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June 18, 2010

FCC Looking to Reverse Its 2002 Decision to Deregulate Internet Lines

Filed under: Business — leasa @ 2:40 pm

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday launched a formal effort to give itself the clear authority to police Internet-service providers by changing the way Internet lines are regulated.

Under consideration is a proposal that would reverse a 2002 decision by the FCC that deregulated Internet lines and would give the agency stronger authority to police Internet providers and prevent them from favoring their own traffic over that of rivals.

The FCC’s voted 3-2 to launch its re-regulation effort. The vote kicks off what promises to be a contentious debate about the government’s role in controlling Internet traffic and access.

To read more about the proposal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575312742566475122.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews

April 16, 2010

Google Q1 Earnings Suggest “Large Advertisers Have Come Back in Force”

Filed under: Business — john @ 12:46 pm

In announcing its first quarter earnings on April 15th, the company beat the expectations of the Street.  But the bellwether company’s performance also signaled an improving advertising market, a development that would seem to be indicative of an increasingly stronger macro-economic outlook.

To learn more, click: http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/15/news/companies/google_earnings/index.htm

April 8, 2010

300,000 iPads Sold on Day One

Filed under: Business — leasa @ 12:18 pm

As a bit of a tech geek, I love this stuff. . . Apple said Monday it sold 300,000 iPads in the US on the first day that the highly anticipated tablet device was available in stores. The company also said that iPad users downloaded over one million apps from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 ebooks during the first day. The iPad went on sale nationwide at 9 a.m. on Saturday; as of midnight, the company said it had sold 300,000 iPads, including pre-orders.

To learn more on the iPad evolution, check out the link below and let us know if you are going to buy one.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/05/technology/apple_ipad/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

February 16, 2010

Picking Up the Tab: The XXI Olympic Winter Games

Filed under: Business — john @ 11:59 am

Contrary to the bounty that many would expect, the Olympics historically leave host cities in debt, and often dislocate the respective cities’ poor and homeless in the process. The same holds true as idyllic Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada hosts the XXI Olympic Winter Games.

While Vancouver initially estimated the public cost of hosting the Olympics at $660 million, it has now exceeded that projection by a stunning $5 billion in unanticipated public spending. As a result, Vancouver’s most basic public programs will be at peril for years to come and the city’s most needy may be left in a very precarious position.

One example of a significant cost overrun at the Vancouver Games is security.  The price tag for providing Olympics security has come in at $900 million, some $240 million over the estimated total public cost of Olympic preparation. And with respect to housing, the Games have made a bad problem considerably worse. Indeed, homelessness is so widespread in Vancouver that 57 percent of local residents voted it as their top priority to address when the city won the Olympic bid. In the British Columbia province, there are 15,000 homeless and counting, with downtown Vancouver being the poorest region in all of Canada – a stark contrast to the frivolity and celebrations being witnessed in the Olympic Village only miles away.

What’s more, according to TRAC, a nonprofit education center for tenants and landlords, 900,000 individuals in British Columbia are labeled “at risk” of homelessness, spending more than one third of their paychecks on rent. The situation is so dire that if these individuals miss a single paycheck, they stand to lose their homes in all likelihood.

Vancouver is far from alone among Olympic host cities shouldering an immense financial burden. Extraordinarily indebted host cities include Sydney, Australia; Barcelona, Spain; and Athens, Greece who are still paying off debt taken on to finance the games. In 2004, Athens spent $12 billion on hosting. To put the figure in perspective, $12 billion is five (5) percent of Greece’s gross domestic product. (Today, six years later, Greece is battling a budgetary crisis of epic proportions as is well documented in the current business press.) Beijing spent a jaw-dropping $40 billion on Olympic preparation, but also evicted tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of people in real estate development areas.

All of this does not suggest that the Olympics are not in any way a magical worldwide phenomena meriting our wonder and, in many respects, our praise. Undoubtedly, the Games do foster world unity.  The caliber of the athletes is nothing shy of amazing. And the grandeur of the event itself is spectacular. However, the “Olympic industry” – a business model based on touring the Olympics around the world – has intrinsic shortcomings that have become increasingly glaring.  In fact, no host city has ever made a profit, according to Robert Barney, director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario.  But to host the Olympics in one place, and invest a plethora of resources in that single locale, as some people suggest, while economically more practical, flies in the face of the globalism that the Games so broadly endorses. Whatever the eventual answer, this is a dilemma worth pondering as we marvel at the Nordic combined, biathlon, downhill skiing, and the litany of other great events marking the 21st Winter Games.

Sources: The Christian Science Monitor, The Vancouver Sun, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC.com.

February 15, 2010

Just Who Can You Trust?

Filed under: Business — leasa @ 10:05 am

According to Forbes Magazine . . . Two University of California Davis economics professors have gone as far as saying Tiger Woods’ ongoing saga has cost shareholders of the companies he has endorsed up to $12 billion in losses, though that seems a stretch. One thing is for sure: While most marketing executives think the celebrity endorsement industry will eventually return to relative normalcy, in the short term the Woods example will likely give marketers pause. Why bother at all with stars? “In a very crowded media environment its hard for companies to stand out,” says Gerry Philpott, president of Los Angeles-based E-Poll Market Research, who gauges the marketability of hundreds of public figures for clients. “They need those names to cut through the clutter.”

So which celebrities do people trust most? Forbes turned to E-Poll, which ranked the A-list names Americans rated the highest in for trustworthiness, awareness and appeal.

James Earl Jones tops the list. One of the most instantly recognizable voices in entertainment history—and a commanding presence to match. Coming in second is Tom Hanks.  No. 3—Michael J. Fox. Others on the list include Morgan Freeman, Will Smith and Sally Field.

www.forbes.com/2010/01/25/most-trusted-celebrities-business-entertainment-trust.html?boxes=businesschannelsections

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