After going through this step-by-step tutorial, you should have a fully operational and fully automatic trading system.

As you continue working with your system, keep in mind the following:

• Always backtest until your system performs well with past data, then paper trade to make
sure your system performs well with current data. The market has two phases - trending and ranging - a
• nd very few trading systems handle both perfectly. Be sure to only trade in a market that your system can beat.
• Make changes one at a time so that you can pinpoint which aspects are improving your returns and which are hurting them.
• Keep it simple. Extremely complex trading systems are often fitted to work well with past data, but are incapable of adapting to new market conditions.
• Make sure that you know the strategy behind your trading system. As absurd as it sounds, many people develop their systems until they become so complex that they forget the underlying strategy.
• Don't over-optimize. Optimizing too much can lead to what is known as curve-fitting, which can reduce your trading system's effectiveness and ability to adapt.

Resources
Here are some trading applications worth checking out:
MetaTrader - http://www.metaquotes.net/
TradeStation - http://www.tradestation.com/
Tradecision - http://www.tradecision.com/
MetaStock - http://www.metastock.com/
AmiBroker - http://www.amibroker.com/
WealthLab - http://www.wealth-lab.com/
Comprehensive List - http://elitetrader.com/so/

Here are some community resources that can assist you:
Moneytec - http://www.moneytec.com/
StrategyBuilderFX - http://www.strategybuilderfx.com/
EliteTrader - http://www.elitetrader.com/

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By now you should have a design in hand as well as a basic idea of what the code looks like. In this section, we'll take a more in-depth look at how a program is created. After reading this section, you should be able to understand basic program structure and be able to convert your design to code!



An Overview

There are two basic parts to a program:



* Variables - These are items that hold data. This can be data that you collect from the user, or any other data.

* Statements - These form the core of the program. Statements manipulate the data to get results that can be converted to actions.



In addition to these core components, there are also several optional components:



* Functions - These are simply collections of related statements that can be used to perform a specific task. For example, a function telling you when to buy might include a statement to check whether you have enough money, a statement to determine whether it meets your criteria and a statement to place the order. A function combines these, allowing you to simply call on the function instead of rewriting these statements each time you want to buy.

* Arrays - These are simply data structures that hold similar data and enable you to access and manipulate the data more efficiently.



A Look at Variables

Variables are simply objects that you define to hold data. You may recall from the previous section that we used three variables: MATrendPeriod, MaCurrent and MaPrior. MATrendPeriod held a number that defined how many days we would use in our moving average calculation; MaCurrent held a number representing the current moving average; and MaPrior held a number representing the prior moving average.



Creating a Variable

You can use almost any name you want when naming a variable. The only exception is a list of ''restricted words'' that you are not allowed to use because the names are already used by other parts of the program. You can find your trading program's list of restricted words in the program's documentation. In general, names should describe the data being held. For example, notice that we used MaCurrent to define the current moving average.



After you have created a name, you must declare and define the variable. Declaring a variable tells the computer what type of data it is, and tells it to make space for that data. Defining the variable is where actual data is assigned, or added, to the variable. Let's take a look at these processes:



1. Declaring a Variable

In MetaTrader, variables are declared automatically when you assign information to them. In other programs, you may have to declare a variable, which is typically done using the following format:



;



The two types of data are numbers and text, but these are broken down into more groups like integers (whole numbers), double (large numbers), float (decimal numbers), string (text), and others depending on the program you are using. For example, the following code will declare numberOfDays as an integer:



Int numberOfDays;



2. Defining a Variable

After your variable has been declared, the computer has created space for it. Now, all you have to do is add actual data to that space. This can be done in two ways: you can either define a set amount, or you can perform a calculation to obtain a value, which you then assign to the variable.



In MetaTrader, you can add set data using the following format:



Defines: ();



In other programs, set data is often assigned simply using the equals sign:



= ;



If you want to perform a calculation to obtain data to assign to the variable, then you simply assign the variable to the calculation:



= ;



For example, to set a 20-day moving average in MetaTrader, we use the following code:



= iMA(20,MODE_SMA,0);



Note that the iMA(20,MODE_SMA,0) portion of the code is the calculation. The format for this calculation was developed by MetaTrader and will differ if you are using another trading program. To find these calculations, you must consult your trading program's documentation, which usually contains a list of all available calculations.



3. Using Variables

Once declared and defined, variables can be used anywhere else within the program to represent the data they contain. To do this, simple type the name of the variable in place of the data. For example, if MATrendPeriod contains the number of days we want a moving average calculated for, we can use it to replace the 20 in our example above:



= iMA(MATrendPeriod, MODE_SMA, 0);



There are two advantages to using variables as opposed to just the data: (1) you can change the data in one place, and (2) the result of an entire calculation can be contained within one variable.



A Look at Statements

Statements are the core of any program - they contain all of the commands that manipulate data to make decisions. Here we will take a look at several of the most common types of statements and how they can be used.



1. Comments

If you have designed a complex trading system, it may take a lot of code to implement your rules; therefore, it would be prudent to insert comments in your code to help yourself understand it in the future, and to help out anyone with whom you may share your code. Almost all trading applications share a similar method for creating comments:



Single Line Comments:



//



Multi-Line Comments:



/*



*/



2. The 'If' Statement

This is the statement you will use most when coding a trading system. This statement lets you create scenarios as we did in the design portion of this tutorial. You may have also noticed that this was the only statement we used in the example program we created. This type of statement is implemented using the following format:



Standard If/Then:



If Then ;



Standard If/Else:



If Then Else ;



So, for example:



If accountBalance <>

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Now that we have a design document in hand, we can look at how these rules are put into code that a computer can understand. In this section, we'll break down a section of code and look at it piece by piece. For this example, we will use MetaTrader's programming language MetaQuotes II to build a very simple moving average trading system.

Defines: MATrendPeriod(100);

Var:MaCurrent(0),MaPrior(0);


If Bars < 100 Then Exit;

If FreeMargin < 1000 then Exit;


maCurrent =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,0);

maPrior =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,1);


If maCurrent > maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,3,0,Ask+TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};


If maCurrent < maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_SELL,Lots,Bid,3,0,Bid-TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};

The If/Then Format
After taking a brief look at this code, you should recognize a few elements that we touched on in the design phase. For example, you should recognize the If/Then format that we used when constructing our design. To get a better understanding of this code, let's break it down and analyze each part:

Defines: MATrendPeriod(100);

Var: MaCurrent(0),MaPrior(0);

Here, we're simply defining the moving average that we are using by saying that we want it to be an average of the last 100 bars. The Defines function here lets us do that for any type of data we want. After that, we simply invent two variables (items which we create to hold data) MaCurrent(0) and MaPrior(0). These two variables will hold the data that we will set in a later step.

If Bars < 100 Then Exit;

If FreeMargin < 1000 then Exit;

Here we see the If/Then format that we used in the design phase put to work. These two statements tell the computer to exit if certain conditions aren't met. Let's translate these two commands into English:

If Bars < 100 Then Exit; à "If there are fewer than 100 bars (data points) on the chart, then exit the program without doing anything.''

If FreeMargin < 1000 then Exit; à "If my account has less than $1,000 in available funds, then exit the program without doing anything.''

You can translate any criteria you want into this format and put it at the beginning of your program in order to adapt to certain situations.

Buy and Sell Signals

maCurrent =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,0);

maPrior =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,1);

Now let's make use of the two variables we described above. Let's take these statements apart to see what they are doing:

maCurrent = à Here we are telling the computer to assign the following information to "maCurrent''.

iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,0); à Here we are using a simple statement, which uses the following basic format: Study(TimePeriod,Mode,Start).

Note that you can replace iMA with MACD, RSI or any other studies your trading system may be using. You can also replace the parameters to suit your own system.

If maCurrent > maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,3,0,Ask+TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};

Now we are getting somewhere! Here is the part of the code that tells the computer when to buy. Notice that we are making use again of the If/Then format that we used in the design document. Let's translate this to English to see what's happening:

If maCurrent > maPrior then { à "If the current Moving Average is greater than the prior Moving Average, then…''

SetOrder( à "Create an order entry to …''

OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,3,0,Ask+TakeProfit*Point,RED à "Buy my defined number of lots at the ask price plus my take profit point, and mark it as a red point on the chart.''

); à "End the order.''

Exit; à "Exit the trading strategy.''

}; à "End the If/Then statement.''




Note that the Take Profit Point is something that is defined by users when they add the trading system to their charts. Also notice that we are buying at the ask price and selling at the bid price - this is a key feature, especially when creating a system for stocks.

If maCurrent < maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_SELL,Lots,Bid,3,0,Bid-TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};

Finally, we have our code that tells the computer when to take a short position. Note that this statement is almost identical to the "buy'' statement, aside from the OP_SELL instead of OP_BUY as well as the usage of the bid price as opposed to the ask price.

Conclusion
And there you have it - the bare bones of what a trading system code looks like. Please note that the above code is not a complete trading system, as it does not include any commands to close open positions. Such additional aspects can be implemented using a format similar to the code we've shown.

In the next section of this tutorial, we will go into greater depth regarding the specific ways in which your trading system can be converted to code.

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The first step when coding any application is the design phase. Whether coding a software application or a trading system, careful design and planning will help you finish in a shorter amount of time with fewer errors. We will be using a simple three-step process to design our trading system.

Step 1: Create Your Trading System Rules
The first step when designing a trading system is simply coming up with the rules by which your system will operate. There should be four core rules to every trading system:

1. Buy - Identify when you want to buy a position.
2. Sell - Identify when you want to sell a position.
3. Stop - Identify when you want to cut your losses.
4. Target - Identify when you want to book a gain.

So, for example:

1. Buy - When the 30-day moving average (MA) crosses above the 60-day MA
2. Sell - When the 30-day MA crosses below the 60-day MA
3. Stop - Maximum loss of 10 units
4. Target - Target of 10 units

This example system will buy and sell based on the 30- and 60-day moving averages and will automatically book gains after a 10-unit profit or sell at a loss after a 10-unit move in the opposite direction.

Step 2: Identify the Components of Each Rule
Now that we have our rules down, we need to identify the components involved in each rule. Each component should contain two elements:

1. The indicator or study used
2. The settings for the indicator or study

These components should be constructed by typing the shorthand name for the study, followed by the settings in parentheses. These settings in parentheses are referred to as "parameters" of the indicator or study. Occasionally, a study may have multiple parameters, in which case you simply separate them with commas.

Let's take a look at a few examples:

1. MA(25) - 25-day moving average
2. RSI(25) - 25-day relative strength index
3. MACD(Close(0),5,5) - Moving average convergence divergence set based on today's close, with a five-day fast length and a five-day slow length

If you are unsure of how many parameters a certain component requires, you can simply consult your trading program's documentation, which lists these components along with the values that need to be filled in. For example, we can see that Tradecision tells us that we need three parameters with MACD:



So, for the example mentioned in step one, we would use:

1. MA(30) - Meaning 30-day moving average
2. MA(60) - Meaning 60-day moving average

Step 3: Adding Action
Now we will add actions to our rules. Each action adheres to the following basic format:

IF Condition [WHILE Condition] THEN Action




Typically, the condition will consist of the components and parameters you created above, while the action will consist of buy or sell. Conditions may also consist of simple English if no component is present. Note that the "while" component is optional.

Here are a few examples to help illustrate this point:

* IF MA(30) Crosses Above MA(60) THEN Buy
* IF MA(30) Crosses Below MA(60) WHILE Volume(20,000) THEN Sell
* IF EMA(25) Is Greater Than MA(5) THEN Sell
* IF RSI(20) Is Equal To 50 THEN Buy

So, for the example we've been using, we'd simply list:

* IF MA(30) Crosses Above MA(60) THEN Buy
* IF MA(30) Crosses Below MA(60) THEN Sell
* IF our trade has 10 units of profit THEN Sell
* IF our trade has 10 units of loss THEN Sell

What's Next?
Next, we'll take a look at converting these rules into a code that your computer can understand!

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Workers at a construction site in Ho Chi Minh City. Construction firms said they are optimistic about the industry’s prospects this year. The construction industry had a very tough time last year but insiders say the decline in building activity may be over.

Nguyen Luong Thinh of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Binh Minh Construction Company said 2008 was the most challenging year in the last two decades for the industry. The economic problems last year had a huge impact on the industry as well as the construction material and real estate sectors, he said. “The sudden downturn came as a shock to all construction firms, which just one year ago had so much work to do and enjoyed an average annual growth rate of 30 percent.” The rise in borrowing costs, salaries and construction material prices in the first half was a burden that many firms found too heavy, he said. As prices rocketed, materials alone accounted for as much as 70 percent of the total construction cost. Many building contractors said they had to accept losses because investors refused to pay more after signing contracts. Le Thanh Cong, deputy chairman of the HCMC Construction Association, said 40 percent of more than 2,000 construction firms in the city are small-sized and most of them had to stop working last year or do contract work for small projects. But construction firms said they are optimistic about the industry’s prospects this year. Huynh Phu Kiet, chairman of Toan Thinh Phat Architecture Investment Construction Company, said the economy is expected to recover next year, with the construction industry likely to see a recovery earlier. The scenario for the industry would become bright again in the third quarter this year, Kiet said, noting that his company signed construction contracts worth VND300 billion (US$16.85 million) in the first quarter. Construction firms also said the industry would benefit greatly from the government’s stimulus package, especially a VND8 trillion ($450 million) program to build low-income housing around the country. Construction value expanded 6.9 percent in the first quarter, a “surprise on the upside,” according to a note last month from Vietnam Property Fund Ltd. With construction activity gaining momentum, the construction material market also started to pick up. Ha Tien 1 Cement Joint Stock Company, which has a 30 percent market share in HCMC and the southeastern provinces, said sales in April recovered to more than 7,000 tons a day after months of slowdown. The sales recovery has allowed the cement manufacturer to run its plants at full capacity again. Pham Chi Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, said steel consumption last month returned to the normal level of more than 360,000 tons. Last year, the monthly consumption dropped to as low as 110,000 tons. Despite good prospects for the construction industry this year, Le Viet Hai, chairman of the Hoa Binh Construction and Real Estate Corporation, warned that construction firms should not be too optimistic when making plans for the year. The industry still depends on how well the economy fares and it would be affected if high inflation returns or if investors cannot find enough funds for their projects later this year, Hai said. Cong said even if the industry recovers as expected, the opportunities would not be available for all businesses, with small contractors affected the most by the harsh competition. Source: TBKTSG

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Germany's exports have been hit hard by the global slowdown

Germany's economy will shrink by 6% this year and continue to contract in 2010 according to a forecast from the country's leading economic think tanks.

The estimates, compiled by eight institutes for the German Economy Ministry, also predicts that the rate of unemployment will hit 10% next year.

The gloomy forecast chimes with that of the IMF, which shows the German economy contracting by 5.6% this year.

This is faster than any other major economy apart from Japan, says the IMF.

"The joint forecast of the institutes paints a very dark picture of German economic prospects in the foreseeable future," said Timo Klein at IHS Global Insight.

Severe contraction

The latest twice-yearly forecast shows just how rapidly the outlook for the German economy has deteriorated.

Through 2009 we anticipate a loss of more than 1 million jobs Joint report from German economic think tanks

The think tank's previous forecast predicted economic growth of 0.2% for this year.

The deepening global downturn now means the group sees a severe economic contraction this year and a further shrinkage of 0.5% next year.

"For 2010 the institutes expect no drastic rebound," the report said.

The IMF is forecasting a contraction in the German economy of 1% in 2010.

Comments by some of Germany's largest companies confirmed the bleak outlook for the country's economy.

"It will probably take five years before demand is back to its pre-crisis level in 2007," said Karl-Thomas Neumann, boss of car parts firm Continental.

The chief of rival Robert Bosch, Franz Fehrenbach, said: "We expect to see a deep recession until well into 2009."

Job losses

The report for the Economy Ministry also forecasts a fall in exports of 22.6%, compared with its prediction of a rise of 0.1% made just six months ago.

Germany is world's largest exporter.

Unemployment, the report says, will hit 10.8% in 2010.

"Through 2009 we anticipate a loss of more than 1 million jobs... and in the [autumn] unemployment will be well over the 4 million mark," the think tanks said.

The IMF forecast sees the Japanese economy contracting by 6.2% this year before growing by 0.2% next year.

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Food stalls at a market in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City has set up teams of health inspectors to check as many food producers, merchants and vendors as possible in the monthlong national food safety campaign that started Wednesday.

HCMC People’s Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai warned that stiff penalties awaited any producer caught breaching the food hygiene regulations. The health department’s inspections will cover the production and trading of bottled water, ice, soy sauce and milk as well as the kitchens at schools, hospitals, industrial parks and export processing zones in the city’s 300 wards. Nguyen Thanh Phong, deputy head of the Health Ministry’s Bureau of Food Hygiene and Safety, said it was an urgent issue in HCMC as the city’s population was increasing rapidly. “It’s not only the matter of food poisoning, but also the threat of epidemics,” Phong said. HCMC has more than 46,800 food producers and vendors, or ten percent of the national total, according to Phong. He said only half of the city’s residents were aware of the issue. Phong said the city should set up a food safety agency, conduct more inspections, and offer to train people in food safety awareness. The health department said it would inspect and issue food safety certificates to food producers and traders, with a target of 75 percent of food traders and 100 percent of the food caterers and kitchens at schools and industrial parks. They would also encourage awareness of food safety from enterprises in the field. Le Truong Giang, the health department’s deputy director, ordered that the kitchens of schools, restaurants and industrial parks be inspected and warned that these establishments were responsible for the ingredients they used and the food they served. Food poisoning Last year, there were 22 reported cases of mass food poisoning in HCMC. The 1,618 adults and children who became violently ill were mostly from schools and industrial zones, the health department said. Health inspectors found violations by more than half of the 16 licensed alcoholic beverage producers and merchants they checked in 2008. A pilot project to present certificates to street vendors, carried out in Hoc Mon and District 6, has so far certified only 12 percent of them. Recent inspections also found dozens of bottled water producers violating the safety regulations, with some products found to be contaminated by dangerous bacteria. Many small food traders in District 5’s Kim Bien Market have no safety certificate, while some of them display food and industrial chemicals side-byside. Most of them have not been trained properly and given the appropriate knowledge, so they only deal with problems as they arise rather than take preventive action, Giang said. He said the department had detected and confiscated a large number of cakes infected with bacteria that were ready for sale last Christmas that could have caused mass poisoning. However, Giang said the management of food safety had improved recently thanks to the establishment of several wholesale markets. Around 90 percent of aquatic products, 75 percent of vegetables and 80 percent of meat consumed in the city now come from three major wholesale markets – Tam Binh in Thu Duc District, Tan Xuan in Hoc Mon District and Binh Dien in District 8. “We have managed about 80 percent of the food in the marketplace,” Giang said. However, he said the department was yet to issue any safety certificate to food chains which have emerged recently to build systems of breeding/cultivating, harvesting/slaughtering and selling. Taking the message nationwide Hanoi’s Steering Committee for Food Hygiene and Safety said they would set up six teams to inspect food hygiene regulations in production, trading and advertising. Each team will inspect five districts and violators could be named in the media, as well as fined. In Quang Ngai Province, health inspectors will check farms, factories, markets and shops while the provincial government will run a publicity campaign to make people more aware of food safety. Khanh Hoa Province authorities also boasted of better food safety management and encouraged all government offices, food producers and residents to participate in the campaign. As part of the campaign, cars bearing banners are doing the rounds of Nha Trang to publicize the campaign and its message. Between 2004 and 2008, there were 43 cases of mass food poisoning in Khanh Hoa. Four of the 515 victims died. Since then, four cases have put 50 people in the sickbed. In Nam Dinh Province, the authorities have ordered thorough inspections, held several conferences on the issue, and publicized the campaign widely in the media. The inspections are to be done at the provincial, district and communal level. Health Department inspectors will check kitchens at industrial parks and schools as well as the trading of milk and bottled water and the production of soft drinks. In Quang Binh Province, the publicity for the campaign will be everywhere. Tran Cong Thuat, vice chairman of the Quang Binh People’s Committee, said this was important as the current fines did little to deter violators. In Ninh Thuan Province, hundreds of young people and health officials attended a rally Wednesday to encourage greater awareness of food safety. Inspections of more than 3,000 food producers and traders last year revealed violations by nearly a third of them. In Quang Binh alone, there were 223 recorded cases of mass food poisoning last year. Source: Agencies

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Workers at a construction site in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7 work without helmets or other protective gear. There was no fence and no warning sign as Hoang Lam Tinh was hit in the chest by the excavator and pushed to his death into a nearby drain.

The 48-year-old from the north-central province of Thanh Hoa was working on a construction site in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5 when the accident happened last month. With weak regulations and enforcement, and even weaker punishment levied on investors and contractors, serious accidents are just waiting to happen at hundreds of construction sites in the city, placing the lives of hundreds of workers in the balance. There were eight accidents involving fatalities at construction sites in the city in the first nine days of this month. Many of the workers on construction sites are poor migrants from far off places working for a pittance without even the minimum safety equipment to provide a subsistence livelihood for their families. Projects galore As the nation’s commercial hub, thousands of construction sites function everyday in the city, from minor ones like residences to major infrastructural projects like the East-West Highway. The East-West Highway project, that runs through eight districts as it links districts 1 and 2, is one of the city’s major projects but few construction sites along the potential highway have fences around the operating machines. Many construction workers don’t wear protective clothing or safety helmets. It is common to see a worker in regular street clothes directing a crane driver to lower huge iron beams into the right spot. At many buildings under construction in District 7, workers on the edge of upper floors can fall at any time as there are no barriers. According to inspectors from the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, most accidents at construction sites are the result of such falls, as well as scaffolding collapses and electric shocks. Deputy chief inspector of the department, Nguyen Quoc Viet, said the “safety index at city construction sites has dropped to the alarming point.” The composition of the construction workforce changes constantly and officials cannot open working safety courses every time there’s a new worker, Viet said. He said most construction investors and contractors “are not aware of labor laws.” The price surge in construction materials from mid-2008 onwards has added to the reasons the contractors’ foremen do not equip workers with protective gear, maintain fences, or post warning signs, Viet said. Early this month, foreman Nguyen Huu Cong of the New Saigon residential complex in Nha Be District died after falling from the 21st to the 15th floor along an unfenced elevator pit. Labor regulations stipulate that there should be one official responsible of ensuring safety at a site of more than 300 workers. But in the construction industry with a high risk of accidents, that ratio is just too small, Viet said. Puny punishments Viet’s superior Huynh Tan Dung said inspecting a construction site requires officials from more than just one agency. “But such joint inspection has not been the norm so far,” Dung said. Current mechanisms allow individual labor inspectors to make uninformed checks. But the inspectors can only fine people working at the sites, not the project investor or contractor who hires the foreman. And the maximum fine is VND200,000 (US$11.47) for an error. When there’s an accident involving the investor or contractor’s responsibility, each will be fined a maximum of VND20 million ($1,147). In 2007, the city People’s Committee ordered the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Department of Construction to send their inspectors together to check major construction sites in the city. But Viet said the number of sites that the inspectors actually look at is nothing compared to the total number. He suggested construction inspectors of wards and communes work more at minor construction sites in their areas. Viet also blamed the police for creating more trouble in the process to find out why an accident happened. As no time limit has been imposed on the police to communicate their findings to the inspectors, they keep it to themselves for far too long. Thus, the inspectors end up sharing the findings three to six months after an accident, instead of 40 days as stipulated, Viet said. The police also show little support when the inspectors suggest bringing the case to court, he said. Source: Tuoi Tre

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'nổi' nhất năm 2008

Năm qua người tiêu dùng chứng kiến nhiều thay đổi lớn trên thị trường máy tính xách tay với một loạt sản phẩm xuất sắc ra đời, từ netbook cho tới dòng siêu mỏng nhẹ.

Thiết kế của HP Voodoo Envy 133 đủ quyến rũ để thu hút sự chú ý của người mua dù giống MacBook Air ở việc kiệm tính năng và giá cao: 2.350 USD cho một hệ thống dùng ổ cứng 80 GB tốc độ 4.200 vòng/phút, RAM 2 GB và chip Intel Core 2 Duo 1,6 GHz.

Samsung X460 14,1 inch mỏng, nhẹ (1,29 kg) và đa tính năng để người tiêu dùng hài lòng với mức giá 1.700 USD. Sản phẩm sử dụng chip Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2,26 GHz, RAM 3 GB và đồ họa rời.

Dòng ThinkPad thường có giá cao nhờ sở hữu các đặc điểm "đẳng cấp" về bàn phím, khung máy và bộ phận bên trong. Tuy nhiên, Lenovo SL400 được coi là "lựa chọn hấp dẫn nhất" cho người muốn sở hữu một hệ thống mạnh mẽ nhưng chỉ có khoảng 650-840 USD với Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2,4 GHz, RAM 2 GB, ổ cứng 250 GB, ổ DVD-RW 8x Max 2 lớp và pin 9 cell.

Sony Vaio VGN-Z598U có giá khởi điểm 1.500 USD nhưng người sử dụng phải trả tới 4.450 USD nếu định mua "kiệt tác" tốc độ cao với hai ổ SSD 128 GB, Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 2,53 GHz, RAM 4 GB và đồ họa nVidia GeForce 9300M GS.

Apple MacBook Air là một "hiện tượng" trong thiết kế laptop bởi nó không chỉ mỏng mà còn có mang vẻ đẹp thanh lịch. Nhưng hệ thống chỉ có 1 cổng USB, thiếu ổ quang và để kết nối qua mạng Ethernet, người ta cần mua thêm adapter 29 USD ngoài giá khởi điểm 1.700 USD.

Acer Aspire One nằm trong số những netbook được ưa chuộng nhất với giá hấp dẫn: 350 USD. Sản phẩm hoạt động trên Windows XP này có màn hình 8,9 inch với bàn phím mượt, ổ cứng 120 GB, RAM 1 GB và đầu đọc thẻ 5 trong 1.

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Vietnam’s coffee exports reached a record US$2 million this year thanks to soaring global prices. Vietnam’s coffee exports reached a record US$2 million this year thanks to soaring global prices but the economic crisis has threatened a sharp profit decline for the next crop, according to a conference last week.

Local coffee businesses exported about 1 million tons of coffee in the period between October 2007 and September 2008, Luong Van Tu, chairman of Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), said at the conference in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday. Vietnam, the world’s second largest coffee exporter after Brazil, has seen steady increases in export revenues for the past three years from $1.2 billion in 2006 and $1.8 billion last year, official statistics showed. Tu, a former deputy trade minister, said the country’s export volume remained unchanged from last year but coffee prices in the world market reached a ten-year high this year. On average, the price increased to $1,937 a ton on average this year from $1,463 last year, 2.5 times higher than in the late 1990s, according to Vicofa. Tu said the prices were boosted by increasing demand in the global market and a rush by international investment funds which switched to agricultural products as a safer bet than the more unstable crude oil and gold. However, many analysts agreed that Vietnamese coffee businesses were just “lucky” this year since the coffee season wrapped up before the global economic downturn expanded. Feeling bearish Nguyen Xuan Thai, chairman of Thang Loi Coffee Company, said the global fear of economic recession has driven foreign importers to cut orders and prices. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also forecast lower coffee export revenue next year but it did not give figures. The average export price has already fallen to $1,600 a ton but Do Ha Nam, Vicofa’s vice chairman, said coffee prices may fall further to as low as the 2006-2007 level. Nguyen Xuan Han, chief executive officer of Maseco Company, said, “Foreign customers are showing signs of financial shortage.” Some had refused to receive shipments they signed for at higher prices earlier, he said, suggesting local exporters check their foreign partners’ financial capacity carefully. Falling export prices have forced businesses to buy coffee beans from farmers at just VND24,000 a kilogram, a VND18,000 reduction from the first quarter of this year causing huge losses to Coffee farmers, Vicofa said. Thang Loi’s Thai warned that farmers trying to reduce losses would rush to sell their beans, which in turn would push prices further south. It would be better if businesses could try to store coffee until June-July next year, when the world prices would recover, Thai said. However, businesses have pointed to local banks’ high borrowing costs and their reluctance to give loans to coffee businesses as a great deterrent. Tu said most local exporters were small and medium-sized businesses that mainly relied on bank loans for investments. They would need about VND12,000-15,000 billion ($700-900 million) to buy coffee next year, Tu said. However, the common annual Vietnamese dong loan interest rate offered by commercial banks is more than 19 percent, which not many businesses could afford. The central bank has also restricted exporters from getting loans in foreign currencies, which have lower interest rates. Nam said the central bank’s policy was “unfair” and called for lifting it. Yet an official from Vietnam Technology and Commercial Bank (Techcombank) said at the conference his bank felt it was risky to loan exporters as the global economy has been very unstable. Reported by Minh Quang – Quang Thuan

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