Category: News and Views

Internet Should Be Open, No Fast or Slow Lanes, Obama Says | Bloomberg

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President Barack Obama called for the “strongest possible rules” to protect the open Internet, advocating stricter controls than a regulator he appointed and causing shares of Comcast Corp. CMCSA and other broadband providers to drop.

“I am asking for an explicit ban on paid prioritization,” Obama said today in a statement, referring to so-called fast lanes for preferred Web traffic. His comments tilt the White House against positions advocated by broadband providers and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.

Companies led by Comcast, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ and AT&T Inc. T argue that only light regulation is needed to ensure providers don’t block or slow Web traffic, and they say strict rules would squelch investment. Public policy groups want tough regulations that guarantee all websites are treated equally and can be accessed by people increasingly reliant on the Internet.

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Global Web Crackdown Arrests 17, Seizes Hundreds Of Dark Net Domains | WIRED

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When “Operation Onymous” first came to light yesterday, it looked like a targeted strike against a few high value targets in the Dark Web drug trade. Now the full scope of that international law enforcement crackdown has been revealed, and it’s a scorched-earth purge of the Internet underground.

On Friday, the European police agency Europol along with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security announced that the operation has now arrested 17 people in as many countries and seized hundreds of Dark Web domains associated with well over a dozen black market websites. In addition to the takedowns of drug markets Silk Road 2, Cloud 9 and Hydra revealed Thursday, it’s also busted contraband markets like Pandora, Blue Sky, Topix, Flugsvamp, Cannabis Road, and Black Market. Other takedown targets included money laundering sites like Cash Machine, Cash Flow, Golden Nugget and Fast Cash. And agents have taken from criminal suspects more than $1 million in bitcoin, $250,000 in cash, as well as an assortment of computers, drugs, gold, silver and weapons that they had yet to fully catalogue.

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The Dangers of “Free Fill” Programs | Gaebler

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In order to get your product into a new store or distributor, you are often asked to participate in a “free fill” program. Giving away product can be a high price to pay for a new customer. Make sure you’ve analyzed the cost-benefit before making this decision.

“Free fills” are programs in which suppliers provides a store or distributor free product to put on the shelf.

Stores and distributors expect their suppliers especially new suppliers to participate in these free fill programs. The idea is that the free product can be offered at a discount and entice customers to try a new product.

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Whole Foods Is Losing Its ‘Whole Paycheck’ Reputation | time.com/money

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Whole Foods is winning over customers based on the pitch that high food standards don’t necessarily have to come with high price tags.

In Whole Foods’ fourth-quarter results released on Wednesday, investors found out that total sales increased 9% year over year, while comparable-store sales inched up 3.1%—”in line with its expectations, but marking its worst growth rate in over four years,” the Wall Street Journal noted.

Nonetheless, investors were plenty pleased with the direction the company is going, sending Whole Foods shares up more than 10% early Thursday.

Investments aside, what’s most interesting for everyday shoppers about the results—and about Whole Foods’ plans going forward—is that the supermarket often dubbed “Whole Paycheck” for its high-end and high-priced selection is experiencing success in a broad initiative to lower prices.

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Study Shows Americans Believe Anything They’re Shown in a Chart | Businessweek

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chartAmericans, those healthy, often oblivious consumers of marketing, are perfectly happy to agree with whatever you tell them, as long as there’s a chart accompanying your statement, says new research and charts.

People were more likely to believe a description of a drug’s benefits when it was accompanied by a graph that added no new information, according to a study by Cornell University researchers published this month in the journal Public Understanding of Science.

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One Fugg Luggage for All Sizes | Coolbusinessideas.com

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Meet Fugu Luggage: the only suitcase that has the ability to adjust from the maximum carry-on size to the maximum check-in size. It also has features like a built in laptop case and foldable shelves to make travel as easy as possible for today’s traveler.  Its two shock-absorbent side walls inflate through utilizing either the built-in electric pump, breathing into a collapsible tube, or by attaching an external pump. Live on Kickstarter now.

See more cool business ideas.

Ampy Is A Wearable Spare Battery That Charges As You Move | TechCrunch

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It was surely only a matter of time before someone thought to capitalize on the current trend for wearables with a battery designed to charge via kinetic energy. And so meet Ampy: a spare battery pack, currently bidding for crowdfunds on Kickstarter, that straps to your person and, its makers claim, charges up from human movement, such as walking, running and cycling. So instead of just quantifying the number of steps you’ve taken you could convert those steps into stored charge in a lithium-ion battery pack to help juice up your mobile devices via USB.

It’s a nice-sounding idea in theory — if you don’t mind the thought of strapping a rather chunky battery pack onto your person and running around the streets — but, as with all crowdfunding projects, it pays to be a little sceptical of how effective it will prove in practice. And indeed whether it will make it to market at all. Hardware is always hard.

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Wall Street firm pushes for student loan forgiveness | Money Cnn

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One Wall Street firm has an idea that’s raising eyebrows: forgive some student debt for first-time homebuyers.

It’s too early to say exactly how the stimulus measure BlackRock BLK suggested would work, but it would take Congressional action because the federal government administers the majority of student debt.

The move could be a creative way to ease student debt, which has quickly become a $1.2 trillion Achilles heel in the American economy.

Millennials aren’t buying many homes. Mounting student debt may be part of the problem. “Fiscal policy initiatives targeted at young workers with high levels of student indebtedness might, perhaps surprisingly to some, have an outsize impact in supporting the housing recovery and financial markets,” Rick Rieder, co-head of Americas Fixed Income at BlackRock, wrote in a recent commentary.

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How Old Is Too Old to Start a Business? The Answer May Surprise You. Infographic | Entrepreneur

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Yes, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at 19. But Charles Flint launched IBM at 61.

While Hollywood may love the story of the college kid who starts a billion-dollar business out of his dorm room, that’s only one story. For many, life as an entrepreneur begins much later.

Consider: Legendary wedding-dress designer Vera Wang didn’t start designing clothes until she was 39. Home decorating goddess and business czar Martha Stewart didn’t get into home decorating until she was 35. And San Francisco-based angel investor and founder of business incubator 500 Startups Dave McClure didn’t invest in a single startup until he was 40. That’s all according to a pair of infographics, embedded below, created by startup organization Funders and Founders.

When it comes to launching a business, what a person may lack in youthful energy comes back multiplied in experience. Reid Hoffman started the ultra-popular career networking site LinkedIn when he was 36; Sam Walton started Wal-Mart when he was 44; and Joseph Campbell started Campbell Soup when he was 52.

Have a look at the two infographics below. Be inspired. And stop counting the grey hairs on your head.

See Infographic.