The Conference Board expects the Chinese economy's purchasing power parity to surpass America's in 2 years.

The measure is called “purchasing power parity.” This measure attempts to gauge the size of an economy according to the number of transactions of particular types that occur within that economy. This type of analysis allows economists to look beyond the relative strength of a country’s currency to gauge the size of the country’s economy in a different way.

According to the Conference Board, the purchasing power within the Chinese economy will pass that within the American economy in 2012. By 2020, the Conference Board projects that China’s purchasing power will account for 24% of the world’s purchasing power, compared to a projected 15% for the United States.

Web video star GeoHot just did a quick demo of his untethered iPhone /iPod Touch jailbreak. That’s right – you just have to put something on your device – and not directly connect it to your computer – and it will jailbreak that heck out of it in a few minutes. It’s just like the old days when you could download an image on the original iPhone and suddenly jailbreak it. While the video doesn’t explain anything , it’s nice to see America’s youth busily attending to the major issues of the day, especially if that issue is jailbreaking the iPad when it comes out next week.

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It is morning in America: GeoHot tells of untethered jailbreak that could work on iPad

Up until a moment ago, this was going to be a standard “newsy” post: the FCC will announce its National Broadband Plan on Tuesday, here’s what it’s all about. Then I read the comments of a PC World article discussing that very same plan—many people are outraged that the government would muscle its way into the free market! If Americans wanted fast broadband then the market would provide it on its own terms. That, of course, is complete nonsense: plenty of Americans live in one-ISP towns, and if said ISP provides terrible service, well, though cookies, chico. This is America! Love it or leave it~! And really, the FCC isn’t doing anything particularly controversial, at least I don’t think it’s controversial. All it’s doing is saying, by 2020, we’d like to see 100 million homes (out of an estimated 130 million homes come 2020) have access to broadband with speeds of up to 100 mbps. Some people already have access to that type of Internet connection, myself included . Other ISPs, including universally loathed Comcast , plans to roll out 100 mbps service in the coming months. So it’s not like the FCC is making some sort of unreasonable demand: the market has already decided that it’s worth its while to deploy 100 mbps service all over the country. A cynic might say that the FCC knows this, that 100 mbps service is closer than you might otherwise think, and is merely latching itself onto the ISPs so that it can be all, “See, FCC = leadership.” But don’t be cynical, don’t hold grudges: while you’re holding a grudge, the other guy is dancing. I don’t know, I suppose it makes sense to get into this a bit more when the FCC actually makes the Plan public on Tuesday. But for now, all I have to say is: chill out. Not everything the government announces is tantamount to quartering British soldiers in your house without permission. I suppose I’m talking to people right now who actually believe, and understand, that a wired country is truly in the best interests of everyone.

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Why are people against the FCC’s National Broadband Plan?

Just so you know, I’m not making light of warfare — it’s just that virtual training like this, while valuable, does remind one simultaneously of Modern Warfare and Ender’s Game . Of course, as this article notes , the current generation of potential soldiers has grown up in a digital age and expects a little Xbox with their ammo box. Training has, since the introduction of America’s Army in 2002 (remember, everyone thought it was going to suck, and it really didn’t at all), incorporated more and more virtual or simulated training, though admittedly the technology used is decidedly last-generation still. But when you can save a million rounds of ammo by having your recruits shooting pixelated guys in a 360-degree combat room like this one, the benefits are clear. I wish we didn’t have to send 19-year-olds into a war zone, but every advantage we can give them is helpful. And for the record, if I had to have someone watching my back while bullets whiz past, I wouldn’t mind if it was one of my old Counter-Strike clanmates.

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360-degree virtual combat room is like Iraq: The Arcade Game

As everybody knows, 3D TVs are all the rage at the moment, with Panasonic being one of the most active electronics companies in that area . But until today, details on how and when those devices will be sold outside Japan were relatively scarce. Panasonic now announced it will partner up with Best Buy (the largest consumer electronics retailer in the US for those who don’t know) to market its 3D TVs in America. And Panasonic’s aim is nothing else than to become the No. 1 company in the future 3D TV segment, ahead of Samsung, the current leader in the global TV market . A total of 300 Best Buy stores in major American cities (1,000 locations by year end), i.e. New York, will create special 3D video sections to promote sales. In the US, Panasonic is undercutting Japanese MSRP by about 30%, with the first 3D TVs ready to hit Best Buy stores as early as the day after tomorrow. A 50-inch 3D TV is likely to retail for $2,500, while special bundles (TV+Blu-ray player+3D glasses) will cost around $500 more. The company confirmed the American models will have no web access functions (without which hardly any high-quality TV in Japan gets sold nowadays). Panasonic says the goal is to sell 1 million 3D TVs globally this fiscal year, half of them in America. The company calculates that selling 1 million of those 3D TVs is equal to capturing a global market share of 50% in this specific segment. Via The Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

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Panasonic and Best Buy to bring 3D TVs to the US this Wednesday

So say you’re really into Jersey Shore . And you want to make a phone like the duck phone in the show. And you’re like “Why not make an app that quacks like a duck and makes your phone quack like a duck?” Heck, it’s a free country, as far as you can tell. This is what our grandfathers fought the Battle of the Bulge for, right? Well the cheese-eaters at Apple will say that your dumb quack app “contains minimal user functionality” and, as a result, deny your application to rock out on their App Store. Friends, that’s exactly what happened to Nick Bonatsakis of Atlantia Software after submitting a new app called QuackPhone last week and getting this reply: “Dear Atlantia Software LLC, We’ve reviewed your application DuckPhone and we have determined that this application contains minimal user functionality and will not be appropriate for the App Store. If you would like to share it with friends and family, we recommend you review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group of people of your choosing or if you believe that you can add additional user functionality to DuckPhone we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review. Sincerely, iPhone App Review Team” Now last time I checked this was America and if we in America want to spend our money on 99 cent apps that make duck noises, then by gar, that’s our gar-given right. Not so and our outrage should be boundless. As Nick writes: This is a line I had hoped would not be crossed, but sadly it has been. I’m not sending this email because the world will be deprived if they can’t experience this application, but rather, in hopes that some or all of you will publish this story so that the public at large continues to hear about the ridiculous behavior of Apple in matters such as these. As time goes on, this platform is becoming more of a burden on developers, this will in turn lead to talented people moving on to more open platforms. In the end, the customer loses, and I sincerely hope Apple will realize this. Amen, Nick. A line has been crossed. When a man can’t bring his duck app to to market because of a capricious decision by a fixie-riding Californian App Store Review Team Member in a tight t-shirt and jeans ensemble then a man needs to do something. God speed you, Nick, and your duck app. Don’t give up on this. You can be the Rosa Parks of duck apps. Seriously, Apple, WTDuck? It’s a friggin duck phone.

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New, arbitrary App Store rejection reason: “Minimum User Functionality”