Posted by Paul Thompson on January 16th, 2012
The White House has responded to two petitions about legislative approaches to combat online piracy. In their response, Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff stress that the important task of protecting intellectual property online must not threaten an open and innovative internet.
COMBATING ONLINE PIRACY WHILE PROTECTING AN OPEN AND INNOVATIVE INTERNET
By Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra, and Howard Schmidt
Thanks for taking the time to sign this petition. Bot
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Posted by Christina Lopez on January 11th, 2012
The mining and quarrying sector was the major recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) into South Africa in 2009, followed by the manufacturing and financial sectors, according to the latest South Africa Survey, to be published by the South African Institute of Race Relations next week.
A comprehensive section on the composition of both local and foreign investment is included in the survey.
FDI in the mining and quarrying sector as a proportion of total FDI stock as opposed to flow increased from 5.7% in 1989 to 33.4% in 2009.
Meanwhile, investment in the manufacturing sector decreased from 47% in 1989 to 27.9% in 2009 and investment in the financial sector increased from 26.5% in 1989 to 39.3% in 2000, and subsequently decreased to 27.1% in 2009, according to the data sourced from the South African Reserve Bank.
South African FDI in African countries in 2009 amounted to R116-billion, with the largest proportion being held in Mauritius (42.6%), followed by Mozambique (5.5%).
FDI flows to South Africa decreased by 71% from $5.4-billion in 2009 to $1.6-billion in 2010, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development World Investment Report 2011.
Foreign direct investment flows to South Africa as a proportion of gross fixed capital formation decreased from 14.5% in 2008 to 8.4% in 2009, and to 1.9% in 2010, despite increased flows to developing countries as a whole. Read more…
Posted by Christina Lopez on January 9th, 2012
Hartford’s rock bottom commercial real estate market is attracting investors looking for a sweet deal on office buildings.
Among the interested shoppers is the state of Connecticut.
While many state and local governments have considered selling property in recent years to generate short-term revenue, Connecticut is seeking to purchase a large office building as part of a new long-term strategy to consolidate its leased space holdings into state-owned property, sources say.
Last year, the state quietly put out multiple requests for proposals asking Greater Hartford and other Connecticut landlords for offers on buildings with more than 100,000 square feet of space.
Sources say the state has looked at several significant downtown Hartford properties including the 556,000-square-foot Connecticut River Plaza, which is currently undergoing an $8.5 million renovation. <
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Posted by Paul Thompson on January 4th, 2012
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If you’ve ever been stuck at home during the day, The Price is Right has already come and gone, and you weren’t desperate enough to watch General Hospital, odds are you saw quite a few “As Seen on TV” ads. Some of these products seemed genuinely useful in the alterna-world of infomercials where people seem incapable of opening jars or hanging clothes without a specialized tool. Hell, some of us even bought one or two of these products (I love you, Slap Chop). But God help you and have mercy on your progeny if you were the type of person who impulsively bought these things that initially seemed useful, and then later you still thought were useful — because you are obviously mentally ill. The rest of us, however, should stay away from some of the worst of these products, things like:
Famously known as The Boob Apron, the Cami Secret is the only as seen on TV product that could potentially ignite World War III if it ever saw widespread use. This is due to the fact that oogling tits comprises somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-100 percent of a man’s daily happiness. Ask a (straight) man whether he’d rather live in a war-torn post-apocalyptic hellscape, or live in a world without boobs, and you will understand the fragile underpinnings that hold society in place that the Cami Secret is trying to make even more flaccid.
Fortunately for men, women and the future of humanity in general, the Cami Secret is not only a terrible idea, it’s a straight-up shitty product. In an Internet where the average rating is 4.4-5.0+++!!!!OMGWOULDBUYAGAIN, the Cami Secret nets a kiss-of-death three stars on average at Amazon. Browsing through the comments, it seems like the most common review consists of “This product works really well as long as I don’t do anything but sit perfectly still all day”. Though perhaps men shouldn’t hate on the Cami Secret so much, given its tendency to slip out with the slightest gust of wind. After all, experts speculate that the remaining 40 to 0 percent of men’s happiness that is not derived from boobs, comes from secretly rooting for nip slips.
Designed for people who hate their dogs and also like to kick kittens and small children (allegedly), the Barkoff emits a high-pitched whistle every time it detects a bark. Sort of like the canine version of Dr. Evil’s “sh!”, this is supposed to aggravate and annoy you
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Posted by Christina Lopez on January 1st, 2012
The British government’s plan to reduce its borrowings appeared to be on track in November, official figures showed Wednesday, even as the country’s economy remains threatened from the debt crisis in Europe, rising unemployment and weak domestic growth.
The Bank of England’s rate-setting body said it expects to see some economic recovery in late 2012, but warned that volatility in the 17-nation eurozone could dent Britain’s growth.
Minutes of the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee showed that all nine members voted to keep the benchmark interest rate at the all-time low of 0.5 percent and to maintain the monetary stimulus at 275 billion pounds ($433 billion).
The rate-setters, who are tasked with keeping inflation around the 2 percent level, said they expected price pressures to ease quite dramatically next year from 5 percent in October, largely because the factors that drove prices higher in 2011, including higher sales taxes and energy prices, drop out of the annual comparison.
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Posted by Paul Thompson on December 29th, 2011
If there’s one piece of advice I’d offer to any entrepreneur starting out, it’s this: Never discount—no matter how much you may be tempted to— always look instead to add value.
Many seasoned entrepreneurs discount as a way of doing business, without ever really looking at their numbers or the real costs of cutting their prices. They’ll point to “discount” success stories like Wal-Mart or complain that the competitive landscape forces them to cut prices. While Wal-Mart, one of the great retail success stories of all time, has built its brand on low prices, most business owners don’t see the very real distinction between “low price” and “discount.”
Related: Death by Coupon
First off, a company like Wal-Mart knows every margin to the “nth” degree and can deliver low prices because it has created scalability based on the huge volume of products it sells. But very few companies have s
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Posted by Samantha Martinez on December 28th, 2011
So what are the key points for small firms and what do they spell for real businesses?
The circus surrounding the new government has worn off and now they mean business, but while we wait for the emergency Budget on 22 June, there are signs that small businesses will greatly benefit from the new policies.
Last week we covered the expert response to the new government and how the changes could affect small businesses. Now, with the coalition deal signed, the future of UK business is looking more promising.
From the scrapping of the one percent increase in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to an increase in employer National Insurance thresholds, the proposals for small firms are coming thick and fast.
There will be cuts to regulations and a review all small business taxation to make it easier for people to start and maintain healthy businesses.
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