Category: News and Views

Your Data for a Donut: The Price of Paying With Your Phone | Wired.com

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Among the many cravings your smartphone can satisfy, add fat, sugar and caffeine to the list.

Dunkin’ Donuts’ new mobile payment app released today lets you set up an account and pay by scanning an on-screen barcode at the checkout counter. As with Starbucks’ popular mobile app, the system works like a glorified gift card. You can add money to your account by feeding the app your credit card information, and in the case of the Dunkin’ Donuts app you can send gift cards to friends. The Starbucks app tracks your purchases and rewards frequent buyers with free drinks.

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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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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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Japanese Women Fall to No. 2 in Life Expectancy | LiveScience.com

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credit: takayuki, shutterstock

photo credit: takayuki, Shutterstock

For the first time in more than 25 years, Japanese women are not considered to have the longest life expectancy across the globe, losing out to Hong Kong, according to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Japanese women’s life expectancy at birth dropped from 86.30 in 2010 to 85.90 in 2011, while men dipped from 79.55 in 2010 to 79.44 in 2011, according to the ministry of health. For Hong Kong, life expectancy at birth in 2011 for females was 86.7 years, while for males it was 80.5 years.

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