dan ackerman is senior editor at cnet.com and he is here toe talk about it.ood to have you on the program. >> good to be here. >> apple and samsung accounting for one in two smartphones sold today. tell me what the competition means for the choices out there. >> i think we have finally gotten to a point where it's not just an until the iphone. we have samsung up as the pepsi to their coke. and these two companies really control most of the market share. and when you hear about a hot new phone, it's going to be one from one of these two guys. >> i think it's interesting there are 5 billion cell phones on the planet versus 1 billion pcs. everybody wants a phone. >> a country that doesn't have a laptop you have a phone with you. >> let's talk about some of the smartphones out there. samsung just announced the s4 galaxy phone, a splashy event they had than. what is your insight than phone? >> that's the big five-inch phone they had at the press event a couple of weeks ago. i checked it out. it's a really nice phone. it's a huge screen, 5-inch screens, they make t

. >> well, it's more than just ackerman and icahn. 10-15 different activists and 20-40 positions, and we're analyzing the event, who the activist is, what their track record is, um, what strategy they're employing, what are their chances of success, what sector. basically, analyzing the entire event. cheryl: why is this a good strategy? >> it's a strategy because it's noncorrelated, it outperforms the markets historically, and, you know, the best activists even outperform more. bill ackerman recently said that 55 percent of his portfolio is activist situations, and that 55% generates 90% of his profits. cheryl: so he is, i mean, the numbers are where? >> the numbers have always been there. cheryl: and you're following those numbers as well. chance of success. you're following their strategies, obviously, you're following the names that they're jumping into. what in particular type, what move did bill ackerman move, for example, that you think signifies a good purchase for the rest of us? >> we look at his track record in the sector he

ackerman goes on. imminence has always been a tricky concept. it used to depend on object -- on servable battlefield preparations like tanks on a front, fueling of fighter jet squadrons. even under those circumstances, there was little consensus internationally about various wars that we have had in the past. president george w. bush contended that the u.s. had to invade iraq not because the government new saddam hussein was about to launch an attack on america but because it didn't. because it was unknown, because we fear things we don't know, we don't know so we conclude yes and we -- we preemptively attack. bush contended that the uncertainty about saddam's weapons of mass destruction augmented by 9/11 warnings of shadowy terrorist groups plotting undetectable attacks redefined imminence. so when i say this is not a partisan battle, i'm true to my word. president bush started this, president obama is expanding this. the real irony, though, is president obama ran as the antibush candidate. -- anti-bush candidate. he ran as the guy with the rea

tom ackerman, al jazeera, washington. >> after two years of conflict, the price of cooking oil to petrol is several times what it was before the war. casey kauffman reports from aleppo, where people have found ingenious ways to survive. >> minor conditions before this rebel fighter has been in. it looks like fun, but these children are not here to play. as is a government military warehouse, regionally taken over by opposition forces. and what the children want our the use military boots (. -- what the children want our they used military boots left behind. >> i come every morning with our -- with my brothers. the situation is difficult. >> they are one of aleppo's worst families. they can make use of just about anything, even if it is old and or now. the government started to attack as soon as it was taken over by the rebels. just last week, a fighter jet bombed the area, killing all men living in the neighborhood. that is the same neighborhood he walks through to reach his home about two kilometers away. but it is a high prices of goods in the conflict that is troubling his family. coo

. >>> hi, my name is rebecca ackerman. [speaker not understood]. [laughter] >>> i just wanted to say that spactionv working with the city of san francisco and we are so excited for the opportunity to work with open data. and to have someone who as the last speaker said is in charge of this open data because that is really where systemic change comes from. i also wanted to suggest to the supervisors this is just me speaking completely for myself, i wanted to suggest to the supervisors and the mayor ~ to make the cdo search the most transparent -- as transparent as possible in fair of open data. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >>> hi, my name is marty web and i work for a nonprofit organization in the city called tech tube global. in that i work with a division called caravan [speaker not understood]. we're working to help nonprofits throughout the country really, but also in san francisco and california be able to access the same kind of innovative energy that we see g

ackerman is pleased by this news. for its part, herbalife firing back, telling "the journal" if anything, persian square should be investigated by the appropriate authorities. >> josh, thanks very much. with that information in hand, the very facts some smart investors still hold opposite sides of the herbalife trade. buy it, hold it, sell it? what do you do with herbalife. on the technical side, it's rich ross. on the fundamental side, it's herb greenberg, who's been covering this story very extensively all along. rich, let's talk about the chart first. what do you make of it? would you buy it here? >> i'll tell you, bill, as a technician, my job is to separate the stock from the stock chart. this is a stock chart that i want to buy. when we pull up that chart, you see the stock, that 200-day moving average, coursing through the chart. that's been a ceiling for the past year. the stock has lost half its value. but now this symmetrical triangle has taken shape, volatility has contracted. the stock is coiling for a big

tom ackerman, al jazeera washington. >> another big crackdown on crime is underway in rio de janeiro. 1300 police and soldiers have rated slums near the airport and seaport. the latest in a series of raids on drug gangs that control the hillside area. rio is one of the brazilian cities that will host the world cup next year and the olympic games in 2016. hundreds of opposition protesters gathered in venezuela's capital to demand information on the health of ailing president hugo chavez. they say he is undergoing therapy for cancer. rumors are growing about his condition. [speaking in spanish] >> supporters of the president normally champ -- chance that he will not be moved. the turning it around, hundreds moved through the streets of this opposition stronghold -- chanting, shabbos, -- chavez, where are you? they accuse the government of lying about the true condition of their cancer stricken president, who has not been seen or heard in public for nearly three months now. >> the constitution has the naming of a medical team that should evaluate whether the president is fit to govern or

ming launched her own bid for the state assembly in 2009 and served two years retiring gary ackerman. focusing on tax reform and public safety during her campaign, she easily won in the heavily democratic district. nice to meet you. >> good morning, chuck. thanks for having me. >> i want to start with sequester. cut through this a little bit. what's hype? what's real? what do you expect and what have you told your constituents? >> i think it's a very serious issue. i think there has been a lot of hype in terms of the timing. on day one of the sequester, obviously people were not going to feel the immediate impact, but as time goes on, look, everyone wants to reduce the deficit, but it's important that we're not doing is on the backs of our seniors, of our babies, our children and our working families. and so we need to find ways, not just to, as they say, prune a tree, but learn how to water and degree a tree. >> you mean the president maybe oversold this last week? >> i think it's a very important issue, and of course we wished, especially on the democratic side, that we were able to

icon keeping putting pressure on herbalife and basher in chief, bill ackerman. to totally wreck the business or get the government to wreck the business. but icahn seems determined to take the stock higher single handedly. bailing out for jcpenney after the close tonight, ackman's baby is jcpenney. and marissa meyer, what she's doing at yahoo! stock has been on a tear, a straight line tear since she came in. hitting another 52-week high. up big. but remember what brought mayer to the job? activism. it was the canny investor dan loeb and that's how she came in to tame this company. cnbc for the record has a relationship with yahoo!. i have been flogging this yahoo! ever since mayer came in. i'm not done because the stock's not done. this is highly unusual not to see a takeover of some size when you come to work. admittedly when i talked to david faber, and it's a packaging company buying a materials company. think about it. all the lightning that has struck since this year began. there's liberty buying, version media, michael dell. it's just the first week of mar

. >> you know bill ackerman relatively well.hat he's thinking. he put out 300 pages on it. i think his comment was in the ftc didn't come after him he would try to go to congress. that seems like desperation. >> what do you think of the role of their ability to move the market one way or the other. >> i think they serve a useful function and economic system. some do well, some don't do well. people like dan logan and carl icahn are not quick hit artists. they tend to be involved in these companies. >> and do a lot of i research. >> a long period of time, which is good. they help make the market more efficient. >> you used to own a lot of airlines. do you still own united and delta? >> i love the airlines. >> so does jim cramer. >> jim came a little late to that party. >> he changed his views after a long time. >> first time ever recommending them. you love the airlines. i believe southwest, by the end of this year, will announce baggage fees. >> i think so too. we had gary love talking about it after the the last earn. he would

it is an ackerman for the supplemental nutrition assistance program. let us go to jason from britain, new jersey. caller: thank you for this great topic. i think it is one we can all relate to because everyone has to eat. it all starts with food. athink the first lady has set good example with the garden she is growing behind the white house. given to allwas americans to grow a garden. this could wipe out the hunger problem probably within one growing season. some type of tax incentive, some the of extra tax on corporations and oil companies that are getting subsidies. take a small fraction of that away. give that to citizens to grow food. around in onethis season. this is an opportunity out of anniversary -- this is an opportunity. out of adversity comes opportunity. it is a travesty to see americans going hungry. these are programs i did not even get interested in. it is easy for us to blame government. let us look at ourselves in the mirror and say we can grow our own stocks. it has to start at the people and i hope everyone can grow a victory garde

. >> sir, spencer ackerman. can you clarify what's actually happening with the war act agreement? we didn't see any set deadlines for transition. can you clarify if there are timetables in effect for isaf leaving the proevents? and if so what are they? >> yes, what's happening now is a result of a very positive meeting that the general had with the president this morning. it's that the afghan security forces, under the leadership of a general, are looking at how they are going to assume responsibility for the district . we don't yet know what solution they will apply to this, whether it will be one based upon local police with maybe their special forces providing mentorship, whether it will be something that will be under the administer of interior or whether it will be a conventional solution. my expectation is they will brief the president, back brief him on sunday at the national security council meeting that takes place routinely. we'll be involved in the planning with the afghans between now and then. and as we produce this plan with them, so i suspect we'll be in a better po

i would be reluctant if i was bi ackerman by selling 20% to the public.sponsibility to the public, stood in front of people for three hours trashing his company. he may be right or wrong but if he was to change his position, would an intelligent lawyer say since you have canada tondition public and made these stateme statements -- >> the law doesn't require that, does he? >> i think he has taken on a bailment and has a responsibility to the public. there was a bunch of fellows in the early '80s short sellers running high, the fishback family, i know well not making a negative comment. nobody got rich temporarily. it's not a wise thing to publicize your short position. >> what about david einhorn who came out -- >> i was careful saying nobody ever got rich publicizing their short position. >> forget being rich, is there a public service argument to be made when you could argue david einhorn raised some important issues potentially to the extent you think akman is right and i'm not arguing he is or isn't, you could argue he's raising a public element at the

this is ackerman going on. he says "based on what i've heard so far "-- no, this is still senator wyden. "based on what i heard so far, i can't tell whether or not the justice department's legal arguments would allow the president to order intelligence agencies to kill an american inside the united states." he's unclear about it. he's seen a lot more information than i have because he's on the intelligence committee and sees secure and classified information. and he's unsure of it. and so that makes me think that nobody in the senate or in the congress really knows whether or not they're asserting whether they can kill americans on american soil. mary ellen o'connell, vice president of the american society of international law found holder's legal rational flimsy. this is her quote. "first holder states the renamed global war on terror which obama condemned then he tries the u.n. charter 51. it says member states of the u.n. have an inherent right of self-defense if an armed attack occurs. article 51 does not p