26.01 2012

Facebook Widens Lead in Display Ads

(Wall Street Journal) – MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook Inc. is widening its lead in the online display advertising market ahead of an expected filing for an initial public offering.

The social network’s share of the display ad market — or banner advertisements on the internet — grew to 27.9 percent for 2011, compared with 21 percent a year earlier, according to new data released Monday by research firm comScore Inc.

That puts Facebook far ahead of its closest competitor, Yahoo Inc., which had 11 percent of the display ad market, up only slightly from 10.9 percent in 2010. Trailing far behind are Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc., which both have less than five percent, according to comScore.

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Posted by Laura Hernandez
Tags: Display, Display Ads

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22.01 2012

Radio Shack reconnects with hobbyists

Radio Shack, a retailer now better known for selling wireless phones, is getting back to its hobbyist roots.

The Texas-based consumer electronics retailer has launched as part of a campaign dubbed The Great Create. The idea is to provide an online meeting place for hobbyists to share their do-it-yourself projects with others, get ideas and watch how-to videos.

One customer who welcomes the move is Daniel Gentleman, a 34-year San Jose resident who is a longtime fan of the back of the store where hobbyists shop for miniature bulbs, fuses, connectors, motors and transistors that are kept in narrow sliding drawers.

Gentleman transformed an everyday Halloween pumpkin into one with blinking red eyes and a haunted laugh using parts that included a circuit board, resistors, LED lights and a voice recording module from Radio Shack, which featured his project on the website.

“Radio Shack’s time as a ‘cellphone store’ was sad for the DIY hobbyist.

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Posted by Laura Hernandez
Tags: Radio Shack, Shack

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16.01 2012

Wotif the competition wins?

Its not too much of a stretch to compare the rise of the World Wide Web with other world-changing innovations including the industrial revolution, the motor car and the invention of the computer itself.

The internet has allowed us access to unparalleled amounts of information from around the world. It has put immense computational power within reach and has provided consumers with access to global retail opportunities. The emergence of our newly hyper-connected world also allowed new business models to flourish.

New models

Amazon.com began in books, and has expanded to be a true hyper-mart. eBay, which started life as a virtual auction house for second-hand goods has pushed deep into retailing new products and has organically created PayPal, a payments system that is rapidly encroaching onto Visa and Mastercards turf.

Australia has had its share of internet success stories.

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Posted by Laura Hernandez

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07.01 2012

NBC Seeks Pickup With New Shows

(Wall Street Journal) – NBC is hatching a host of new TV shows with unusual premises — from a girl with special powers to a world without electricity — as it looks to reverse a long and deep swoon in its evening audience, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

NBC has already ordered five test episodes of new TV shows for the fall of 2012, and plans to pick up several more next week as Hollywood’s annual “pilot season” kicks into gear, NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said Friday at a semi-annual press event in Pasadena, Calif.

“We’ve got to do things that somehow are more unique and more attention-getting than what we’ve been doing,” Greenblatt said in an interview. “We’ve got to look different. It’s got to feel different.”

One potential new pilot, from “Lost” co-creator J.J.

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Posted by Laura Hernandez
Tags: Shows

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31.12 2011

Rise in home construction suggests a turnaround

WASHINGTON — The depressed housing market has held the economy back for four years.

No longer.

Home construction has finally begun a gradual comeback and should add to the nation’s economic growth in 2011, a turning point in the recovery from the recession.

The main reason appears to be a positive consequence of the weak economy: Apartments are being built almost twice as fast as two years ago. Renting is the only option for many people who have lost their jobs, their homes or both.

Builders in November broke ground on homes — houses and apartments alike — at an annual rate of 685,000, the government said Tuesday. That was a 9.3 percent jump from October and the fastest pace since April 2010.

The numbers show how far the housing industry has come and still has to go:

  • Builders should start at least 600,000 homes this year.

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    Posted by Laura Hernandez
    Tags: Home, Home Construction

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    12.12 2011

    ANZ rejects stress test report for banks

    A report of an imminent stress test for Australian banks is not correct, the ANZ said. Illustration: Karl Hilzinger

    ANZ has rejected reports that regulator Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has ordered the banking sector to stress test their portfolio for an economic shock within the next week, describing the claim as not correct.

    According to an unsourced report in today’s Australian Financial Review, the bank regulator had given the banks one week to model the impact of a worst-case scenario.

    The AFR claimed this test included modelling of a contraction in gross domestic product, unemployment rate climbing to 12 per cent, as well as a 30 per cent decline in house prices and a 40 per cent drop in commercial property values.

    We’re not aware of any requests from APRA to complete a review on that basis within a week, ANZ chairman John Morschel told shareholders at the bank’s annual meeting.

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    Posted by Laura Hernandez
    Tags: Banks, Stress Test

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    05.12 2011

    Average Family Lost $21K in Net Worth

    (The New York Post) – The average US household lost $21,261 of net worth this summer, the largest decline in family wealth in nearly three years.

    The drop in the third quarter, tied to falling home values and a cratering stock market, is the second straight quarter of eroding wealth, according to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly report, released Thursday.

    Prior to the back-to-back quarterly declines in household net worth, which wiped out $2.55 trillion from families’ ledgers, Main Street experienced three straight quarters of growth, the report said.

    Household net worth is the value of assets like homes, bank accounts and stocks, minus debts like mortgages and credit cards.

    Consumers began this year ahead of the game, with overall net worth of $511,224 per household, which dropped to $498,751 as of Sept.

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    Posted by Laura Hernandez
    Tags: Net Worth, Worth

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