Cloud computing is facing its share of problems with break-ins and breakdowns and Sony’s security lapse hit the news and Amazon’s system experienced an outage. Some say these could be the biggest data privacy breaches.
In a story by The Economist, Sony admitted hackers stole personal information including (possibly) credit card details of 77 million users of its online gaming and entertainment networks.
Ad spending in the digital space is quickly catching up to TV advertising, the biggest ad medium. TV networks and stations are vying for their share of digital ad dollars by extending their media brands to the internet and mobile via partnerships with online networks such as Yahoo and MSN – as well as creating their own sites that provide advertising real estate to their advertisers.
All around the world today, Jedis and Siths have put away their light-sabers in order to celebrate Star Wars Day.
Since its initial release nearly 34 years ago, Star Wars has become one of the most endearing and profitable film series of all time – with its overall box office revenue coming in third behind the James Bond and Harry Potter series.
Today, Star Wars has expanded into a media franchise that includes six movies, numerous television specials and series, an entire expanded universe worth of comic books and novels, and dozens of video games as well.
The emerging markets accounted for 51 percent of global light vehicle sales last year. The trend is led mainly by large growth in China according to a report from research firm JD Power and Associates.
Viral videos are no longer the phenomenon they used to be. Common themes include humor, children, sports and videos that are interactive. More and more companies connect with their consumers and market new products through viral videos. The hit and miss nature means sometimes, a viral video campaign can actually fire back – as was the case for Groupon’s Super Bowl ads that sent their revenues plummeting after the ads aired.
The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture in China is taking immediate action to help farmers facing an oversupply of vegetables that’s lead to a fast fall in prices. On one hand, the drop in prices has been expected by Chinese policy makers to cool off soaring consumer inflation.
The cost to the farmers however, is far too dear. Some are even destroying produce as vegetables from north China ripened early to join a market already saturated with vegetables from south China.
Kate Middleton and Prince William may be tying the knot today, but while the rest of the world obsesses with the royal wedding in Westminster Abbey – EconomyWatch can’t help asking: What’s this really costing the UK taxpayer – and indeed the world?
The US Federal Reserve has revised its economic forecast for 2011 after slower than expected growth in the first quarter of the year. “We’ve sputtered a bit here,” said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina.
An award-winning design by Iraqi Architect Manhal Al Habbobi tells the revival story of Mesopotamia.
How can you condense more than ten thousand years of civilization into a single project that faithfully tells the story of a great nation? The answer is in the winning design of a prestigious architectural competition, to design the new compound for the General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers in Baghdad.
As it turns out, no – not really. Zipcar IPO’d with a valuation of about US$1 billion. The company hasn’t turned a profit in two years. When it comes to IPOs for unsuccessful companies, it turns out profits don’t really matter in the short run. At least not for technology companies. Though Zipcar is not a technology company.
Unprofitable technology companies find themselves hotter than profitable companies – then drop off the radar over time giving back position to companies that do turn profits.
