EU accuses Google Shopping of search ‘abuse’ – BBC News

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The European Union has filed a complaint against Google over its alleged anti-competitive behaviour.

The competition commissioner said she had issued a “statement of objections”, stating that the firm’s promotion of its own shopping links amounted to an abuse of its dominance in search.

Margrethe Vestager said Google now had 10 weeks to respond.

The firm said it “strongly disagreed” with the allegations and looked forward to making its case.

Ms Vestager also revealed that she had launched an investigation into whether the way Google bundled apps and services for its Android operating system was unfair.

And the commissioner said the EU would continue to monitor other activities by Google that its rivals had complained about.

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A Business Owner’s Act of Kindness Inspires the Internet, Sparks Larger Campaign | Entrepreneur

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In Oklahoma City, a sandwich shop called P.B. Jams is serving up some kindness — and it’s being noticed in a big way.

Last week, owner Ashley Jiron saw signs that someone had been going through the dumpster for a meal — closed bags had holes ripped in them and food looked like it had been removed. Rather than put out mousetraps or call the authorities, she posted a sign on the door reminding whoever was doing this that they are a human being that is worthy of eating food that wasn’t tossed in the garbage. She offered them a free peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a side of veggies and a glass of water for free, no questions asked.

A snap of the message quickly went viral.

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Infographic: Millennial, Gen X and Baby Boomer Device Preferences | Adweek

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Each generation uses digital differently to consume content and shop for products and services, and marketers need to understand these differences to target their desired audiences on the devices they are most likely to be using.

Millward Brown Digital surveyed more than 1,000 consumers in three generations (millennials, born after 1980; Generation X, born 1965-1980; and boomers, born from 1946-1964) to see how different age groups favored different screens for various activities.

“What the data demonstrates is that even with our advanced knowledge of digital today, advertisers and marketers can’t make assumptions about how various demographics and targets are using digital devices and mobile to access content,” said Joline McGoldrick, research director at Millward Brown Digital. “It is easy to stereotype and say the best way to reach millennials is on mobile, but that is not always true. As the analysis shows, device usage varies from generation to generation based upon what the activity is. There needs to be a more granular understanding of how activity and type of content dictates preferences for screen usage in order to make a truly effective and efficient marketing strategy.”

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15 Companies That Paid Zero Income Tax Last Year (Despite $23 Billion In Profits) | Co.Exist

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downloadOnly small businesses pay taxes. Big companies often pay nothing at all.

Think that’s an exaggeration? Look at a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington, D.C. group. It finds that some of nation’s most famous brands have paid remarkably little to the government over the last five years. In fact, many actually enjoyed a negative tax rate: They received a nice rebate check from the U.S. Treasury.

The 15 giants highlighted by CTJ were chosen to represent a wide range of industries among Fortune 500 companies. They include CBS, Mattel, Prudential, and the California utility PG&E. Together, they paid no federal income tax in 2014, despite profits totaling $23 billion. CTJ’s point is that these companies are not anomalies, they are examples.

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The Cost of Feeling Secure and Feeling Stressed | The Simple Dollar

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downloadSarah and I have a large emergency fund by almost any standards. If everything collapsed, we could live for more than a year simply on our cash reserves without touching any of our other investments. That’s a huge emergency fund.

So, why do we have such a big fund? Why not invest some of that money and have a smaller cash reserve?

The simple reason is that it leaves us feeling more secure. Knowing that if everything fell apart we have enough cash on hand to survive for more than a year makes us feel very little stress regarding our finances and our day to day life. If the stock market takes a dive or if something else like that happens, we’re still good to go.

This sounds appealing, of course, but it has a real cost.

As I’ve noted before, the average American family budgets for about $50,000 per year. We actually budget for quite a bit less than that, even with three children. For ease of calculation’s sake, let’s say our annual budget is $30,000 (it’s a nice, even number that’s pretty close to our actual number, which is an odd figure).

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5 Benefits of Switching to a Paperless Office | BusinessTips.com

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paperlessIf you’ve been to a thrift store recently, you might have noticed a surplus of briefcases. Lots of people are getting rid of briefcases because they’re relics of a time before laptops, iPads, and smartphones ruled the workplace.

Briefcases made sense in the era when you hauled dozens of papers to work each day, but that era is over. So why hasn’t your business made the shift away from paper? There are dozens of benefits of a paperless office. Here are five of the most important:

1. You’ll diminish your environmental impact. A single sheet of paper might seem innocuous, but its production requires an incredible amount of energy. The papermaking process is resource-intensive. After trees are harvested — usually by machine — they’re taken to a factory and transformed into paper through a process involving harmful chemicals. The resulting paper is then bundled and transported to the front door of your office. Then it ends up in a recycling bin after it jams your printer.

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The Middle Class Is Worse Off Than You Think | Bloomberg View

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If you worry about the declining fortunes of the U.S. middle class, take heed: It might be worse than you realized.

Tracking the middle class can be difficult, because the group is hard to define. Typically, researchers look at households with incomes or net worth in the middle of the entire population. This approach, though, might provide a falsely rosy picture. It doesn’t, for example, capture the fates of families that start out in the middle and — due to a job loss or other setback — end up in the bottom.

Two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — William Emmons and Bryan Noeth — sought to address this shortcoming by focusing on households’ demographic characteristics, rather than income or wealth. Specifically, they looked at families whose breadwinner was at least 40 years old and had achieved a level of education that would typically allow a middle-class standard of living. Whites and Asians needed exactly a high-school diploma to qualify. For blacks and Hispanics, it took a two-year or four-year college degree — a stark recognition of persistent racial inequality.

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Why the middle class is still getting snared by the ‘wealth tax’ | Money Cnn

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You may vaguely recall that in 2012 Congress “fixed” the Alternative Minimum Tax — or what the Tax Policy Center dubbed “the epitome of pointless complexity.”

But that doesn’t mean the so-called “wealth tax” was simplified or eliminated.

The AMT is still alive and complicated. What lawmakers did was permanently tie the amount of income exempted from the AMT to inflation.

Those income levels, however, are still fairly low ($52,800 for singles this year; $82,100 for married couples filing jointly).

And the set of rules that governs what can and can’t be deducted under the AMT means it’s still hitting a fair number of people for whom it was never intended — those in the middle class and upper middle class.

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3 ways small businesses can use video marketing | Mashable

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In an age of ubiquitous viral photos and videos, 2015 is the veritable heyday of self-promotion.

Generation Y has become so adept at personal marketing — managing their personal brands everywhere from Twitter and Facebook to Instagram and YouTube — that they have turned the field into a form of entertainment and even surpassed small businesses in their ability to create a personal brand.

Despite brands’ ability to connect directly with consumers on Twitter or other social media platforms, only 22% of companies see the value of creating a personality for their brand marketing.

So why are young people so much better than brands and businesses at connecting with people online? The answer is simple: Individuals have learned to live and breathe their personal brands, whereas many professional marketers still view growing a brand as, well, a job.

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