Archive for the ‘business’ Category

ConsumerMan: Say goodbye to robo-calls

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

The Federal Trade Commission just changed the rules to close that loophole. By next year at this time, the chances of getting these unwanted robo-calls should drop dramatically. By December, all recorded sales calls must have a simple interactive way for you to let the company know you do ...

FAA lets aerospace firms certify safety of their products

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

The Bush administration brings voluntary safety to flight industry: Jamco, a supplier to Boeing and Airbus, last month became the first company in the Pacific Northwest authorized to self-certify that its products meet FAA safety requirements.Read the full story

Government Gets Hooked on Tobacco Tax Billions

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

But taxes are not the only government revenue from cigarettes. Settlements in the late 1990s to end state lawsuits against tobacco companies mean that the cigarette industry is paying states nearly $250 billion over 25 years. Under the agreement, those payments to states will continue flowing even beyond 25 years ...

Lid on Pandora? Web radio service may go silent

Monday, August 25th, 2008

Yet the burgeoning company may be on the verge of collapse, according to its founder, and so may be others like it. "We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," said Tim Westergren, who founded Pandora. "This is like a last stand for Webcasting."Read the full story

Apple investigating iTunes block in China

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

According to the Associated Press, the Art of Peace Foundation announced on Sunday the release of "Songs for Tibet," a digital album comprised of music by popular artists such as Dave Matthews and Alanis Morissette, as well as a 15-minute speech by exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama. One day ...

‘Eternal Sunshine’ director said to be behind Microsoft Seinfeld commercial

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

If as one expert said Seinfeld is the perfect pitchman to showcase Vista as the operating system of the 1990's, the director of Eternal Sunshine, a story about breakups in which the protagonist has his memory erased to forget the pain of his ex-girlfriend, may be the perfect compliment to ...

Fifty Percent Price Increase for Both Daily Seattle Papers

Monday, August 18th, 2008

And next quarter they will wonder why their ad revenue is down. Advertisers aren't dumb - they know circulation will drop. Read the full story

Head of Foundation Bailed Out Nonprofit Group After Its Funds Were Embezzled

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

When the embezzlement of almost $1 million by the brother of the founder of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as Acorn, surfaced last month, the organization announced that an anonymous supporter had agreed to make it whole. That supporter was Drummond Pike, the founder ...

Banks pushed home equity lines and debt culture

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Citigroup spent $1 billion advertising it's Live Richly campaign from 2001 to 2006 encouraging Americans to take out home equity loans. Marketing executives knew that "second mortgage" had an unappealing ring. So they seized the idea of "home equity," with its connotations of ownership and fairness. Advertising historians look back ...

Is Google a Media Company?

Monday, August 11th, 2008

While Knol is only three weeks old and still relatively obscure, it has already rekindled fears among some media companies that Google is increasingly becoming a competitor. They foresee Google's becoming a powerful rival that not only owns a growing number of content properties, including YouTube, the top online video ...