v.18 n. 54 – Released January 21, 2015
This Week’s Headlines:
- SoCal Home Sales and Median Prices in December
- December Retail Sales Disappoint
- Events of Interest
- February 18, 2015: LAEDC Economic Forecast Event Featuring Tourism and Hospitality
Category: News and Views
Windows 10 and its long list of features will be a free upgrade — for some | Mashable.com
Microsoft just took another big step toward the release of Windows 10 — and revealed it will be free for many current Windows users.
The company unveiled the Windows 10 consumer preview on Wednesday, showcasing many new features in the latest version of the operating system that powers the vast majority of the world’s desktop PCs. It also surprised the tech world with an ambitious take on virtual reality, called Windows Holographic, powered by a new kind of device called the HoloLens.
The developer preview has been available since Microsoft first announced Windows 10 in the fall, but it was buggy, limited in scope and very light on new features
Top business tips for 2015 | BBC News
As one calendar year draws to a close, and another is set to be begin, many business leaders are thinking about their challenges for the next 12 months.
They are weighing up any number of potential choices and factors; from expansion plans, to new products, whether to change suppliers, and how everything fits into the economic backdrop.
It is the time of year when forward planning comes to the forefront of people’s minds.
Here, 10 business leaders profiled in 2014 for the BBC’s The Boss slot, share their top tips on running or setting up a company in 2015.
Report: Google Closing in on SpaceX Investment | WIRED
Google may be in the final stages of investing in Elon Musk’s private space exploration company SpaceX, a move that would bolster SpaceX’s emerging satellite business and would help Google expand internet access around the world.
According to The Information, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the talks, the deal would value SpaceX at more than $10 billion, though the exact terms of the investment are still unclear. But at an event in Seattle last week where SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk first announced the new satellite venture, Musk gave some indication as to the epic scope of the project that lies ahead. He seeks to create a network of hundreds of satellites that could not only connect people on Earth to the web, but also people on Mars—if and when people get there. The total cost of such an audacious project? $10 billion.
How to Help Keep Disasters from Putting You Out of Business | Bloomberg
When a catastrophic event flattens part of your production facility or disrupts your supply chain, it’s easy to forget that the rest of the world is carrying on with commerce as usual—with or without you.
Just a few years ago, a U.S. supplier of ground beef ground to a halt after a devastating fire left its facility inoperable. The business owner had solid insurance coverage that helped keep the business afloat while its facilities were rebuilt, but what he didn’t plan for was the fact that his customers had to continue with their businesses. While the process of rebuilding his beef facility was underway, his customers were gravitating to other suppliers. When all was said and done, the business owner never won back his customers in sufficient numbers to reopen his doors.
As the now former beef supplier learned the hard way, the lack of a formal disaster recovery plan can prove fatal to your business. In the beef supplier’s case, such a plan could have included a pre-catastrophe arrangement with another business—perhaps even a reciprocal agreement with a competitor—to produce his products in the event his business suffered a prolonged shutdown.
How ‘Venture Builders’ are Changing the Startup Model | VentureBeat
If you haven’t yet heard of venture-builders — also called tech studios, startup factories, or venture production studios — let me introduce them to you: They’re organizations that build companies using their own ideas and resources.
Unlike incubators and accelerators, venture builders don’t take any applications, nor do they run any sort of competitive program that culminates in a Demo Day. Instead, they pull business ideas from within their own network of resources and assign internal teams to develop them (engineers, advisors, business developers, sales managers, etc.).
You’ll want to get used to the idea because we’re going to see a lot more venture-building organizations emerging.
If You Search Google, It’s Painfully Easy to See Why Google Glass Needs a Reinvention | Adweek
A simple Google search for “glass wearer” makes it abundantly clear why Google Glass as we know it is no longer available in the marketplace and is being moved under Nest founder Tony Fadell for an overhaul. Here are some of the top results:
“Another Google Glass Wearer Attacked in San Francisco.”
“Google Glass wearers can steal your password.”
“Google Glass wearer removed from AMC theater.”
“Google Glass wearer interrogated.”
“Google Glass wearer robbed at Taser point.”
“The revolt against Goggle Glassholes.”
And that’s just the first page of the results. Also, type “Google Glass wearer” into the search bar, and it will auto-fill these words: attacked, kicked out, assaulted.
This was the kind of attention that tarnished Google’s high-tech moonshot, an initially pure concept to bring the utility of mobile devices to glasses. But the world had other ideas, and despite a core enthusiastic group of Glass Explorers anointed by Google to test-drive the gadget over the past two years, the search giant said today it was rethinking the whole project. It would no longer selectively sell Google Glass, the company announced today. The Mountain View, Calif.-based giant had been asking $1,500 for the device.
Stressed Out? Social Media May Help Women Cope | Live Science
Face it, ladies: your DIY projects rarely turn out like the ones you see on Pinterest, and your Facebook posts aren’t universally “liked.” But a new survey suggests that despite such woes, social networking is still good for you.
The survey found that women who frequently use social media, along with other technologies, to connect with friends and family report feeling less stressed than women who connect less often.
Will Bitcoin ever rebound? | Money Cnn
If they handed out awards to financial assets like they did to movies, then Bitcoin would definitely be the winner of the Razzie for worst currency.
Bitcoin lost more than 60% of its value last year. The digital currency has already plunged another 30% in the first few days of 2015 — and that includes a 30% rebound on Thursday!
The price of Bitcoin (XBT) briefly fell below $200 on Wednesday, an important psychological barrier, before bouncing back.
Hiring the right people for the right position | Business tips
In my last article I mentioned my business mantra, “get the right people, in the right seats, doing the right things, at the right time, for the right reasons and you win! Don’t, and its struggle and strife.” I wanted to expand on each of those points, to further explain why each one is important and relies on the other to create the best outcome for your business.
The Right People
The first thing to consider when hiring someone is their attitude. Do they believe in your company, do they seem excited by it? Or are they just looking for a job, without any real connection to the industry or your company? If they fall into the second category then it’s best to keep looking. Equally important to attitude is trust and good character, integrity, and intention. This person takes ownership, accountability, and responsibility for themselves, their work, and their lives.
Dispatches From The Front 