Tuesday Morning News, Links, And Views -- Breaking News: Keystone XL Approval Unlikely This Year; Apple With Unheralded Technology

The Canadian Prime Minister says approval of the Keystone XL is unlikely this year (Rigzone is reporting). Let's see. This is September. The Thanksgiving break and then the Christmas break is just around the corner. Yes, I would agree with the Canadian Prime Minister. As I've noted earlier, these three issues have dropped to the bottom of President O'Bama's "to do" list:

• the Keystone XL
• the Syrian Missile Crisis
• another Parisian trip to celebrate Michelle's birthday

However, the Prime Minister could have added, "or next year."

This is huge: an Apple story over at SeekingAlpha.  I'll jump right into it. Near field communication has limited range: 20 cm but the practical range is an incredibly lousy 4 cm. Watch how close folks have to hold their androids to a sensor next time for NFC to work. Apple is ignoring NFC. Why. They have incorporated iBeacon, which does the same thing, only better and more, and has a range of ... 50 meters. That's a bit farther than half the length of a football field. It was interesting that although Apple is already incorporating the technology, it did not mention this technology at their two most recent public presentations. But iBeacon sounds just like Steve Jobs. If someone came to Jobs and said NFC had an effective range of 4 cm he would jump up, yell, and say, "you've got to be kidding. I want an effective range of at least the length of a soccer field." This is a huge story. I don't invest in AAPL, never have, never will. I am just impressed with their technology. One company consistently beats all the rest, with very, very rare missteps.

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