China opened the world’s longest cross-sea Hangzhou Bay Bridge last week running 22.4 miles from the port city of Ningpo across Hangzhou Bay to reach Shanghai. As part of an effort to boost economic integration and development in the Yangtze River Delta, it is designed to slash travel time between Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai from four hours to two and a half.
Since its opening on May 1, police have fined more than 300 drivers, most for driving too slowly or illegal parking on the emergency lanes while enjoying the ocean view and taking photos. The $1.7-billion bridge’s much publicized sightseeing platforms in the middle of the span will not be ready for tourists for another two years, local media have reported.
Reuters, People's Daily Online
I recently lost my cell phone and this article caught my attention.
TryPhone beta has 12 handsets so far, including such popular items as the iPhone and the Motorola Razr 2 for customers to take a look. The company hopes to have between 100 and 150 handsets up by the holiday season, says marketing director Leila Modarres. It also plans to increase the interactivity of the virtual handsets.
Check it out. For someone like me who has used only one model that comes free with a subscription, TryPhone saves time and money in identifying the popular ones and the best ones that are out there. Before I go to an AT&T store in my area to actually try out different phones, I should already have a pretty good idea what I am looking for.
TechSoup is one of a new brand of companies called “social enterprises” because they pursue social missions instead of profits. But unlike most nonprofit groups, these organizations generate a sustainable source of revenue and do not rely on philanthropy. Earnings are retained and reinvested rather than being distributed to shareholders.
The new companies typically begin as small groups of intensely motivated people dedicated to the goal of building a product or service. Read more about it.
Facebook at a Glance
The sixth-most trafficked site in the U.S. (according to comScore) has the following:
• More than 64 million active users
• An average of 250,000 new users registered each day
• More than 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks
• More than 14 million photos uploaded daily
• More than 65 billion page views per month
• More than half of users are outside college
• The fastest growing demographic of 25 and older
The U.S. has the most users, followed by the U.K. with more than 8 million active users, and then Canada with more than 7 million active users.
InformationToday.com, March 2008
Not every business associated with the mess that is the mortgage meltdown is losing money. A small army of law firms and default servicing companies, who represent mortgage lenders, have been raking in mounting profits. These little-known firms assess legal fees and a host of other charges, calculate what the borrowers owe and draw up the documents required to remove them from their homes.
Default, or foreclosure, servicing operations have been compounding the woes of troubled borrowers. Court documents say that some of the largest firms in the industry have repeatedly submitted erroneous affidavits when moving to seize homes and levied improper fees that make it harder for homeowners to get back on track with payments. Consumer lawyers call these operations "foreclosure mills." Read more about it.
America's most admired companies
1 Apple
2 Berkshire Hathaway
3 General Electric
4 Google
5 Toyota Motor
6 Starbucks
7 FedEx
8 Procter & Gamble
9 Johnson & Johnson
10 Goldman Sachs Group
11 Target
12 Southwest Airlines
13 American Express
14* BMW
14* Costco Wholesale
16 Microsoft
17 United Parcel Service
18 Cisco Systems
19 3M
20 Nordstrom
Fortune, March 17, 2008
I came across an article in the New York Times talking about how Seattle has become a book selling mecca. One influential factor is Nancy Pearl who ten years ago, started a program for public libraries there that she hoped would get adults excited about literature.It was called, “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book.” Free copies of “The Sweet Hereafter,” were distributed to individuals and book clubs. The novel became the top-selling book in the area.
Ms. Pearl’s rise in the book world parallels Seattle’s rise in the publishing world. Though the big publishing houses are still ensconced in New York, the Seattle area is the home of Amazon, Starbucks and Costco, three companies that increasingly influence what America reads. Read more about it.
Last week in San Francisco Cleantech Forum XVI was held, bringing together green companies and investors working with clean technology. "Clean tech is a global phenomenon, both in terms of need and opportunity," said Nicholas Parker, co-founder of the Cleantech Group, which organized the forum. It tracks trends in the industry and serves as a matchmaker for investors and entrepreneurs. Check out the Cleantech Group site for news and information on future forums and other cleantech industry related subjects.
Google is getting into the Web site building business, enabling just about anyone to quickly set up and update a Web site with pictures, calendars and video.
"We are literally adding an edit button to the Web," said Dave Girouard, general manager of the division overseeing the new application. All sites created on the service will run on one of Google's computers.
Google acquired many of the Web-site tools when it bought a Silicon Valley startup, JotSpot, last year.
Washingtonpost.com
Well, the sun is not coming out in Palo Alto today, and rain is on the way. The title of my blog has to do with an article in The New York Times about Silicon Valley becoming a world leader in cheap and ubiquitous solar panels for the masses. The author suggests some of the valley’s best brains are captivated by the challenge of prodcing low cost solar panels and they hope to put the development of solar technologies onto a faster track.
Local police departments, including Palo Alto, use a public database by Public Engines, a private company that works only with government entities, to plot daily crime incidents using Google Maps. 45 agencies now use the web site, which launched last spring in Washington, D.C. "Citizens can do a search in their particular community to see what's going on in their neighborhoods," Sgt. Sandra Brown of the Palo Alto Police Department said. After a recent burst of national publicity, the site handled more than 100,000 visitors in a single day.
Reported in Palo Alto Daily News
The New York Times reports that from India to Indiana, shortages and soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a developing global problem: costly food.
In some countries protests have erupted: in Pakistan over wheat shortages, in Indonesia over soybean shortages. And due to the demand for biofuels, the increasing expense of fuel to transport foodstuffs is causing, in part, the growing cost of the food we eat.
While browsing the news, I came across a story that covers a few timely topics, football, the Golden Globes and the writer's strike. A veritible trifecta of information!
Who is Dan Snyder and what does he have in common with aforementioned topics? He is the owner of the Washington Redskins. The coach of the Redskins has decided to step down after the team lost to the Seattle Seahawks. Also because of the writers' strike, NBC pulled the plug on its highly rated Golden Globe Awards program, which Snyder's private-equity firm, Red Zone Capital Partners, acquired last summer as part of his $175 million purchase of Dick Clark Productions. The article states that Snyder's private-equity firm gets a rights fee for the Golden Globe Awards whether it is televised or not.
Dan Snyder is not having a great January. Read more about it.
In the October 2007 issue of US Banker, the fifth annual "The 25 most powerful women in banking" (full-text available to Stanford users) spotlighted Women bankers held 17.9 percent of executive positions at the 100 largest nationally chartered banks last year, an increase of only 1.9 percentage points since 2003.
Since the ranking's inception, the achievements of more than 225 women have been recognized and 10 women have appeared in the rankings all five years.
First of all my apologies to Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) who wrote "The New Colossus" a sonnet by written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty. My blog today is inspired by her sonnet in that I read an article from the New York Times (of course), talking about the influx of today's Europeans coming to New York to shop! It seems that since the dollar is so weak and the Euro is strong, New York is the place to shop because you can get so much for your money. My how things change.
There's an article in Billboard magazine posted in November on the sales of Christmas music. I won't say Christmas albums because it will date me! So I'll say unit sales of Christmas music. Happy Holidays!
As many in the business world know the Wall Street Journal Online is one of the few newspapers which continues to be subscriber driven. However, now that Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp) bought out the newspaper from the Bancroft family it seems like there might be a chance that non-subscribers might get a chance to have access to content. Murdoch stated in an interview with The Telegraph entitled Murdoch takes on FT with free online WSJ that the free access, advertising model would bring in more revenue for the paper.
Tired of looking for the perfect shoe. Well there are companies that will customize a pair of shoes just for you.
While customized sneakers are available on many athletic shoe Web sites, fashion shoes are harder, although not impossible, to find.
For women there is Tupli, started three years ago by two women who were leaving careers in banking.
“This is ideal for the woman who can imagine the perfect shoe but can’t find it,” said Kathy Myczowski, 34. She went into the individual shoe design business with Tamara Chubinidze, 26, who is from the Republic of Georgia, where such shoemaking is more prevalent and where Tupli’s shoes are made. Read more about it.
Did you participate in the great American tradition of shopping on the day after Thanksgiving also now known as Black Friday? If you did not you can still participate today on Cyber Monday. I saw an article on CNET that talks about the reality or myth of this cyber Monday.
I came across an article in the New York Times today about a masseuse hired by Google when the company had just 40 employees, who when hired recieved a salary of about $450 a week and some stock options. Need I say more....Well now she's has millions in the bank and has written a soon to be published book called, Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google.
A college student recently asked Sumner Redstone, 84-year old entertainment mogul, what is uppermost in his mind these days. “The issue of whether I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning,” Redstone replied. But meanwhile, he has other things to worry about. Redstone’s daughter, Shari, is locked in a struggle with the ageing titan over the future of his fortune. Five years ago he saw her as his heir; now they barely speak. Quoth Redstone the Elder: “I’m in control now, and I’ll be in control after I die.” Read more about this family feud in the November 12 Forbes magazine or online. And as an added bonus, read this earlier letter from Mr Redstone to Forbes, part of the ongoing battle.
On September 19, I blogged EU vs. Microsoft = $688 Million Fine about the EU ruling which upheld a previous decision concerning Microsoft’s market dominance. At that point Microsoft could have filed another appeal. In the meantime fines for not complying with the first ruling have been accumulating. Today Microsoft agreed to share the code to some of it’s server with competitors thus allowing them to write programs compatible with certain Microsoft servers. In essence agreeing to abide by the original ruling put forth by the European Comission in 2004. Read more about it at the Financial Times, CNN and Bloomberg
A new branch of Tiffany & Company opened at 37 Wall Street in the financial district of Manhattan. Tiffany & Company was coming back to the old neighborhood. It was just around the corner, on Broadway, that the luxury jeweler was founded in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and a partner. If this branch does well, other luxury retailers could move into the neighborhood. It seems like a good idea to me as the people who could afford to buy the items work just up the block. Read about it in the New York Times.
While insurance is not a very hot topic the environment is, and the insurance industry gives good insight into the impact of potential loss of a valued industry. The honeybee industry is not just valuable for its honey but if you think back to elementary school biology bees are a key element in pollinating many crops. This year between 30-90% of bee colonies were lost in 35 states. It is estimated that 1/3 of all the food we eat is affected someway by bees and that these small insects pollinate around $15 billion worth of fruit tress, vegetables and specialty crops. All is not lost, beekeepers have been able to mitigate the loss of colonies by importing bees from Australia and splitting colonies. The Federal Crop Insurance Corp. decided at the end of July to start a program to help beekeepers by including the threat of drought as part of the federal crop insurance program. Read more about Colony Collapse Disorder and bee insurance in Best’s Review article The Lost Colonies at Jackson Library or view a quick overview by Meg Green, the author of the article.
What's a snipe? It's a graphic that's a promotional ad that may run in the bottom right of your TV screen. Now that the new fall TV season is upon us, adverstisers are going to insert the little snipes during your favorite TV programs. They are doing this because in the land of DVRs and Tivos where you can at the push of a button erase those pesky commercials, advertising must be viewed, at whatever cost! Read about it in the NY Times.
An article in October issue of Fortune magazine looks into growing competition between the two social networking companies: MySpace and Facebook. It’s the consensus that the next big thing after Google is social networking, and many companies are trying to put their feet into this market. Until recently, MySpace was an accepted dominant in the market. Statistics shows that Americans spend 12% of their Internet time on MySpace site. However, the competition from Facebook has grown for the past year, and the popularity of Facebook has significantly increased. The two sites are very different in their structure and offerings to the point where Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted on several occasions that he didn’t see MySpace as competition. This perspective is not viewed the same way at MySpace. To find out the whole story, read the article online or in the Periodicals Collection of Jackson Library.
I saw an interesting article in the New York Times about Japanese housewives who are taking a hit financially since the credit markets have taken a downturn. These housewives are Japanese homemakers who moonlight as amateur currency speculators.
Tens of thousands of married Japanese women ventured into online currency trading in the last year and a half, playing the markets between household chores or after tucking the children into bed. While the overwhelmingly male world of traders and investors here mocked them as kimono-clad “Mrs. Watanabes,” these women collectively emerged as a powerful force, using Japan’s vast wealth to sway prices and confound economists.
From the Amber Waves newsletter, some statistics on how large the organic farming industry is growing. The consumption of organic food and beverages is concentrated in Europe and the United States, but the production of certified organic products is scattered worldwide. U.S. production and domestic consumption of organic products continues to increase.
I heard that Krispy Creme franchise is sinking or drownin' instead of Dunkin' donuts! Are donuts and highly proccessed sugary bakery items doomed to be extinct? Read an article written in 2005 that talks about the rise and fall of Krispy Creme.
Interstate Bakeries the company that makes Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies is also going down for the count. Healthwise it may be better for the average consumer not to eat these items but still these companies employ workers and it they shut down these workers lose their jobs.
Magazines come and go not all because they are good or bad but simply because they cannot meet their bottom line. In the Business Week article When Mags Meet the Reaper the writer gives some insight into what goes into magazines but also what ultimately leads to the demise of a magazine. The writer recommends the Magazine Death Pool site as a good indicator of which publications might soon go belly up.
Carlos Slim. Who?? Not registering? Curious -- considering he is now the richest man in the world. According to Fortune (August 20), thanks to his telecom investments this Mexican businessman is worth $59 billion -- more than his impoverished friend to the North, Bill Gates. Slim controls companies that make up one-third of the Mexican stock exchange. His net worth jumped $12 billion just this year. And Slim's wealth is growing, while Gates is selling his off to fund his foundation. Read more online.
A one stop shopping for news open to the public where one can Search and browse 4,500 news sources updated continuously. Its News Archive made available free and for-fee articles, with premium archival items such as the New York Times going back to 1851. For example, I got 206 hits when I searched for Leland Stanford Junior University in NYT and limited the search to 1851-1980 time period. Here’s a citation and the first paragraph:
IN THE FOOTBALL WORLD; Trip to Pacific Coast Proposed for Columbia's Eleven. Matches with California and Leland Stanford Contemplated -- Hogan Favored for Yale Captaincy.
November 24, 1903, Tuesday
Page 10, 1396 words
For the first time in Columbia's history the football eleven may undertake a Western trip this year, according to a rumor which was prevalent on the campus yesterday. The team will, it is said, go West during the two weeks' vacation at Christmas, and play the University of California and Leland Stanford Junior University.
For $4.95, I can purchase the article. $7.95 gets you 100 articles (8 cents/article) and $49.95 for 1200 articles (4 cents/article) from the archive. Isn’t this neat? Try Google News Archive Search.
Private Equity, a term most of the public have probably never heard, went mainstream last week. Cerberus (Greek for Hellhound) went in and bought Chrysler from Daimler, making the American company American owned again. Who is Cerberus? Well one name is in control Steve Feinberg. The big question is will Feinberg be able to turn Chrysler around? The firm takes in about $60 Billion a year and employs about 250 million people.
Read a well written detailed account of Cerberus and the Chrysler deal by Fortune in an article entitled Cerberus: Inside the Wall Street power-house.
There is a news story on CNN today which talks about how Brazil has produced enough sugar cane to make ethanol. "Brazil, a nation that between its oil reserves and the burgeoning ethanol industry has attained energy self-sufficiency." The article also goes on to say that this cane will probably never reach the United States. Read about it.
Liz Claiborne, American fashion designer and entrepreneur, passed away June 26, 2007. Her company's new chief executive, William L. McComb is 44 years old and is one of the youngest and least-experienced chief executives in the fashion industry. In a move that irked the chief executive of Macy's, McComb made a decision to develop a new product line for J. C. Penney. Macy's retaliated by slashing orders for the Liz Claiborne brand by millions of dollars. Read more about it.
The cover of this weeks BusinessWeek sports a picture of a bejeweled English Bulldog and the main story is entitled “The Pet Economy”. In the U.S. alone we spend $41 billion on our pets which is double which was spent on pets until the late 1990’s.
The same issue ranks the top global brands and #1 is Coca- Cola.
OK, so I am not a big fan of the Simpsons but I do like Slurpees or as they are called in Springfield Squishees. So my husband and I drop by a 7-Eleven which has been converted into a Kwik-E- Mart for the month of July to promote the Simpsons movie. It’s amazing what they are selling “Radioactive Man" comic books, Squishees, pink doughnuts (yes they almost glow with pinkness), Buzz cola, Krusty O's cereal and more. People are snapping them up like crazy. You can read more about the campaign in the AdAge article entitled 7-Eleven's Simpsons Movie Stunt: Brilliant Cross-Promotion. The July 23 issue of Business Week in a short segment entitled “D’Oh! Where’s The Phone?” mentions that 7-Eleven reports that the converted stores are making twice or three times as much in sales than usual.
And if you are wondering where the nearest Kwik-E-Mart in the Bay Area is, look no farther than Mountain View.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
