Archive for December, 2009
Entrepreneur fights stereotypes in Harlem
The historic neighborhood of Harlem has been left behind in New York City’s war on obesity, but one entrepreneur is trying to reverse the trend — and fight a stereotype.
The area that gave rise to some of the great achievements in African-American culture and commerce is now inundated with fast-food restaurants and suffers from high rates of obesity and diabetes.
The unhealthy turn has occurred despite the city’s ban on artery-clogging trans fats, expansion of bike lanes and launch of attack ads on sugary drinks, which are blamed by some health activists for the country’s obesity epidemic.
Into this seemingly fruit- and vegetable-free zone stepped Milo Meed, who earlier this month opened Island Salad, a Caribbean-inspired Harlem eatery that offers customers Continue Reading
Senate OKs $290 billion hike to debt limit
With the federal government inching close to the debt ceiling, the Senate on Thursday passed a $290 billion increase to the amount of debt the Treasury is allowed to have.
The 60-39 vote follows House approval earlier this month of the same measure. President Obama is expected to sign the bill soon.
The new law raises the debt ceiling to $12.394 trillion from $12.104 trillion.
As of Tuesday, the amount of debt subject to the limit on Treasury’s books was $12.04 trillion, just $64 billion below the limit.
The increase is estimated to cover Treasury’s borrowing needs through mid-February.
If the Senate hadn’t raised the debt ceiling before Dec. 31, the Treasury would likely have had to employ extraordinary measures to keep the debt Continue Reading
Content-Search Deals Make Twitter Profitable
Data-mining deals signed in October will bring in $25 million in exchange for rendering Twitter’s tweets searchable on Google and Microsoft Bing
Twitter is ending 2009 on a high note. The microblogging site has reached profitability after inking $25 million of deals that make its content searchable by Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT), Bloomberg BusinessWeek has learned.
In October, Twitter said it had struck multiyear arrangements that make users’ short blog postings available on Google.com and on Bing, which is run by Microsoft. Those agreements carry sufficient value to help Twitter achieve a small profit for 2009, say two people familiar with the company’s finances, who asked to remain anonymous because Twitter’s books are not Continue Reading
PayPal Rolls Out Send Money App For BlackBerry
PayPal is finally extending its money transfer system to the BlackBerry, with a new, free Send Money app for the Blackberry. The app will let you access your PayPal account and easily send money to a recipient. You can find on the BlackBerry App World here.
The app will also tap into your contact list on the phone making it simple to choose a recipient to send money too. Users can also access their recent PayPal transactions and monitor their account balances directly from the app.
You can even send money in 23 different currencies, with the Continue Reading
Fed Vows to Keep Rates Exceptionally Low
Federal Reserve officials kept the overnight lending rate between banks at a range of zero to 0.25%, where it has been for a year, and said the U.S. economy is strengthening
The Federal Reserve repeated its pledge to keep interest rates “exceptionally low” for “an extended period” and said the economy is strengthening.
“Household spending appears to be expanding at a moderate rate, though it remains constrained by a weak labor market, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement today after meeting in Washington. “Businesses are still cutting back on fixed investment” and “remain reluctant to add to payrolls.” Deterioration in the labor market Continue Reading
eGether: A Social Network For Pitching And Getting Pitched, Without The Email Overload
The overflowing inbox. It’s a problem many a journalist or blogger has had to deal with, but it’s often a necessary evil. After all, we’re all on the hunt for the next big story, cool gadget, or interesting startup, and Email has long been the standard for receiving pitches. Unfortunately, Email is really bad at filtering through the noise, so it’s easy for good stories to fall through the cracks. That’s where eGether comes in. The new site is looking to offer an alternative to the pitch-by-Email method. It’s essentially a social Continue Reading
The Social Times/AllFacebook Acquired By WebMediaBrands
The Social Times, the company behind AllFacebook.com, has been acquired by WebMediaBrands. We’ve confirmed the news with Social Times founder Nick O’Neill, who will be joining WebMediaBrands as Director of Social Times. O’Neill couldn’t comment on the acquisition price, but says that he is pleased with the deal.
A big congratulations to O’Neill, who started the company two and a half years ago with the launch of AllFacebook, which extensively covers Facebook news. He followed that up around six months later with Continue Reading
Will Small Business See Health-Care Cost Relief?
Yes, insurers are price-gouging small companies. Bills in the House and Senate would help them fight back
Entrepreneurs have long groused that their health plans are charging them premiums far in excess of the amount required to provide care for their employees. Now a Senate Commerce Committee analysis of just how much insurers spend on health care offers some support for that complaint. In 2008, five large insurers—WellPoint (WLP), UnitedHealth (UNH), Aetna (AET), Humana (HUM), and Coventry Health Care (CVH)—spent just 80% of the premiums they collected from small companies on actual health care. (The rest goes to items such as marketing, administration, and profits.) For big-company clients, the five paid out slightly more—84%. Len Nichols, director of the health policy Continue Reading
Web-Based Productivity Suite Zoho Launches Full Integration With Google Docs
Zoho is undoubtedly the lesser known name and an underdog in the productivity suite race with Google and Microsoft. But the startup has a compelling strategy: Zoho continuously launches integrations with its competitors and also iterates on it product to offer new and innovative products. Previously, Zoho has launched various integrations with Google sign-ins and with Google Apps. Today, Zoho is launching a full integration between Google Docs and Zoho’s Apps.
Google Docs users can now attach files from Google Docs to Zoho’s CRM Continue Reading
What Dubai Means for Emerging Markets
Analysts say the emirate’s debt crisis likely won’t impact the reputation of true emerging markets, whose credit ratings are mostly improving
Emerging market assets attracted risk-takers and were early to rally even during the darkest days of the financial crisis and the recession earlier this year. Now, with news that Dubai has requested a standstill on $3.5 billion in debt that comes due in December and may default on $60 billion in debt, investors may be taking a harder look at emerging market assets.
The big fear is how much potential there is for contagion to other markets or assets if the emirate’s investment arm, Dubai World, defaults on its debt. We have learned the hard way in the current financial crisis that risks around real estate Continue Reading
Online Retailers: An Early Holiday Peak?
Aggressive, early discounts by e-tailers prompted heavy buying through “Cyber Monday,” but consumer holiday spending could falter overall
What began as a strong shopping season for online retailers may fizzle as cash-strapped consumers quickly exhaust tight holiday budgets.
Lured by steep discounts, consumers showed a propensity to spend as yearend shopping got under way after Thanksgiving. By late afternoon on Nov. 30, the day’s online sales were up 11% from a year earlier, according Continue Reading
The Empire Strikes Back as Second Life Announces Instant Messenger SLim
Can Google (GOOG) Fix "Quality Control" Keyword Mistake And Boost Revenue?
