Archive for November, 2008
PNC Lures Gen Y With Its Virtual Wallet Account
What the bank’s popular Web-based offering lacks in terms of generosity, it makes up for in user-friendliness
As banks lure depositors with higher interest rates, PNC Financial Services (PNC) says it is attracting 130 new customers a day to an account that pays only mediocre returns. And look who’s signing up: the finicky members of [...]
How Citis Fortunes are Tied to Housings
Jobs, spending, and banks’ balance sheets will continue to deteriorate until the housing market stands on solid ground
Another one bites the dust—almost. This time it was struggling giant Citigroup (C) that needed a government rescue as growing worries about the sinking U.S. and global economies fueled angst about the health of financial institutions. Citi’s [...]
Can Obamas Stimulus Plan Spur Green Jobs in the U.S.?
Barack Obama’s energy plan seeks to turbocharge America’s eco-friendly businesses and keep jobs at home. But the hurdles are high
Barack Obama’s plan to pull the country out of recession has a strong green hue. Conventional wisdom says Washington won’t have the stomach or the dollars to tackle long-term issues like climate change or dependence [...]
Brown pledges Woolworths support
The government will ensure that Woolworths stores remain open over the Christmas period, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.
He said arrangements had been made to ensure staff would still be paid and employees threatened with redundancy would be helped to find work.
Administrators were appointed to the struggling chain on Wednesday.
Woolworths was dealt a further blow [...]
Technorati Lays Off Six, Cuts Pay For Rest
Technorati just announced on its official blog that the company has decided to lay off six employees as the result of generally poor economic conditions. Management is also taking a 10-15% pay cut, while all other surviving employees are getting their paychecks cut down by 10%.
Sling Opens Up Its Hulu Competitor To The Public
Sling Media, the company behind the popular Slingbox TV-streaming hardware devices, has opened the gates to its video portal Sling.com. The site pits Sling directly against Joost and Hulu (though Hulu is a Sling partner), allowing users to stream a variety of television shows and movies for free through an intuitive Flash player.
U.S. stimulus likely to target infrastructure needs
The next government stimulus effort is likely to target America’s crumbling infrastructure, and experts say the funding is sorely needed with bulldozers ready to roll on scores of projects.
“We have projects that are shovel-ready — the designs are complete, the environmental permits have been obtained, the right-of-way has been obtained, and the state is waiting [...]
Obama presses economic theme as team solidifies
President-elect Barack Obama takes another step toward tackling the ailing U.S. economy on Wednesday as part of an aggressive effort to demonstrate that his administration will face the global financial crisis head-on.
In his third news conference this week, Obama will make an “economic announcement” at 10:45 a.m. EST, his transition office said, following a similar [...]
12 Great Tales of De-Friending
De-friending has always been awkward. Social networks offer one click “remove a friend” options, but it still doesn’t make the decision any easier.
What follows is a collection of stories about de-friending. In summary, what I discovered is that everyone approaches their social network differently and it’s impossible to communicate all those nuances when you choose [...]
As Demand For Display Ads Soften, AdBrite Introduces Cost-Per-Click Banners
As overall online advertising continues to weaken, display ads are absorbing the brunt of the downturn. So what do you do if you are in the online display business with an ad network that reaches 85,000 mostly-smaller sites that don’t command much of a premium per impression in the first place? You start selling those [...]
Facebook Wins An $873 Million Judgment Against Spammers That It Will Never Collect
On Facebook, the spam you get from friends is bad enough, but tolerable. The really bad stuff is actual spam, which more and more people are being subject to. On Friday, judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose, California, awarded Facebook $873 million in damages against Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital under the CAN-SPAM [...]
Was Ebays BillMeLater Acquisition A Huge Blunder?
When eBay paid $945 million for BillMeLater in October, we blinked. The business assigns credit at the point of sale to ecommerce customers who can’t use credit cards because they don’t have them, have maxed out credit limits, or choose not to. It charges fees much like a credit card – currently 19% interest.
The credit [...]
20+ Tools for Buying and Selling Cars
We’re in the midst of an economic crisis and the American auto industry is in peril, and as this continues, more people will look into private sales and used cars.
To keep from making the wrong choices, it’s important to have the right tools, and luckily there are a number of online resources dedicated to helping you [...]
Cutting Costs to Increase Profits
Retailers like Gap and Dell have been able to post higher profits by slashing expenses in the face of declining revenues. Other companies may not be so lucky
Thanks to some timely tailoring, shares of Gap (GPS) jumped 27% on Nov. 21 even as the retailer’s sales fell 8%.
The reason for the favorable reaction was another [...]
YouTube Goes Wide
YouTube has apparently changed all videos on its site to play in widescreen format. Because most videos on the site were originally uploaded in a ratio closer to 4:3 (the standard size used on non-HD televisions), most videos are playing with horizontal black bars on the side. Some videos (like this one) are taking advantage [...]
Small Retailers Push for Online Sales
The holiday outlook is gloomy, but online retailers can react faster with discounts, free shipping, and other Web promotions than stores can
Nicole DeBoom watched online sales at her women’s sportswear company drop 25% in early November—a sign that buyers were pulling back just when holiday shopping should have started. So DeBoom, who is chief [...]
Citigroups Uneasy Victory
It’s been a difficult first year for Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. Jin Lee/Bloomberg News /Landov
The federal bailout calmed the market and seems to fence off Citi’s toxic assets. But some investors wonder what it says about the state of other banks
Federal regulators got a fresh inside look at Citigroup’s (C) books over the weekend—and [...]
Facebook Remains Stubbornly Proud Of Position On Holocaust Denial
Stocks Plunge On Recession Fears
Yahoo To Launch Real Time Search, Too
Google Could Be Your Next Investment Angel!
