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GOOGLE Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:15:00 GMT
Abercrombie & Fitch announced preliminary fourth quarter results this morning, guiding for earnings substantially below Wall Street estimates and sending shares down more than 11 percent in pre-market trading.
The New Albany, Ohio, teen retailer said it expected to post earnings per share of $1.10 to $1.15, under consensus analyst estimates of $1.58.
Top line results for the period were $1.33 billion, as comparable store sales remained flat against last year's numbers.
"Our sales for the quarter were below expectations in a highly promotional environment, and our results were further affected by all-time high cotton costs," Abercrombie Chief Executive Mike Jeffries said. "We remain cautious on near-term sales trends; however, we are confident that we are on track with our assortment and our long-term strategy, and hope to see improvement as 2012 progresses."
Perhaps most worrisome to investors were negative comps recorded at the company's Canadian, European and........
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GOOGLE Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:16:00 GMT
This is an excerpt from 'The Coming Wave: Exploring Women, Innovation, and Social Technology' by Jessica Faye Carter.
It all started with Halley's Comment.
Halley's Comment is the personal blog of Halley Suitt, a technology professional, author, and pioneer of blogging.
Suitt uses her blog as a platform to hold forth on a range of topics, like "Why Boomers Will Pay Anything to Be Cool," "Dying to Tell You Our Stories," (on the life and death of bloggers), and "How to Become an Alpha Male."
As you can tell by the post titles, her writing is witty, informative, and occasionally provocative; it was in this latter vein that she posted a short message on March 7, 2005.
Suitt had recently attended the Harvard Media Center's Neiman Conference, an invitation-only conference for influentials in journalism, technology, and media. Attendees included thought leaders such as Rebecca MacKinnon, Craig Newmark, Susan Mernit, and Jeff Jarvis.
Post-conference, in response to some of.....
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GOOGLE Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:03:00 GMT
"Responsible retirement planning begins early in a career. As time goes by, money placed in an IRA or a 401(k) will grow, allowing for a comfortable retirement.
But post-retirement, the money saved over decades undergoes a fundamental change. Most retirement accounts allow money to be invested before taxes, such as when a company places pre-tax income into a 401(k) account. After retirement, however, all of this money is subject to income tax.
Many retirees aren't aware of the tax implications of their retirement savings, and don't include taxes in their spending plans. U.S. News recently spoke with two retirement experts about what retirees can expect when their working days are done.
What changes after retirement?
Karen Reed, director of communications at TaxResources, Inc., says the most common change for retirees is a change in income bracket. Fixed-income payments are often less than regular salaries.
"For most average taxpayers, income drops and they move into a...
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GOOGLE Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:35:00 GMT
Sometimes, small businesses just screw things up on social media. The latest fail comes from Boners BBQ in Atlanta, Georgia (via UnMarketing).
If you couldn't glean it from the name, Boners is a BBQ joint that features scantily clad women waiting the tables.
And apparently, if you don't tip them, their boss gets really mad on Facebook.
A customer went into the restaurant, was unsatisfied, and wrote a pretty civil negative review on Yelp that declared the food 'tepid' and the decor 'second hand picnic-y.'
What did Boners do?
It put up a picture of the customer on its Facebook page, along with this caption. Owner Andrew Capron added a couple snarky comments, too:
Wow. Later, Boners put up a weak, half-hearted apology ("We apologize for any inappropriateness on our part.") and pulled the pic from the page. Capron continued to explain that this all happened because he felt that the customer had wronged his workers by not leaving a tip.
So, the customer went to Reddit...
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GOOGLE Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:28:00 GMT
Learn more about digital commerce and social media on Feb. 7, 2012 at the Social Commerce Summit. Meet leaders in the space and boost your ROI and market knowledge.
Let’s face it, fundraising can be a real pain in the ass for the entrepreneur.
It takes up a ton of time that can be otherwise spent managing the business.
Sure, it’s a necessary evil, but it’s also typically a big distraction.
It’s also a lot like dating. You have to go on a lot of first dates before you can move on the to the second, third, fourth, and then hopefully marriage. The worst thing you can do is slut around. It wastes a ton of time, can damage your reputation, and doesn’t get you far.
When we decided to raise a large round of financing for Fab in October, my biggest concern was that it would divert our management team’s time and attention away from running the business at a critical time, as we were simultaneously scrambling to prepare for our first holiday season at Fab. Yet, our numbers were....
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GOOGLE Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:41:00 GMT
McDonald's is booming, despite all the economic destruction going on around it.
It has been the second-best performing stock in the Dow in 2011. In Q3 it beat revenue and profit projections yet again, its stock is up 63% in the last three years and same store sales continued to climb for the 103rd month, reports Julie Jargon at the Wall Street Journal.
The success goes back further than that, too. Since 1980, McDonald's has absolutely blown away some of the biggest Dow blue chips around (like IBM, DIS, GE and XOM), notes Bespoke Investment Group.
Meanwhile, competitors like Burger King and Wendy's continue to try new things as they fight each other for the #2 spot, but they're still leagues behind. McDonald's just keeps dominating, and it now has upwards of 33,000 stores worldwide. Yet somehow it's still expanding, and in more ways than one.
So, how's McDonald's doing it? Its powerful brand and sheer size are two big, dependable advantages that it can always lean on.......
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GOOGLE Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:00:00 GMT
Do you ever wonder what makes a leader particularly influential, likable, or successful?
It's all about how they communicate, says Ben Decker, president of Decker Communications, a San Francisco-based firm that has counseled clients like Charles Schwab and Pfizer on how to refine their skills.
Each year, Decker puts out its list of the best communicators across business, entertainment, politics, and media. Selected by Decker staffers for their poise under pressure, their approachability, and their ability to drive others, these individuals can each teach you how to be a better manager and colleague.
You'll find a few stalwarts on this year's rundown, and a few surprises, too.10. Andy Rooney
60 Minutes' longtime resident curmudgeon, Andy Rooney, died last month at the ripe old age of 92. But he left a legacy of quirky, if not thoughtful, quips that served as the closing segment of the show for decades.
Rooney's classic wry, tell-it-how-he-sees-it approach earned him a..
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GOOGLE Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:51:00 GMT
Check out the Business Insider Jobs section >>
As part of our new partnership with SimplyHired.com, each week we'll feature one of the awesome jobs advertised on the Business Insider jobs board. VP, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT GOOD TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Why it’s cool: As the VP of Product Management you’ll help define and develop products used by major organizations in financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and more.
What they need: As age and experience are the keys to success, Good Technology seeks an industry veteran. They need someone with the ability to roadmap a product’s launch and success, and the ability to gently coax development into meeting that deadline.
What you need: A positive can-do attitude, technical know-how, and the ability to straddle the line between fast-paced start-ups and a structured corporate environment. You should be an intrepid leader, a diligent planner, and a creative problem-solver.
To learn more about this opportunity click here.
Follow...
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GOOGLE Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:34:12 GMT
Pool Worldwide, a Dutch digital ad agency, has created perhaps the finest viral self-promotion device ever conceived: "Google Shoot View," in which Google Maps' Street View function is recast as a shoot-'em-up video game.
It's simple in concept but brilliantly executed: The shop simply used Google's Street View database of 360 degree street-level photography, and imposed an automatic rifle sight and some sound effects on top of it.
Now, when you're looking for directions, you can lay down a pattern of suppressing tracer fire while doing so. The image above is of me about to take out a taxi near Business Insider's offices on Park Avenue South in New York.
The agency has also published a suitably pompous TV commercial for its video game, touting the sheer monstrous size of the Google Shoot View game map ("Really, really, really fucking big.")
Its tagline: "Explore the beauty of the world's cities, towns and villages through 360-degree street-level imagery ... and fire a M4A1...
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GOOGLE Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:00:00 GMT
Twitter makes about $58,125 on average from each of its advertising clients, according to some back-of-the-envelope math based on recent analysts' estimates and a Twitter executive's own disclosure.
At B.I.'s Ignition conference in New York recently, Twitter COO Adam Bain said the microblogging site had about 2,400 advertisers. Prior to that, online ad market research company eMarketer had estimated that Twitter's ad revenue for the year might be about $139.5 million. Divide one by the other -- as in the calculation I did on the back of an actual envelope, pictured -- and, on average, ad clients at Twitter are paying around $58,000 per campaign.
The numbers fit well with a recent email Twitter sent to its clients demanding a minimum commitment of $15,000 to $25,00 over a three-month period for any campaign of promoted tweets and promoted accounts.
The difference between the two numbers could either be due to eMarketer being wrong (the firm doesn't break down its numbers) or....
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GOOGLE Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:45:00 GMT
Today's advice comes from myFootpath founder and CEO J.T. Allen's interview with Capture Your Flag:
"The biggest thing with investors is to give them a vision of where you're going and as best you can lay out the time frame -- and then double it, because it's never going to go like you think it is."
Allen, a former consultant at Ernst & Young who launched myFootpath, an online education-based startup, says it's important be conservative when you estimate when you'll meet benchmarks. You need to account for the inevitable holdups, like sick employees or delayed deals with other firms.
Giving yourself that wiggle room is important, and helps you best position yourself to answer to your investors. It's also important to consider at the outset just what kind of funders you'd like to see you through your next big innovation, he says.
For example, if you oversee a growing business, you're likely to go through many transformations and incarnations. In that case, Allen says,......
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GOOGLE Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:45:00 GMT
This 1968 TV commercial for "Afri-Cola," a German soft-drink, is probably the strangest ad you'll ever see (video below). It's a drug-inspired montage set to unlistenable psychedelic "music" that begins, "Earth is a paradise with Afri-Cola." Along the way, it asserts, "Marry or not to marry? That is no longer the question!"
It'll give you a headache if you watch it more than once.
The spot is enjoying an online revival thanks to a recent reappearance on BoingBoing, and because the company that makes it (Mineralbrunnen Überkingen-Teinach AG, but you knew that, right?) is trying to restore the brand to its former glory:
Until the 1960s, Afri-Cola was one of Germany's most popular soft drinks. The company had been in the cola business since 1931. But then Coca-Cola and Pepsi arrived and by the 1990s the drink was in precipitous decline. The company fiddled with the recipe, lowering the amount of caffeine it contained, before returning to the original formulation. "I took over..
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GOOGLE Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:38:00 GMT
HOUSTON (AP) — Former Enron Corp. employee George Maddox, who lost his retirement savings when the energy giant collapsed, says he has been forced to spend his golden years making ends meet by mowing pastures and living in a run-down East Texas farmhouse.
Maddox, who served 30 years as a plant manager with the company, was long retired as Enron began spiraling out of control in the months leading up to its bankruptcy on Dec. 2, 2001. With all his retirement savings tied up in 14,000 shares of company stock, then worth more than $1.3 million, Maddox says he never saw the crash coming.
"There was no way I thought it would go belly up," said Maddox, 78.
Ten years after what was the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history at the time, Maddox and other former workers of the Houston-based company remain angry about the scheming and deceit that led to its spectacular downfall. But most have tried to move on as best they can.
Eric Eden, who ran Enron's computer drafting department,....
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GOOGLE Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:47:30 GMT
Roughly 14 million people were unemployed in October, yet the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2% over the summer, and overall hiring was weak, according to a Federal Reserve survey--Beige Book--released on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
The trend of slow to moderate pace of the economy is barely enough to keep the unemployment rate, which has been hovering above 9% for the past year or so, from reaching double digit.
Expert say in order to have a meaningful impact on the employment situation, the economy needs to grow at twice of the current rate.
However, the increasing likelihood of a global recession partly from the raging debt crisis in Europe would certainly pose a serious threat to the already struggling growth and bleak employment outlook.
These days, a college degree and years of experience do not necessary mean a good job like they used to, and competition is fierce for the few available openings.
Coping with this New Normal, job seekers are reaching into........
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:57:00 GMT
Procter & Gamble CEO Robert McDonald recently said that he's going to turn his company into the most tech-enabled business in the world. It's a bold claim, especially for a consumer goods conglomerate like P&G.
He talks about his strategy in the latest issue of McKinsey Quarterly, where he explains that "with digital technology, it’s now possible to have a one-on-one relationship with every consumer in the world. The more intimate the relationship, the more indispensable it becomes. We want to be the company that creates those indispensable relationships with our brands, and digital technology enables this."
Here are a few takeaways from the Q&A about what he's planning:
* Using "Bayesian analysis to scan the universe of comments, categorize them by individual brand, and then put them on the screen of the relevant individual." This makes sure that any problems, especially those that come through social media, are handled right way
* Using iPads at manufacturing plants....
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:42:00 GMT
Employers are dealing with more job applicants than ever. With thousands of submissions for a single vacancy, companies must be more diligent when sorting the wheat from the chaff. Many rely on HR managers to screen out applicants who aren't qualified for the job or a good fit for the company. This step may feel like a roadblock to you as the applicant, but there are good reasons companies do it. Instead of thinking, "Ugh, I have to talk to HR," focus on how you can work with the department to pass this critical hurdle.
What the Experts Say
The majority of job applications die before the hiring manager ever sees them. As many as 95% of candidates who make it to the HR screen are then eliminated, according to John Sullivan, a professor of management at San Francisco State University and author of 1000 Ways to Recruit Top Talent. Therefore, it behooves you to treat it seriously. "This is the first step in getting a job, so you have to persuade the initial screeners that you are...
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:53:13 GMT
It's well established market research fact that customers lie. Business history offers innumerable stories of companies that launch whizz-bang new products on the basis of extensive quantitative customer research only to find that the customers didn't end up doing what they said they would.
But how else are companies to get a handle on what customers will do? To see an alternative approach, take a look at Geox, an innovative European footwear company. Founded in 1995 it has a turnover today of nearly € 900 million, a 20% profit margin (even in the crisis) and its products are distributed in more than 100 countries.
Here's how Geox happened. During a business trip to Reno, Nevada, to promote the family's wine business at a trade fair, Geox's founder, Mario Poletti Polegato, decided to take a walk. After a while his feet began to swell in the heat and irritate him. To cool them down he poked a couple of holes into the rubber-soled trainers he was wearing, and soon felt better....
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GOOGLE Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:14:00 GMT
On January 1, Virginia Rometty will become the first female CEO of International Business Machines Corp. Articles about her have lauded her ability to blend enthusiasm, charisma, clear communication, strategic thinking, and "cool-minded" decision making. But one New York Times story placed the emphasis on the role self-confidence may have played into her success: Early in her career, Virginia M. Rometty, I.B.M.'s next chief executive, was offered a big job, but she felt she did not have enough experience. So she told the recruiter she needed time to think about it.
That night, her husband asked her,"'Do you think a man would have ever answered that question that way?"
"What it taught me was you have to be very confident, even though you're so self-critical inside about what it is you may or may not know," she said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit this month. "And that, to me, leads to taking risks."
Self-confidence is one of the elements of active coping, a set of....
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GOOGLE Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:02:00 GMT
Today's advice comes from kgbdeals CEO Patrick Albus:
"Learn something new every day. It seems easy enough, but most people do not take the time to learn."
Albus credits that wisdom from a grad school professor with shaping his success. By taking time each day to consider what, exactly, is happening and thinking critically about how you react to it, you build focus.
And that's what has guided Albus, whose daily deals website is available to consumers in more than 100 cities worldwide. kgbdeals allows businesses to expand their customer base by offering deals, and consumers to seek out the specials that suit them.
Albus says his daily reflections don't always yield drastic changes, but they do make a noticeable difference over time.
"You will become incrementally more informed every day and, eventually, you will become more knowledgeable than your peers."
Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to..
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| Full List of Military and War articles |
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 Religious Zealots Arming Our Troops - Part. 2/2
YOUTUBE 22 Jan 2010
If you were to ask someone in the Middle East why the US is fighting two wars over there, about half of the responses you'd hear would be that the US is trying to impose Christianity on the...
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BBC documentary : Daylight Robbery: fleecing Iraq and the USA 1/6
**WATCH THIS BEFORE IT IS PULLED**
YOUTUBE First Broadcast 10 June 2008
The film that ALL Americans should see, how their leaders profited on the Dead servicemen they sent to die for their lies and a nation of Iraq destroyed for their Share profits.
To...
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ZEITGEIST, The Movie - Official Release - Full Film
GOOGLE
ZEITGEIST, The Movie - Official Release - Full Production (including the 'Overture')
What does Christianity, 911 and The Federal Reserve have in common?
Overture:...
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Robert Fisk Talks Middle East Geopolitics
HUMYO
MIT April 9, 2006 - Robert Fisk Talks Middle East Geopolitics, with introduction by Noam Chomsky.
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Dont watch this video (if you're happy living a lie)
YOUTUBE
Are these distractions stopping you from questioning why politicians lied,... sacrificing innocent lives, ... to make you safe?
FOOL ME TWICE (Bali bombings)
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TerrorStorm Final Cut (Alex Jones)
GOOGLE
New and Updated. Has Additional 17 minutes of new footage and interviews. Watch and pass along.
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Iraq for Sale - Banned Excerpts
YOUTUBE
On May 10th, 2007, this video was banned in Congress
Robert Greenwald, the director of IRAQ FOR SALE, was invited to testify before Congress by Rep. Jim Moran. He prepared four...
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Blackwater, America's Private Army
YOUTUBE
Inside America's private army with extended bonus scenes from Robert Greenwald's documentary "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers"
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Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers - Full length Documentary "RIVETING, POWERFUL" "BLEW MY MIND"
GUBA
An amazing documentary on the corporate contractor corruption by companies in Iraq. Prepare to be upset.
The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to...
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Our friend Dick Cheney
YOUTUBE
Brief background on Dick Cheney's history and past. Including his time at Kellogg, Brown & Root and Halliburton. Discusses the legality of his mixing of politics & business. from a BBC 4...
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Dick Cheney
YOUTUBE
Cheney does business with terrorists. The Young Turks, with Cenk Uyugr and Ben Mankiewicz, airs daily on Air America Radio from 6-9 am ET, and online at www.theyoungturks.com
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War, Geopolitics, and History lecture with Noam Chomsky, professor, linguistics, MIT and
Robert Fisk, correspondent, The Independent
WGBH
Journalist Robert Fisk of the UK-based publication, The Independent, recounts his experiences traveling around the world and living in the Middle East, Fisk speaks on history and geopolitics...
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Robert Fisk on Democracy Now 3 of 4
YOUTUBE
5th March 2007 Part 3
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Robert Fisk on Democracy Now 1 of 4
YOUTUBE
5th March 2007 Part 1
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Legendary Reporter Robert Fisk Retires -- VERY SAD. He DID make a difference.
YOUTUBE 02-Oct-2007
Legendary Reporter Robert Fisk announces his retirement in an Interview on NZ's 'Campbell Live'. He gives his reasons & explains his sense of despair on how little impact his work has had.
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Robert Fisk on Democracy Now 2 of 4
YOUTUBE
5th March 2007 Part 2
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Robert Fisk on Democracy Now 4 of 4
YOUTUBE
5th March 2007 Part 4
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