Weekly Economic Update | LAEDC

August 31, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:

Corporate Profits Up Again in Second Quarter 2011
California Home Sales Up in July
California New Home Construction Declines in July
Nonresidential Construction – Up 12.8% in July
Airport Figures
Bank Profits: In the Black Again!
First Drop in Number of Problem U.S. Banks Since 2006
Global Economic Monitor
Events of Interest

August 31, 2011: Global Economic Insights: The Financial Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Debt-Laden U.S. and European Economies
September 29, 2011: Los Angeles NABE Luncheon with Dr. Marcy Zwelling, Economist and Healthcare Professional
SAVE THE DATE! November 3, 2011: The 16th Annual Eddy Awards®
November 10, 2011: 23rd Annual Southern California Visitor Industry Outlook Conference

iPad scammers swindle $180 from South Carolina woman – latimes.com

August 31, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

Examine your purchases carefully. Thanks to Dan Williford for the article. – Ed.

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Education Management Corporation Accused of Widespread Fraud – NYTimes.com

August 30, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

The complaint said the company had a “boiler-room style sales culture” in which recruiters were instructed to use high-pressure sales techniques and inflated claims about career placement to increase student enrollment, regardless of applicants’ qualifications. Recruiters were encouraged to enroll even applicants who were unable to write coherently, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs or who sought to enroll in an online program but had no computer.

Yet another example of why we should privatize education – Ed.

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Brains And Bots Deep Inside Yahoo’s CORE Grab A Billion Clicks | Fast Company

August 30, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

The company started work on a powerful personalization algorithm four years ago. Now it’s paying dividends. The system generates 45,000 totally unique versions of the Today module every five minutes. (All five screenshots in this post were taken within minutes of each other, using different Yahoo accounts.)

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The vanishing checkout lane: will today’s point of sale satisfy tomorrow’s retail customers? | usfst.com

August 30, 2011 ~ lmehit ~ Leave a comment

The retail point of sale is fundamentally changing. It is moving from traditional checkout lines to wherever the customer may be: shopping on the Internet, walking a store’s aisles, traveling or lounging on the beach. Are you prepared for what this means to capturing and retaining customers?

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Police Say They Can Detain Photographers If Photographs Have ‘No Apparent Esthetic Value’ | Techdirt

August 30, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

Apparently the police in Long Beach, California, have a policy that says if a police officer determines that a photographer is taking photos of something with “no apparent esthetic value,” they can detain them.

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Long Beach was my hometown for about 20 years and I can tell you it’s not a good idea to mess with any cop in that town – Ed.

It’s Time to Purge the Word Entrepreneur | Duct Tape Marketing

August 30, 2011August 30, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

I believe there are really only two kinds of small businesses – healthy ones and unhealthy ones.

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‘Torrent of abuse’ hindering ME (chronic fatigue) research | BBC

August 11, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

“It’s direct intimidation in the sense of letters, emails, occasional phone calls and threats,” says Professor Simon Wessely, of King’s College London, who has received a series of death threats and threatening phone calls, and now has his mail routinely scanned for suspect devices.

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Groupon’s Revised S-1 Offers Hints At Its Profitable Future | Fast Company

August 11, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

The coverage of Groupon’s revised S-1 filing Wednesday mostly focused on the deep red numbers splashed across the company’s balance sheets. And rightly so. Because as much money as the company is bringing in, it’s still a ways from making a profit.

And yet, sprinkled among the revisions to the document were other interesting tidbits–ones that speak to where the company is going. And, if looked at in the right light, they could hint at a more promising future than some might think.

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