Tokyo rebounds as Shanghai, Hong Kong retreat By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch Last Update: 8/18/2008 12:08:00 AM HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Japanese indexes rebounded strongly from early declines Monday, as investors snapped up financials such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and steelmakers such as JFE Holdings Inc. after the past week’s decline. The rest of the region was mostly lower, with Chinese […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net
Archive for August 18th, 2008 “BPA-free” is a latest catch-phrase to hit the green scene, with everything from baby bottles to canned foods bearing the label. But what does it really mean and why should you care? BPA (or Bisphenol-A) is a chemical substance that’s used in the production of polycarbonate plastics (reusable drinking bottles and baby bottles), epoxy resins (canned food linings), and white dental sealants. It’s also added to certain types of children’s toys (teething rings and pacifiers) to make them more flexible. Low-level exposure to BPA is not a problem, but constant low-level exposure may be, especially for children. And the large worry is that BPA might be leaching out of these products and into our bodies more often than we realize. Health experts used to think that we only had to worry about the high levels of BPA that leach out of plastics when they are cracked or exposed to high temperatures. Thus the suggestions to toss reusable bottles after a few years and never put boiling liquids into them. But the latest research shows that BPA is now so common that even the low-doses we’re all exposed to on a daily basis may be harmful to human health, especially for kids whose bodies are still developing.. A current study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found BPA in the urine of 93% of the 2,517 participants examined. According to the report, “BPA has been shown to have hormone-like effects on the developing reproductive system and neuro-behavioral changes in the offspring. Scientists continue to debate whether effects could possibly occur in people who are exposed to low environmental levels of these chemicals.” And while the scientists debate, more and more children are exposed to BPA everyday. BPA worries may be short-lived, as consumer demand is forcing manufacturers and retailers alike to discontinue its distribution. In the meantime, it makes sense to minimize your family’s exposure to BPA whenever possible. Look for tempered glass, stainless steel, opaque plastics, or plastics bearing the BPA-free label in products such as reusable bottles, sippy cups, and baby bottles. Avoid canned foods or look for those that are marked BPA-free. And if you’re not sure, check out Z suggests, a website that keeps updated info on the BPA status of everything from baby bottles to plastic utensils. Jenn Savedge’s blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.
18
08
2008
 
Report: Ben Ling’s going back to the GoogleplexPosted by: admin in Social Media and Tech Benjamin Ling, the former Googler who was hired by Facebook last year and sparked a barrage of blog speculation about Google employees moving on to the next cool company, might be going back to Mountain View. Earlier this week, Facebook confirmed that he was indeed leaving the company.  Netflix has fixed or patched whatever problem it had that shut down its 55 distribution centers this week, and has begun shipping DVDs again. While the company has not disclosed the nature of the issue that prevented it from operating, it has announced its program to make up for its lapse of service. Netflix customers who were affected by the delay will get a 15 percent credit on the amount of their next monthly bill. New customers still in the free trial will get an additional week before their subscription becomes paid. Fifteen percent is a token refund, but it seems to be mollifying most Netflix users. For some customers, though, a dashed stay-at-home date night or other event planned around movies by mail can’t be fixed by a credit that’ll top out at $3.75. These users are making their frustrations known on the Neflix blog, in response to a post about the resumption of service, which states, “Millions of our members will receive DVDs on Saturday, in time (we hope) for some weekend movie enjoyment.” See also: Worst Web glitches of 2008, so far.
18
08
2008
Sixth place in Beijing for twin ConnectU foundersPosted by: admin in Social Media and Tech
The 2008 Olympics in Beijing are over for Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of would-be Facebook rival ConnectU who earned spots on the U.S. rowing team. The identical twins ended up placing sixth overall in the men’s pair event; they don’t take home any medals, but … Source [The social]
18
08
2008
Twitter kills U.K. SMS updates in cost-cutting movePosted by: admin in Social Media and TechEuropean users of Twitter can no longer receive text message updates on their cell phones, in a temporary move designed to keep the start-up’s telecom bills down. Twitterers can still use its U.K. number, +44 762 480 1423, to send updates to the site. But that number will … We’ve been reminded several times lately that Web 2.0 is in no way a synonym for “reliable.” Major services have crashed. Big product launches have fizzled. Users have raised their collective fists in the air. What’s going on? Is the Web crumbling? Well, no, it’s not. But users’ expectations are rising, and Web companies often get themselves into trouble by promising far more than they can deliver. Here’s the timeline of offline:  Amazon S3 (Also: Google App Engine) What happened: These huge infrastructure services, Amazon’s S3 especially, underpin many Web 2.0 companies. When they go down, huge sites go down. When the sites go down, they lose money. Corporate coping behavior: Amazon CTO Werner Vogels banished to the lecture circuit to explain why S3 is still more reliable than any servers you could run yourself. The damage: Companies forced to re-consider their reliance on “cloud computing.”  Twitter What happened: Twitter began to get unreliable. It’s up, then it’s down. Repeat. Corporate coping behavior: During the bad spells, Twitter turns off key features of the service — like access from Twitter helper apps, or the “replies” tab on the site — to decrease the load. Twitter also purchases the search engine Summize, which adds a new level of utility to the service. The damage: Twitter was becoming part of the social fabric of the technology community. When it began to get flakey, marquee users abandoned the service and fled to rivals like Friendfeed. The problems appear to have been resolved, but the damage might never be repaired.  Firefox What happened: Mozilla announced the release data of the Firefox 3.0 and its goal to get a million downloads on that day. When the day comes, the download doesn’t work. The downloads begin up later, and Mozilla goes on not just to meet its download goal but utterly crush it. Corporate coping behavior: Mozilla changes “Download Day” to “The 24-hour Period that Starts When We Say it Does.” The damage: Temporary embarrassment, which is overshadowed by insane success.
 Amazon What happened: Amazon went offline for a large part of the U.S. workday. Millions of users had to go back to work. Corporate coping behavior: Mad scramble to repair. What did you expect? The damage: Estimated at $16,000 a minute. But long-term damage to the company is negligible (unlike the S3 outage).  Google Docs What happened: On the web productivity apps went offline, stranding users’ files in the cloud. Corporate coping behavior: Apology. Google has offline support (Google Gears) for an increasing number of its on the web apps. Which is fine, if you remember to set it up before the next outage. The damage: Credibility. On the web apps are being pitched by companies like Google as credible replacements to traditional apps like Microsoft Office. Outages like this shake users’ already tenuous faith in the reliability of services that hold their most important data files.  MobileMe What happened: Apple launched its 3G iPhone with a new data sync service to replace .Mac. Sadly, it didn’t work. For many users, key services like e-mail wouldn’t update. Corporate coping behavior: Jobs berates his staff in public; Apple gives subscribers 30 days of free service. The damage: Poor uptake of the service, many disgruntled users, negative halo effect on the iPhone.  Cuil What happened: Google scientist leaves Google, builds competitive search engine. At launch, it sucks. By the time it’s working as advertised, nobody’s paying attention anymore. Corporate coping behavior: Company claims millions of users are so anxious to dump Google that they overload the new engine. Begs for time. The damage: You only get one chance to make a first impression. Cuil’s growth will be seriously clipped by its botched launch.  Scrabble What happened: After finally getting off the stick and suing the much-loved Scrabulous off of Facebook, Hasbro releases its own on the web Scrabble app on the social platform. It crashes. Corporate coping behavior: Scrabble owner Hasbro claims that hackers killed the service. No surprise: As Caroline McCarthy reported, “if you just look at the Scrabble application wall, it’s pretty clear that there are a few people who are angry enough at Hasbro and EA to want to sabotage the game.” The damage: What’s a seven-letter word for “global acrostic withdrawl?”  Gmail (Also: Hotmail) What happened: OMG, Gmail is down. And unlike with client-based e-mail (Outlook), when your Web mail is offline, you can’t even read the old stuff sitting in your inbox. Corporate coping behavior: Google apologies, knows users will be back. The damage: In the current Gmail outage, upset users flocked to Twitter to complain. Miraculously, Twitter stayed up, despite a crushing load of hundreds of tweets a second from disgruntled Gmail users. Netflix What happened: Undisclosed troubles fell all 55 Netflix shipping centers. Twice. Users don’t get their discs. Corporate coping behavior: Netflix plans to refund fees to affected users, and reminds them they have the ability to watch streaming Netflix on their PC or Roku box. Although the company refuses to use the word “fallback” to describe this benefit. The damage: Netflix customers have to watch old DVDs, live Television, Tivo, Unbox, Hulu… Wait a minute, do we really need Netflix? And don’t forget… See also: Technologizer: A Brief History of Internet Outages
18
08
2008
$9 million in funding for data firm Media6DegreesPosted by: admin in Social Media and TechMedia6Degrees, a firm that provides data on social-network activity to marketers and advertisers, announced Thursday that it has raised $9 million in venture funding in a Series A round led by U.S. Venture Partners. The New York-headquartered company had already received seed funding from Contour Venture Partners, Coriolis Ventures, … No you can’t eat it, burn it or smoke it but its value has NEVER gone to 0 unlike lots of fiat currencies in history. One would be well advised to have some precious metals in their portfolio. I own stocks as well as CD’s mind you but gold has had breathtaking value over the millinium. […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net |
Entries (RSS)