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24 Jul 2009 11:05

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Biz, Tech: Small businesses make out like bandits on the Twitter bandwagon

  • I would love to say that I just had a really good idea and strategy, but Twitter has been pretty essential to my success.
  • Curtis Kimball • The owner of a crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, on how Twitter has managed to build his side business into something that no longer requires him to keep his day job. He’s not alone. In fact, Mashable recently ran a neat little feature on how food cart owners have been using Twitter to stand out from the pack. But even beyond that, small businesses are using the site to market goods, find related businesses to partner with and talk directly to consumers. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2009 10:41

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Biz, U.S.: The big question with minimum wage: Is now really the time?

  • Arguments for Much as with any wage increase, the biggest argument for is workers whose wage hasn’t kept up with the economic climate. The thinking, of course, is that if they get higher wages, they can afford a better lifestyle. source
  • Arguments for Much as with any wage increase, the biggest argument for is workers whose wage hasn’t kept up with the economic climate. The thinking, of course, is that if they get higher wages, they can afford a better lifestyle.
  • Arguments against Much as with any wage increase, the biggest argument against is the fact that the economy – specifically employers can’t support the wage increase. With high unemployment nationwide, this rings truer now than ever. source
  • Arguments for Much as with any wage increase, the biggest argument for is workers whose wage hasn’t kept up with the economic climate. The thinking, of course, is that if they get higher wages, they can afford a better lifestyle.
  • Arguments against Much as with any wage increase, the biggest argument against is the fact that the economy – specifically employers can’t support the wage increase. With high unemployment nationwide, this rings truer now than ever.
  • Who the law forgot The tip slave – whose livelihood is largely based on how much you jerks tip her for your Monte Cristo and fries – still only makes $2.13 an hour before tips. Now, tips can be a nice racket, but that’s a damn shame. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2009 10:29

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Biz, U.S.: Other notable numbers from the minimum-wage hike

  • 70¢ size of the increase in the national minimum wage – which is actually big enough to be felt source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2009 10:15

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Biz, U.S.: Today, the national minimum wage gets a kick in the pants

  • $7.25 the new ground floor of the minimum wage source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2009 10:03

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Biz, Music: Billboard gets a brain, finally starts handling their charts right

  • The dark ages Back in the day, Billboard kept its chart data close to its chest, preferring to share it just with music industry folks. It was really A&R folks only: If you wanted to know what was happening on the lower reaches of the chart, it would cost ya an arm and a leg. source
  • The dark ages Back in the day, Billboard kept its chart data close to its chest, preferring to share it just with music industry folks. It was really A&R folks only: If you wanted to know what was happening on the lower reaches of the chart, it would cost ya an arm and a leg.
  • Seeing the light Billboard, apparently realizing what the rest of the music industry already has, has opened up its entire chart history to the public for free. Realizing it’s a huge draw for music sales if used right, they’ve also partnered up with Lala to sell the tunes, too. source
  • The dark ages Back in the day, Billboard kept its chart data close to its chest, preferring to share it just with music industry folks. It was really A&R folks only: If you wanted to know what was happening on the lower reaches of the chart, it would cost ya an arm and a leg.
  • Seeing the light Billboard, apparently realizing what the rest of the music industry already has, has opened up its entire chart history to the public for free. Realizing it’s a huge draw for music sales if used right, they’ve also partnered up with Lala to sell the tunes, too.
  • Brilliant move? It’s entirely possible Billboard could still screw this up, in our humble opinion. They’ve made some big mistakes in the past regarding when and where to charge for their content, and if they make these same mistakes again, music fans won’t be happy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2009 09:47

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Biz, Tech: AT&T’s customer base is huge thanks to the iPhone, but it costs ’em

  • +3.5 million number of new 3G customers the wireless company got last quarter thanks to the iPhone – and 1.5 million new overall customers source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2009 08:59

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Biz: Ford managed to find its way to big profits minus bankruptcy

  • $2.3 billion in 2Q profits for the Detroit automaker source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Jul 2009 11:07

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Biz: Morgan Stanley: A big financial firm that’s actually feeling the recession

  • 3 straight quarters of pain and sadness for the financial giant source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jul 2009 10:36

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Biz, Tech: TechDirt approaches blogging like tech-savvy musicians

  • If only we could do this. Then we’d truly be smart. TechDirt, a popular technology blog well-known for taking the music industry to task for its heavy-handed approach to technology, has gone out of its way to champion artists who have fully embraced the promotional tool technology can be, such as Trent Reznor and Jill Sobule. Now, they’ve gone a step further and used these very techniques as tools to promote the site. Give a donation of a certain amount, and you can become a member of the site’s music club or book club and get tons of amazing goodies. Give a bit more and the site will review your business model. Genius, kids. Genius. *golf clap* source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jul 2009 00:51

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Biz, U.S.: Sadly, it doesn’t look like Crocs shoes will survive the recession

  • 100 million pairs of Crocs shoes sold since 2002. That’s a lot of ugly feet source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 5 Comments • Permalink
 
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