Tuesday, July 19, 2011

In Deficit Dilemma, Pain Looms for Middle Class

The national deficit is too great for entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare to escape unharmed. That means an impact is looming on many Middle Class Americans who may not be expecting it. WSJ’s Neil Hickey reports. July 12, 2011

Charisma Carpenter Hilarie Burton Kelly Carlson Sara Foster Natassia Malthe

14 of the Dumbest Identity Thieves

With today's technology, crime can sometimes be complicated. Forget the old ?club-a-guy-over-the-head-for-his-wallet? crime. Assuming you steal a guy's I.D., your greatest weapon against him will probably be a computer. Here are 15... Read more

Jaime King Lokelani McMichael Freida Pinto Eva Longoria Susan Ward

Monday, July 18, 2011

3 Stocks With Rising Dividends and Impressive Dividend Trends Targeted by Institutions

Kapitall submits:

If you are considering sources of dividend income, there are several important considerations to keep in mind. The company?s payout ratio (dividend per share/earnings per share) should be sustainably low, while cash flow should be healthy enough to continue paying the dividend. The dividend yield should be sustainably low as well.

We ran a screen on dividend stocks for those that have seen rising dividends per share while also seeing decreases in the payout ratio. Only dividend yields below 7% and payout ratios below 35% were included.

We also screened for increases in operating cash flow/revenue, comparing the trailing-twelve-month ratio to the three-year average. Finally, we screened for those stocks that have also been seeing significant net institutional buying over the current quarter.

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.


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Sean Egan on Credit Constraints

Insight on the credit situations in Europe and the U.S., with Sean Egan, Egan-Jones Ratings Company and Alison Deans, former Neuberger Berman CIO Monday, 18 July 2011 8:22 AM ET

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Blog Post: G�nate una Tablet o un Kinect en Campus Party M�xico

 

�Quieres ganarte una Tablet/Slate o un Kinect en Campus Party M�xico 2011? Los requisitos son los siguientes:

1. Debes tener descargadas e instaladas las siguientes herramientas en tu PC:

WebMatrix: http://bit.ly/WebMatrixMX
AzureSDK: http://bit.ly/AzureMx
WindowsPhoneSDK: http://bit.ly/WP7Mx

2. Busca o contacta por Twitter a un Microsoft Student Partner en el �rea de Desarrollo de Software justo enfrente del logo de Microsoft (en la barra de conexiones) ? Ellos revisaran tu laptop con las herramientas, te dar�n un regalo y te registraran para la rifa de una Tablet y un Kinect.

MSPs

@luiciomsp @johnnywalker90 @alainstephan @veritoaidee @paoossiniii @lauriutz @anagelmenam

3. El d�a Viernes a las 12:00 PM en el �rea de Desarrollo de Software, daremos a conocer a los ganadores.

�Mucha Suerte!

Los Premios:

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Blog Post: Free Silverlight: HTML 5

If you are doing Silverlight you are likely thinking about HTML 5, here is a great introduction from Dan Wahlin!

http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/archive/2011/05/06/getting-started-with-the-html-5-canvas.aspx

Lot?s of code that work and a great way to show off your skills as a programmer.

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Market Capitalization (NYSE + Nasdaq) as %GDP

I always find these charts instructive in terms of where we are over the longer cycle in terms of valuation relative to economic activity of the US. The two biggest changes post-1996 has been the increasing US exposure to overseas growth, and rates that started low went to ultra low. > Market Capitalization as % [...]

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Viral Video: Apple Fan Girl (Who Runs the World) Beyonc�

This is a spoof from Electric Spoofaloo of Beyonc�'s "Girls (Who Rule The World)" mashed up with Apple's retail stores.

Okay, it's Friday.

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7 Mortgage REITs That Yield Over 10%

Zvi Bar submits:

Investors seeking higher yielding income equities often consider or hold mortgage REITs. This is a review of the dividend payouts of the seven largest high-yield mREITs that I have found to be relatively liquid. I have charted and included the dividends paid within the last eight quarters, or since the recent general bottom in the market. I have also included their present yields and 2011-to-date performance.

These seven mREITS all yield between 10% and 20% percent annually, or somewhere between 2.5x to 4.5 times the yield of a 30-year U.S. Treasury. Several of the mREITs also only hold U.S. backed mortgages (with leverage), which carry an implied agency backing. Others hold higher risk paper, with lesser to no backing and far greater yields. By hook or crook, these mREITs currently offer income at a level above many layers of junk-rated bonds.

Click on charts below to enlarge:

1. American Capital


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Financing Options: Convertible Debt

MBA Mondays are back after a one week hiatus. Today we are going to talk about convertible debt. Convertible debt can also be called convertible loans or convertible notes. For the purposes of this post, these three terms will be...

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Sunday, July 17, 2011

I?m So Mad at Big Government

Politico’s M. Wuerker captures this fellow beautifully: >

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Thaler: How to Convert Your Social Security Payments into an Inflation-Adjusted Annuity

Professor Richard Thaler offers up some very practical advice for future social security recipients: There is a simple, easy way to convert a portion of your wealth into a fairly priced, inflation-adjusted annuity. Simply delay when you start receiving Social Security benefits. Participants are first eligible to start claiming benefits at age 62. For those [...]

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Saving Valentina

Michael Fishbach narrates his encounter with a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net. Gershon Cohen and he have founded The Great Whale Conservancy to help and protect whales.

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Weekend Favs July Nine

Weekend Favs July Nine

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Weekend Favs July NineThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is [...]

Gwen Stefani Sunny Mabrey Karolína Kurková Laura Harring Naomi Watts

Changes in Sovereign Debt Default Risk Over the Last Month

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:

European countries have had their fair share of problems recently, and it shows in their 5-year CDS (credit default swap) prices. Below is a table showing the one-month change in default risk (5-year CDS) for nearly 60 countries. (G-7 countries are highlighted in yellow, although we do not have pricing info for Canada). As shown, 12 European countries top the list in terms of increases in default risk over the last month. Denmark default risk has spiked the most at 67%, followed by Italy (59%), the Netherlands (41%), Norway


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Eight Banks Fail European Stress Tests

Kate Bosworth Tamala Jones Yamila Diaz Alicia Keys Tyra Banks

I?m So Mad at Big Government

Politico’s M. Wuerker captures this fellow beautifully: >

Monika Kramlik Lacey Chabert Amber Brkich Gretha Cavazzoni Marla Sokoloff

DataQuick: Bay Area Home Sales "Surge" in June

Melissa George Cameron Richardson Chandra West Kasey Chambers Megan Ewing

Viral Video: Apple Fan Girl (Who Runs the World) Beyonc�

This is a spoof from Electric Spoofaloo of Beyonc�'s "Girls (Who Rule The World)" mashed up with Apple's retail stores.

Okay, it's Friday.

Jessica Paré Leelee Sobieski Teri Hatcher Lauren Bush Natalie Zea

Saturday, July 16, 2011

David Rosenberg: The Disappearing Recovery

Fri 15 Jul 11 | 07:00 AM ET ~~~

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HousingTracker: Homes For Sale inventory down 10.9% Year-over-year in mid-July

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User: chinajon

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Ceridian-UCLA: Diesel Fuel index increased in June

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Eight Banks Fail European Stress Tests

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MBA Mondays Is On Vacation

Happy July 4th Everyone I'm taking a break to celebrate the July 4th holdiday with friends and family. We'll be back next Monday with the next topic in our Financing Options For Startups series: Convertible Debt.

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Viral Video: Looking Back at All of "Harry Potter" as It All Ends

Am I a total nerd that I am completely stoked to see the the last "Harry Potter" movie this weekend and completely bummed it is over?

For those who love the films, here's a great compilation Warner Bros. did of the whole series.

Summer Altice Rose McGowan Bar Refaeli Jessica White Anna Friel

Europe

I'm off to Europe today for a week of board meetings and vacation. It has become a bit of a tradition in our family to spend some time in europe every summer. Last summer we spent close to six weeks...

Carla Campbell Penélope Cruz Kristen Bell The Pussycat Dolls Isla Fisher

Retail Sales increased 0.1% in June

Leelee Sobieski Teri Hatcher Lauren Bush Natalie Zea Brody Dalle

14 of the Dumbest Identity Thieves

With today's technology, crime can sometimes be complicated. Forget the old ?club-a-guy-over-the-head-for-his-wallet? crime. Assuming you steal a guy's I.D., your greatest weapon against him will probably be a computer. Here are 15... Read more

Charli Baltimore Denise Richards Jennifer Sky Samantha Mathis Samantha Morton

Has the Recession Started?

One Eyed Guide submits:

That was one ugly Friday for economic reports. Among the slew of bad reports, the Reuters/Michigan Survey of Consumers declined so much that the survey director, Richard Curtin, stated: "Whenever the Expectations Index has been this low in the past, the economy has been in recession."

Has the recession started?

Many economic indicators have been trending down but they don't seem to be in recession territory yet. We can classify indicators into three categories: No recession forecast, trending toward recession, and in recession. A list of some of the more important ones is below:

No Recession Forecast

Trending Toward Recession

In Recession

So what does this mean?

The LEI includes the yield curve so it's


Complete Story »

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Friday, July 15, 2011

Stand-up Economist Yoram Bauman on Politics and the Federal Budget

Adrianne Palicki Amanda Righetti Michelle Branch Melissa Howard Samantha Mumba

Consumer Sentiment declines sharply in July

Noureen DeWulf Nicollette Sheridan Amber Heard Veronica Kay Mýa

The SEO Cupcake

The SEO Cupcake

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

The SEO CupcakeThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing When asked to talk about marketing these days I spend increasing amounts of time explaining the notion of being found. Like it or not, generating leads by putting lots of valuable content in the places where people look for just such a thing is central to marketing [...]

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Seattle: The Downtown Apartment Boom

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Chubb Dividend Stock Analysis 2011

Dividend Growth Investor submits:

The Chubb Corporation (CB), through its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance to businesses and individuals. Chubb is a dividend aristocrat that has paid uninterrupted dividends on its common stock since 1902 and increased payments to common shareholders every year for 46 years.

The most recent dividend increase was in 2010, when the board of directors approved a 5.40% increase to 39 cents/share. The largest competitors of Chubb include Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B). Cincinnati Financial (CINF) and Travelers Corp (TRV).

Over the past decade, this dividend growth stock has delivered an annualized total return of 7.40% to its loyal shareholders.

The company has managed to deliver an increase in EPS of 10.90% per year since 2005. Analysts expect Chubb to earn $5.60 per share in 2011 and $5.85 per share in 2012. In comparison, Chubb earned $6.76/share in 2010.


The company has been able to increase its return on equity from


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Hotels: Occupancy Rate increased 2 Percent compared to same week in 2010

Tara Conner Drea de Matteo Trista Rehn Moon Bloodgood Kristin Kreuk

Viral Video: Hugh Grant's New Starring Role in Britain's PhoneGate

For years now, it looked like the tousled adorkability and winsome charms of British movie star Hugh Grant were beginning to grow long in the tooth.

That is, until the phone-hacking scandal in Britain -- with News Corp.-owned News of the World's editors, reporters and managers accused of serious misconduct -- got really going in recent weeks. And so did Grant.

Rebecca Mader Eva Green Lauren Conrad Arielle Kebbel Jessica Paré

Top Gmail Apps and Plug-ins for Running a Business

Gmail has been popular with small businesses because it?s easy, affordable and has a lot of functionality. But you really aren?t getting everything you can out of Gmail until you start taking advantage of some of the many third-party apps that make Gmail even more powerful. Some Gmail apps require a download; others plug into the Web version.

Gmail

Regardless, if you find yourself spending a lot of your workday in Gmail, check out these apps that willRead More

From Small Business Trends

Top Gmail Apps and Plug-ins for Running a Business

Melissa Sagemiller Roselyn Sanchez Soft Cell Beyoncé Nelly Furtado

Blog Post: Using the wrong HINSTANCE in RegisterClass is like identity theft

Last year, I left you with a teaser for a problem that resulted in the CResource­Exception being thrown.

Studying the function that threw the exception revealed that it was thrown due to a failed call to Register­Class. And studying the parameters that were passed to Register­Class revealed that HINSTANCE parameter did not match the DLL. Instead of being the instance handle of the DLL, it was the instance handle of the host application.

Okay, now let's apply what we learned a few years ago about the significance of the HINSTANCE parameter passed to the Register­Class function. By passing the HINSTANCE of the host application, the class was registered against the namespace of the host rather than the namespace of the DLL. It's like signing up for a credit card using somebody else's name or checking a book out of the library with somebody else's library card.

In this case, the module in question was a plug-in. It tried to register a class called, say, My­Class, and instead of registering against itself, it registered against the host application. Fortunately, the host application didn't have a class called My­Class, so the incorrect registration didn't cause a conflict. The book got checked out to the wrong person, but as far as the library can tell, nothing has gone wrong. It merely looks like the host application checked out a book.

So why did the call to Register­Class fail? Because some other plug-in made the same mistake. Plug-in B also registered its class against the host application, and by an amazing coincidence, its class was also called My­Class. (If you look at how MFC auto-generates class names, you can see that this name collision can happen quite easily.) If both plug-ins had registered their classes properly, there would have been no problem, because each class would have been registered against their respective DLLs, and no conflict would have arisen. But instead, two wrongs make a wronger, and since both plug-ins incorrectly registered their classes against the host, the first plug-in to register succeeds, and the second one crashes.

(One might argue that this is another special case of What if two programs did this?)

Both plug-ins tried to sign up for a credit card in the name of the host application. The first one got the card, and the second one was informed by the credit card company, "Your application was denied because you already have a card from us."

Why did these plug-ins register against the host application instead of against their own library cards? I don't know for sure, but my guess is that it was due to ignorance.¹ When reading the documentation, they found that they needed to fill in the hInstance member of the WNDCLASS structure. Gosh, where do I get an HINSTANCE from? Oh wait, I found a function that returns an HINSTANCE: Get­Module­Handle. And hey look, if I pass NULL, a valid HINSTANCE comes out. I'll just set wndclass.hInstance = Get­Module­Handle(NULL); and try it. Hey, look, it works!

Footnote

¹ This reminds me of a story that took place at an administrative hearing. The government agency representative presented as evidence that the other party admitted in a telephone conversation to being ignorant of the applicable regulations.

The other party angrily interrupted.

"I'm not ignorant! I simply didn't know what the rules were."

The judge patiently explained, "That's what the word ignorant means."

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Blog Post: Common Workloads for Azure

When we start looking at Windows Azure there are several key workloads that come to mind, the ones that are pretty much slam dunks for being a fit. 

Workload 1 - On and Off

On and Off typically represents applications or web sites that are needed for a short period of time and later shut off.  An example of this would be a marketing campaign that runs a web site for two months every year around Christmas because it is your peak sales time.  The cost of acquiring the capacity for this heavy load period and then maintaining throughout the year or recommissioning can often be very high.  Azure allows you to minimize both the upfront capital investment and the recurring monthly maintenance expenses.  The reason for this is that you pay for what you use in Azure, so if you run it for these two months then decomission it at the end you stop paying for it until the next year when you redeploy.  This not only helps reduce cost but potentially offers the business the ability to execute on more campaigns than they would typically due to overall cost.  

Workload 2 - Scale Fast

Scale Fast is reflective of applications or sites that are introduced by the business without a good handle on what the adoption rate will be.  Typically you would have to build out extra capacity at the beginning beyond the anticipated level to ensure the best customer experience.  Using Azure you can start with a couple instances of the application and write code that will automatically deploy additional instances as required based on actual usage.  This allows the available capacity to closely follow the real demand for the site, keeping costs down while reducing the burden of capacity planning.

Workload 3 - Predictable Bursting

Predictable Bursting is typically seen in companies that have a seasonal component to them, such as retail with Christmas driving a large quantity of their sales or finance where RRSP season can spike in activity.   Azure can be used in this scenario as well to reduce investment in additional hardware and infrastructure required to support the load during these bursts.  There are two ways people typically handle this type of capacity "augmentation", either through load transference where they host the application, or some components of the application, in Azure during the burst or as an application extension.  Application extensions can be an interesting scenario with the application running on premise during normal load states or periods and when additional capacity is required they introduce additional capacity in Azure, never eliminating the on premise portion.  This is sometimes referred to as a hybrid application. 

Workload 4 - Unpredictable Bursting

Unpredictable Bursting is the same as Predictable Bursting above except in the sense the burst can come at any time.  An example of this is if the government ran a campaign that gave tax breaks on purchasing new appliances appliance retailers may all of a sudden realize a significant load increase on their web sites.  This is load can be handled in the same way as the Predictable Bursting scenario, except the identification of the burst scenario would typically be automated to ensure it could react and scale on demand.

 

The above workloads do not make up a comprehensive list of scenarios where Azure can be leveraged, but it does identify the key four workloads where the value of Azure can be quickly recognized.

 

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More Europe

Giulianna Ramirez Ashley Greene April Scott Mia Kirshner Elisabeth Röhm

Can $22,000 Speakers Save Your Marriage?

No! Its not the size, but the cost that ends the marriage . . . > S Series from Steinway Lyndorf Source: WSJ: $22,000 Speakers That Could Save Your Marriage July 2011 Steinway Lyngdorf S-Series

Emmy Rossum Kim Yoon jin Melania Trump Summer Glau Mía Maestro

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Jawbone's Newest Product: Health-Tracking Wristband Called Up

Jawbone, the San Francisco consumer electronics start-up that just grabbed another $70 million in funding, has announced its latest gadget called Up. The new product is described as "an intelligent, wearable wristband with an application that combines tracking, analysis, social and motivational elements." Jawbone, which makes a popular Bluetooth headset and also the Jambox wireless speaker, said Up will track a user's movement, sleep patterns and nutrition.

Vitamin C Scarlett Johansson Christina Ricci Missi Pyle Jessica Alba

Too Big to Fail Grabs 11 Emmy Nominations

A few months ago, I mentioned HBO‘s adaptation of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book Too Big To Fail as “terrific entertainment.” Well, I am not the only one who thought so — the movie version of the book garnered 11 Emmy nominations. Mad props to Andrew Ross Sorkin and his producer/director/co-writers at HBO. Outstanding work all [...]

Ashlee Simpson Donna Feldman Jodi Lyn OKeefe Emma Watson Amy Smart

Weekend Favs July Nine

Weekend Favs July Nine

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Weekend Favs July NineThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is [...]

Tyra Banks Vanessa Hudgens Sarah Michelle Gellar Olivia Munn Melissa Sagemiller

Groupon Updates Privacy Rules, Including on Mobile Tracking and Sharing of Personal Information

Groupon sent out emails to its users this weekend, about changes it has made to its privacy statement and terms of use.

Among the most notable changes is more information about the Chicago-based social buying start-up's collection and use of mobile location information.

In other words, if you let them, in order to improve the experience and make the app more useful, you're being tracked.

Tricia Helfer Elena Lyons Brooke Burns Lena Headey Ali Larter

Will the Virus Claim Rupert Murdoch Himself?

Felix Salmon submits:

The News Corp (NWS) hacking virus is proving both virulent and highly contagious. Rupert Murdoch tried to treat it with amputation, by closing down the News of the World, but the surgery came too late, and he couldn?t prevent the virus from spreading to the Sun and the Sunday Times. At that point, the virus was unstoppable: its next victim was Murdoch?s $12 billion bid to take control of BSkyB. Now, with the UK police investigation barely having started, the virus has managed to jump over the Atlantic: the FBI is getting involved, looking into allegations that Murdoch?s papers tried to hack the phones of 9/11 victims.

This isn?t the investigation under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that Eliot Spitzer was calling for, although that might well come next. Both of them would normally seem like a bit of a stretch ? it?s far from clear that anybody at News


Complete Story »

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User: Adam Zuckerman

Malin Akerman Melissa Joan Hart Bianca Kajlich Giulianna Ramirez Ashley Greene

VMware CEO Paul Maritz Talks About the Cloud Monster, Microsoft and More! (Video)

VMware CEO Paul Maritz has his hands full trying to keep the lead in the hyper-competitive virtualization space, as more and more businesses move into the cloud.

He talks about the complexities and the competition with companies like Microsoft, where -- irony alert -- he was a former top exec and is often mentioned as the best candidate to be its next CEO.

Mischa Barton Jamie Lynn Sigler Stacy Keibler Rihanna America Ferrera

Another Sign of Struggles on the Job Creation Front

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta submits:

By Dave Altig, senior vice president and research director at the Atlanta Fed

Hot on the heels of the bleak employment report for June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics yesterday released another important bit of labor market information: the May Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (pdf), commonly known as JOLTS. Calculated Risk accentuated the positive:

"In general job openings (yellow) has been trending up?and job openings increased slightly again in May?and are up about 7% year-over-year compared to May 2010.

"Overall turnover is increasing too, but remains low. Quits increased again and have been trending up?and quits are now up about 10% year-over-year (usually a sign of more confidence in the labor market)."

The hires and quits angle was noted at Modeled Behavior as well, but at Zero Hedge Tyler Durden isn't in the mood for even muted optimism:

"There was nothing to smile about in today's May


Complete Story »

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User: Adam Zuckerman

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Viral Video: Fake Steve Jobs Hawks Tea in Taiwan

No, really.

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User: ahandrock

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10 Wednesday Afternoon Reads

Here’s what on my Instapaper ? Blaming Fannie for Crash Gives Banks Free Pass (Bloomberg) ? Foreclosure fraud investigators forced out at Florida’s attorney general’s office (Palm Beach Post) ? Comparing Deposit Interest Rates Worldwide (Deposits) ? What if the Right and the Left Are Both Wrong About Why the Economic Recovery Is So Slow? [...]

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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

20 Tonnes Added to SPDR Gold Shares ETF

Tim Iacono submits:

It has been almost six months since the holdings of the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) have risen by 20 or more tonnes in a single day, but that?s what happened today. As shown below, since George Soros sold most of his GLD holdings


Complete Story »

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15 Accidentally Awesome Inventions

Inventions often happen by accident when scientists, or sometimes even regular people, are looking for one thing and end up finding another. Like when Nicholas Cage tried to make a fantasy movie and instead ended up with a hilarious ironic comedy.... Read more

Maggie Gyllenhaal Foxy Brown Ivana Bozilovic Cristina Dumitru Cat Power

User: Phalanx13

Charisma Carpenter Hilarie Burton Kelly Carlson Sara Foster Natassia Malthe

God Save the Queen: The Arianna Invasion of Britain Begins!

The U.K. version of the Huffington Post, which has been expected, went live today.

It is the site's first major international expansion beyond North America (Canada was first).

And, while the content is aimed at the audience there, it will still have the usual HuffPo mix of saucy news, videos and blogs.

Except with a charming British accent.

Saira Mohan Brittny Gastineau Ashley Tisdale Rachel Blanchard Sienna Guillory

Steve Ballmer's Dr. Hyde and Mr. Jekyll

Whenever I know Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is going to speak at a major public event, I get two feelings at once: Excited anticipation that the chances are high that he'll say something controversial and dread that the chances are high he will say something, well, controversial.

Ashley Greene April Scott Mia Kirshner Elisabeth Röhm Lily Allen

Small Business Networking Secrets

Networking is a hugely important part of your small business whether online or off. No matter what you do or how you do it, networking helps you find partners, suppliers and customers for your business. Done right, networking can be the key to your success. Done wrong, it can be cause of your failure. Here are some resources aimed at helping you improve your networking today.

Networking 101

Networking at conferences like a champ. Forget about Facebook and Twitter. There’sRead More

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Networking Secrets

Adrianne Palicki Amanda Righetti Michelle Branch Melissa Howard Samantha Mumba

10 Business Execs Suspected of Murder

People say business is a cutthroat world, but some executives have been known to take this a bit too literally. Capitalism is a tough game, and to be a truly successful executive, you have to have a ruthless personality, often straddling the... Read more

Maggie Grace Luján Fernández Charli Baltimore Denise Richards Jennifer Sky

Top Gmail Apps and Plug-ins for Running a Business

Gmail has been popular with small businesses because it?s easy, affordable and has a lot of functionality. But you really aren?t getting everything you can out of Gmail until you start taking advantage of some of the many third-party apps that make Gmail even more powerful. Some Gmail apps require a download; others plug into the Web version.

Gmail

Regardless, if you find yourself spending a lot of your workday in Gmail, check out these apps that willRead More

From Small Business Trends

Top Gmail Apps and Plug-ins for Running a Business

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User: Adam Zuckerman

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User: Airton.Coelho

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CloudPlayer.me to Resurrect 11-Year-Old Battle with RIAA

Since the start of 2011, top technology companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft have been ramping up efforts to push consumers on their cloud computing services. Before we continue, I'm sure some of you are wondering what the "cloud" is. Polls... Read more

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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

User: Suwandi B

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User: Aidamina

Carla Gugino Ana Hickmann Mischa Barton Jamie Lynn Sigler Stacy Keibler

Distressed House Sales using Sacramento data

Aisha Tyler K. D. Aubert Sara Spraker Alexis Bledel Kim Kardashian

Bank Failure #51: Signature Bank, Windsor, Colorado

Brooke Burke Thandie Newton Liz Phair Aaliyah Katherine Heigl

R.E.M.?s ?Lifes Rich Pageant? Turns 25 Today

XFM reminds us that one of my favorite bands, R.E.M., is having its 25th anniversary of their breakout album, Lifes Rich Pageant. It is getting the full Expanded & Remastered treatment, according to Paste. The band?s fourth album, Lifes Rich Pageant re-release date is today (July 12) for the album?s 25th anniversary. A special 2-disc [...]

Hilary Duff Lake Bell Amerie Rachel Bilson Karen Carreno

Schedule for Week of July 10th

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Tread Lightly Until the EU Panics

Emerging Money submits:

By Tim Seymour

Take this with a grain of salt, but from a trading perspective, it is time to adopt a somewhat defensive approach as long as Europe remains unsettled. As we pointed out yesterday, you should be taking some profits and trading lightly on your positions at this point. Keep it nimble, in other words.

I know that there is a place where you could see a strong comeback in emerging markets and EEM back on the rise:

But I do not think we are quite at that point. The bottom line is that there is no way to know what will happen if Greece defaults or Italy or any other country


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The "Fred Wilson School Of Blogging"

Tom Anderson, the Tom we were all friends with on MySpace, wrote a guest post on TechCrunch suggesting that there is a "Fred Wilson School Of Blogging." I'm not sure about a "school" but I do have some points of...

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David Walker: GOP Being ?Very Unreasonable?

~~~ Source: GOP Being ?Very Unreasonable?: Could Lose House Over Debt Ceiling Debate, Walker Says Peter Gorenstein Daily Ticker, July 11, 2011 http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/gop-being-very-unreasonable-could-lose-house-over-161941104.html

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The Only Reason to Participate in Social Media

The Only Reason to Participate in Social Media

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

The Only Reason to Participate in Social MediaThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Plain and simple, the real reason to participate in any marketing activity, including Facebook and others, is to generate a customer. That point of view gets overlooked in favor of the “see how many fans you can get” social media game. One [...]

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Merger Mania in the Brazilian Air Travel Market: A Net Positive

Valuentum submits:

As long-time followers of Valuentum know, we're not too fond of airline stocks. Essentially, we view them as merely a speculative bet on the trajectory of economic growth and the direction of jet fuel prices. But while the price of black gold remains largely out of airline executives' control, it's hard not to like the economic growth prospects of the Brazilian air travel market, which has been on a tear during the past several years thanks in part to heavy discounts on fares offered by low-cost carriers such as Gol (GOL). Plus, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, both to be held in Brazil, will serve as temporary and abrupt stimulants for air travel demand toward the middle of this decade. The "Gol Effect" as outlined below is quite remarkable ... and all of this expansion is despite the country's strained air travel infrastructure.

[Click all to enlarge]


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User: antongenis

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Monday, July 11, 2011

Weekend Favs July Nine

Weekend Favs July Nine

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Weekend Favs July NineThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is [...]

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AAR: Rail Traffic soft in June

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Small Business Loans for Entrepreneurship

Business lending continues to be listed as a key reason small businesses are struggling in the recovering economy. But how true is the assertion? This roundup looks at the latest efforts to correct the situation�and at the realities involved. Take a look:

News

Small business loans on the horizon. Six banks are receiving funds from the U.S. Treasury Department aimed at the small business sector. The funding includes $30 billion in small business loans which, it is hoped, will spurRead More

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Loans for Entrepreneurship

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Staring Down China's Inflation Dragon

EconMatters submits:

China?s inflation jumped to its highest in three years with its consumer price index surging 6.4% year-over-year in June. The spike has been fueled by escalating food prices despite the central bank?s effort to tame inflation by pushing up the RRR (Reserve Requirement Ratio) for commercial banks six times this year, while raising interest rates five times since September, most recently on July 6.

Inflation Hinges on Hogs

Food prices, which weight about 30% of the CPI basket, climbed 14.4% from a year earlier, and the price of pork, in particular, increased 57.1% year-on-year, and 11.4% month-on-month and is the engine behind the runaway consumer inflation train, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics and reported by China Daily.

Pork, a staple of the Chinese diet, hit a new high in June due to rising costs and short supply. One analyst based in China warned that price


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ETF Spotlight: iPath Sugar ETN

Tom Lydon submits:

Assets: $64.2 million.

Objective: The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Sugar ETN tries to reflect the Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Subindex Total Return, which is a sub-index of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return and provides returns that are potentially available through unleveraged investments in sugar future contracts.

Holdings: The fund provides exposure to sugar as measured by the Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Subindex Total Return.

What You Should Know:

  • SGG has an expense ratio of 0.75%.
  • The fund is an ETN. ETNs are debt instruments backed by the full faith and credit of the issuer. They follow an underlying index or product and anyone can buy them. Since they are debt instruments, if the issuer goes bankrupt, you become another creditor and you?ll have to get in line.
  • The S&P rates the ETN?s issuer at AA- and

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More Europe

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Bank Failures #49 & 50 in 2011

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Get a Free Business Book in Audio ? Hurry!

Barry Moltz, author of three small-business books and a long-time contributor here at Small Business Trends, is doing a small business survey on software that you use to run your business.

He’s asked for help from this community to gather some information.� He’d like you to take the survey and to thank you, he’s giving away a full audio copy of one of his books.

Could you please take a few minutes to complete his survey?� TheRead More

From Small Business Trends

Get a Free Business Book in Audio – Hurry!

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This Week In Startups

A few weeks ago Jason Calacanis stopped by our new offices and recorded an episode of This Week In Startups. It was a fun chat, almost an hour long. My audio is not as good as the audio on Jason...

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Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 418,000

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Another One Bites the Dust: Yahoo Shares Dip as Einhorn Sells Off Stake

It all started off so well.

But not for long, in the case of David Einhorn's high-profile hedge fund Greenlight Capital, which today dumped an investment it made earlier this year in Yahoo on high hopes of the value of the Internet giant's stake in China's Alibaba Group.

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Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 418,000

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Sunday, July 10, 2011

6 Notable Stocks That Posted Losses on Friday

alex shadunskyAlex Shadunsky submits:

The list of stocks tumbling was large on Friday with the market seeing extensive selling, but here are six of the notable ones.

Autoliv (ALV) tumbled 11% after the company provided additional information in regards to its antitrust issues. As previously disclosed, Autoliv ASP, a company subsidiary, on February 8, 2011 received a grand jury subpoena from the Antitrust Division of the DoJ requesting documents and information as part of a long-running investigation into possible anti-competitive behavior among certain suppliers to the automotive vehicle industry, including Autoliv; and on June 7-9, 2011, representatives of the antitrust authorities of the European Commission (?EC?) visited two facilities of Autoliv BV & Co KG, a company subsidiary in Germany, to gather information for a similar inquiry.

The DOJ and EC investigations are still ongoing. It is likely that, for the reporting periods in which the related liabilities become estimable or the investigations are


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User: agusqua

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Day 3: Zynga Holds Tech Reporters Hostage in Endless IPO Watch

No, really, today Zynga will file for an IPO.

Okay, tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow.

Good lord, the S-1 filing for the online gaming phenom is going to drop in the middle of the Fourth of July BBQ, isn't it?

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Changing Failure to Wins with Business Efficiency

Just because your business isn't running as efficiently as it could doesn't mean that you can't tweak your procedures to turn it into a well-oiled machine. By paying close attention to where you're wasting time and money, small changes can make... Read more

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Fanhattan, the iPad Navigator: The Full D9 Demo

With the piles of entertainment content available on the Apple iPad, it makes sense that someone was going to try to make sense of it.

That would be Fanhattan, which is aiming to be an overall navigator for the popular tablet device, browsing across site such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and iTunes.

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QOTD: Keep Calm and Carry on, Twitter!

In any case, I hope Google+ succeeds. Given the blog posts saying this will kill Tumblr, Twitter, Foursquare, etc, you might wonder why I feel that way. Well first, I don’t think competitors kill companies and services. I think the vast majority of “deaths” are self inflicted. – A VC Fred Wilson, on the newest [...]

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Why I'm Rooting For Google+

The day Google+ launched, I sent a friend at Google who was involved in building the service an email requesting an invite. I got the invite late that day and started playing with the service. Here's my profile. I'm not...

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Bank Failure #51: Signature Bank, Windsor, Colorado

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Lousy Labor Report, Debt Limit, London & CNBC

Lousy Labor Report, Debt Limit, London & CNBC July 9, 2011 David R. Kotok Cumber.com > The worries over Greece have receded temporarily. That angst is replaced with fears of a slowing US economy and a developing possible double-dip recession in the second half of 2011. Friday?s employment report iced this cake. Two things are [...]

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More Employment: Return of the Teen! and Unemployment by Duration and Education

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Do Markets Correct? Reviewing Your Policies

James Gornick submits:

Time to review your Insurance Policy for these turbulent markets moving ahead into 2012. Have your nest eggs been protected? Have you fine-tuned your portfolio in the event of a severe market correction?

Review your options--literally

Using ETFs and certain stocks, you can hedge the indexes or sectors providing prudent buying of put options. Below you will find a list of ETFs from Dorsey Wright and Associates Research. Using options to buy your protections in a market wanting to go higher over these past three weeks of trading seems crazy (right).

Get to know how to use options to insure your positions. Outright Options can be found deeply discounted due to the volatility creeping back into the backdrop of oversold and when issues become overbought. It seems this market is giving both in these past few weeks.

The majority of traders who are new to options can understand the workings

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Survey: Small Business Hiring in June a "Bust", but hiring plans turn positive

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Saturday, July 9, 2011

On Optimistic Forecasting

I told BR last week that it was highly likely we’d be seeing the graphic highlighting Team Obama’s botched unemployment rate forecast after the NFP was released on Friday.� After all, it’s been a monthly staple for Obama critics.� Sure enough, via John Mauldin’s post right here at TBP, we get the very graphic in [...]

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What Happened to the Jobs?

What Happened to the Jobs? By John Mauldin July 7, 2011 > So How?s That Stimulus Thing Working Out? This Time Is Different Vancouver, New York, and Maine > The US jobs report came out this morning, and it was simply dismal. This week we look at not only the jobs report but also ?what-if? [...]

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Target: Ideal for Dividend Growth Portfolios

Selling Theta submits:

I. Company Overview

Per Google Finance: Target Corporation (TGT) operates Target general merchandise stores with an assortment of general merchandise and food assortment. Its expanded food assortment includes some perishables and some additional dry, dairy and frozen items. In addition, it operates SuperTarget stores with general merchandise items and a full line of food items. Target.com offers an assortment of general merchandise, including many items found in its stores and a complementary assortment, such as extended sizes and colors, sold only online. It operates two segments: Retail and Credit Card. The retail segment includes all of its merchandising operations, including its integrated online business. The credit card segment offers credit to qualified guests through its branded credit cards, the Target Visa and the Target Card. In addition, it offers a branded Target Debit Card (collectively REDcards).

II. Capitalization

Target has a very attractive capital structure. The company has a moderate


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What Happened to the Jobs?

What Happened to the Jobs? By John Mauldin July 7, 2011 > So How?s That Stimulus Thing Working Out? This Time Is Different Vancouver, New York, and Maine > The US jobs report came out this morning, and it was simply dismal. This week we look at not only the jobs report but also ?what-if? [...]

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Viral Video: "Apollo 18? -- In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream

For those who love space travel, which is most geeks, this upcoming movie looks like it would put anyone off dreams of landing on the moon.

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God Save the Queen: The Arianna Invasion of Britain Begins!

The U.K. version of the Huffington Post, which has been expected, went live today.

It is the site's first major international expansion beyond North America (Canada was first).

And, while the content is aimed at the audience there, it will still have the usual HuffPo mix of saucy news, videos and blogs.

Except with a charming British accent.

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User: Adam Zuckerman

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How Much Money To Raise

Image via Wikipedia I spent some time yesterday talking to an entrepreneur about this topic and I thought I'd share what I told him with everyone. When your company is growing really fast, doubling employees year over year, adding users...

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4 Ways to Engage Your Customers in Your Green Efforts

It?s great to be a green business. But even better is being a green business with customers who are highly passionate about your sustainability initiatives.

Many of today?s popular ?green? brands ? think Seventh Generation or Whole Foods ? have found ways to get their customers involved with their environmental good work, whether it?s offering free parking spots to hybrid drivers or giving tips on how to be eco-friendlier at home. This is certainly not a quick process, but ratherRead More

From Small Business Trends

4 Ways to Engage Your Customers in Your Green Efforts

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QOTD: That Said, Damning Google+ With Oldster Demo Praise

Google+ fills a void between public and private, it serves what is likely to be an older demo less interested in hooking up or hipstering out and more interested in the social utility it provides. A VC Fred Wilson, in a later part of the same post on social networking companies.

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Another One Bites the Dust: Yahoo Shares Dip as Einhorn Sells Off Stake

It all started off so well.

But not for long, in the case of David Einhorn's high-profile hedge fund Greenlight Capital, which today dumped an investment it made earlier this year in Yahoo on high hopes of the value of the Internet giant's stake in China's Alibaba Group.

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Survey: Small Business Hiring in June a "Bust", but hiring plans turn positive

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