September 3, 2010
The reluctance to actually engage with anything tangible, beyond a computer screen, continues apace for us Homo sapiens. The Guardian newspaper has recently done an exposé on a blooming industry – internet dating. And whilst this is nothing new, per se, it is becoming more desirable for those unwilling to go the old fashioned route: bar trawling for your next amore (so lazy, people).
eHarmony is the brainchild of a middle-aged Californian named Greg Waldorf and his matchmaking site claims to be responsible for over 500 weddings a day in the states. Keep reading →
September 1, 2010
No longer the domain of grainy footage involving teenagers trying to swallow their own tongues in bored, Midwestern towns. No – this is a resurrection (of sorts) for Google and YouTube, as they re-invent themselves for the highbrow viewer. YouTube as art? Ok, I’m listening. After they’ve launched their viewer challenge, “Life in a day“, put together by cine-luminaries, Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdanold, (and Sundance), asking viewers to send in footage of one day in their lives, YouTube has gone and taken over the bloody Guggenheim in New York. Believe it. Keep reading →
August 27, 2010
The above title may seem like a daytime TV advert for a dodgy investment scheme, but you’d only be half right with that one. It’s not on Television, it’s on a street near you. The BBC reports that in the last two years, pawnbrokers are having a field day and stepping into the position of where banks should be. Government ministers and economists wagging their collective fingers at banks to lend to people more, just isn’t delivering the goods. Pawnbrokers are. When people want fast cash (averaging 70% of the value of the item they’ve brought in), they are turning to the once-frowned-upon urban pawnbroker. What’s more, the Beeb reports that London’s pawn shops are dealing in high quality merchandise, not fake Thai Rolex’s and bad forgeries, Keep reading →
August 24, 2010
Ajai Chowdhry is the CEO of Indian IT service provider, HCL Infosystems, and he believes that giving “every village in Africa” broadband, will help eradicate poverty and corruption. Hmm. But, before you scoff and call the gentleman another exploitative, colonizing capitalist, might he have a point? Chowdhry was the co-chair of the World Economic Forum last year, the theme being “Rethinking Africa’s Growth Strategy,” and he’s known as India’s Bill Gates. His global company employs over 65,000 people and he’s keen to tap into the African continent, just as the West is trying to tap into India. And so it goes. Keep reading →
August 22, 2010
Well, it’s official – if there’s been a survey, it must be official, right? – Apple iPhone users have more sexual partners than both Blackberry and Android, by the age of thirty. According to a survey done by online dating company OKCupid, which boasts an active membership of 3.5 million people with almost 10,000 of those using their smartphones to take the shot that’s used for their profile, Apple’s phone is the clear winner, Fortune magazine reports. It seems women with iPhones had the highest rate of partners by age thirty, and Google’s Android faired the worst of the three phones.
Women topped the list with the average partner count of twelve, which, I might humbly add, seems fairly restrained. I’d be interested to know what the ‘score rate’ is for those with a cheap and painfully un-hip Nokia that cost about £20 five years ago, and is currently being held together by a bit of tape (not that that’s my phone mind you, I just, uh, know a guy like that, ok?). Perhaps builders, cabbies, plumbers, and dudes who work at bingo halls will see this survey and scoff, having bedded hundreds of women, owning nothing more current than a carrier pigeon or a pager dating from 1998. It’s doubtful though. Keep reading →
August 19, 2010
The ability to successfully carve out a niche is one of the golden objectives of any business organization. Pure originality is a lovely idea, but it’s mostly fairytale, a chimera. Every business idea has already been taken – but how an idea is implemented, creates the opportunity for an original statement. To be able to delight and make memorable an environment or experience is something that is not commonplace, whether it’s selling a coffee, an airline, or a hamburger. The successful companies, like Apple, have everyone running around them trying to figure out what their secret recipe is; they aren’t the only computer company out there, but they are the only one creating fans. They provide a lovely retail experience, with admirable products, and a strong brand identity – a very simple recipe on paper, but harder to achieve than it looks. Keep reading →
August 17, 2010
Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota's Senior Managing Director. center at a news conference at Toyota's Tokyo head office.
Toyota has recently announced its biggest quarterly profit in two years, as another iconic manufacturer says goodbye to a man who helped steer their company through some very choppy waters. General Motors will be losing their Chief Executive, Edward Whitacre, after being the company head for just over a year. But what a year it’s been. After seeking a government bailout from bankruptcy in 2009, it’s remarkable to see such vigor and renewal for a company formerly on its deathbed. Likewise, Toyota has been able to shrug off the PR nightmare of their cars being ‘death machines’ that I, for one, thought would take years to recover from. Not So. Both have beaten the odds and the recession, and are currently making money. Keep reading →
August 12, 2010
As the social networking phenomenon has moved from a cautious curiosity for advertisers, to a bona fide ‘goldrush,’ what are the new numbers saying, and is this a lasting enterprise?
Bloomberg’s Business Week reports that advertisers on Facebook have increased spending 10-fold in the past year alone signaling a new era of taking this once marginal idea, very seriously indeed. Currently it’s estimated that there are 500 million users of Facebook making it the world’s largest social network, by far, and the speculation is that its CEO Mark Zuckerberg will let momentum continue to gather before making a public offering of the company in perhaps 2012. Whatever the case may be, things are definitely heating up and the money is starting to roll in for both clients and Zuckerberg. Keep reading →
The reluctance to actually engage with anything tangible, beyond a computer screen, continues apace for us Homo sapiens. The Guardian newspaper has recently done an exposé on a blooming industry – internet dating. And whilst this is nothing new, per se, it is becoming more desirable for those unwilling to go the old fashioned route: bar trawling for your next amore (so lazy, people).
August 30, 2010
When the going gets tough…
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Tags: recession, Economic, Kellyco, metal detector, lottery, tough, Easy Money