Did you know that Nike uses special, larger air in their shoes? Right…
Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Nike Air
Saturday, February 27th, 2010Vote for Me!
Monday, August 24th, 2009As you can see on the side of the page, I need your votes! I submitted a SXSW panel on the European startup scene and I’d love your support so we can go to Austin next Spring and tell everyone what’s up!
Banks Today
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009The London Review of Books has a very good article, “It’s Finished,” on the current state of major banks and the bailouts:
Nobody in power wants to do that [acknowledge many banks are insolvent and nationalize them or sell-off their assets]. Nobody with power in the banking system, and nobody with power in government. Both the British and the American plans to help the banks are very, very, very expensive variations on the theme of sticking their fingers in their ears and loudly singing ‘La la la, I’m not listening.’
This is getting rediculous
Monday, September 15th, 2008Lehman Will File Bankruptcy; Merrill to Be Sold – NYTimes.com
In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, said it would seek bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer.
Blind Spots
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008What awaits the iPhone in Europe? – International Herald Tribune
Wow. What a stupid article. Don’t get it me wrong, it’s well written and I think the central point, that iPhone sales in Europe have disappointed, is correct. However, I think they completely missed the reason why. It’s simple: many Europeans are buying iPhones in the US. Cracked iPhones are much cheaper (would you rather pay €400 or $400?) and they’re really easy to get. I know lots of people that buy several iPhones when visiting the US, and there are even companies that give them away in contests here in the Netherlands. Consider this:
Fueling speculation about an imminent strategic change by Apple are early sales of the device in Europe. Strategy Analytics, a research firm in Milton Keynes, England, estimates that Apple sold 350,000 iPhones in Europe in the fourth quarter of last year, below what it claims is Apple’s internal forecast of 500,000 devices.
The research firm also estimates that iPhone sales slowed to 300,000 in the first three months of this year.
But we’ve also heard that 1 million US iPhones were never registered with AT&T. Assuming that 2/5 of those unlocked phons went to Europe (which seems to be a reasonable guess to me), that’s 100,000 extra phones ‘purchased’ each quarter in Europe, which means Apple is actually close to its targeted sales.
Banking Thoughts
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008I just got off the phone with Charles Schwab and I’m got some stuff to say.
First, I was shocked when the person helping me didn’t know how to answer my questions immediately. I had gotten so used to solving my problems within a minute of calling Schwab that I was honestly surprised to hear the woman say, “I don’t know. Let me check with someone here.” It didn’t help that she and her colleagues ended up having to wrestle with the system for almost 30 minutes to delete an automatic transfer, disconnecting me twice while I was on hold. That being said, they solved the problem, were very friendly and helpful, and offered me $100 for my ‘troubles’. Now that’s how to ensure customer satisfaction! (more…)
“Transport informatics”
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008This article is just amazing: cityofsound: Transport informatics
And Jack, you’ll like that Boston is doing some cool stuff with biking.
Bike network 2.0
Boston appointed a ‘bike czar’, Nicole Freedman, and her team has used Google Maps to create a set of bike routes across the city, based on the aggregated data from actual routes that cyclists took across the city“We found out where the actual desire lines are,†said Freedman, and has since extended the network to enable users to rate streets for bikes. It’s a little rudimentary at the moment, but shows the promise of such systems. Boston are building the city’s first official bike map from the results of the system.
What is it with the Japanese and whales?
Friday, March 14th, 2008Japan whale experiments bizarre: report – Breaking News – National – Breaking News
A review of the controversial scientific research conducted by Japan and its whalers has uncovered a list of “bizarre” and useless experiments, including how to cross breed cows with whales.Scientists have analysed 43 research papers produced by Japan over 18 years, finding most were useless or esoteric.
The scientific research included injecting minke whale sperm into cows eggs, and attempts to produce test-tube whale babies, News Limited newspapers report.
Oh, and the whales killed for ’scientific tests’? Their meat ends up in markets but apparently most of the population has lost interest in it – apparently it doesn’t sell well (I’m afraid I don’t have a link right now).
Impressive
Thursday, March 13th, 2008Video Road Hogs Stir Fear of Internet Traffic Jam – New York Times
Last year, by one estimate, the video site YouTube, owned by Google, consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet did in 2000.
No wonder Google is helping to build a new transpacific fiber cable.
The Big Three
Thursday, February 28th, 2008While Ford, GM and Chrysler used to dominate American industry, you can’t really talk about The Big Three anymore. But there’s still one set of big three transportation companies: the main Dutch bicycle companies!
First, because I have one:
I can’t say that there are any sort real difference between the companies, though I do really like Sparta’s logo:
