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Amazon ventures into fan fiction promotion

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:39:36 -0400

WASHINGTON - Amazon, the largest online retailer of books, movies, music and games, Friday offered its Kindle e-book platform to fan fiction authors to sell some of their work. Fan fiction is literature inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games. Publication outside of blogs and online fanzines is often difficult because of copyright issues. Amazon Publishing has ...

Being Professionally Well Rounded Is Generally A Formula For Being Mediocre

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:42:09 -0400

In a work environment, you've probably heard the phrase, "Concentrate on improving your weaknesses." It's actually quite common in many corporations. The goal is to become professionally well rounded. It's also a great way to be mediocre. And it's almost certainly a ...

Return of the Opportunity Entrepreneur

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:40:12 -0400

small businesses . It was a bittersweet accomplishment for many new moms and pops, who became known as necessity entrepreneurs. Now five years later as the recovery gains traction, new data shows the tables have turned. Instead of necessity-driven new businesses, more U.S. entrepreneurs are launching ventures based on perceived opportunities, growth ambitions and a broad optimistic outlook--a ...

2 freight trains collide injuring 7 report

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:27:56 -0400

Emergency responders view the damage from an overpass that collapsed Saturday after two freight trains collided at a rail intersection. The collision injured seven people ignited a fire and triggered the collapse of the overpass they were passing under dispatcher ...

Apple 1 breaks auction record goes for $671400

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:26:02 -0400

One of what's thought to be only six working Apple 1 computers -- hand-built by Steve Wozniak -- flies out of a German auction house for a tidy sum. The last one went for ...

Protesters march against Monsanto in 250 cities

Sat, 25 May 2013 12:42:13 -0400

LOS ANGELES -- Protests against seed giant Monsanto are getting under way across the U.S. and in dozens of other countries."March Against Monsanto" organizers say they're calling attention to the dangers posed by genetically modified food and the companies that produce it. Protests are planned in more than 250 cities Saturday.Genetically modified plants are grown from seeds ...

Google Glasss 1 Fan

Sat, 25 May 2013 12:38:49 -0400

TED talk and interview in March, Google co-founder Sergey Brin described a motivation for the new product. 'We questioned whether you should be walking around looking down' at a smartphone, he said. Instead, the company's designers asked, 'Can we make something that frees your hands' and 'frees your eyes?'" Until now, the debate pretty much has focused on ...

Microsoft knuckles under yanks YouTube app for Windows Phone

Sat, 25 May 2013 12:37:05 -0400

Computerworld - Microsoft has bowed to pressure from Google and pulled the YouTube app from its Windows Phone Store that earlier this month triggered a cease-and-desist letter from the search giant. The two companies will instead collaborate on a YouTube app that abides by the Google-owned video site's terms of service. "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new ...

How CEOs Can Beat The Clock 5 Tips From HPs Meg Whitman

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:42 -0400

(Photo credit: Wikipedia) When you're running a company like Hewlett-Packard, with $120 billion in revenue and operations in more than 100 countries, there's never enough time to get everything accomplished. But HP's chief executive officer, Meg Whitman, has developed a wide range of ways to beat the clock. Having also run eBay in the late 1990s, when it was a tiny, fast-growing ...

The Digital Health Dialogue--Crafting Language And Visuals That Your Innovation Deserves

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:41 -0400

Talk about arthritis with most people my age and you'll get little or no traction. It's usually 'not our disease'. But change the dialogue from arthritis to bone health and everything changes. Bone health is relevant and important. And you get the response that marketers long to hear: TELL ME MORE! It works on the clinical side too. Some of you might remember the term ...

Apples Jony Ive To Dump Skeuomorphic Design In iOS 7

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:41 -0400

This isn't a great surprise to be honest. The gossip coming out of Cupertino has for years been saying that Jony Ive really doesn't like skeuomorphic design: whatever the opinions ...

10 Ways To Get Ready For Summer Road Trips

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:41 -0400

Mapquest and Google Maps make it look so easy. In reality, traffic, construction and personal considerations mean you have to back extra time into any itinerary. Be honest: how much can you actually stand to be behind the wheel each day? For many people, eight hours is plenty. Others prefer to grit their teeth and drive straight through. Remember, the summer sun is bright and hot, which can ...

Apple Loop Macs Made In Texas iOS 7 Goes Black And White Microsoft Mocks Siri

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:41 -0400

Washington , D.C. this week to address a bi-partisan Senate subcommittee that criticized the company for using tax loopholes and keeping the majority of its cash overseas to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes. Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. John McCain had harsh words for Apple in their opening statements and in the report assembled by the committee's staff detailing why Cook and co. ...

Friday Box Office Furious 6 Earns $39m Hangover 3 Nabs $14.5m Epic Grabs $9m

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:40 -0400

in the film's credits) opened on Friday with a massive $39 million, including $6.5 million in advance-night screenings. That tops the $3.6 million midnight haul and $34 million opening Friday ...

White House Agrees DOMA Should Be Repealed But Dianne Feinstein Not A Traitor

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:40 -0400

WASHINGTON - MARCH 16: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) listens during a news conference on gay marriage on Capitol Hill on March 16, 2011 in Washington, DC. Feinstein and sixteen other Democrats introduced a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) Given how excited people get about taxes, it is surprising ...

Googles Excellent Plan To Bring Wireless Internet To Developing Countries

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:38:40 -0400

is working on various technologies to bring wireless internet access to a number of developing countries. This is an absolutely excellent plan and one that we should be applauding. But not necessarily for what it will do to Google itself: rather, for what it will do to those developing ...

Meet the new champ of desktop speakers Adam Audio F5

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:22:05 -0400

ARTist 3 , took me by surprise last year. That little speaker is still in the line, but when I learned Adam just introduced a less expensive, but slightly larger desktop ...

Sony Microsoft or Nintendo Were In A Console Rut

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:39:31 -0400

week's Xbox One announcement . The "best" part of the hour long presentation was near the beginning, when it was demonstrated that the Xbox could flip seamlessly between television and the console with a simple voice or gesture command. The audience cheered as the screen flipped forward between a game and TV, and it did feel vaguely futuristic. But when you stop and think about ...

Relax Your Memorial Day Fashion Guide Is Here

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:39:31 -0400

Here at Style Offline I will offer occasional investment advice (this is Forbes, after all!) though I'll focus on fashion, not funds or finance. In that vein, I've upgraded skinny white jeans to a "strong buy". It's all about Memorial Day... You are likely looking forward to relaxing over the long weekend and perhaps you have plans with colleagues to get together once or ...

Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG Civilians shouldn’t salute

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:25:08 -0400

Mercedes-Benz-s G63 AMG is a squared-off brute that's just the ticket for expeditions or war zones, but it leaves a lot to be desired on normal highways, says Dan ...

Star Trek II producer talks Ceti Eel J.J. Abrams and more

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:23:09 -0400

Robert Sallin, producer of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," shares his experience working on the film, looks at the future of "Trek," and dishes on whether that was Ricardo Montalban's real ...

Who Owns Organic Brands And Why You Should Care

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:39:27 -0400

organic brands lining the shelves of your local supermarket or natural foods store are no longer independently owned. Popular brands, like Boca Burgers (owned by Mondelez, formerly known as Kraft) or Kashi (owned by Kellogg) were actually acquired years ago (both in 2000). Now other seemingly more local or small scale brands like Peet's Coffee (now owned ...

Fun Facts For Roadtrip Season Why Were Using Less Gasoline Than Ever

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:39:27 -0400

(Photo credit: Wikipedia) Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the summer driving season. It's the weekend of the Indianapolis 500, and -- if you happen to be in the jet set -- of the running of Formula One's Monaco Grand Prix. There's no better time to take measure of the state of America's love affair with the automobile. And no better way to celebrate that with a ...

Creation Science Hall Of Fame Granted 501 Status

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:39:27 -0400

The Creation of Adam (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The adventures of Kent Hovind, a/k/a Doctor Dino, in Tax Court and other parts of the legal system have gotten me involved in following developments in Creation Science. Tax bloggers have all been breathlessly following the saga of the IRS Cincinnati gang that couldn't sort straight and the topic of who else the IRS might be picking on has ...

On Memorial Day Remembering The Athletes Who Died Fighting For Our Country

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:39:26 -0400

Pat Tillman, the former safety for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals who enlisted with the Army Rangers after 9/11, may be the most famous professional athlete who died while fighting for the United States in a war. But there have been a handful of others. Below, their ...

Minneapolis Housing Supply and Demand Hits Magic Numbers

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:28:18 -0400

When houisng supply demand seems magical ';With homes selling in half the time it took to sell a year ago, buyers must be both decisive and prudent. Advice with contract terms and negotiations is where the expertise of a Realtor shines for both buyers and sellers.'; ~ NAR President Gary ...

NewsWatch Can Marissa Mayer leave those crazy kids alone

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:24:09 -0400

How should Yahoo's Marissa Mayer, a CEO in her late thirties, manage a millennial like Adam Karp, the idealistic founder of Tumblr? Very carefully, writes John ...

Beware the coming of the Google Glass photographer

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:21:58 -0400

Grovo offer a glimpse into a horrifying future. An obnoxious, photo-obsessed Glass owner gets all up in everyone's grill to record everything with many, many blinks of the eye. I'd love to say this is all just hyperbole for the sake of getting a laugh, but then I think of the guy shouting at a person on speakerphone in the library, or the number of phone conversations had by people ...

Cars With The Highest Theft Rates

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:36:22 -0400

According to data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 8.61 out of 1,000 Ford Shelby GT sports cars produced were ultimately stolen during ...

Big Pharma Learned The Wrong Marketing Lesson

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:36:22 -0400

, their performance is less than stellar. True marketing leaders must innovate continuously to stay ahead of the market, by creating needs, rather than only responding to them. To them, marketing begins with choosing which products to develop and ends with the sales process. That is what Google has accomplished with Google Glass. With the advent of the Information Age, marketing has been ...

Four Tips for a Successful Online Apartment Search

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:36:21 -0400

relocating and looking to find your apartment online, the search process is a little different than taking a jaunt around the neighborhood. With the help ...

What The Ascent Of Valeants CEO The Anti-Art Levinson Means For Pharmas Future

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:36:21 -0400

profile of the "low-key, high-tech biotech" touched on the free cappuccino, wacky Halloween parties (including current UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann dressed as Snow White), and onsite day care, before getting to the heart of the matter. "Genentech's secret, anybody will tell you, is its culture." Employees were drawn to Genentech by the opportunity to work with ...

The Most Subscribed-To YouTube Channels

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:36:21 -0400

7 millionSmosh is now the most-subscribed to channel on YouTube with 7 million subscribers. Here is a look at the channel's competition. All numbers are ...

This Housing Recovery Has Legs Michael Santoli

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:25:54 -0400

existing home sales surged to their highest level in more than three years. There is some bad news mixed in with all of these housing numbers, April housing starts recently plummeted from a 48-month high and applications for home mortgages dropped for the second week in a row. So will the housing recovery continue and spread, or slow ...

Manufacturers Hope SCOTUS Takes Up The Case Of The Smelly Washer

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:31:40 -0400

mandated new efficiency standards for washing machines in 2001 , manufacturers responded. They retooled their factories to sell new front-loading washers, which use half as much water as their top-loading counterparts. There's only one problem with front-loaders, which just about anybody who owns one can tell you: They can stink. Because they use less water and consumers tend to shut the ...

Philadelphia Soul Owners Taking Arena Football League To China

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:31:39 -0400

Arena Football League from the league. I sat down and chatted with Jaws (please see video at end of this post) this past Wednesday during a break at the Rothman ...

How To See What Others Dont

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:31:39 -0400

Seeing What Others Don't is not only the title of new book by Gary Klein, it is also a mantra that can make you successful. Let's deal with the book first and then my assertion. Although I have never met him, I have been a fan of Klein for years. He is a very smart guy who is a senior scientist at MacroCognition and he begins his latest book with a simple formula. Performance ...

Post Tornado Insurance Rates May Rise

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:29:32 -0400

tornado in Moore, Okla., is fixing to expand its reach. While insurance companies don't try to raise rates solely on the basis of a single storm or disaster, a series of disasters can push them to seek higher rates where the events took place. The past five years have seen numerous significant tornadoes, and with the Moore tornado coming shortly after several other serious ones ...

Danica Patrick From Race to Sponsorships

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:29:31 -0400

The Indy 500 runs on Sunday, and then there is the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Nascar driver Danica Patrick will be racing. Patrick discusses how she prepares for a long ...

US dollar rises on Taipei forex ends a days high of NT$30.030

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:29:16 -0400

TAIPEI -- The U.S. dollar rose against the New Taiwan dollar Friday, gaining NT$0.005 to close at the day's high of NT$30.030 behind central bank intervention, dealers ...

49ers Harbaugh to drive Indy pace car

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:15:25 -0400

San Francisco 49ers football coach Jim Harbaugh has been selected to drive the Indianapolis 500's pace car Sunday, a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette ...

Slide Show The 2014 Bentley Flying Spur

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:15:24 -0400

The sedan version of the Bentley Continental, the 2014 Bentley Flying Spur, drops its Continental moniker but remains three tons of air-conditioned, quilted-leather land-missile. According to Autoweek, the 6.0-liter W12 engine now produces 616 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, doled out in a 40/60 front/rear split by the all-wheel-drive system. A 110-pound weight reduction over the outgoing Flying Spur ...

Robert Powell How to know if you have enough to retire

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:15:24 -0400

Odds are high that you haven't saved enough money to retire in the manner in which you desire. That's the bad news. The good news is that you can easily gauge just how close or far away you might be. And the first to thing to check is how much you have set aside for ...

General Motors and Deloitte Touche in $303 million securities class action

Sat, 25 May 2013 04:34:42 -0400

A securities class action brought against General Motors (GM) by German’s DekaBank has led to a cash settlement of $277 million. In one of the biggest shareholder recoveries of 2008, the settlement will be paid to shareholders following an alleged misstatement of the auto company’s financials dating back to 2000. GM’s outside auditor, Deloitte & Touche, is ...

Microsoft office goes cloud to join cloud war with Google Docs

Sat, 25 May 2013 04:29:21 -0400

The war on cloud intensified as Microsoft Office announced its decision on Tuesday to go cloud in an attempt to compete with its immediate but not last competitor, Google Docs.Microsoft holds a virtual monopoly on office productivity software. Most computer users in the world use the Office software for word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and other purposes. However, Microsoft Office faces ...

Audra McDonald Releases New Album Appears In Nationally Televised Solo Concert

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:31:38 -0400

televised concert , featuring selections from the album, on PBS' Live from Lincoln Center. She talked recently at the New York office of Nonesuch, her recording company, about her work, influences and ...

5 Steps to Making a Sale Through Social Media

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:24:45 -0400

An integral part of the sales process is getting to know your prospects and establishing relationships—and it turns out that social media can help you accomplish this quickly and easily. Follow these steps to make sales using social ...

Microsoft Reveals The Xbox One

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:24:44 -0400

Microsoft promises the Xbox One will be more than just a game console, but a "living room" with a TV tuner and cable box. Users will be able to switch between watching TV and gaming instantly through the Kinect ...

New Research Social Media Trends For Marketers In 2013

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:24:44 -0400

Social Media Examiner has just released its annual Social Media Marketing report. It reveals some interesting data about this year's social media marketing trends. The entire report is available for ...

Ed OBannon Case Against NCAA Will Gain Herculean Steam If Tim Tebow Johnny Manziel Join Lawsuit

Fri, 24 May 2013 22:18:11 -0400

Tim Tebow seems to always be smiling, but will the NCAA and EA Sports also be smiling if he joins the Ed O'Bannon class-action lawsuit? In the immortal words ...

Stalking the wildly cute koala

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:17:11 -0400

Opening just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the San Diego Zoo's new Conrad Prebys Australian Outback exhibit has twice as much space as the old koala exhibit, with room for bulldozing wombats, cackling kookaburra and snoozy wallabies. Not to mention more koalas and many more places to watch them do what koalas ...

Slacker Internet radio picks up the pace

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:17:11 -0400

Internet radio outfit Slacker detected a touch of gray in its service last year. The retro/biker dashboard player for Web and mobile listeners essentially had gone unchanged since the San Diego company was founded in ...

Market Snapshot Bears cite performance chasing as stocks rise

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:13:03 -0400

"My experience is when managers are overly focused on performance on a near-term basis, and worried they're missing out, it means they're buying stocks for the wrong reasons," said Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital ...

Source Xbox Ones Heart-Sensing Tech Not Microsofts Idea

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:09:30 -0400

has baked into the forthcoming Xbox One is the new Kinect sensor's ability to read your heart rate, which it does optically using a system similar to (or even based ...

Del Negro Firing Decision Making Process

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:09:30 -0400

Los Angeles Clipper Head Coach Vinny Del Negro, who had the most successful tenure of any Coach in Clipper history, was fired this week by owner Donald Sterling. How does unparalleled success lead to termination? Was it the intervention of star players with the owner that led to his downfall? The Clippers have had a long and inglorious history filled with losing. Since the 1976-77 season, played ...

Do iFarts Not Stink Coping With Tech Envy In The Valley

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:09:30 -0400

TOS . Safe to say, a pharma executive facing this committee would have had a very different experience. It could well be that Cook's tax reform suggestions are good ones, and that all CEOs, including pharma leaders, deserve intense Congressional grilling. Even so, there's still a conspicuous differential between the way we think about (at least some) tech companies, and how we view ...

Farewell and Good Bye

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:09:29 -0400

Service Always remember that the world of business, and it's very purpose, is about serving others; it's about taking good care of employees and providing a marketable wage with benefits to buy homes, food and the necessities of life. It's about exceeding customer expectations with valued products and services that go beyond the mark. It's about giving back and sharing ...

Haswell chip primer How Intel pinches power

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:57:55 -0400

(Credit: Intel) How serious is Intel about battery life on its next processor? Very. On Thursday, the world's largest chipmaker hauled out two chip experts to brief journalists on how Intel's fourth-generation core processor, aka Haswell, reduces power consumption and boosts battery life. Intel is claiming a 50 percent improvement in battery life for devices using Haswell ...

IRS exempt unit faulted for group scrutiny in past

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:53:06 -0400

under scrutiny for targeting conservative groups has been faulted previously by the Treasury Department's inspector general for an array of problems, from delayed processing of files to chronic understaffing to inadequate ...

Crave Ep. 122 When the moon hits your 3D-printed pizza pie

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:50:49 -0400

This week on Crave, NASA wants to 3D-print a pizza, and one man plays the guitar during his own brain surgery while another captures a terrifying BASE drive with his helmet ...

HTC One Google edition Its real and coming in summer

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:50:49 -0400

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) The HTC One will indeed get the Nexus treatment. HTC will sell a Google Edition version of its flagship One smartphone with the ...

After San Onofre ruling nuke-safety group presses advantage

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:09:00 -0400

Spurred on by a ruling on the significance of safety problems at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the international environmental group Friends of the Earth has redoubled efforts to establish trial-like public hearings on a proposal to restart the power ...

Coast Highway improvements nearly complete

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:08:58 -0400

A nearly yearlong overhaul of Coast Highway 101 in Solana Beach is heading down the home stretch, and local merchants -- at least those who survived a drastic drop in business during the construction -- couldn't be ...

Top Ten MarketWatch’s top 10 stories May 20-24

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:05:18 -0400

-2.61% shares soared after the company reported financial results that outpaced analyst expectations, but those analysts warned that the "turnaround" tale at the high-tech giant may not have a happy ...

Samsung Debuts The New Galaxy S IV

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:01:41 -0400

People interact with the Samsung Galaxy S IV, March 14, 2013 in New York City. Samsung, the world's largest handset maker, revealed their successor to the Galaxy S III. The Galaxy S IV features a five-inch 1080p screen, a 1.9GHz quad-core processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera and ships with the latest Android version, Jelly ...

Is Sony Worried About Falling Android Sales or the Strength of Samsung

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:01:41 -0400

Sony's lowered estimates for their smartphone sales during the 2014 fiscal year. Originally pencilled in as 1.8 trillion yen, they Japanese company have dropped this to 1.5 trillion yen. What has brought this on? Samsung. The Xperia range of Android smartphones has been making steady improvements, with the current flagship Xperia Z proving to be a solid mid to high end handset. I found the ...

Twitter Amplify Turns Up the Volume On Dual-Screen Advertising

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:01:41 -0400

Sponsored tweet shows instant NBA replay preceded by a short commercial Twitter is creating a new way to make money for itself and media partners with a service called "Twitter Amplify. On ...

Microsoft still stamping out used games fire

Fri, 24 May 2013 19:57:58 -0400

Xbox reveal , though the company did not unveil every bit of information that customers were waiting for. For instance, we still do not know pricing or release date. However, the biggest urbanlegend in circulation -- that of used games -- is under attack from the console maker. On the day of the big reveal, Larry Hrybtook to his blog to assure users "While there have been many potential ...

Bidder buys $1.5 million space date with Leonardo DiCaprio

Fri, 24 May 2013 19:43:08 -0400

How much would you pay to get locked in a spaceship with DiCaprio? At an auction to benefit AIDS research, a man buys three days of training and a trip to suborbital space with the "Gatsby" ...

Top UCSD center named Qualcomm Institute

Fri, 24 May 2013 19:02:14 -0400

A University of California San Diego institute that's emerged as a leader in finding better ways for people to communicate, stay healthy and protect the environment was named Friday after its largest benefactor, chipmaker ...

Trustee opposes $20M payout to American Air CEO

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:59:17 -0400

The Justice Department says a proposed $20 million severance payment for the CEO of American Airlines is too big and should be rejected.The proposed merger of US Airways Group Inc. and American calls for American's current CEO Tom Horton to lose that job and become chairman. American has proposed severance pay of almost $20 million, along with lifetime flight benefits.The objection filed ...

Stocks to Watch Stocks to watch Tiffany United Natural Foods

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:58:55 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tiffany & Co. and United Natural Foods will be among the stocks to watch Tuesday after the three-day holiday ...

Too Far Too Fast

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:55:18 -0400

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images A prediction: With stocks up nicely year-to-date, we'll soon see myriad headlines warning us stocks have come too far, too fast, and we should "lock in our gains," take our bat and ball and go home. A few things. This notion stocks have come too far, too fast is built on a faulty premise that stocks ought to deliver more measured returns. ...

How To Be A Real Leader - Even When Youre In A Fake Environment

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:55:18 -0400

hard to be authentic as an executive: there are many forces pushing you to be guarded, even deceptive; to pretend to be someone you're not, or to do things that you don't believe in. And then there's the complication that, even though authenticity has become such a popular word in business, and most people tout it as a desirable attribute...nobody really defines it. So let's ...

Asias Week China Still on Flu Watch

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:55:18 -0400

Qingdao, for a while, grew to the sky. (Photo: Wikipedia) While Asia basked another week in generally favorable economic winds-minus that little 7% stock squall in Japan in Thursday, whatever that was about-there remained an undercurrent of worry about China. ...

The Supreme Court Must Stop The Trial Lawyers War On Innovation

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:55:18 -0400

U.S. Supreme Court building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) By Theodore H. Frank If courts want to discourage innovation in America - or to persuade overseas companies to avoid introducing their new products here - they could do no better than to permit the kind of suit the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether or not to review next Thursday, May 30th. The case is ...

The E-Cat Testing Team Real or Ringers

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:55:17 -0400

The comments to my recent post concerning the "independent tests" of Andrea Rossi's low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) system called the E-Cat make for interesting reading and both here and in other forums the report has been sliced and diced. Amongst the main criticisms of the report are the claims that the testers were not as independent and qualified as many critics would have ...

Irregular Income Heres How To Budget

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:55:17 -0400

Successful budgeting tends to depend on two things: careful planning and a steady income. The first, anyone can do. The second isn't so simple. If you're self-employed, you might be asking yourself: "But I don't have a regular paycheck coming in. Can I even set up a budget? Should I bother?" You can. And, yes, you should. ...

Metals and agricultural futures prices slip energy futures end mostly lower

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:53:38 -0400

Metals prices ended slightly lower Friday, as did agricultural futures. Crude oil ended the week down 2 percent as traders worried about global demand and shared the stock market's concerns about possible changes to the Federal Reserve economic stimulus program. Gold for June delivery fell $5.20 to $1,386.60 an ounce. Other metals prices also fell. July silver fell 1.2 cents to $22.496 an ...

Energy Stocks Energy stocks fall end week off 0.5

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:49:45 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks fell Friday, ending the week with a loss of 0.5% as gains earlier in the week cushioned heavy losses in recent trading ...

Big Marketing On A Small Budget

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:45:28 -0400

Four or five times a year, we get calls from entrepreneurs, inventors mainly, looking for marketing help. As far as I can tell, that's about average for a small marketing agency. Recently, we heard from a vibrating shoe man, a couple with a terrific new home-schooling program and a woman with a new Luxury Magazine but no circulation! Naturally, they all had small (very small) marketing ...

Hard Times For Trolls As Vermont Sues Patent Mill Over Demand Letters

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:45:27 -0400

(Photo credit: Wikipedia) It has to be one of the strangest consumer-fraud complaints ever: The attorney general of Vermont has sued a Texas lawyer for threatening to sue businesses when he had no intention of suing anybody. ...

Will She Or Wont She D.C. Holds Breath As IRS Official Is Called Back To Testify After Pleading The Fifth

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:45:27 -0400

), Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, would recall Lois Lerner, Director of the Exempt Organizations Division at the Internal Revenue Service. He advised as much on yesterday when Lerner possibly (keep reading!) pleaded the Fifth rather than testify at a Congressional hearing into allegations that ...

Work Free Weekend Does it Still Exist

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:43:28 -0400

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer and all it evokes: vacations, slower workweeks, casual dress codes, getting the pool ready and pulling out the outdoor furniture. It would seem an ideal time to take a break, but our ability to unplug and relax is under assault. A three-day weekend? We can barely get through three waking hours without working, new research shows. The average ...

Stocks barely budge market ends week with loss

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:40:58 -0400

President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to award Congress' highest civilian honor to four girls killed in an Alabama church bombing during the civil rights movement. He called it a tragic loss that "helped ...

How the Dow Jones industrial average and other major indexes fared Friday

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:35:06 -0400

Major stock indexes closed out their first weekly loss in a month in quiet trading Friday. Both the Dow and S&P 500 had their first weekly losses since the week ending April 19. A disappointing manufacturing report out of China and a sharp fall in Japan's stock market rattled investors' nerves this week. But anxiety over the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program was the main ...

Tech Stocks Salesforce Google losses hit tech stocks

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:29:28 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A sharp drop in shares of Salesforce.com sparked a slump across the corporate-software-vendors group and led the broader tech sector into the red ...

Microsoft refutes reports about Xbox One used game sales

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:27:07 -0400

Xbox One unveiling Tuesday, gamers have wondered how Microsoft will handle the resale of used games for the system. In the absence of a clear answer, speculation and rumors have flooded the Web. Microsoft is now telling gamers that the speculation and rumors aren't true. But it's not saying what the new policy will ...

Why arent more homeowners selling

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:44:16 -0400

The share of San Diego County borrowers who are underwater on their mortgages continues to fall due to home-price gains, says a recent analysis from real estate website Zillow. So why aren't more homeowners freed from negative equity listing their homes in this supply-constrained ...

Oil ends week down 2 pct on tepid demand outlook

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:40:46 -0400

NEW YORK -- The price of oil fell 2 percent this week, as oil traders worried about global demand and shared the stock market's concerns about possible changes to the Federal Reserve economic stimulus program.The loss Friday was just 10 cents, to $94.15 a barrel. But four straight losses resulted in a weekly decline of $1.87 a barrel for the benchmark oil contract.The global economic ...

Investors shift focus to growth stocks

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:39:19 -0400

NEW YORK - Growth stocks, neglected at the start of the year, are starting to get a bit of love from investors again.The best returns in the Standard & Poor's 500 index over the past month have been posted by technology companies. Industrial companies as well as banks and insurers are also performing better. By contrast, gains for utilities and consumer staples companies - safe-play ...

Government creditors object in CODA bankruptcy

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:39:18 -0400

DOVER, Del. - Attorneys for the federal government and unsecured creditors have filed objections to electric car maker CODA Holdings' bankruptcy plans.Court papers filed Friday argue that CODA's bankruptcy financing and sale plans unfairly benefit a group of debtors seeking to acquire the company.Lenders led by a Fortress Investment Group affiliate are proposing a credit bid of $25 ...

Microsoft Cleared of Xbox Patent Violation

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:38:14 -0400

Motorola Mobility, which is owned by Google, had asked the US International Trade Commission in 2010 to halt the import of the device due to the alleged patent violation. The case was part of a broader patent war between the companies. Microsoft claims that phones running Google's Android software violate its patents, while Google says ...

Unexpected Health Insurance Rate Shock-California Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:36:46 -0400

English: Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Every now and again, a political pundit is required to stand up and admit to the world that he or she got it wrong. For me, this would be one of those moments. For quite some time, I have been predicting that Obamacare would likely mean higher insurance rates in the ...

787 Delays Continue To Boost Airbus

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:36:46 -0400

As Boeing resumes 787 deliveries and returns the current fleet of 50 Dreamliners to service, attention has focused on what kind of reception the jet will receive. Boeing's battery fix didn't identify a root cause of the two high-profile overheat incidents; Boeing is merely installing a battery cell isolation and containment system to reduce the likelihood of such an event and to contain ...

China Considers Luxury Tax

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:36:46 -0400

Luxury products have become an important niche in the booming China consumer story. And as part of the country's tax reform plans this year, they could get hit with the first ever luxury tax, said Kong Jingyuan, a director-general at the National Development and Reform Commission. The guidelines for tax reforms were published by the Central Government on ...

Rivaroxaban Gains Approval In Europe For ACS Indication

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:36:45 -0400

) has been approved in Europe for the prevention of atherothrombotic events (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction or stroke) following an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The drug was approved at a dose of 2.5 mg twice-daily and should be used in combination with standard antiplatelet therapy. Rivaroxaban is now the only oral anticoagulant to receive an ACS ...

Why Googles Display Ad Business Drew FTC Antitrust Probe

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:36:45 -0400

probe of its display-ad business . This comes as little surprise to anyone who has been watching the search advertising giant's quiet but steady rise in the past few years in the business of placing banner and video ads on websites. But it's also no sure thing that this probe will go any further than the last one. According to ...

Lafley at PG Ullman at Penney When Does It Make Sense to Rehire the CEO

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:36:45 -0400

Steve Jobs and Harold Schultz have carried it off brilliantly Yesterday Procter & Gamble made the surprise announcement that A.G. Lafley, 65, who successfully ran the 175-year-old Cincinnati consumer products company from 2000 to 2009, would resume the top job, replacing CEO Bob MacDonald, who took over from Lafley. Activist ...

Fast-Money Crowd Dumped Cray Good For Us