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31 May 2010 11:26

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Biz, U.S.: Companies trying to “Slapp” out online criticism with lawsuits

  • SLAPP means “strategic lawsuit against public participation.” The whole theory behind it is that people complain in public about a company’s service, and the company sues to get them to shut up. In prior eras, this may have meant speaking out at a city council meeting. Now, it means tweeting about bad service or putting up a Facebook group. Here’s the fate one guy met.

 

  • $118 the amount Justin Kurtz had to pay after a towing company wrongly towed his car from his own apartment complex
  • 12k the number of people who joined “Kalamazoo Residents against T&J Towing”; 800 joined in the first two days alone
  • $750k the amount the towing company sued the Western Michigan University student for defamation source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2010 09:07

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Tech: Can a bunch of random companies take on the App Store?

  • 24 mobile companies think they can topple Apple; Ha! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Oct 2009 21:51

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Biz: Obama’s pay czar: Pretty unpopular around Wall Street right now

  • 90% of the salaries of highly-paid executives at bailed-out companies will be taken away by pay czar Kenneth Feinberg
  • $200,000 the pay cap set on the incomes of executives at AIG’s financial products unit, which largely caused the financial crisis source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Jul 2009 10:21

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Tech: Microsoft might again offer a Windows upgrade companies don’t want

  • 59% of companies don’t plan to upgrade their machines source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

06 Jun 2009 11:03

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Biz: Companies aren’t feeling so optimistic about hiring right now

  • 10% of companies expect to hire more people than they did last year, down from 33% in November
  • 31% of companies are offering slightly lower starting salaries, up from 13% in November source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2009 10:41

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Biz: Credit cards will try to cash in on their good customers

  • $20 billion amount credit companies are supposed to make from fees – overlimit charges and such – on bad customers this year
  • 50 million good customers haven’t had to pay an annual fee, something that will likely change in the face of new legislation source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 May 2009 22:58

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Music, Politics: Thom Yorke goes ME ANGRY AARGH at big oil companies

  • i have been reading how the oil industry is investing millions of dollars in a PR campaign against it! how utterly dumbass is that? how do these people look their children in the eye?
  • Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke • On the oil industry’s continuing campaign to stop the passage of a climate change bill in congress. Obama supports the bill, BTW. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Feb 2009 20:38

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Biz: How big is the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger?

  • $2.5 billion in market value (plus convenience charge) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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