If your marketing could use a new twist, consider these new ideas to reach today's customers.
Selected by jarelcockburn
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Most Topular Stories
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Eight Creative Marketing Ideas to Make Your Business Stand Out
Entrepreneur Update9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am -
Fast Talk: How This Bartender Is Rebooting The Condom
Fast Company9 Feb 2012 | 7:41 amMeet Richard Pessall, a 20-year-old British entrepreneur who wants to take the condom where no man has gone before (no, not space).Richard Pessall, 20, lives and works as bartender in Shropshire, England. He spent nine years living in the United States, but when he ran out of money to pay for college in North Carolina, he was unable to renew his visa and was forced to return to the U.K. He’s decided to make his fortune before attempting to return stateside. His big idea? Reboot the condom. Forplay, the condom company he's been bootstrapping with his barman’s earnings, has grown to a staff… -
Redbox's Smart Move: What You Can Learn
Inc.com9 Feb 2012 | 8:45 amThe company's movie streaming deal with Verizon is a classic adjacency move that leverages the brand while limiting the risk.Redbox and Verizon announced this week they are teaming up to offer an online movie streaming service that competes directly with Netflix. We think it’s a great strategic investment that will likely reap positive returns. In studying their moves, there’s a lot any business owner can learn from the decision.Coinstar, Redbox’s parent company, is led by a very savvy management team. In our recent article, Lessons from a Dying Business, we noted that… -
Porsche 911: The Rebirth
Esquire.com Article Feed9 Feb 2012 | 9:29 amIt's followed the same blueprint since 1964. Not anymore. -
Super Bowl Spots Keep Piling on Web Views
Advertising Age - GoodWorks9 Feb 2012 | 9:20 amOld wisdom: releasing your Super Bowl ad early on the web builds excitement and buzz for your spot and gives it a huge boost online. New wisdom: still true, but it's not necessarily a requirement.
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Entrepreneur Update
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Eight Creative Marketing Ideas to Make Your Business Stand Out
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amIf your marketing could use a new twist, consider these new ideas to reach today's customers. -
Four Questions to Ask Before Setting a Price
9 Feb 2012 | 5:03 amBefore you figure out your pricing, figure out your business. -
Three Ways to Extend the Battery Life of Smartphones and Tablets
9 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amConsider these options for extending the battery life of your mobile devices. -
Fashion Mogul Christopher Burch Talks Business
9 Feb 2012 | 2:00 amAs Fashion Week kicks off, we sat down with the man behind brands like Tory Burch and Monika Chiang to find out what it takes to make it in the business. -
Seven Ways to Kill Your Meetings and Unleash Productivity
8 Feb 2012 | 12:08 pmDespite studies showing that meetings are a colossal waste of time, they remain common. Here's how to collaborate while cutting back on meetings.
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Fast Company
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Fast Talk: How This Bartender Is Rebooting The Condom
9 Feb 2012 | 7:41 amMeet Richard Pessall, a 20-year-old British entrepreneur who wants to take the condom where no man has gone before (no, not space).Richard Pessall, 20, lives and works as bartender in Shropshire, England. He spent nine years living in the United States, but when he ran out of money to pay for college in North Carolina, he was unable to renew his visa and was forced to return to the U.K. He’s decided to make his fortune before attempting to return stateside. His big idea? Reboot the condom. Forplay, the condom company he's been bootstrapping with his barman’s earnings, has grown to a staff… -
The Google Wallet Hack Is Not The End Of The World (Or Even NFC) As We Know It
9 Feb 2012 | 7:32 amStay calm and carry on, people: It's way too soon to say that NFC should stand for Now Fatally Corrupted. Yes, Google's breakthrough NFC payments app Wallet is being mentioned all over the news thanks to a flaw--it's vulnerable to a hack that gives nefarious types access to your secure PIN number. But don't believe any doomsayers or fearmongering that you may encounter on this matter; it's not as evil as it seems and, believe it or not, it's actually a sign that the future of wireless mobile payments is probably more secure than your current credit card. As reported over at the blog of… -
Inside INTERPOL's New Cybercrime Innovation Center
9 Feb 2012 | 7:09 amINTERPOL, the international policing agency, is opening a massive innovation center in Singapore in 2014. At the center, law enforcement will learn all about the latest cybercrimes... and have access to cutting-edge forensics laboratories and research stations.INTERPOL, the international policing organization, is building a law enforcement tech geek heaven in Singapore. The INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation will function as a R&D lab, training facility, and forensics lab for all things cybercrime. Slated to open in 2014, the Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) will be part of the… -
5 Ways To Put The "Pro" In Profile Pics
9 Feb 2012 | 6:29 amYour profile photo is an important part of your online image, so if you still have an egg as your Twitter avatar or a blue-and-white silhouette for your Facebook page, it's time to step things up. (Hint: This photo is a "don't.")If you still have an egg as your Twitter avatar, it's time to step things up. Your profile photo is an important part of your online image. Not only is this pic the first thing people see when they look you up on the web, whether you're using Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, this image is now regularly transported into people's in-boxes and pulled onto their phones as… -
Apple May Sell iPads To Air Force, Groupon Reports Surprise Q4 Loss, Foxconn Servers Hacked
9 Feb 2012 | 6:17 amBreaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.Rumor: iPad 3 Announcement In March. The latest buzz on the iPad 3, this time from AllThingsD, is that the new device will be unveiled at an early March event. Sources, per usual, are anonymous, but their tips confirm what's already expected of the device--a faster chip, Retina Display, and better graphics. --NS--Updated 9:15 a.m. ESTApple May Sell iPads To Air Force. The Air Force is on the lookout for about 18,000 new tablets, and chances are the iPad--the only device mentioned on their recently spotted notice--may fit…
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Inc.com
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Redbox's Smart Move: What You Can Learn
9 Feb 2012 | 8:45 amThe company's movie streaming deal with Verizon is a classic adjacency move that leverages the brand while limiting the risk.Redbox and Verizon announced this week they are teaming up to offer an online movie streaming service that competes directly with Netflix. We think it’s a great strategic investment that will likely reap positive returns. In studying their moves, there’s a lot any business owner can learn from the decision.Coinstar, Redbox’s parent company, is led by a very savvy management team. In our recent article, Lessons from a Dying Business, we noted that… -
Pinterest's Not So Controversial Business Model
9 Feb 2012 | 7:40 amHow else did you expect the site to make money? My company uses the same business model--and there's nothing unethical about it.How else did you think Pinterest was supposed to keep the lights on?That was my first question after I read an article forwarded to me recently about how the visual bookmarking tool makes money off of users' pins. For anyone who doesn't know what Pinterest is, it's a site where people "pin" images and videos from around the Web to a virtual pinboard that other users can follow. It's a lovely and compelling site and growing fast. According to Hitwise, the site had 11… -
When Daily Deals Work: 8 Scenarios
9 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amYou'll likely take a revenue hit and strain your operations. So make sure you're doing a daily deal for the right reason.Dear Jeff,Everything I read seems to say daily deals are a bad deal for the business. I’m a contrarian by nature, so are there any situations where running a daily deal can make sense?—Name withheld at requestDaily deals don’t work for a lot of businesses. Aside from the revenue hit, the short-term customer influx and strain on operations can push away existing customers.But you can still make a daily deal program work, especially in situations like… -
Which Numbers Matter Most?
9 Feb 2012 | 5:31 amHow can you tell if your e-commerce company is going to grow or fall flat on its face? These three measurements hold the key.How can you tell if your e-commerce company is growing? I use three metrics to measure top-line growth in my portfolio companies: traffic, conversions, and sales. TrafficNot all traffic is created equal. Any old eyeballs will no longer do. You need visitor engagement that can translate into sales. Getting the right visitor engagement is more complicated than just having a lot of money to spend. And as a young start-up, you can’t rely on snagging cross-over traffic… -
Find Your Company's Native Cannibals
9 Feb 2012 | 5:30 amHow (and why) to disrupt your own business before your competitors or upstarts have a chance to.Many years ago, I was lucky enough to work on a project with one of the original Apollo 13 mission-control engineers. One day, while he was patiently answering questions from his wide-eyed colleagues about how NASA got the astronauts safely home via their Lunar Escape Module, he paused, looked down at a gadget in his hands and cracked a wry smile. "You know, this little device has more computing capacity—by a large order of magnitude—than we had to work with in the entire LEM." No lie,…
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Esquire.com Article Feed
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Porsche 911: The Rebirth
9 Feb 2012 | 9:29 amIt's followed the same blueprint since 1964. Not anymore. -
Something Cool We Saw Online: Ruscha in Band of Outsiders
9 Feb 2012 | 9:09 amBecause if there's anything that will sell us on a collection, it's knowing that the clothes look just as good sandwiched between a jug of Pennzoil and the act of chewing as they would hanging off a professional model. -
February 9, 2012 -- HTML 5 Promo Player 1
9 Feb 2012 | 9:05 am -
February 9, 2012 -- Homepage Content
9 Feb 2012 | 9:05 am -
Fashion Week: Why "Street Style" Is Ruining Your Style
9 Feb 2012 | 9:01 amAs a swarm of attendees at New York Fashion Week start dressing for photo-fashion blogs, a step away from all that.
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Advertising Age - GoodWorks
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Super Bowl Spots Keep Piling on Web Views
9 Feb 2012 | 9:20 amOld wisdom: releasing your Super Bowl ad early on the web builds excitement and buzz for your spot and gives it a huge boost online. New wisdom: still true, but it's not necessarily a requirement. -
Nerds Run to Comic-Con for a Good Cause. With Lightsabers.
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amSome of the biggest names at Comic-Con have found a way to truly make the geek-fest a "force" for good. -
Publicis Reports 2011 Revenue Grew 7.3% to $7.7 Billion
9 Feb 2012 | 7:44 amPublicis Groupe announced a 7.3% increase in revenue to $7.7 billion for 2011, leading to a record profit of $795 million for the year. Organic growth, which doesn't include acquisitions, was 5.7%. -
Google to Open Retail Location in Dublin
9 Feb 2012 | 7:26 amGoogle is planning its first stand-alone retail store at its European headquarters in Dublin after a trial at a computer shop in London. -
Kill the CPM: Why It's Better to Buy Time Than Ad Impressions
9 Feb 2012 | 7:07 amThe CPM model that dominates display motivates publishers to chase impressions that create web page clutter and a poor user experience.
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Advertising Age - DigitalNext
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Kill the CPM: Why It's Better to Buy Time Than Ad Impressions
9 Feb 2012 | 7:07 amThe CPM model that dominates display motivates publishers to chase impressions that create web page clutter and a poor user experience. -
Time for Brands to Play Moneyball, Too
7 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amThe old ways of finding 'prospects,' such as targeting with demographics, are growing as outmoded as thinking that a team shouldn't draft a player because his girlfriend is ugly. -
Why the 2012 Presidential Race Will Be Defined By Data
6 Feb 2012 | 11:55 amForget the Twitter election; in 2012 the presidential campaigns will break new ground in use of data to target advertising. -
Patriots Lead Chatter, But Giants Have More True Fans In Social Media
3 Feb 2012 | 7:45 amWhich ones have the truest fans of all? With social media we can begin to answer that question. -
Time For Video to Step Out From TV's Shadow
2 Feb 2012 | 6:55 amWe need to stop thinking of video as TV's smaller, harder brother, and start emphasizing its power to deliver brand advertising in ways marketers have never before thought possible.
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How to Change the World
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Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK
20 Jan 2012 | 10:46 amOver the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe. Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs “Our projections are… -
Design a Sam Adams beer
20 Jan 2012 | 8:24 amNow this is a fun project. I’m helping Sam Adams “tap” the knowledge of beer drinkers and crowd source its next brew. Join the party by getting the app and designing your beer: The final brew will be released in Austin in the first week of March. #sponsored -
How to Create an Enchanting Financial Forecast #OfficeandGuyK
17 Jan 2012 | 1:52 pmThis is the third post in my Microsoft partnership, and it’s all about numbers. The topic is crafting your financial forecast to include in your pitch. Bill Reichert, my partner at Garage Technology Ventures, created an Excel model and wrote this blog post. There’s a lesson in this too: Get the best person for the job. His grasp of financial models and how to present them exceeds mine by two orders of magnitude. The Purpose of Financial Projections When it comes to financial projections, there are two types of entrepreneurs: first, the “visionary entrepreneur” who… -
How to Create an Enchanting Business Plan #OfficeandGuyK
12 Jan 2012 | 8:16 amHere is the second post in my series about planning, pitching, and launching a new business venture. In partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve created a Word document that outlines a good business plan. It’s saved to my SkyDrive folder here. Feel free to download it and use it as inspiration. And if you’re working with a partner, you can use the free Word Web App to stay in sync. I provided the PowerPoint document before the Word document because a good business plan is an elaboration of a good pitch as opposed to a good pitch being a distillation of good business plan. -
How to Create an Enchanting Pitch #OfficeandGuyK
9 Jan 2012 | 8:01 amWelcome to the first in a series of blog posts I’ll be doing as part of a partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps. Over the next two weeks, I’ll cover everything a budding entrepreneur needs to turn an idea into an enchanting investment opportunity—from the perfect pitch to a killer business plan to financial forecasts. I’m going to start with a little dissertation on creating effective PowerPoint pitches for your company. I embedded the sample deck for you to click through by using the PowerPoint Web App. When you’re ready to get started, you can download the…
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TechCrunch
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Avast, Me Hearties: How The Pirate Bay Changed The Way We Steal
9 Feb 2012 | 9:41 amThe Pirate Bay, in many ways, is disappearing. It is one of the most popular torrent sites on the web and its database of millions of torrent files – essentially pointers to pieces of files hosted elsewhere – has long been the go-to spot for budding pirates around the world. While it still exists in spirit, the admins are now moving all of the torrent files off the site and are instead offering magnet links. This is an important distinction that will move the locus of general piracy from a single site to any number of sites, reducing the Pirate Bays importance as a source. First,… -
Cinemagram Turns iPhone Photos Into Animated Gifs In Seconds
9 Feb 2012 | 9:07 amRemember when the iPhone app GLMPS launched last summer, seemingly heralding the start of a new image format that blended static photos and video? No? That’s OK. Today, there’s a new twist on the idea of reinventing the mobile photo, this time by turning static photos into animated ones. With the newly launched app called Cinemagram, you can turn your iPhone pics into animated gifs in a matter of seconds. Cinemagram isn’t quite the same as GLMPS, to be clear. “The GLMPS app embedded an entire video as a picture-in-picture onto the image,” explains… -
Google, Microsoft Search Queries Grow In January While Yahoo Continues To Slide
9 Feb 2012 | 8:56 amcomScore has released its ‘explicit’ U.S. search data for January of this year and while Google and Microsoft Bring’s search share continues to grow, Yahoo’s share dropped both year over year and month over month. This comes after Bing overtook Yahoo in terms of search queries for the first time in December. While Bing grew slightly from December 2011 to January, Google reached its highest share since December 2010 this past month. Google search queries increased 6% year over year in January, to 66.2%, compared with 65.9% in December 2011 and 65.6% in January 2011. -
Fab.com Rolls Out New Mobile Apps With Browse By Color & “Fab Shops”
9 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amAfter hitting 2 million members at the end of last month, design shopping startup Fab.com is today rolling out new iOS applications that offer a number of new features and improvements. In addition to an updated layout, search and navigational elements, one of the apps’ biggest new features is the inclusion of the recently launched new storefronts called “Fab Shops.” These Fab Shops went live late January, allowing Fab.com members to visually browse through products via dedicated online storefronts that were organized around product categories, as opposed to by designers. -
YouTube’s Latest Original Programming: Olympic-Style Lightsaber Relays
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amHere’s a fun example of the original programming that YouTube is supposed to be investing in these days — a relay from Santa Monica to San Diego. With lightsabers. Geek celebrity Chris Hardwick is announcing the event, dubbed Course of the Force, on the YouTube blog. Hardwick hosts the popular Nerdist podcast, and he plans to launch a Nerdist YouTube channel in April,which he says will include “Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Zombie, Awkward Family Videos, The Dudesons and The Kids in the Hall,” plus more programming that covers “gaming, science, tech and cosplay.” As…
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TheFunded.com
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TheFunded.com Discussion: Advice on Funding Post Revenue
9 Feb 2012 | 1:41 am -
VC Open Letters: Founder Insight 2/8/12
8 Feb 2012 | 2:31 pm| Posted by Gopal KamathFounder Insight is a weekly newsletter that provides global insights from the people building great startups. Each week we’ll send you an exclusive training video from inside the Founder Institute, as well as other helpful resources from startup communities around the globe. Click here to subscribe Inside the Founder Institute ’Slowly Reveal Complexity in your #Product’ by @gzicherm- In this talk from the Founder Institute, Gabe Zichermann, author of "Game-Based Marketing," discusses how to use game thinking and mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems. -
TheFunded.com Discussion: Executive Summary Advice
7 Feb 2012 | 10:15 am -
TheFunded.com Discussion: Executive Summary Advice
7 Feb 2012 | 9:22 am -
TheFunded.com Discussion: Need Intro for Enterprise Cloud Startup Investment.
7 Feb 2012 | 4:22 am
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DEMO Conference Blog
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DEMO Spring 2012: Call for Launch Applications
18 Jan 2012 | 9:44 amThe nationwide DEMO Innovation tour is back! DEMO Executive Producer Matt Marshall and the DEMO team will travel around the country to hold meetings in key VC offices with entrepreneurs considering a product for the DEMO Spring 2012 event. Tour stops in February include Palo Alto, Boston, Austin and Boulder. Learn more and apply for a meeting spot today! Read more -
DEMO Enterprise Disruption is coming Jan 5
19 Dec 2011 | 12:55 pmDEMO Enterprise Disruption Event- 1/5/2012 | Final Weeks to Apply to Demonstrate or Register to Attend Read more -
College students (and other tech startup addicts): We want you!
12 Dec 2011 | 11:50 amVentureBeat, as mentioned, is kicking off 2012 by co-hosting a special event in San Francisco on January 5, focused on disruption in the enterprise. Read more -
NYC companies: Get feedback from VentureBeat and RRE Ventures
23 Nov 2011 | 8:26 amIf you’re based in New York and looking to launch your next big tech product, join us for a private feedback session on December 13 with one of the city’s most respected venture capital groups, RRE Ventures. Read more -
Celebrate DEMO Enterprise: a blowout evening with Woz and more
22 Nov 2011 | 2:23 pmWe are thrilled to announce that VentureBeat will be kicking off 2012 by co-hosting a special event in San Francisco on January 5, focused ostensibly on disruption in the enterprise. But one of the real reasons we’re doing this is to throw a massive holiday party. Read more
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VatorNews.tv
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Teens more likely to have bad experience on SNS
9 Feb 2012 | 9:14 amNew study shows most social networking is positive, but teens have a worse experience than adultsAt its core, social networking is about allowing users to interact more freely. And according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the vast majority of that interaction is positive and personally rewarding. However, the study also found some negative social effects, with a higher percentage of negativity centered around teens. According to Pew, the experience of adults on social networking sites (SNS) is mostly positive. 85% of adults on SNS report that their… -
Apple's iPad 3 expected to debut March 9
9 Feb 2012 | 7:39 amThe highly-anticipated next generation iPad could be announced in just one monthThe next Apple event has been set for one month from today and many are betting that the iPad 3 will be the the guest of honor. Apple consumers have been pleading to know when the next generation of the iPad would hit the market almost since the iPad 2 launched March 10 of last year -- and one year later, AllThingsD has heard from its sources, the next iPad will make its debut at the March event in San Francisco. While there is no word how soon after the event, the devices will hit stores or even if the iPad 3… -
Nivio nabs $21 million for affordable cloud computing
9 Feb 2012 | 6:53 amVideocon, AEC Partners invest in the newest player up against Dropbox, Box.net, Evernote One cloud computing company, that wants to make accessing and visualizing data easier for anyone, has just announced a $21 million Series A funding round Thursday. Nivio gained this funding from Videocon (& Group Companies) and AEC Partners just days after announcing the company launch at MacWorld last month. Nivio allows users to store up to 10GB of their documents, music, and movies in the cloud for free with the product nDrive. This service allows the sync across all of needed devices… -
Glam Media serves up social site: Foodie
9 Feb 2012 | 6:20 amWith consumers looking to the Internet for food ideas, Foodie builds a virtual kitchen to shareThere might not be a more descriptive yet disparaged word in the culinary word than foodie -- it evokes a passion for the luxurious but also a distain for the common. After purchasing the domain Foodie.com nearly nine months ago for $100,000, Glam Media finally launched a social food site called Foodie. Glam Media is known for launching sites that curate original content as well as advertise to a specific subject of interest but Foodie appears to have a different focus -- creating a platform and… -
MeUndies launches comfortable undies for delivery
9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amOnline underwear retailer emerges out of LA-based incubator ScienceOnline shopping and home delivery of groceries have truly made me lazy. But once you know the brands you like, it's so much more efficient to have necessities, like toilet paper, sparkling water and cleaning supplies delivered on a consistent basis. In like vein, why not just have a regular shipment of underwear, undershirts and socks delivered every six months or so? I know I could certainly use that type of service for my three growing sons. Now you can have that service, at least for adult underwear. MeUndies, a company…
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A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
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Payments Day
8 Feb 2012 | 3:24 amYesterday was payments day at USV. Two pretty big things that our firm has been involved in for a while now were coincidentally announced on the same day. First, our newest portfolio company Dwolla announced the closing of a round we led on their blog. Dwolla is building a large network of engaged users via a radically lower cost payment system. How much lower? Zero for transactions below $10 and a $0.25 flat fee for transactions over $10. If you move $10,000 over the Dwolla network, you or the recipient (your choice) will be charged $0.25. That's it. Dwolla does this by avoiding credit… -
Building The Ecosystem
7 Feb 2012 | 2:58 amI've always seen the work that my colleauges and I do as more than venture capital investing. That is our main job and we need to do it very well. But we also need to work to make sure the macro environment for our investing activities remains attractive. There are two primary activities that Union Square Ventures focuses on in addition to our core venture capital activities of backing and then working closely with entrepreneurs and their teams. They are policy advocacy around protecting the freedom to innovate and efforts to build the ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurship. Longtime… -
The Academy For Software Engineering
13 Jan 2012 | 2:39 amA number of years ago, I wrote a blog post talking about the need to teach middle school and high school students how to write software. In the comments (where the good stuff happens), a Google engineer told me to go down to Stuyvesant High School and meet a teacher named Mike Zamansky who had taught him to write code in high school. So I did that and thus begun my education into the world of computer science education in the NYC public high school system. What I learned was that other than Mike's program at Stuyvesant and a few other small programs, there wasn't much. So began… -
Shapeways and 3D Printing
11 Jan 2012 | 3:03 amLast week, in the thread on Herky Jerky Investing, the AVC community forked into an incredible discussion about 3D printing and our portfolio company Shapeways. If you click on this link, you'll see that the conversation just goes on and on and on. Clearly 3D printing is something that has captured the imagination of many members of the AVC community. We are huge believers in the power of technology to feed creativity and new kinds of businesses. 3D printing in general and Shapeways in particular is exactly that kind of transformative technology. It is still not on the radar of most… -
Fredsquare
7 Jan 2012 | 4:29 amOur very own Kid Mercury has built a learning community (and game) called Fredsquare. The following is a guest post he has written to introduce all of you to it. I hope you'll visit Fredsquare, play the game, and learn a bit about startups too. I am sure the Kid will love to get your feedback on Fredsquare in the comments too. FredSquare is an application I’ve hacked together for the AVC community. Its mission statement is to help startups learn. Here’s how it works: Articles and videos from around the web that help startups learn are imported the site. Comments on AVC tagged #fs are also…
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VentureBeat
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Double Fine Adventure shatters Kickstarter record with $750,000 raised in first 24 hours
9 Feb 2012 | 10:33 amSketches of Double Fine's new gameEarlier this week Kickstarter set a new record when the Elevation iPhone Dock became the first to close in on the $1 million dollar mark. But that milestone isn’t likely to last long. In the first 24 hours a project from gaming studio Double Fine Adventure’s Kickstarter project has raised more than $750,000 and shows no signs of slowing down. As GamesBeat reported yesterday, Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert are legendary game makers from the golden age of PC gaming, having created classic LucasArts adventures such as Maniac Mansion, Secret of Monkey… -
Send your lover a digital Valentine with Lovestagram
9 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amValentine’s Day is less than a week away, and if you’re looking for a cute and Earth-saving way to show your special someone how much you care, we’ve got you covered*. Kaitlyn Trigger, girlfriend of Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, created Lovestagram, a simple Valentine creator that uses your Instagram photos. Trigger built the app as a Valentine’s present to Krieger and has opened it up for everyone to use. She taught herself how to code and learned Python, Django, Jinja, HTML, CSS, jQuery, and Photoshop to build the app. As she said in an email to VentureBeat,… -
Google likely to launch Dropbox-like cloud storage service soon
9 Feb 2012 | 9:56 amSearch king Google is close to launching its own cloud storage service similar to Dropbox or Amazon CloudDrive, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. If the report holds true, Google will be entering an extremely crowded market with a product simply called Drive. (No relation to the awesome Ryan Gosling movie.) On top of Dropbox and Amazon, th market consists of strong players like Microsoft SkyDrive, Box, SugerSync, and many others. Drive’s closest resemblance would be to what Dropbox offers and give users access to cloud-connected storage on smartphones, tablets, and… -
Alibaba suspends public trading to buy back its stock from Yahoo
9 Feb 2012 | 9:53 amAlibaba has suspended public trading of its shares in Hong Kong as it prepares to buy back the 40 percent stake held by Yahoo. The transaction is said to be worth between $10 billion and $11.5 billion. In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, Alibaba representatives said the company would be releasing a statement today that would be “potentially price sensitive.” Late last year, Alibaba began rounding up the financing to buy back its shares; the amount was rumored to be around $4 billion and is now said by sources close to the matter to be closer to $3 billion. Yahoo is also… -
Bankrupt Kodak will stop producing cameras in 2012
9 Feb 2012 | 9:39 amKodak, the beleaguered company that invented the handheld camera, is slashing its product lines in an attempt to survive a rapidly changing consumer electronics landscape. The iconic company will ease production of its cameras, including digital and pocket video cameras, as well as its digital picture frames, before the summer of 2012 is over. Exiting this aspect of its business will cost Kodak an initial $30 million but is expected to result in a $100 million annual savings. Kodak will continue to honor existing product warranties and will offer support services for the cameras and frames.
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Both Sides of the Table
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Web Second, Mobile First
28 Jan 2012 | 9:41 pmFred Wilson wrote two posts in 2010 that were very influential with the startup community. The titles were: Mobile First, Web Second Mobile First, Web Second (continued) If you’re in the minority that never read these posts – you should. I know that they really impacted an entire cohort of startups because every company that was coming to pitch me businesses was (is) saying, “I’m a ‘mobile first’ company.” Part of the beauty of blogging that in two sittings Fred was able to influence what was built over the next 12 months. I loved the idea of… -
How to Develop Your Fund Raising Strategy
16 Jan 2012 | 10:28 pmRaising money is hard. And when you’re relatively new to the process it’s easy to be confused by the process. There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. Of course much of it is conflicting. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. I’ve raised seed rounds and A-D rounds. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. -
Interesting New Tech Blog for your Radar Screen
5 Jan 2012 | 1:34 pmOver the holiday I became aware of a new tech blog that aims to have deep insights into the next generation of technology, which they call The Hypernet. Why should you care? Well, it is established by some of the industries more successful investors – Mike Maples and Roger McNamee. My favorite post was this one (image above) in which they talked about their 10 hypothesis for technology investing. It maps to a lot of my own views so I was interested to learn more. If you click through to Roger & Mike’s blog you’ll see that this blog post then links to a detailed… -
Spend 2012 on the Right Side of the Haimish Line
1 Jan 2012 | 11:44 amOccasionally on this blog I break away from industry commentary and write more broadly. The first day of 2012 seems the perfect day to do so. One of the most important articles I read during the entire year was David Brook’s op-ed article on “The Haimish Line.” In it Brooks talks about his recent trip to Africa with his 12-year-old son. They stayed in some nice camps with showers & swimming pools and in some very basic camps without electricity or running water. At the simpler camps his family interacted with all of the other guests – there was a certain bond… -
Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?
27 Dec 2011 | 5:45 amThere are certain topics that even some of the best journalists can’t fully grok. One of them is profitability. I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. There is a healthy tension between profits & growth. To grow…
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Xconomy
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HAXLR8R Opens a China-Based Accelerator for Hardware Startups
9 Feb 2012 | 10:37 amWade Roush Over the last week, 10 lucky companies have been getting the calls from HAXLR8R: they’ve been admitted to the inaugural session of the startup world’s newest venture incubator. Following the popular model pioneered by TechStars and Y Combinator, HAXLR8R will provide teams with a stipend of $6,000 per founder and about three months of mentorship, in return for a 6- to 10-percent equity stake. At the end of the session in June, companies will pitch their businesses to investors at a “demo day” in San Francisco. There are just two big differences between HAXLR8R and all the… -
Persistence Pays Off for Synchroneuron Founder With $6M Series A
9 Feb 2012 | 9:05 amArlene Weintraub When Barry Fogel first started developing a new treatment 15 years ago, his main goal was to help his own patients. Fogel, a physician trained in both psychiatry and neurology, saw many patients with a movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia (TD). The condition—which can be caused by drugs that block dopamine, such as antipsychotics—causes involuntary movements of the face like puckering, closed eyes, and grimacing. Some patients suffer writhing of their hands and feet, or difficulty moving their upper bodies. “At its worst, it’s quite disfiguring,” Fogel says. -
When Green is Not Enough: Lessons from a Cleantech CEO
9 Feb 2012 | 8:06 amBruce V. Bigelow Funding for clean technology startups has increased substantially in recent years, with 323 U.S. companies raising a total of $4.3 billion in 2011, according to the recently released MoneyTree Report. In the San Diego area, the same report shows that four cleantech startups raised $78 million last year, including $15 million that went to SG Biofuels in the fourth quarter. But sometimes it’s not enough to be green. Many cleantech startups face a basic challenge in competing against existing products that might not be as environmentally friendly, but are nevertheless… -
Smarterer, Senexx, & Take the Interview: Some Talent Management News
9 Feb 2012 | 7:42 amGregory T. Huang Today’s West Coast announcement that Oracle is buying human resources management firm Taleo for $1.9 billion—yes, billion—puts some Boston-area talent and recruiting startups in a new light. Unfortunately, one of them is no longer in Boston… —Take the Interview, the video-based recruiting startup and former Dogpatch Labs Cambridge resident, has relocated to New York City (SoHo to be more exact). It’s not a big surprise, as the company was part of the DreamIt Ventures startup program in New York last summer. Take the Interview, led by CEO Danielle Weinblatt, raised… -
Celgene Pours $15M Into Acetylon, Takes “Observer” Role on Board
9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amArlene Weintraub New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft may still be smarting from his team’s loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, but at least one of Kraft’s other organizations has some good news to cushion the blow: Boston-based Acetylon said today that it has received a $15 million equity investment from Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), the biotech giant based in Summit, NJ. Acetylon was founded in 2008 and backed with $40 million from several individual investors, including Kraft. The company is working on a class of drugs that inhibit enzymes called histone deacetylases (HDACs).
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Seeing Both Sides
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Steve Blank vs. Steve Jobs
28 Jan 2012 | 12:02 pmI am co-teaching a class at Harvard Business School on entrepreneurship called "Launching Technology Ventures" along with my friend and colleague, Professor Tom Eisenmann. The class kicked off this week with two cases: Dropbox and Aardvark. As I reflect on the class discussions, one of the interesting tension points that arose is the challenge an entrepreneur faces in selecting their primary product design approach. Should they follow the Steve Blank, Customer Development Process school of product development or the Steve Jobs "vision" school? In other words,… -
A Democrat's Defense of Romney
14 Jan 2012 | 9:58 amI am a card-carrying Democrat and supporter of President Obama. I will vote for him again in November. But the attacks against Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital - by both his Republican brethren and Democrats - and the demonization of the private equity industry are really starting to annoy me. I won't vote for him for president based on his policies and the policies of the party he represents, but I believe Mitt Romney's business track record at Bain Capital, and the private equity industry as a whole, is deserving of a full-throated defense. First, Bain Capital is a… -
Scaling is Hard
4 Jan 2012 | 7:30 amAt the onset of 2012, many start-up executives around the world are sticking their copy of Lean Start-Up on the shelf, leaning back, and bemoaning the fact that they have a new set of challenges ahead of them. Although there is a plethora of advice now being given about how to find product-market fit for your fledging start-up, there's a dirty little secret out there: once you've achieved product-market fit, the hard work really begins. Scaling is hard. After three or four years of jamming on your start-up, you've finally crossed a few million in revenue, gotten north of… -
Go Vertical
5 Dec 2011 | 1:37 pmStart ups are great barometers for the future. Those of us who spend our time immersed in the world of young companies are priviledged to get a glimpse of what's coming around the corner by meeting with entrepreneurs who are trying to bring the future forward. In that context, I enjoyed USV's Christina Cacioppo's blog post, What Comes Next, where she summarized a few trends that are coming out of some of the start up incubators. I have also seen the componentization of software and the shift to independent work agents, the latter of which has interesting policy implications… -
Europe’s Autumn (or, Why You Can’t Outrun Big Debt Forever)
16 Nov 2011 | 2:45 am"I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the President or the Pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everyone." --James Carville The news out of Europe just goes from bad to worse. With debt levels so high and confidence in government so low, the bond market has come a knocking and is intimidating the heck out of European governments. Interest rates on sovereign debt soar (see chart below) when the trust in the sanctity of that debt, and the country’s ability to tighten their belt while…
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PE Hub Blog
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Guggenheim, Macquarie Still Vying for Deutsche Bank AM as State Street Reportedly Drops Out
9 Feb 2012 | 10:08 amThe auction of Deutsche Bank Asset Management has apparently hit some roadblocks. The Financial Times is reporting that State Street has withdrawn from the bidding for Deutsche Bank AM. Bloomberg reportedly earlier this week that JP Morgan pulled out. Ameriprise is also balking at the price and could be next out, the FT says. What does this mean? It’s more likely that Deutsche Bank will likely have to break up the business to get any sale done, the story says. The auction has been going on since November when Deutsche Bank announced it was reviewing its global asset management… -
CalSTRS Eyes Big Commitments Through Separate Accounts
9 Feb 2012 | 9:09 amThe $145 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the nation’s second largest pension fund, is actively considering making large separate account commitments through its private equity program, a senior investment official at the fund told Buyouts, peHUB’s sister publication. The development comes on the heels of big separate account commitments from the Texas Teachers’ Retirement System and the New Jersey Division of Investment. “We’re definitely looking at separate managed accounts,” said Pascal Villiger, a private equity portfolio manager at CalSTRS. -
Why the Days of Facebook “Acqhires” May Be Numbered
9 Feb 2012 | 4:18 amA year ago in this space, I suggested that Facebook begin “supersizing” its acquisition strategy and move beyond its historically small, talent-driven acquisitions and into bigger buys that could move it beyond display advertising and into faster-growing revenue sectors, including search. As we know now, Facebook clearly had a different idea, absorbing roughly 20 nascent startups in 2011, many of them “acqhires” involving few people. Expect that to change once Facebook goes public this spring. What gives me the courage to make yet another prediction about Facebook’s plans? -
You Can Invest In Hot IPOs, But They’re Still in Charge
9 Feb 2012 | 3:28 am(Reuters) – A new crop of companies entering the U.S. public markets, including such high-profile offerings as Facebook, are turning the clock back on the way U.S. corporations are run. Facebook, Groupon Inc, LinkedIn Corp, Zynga Inc and others have put in place governance provisions that go against a long-term swing towards more shareholder-friendly rules. One stark example of this reversal is in the number of companies that have classified or staggered boards, where only a handful of directors come up for election each year rather than all of them, making it hard for an activist… -
European Buyout Market in 2011: A Slideshow of Highlights
9 Feb 2012 | 2:30 amThe European buyout market reached 59 billion euros ($78.01 billion) in 2011, a 6.5% increase from €55.3 billion in 2010, according to the latest data published by the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR), sponsored by Ernst & Young and Equistone Partners Europe (previously Barclays Private Equity). The data, compiled by CMBOR and covering private equity buyout activity across 15 European countries, reveals France challenging the UK as the historic European leader and topping the table of European buyouts in 2011, reaching €14 billion in 129 deals, compared to €7.9 billion…
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DealBook
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DST Global's Deal With Facebook
9 Feb 2012 | 9:04 amDST Global, the investment firm founded by the Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, agreed to an extended lockup schedule for its Facebook shares in a contract from 2010. -
Diamond Foods Debacle May Crack Open a MAC
9 Feb 2012 | 8:36 amWhy Procter & Gamble appears to have very good grounds to walk away from the sale of Pringles to Diamond Foods. -
A Bond King at a Crossroad
9 Feb 2012 | 6:15 amBill Gross, head of the bond giant Pimco, is at a crossroad, Reuters reports, after a bad year for the legendary manager's top fund and as regulators consider whether to designate his West Coast firm "too big to fail." -
Oracle to Buy Taleo for $1.9 Billion
9 Feb 2012 | 5:31 amOracle has agreed to acquire the Taleo Corporation for $1.9 billion as it continues to expand its footprint in so-called cloud services. -
K.K.R.'s Profit Fell 68% in 4th Quarter
9 Feb 2012 | 5:20 amK.K.R. reported $225.5 million in adjusted fourth-quarter profit, down 68 percent from the period a year earlier, but the investment firm said the outlook for deals was improving.
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Get Venture: Venture Made Transparent
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When Do CEO's Scale?
7 Feb 2012 | 5:30 amWhen discussing how CEOs scale within their companies, most people are referring to a CEO's ability to delegate or manage a larger team. What's interesting is that I suspect that the delegation skills required to be successful in managing an organization of far greater than five to 10 people are probably very similar to the skills required to manage five to 10 people. While Kohort, the social media start-up I co-founded, does not yet have a large team, adding more folks to the core team has not dramatically changed the way I operate and make decisions as CEO. Here's why: I believe my… -
The Rule Of The One-Way Street
2 Feb 2012 | 5:21 amEver find your team debating a decision in which there are two very different yet justifiable solutions to a given problem? We all have. Very often these are the most contentious and most complicated decisions simply because despite rigorous review and research there just isn't a clear answer. With no right or wrong, smart people seem to line up behind one set of rational conclusions or another, sometimes pitching battles that can last for weeks or even months without a victor. In most organizations these are the moments when the CEO is supposed to intervene and make the final decision. While… -
Kohort Rings NYSE Bell
31 Jan 2012 | 5:15 amKohort was asked by the Startup America Partnership to help celebrate their 1-year anniversary. Alison and I ended up ringing the bell at the NYSE. The video is below. PS - the "bell" is actually a big green button. -
How We Brainstorm
24 Jan 2012 | 5:13 amDuring my first week at Columbia Business School in the fall of 2007, class was interrupted to do an exercise with an improv troop. Not being much of a thespian, I scowled thinking that my time was about to be wasted. I was totally wrong. While the leaders of this exercise were actors by trade, they came to Columbia to teach us how to brainstorm. Improv is a unique cross-section of theater and comedy. What's special about it is the absence of a script. With no plans, preparation, or choreography a group of people can create a story on the fly, and do so seamlessly. The key to the technique I… -
#SOPA / #PIPA Explained
19 Jan 2012 | 5:21 amFor techies who are nestled in their startup caves some of the major web properties (Google, Wikipedia, etc) protested SOPA/PIPA yesterday by either shutting down their sites or changing some of the content on their homepages. While we have a smaller reach at this point, Kohort participated in this movement by replacing the product overview video on our homepage with a video about the issue. You can check out the video & take action here. For those who haven't been following the issue or don't fully understand what it's about - check out the video below - the Khan Academy does a…
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Taylor Davidson » Perspective
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Investing in Private (the real reason why Andreessen Horowitz raised $2.7 B)
1 Feb 2012 | 1:54 pmInvesting where the value is being created, and how Andreessen Horowitz is positioning themselves to lead “the public financing of twelve years ago.” Ben Horowitz’s post Why Has Andreessen Horowitz Raised $2.7B in 3 Years? is a great explanation behind how they approached investing in founder CEOs by noting the reasons that founder CEOs get replaced by professional CEOs, understanding why the structure and background of most VCs influenced their eventual preference for professional CEOs, and then approached building an investment thesis, operating structure and partner… -
Intent Data, the Key to Internet Marketing
30 Jan 2012 | 1:04 pmDetailing how first-party digital intent data can be used by marketers and advertisers, and why intent data is not the same as social data. Alert: startup idea enclosed. Peeking out, New York, NY, 2011 Good to see Techcrunch write this weekend about data and its potential impact on ecommerce. But not only did they miss the point about personalization, they missed the biggest opportunity in the space. The biggest opportunity isn’t from retail sites building better personalization engines or mining social data, but in the social clipping and curation sites (i.e. intent engines) leveraging… -
The Photographer’s Social Media Handbook
28 Jan 2012 | 5:12 amCheck it out: Photoshelter’s The Photographer’s Social Media Handbook for in depth advice about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and more. My small contribution: “Instead of asking “What’s my Facebook strategy?”, start with “What are my goals for using social media?” If you start with your goals, and then spend the time understanding how your goals fit into the different social media sites and communities, then that gives you a solid grounding on how to create an overall social media strategy that allows you to participate in each community appropriately. The most… -
How crowdfunding could impact the venture capital industry
23 Jan 2012 | 5:11 amWhat happens when everybody’s a venture capitalist? The crowd is waiting to disrupt yet another industry, and the time is now for the venture industry to take advantage of it. Thoughts about crowdfunding and its potential impact on the venture capital industry. Outside The In Crowd, New York, NY, 2011 A couple weeks ago I wrote about how the crowd is disrupting the photojournalism industry. Put a camera in everyone’s hand, and it’s not a surprise that the photography industry has to adapt a bit. As the crowdfunding bill winds its way into Congress, the venture capital… -
Why digital intent matters
17 Jan 2012 | 11:52 amA glimpse into why we’re going to hear a lot more about “intent” in digital marketing. Glimpse, Lisbon, Portugal, Dec 2011 The opportunity of digital intent. Best one-line comment about the report that Facebook is due to launch a broader set of applications based on Open Graph: This new release is an effort to decrease the friction in sharing, but it will be seen by most users as intrusive for two months before everyone decides they can’t live without it. And will be sure to kick off yet another round of debates about information overload, privacy, the value of…
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Continuations
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Shapeways Hiring Manufacturing Leader in New York City
9 Feb 2012 | 6:13 amSo here is a very rare opportunity: a truly exciting manufacturing job in New York City. Shapeways is setting up a 3D printing facility here in a super cool location and needs someone to own that. They will have a completely awesome lineup of machines there that all seem like they have arrived from the future. The challenge of the job is not just to push these 3D “printers” to their performance envelope but also to structure a highly efficient post-printing operation that can deal with thousands of different parts daily that need to be cleaned, matched to orders and shipped. … -
Imagining Movies in a World Without Windows
8 Feb 2012 | 5:10 amOne of the great sacred cows of the movie business has been the theatrical release window. First a movie is only in theatrical release. Then there may be a period where it is only on DVD. And finally it may be everywhere including various online options. Over the years the theatrical release window has compressed as described for instance in this 2009 Wharton piece. But it still exists and I believe is a major contributor to piracy. Maintaining a theatrical release window is really the perfect example of imposing artificial scarcity. So can we imagine a movie business where movies… -
Tech Tuesday: Routing and TCP/IP
7 Feb 2012 | 5:21 amWe are continuing along with the web request cycle. Last week we took a look at the HTTP protocol. There I already mentioned that HTTP requests and responses travel over a TCP/IP connection. Today we will dive a bit deeper into TCP/IP. This is technically not really necessary for understanding the request cycle because these lower levels of the network are completely abstracted away when you develop for the web (which is a fancy way of saying you get to use it without worrying about how it works). Yet, peeling the onion a bit further will turn out to be very useful to the overall… -
Learning to Love Sales
3 Feb 2012 | 5:43 amI started out in business selling development services. OK, so that’s hugely glorified. I was a teenager desperate to get my driver’s license in Germany where that is a costly process (lots of mandatory lessons). So I figured out how to make money programming custom applications for people, including a driving school. Ever since then I have had a love/hate relationship with sales. The hate portion is easy to understand for any engineer. The things you have to do in selling run counter to a lot of things you care about as an engineer. For instance, you need to spend a lot of… -
Facebook's Valuation
2 Feb 2012 | 9:35 amI was going to write a post about Facebook’s valuation, but Bill Gurley has done such an excellent job, that the better idea is to point at his post explaining “Why Facebook Clearly Belongs in the 10x Revenue Club.” There is one other important point to consider in thinking about Internet company valuations in the current economic environment: low interest rates. Companies that are still growing and have a lot of room for future growth have a fair bit of their value sitting in the future — that’s certainly true for a company such as Facebook. As we are currently in a global…
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GCCapitalIdeas.com
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January 2012 Reinsurance Renewal: UK Employers Liability/General Liability
8 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pmPrimary rates have plateaued on employers liability (EL), but downward pressure continues to be applied to third-party accounts - both UK and international small and medium enterprise sector. For the... Continue reading... -
January 2012 Reinsurance Renewal: Continental European General Third Party Liability
8 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pmIn the primary market, rates are still declining in over-supplied sectors of commercial and mid-sized industrial liability. However, some major industrial insureds with difficult loss histories have... Continue reading... -
January 2012 Reinsurance Renewal: European Motor
7 Feb 2012 | 11:46 amUK Motor Rate increases were higher than in recent years at the January 1, 2012, reinsurance renewal for UK motor, due in part to primary market dynamics. The UK primary market saw price increases... Continue reading... -
Floods in Eastern Australia
7 Feb 2012 | 8:08 amHeavy rain has caused widespread flooding across parts of Queensland State and New South Wales State in eastern Australia, damaging hundreds of homes and businesses and forcing thousands of people to... Continue reading... -
January 2012 Reinsurance Renewal: Workers Compensation
6 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pmA difficult market for workers compensation in 2011 is likely to extend into 2012. Deteriorating results in the primary market over the last few years have also had implications for reinsurers, which... Continue reading...
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Mashable!
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U.S. Wants You to Test Terrorist Tracking With Social Media Game [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 10:26 amThe U.S. government wants to more aggressively track terrorists on social media — and it’s asking for your help. The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Prague are sponsoring a social media gaming contest to test ways social media and open source data can be used to track terrorists and locate missing children. The FBI announced last month it plans to develop an app to monitor public social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and this game shows the government is still looking for ways to expand its social media tracking abilities. Tag Challenge, the social media… -
Obama Campaign Releases Official Spotify Playlist
9 Feb 2012 | 10:14 amPresident Barack Obama, or rather the Obama 2012 campaign, is using Spotify to share tunes with voters and constituents. The campaign tweeted a link to its official 2012 playlist created using Spotify. It includes tunes picked by members of the campaign staff, as well as a few of President Obama’s favorites. Spotify is just the latest service to get the Obama 2012 seal of approval. In addition to the requisite Facebook and Twitter accounts, the campaign is also active on Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr. A little Wilco, a bit of No Doubt—check out what else made it onto the new official… -
Instagram Co-Founder’s Girlfriend Launches Lovestagram for Valentine’s Day
9 Feb 2012 | 9:52 amInstagram co-founder Mike Krieger is about to receive one of the Internet’s most thoughtful Valentine’s Day ecards from his girlfriend Kaitlyn Trigger. Trigger, who has been dating Krieger since before he launched the hugely popular iOS app, is launching Lovestagram, an interactive Valentine’s card maker that uses the Instagram API, as a Valentine’s Day gift. Lovestagram creates a slideshow of all Instagram photos shared between you and your special someone, through mutual username tags, photos shot in the same location within an hour or comments exchanged. All you do… -
An Olympic-Style Torch Relay … With Lightsabers [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 9:33 amEach day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks. The fine folks at Nerdist are teaming up with Lucasfilm, Octagon and Machinima to do the first ever “Lightsaber Run” in the days leading up to San Diego Comic Con. That might be the geekiest thing we’ve ever written. Considering our penchant for robots, that’s saying a lot! Dubbed “Course of the Force,” the Olympic-style lightsaber relay will take place on July 7 to 11 and cover the trek from Santa Monica to San Diego. At each quarter-mile marker, participants… -
Kickstarter Project for Adventure Game Raises $600,000 in One Day
9 Feb 2012 | 9:18 amA video game developer’s Kickstarter project has raised more than $600,000 in just 24 hours. When game veteran Tim Schafer put up a Kickstarter Wednesday night, he wanted to answer the question: are adventure games still viable and popular? Adventure games, mostly seen on PCs and some consoles in the late ’80s and ’90s, were known for their creative stories, immersive worlds and difficult puzzles. Schafer was responsible for designing and writing of the most popular ones, including Full Throttle, Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle and The Secret of Monkey Island. He has…
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Seth's Blog
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Inaccurate labels and why we need them (and need to improve them)
9 Feb 2012 | 2:46 amIf I tell you, "I'm going to the baseball game," it seems as though you're likely to understand what I mean. Of course, you won't. When George Will goes to a baseball game, it's a religious experience. Me, I don't even like baseball. Or maybe it's my nephew's ball game (the playoffs), or maybe going to the game causes me to miss an important event, and on and on. We label the experience with just two words, and two words can't possibly capture the emotions and circumstance surrounding an event. The same thing is true with brands. If I tell you that a new business was funded by USV, that might… -
How do they know you're not a flake?
8 Feb 2012 | 2:43 amBefore your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures. Do I know this person? Did someone I trust send them over? Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?) Has she won an award? Is she famous? Are there typos and is the design sloppy? Are they pestering me? Do I already follow this person online? Does music play when I visit the website? Will… -
Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea
7 Feb 2012 | 2:09 amBut it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be ignored and need to spend more money. Horizonal marketing, on the other hand, means creating a remarkable product and story and setting it up to spread from person to person. It's out of your control, because all the interactions are… -
Who is your customer?
6 Feb 2012 | 2:26 amRule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service. Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently. The question: Who is your customer? It's not obvious. Zappos is a classic customer service company, and their customer is the person who buys the shoes. Nike, on the other hand, doesn't care very much at all about the people who buy the shoes, or even the retailers. They care about the athletes (often famous) that wear the shoes, sometimes for money. They name buildings after these athletes, court them, erect… -
In search of a timid trapeze artist
5 Feb 2012 | 2:01 amGood luck with that, there aren't any. If you hesitate when leaping from rope to another, you're not going to last very long. And this is at the heart of what makes innovation work in organizations, why industries die, and how painful it is to try to maintain the status quo while also participating in a revolution. Gather up as much speed as you can, find a path and let go. You can't get to the next rope if you're still holding on to this one.
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Lifehacker
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Upgrade a Wall Outlet to Charge UBS Devices [DIY]
9 Feb 2012 | 9:30 amMore » -
The Best Times to Buy Infographic Shows You All the Savings by Month and Day [Infographics]
9 Feb 2012 | 9:00 amMore » -
Maximize Kitchen Drawer Space by Storing Utensils Diagonally [Storage]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amMore » -
How to Be an Audiophile on the Cheap [Stereo]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amMore » -
Approximate the Weight of Any Item Using a Clothes Hanger [Macgyver Tips]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:30 amMore »
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Free Transportation & Logistics Magazines and Downloads from alltop.tradepub.com
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Driving Sustained Improvements with Supply Chain Metrics and Analytics
1 Feb 2012 | 3:50 pmImproving a company's supply chain operations is a complex process. The SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) model provides a unique framework that links business processes, metrics, best practices, and technology into a unified structure designed to improve supply chain management effectiveness.Request Free! -
Leveraging a Performance Dashboard to Increase Transparency
1 Feb 2012 | 3:50 pmThe Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) is an independent state agency that awards about US$80 million per year in grants to city and county street projects.In order to track projects and business performance with greater accuracy and transparency, TIB built a performance management dashboard using Xcelsius® software from the SAP® BusinessObjects™ portfolio.Request Free! -
Supply Chain Visibility Excellence
1 Feb 2012 | 3:50 pmIn the most recent supply chain visibility survey, the growing supply chain complexity was the top business pressure (44%). This, in turn, has contributed to increased supply chain management costs. It is not surprising that in the situation of global economic turmoil that visibility is taking center stage. This report focuses on gaining visibility into critical elements across the end-to-end logistics network for improving cost and service. But before a company can reduce inventory or landed cost, it needs visibility into them. Only then can it apply tools to agilely adapt to the information… -
3 Questions to Ensure You're Collaborating Effectively Across Your Supply Chain
1 Feb 2012 | 3:50 pmRead this report to learn the answer to these three questions: How Can You Better View Customer Demand and Respond to Changes? How Can You Improve Supplier Lead Times and Responsiveness? How Do You Manage Your Manufacturing Network Outside of Your Own Four Walls? The report includes three case studies from Colgate-Palmolive, Sauer-Danfoss and Conair.Request Free! -
Setting the Standard for Supply Chain Performance
27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 amAchieving the level of measurement and visibility required, however, is a challenge in itself. Common obstacles such as metric and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) definition, cross-departmental alignment, and lack of end-to-end metric definition can cause many measurement programs to fall short of their charter. Using a standards based framework such as the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR®) model from the Supply Chain Council can help retailers avoid many of these obstacles, with an industry accepted metric hierarchy that spans departmental functions to enforce alignment with…
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chrisbrogan.com
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Throw Away the Maps
6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amPeople judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The… -
The Next Social Networks
5 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amThe rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. What I’m interested in, though, is Gentlemint, which I keep calling “Pinterest for… -
Learn From Adele – Build Your Platform
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amJacq and I just watched Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (amazon affiliate link), and though every song was just wonderfully done, I found myself fascinated by what Adele was doing in between each song. Because even though most people would be interested in hearing her belt out her amazing repertoire of hits, what I took away from the performance was Adele’s real magical ability: the ability to resonate with her audience. What Adele Could Teach You About Impact I’m writing something about this right now for my upcoming book with Julien Smith, but I had to share some of the… -
Rob Gokee is a Musical Wizard
2 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amI had such a great experience working with award winning musical composer Rob Gokee. We did some musical work together, and the process was so amazing. Rob helped me create my theme song for Shhh! The Secret Show. So anyhow, he and I sat down to do an interview, and it’s a bit long, but it’s totally worth it. We talk about what collaboration feels like at a distance, what it takes to get music like this made for your own show, and a lot more. Rob’s a hero to me, and has been part of the community for a while. I was so fortunate to have worked with him. Can’t see the… -
Build Your Platform – Start
30 Jan 2012 | 1:30 amThe following is part ONE of a series called Build Your Platform. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing for free to get the rest of the series. This post is long. You might want to bookmark it for later. The age of social media oversaturation is upon us. People are declaring Twitter bankruptcy to go along with their email bankruptcy. They cite not wanting to start on yet another social network as their reason for not getting more involved with Google+. And just as soon as you start getting into Pinterest, you hear about Path, but wait: there’s Gentlemint, which is…
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Planet Photoshop
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My 3D Feature in Photoshop User
31 Jan 2012 | 7:11 amSo if you are a NAPP member should have just recently received your latest issue of Photoshop User magazine! The official publication of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. If not a member click here to learn more and see what NAPP members get in addition to a year’s subscription to Photoshop User. You can also pick it up at most bookstore newsstands. Anyway in this month’s issue I had the honor of writing the feature article on 3D in Photoshop. I discuss how you can use 3D in Photoshop in not so obvious ways by combining the power of 3D and the compositing power… -
Photoshop World, it will get here fast!
27 Jan 2012 | 11:16 amAre you planning on joining us for Photoshop World in Washington D.C. this March? If so, you better make sure you get registered soon! The early bird registration, which will save you $100 off the full-conference price, will be available through February 17, 2012. I know that seems like a ways off but we all know that will get here a lot quicker than we think. Not to mention you will want to get registered for other events you may be interested in that have a very high likelihood of filling up fast like the pre-cons and the after hours party! Always a blast! This event boasts the biggest… -
Flare Effects
20 Jan 2012 | 12:36 pmCorey has a cool trick for creating a flare brush and see how one effect can lead to another. Corey Barker is Executive Producer of PlanetPhotoshop.com and is an Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Corey has also made numerous appearances on the highly rated podcast, PhotoshopUser TV, and is co-host of Layers TV. -
Create A Composite Layer
13 Jan 2012 | 8:47 amIf you have a multilayer composition and you want to apply an effect to all the layers at once, don’t flatten the layers–use a composite layer instead. Hide the layers you want excluded, and press Shift-Command-Option-E (PC: Shift-Ctrl-Alt-E). A new layer will be created at the top containing a merged copy of all the visible layers. Another option is to create a new layer at the top of the stack and make it active. Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) each layer you want to include to make those layers active, as well. Press Option-Command-E (PC: Alt-Ctrl-E). by Colin Smith -
Creating Glossy Lips
10 Jan 2012 | 8:43 amIf you see a shiny highlight on your subject’s lips, and you want to make it look glossier, duplicate the Background layer then change your layer blend mode to Screen to brighten the entire image. Option-click (PC: Alt-click) the Add Layer Mask icon to hide this brighter layer behind a black mask. Press D to set your Foreground color to white; choose a small, soft-edged Brush (B); and paint over those white highlight areas on the lips and they’ll get even glossier. by Scott Kelby
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Wired Top Stories
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Cloud War Heats Up As Oracle Buys Taleo for $1.9B
9 Feb 2012 | 10:07 amThe competition for cloud app market share is heating up, with Oracle announcing Thursday it will buy the talent management software company Taleo for $1.9 billion. -
Why Being Sleepy and Drunk Are Great For Creativity
9 Feb 2012 | 9:17 am -
Brightbox Cloud Serves Up Windows Server 2008 R2
9 Feb 2012 | 8:59 am?Any OS, any app, any time? is one step closer now for Brightbox customers. The company announced this week the availability an Windows Server 2008 R2 official image for Brightbox Cloud. -
FBI File on Steve Jobs Notes Use of LSD, Dishonesty
9 Feb 2012 | 8:26 amThe government released Steve Jobs' FBI file Thursday, including details of a background check done for a presidential appointment in 1991 and a bomb threat against him in 1985. -
Up Your Game With Banned Sports Gear
9 Feb 2012 | 3:30 amThese athletic aids — from bats to balls to hockey sticks — aren?t approved for official play, but they can give you the unfair advantage you deserve.
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NYT > Home Page
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Efforts to Stop Use of Underage Models During New York Fashion Week
9 Feb 2012 | 9:33 amArguing that a model at the age of 16 may have the maturity to deal with designers and photographers. -
Breakthrough on Austerity Clears Way for Greek Deal
9 Feb 2012 | 9:27 amAfter days of talks, Greek political leaders reached a deal Thursday to support a package of harsh austerity measures demanded by Greece’s financial backers in return for a bailout. -
Mortgage Plan Gives Homeowners Bulk of the Benefits
9 Feb 2012 | 9:21 amUnder the settlement, officials said Thursday, about $5 billion will go in cash payments to states and federal authorities, $17 billion will be earmarked for homeowner relief and roughly $3 billion will go for refinancing. -
A Word With: Paul Epworth: Paul Epworth, on Producing Adele
9 Feb 2012 | 9:21 amNominated for a Grammy as producer of the year, Paul Epworth describes what went into Adele’s monster hit “Rolling in the Deep” and other songs he worked on with her. -
House Passes Bill Banning Insider Trading by Members of Congress
9 Feb 2012 | 9:18 amThe Senate has approved a similar measure, but the lopsided votes concealed deep disagreements over the details of the legislation.
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Holy Kaw!
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5 tips for getting organized at work
9 Feb 2012 | 10:39 amStarting a new job is one of the more stressful life events. From learning a new commute to mastering different skill-sets (not to mention trying to figure out if your boss finds your sense of humor refreshing or revolting), it's difficult to develop an organizational system from the ground up. In the next few pages, we'll scope out ways that you can get your space and yourself organized for optimal working conditions. From cleaning up to calming down, we'll dispel some rumors about how handling multiple tasks at a time is better than one -- and explain why a messy workspace doesn't always… -
Understanding the role of micro-copy in a brand's content strategy
9 Feb 2012 | 9:58 amWhen it comes to planning your brand's content strategy, pay special attention to the micro-copy -- wording on a website's interface such as "submit" or call-to-action links, according to Amy Thibodeau, a content strategist for Facebook. Thibodeau explains the social site's reasoning for choosing the "Like" button and breaks down three steps that other strategists can use to ensure that their copy works in harmony with the rest of the website. Full story at SmartBlog on Social Media by SmartBrief. More SmartBrief stories. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Pizza Hut's marriage proposal package
9 Feb 2012 | 9:36 amLove and pepperoni: the perfect delicious match. Pizza Hut wants to help you pop the question to your main squeeze with the $10,010 Ultimate Valentine’s Day Proposal in a Box. The package includes limo service to a local Pizza Hut location, a professional photographer and videographer, fireworks display, flowers, ruby engagement ring, and, most deliciously, a Pizza Hut $10 Dinner Box. Your move, Domino's. Full story at Eater. Love is pizza. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Uncertain choices light up ‘explorer’ brains
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amPeople who consistently select for uncertainty may harness the computational power of a specific brain region. Some people—”explorers”—choose to grapple with uncertainty head on. It’s a strategy of maximizing rewards by discovering whether as yet unexplored options might yield better returns. While some might stick with the usual, “explorers” might order the special in a restaurant because they aren’t sure they’ll like it. Prior to the Brown University study, there was no consensus that a precise area of the prefrontal cortex, in this case… -
Valentine's Day rebooted as Generosity Day [video]
9 Feb 2012 | 9:05 amOut with the chocolate, roses, and edible underwear, in with spreading kindness. The big hearts at Causes.com have set out on a mission to rebrand Valentine's Day as Generosity Day and it starts with you pledging to share the love on February 14th. The Generosity Day pledge: Just say YES. This February 14th, let's reboot Valentine's Day as Generosity Day. Practice saying YES to every request for help and by being generous. I pledge to spend February 14th saying YES to all requests for help. Say "yes" to generosity at Causes.com. Spread the love by doing something good. Permalink | Leave a…
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National Business News - Local Business News | bizjournals
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MetroCorp Bancshares stock soars to new highs
9 Feb 2012 | 9:26 amShares of MetroCorp Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: MCBI), on the heels of a strong run-up so far in February, took off to stratospheric heights Thursday. The Houston-based bank holding company’s shares reached another 52-week-high of $8.35 early Thursday morning, a gain of more than 10 percent from the Feb. 8 closing price of $7.52. By mid-day, the shares had settled back to $8.11, up 59 cents, or 7.8 percent. Shares of MetroCorp, which operates MetroBank offices in the Houston area and Metro United Bank branches in California, started off the month of February at $7... -
Florida is top beneficiary of $26 billion mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 9:26 amOf the nearly 2 billion Americans who look to benefit from the $26 billion mortgage settlement, those in Florida will get most of the relief. The five-bank foreclosure settlement with the government includes Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial. Florida is estimated to receive about $8.4 billion, or 32.3 percent, of the $26 billion in the form of principal reductions, mortgage refinancing, loan modifications and cash payments for those who lost their homes, the Miami Herald reports... -
Frontier expands Denver, Springs routes
9 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amFrontier Airlines announced five new routes from Denver and four from Colorado Springs beginning in May. Frontier will offer year-round service between Denver International Airport and Bloomington Ill., and between DIA and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The low-cost carrier also will have seasonal service to Bellingham, Wash., Great Falls, Mont., and Harrisburg, Pa. The service to Bloomington, Cedar Rapids and Great Falls will be on a 99-seat Embraer 180. Flights to Bellingham and Harrisburg will be on a 138-seat Airbus 319... -
Neace Lukens acquires Sellersburg insurance firm
9 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amLouisville-based Neace Lukens, an AssuredPartners Inc. company, has purchased Jenkins Insurance Services, a Sellersburg, Ind.-based employee benefits insurance company. Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase is expected to grow Neace Lukens’ employee benefits practice and expand the company’s reach throughout Indiana. “As a small-business owner, I looked for a way to diversify product and service offerings for our customers,” said Jenkins principal Mike Jenkins in a news release... -
Emergency Service Partners selected to run free-standing ERs
9 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amChristus Santa Rosa, a San Antonio-based hospital system, has selected Emergency Service Partners L.P. to manage its new free-standing emergency departments in San Antonio and New Braunfels. Under an agreement, Christus hired Austin-based ESP to staff and provide medical management for the emergency rooms. Christus is opening an 11,000-square-foot building located in northwest San Antonio, and a 12,000-square-foot New Braunfels location, just east of I-35 on FM 306. Each free-standing emergency department — a new model for Christus — will provide 24-hour emergency medical services...
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Business News from the Northeast US - bizjournals
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Clinical-trials company BioClinica reports higher income, revenue
9 Feb 2012 | 9:23 amBioClinica Inc. saw its operating income jump 21.5 percent, and its revenue increase 8.4 percent, last year as the clinical-trial management-services company continued to add new clients. Mark L. Weinstein, president and CEO of BioClinica, said the Newtown, Pa., company — which offers product testing for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical-device companies — benefited from an industry trend that has seen clinicaltrial sponsors looking to reduce the number of vendors they engage. BioClinica’s (NASDAQ:BIOC) revenues hit $68 million in 2011, up from $62... -
More people turning to agents
9 Feb 2012 | 9:16 amAs sellers struggled to sell their homes last year, more people turned to real estate agents than at any time in nearly a decade, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors. A whopping 94 percent of home buyers and sellers in Massachusetts worked with a real estate professional in 2011, up from 90 percent in 2010 and 81 percent in 2004. The findings are from the 2011 Massachusetts Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers, compiled by the NAR for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors... -
Calif. interests buy W. Side apartments
9 Feb 2012 | 9:13 amA California-based investment group has acquired an apartment building on the city’s West Side, not far from Buffalo State College. Iron Island Buffalo Properties LLC of Alameda, Calif., paid $140,000 for the eight-unit complex at 449 Herkimer Street, buying it from Caffery LLC, a local group of investors, according to documents filed in the Erie County Clerk’s office. All eight apartments are leased. The property was put under contract in early December. Iron Island plans to maintain and operate the apartments. -
STOCK Act passes House but fate still at issue
9 Feb 2012 | 9:12 amThe House of Representatives voted 417-2 for a bill that would limit congressional members from trading stock based on nonpublic information they receive in the course of their service. Most of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation voted for the bill, called the Stop Trading on Congessional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012. RELATED: Most popular stock ownership among members of Congress Voting yes were Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair; Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless; Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler; Rep... -
Pennsylvania joins $25B mortgage pact
9 Feb 2012 | 9:10 amPennsylvania residents who were caught up in alleged foreclosure abuses by some of the nation's biggest mortgage lenders will share in the $25 billion settlement announced Thursday. Pennsylvania stands to get about $266 million from the settlement between five mortgage lenders and many of the nation's attorneys general. That money includes $21 million in cash to Pennsylvania residents who can claim abuse from one of the five and had their homes foreclosed upon between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2011...
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Business News from Southeast US - bizjournals.com
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Ironman partners with Lance Armstrong Foundation
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amIronman and the Lance Armstrong Foundation have partnered to raise money for people affected by cancer. Under terms of the agreement, champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong will compete in several Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races this year. Ironman will be a sponsor of the Team LIVESTRONG Challenge Series, a fundraising event for the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s brand LIVESTRONG. Ironman will also provide 1,000 entries to Ironman events in which Armstrong will compete, and will donate slots in the Ironman World Championship for auction... -
Verizon pours $290M into N.C. network improvements
9 Feb 2012 | 9:17 amVerizon Wireless said Thursday that it invested more than $290 million in 2011 to improve and expand access to its wireless broadband and voice service in North Carolina. The company expanded its 4G LTE network last year to cities including Raleigh, Durham, Asheville, Fayetteville, Greensboro, High Point, Lumberton, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem. Verizon Wireless projects it will cover the entire state with the advanced wireless technology by 2013. Verizon says that it has invested more than $1... -
Florida to get $8.4B from national mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amThe proposed mortgage settlement between 49 state attorneys general and the nation’s largest loan servicers could net $8.4 billion in relief to Florida homeowners, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday. The joint federal-state investigation resulted in a proposed $25 billion settlement over the mortgage practices of large banks and loan servicers, including robo-signing, where lenders were alleged to have filed foreclosure lawsuits without verifying the accuracy of the documentation... -
National study ranks Pinellas Education Foundation first
9 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amA national study of education foundations and funds in the 50 largest school districts ranked the Pinellas Education Foundation first in supporting public education. Hillsborough Education Foundation was ranked fourth, and the Polk Education Foundation was sixth, a written statement said. The study was based on school year 2009-2010 information, the most recent data available, on form 990s used by nonprofits to report financial information. The study also analyzed the effectiveness at generating and sustaining financial resources, distribution of resources and the number of volunteers... -
Banks agree to $25B deal over foreclosures
9 Feb 2012 | 9:14 amGovernment authorities and five of the nation's biggest banks — including Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. — have agreed to a $25 billion settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses. The deal struck between the banks, 49 state attorneys general and federal regulators was formally announced at a press conference Thursday morning in Washington, D.C. It concluded more than a year of negotiating and will provide billions in aid to lower the cost of mortgages for struggling borrowers. It's the largest industry settlement since the U...
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Banking & Financial News - Banking & Financial News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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MetroCorp Bancshares stock soars to new highs
9 Feb 2012 | 9:26 amShares of MetroCorp Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: MCBI), on the heels of a strong run-up so far in February, took off to stratospheric heights Thursday. The Houston-based bank holding company’s shares reached another 52-week-high of $8.35 early Thursday morning, a gain of more than 10 percent from the Feb. 8 closing price of $7.52. By mid-day, the shares had settled back to $8.11, up 59 cents, or 7.8 percent. Shares of MetroCorp, which operates MetroBank offices in the Houston area and Metro United Bank branches in California, started off the month of February at $7... -
Florida is top beneficiary of $26 billion mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 9:26 amOf the nearly 2 billion Americans who look to benefit from the $26 billion mortgage settlement, those in Florida will get most of the relief. The five-bank foreclosure settlement with the government includes Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial. Florida is estimated to receive about $8.4 billion, or 32.3 percent, of the $26 billion in the form of principal reductions, mortgage refinancing, loan modifications and cash payments for those who lost their homes, the Miami Herald reports... -
Banks hit with $428M foreclosure settlement with Texas
9 Feb 2012 | 9:20 amA group of five of the country's largest mortgage lenders have reached a $428 million settlement with Texas connected to alleged past misconduct in servicing and foreclosing of loans. The Texas deal is part of a broader, $26 billion nationwide agreement between the federal government and various states, on the one hand, and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY). In a news release, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state's agreement with the banks includes: Some $287… -
Florida to get $8.4B from national mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amThe proposed mortgage settlement between 49 state attorneys general and the nation’s largest loan servicers could net $8.4 billion in relief to Florida homeowners, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday. The joint federal-state investigation resulted in a proposed $25 billion settlement over the mortgage practices of large banks and loan servicers, including robo-signing, where lenders were alleged to have filed foreclosure lawsuits without verifying the accuracy of the documentation... -
Banks agree to $25B deal over foreclosures
9 Feb 2012 | 9:14 amGovernment authorities and five of the nation's biggest banks — including Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. — have agreed to a $25 billion settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses. The deal struck between the banks, 49 state attorneys general and federal regulators was formally announced at a press conference Thursday morning in Washington, D.C. It concluded more than a year of negotiating and will provide billions in aid to lower the cost of mortgages for struggling borrowers. It's the largest industry settlement since the U...
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Accounting News - Accounting News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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MetroCorp Bancshares stock soars to new highs
9 Feb 2012 | 9:26 amShares of MetroCorp Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: MCBI), on the heels of a strong run-up so far in February, took off to stratospheric heights Thursday. The Houston-based bank holding company’s shares reached another 52-week-high of $8.35 early Thursday morning, a gain of more than 10 percent from the Feb. 8 closing price of $7.52. By mid-day, the shares had settled back to $8.11, up 59 cents, or 7.8 percent. Shares of MetroCorp, which operates MetroBank offices in the Houston area and Metro United Bank branches in California, started off the month of February at $7... -
Florida is top beneficiary of $26 billion mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 9:26 amOf the nearly 2 billion Americans who look to benefit from the $26 billion mortgage settlement, those in Florida will get most of the relief. The five-bank foreclosure settlement with the government includes Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial. Florida is estimated to receive about $8.4 billion, or 32.3 percent, of the $26 billion in the form of principal reductions, mortgage refinancing, loan modifications and cash payments for those who lost their homes, the Miami Herald reports... -
Frontier expands Denver, Springs routes
9 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amFrontier Airlines announced five new routes from Denver and four from Colorado Springs beginning in May. Frontier will offer year-round service between Denver International Airport and Bloomington Ill., and between DIA and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The low-cost carrier also will have seasonal service to Bellingham, Wash., Great Falls, Mont., and Harrisburg, Pa. The service to Bloomington, Cedar Rapids and Great Falls will be on a 99-seat Embraer 180. Flights to Bellingham and Harrisburg will be on a 138-seat Airbus 319... -
Neace Lukens acquires Sellersburg insurance firm
9 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amLouisville-based Neace Lukens, an AssuredPartners Inc. company, has purchased Jenkins Insurance Services, a Sellersburg, Ind.-based employee benefits insurance company. Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase is expected to grow Neace Lukens’ employee benefits practice and expand the company’s reach throughout Indiana. “As a small-business owner, I looked for a way to diversify product and service offerings for our customers,” said Jenkins principal Mike Jenkins in a news release... -
Emergency Service Partners selected to run free-standing ERs
9 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amChristus Santa Rosa, a San Antonio-based hospital system, has selected Emergency Service Partners L.P. to manage its new free-standing emergency departments in San Antonio and New Braunfels. Under an agreement, Christus hired Austin-based ESP to staff and provide medical management for the emergency rooms. Christus is opening an 11,000-square-foot building located in northwest San Antonio, and a 12,000-square-foot New Braunfels location, just east of I-35 on FM 306. Each free-standing emergency department — a new model for Christus — will provide 24-hour emergency medical services...
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Economic Snapshot News - Economic Snapshot News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Banks hit with $428M foreclosure settlement with Texas
9 Feb 2012 | 9:20 amA group of five of the country's largest mortgage lenders have reached a $428 million settlement with Texas connected to alleged past misconduct in servicing and foreclosing of loans. The Texas deal is part of a broader, $26 billion nationwide agreement between the federal government and various states, on the one hand, and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY). In a news release, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state's agreement with the banks includes: Some $287… -
Looking for good news on the economy? Skip this
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 am“Cautiously optimistic” is probably the phrase that summarizes the views of an accountant, an economist and a banker who discussed the economic outlook at a breakfast panel today at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton. But, to this listener at least, the concrete reasons for optimism were few and far between. First, the panel: Jim Castellano, chairman of the RubinBrown accounting firm in St. Louis; Chris Slusher, managing director of the Capital Markets Group at The PrivateBank in Chicago; and Jim Miller, senior adviser in Husch Blackwell’s Washington, D... -
Ironman partners with Lance Armstrong Foundation
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amIronman and the Lance Armstrong Foundation have partnered to raise money for people affected by cancer. Under terms of the agreement, champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong will compete in several Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races this year. Ironman will be a sponsor of the Team LIVESTRONG Challenge Series, a fundraising event for the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s brand LIVESTRONG. Ironman will also provide 1,000 entries to Ironman events in which Armstrong will compete, and will donate slots in the Ironman World Championship for auction... -
Crossroads building with huge mural hits the market
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amAn empty Crossroads Arts District building in Kansas City has hit the market with an asking price of $1.5 million. The Brad Nicholson-owned building at 1712 Main St. is recognizable to downtown dwellers for its massive north-facing mural depicting a Boulevard Pale Ale bottle and a Roasterie coffee mug under the headline, “Ask for Kansas City’s hometown brews.” The 43,000-square-foot, seven-story brick building has been cast as a redevelopment opportunity eligible for Historic and New Markets tax credits... -
Verizon pours $290M into N.C. network improvements
9 Feb 2012 | 9:17 amVerizon Wireless said Thursday that it invested more than $290 million in 2011 to improve and expand access to its wireless broadband and voice service in North Carolina. The company expanded its 4G LTE network last year to cities including Raleigh, Durham, Asheville, Fayetteville, Greensboro, High Point, Lumberton, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem. Verizon Wireless projects it will cover the entire state with the advanced wireless technology by 2013. Verizon says that it has invested more than $1...
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Green News - Green News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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UNCG School of Ed gets LEED Gold certification
9 Feb 2012 | 9:04 amUNC-Greensboro's new School of Education building has been awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to an announcement from the school. The 110,500-square-foot, $47.5 million building on Spring Garden Street opened in August and is now UNCG's first LEED-certified building. Environmental features incorporated into the building's design allow for water saving rates of around 50 percent, and the building exceeds LEED requirements in areas such as open space and ventilation... -
Organic golf course testing Arctic's new weed technology
9 Feb 2012 | 8:58 amArctic Inc.'s new frost-based weed control technology will be tested by the Vineyard Golf Club in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., one of the only organic courses in the U.S., according to an announcement from the firm. Arctic, which is based in Winston-Salem, developed its Frostbite Weed Control System with the help of grants from the National Science Foundation and the N.C. Board of Science and Technology. That system uses controlled compressed air to create man-made frost that can be applied to any frost-susceptible weeds without harm to nearby cool-season grasses... -
DeWine calls for stiffer regulation of oil and gas industry
9 Feb 2012 | 4:44 amOhio Attorney General Mike DeWine has called the state's regulation of the oil and gas industry "not adequate today" and is pushing for increased pollution fines revealing the chemicals used in fracking, the Associated Press reports. DeWine told the AP that the state should align its fines with regulations in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Texas. That would require Ohio to charge violators $10,000 a day compared with $20,000 per incident it currently charges, the AP reports. The former U.S. senator, a Republican, also wants drillers to provide information about the chemicals they use in hydraulic… -
Chesapeake treating, recycling fracking brine in Ohio county
9 Feb 2012 | 4:43 amChesapeake Energy Corp. is using a new system that will treat and recycle thousands of gallons of brine used in the hydraulic fracturing process every hour, reducing the amount that needs to be disposed of in underground injection wells, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. Oklahoma-based Chesapeake (NYSE:CHK) has been using its first system in Ohio in Carroll County off state Route 39 for about a month, the newspaper reports. The system, designed by Pennsylvania-based Rettew Flowback Inc., can treat 250 to 300 42-gallon barrels of brine each hour, the newspaper reports... -
Former governor gets job at biofuels firm
9 Feb 2012 | 4:25 amFormer Pennsylvania Gov. Mark S. Schweiker will join biochemical company Renmatix, based in King of Prussia near Philadelphia. Renmatix uses biomass to create sugars for biofuel and chemical markets, and has a production operation in Georgia. Schweiker will be senior vice president and chief relationship officer for Renmatix; among his jobs will be to find spots for production facilities. "Mark's perspective as a former governor and long-standing business leader offers the right mix of commercial instinct and skills that will be essential to Renmatix as we turn a corner toward construction of…
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Energy & the Environment News - Energy News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Valence revenue drops in Q3
9 Feb 2012 | 9:11 amValence Technology Inc. reported a $2.5 million third-quarter loss on $8.5 million in revenue compared with a $2 million loss on $13.8 million in revenue during the same three-month period last year. Officials at the Austin-based company (Nasdaq: VLNC) are projecting a fourth-quarter revenue of $12 million to $13 million, and revenue for the full fiscal year 2012 to be in the range of $43 million to $44 million, according to a company news release. Valence, which was founded in 1989, develops energy storage solutions... -
Solar array operating on Glimcher mall in NJ
9 Feb 2012 | 9:09 amOperators of a large solar panel array atop a New Jersey Mall have flipped the on switch in a deal that could save Columbus-based mall developer/owner Glimcher Realty Trust (NYSE:GRT) some future cash as electric prices rise. Contractors have completed a 4.8 megawatt solar system covering part of the 1.3 million-square-foot Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth. The construction project began in June. The Columbus-based company did not share how much money the solar array could save. It opened the mall on a former landfill site in 1999... -
Transforming American Governance
9 Feb 2012 | 8:45 amIn his recent State of the Union address, President Obama asked Congress to give him the authority to make "our government leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the American people.” Certainly, something needs to change. Currently, we face fiscal imbalance, a dysfunctional Congress, the continuing war on terror, increasing economic competition from emerging world powers like China and India, rising energy costs, and environmental concerns, to name just a few challenges. Any one of the challenges would be a large enough agenda for a president and Congress... -
Green Energy Oilfield Services buys 60 Peterbilt LNG trucks
9 Feb 2012 | 8:29 amDenton-based Peterbilt Motors Co. is supplying 60 natural-gas fueled trucks to a company that will use them for oilfield services in Freestone County. Green Energy Oilfield Services LLC, based in Fairfield, has a contract to service XTO Energy’s wells in the Freestone basin. Fort Worth-based XTO is a subsidiary of Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. Green Energy is majority-owned by Dallas-based Lone Star Investment Advisors, said Arthur Hollingsworth, founder and managing partner of Lone Star, which invested $20 million when Green Energy was formed in December 2011... -
ZBB Energy reports higher 2Q loss
9 Feb 2012 | 7:35 amZBB Energy Corp. reported a larger net loss in its fiscal second quarter on a nearly doubling of revenue. ZBB Energy (NYSE AMEX: ZBB), a Menomonee Falls-based developer of large-scale batteries and power electronics for renewable energy applications, reported net loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31 of $2.7 million, up from $1.8 million in the same period a year ago. Diluted net earnings per share, however, dipped to 8 cents per share from 9 cents a year ago because of a more than 65 percent increase in the number of shares outstanding...
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Education News - Education News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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National study ranks Pinellas Education Foundation first
9 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amA national study of education foundations and funds in the 50 largest school districts ranked the Pinellas Education Foundation first in supporting public education. Hillsborough Education Foundation was ranked fourth, and the Polk Education Foundation was sixth, a written statement said. The study was based on school year 2009-2010 information, the most recent data available, on form 990s used by nonprofits to report financial information. The study also analyzed the effectiveness at generating and sustaining financial resources, distribution of resources and the number of volunteers... -
UNCG School of Ed gets LEED Gold certification
9 Feb 2012 | 9:04 amUNC-Greensboro's new School of Education building has been awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to an announcement from the school. The 110,500-square-foot, $47.5 million building on Spring Garden Street opened in August and is now UNCG's first LEED-certified building. Environmental features incorporated into the building's design allow for water saving rates of around 50 percent, and the building exceeds LEED requirements in areas such as open space and ventilation... -
A Child's Place gets Verizon grant
9 Feb 2012 | 9:01 amA Child’s Place at Mercy, Allegheny County’s Child Advocacy Center, has received a $15,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to provide training, professional development and other opportunities for child advocates with videoconferencing equipment. Child’s Place is part of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System and sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. The equipment will provide access to training and educational opportunities for 1,800 Pittsburgh Mercy Health System employees and community partners, including law enforcement and victim advocacy organizations... -
EdNews Colorado: State schools to get No Child Left Behind waiver
9 Feb 2012 | 8:19 amColorado will be among 10 states receiving waivers from the requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind" program of evaluating school performance on Thursday. The other states are Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Of initial applicants for NCLB waivers, only New Mexico did not receive one. Colorado Department of Education officials applied for the waiver from some No Child Left Behind rules in November after getting the go-ahead on Sept... -
Construction of new Wake Forest dorms to begin
9 Feb 2012 | 8:18 amWake Forest University is moving forward with a plan to construct two new residence halls with 240 beds each on the north side of campus. The University’s Board of Trustees approved the project at its meeting last week and construction on the suite-style dorms will begin at the end of the month, the university announced. Frank L. Blum Construction Co., which built South Residence Hall on campus in 2010, will build the new facilities. Similar projects have cost about $50 million. Plans for the new residence halls are part of an effort by Wake Forest University to encourage more of the…
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Insurance News - Insurance News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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More speculation about Northwestern Mutual selling Russell Investments
9 Feb 2012 | 8:26 amFor the second time in the past 18 months, a financial publication is reporting that Northwestern Mutual may sell its Seattle-based subsidiary Russell Investments. This time the report is in the Australian Financial Review of Feb. 8, which said Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual “is understood to be considering the sale of its asset consultant and funds management business Russell Investments.” The headline reads: “This time, Russell may really be for sale.” Australian Financial Review said Northwestern Mutual could sell all or part of Russell... -
AG: TN to get $146M in mortgage relief from big banks
9 Feb 2012 | 7:17 amTennessee’s piece of a landmark mortgage settlement will likely be about $146 million in what officials say will be a sweeping change in practices and a dose of relief to struggling homeowners. In a $26 billion deal that includes states’ attorneys general across the country, major mortgage providers — Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and Ally Financial — have agreed to provide money for loan modifications and other changes, direct relief to wronged homeowners and funding for housing programs, authorities said... -
UnitedHealth raises profit goal after XLHealth deal closes
9 Feb 2012 | 6:52 amUnitedHealth Group Inc. said Thursday that its purchase of XLHealth Corp. will add $2 billion to UnitedHealth's 2012 revenues and 5 cents to its profit per share. Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) said it now projects a per-share profit of $4.60 to $4.80 this year. That's up from earlier estimates of $4.55 to $4.75 per share. UnitedHealth restated its projections while announcing in a news release that it had completed the purchase of Baltimore-based XLHealth, which focuses on Medicare recipients with chronic illnesses and other special needs... -
Mutual fund Vanguard StanCorp's biggest shareholder
9 Feb 2012 | 6:37 amThe mutual fund giant Vanguard is likely now the biggest investor in StanCorp Financial Group Inc., Oregon's third-largest public company. Valley Forge, Penn.-based Vanguard owns 5.45 percent of Portland-based StanCorp's outstanding shares, according to a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. StanCorp's most recent proxy statement, filed last March, listed its biggest shareholders as the California-based mutual fund company Franklin Resources Inc. and the New York-based investment firm BlackRock Inc... -
AcademixDirect hires new CFO Philip Connolly
9 Feb 2012 | 6:26 amEducation marketing firm AcademixDirect said it has added Philip Connolly as its new CFO, effective Jan. 30. The Mountain View-based private company had $28 million in revenue in 2011 and three-year sales growth of 670 percent. From 2007 through 2011, Connolly was previously the CFO of newScale Inc. “Philip Connolly has deep experience delivering corporate growth for venture-backed technology companies and his financial leadership will help AcademixDirect continue to aggressively expand our business solutions to a broader-based education market,” said AcademixDirect CEO Karen Francis in a…
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Legal Services News - Legal Services News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Florida to get $8.4B from national mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amThe proposed mortgage settlement between 49 state attorneys general and the nation’s largest loan servicers could net $8.4 billion in relief to Florida homeowners, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday. The joint federal-state investigation resulted in a proposed $25 billion settlement over the mortgage practices of large banks and loan servicers, including robo-signing, where lenders were alleged to have filed foreclosure lawsuits without verifying the accuracy of the documentation... -
Tennessee to get $146M in mortgage relief from big banks
9 Feb 2012 | 9:10 amTennessee’s piece of a landmark mortgage settlement will likely be about $146 million in what officials say will be a sweeping change in practices and a dose of relief to struggling homeowners. In a $26 billion deal that includes states’ attorneys general across the country, major mortgage providers — Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and Ally Financial — have agreed to provide money for loan modifications and other changes, direct relief to wronged homeowners and funding for housing programs, authorities said... -
Pennsylvania joins $25B mortgage pact
9 Feb 2012 | 9:10 amPennsylvania residents who were caught up in alleged foreclosure abuses by some of the nation's biggest mortgage lenders will share in the $25 billion settlement announced Thursday. Pennsylvania stands to get about $266 million from the settlement between five mortgage lenders and many of the nation's attorneys general. That money includes $21 million in cash to Pennsylvania residents who can claim abuse from one of the five and had their homes foreclosed upon between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2011... -
A Child's Place gets Verizon grant
9 Feb 2012 | 9:01 amA Child’s Place at Mercy, Allegheny County’s Child Advocacy Center, has received a $15,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to provide training, professional development and other opportunities for child advocates with videoconferencing equipment. Child’s Place is part of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System and sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. The equipment will provide access to training and educational opportunities for 1,800 Pittsburgh Mercy Health System employees and community partners, including law enforcement and victim advocacy organizations... -
Buchanan adds two from Thorp Reed
9 Feb 2012 | 8:59 amBuchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Pittsburgh’s third-largest law firm, Thursday said it has added Sean Girdwood and Brian Trudgen as shareholders to its Financial Services and Real Estate Finance practice. Both came from Thorp Reed & Armstrong LLP, the city’s eighth-largest firm, where they were partners and Girdwood chaired the Commercial, Real Estate and Public Finance practice group. “The firm is committed to strengthening its foothold in providing legal services to clients in the financial services and real estate industries,” Buchanan CEO and Managing Shareholder Jack Barbour said…
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Logistics & Transportation News - Logistics & Transportation News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Green Energy Oilfield Services buys 60 Peterbilt LNG trucks
9 Feb 2012 | 8:29 amDenton-based Peterbilt Motors Co. is supplying 60 natural-gas fueled trucks to a company that will use them for oilfield services in Freestone County. Green Energy Oilfield Services LLC, based in Fairfield, has a contract to service XTO Energy’s wells in the Freestone basin. Fort Worth-based XTO is a subsidiary of Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. Green Energy is majority-owned by Dallas-based Lone Star Investment Advisors, said Arthur Hollingsworth, founder and managing partner of Lone Star, which invested $20 million when Green Energy was formed in December 2011... -
Two Jacksonville companies reorganized by parent company
9 Feb 2012 | 8:14 amFollowing the corporate re-branding in January, TOTE Inc., formerly known as American Shipping Group, has continued the transformation process. The company has reorganized its five independently managed business into three groups: Maritime, Logistics and Ship Management. Jacksonville-based Sea Star Line LLC, which named Peter Keller as its president yesterday, will now be in the TOTE Maritime group and Spectrum Logistics Inc., which also is based in Jacksonville, will be part of the TOTE Logistics group, according to a release... -
LaHood to speak; arena and transit facility renderings to be unveiled
9 Feb 2012 | 7:49 amThe city of Sacramento this afternoon is expected to unveil the latest renderings of a proposed downtown arena, as well as the adjoining intermodal transportation site. Mayor Kevin Johnson will be accompanied by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He’s expected to talk about job creation in infrastructure projects in Sacramento, as well as around the country. He’ll also talk about the Obama administration’s commitment to high-speed rail. ... -
Penske: Denver 7th among top moving destinations
9 Feb 2012 | 7:42 amPenske Truck Rental has compiled its annual list of the top 10 destinations for residents relocating within the U.S., and Denver comes in at No. 7 for 2011, up a notch from 2010's No. 8 ranking. Penske bases the list on the number of requests it receives through its online reservations system and call centers for one-way moves during the year. The list is dominated by warm-weather locales, Penske Vice President Don Mikes noted. Denver, Chicago and Seattle are the only cities on the list that don't fit that description... -
U.S. Corps of Engineers announces 2012 funding for JaxPort; near $8 million increase
9 Feb 2012 | 7:22 amThe Jacksonville Port Authority gained an additional $7.7 million in federal funding for fiscal year 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allocated about $21 million in 2012 to the port for critical projects, including final study and initial planning of the Mile Point project, construction at existing dredge disposal sites and routine dredging to maintain the harbor’s current 40 foot depth. The Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for 2012 provided $5 billion in total fiscal year 2012 funding for the Army Civil Works program...
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Manufacturing News - Manufacturing News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Looking for good news on the economy? Skip this
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 am“Cautiously optimistic” is probably the phrase that summarizes the views of an accountant, an economist and a banker who discussed the economic outlook at a breakfast panel today at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton. But, to this listener at least, the concrete reasons for optimism were few and far between. First, the panel: Jim Castellano, chairman of the RubinBrown accounting firm in St. Louis; Chris Slusher, managing director of the Capital Markets Group at The PrivateBank in Chicago; and Jim Miller, senior adviser in Husch Blackwell’s Washington, D... -
SPX wins $40 million contract
9 Feb 2012 | 8:51 amSPX Corp. has won a $40 million contract to establish a dairy-processing plant in Shanghai, China, for Bright Dairy & Food Co. Ltd. SPX will design and install a series of milk- and yogurt-processing systems in Bright Dairy’s 155,000-square-meter facility, now under construction in Shanghai. The plant will significantly expand Bright Dairy’s capacity and bring the company’s production of milk and yogurt under one roof. “This plant will utilize SPX’s latest innovations for dairy processing, which are focused on greater efficiencies for Bright Dairy in milk processing, clean-in-place… -
Fairfield’s AFC gets private equity funding
9 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amThe co-founders of Fairfield-based AFC Industries Inc. have brought in Cleveland private equity firm Rockwood Equity Partners as a part-owner to recapitalize their firm. AFC plans to use the new capital to finance growth, AFC co-founder Terry Tomlinson said in a news release. It will target “acquisitions, product line expansion, new customer acquisition and other opportunities to expand the business across both geographic and end markets,” he said. The companies didn’t release the dollar amount of the recapitalization... -
Furniture Brands' loss narrows in Q4
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amFurniture Brands International reported a fourth-quarter loss of nearly $9.5 million, narrower than the $44.7 million loss the company had reported in the prior-year's quarter due to lower expenses related to restructuring activities, compensation, benefits and other costs. Furniture Brands is the St. Louis-based parent company of several North Carolina furniture manufacturers including Thomasville, Broyhill and Henredon. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the St. Louis-based company's sales fell nearly 7... -
Kodak to shutter digital cameras
9 Feb 2012 | 7:53 amEastman Kodak Co. said Thursday it plans to phase out its digital and pocket video cameras and frames this year to continue focusing on its more profitable business ventures. The withdrawal is expected to save the financially troubled Rochester company (OTB: EKDKQ.PK) more than $100 million annually. In a news release, Kodak said it will expand its current brand licensing program, and seek licensees in these categories. The company’s consumer business will include online and retail-based photo printing, as well as desktop inkjet printing...
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Media & Marketing News - Media & Marketing News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Crossroads building with huge mural hits the market
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amAn empty Crossroads Arts District building in Kansas City has hit the market with an asking price of $1.5 million. The Brad Nicholson-owned building at 1712 Main St. is recognizable to downtown dwellers for its massive north-facing mural depicting a Boulevard Pale Ale bottle and a Roasterie coffee mug under the headline, “Ask for Kansas City’s hometown brews.” The 43,000-square-foot, seven-story brick building has been cast as a redevelopment opportunity eligible for Historic and New Markets tax credits... -
SLIDESHOW: Amazon lists most-romantic cities
9 Feb 2012 | 9:09 amAmazon.com taps Pittsburgh as one of the most romantic cities in the United States, at least when it comes to sales of romance novels, romantic comedies and even Barry White albums. The online retailer (Nasdaq: AMZN) said Pittsburgh was the 11th-most romantic city. The only other entrant on the Top 20 list from Pennsylvania was No. 14, Erie. Dayton, Ohio, made its first entrance into the top 10 at No. 9 after jumping nine spots. The survey released Thursday is based on its sales data since Jan... -
Union of MLS to be on ABC affiliate, Comcast in Phila.
9 Feb 2012 | 9:07 amPhiladelphia Union broadcast partners WPVI-TV/6abc, Comcast SportsNet and the Comcast Network will again team up to televise Union soccer games that are not shown nationally this season, the club said Thursday. WPVI-TV/6abc, in its third season as the Union’s official broadcast partner, will air three of the team’s 34 total matches this season, while Comcast SportsNet and The Comcast Network, now in their second season, will air 19 matches. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed... -
ED GOLDMAN: Meet Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales
9 Feb 2012 | 8:45 am“Don’t be sneaky,” says Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. That's his advice to public relations people who try to get client messages onto the open-content website that sprang to life and straight into controversy 11 years ago. The nonprofit online encyclopedia — which its founder admits “has had some verification issues in the past” — currently houses nearly four million articles. “It’s made me unhappy when we’ve made an error,” Wales tells me. “But it’s never made me cry... -
Colorado pushes film incentives; report evaluates California’s rebates
9 Feb 2012 | 8:16 amColorado’s tourism director joked about New Mexico being “south of paradise,” but apparently that state is tired of seeing film business heading here and to other states. A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a bill to elevate Colorado’s incentives from 10 percent to 20 percent of a production company’s qualified local expenditures, according to the Denver Business Journal. It would also require recipient companies to have Coloradans make up at least 50 percent of their local workforce, up from the current 25 percent standard...
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Travel Business News - Travel Business News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Frontier expands Denver, Springs routes
9 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amFrontier Airlines announced five new routes from Denver and four from Colorado Springs beginning in May. Frontier will offer year-round service between Denver International Airport and Bloomington Ill., and between DIA and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The low-cost carrier also will have seasonal service to Bellingham, Wash., Great Falls, Mont., and Harrisburg, Pa. The service to Bloomington, Cedar Rapids and Great Falls will be on a 99-seat Embraer 180. Flights to Bellingham and Harrisburg will be on a 138-seat Airbus 319... -
Trump could provide luxury hotel competition in D.C.
9 Feb 2012 | 7:16 amThe Trump Organization's 250-room hotel headed to the Old Post Office Pavilion space at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW will mean one more competitor fighting to snag a piece of D.C.'s luxury hotel clientele. But some experts are skeptical that Trump's arrival will have a dramatic impact on the city's hotel landscape. "I don't think that it will change the market; it's just another product that's available," said Peter Slatin, a hotel analyst and real estate columnist for Forbes.com. "But I do think that it will be well received if he pulls it off... -
Chesapeake Lodging Trust posts profit in fourth quarter
9 Feb 2012 | 7:13 amChesapeake Lodging Trust, the Annapolis owner of hotels, swung to a profit in the fourth quarter. Chesapeake posted net income attributable to shareholders of its common stock of $2.9 million, or 9 cents per share, during the quarter. That reversed a loss of $1.5 million, or 9 cents per share, in fourth quarter 2010. The company’s earnings fell short of the expectation of analysts, who projected earnings of 16 cents per share for the quarter. -
Norton says Trump's Old Post Office deal is far from done
9 Feb 2012 | 7:09 amAfter more than a decade pushing for the building’s conversion, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton isn’t ready to celebrate the General Services Administration’s blockbuster announcement Wednesday that it has selected real estate mogul Donald Trump to redevelop the Old Post Office in downtown Washington. While the news of the Donald’s selection to remake the historic site at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue drew headlines from across the country, Norton said the proposal is one of the most ambitious historic redevelopment projects the GSA has ever taken on and is fraught with… -
Alaska Airlines, PDX join TSA screening program
9 Feb 2012 | 6:47 amSome Alaska Airlines passengers and flyers at Portland International Airport,will soon be able to take advantage of a new Transportation Security Administration program that will speed up the airport screening process. As Fox Business News reports, the TSA is expanding its expedited screening process to 28 additional airports across the country, including PDX, which will allow passengers to go through screening without removing shoes or belts. Alaska Airlines, a unit of Alaska Air Group Inc., is one of five airlines that will have its passengers take part in the new TSA screening program.
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Sports Business News - Sports Business News Headlines | Bizjournals.com
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Ironman partners with Lance Armstrong Foundation
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amIronman and the Lance Armstrong Foundation have partnered to raise money for people affected by cancer. Under terms of the agreement, champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong will compete in several Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races this year. Ironman will be a sponsor of the Team LIVESTRONG Challenge Series, a fundraising event for the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s brand LIVESTRONG. Ironman will also provide 1,000 entries to Ironman events in which Armstrong will compete, and will donate slots in the Ironman World Championship for auction... -
Big House lands Winter Classic; Ohio Stadium next?
9 Feb 2012 | 9:14 amThe National Hockey League’s Winter Classic is headed for the Big House at the University of Michigan next year, but the question in Columbus is whether Ohio Stadium could ever be the site for the wildly popular outdoor game. Ohio State University officials aren’t ruling it out, but they also doesn’t appear to be lobbying for the nationally televised game played on New Year’s Day. “We really haven’t talked about it,” said Ben Jay, OSU’s senior associate athletics director. “We would be willing to listen and evaluate any proposal that would come to us... -
Union of MLS to be on ABC affiliate, Comcast in Phila.
9 Feb 2012 | 9:07 amPhiladelphia Union broadcast partners WPVI-TV/6abc, Comcast SportsNet and the Comcast Network will again team up to televise Union soccer games that are not shown nationally this season, the club said Thursday. WPVI-TV/6abc, in its third season as the Union’s official broadcast partner, will air three of the team’s 34 total matches this season, while Comcast SportsNet and The Comcast Network, now in their second season, will air 19 matches. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed... -
Organic golf course testing Arctic's new weed technology
9 Feb 2012 | 8:58 amArctic Inc.'s new frost-based weed control technology will be tested by the Vineyard Golf Club in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., one of the only organic courses in the U.S., according to an announcement from the firm. Arctic, which is based in Winston-Salem, developed its Frostbite Weed Control System with the help of grants from the National Science Foundation and the N.C. Board of Science and Technology. That system uses controlled compressed air to create man-made frost that can be applied to any frost-susceptible weeds without harm to nearby cool-season grasses... -
Nike Olympians could go barefoot to avoid deal breach
9 Feb 2012 | 7:53 amBritish Olympians under contract with Nike who medal at the 2012 games could end up on the dais barefoot to avoid breaching their Nike deals. As The Telegraph of London reports, the British Olympic Association has signed a deal with Adidas that requires its athletes to wear Adidas gear in the Olympic Village and at medal ceremonies. That would put individual athletes such as Paula Radcliffe and Mo Farah with Nike deals in breach of their contracts.
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Atlanta Business News - Local Atlanta News | Atlanta Business Chronicle
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Georgia Senate to feds: Give us more farm workers
9 Feb 2012 | 8:58 amThe Georgia Senate unanimously approved a resolution Thursday asking Congress to expand the federal agricultural guest worker program. Since the General Assembly enacted a tough illegal immigration law last year, Georgia farmers have complained that they can’t find enough migrant workers to harvest their crops. More than 500 farmers surveyed recently by the state Department of Agriculture reporting losses of about $10 million last year due to labor shortages. Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black testified at a congressional hearing last fall that farmers have been unable to turn… -
Georgia's affordable housing: by the numbers
9 Feb 2012 | 8:57 amThe Georgia Affordable Housing Coalition has helped underwrite a report through the National Association of Home Builders that shows some pretty interesting numbers. Mostly, it is good to see how a tax credit has direct quantifiable and measurable information regarding jobs, income for the state and exactly how much was given to each affordable housing sector. Through an economic benefits model developed by the NAHB, the numbers are broken out by new family, new elderly and rehabbed units, all benefiting from the affordable housing tax credits... -
Leasing big-box space requires innovation
9 Feb 2012 | 8:49 amAround Atlanta, many closed big-box retail locations have gotten a new start as healthy discount retailers like TJ Maxx/Marshalls, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets and others take advantage of the vacancies, making attractive deals to take over the space. But where does that leave big-box space in lower-quality locations? That’s where retail property owners need to get creative, and there are signs that many are. Word in the market is that instead of trying to close underperforming locations, a number of retailers, like Best Buy and Kmart, are looking at subleasing part of their space to make… -
Banks, government negotiate $26B deal for homeowners
9 Feb 2012 | 8:08 amGovernment authorities and five of the nation’s biggest banks — including two of the largest players in the Atlanta market — have agreed to a $26 billion settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses. The deal struck between the banks, 49 state attorneys general and federal regulators will conclude more than a year of negotiating. Officials will announce the details at a press conference Thursday morning in Washington, although details of the deal have been leaking out in multiple press reports for more than a week... -
First Data: Credit card spending rises in January
9 Feb 2012 | 7:40 amCredit card spending growth returned in January as mild weather led to lower utility bills, which put more spending money in consumers’ pockets, according to First Data Corp.’s latest SpendTrend report. The privately held Sandy Springs, Ga.-based electronic payments company said in the report year-over-year dollar volume growth was 7 percent in January, while overall transaction growth was 7.2 percent. “Retailers benefited from the mild weather in January. Reduced energy and home heating expenses combined with lower food inflation provided consumers with extra income to spend on…
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Baltimore Business News - Local Baltimore News | Baltimore Business Journal
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Baltimore home values drop in 2011, expected to stay flat
9 Feb 2012 | 8:54 amGreater Baltimore home values fell 2.5 percent in 2011, according to Zillow, and are expected to stay flat in 2012. The area’s home values averaged $214,100, down 24.4 percent from the market’s peak several years ago. U.S. home values averaged $146,900 at the end of 2011, down 4.7 percent from 2010 and down 24.2 from the residential real estate market peak. Zillow projects Baltimore home values are expected to grow by just 0.1 percent in 2012. Nationally, Zillow expects home values to decline by 3... -
COPT loses $87M in fourth quarter
9 Feb 2012 | 7:09 amCorporate Office Properties Trust lost $87 million in the fourth quarter, capping a tough year for the Columbia real estate investment trust. COPT, which is heavily dependent on its government-related tenants, continues to face the prospect of federal budget cuts. The company posted a loss of $87.2 million, or $1.21 per share, in the fourth quarter. That’s compared with a profit of $16.7 million, or 18 cents per share, in the year-ago period. COPT lost $17.9 million in funds from operations — a key industry measurement — during the quarter, down from a profit of $52... -
Md. agrees to multimillion dollar mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 6:51 amMaryland's Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has joined a multimillion settlement with the nation's five largest mortgage companies. The move is designed to help compensate homeowners who were targets of illegal foreclosure practices and botched paperwork. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial could pay as much $25 billion, depending on the number of states that sign on to the settlement. Read more in the Baltimore Sun. -
Arundel's town centers may garner impact fee money
8 Feb 2012 | 4:25 pmAnne Arundel County officials may give town center projects in Parole, Odenton and Glen Burnie priority status when it comes to distribution of county impact fee money. The money would help pay for transportation upgrades near the three projects. The County Council would have to pass legislation for the plan to proceed. Read more in the Annapolis Capital. -
Anne Arundel nixes Key School plans to expand
8 Feb 2012 | 4:19 pmAnne Arundel County won't allow the Key School to build athletic fields on the Annpapolis Golf Course, saying it violates the county's open space laws. The Annapolis private school planned to build athletic fields on the property. It planned to buy the golf course and develop 40 acres for athletic facilities. Read more in the Annapolis Capital.
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South Florida Business News - Local South Florida News | The South Florida Business Journal
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Florida to get $8.4B from national mortgage settlement
9 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amThe proposed mortgage settlement between 49 state attorneys general and the nation’s largest loan servicers could net $8.4 billion in relief to Florida homeowners, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday. The joint federal-state investigation resulted in a proposed $25 billion settlement over the mortgage practices of large banks and loan servicers, including robo-signing, where lenders were alleged to have filed foreclosure lawsuits without verifying the accuracy of the documentation... -
Regulators block five South Florida assisted living/home health providers
9 Feb 2012 | 9:11 amFlorida regulators said they revoked or surrendered the licenses of five assisted living and home health companies in South Florida in January. The Agency for Health Care Administration said these providers are no longer eligible to participate in Medicaid and Medicare. They could attempt to stay in business with private pay, but most assisted living and home health facilities depend on these government programs. Following are the companies AHCA took action against: Lauderhill-based Shalom Manor, a 35-bed assisted living facility, had its license revoked and was fined $40,000... -
University of Miami spends most on athletics in South Florida
9 Feb 2012 | 7:48 amThe University of Miami spends more on athletics than any other South Florida university, according to a new database that analyzes Equality in Athletics data from the U.S. Department of Education. The UM athletic department ranked 43rd out of 340 athletic departments nationwide, spending $57.6 million on Hurricane sports during the 2010-2011 season. Of the total, $24.4 million was for football expenses and $5 million was for basketball expenses. Other South Florida schools trailed far behind UM... -
AT&T adds more cell system improvements
9 Feb 2012 | 7:40 amAT&T announced Thursday it has added additional capacity to nearly 50 cell sites in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which should help improve mobile broadband data and voice performance. AT&T (NYSE: T) has made frequent announcements in the past year about system upgrades in South Florida. The announcement comes the day after RootMetrics gave Verizon top honors in its measurements of system performance in the region. RootMetrics also cited improvements in AT&T's service since a previous report... -
Polo club mogul challenged on adoption
9 Feb 2012 | 7:27 amThe founder of the International Polo Club Palm Beach is facing more opposition on his move to adopt his 42-year-old girlfriend. The Palm Beach Post reported that a guardian for John Goodman's teenage children has asked a judge to reject the adoption, saying it doesn't match public policy on adoptions, and defrauded the court. A key question has been whether Goodman's girlfriend, Heather Ann Hutchins, would be able to share in the assets of a trust that is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars...
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Tampa Business News - Local Tampa News | The Tampa Bay Business Journal
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Ironman partners with Lance Armstrong Foundation
9 Feb 2012 | 9:19 amIronman and the Lance Armstrong Foundation have partnered to raise money for people affected by cancer. Under terms of the agreement, champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong will compete in several Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races this year. Ironman will be a sponsor of the Team LIVESTRONG Challenge Series, a fundraising event for the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s brand LIVESTRONG. Ironman will also provide 1,000 entries to Ironman events in which Armstrong will compete, and will donate slots in the Ironman World Championship for auction... -
National study ranks Pinellas Education Foundation first
9 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amA national study of education foundations and funds in the 50 largest school districts ranked the Pinellas Education Foundation first in supporting public education. Hillsborough Education Foundation was ranked fourth, and the Polk Education Foundation was sixth, a written statement said. The study was based on school year 2009-2010 information, the most recent data available, on form 990s used by nonprofits to report financial information. The study also analyzed the effectiveness at generating and sustaining financial resources, distribution of resources and the number of volunteers... -
nFinanSe goes dark
9 Feb 2012 | 6:44 amnFinanSe Inc. plans to stop reporting its financial information publicly. The board of directors approved filing a form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to voluntarily deregister its common shares. Upon filing the form, the company’s obligation to file certain reports with the SEC, including annual and quarterly financial reports as well as reports about events material to the company, is immediately suspended. The company is eligible to deregister its shares because it had fewer than 300 stockholders of record at the beginning of the fiscal year, a statement said... -
Polytechnic independence: Move would create new school
9 Feb 2012 | 4:16 amA new, independent, Florida Polytechnic University would be born in Lakeland if a measure in the legislature moves forward. State Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, put the measure into a budget-conforming bill on Wednesday, according to the Lakeland Ledger. Lynn is chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. State Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, has championed the University of South Florida Polytechnic’s move for independence. He helped Lynn develop the proposal... -
Florida State Fair begins
9 Feb 2012 | 4:13 amThat craving for deep-fried ... anything ... can now be met since the Florida State Fair kicks off Thursday morning. Carnival rides, live entertainment and flavorful foods are available at the Florida State Fairgrounds through Monday, Feb. 20, according to Bay News 9. The fair will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Weekend admission is $12 for everyone ages 12 and older and $6 for ages 6 to 11. Weekday admission costs $10 and $5. Rides cost between $3 and $6. Tickets and wristbands for rides are available at Sweetbay Supermarkets across the state, according to the report.
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Washington, D.C. Business News - Local Washington, D.C. News | The Washington Business Journal
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$26B bank settlement locally: Who gets what?
9 Feb 2012 | 9:05 amThe $26 billion settlement between 49 states and five major national banks, over their servicing of loans, will not solve the housing crisis, but it is still good news for Washington-area homeowners and jurisdictions. Under the settlement with Ally Financial Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo, billions of dollars in cash and loan write-downs will flow to distressed borrowers, to the signing states (all but Oklahoma) and the federal government. So who gets what? In terms of immediate payments to jurisdictions and direct relief to homeowners,… -
Congressional subcommittee to probe GSA
9 Feb 2012 | 9:00 amA Congressional subcommittee is set to meet this afternoon for a status update on the General Services Administration’s efforts to find bidders to redevelop the Old Post Office in downtown D.C. in what might seem like a prime example of closing the barn door after the horses have fled. The hearing at the Old Post Office comes two days after the GSA announced it had selected real estate mogul Donald Trump to convert the 375,000-square-foot building into a 250-room, luxury hotel with restaurants, a spa and ballroom... -
Transforming American Governance
9 Feb 2012 | 8:45 amIn his recent State of the Union address, President Obama asked Congress to give him the authority to make "our government leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the American people.” Certainly, something needs to change. Currently, we face fiscal imbalance, a dysfunctional Congress, the continuing war on terror, increasing economic competition from emerging world powers like China and India, rising energy costs, and environmental concerns, to name just a few challenges. Any one of the challenges would be a large enough agenda for a president and Congress... -
timeRAZOR lands funding, partners
9 Feb 2012 | 8:17 amA Leesburg-based company has landed $3.4 million in funding, a roster of brands for its service and some IT veterans to advise it. TimeRAZOR, which plans to launch a mobile product for iPhones and smartphones running the Android operating system, says its board of advisers includes Linda Abraham, co-founder of comScore Inc., former Microsoft executive Eddie Amos and Gene Riechers, co-founder and senior advisor at Valhalla Partners. Companies that will work with timeRAZOR include L'Oreal's Active Cosmetics Division, Renaissance Hotels, Vail Valley Foundation, World Adult Kickball Association,… -
GSA awards VETS extensions, tests new partnering model
9 Feb 2012 | 8:12 amCompanies that grew too large to compete for task orders under a contract that already filtered more than $1 billion to small, veteran-owned businesses will still have the chance to participate, thanks to a new model from the General Services Administration that encourages those companies to partner with the prime contract holders. GSA awarded five-year extensions to a portion of the more than 40 businesses that originally qualified to bid for task orders under Veterans Technology Services, better known as VETS, which is a government-wide acquisition contract used by agencies to purchase…
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Orlando Business News - Local Orlando News | The Orlando Business Journal
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Wells Fargo sponsors National Entrepreneur Center
9 Feb 2012 | 8:51 amWells Fargo announced Thursday that it become the newest financial sponsor of the National Entrepreneur Center, with a commitment of $50,000 over the next five years. “Wells Fargo is dedicated to supporting the National Entrepreneur Center and the role it plays in supporting Central Florida’s small business community, especially in this challenging time,” said Larisa Perry, Wells Fargo’s regional president for Central Florida. Wells Fargo joins Walt Disney World, the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the city of Orlando, Florida Blue, The Orlando Magic, The Florida High… -
E-Verify self-check tool now available nationwide
9 Feb 2012 | 8:26 amU.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services is expanding its free online service that allows workers to check their own employment eligibility status to all 50 states. Self-Check was developed through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration as a way to provide individuals a way to check their own employment eligibility status, as well as guidance on how to correct their DHS and SSA records. It is the first online E-Verify service offered directly to workers and is available in English and Spanish... -
Orlando added 1,200 retail jobs last year
9 Feb 2012 | 7:10 amNearly three-quarters of the nation's 100 major metropolitan areas added retail jobs last year — including Orlando — according to an On Numbers analysis of annual data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. New York City and Providence were the nation's big gainers. The New York area added 11,300 retail jobs between 2010 and 2011, the largest one-year increase in raw terms. Providence led on the percentage side with a jump of 4.47 percent. Other markets with strong upward movement in retail employment include Houston (up 6,700 jobs in a year), Dallas-Fort Worth (up 5,400), Seattle (up… -
Citibank: Positive outlook for small business growth, hiring
9 Feb 2012 | 5:37 amSmall business owners have more confidence and see growth ahead in 2012, according to the latest Citibank small business survey released this week. Among the survey’s findings: • Twenty-six percent of small businesses plan to increase their permanent full-time employees during the next year — a 12 point increase from Jan 2011. • Seventy-one percent plan to keep their work force the same size. * Twenty-two percent said they plan to hire some seasonal workers on full-time. • Forty-four percent of respondents said they planned to work more hours, and four of 10 are planning to further… -
Harris Corp. awarded $11 million Air Force contract
9 Feb 2012 | 5:35 amHarris Corp. was awarded an $11 million, multi-year follow-on contract for warhead replacement tactical telemetry modules by the U.S. Air Force for Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. The contract brings the overall value of the Harris' program to $181 million since 1991. The warhead replacement tactical telemetry modules provide weapon system evaluators with flight and performance information on the AIM-120 air-to-air missiles from the time they launch until impact. Melbourne-based Harris Corp...
