Month: August 2012

Solar Power Allows Luxury Yachts To Cruise In Silence | Wired.com

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For luxury yacht owners, switching to solar power isn’t about saving money on electricity costs. It’s about silencing a noisy generator that threatens the tranquility of a cruise off the coast of Saint-Tropez.

That’s why the Ned Ship Group and STR Europe have partnered on plans to build a pair of extremely luxurious multihulls that combine solar cells with either electric or hybrid powerplants. A 65-foot catamaran can be used as either a private yacht or well-appointed ferry, while a 131-foot trimaran will feature a pool and several entertainment areas.

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5 Tips to Help You Take Advantage of Happy Hour | genxfinance.com

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What’s there not to love about Happy Hour?  It gives you a chance to wind down after work, sample food from area restaurants, and enjoy discounted drinks ranging from bottled beer to cocktails.  Despite what you may think, not all Happy Hours are created equally.  In order to fully appreciate and enjoy this type of promotion, you need to keep a few things in mind to be sure you’re really getting a deal, otherwise you could end up being lured into the restaurant with the promise of a good deal while actually spending more than you intended.

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Why Is Memory So Good and So Bad?| Scientific American.com

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istock/Barbara Dudzinska

What did you eat for dinner one week ago today? Chances are, you can’t quite recall. But for at least a short while after your meal, you knew exactly what you ate, and could easily remember what was on your plate in great detail. What happened to your memory between then and now? Did it slowly fade away? Or did it vanish, all at once?

Memories of visual images (e.g., dinner plates) are stored in what is called visual memory. Our minds use visual memory to perform even the simplest of computations; from remembering the face of someone we’ve just met, to remembering what time it was last we checked.

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How to Find and Attract Customers | BusinessNewsDaily.com

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New business owners might feel the world has all gone online in recent years and that the high-tech landscape has changed the very nature of the entrepreneurial game.

While there is some truth to that, the old adage that “the more things change, the more they stay the same” also applies to hooking new customers.

Winning customers for your business is an art that requires a deft hand. It demands market research, sensitivity, and effective decision-making to lure new customers and keep them coming back. The same applies whether you’re operating an online marketplace or a storefront, Martin Lehman, a retail clothing industry veteran, told BusinessNewsDaily.

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Why I Tearfully Took Down My Pinterest Inspiration Board | DDK Portraits

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There is a lot of buzz around Pinterest. One of the core concepts is that you don’t promote your own work, but instead build inspiration boards using other peoples’ materials. This would be all good and fine, except it runs smack into copywrite law and an iron clad ‘terms of use’ that makes you, the user, solely liable for any infringement, intentional or other wise.

In a lengthy article, the author explores the legal trap Pinterest has set for it’s users:

Being both a photographer who loves Pinterest (and admittedly had some really great “inspiration” boards full of gorgeous work from other photographers) and a lawyer who, well, is a lawyer, I decided to do some research and figure this out.  And what I discovered concerned me.  From a legal perspective, my concern was for my own potential liability.  From an artist’s perspective, my concern was that I was arguably engaging in activity that is morally, ethically and professionally wrong.

Continue reading “Why I Tearfully Took Down My Pinterest Inspiration Board | DDK Portraits” →

Weekly Economic Report | LAEDC

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THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:

BofA Says Libor Probe Draws U.S. Subpoenas on Submissions | Businessweek

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Regulators have queried at least a dozen banks worldwide about their roles in setting Libor, the most widely used benchmark for interest rates, affecting more than $360 trillion in financial products. U.S. prosecutors are preparing to file charges later this year against traders from banks involved in a bid-rigging scheme to manipulate Libor, a person with knowledge of the case has said.

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Last-Gasp Ways to Revive a Struggling Small Business | AllBusiness.com

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Business bankruptcies swelled by more than half in the depths of the recent recession, a statistic that masks a world of heartache for the owners of businesses that didn’t make it. Many still struggle to hang on as the fledgling recovery strengthens. Some will survive, while others will be forced to close their doors, absent some last-minute miracle.

When your company faces an uphill battle that seems almost insurmountable, it can be hard to choose between reviving it and closing it for good. But if you follow these steps for small business CPR, you’ll at least know you did everything you could.

1. Find the Problem

Once-thriving businesses can fade away for a variety of reasons. Sometimes competitors take their customers. That’s what happened to U.S. automakers when foreign brands arrived. Other times, markets change but the business doesn’t. That’s what happened to buggy-whip manufacturers when people turned to cars.

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Fact or Fiction? You Must Drink 8 Glasses of Water Daily| Scientific American

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Virtually every health-conscious person can quote the recommendation: Drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water per day. Other beverages—coffee, tea, soda, beer, even orange juice—don’t count. Watermelon? Not a chance.

There’s no denying that water is good for you, but does everyone really need to drink 64 ounces or more every day? According to Heinz Valtin, a retired professor of physiology from Dartmouth Medical School who specialized in kidney research and spent 45 years studying the biological system that keeps the water in our bodies in balance,

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