all agreed to increase the original contract, which was 20 billion Euros, and will also waive any penalty charges for late deliveries.

The plane deliveries are projected to begin in 2014.,  

EADS/Airbus will absorb some of the cost overruns already encountered with a one-time 1.8 billion Euro write-off .

Since he assumed office in October 2009, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has often repeated that he wants removal of US nuclear weapons from Germany to be one of the  accomplishments of his time in office.

In fact all three German coalition parties CDU/CSU and FDP want to have the nuclear weapons situated in Germany withdrawn – in cooperation with the US.

Foreign Minister Westerwelle, has recently welcomed the news that US President Obama is said to be contemplating withdrawing US nuclear weapons from Europe. The fact that the US controls the nuclear arsenal on German soil is patently absurd and should be opposed.

 However the timing of these comments by a main-stream German politician is significant. The fact that Westerwelle raises this question means that others are thinking it – perhaps just using this as a trial balloon.

 Westerwelle is of course correct in his sentiment, but things are not always as they seem to be, especially in politics. This begs the question – and it is not just a rhetorical one – what will replace the US nuclear weapons.

Could it be that Germany would consider having its own nuclear warheads at some point in the future?

 While it used to be just the former USSR/Russia who were afraid of a revanchist Germany – presently it is probably more France and the UK who would strongly oppose a nuclear armed Germany.

Berlin     04-03-2010

Rumours of an impending German bailout of Greece just won’t go away despite denials from the government in Berlin.

German government advisors suspect money speculators may be betting on ‘bad-news’ and thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy -by creating it – and thus forcing a fall in the value of the Euro.

The ‘bad-guys’ in this case are the ‘The City of London and Wall Street’ which are being accused of calling very loudly – ‘ a concerted Power Play’ – for Germany to pay Greece’s debt, which would thereby greatly enrich currency speculators

Inspite of German bailout denials, speculation will increase ahead of Friday’s visit to Berlin by the Canadian educated Greek PM Papandreou.

A Greek bankruptcy would provide a major loss of prestige for the euro and, it seems that investors are still wary of buying any further Greek bonds –  ‘Beware of Greeks bearing Bonds’ !

Germany and France could buy or guarantee up to €30 billion in state loans and both Berlin and Brussels, want private financial institutions to be brought on board as well — and have indicated a willingness to go after financial speculators, who have been betting against Greece.

The Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker, has used some colourful language as he went after speculators.

He is reported to have said the he has ‘ the instruments of torture’ ready to apply to speculators ‘in the basement’ and says he will use them if necessary.

Bankers should not forget that new financial market regulations in many European countries are up for discussion this year – including Germany

Back in Athens, the Greek government has announced new austerity measures    aimed at raising additional money to curb its budget deficit and avert a possible debt crisis in the Euro zone.

The measures will come on top of wage freezes and  across-the-board tax increases which were announced a month ago. The aim of this exercise  is to raise 5 billion Euros for government coffers.  

A controversial move to abolish, or at least reduce  the so-called ‘14th salary’ — one of two additional monthly pay-checks that most public sector workers receive.

As a result of these serious fiscal problems Greece needs to raise at least 20 billion Euro to refinance debt maturing in April this year.

Left wing parties have criticized the government for pushing painful and socially unjust measures despite being elected last October on pledges to do just the opposite – namely to improve social welfare.

Meanwhile behind the headlines Greece has once again delayed a bond issue.

A German computer scientist speaking at the ‘Chaos Communication Congress’ in Berlin claims to have broken the secret algorithm – the encyrption code that keeps  billions of calls on mobile telephony hidden and unintelligible – for anyone other than the personalized user.

Mr Karsten Nohl, who has led a team working on cracking the code, said this proved that security for GSM – the most used mobile technology in the world, estimated at 80 percent of the entire world’s cell phones -was not adequate  [It does not affect phones operating with 3G encryption].

If used by informed programmers the encryption codes could allow private individuals to listen to other peoples’ personal phone conversations – something presently only being done on a large scale by most Western government intelligence agencies.

This comes at a time when hackers have been trying to compel the mobile phone industry into strengthening their security – and pointing out the widespread vulnerability of so-called fail-proof systems. 
There is a widespread fear that this technology needed to hack into GSM phones may rapidly become easily accessible and affordable for anyone with some skilled computer knowledge or background.
 
However, the GSM Association, who are responsible internationally for the medium of networks in which its phones operate – and  which originally created the code –  says its technology has been unaffected and not yet been attacked successfully.

The GSMA will meet in February 2010 where it is expected to review many of its in-place security measures, some of which are already 21 years old.   
  

Although there were some people outside that appeared to be having trouble getting in (they did look quite young), we were ushered inside without any problem. We got there relatively early (Berlin early, that is – 12:45am). Upon entering we was glad that we had arrived almost sober since it allowed us to explore the vast expanses of one of Berlin’s most famous clubs. And believe me, it’s big. There were two English guys wandering around in the basement asking people if they knew where the exit was, although they did look a little worse for wear.

The line-up in Globus, the upstairs floor included Lawrence aka Sten (Dial, Smallville / Hamburg), Patrice Scott (Sistrum / Detroit), Rene Dachner (Weald / Hamburg), whilst downstairs in Tresor HendriX, Stassy & Luke (Sender Berlin, Tresor Rec., unGleich, Rejected / Berlin) manned the decks. It was difficult to tell which floor was more hardcore. They were both pretty hardcore techno, and really good to dance to. There was a good group of dancers on the floor but not too many to hinder movement, and no one was showing off too much, except maybe me, just a little.

We took some great photos of Tresor, which will give anyone who doesn’t know, an idea of what Tresor is like. Imagine the polar opposite of Felix, i.e. absolute minimal focus on decor and furnishing, absolute maximum focus on music, with an entire wall of speakers booming out techno tunes.

Berlin Nightlife, Bars and Clubs Reviews: brought to you by OTA-Berlin Holiday Apartments

Klavierabenden mit Benjamin Moser

20. & 22.08.2009, um 20.30h

Verehrtes Publikum,

mit besonderer Freude darf ich zwei besondere Konzerte ankündigen und dazu
einladen, wird doch der renommierte Pianist Benjamin Moser zwei verschiedene
Klavierabende im Salon geben. Benjamin Moser ist ganz sicher schon jetzt ein
Großer der Tasten, man darf eine große Karriere auf in den wichtigen
Konzertstätten der Welt von ihm erwarten. Er entstammt einer der
berühmtesten Musikerfamilien überhaupt und erfreut sich und sein Publikum
spätestens seit dem Gewinn des Tchaikowski Sonderpreises bei dem wohl
wichtigsten Klavierwettbewerb überhaupt durch eine weltweite
Konzerttätigkeit sowie atemberaubende Aufnahmen.

Daß Benjamin Moser gleich zwei aufeinanderfolgende Abende im Salon geben
wird, ist mehr als Grund zu Freude und Aufregung, wir verdanken wir dies dem
unermüdlichen Insistieren des geschätzten Ulugbek Palvanov. So können wir am
Donnerstag und am Samstag, an letzterem Termin unter dem Patronat der
“IFA-Langen Nacht des Hörens” zwei verschiedene Programme hören, die die
ganze Breite der Klaviermusik von ihrer besten Seite zeigen werden, Piano
Recitals in der Tradition großer Pianisten. Die Programme finden sich auf
dem angehängten Flyer.

Sehr herzlich

Christoph Schreiber
Piano Salon Christophori
www.konzertfluegel.com

Freitag, den 07.08.09 20.30 Uhr

Pianisten Eugene Mursky

und Ulugbek Palvanov

Liebe Freunde der Klavierkonzerte,

mit großer Freude darf ich ein gemeinsames Konzert für den kommenden
Freitag, den 07.08.09 um 20.30 Uhr ankündigen von 2 großen und bekannten
Pianisten, Eugene Mursky, Gewinner eines der renommiertesten
Klavierwettbewerbe, der London Piano Competition, sowie dem nicht nur aus
dem Salon bestens bekannten und gerühmten Ulugbek Palvanov.
Wir werden ein Programm hören können ausschließlich komponiert für 2 Flügel,
zu Beginn die Brahmssche Sonate für 2 Klaviere in f-moll op. 34b, identisch
mit dem Klavierquintett, im zweiten Teil die erste der beiden Suiten für 2
Klaviere von Rachmaninoff. Mehr Klavier und sinnlicheres Klavier kann man an
einem Abend nicht hören, sicher nicht!Ich erlaube mir auf den wunderbaren Flyer im Anhang hinzuweisen, dessen
Vorlage wir Herrn Lic. Stefan Graf Finck von Finckenstein verdanken.

Sehr herzlich

Christoph Schreiber
Piano Salon Christophori
www.konzertfluegel.com

Revaler Straße 29

Just because Rosi’s isn’t well known outside of the student/struggling artist circle doesn’t mean it doesn’t rock. In fact, many consider the fact that it isn’t well known to be one of its best attributes. Most people here are Germans or at least ERASMUS students.

It sits in the east, near Berghain and Watergate territory, and draws the people who don’t want to go somewhere as expensive or well known as either of them. The drinks are very cheap, as is the entry. What you get inside are old but comfortable couches in the first room, which surround a small dance floor. In the larger, main room, there are a plethora of things to stand on to dance. The bartenders are extremely friendly and tend to be, quite naturally, students. There really seems to be no curfew here, since students in Germany stay students so long, so that they don’t have to get up for work the next day.

If you want to go to a young, fun, laid back but exciting club then Rosi’s is probably just what you are looking for. The music can very from electro to balkan beats to concerts so it’s best to check the program before visiting.

Liebe Freunde, 

Es ist mir eine große Freude, Sie/Ihr zu einem besonderen Konzert einzuladen, das in der Musikinstrumenten-Museum an der Berliner Philharmonie (Curt-Sachs-saal), am Sonntag, den 26.7.09 um 11:00 stattfinden wird. Es ist ein Konzert aus einer Matinee-Reihe, die von Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung für eine ausgewählte Anzahl junger MusikerInnen aufgeführt wird. Ich werde von dem hochbegabten pianisten Dan Deutsch begleitet werden, und gemeinsam werden wir eine Auswahl der Lieder von Mozart, Fanny Hensel, Grieg, Strauss and Wolf interpretieren. Weitere Informationen finden Sie/findet Ihr bitte hier: http://www.schierse-stiftung.de/ oder in der beiliegenden Broschüre. Ich freue mich sehr darauf, Sie/Ihr dort zu sehen! Vielen Dank und ein wunderschönen Sommer

Ihnen/Euch, 

Dana Marbach

www.danamarbach.com