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pharoah88
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10-Aug-2010 19:44
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CROWD-SOURCING FROM all appearances, Trek Light Gear is a substantial operation. The company sells many products, such as its signature lightweight hammock, backpacks and apparel. It operates a flagship store in Boulder, Colorado, distributes products online and sells at festivals and events all over the United States. But Trek Light has a full-time staff of one: Mr Seth Haber, the founder. “I’m always trying to seem bigger,” he said. However, he has felt the pinch of being a small operation. So, last year, he turned to crowdsourcing for help. Through a local company called Napkin Labs, Mr Haber gained access to a large pool of consumers who would view the company through external eyes and give ideas on where it should be going. The process led to his crucial branding question: Should he focus his efforts on the company’s hammock or expand into related products for campers? A series of exploratory questions was posted to the Napkin Labs crowd members and for feedback on the brand itself. After a few weeks, Napkin Labs delivered the crowd’s verdict: Expand the business. “It really confirmed my decision not to pigeonhole the business around the lightweight hammock,” Mr Haber said. Although payment varies by project, the crowd is paid based on a point system that evaluates the frequency of participation, quality of ideas and influence on the outcome. Napkin Labs typically charges US$10,000 ($13,534) or more for a project that involves both crowd-sourcing and consulting. The process of crowd-sourcing involves turning to resources outside your company. But instead of outsourcing a specific task or business function to a single company, crowd-sourcing — also known as Expert Sourcing and Open Innovation — makes a public, or semi-public, invitation to a community at large to provide input or work. Thousands of Crowd-Sourcing Providers have since emerged. What follows are suggestions based on the experiences of other small-business owners. |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 19:20
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Tapping the wisdom of the crowd Expand your business without blowing your budget: Make use of your community |
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Hulumas
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 19:07
Yells: "INVEST but not TRADE please!" |
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Eastman colour screen?
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 19:06
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 16:43
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Surprise exit of iPhone exec adds fuel to ‘Antennagate’ speculation SAN FRANCISCO — Mr Mark Papermaster, Apple’s senior vice-president of devices hardware engineering, is leaving the company less than two years after he was controversially lured from IBM. The company would not say whether he had resigned or been dismissed but his details have already been removed from Apple’s corporate website. The exit of Mr Papermaster, who had led the hardware engineering teams that designed Apple’s iPhones and iPods, sparked speculation he was paying the price for “Antennagate”. It comes just six weeks after the launch of Apple’s latest smartphone, the iPhone 4, which was marred by complaints that the handset’s signal strength fell sharply when held a certain way. Although Apple would not say why Mr Papermaster is leaving, spokesman Steve Dowlings confirmed that Mr Bob Mansfield, senior vice-president of Macintosh hardware engineering, is “assuming his responsibilities”. Mr John Gruber, who blogs about Apple, said it was “clear he (Papermaster) was sacked”, pointing to his absence from the July 16 press conference when Apple CEO Steve Jobs discussed the antenna issue. One analyst argued the change of corporate culture at Apple may have been too much for the IBM veteran. “At the end of the day, it might have been that he didn’t have enough T-shirts and blue jeans in his closet,” said Mr Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Company. The Apple antenna debacle has taken another twist with the surprise departure of the senior executive responsible for engineering the iPhone and the iPod.THE GUARDIAN |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 16:34
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Oil spill costs BP S$8b LONDON — “The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately US$6.1 billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, static kill and cementing, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs,” BP said in a statement. An estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil spewed from BP’s ruptured well in the 87 days from the beginning of the disaster until the leak was finally capped on July 15, the United States has said. The company revealed on Thursday that it had finished pumping cement into the damaged well after a five-hour operation. “The MC252 well has been shut-in since July 15; there is currently no oil flowing into the Gulf,” the group said yesterday. It added: “Following the completion of cementing operations on the MC252 well on Aug 5, pressure testing was performed which indicated there is an effective cement plug in the casing. BP believes the static kill and cementing procedures have been successful.” Earlier, President Barack Obama’s top energy adviser, Mr Jason Grumet, warned that BP will pay a “large financial penalty” for the oil disaster but refused to say if criminal negligence charges will be pursued. With the ruptured Macondo well all but dead on the ocean floor as engineers shut the well for good, BP is shifting towards recovery operations including cleaning hundreds of kilometres of shoreline and restoring the economic health of the region.” Energy giant BP said yesterday that it had spent US$6.1 billion (S$8.22 billion) so far to meet costs from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, days after plugging the damaged well with concrete.AFP PS: It ALL started on COST CUTTING of a few million on the drill. |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 15:46
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Pay more attention to other RISKS: Expert — While most governments have focused on beefing up financial regulations following the recent global crisis, an insurance expert said more attention should be given to other issues such as climate change and old-age security. SINGAPORE “Beyond the specific problems of this crisis, we have to deal with major risks that could destabilise our economic systems — currently very little time is allocated for them,” said Mr Patrick Liedtke, secretary-general and managing director of The Geneva Association, a Swiss-based insurance organisation. Mr Liedtke, who was here for the World Risk and Insurance Economic Congress, said Asia’s ageing population and rapid growth meant that government leaders in the region should be vigilant in managing SYSTEMIC RISKS — particularly given Asia’s growing linkages with other nations and the rise in its financial services activities. Discussions from this year’s congress revolved around, among other things, insurance regulations, lessons from the credit crisis, old-age security and climate change. Weather-related RISKS, in particular, have increased the potential for LOSSES and have pushed insurers to re-examine how they address needs arising from these, according to a report by Mr Liedtke’s organisation. “We need to be careful in the way we structure future regulations in financial services because not everything is the same,” Mr Liedtke said, pointing out the need to make DISTINCTIONS between insurance and banking activities. |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 14:47
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China to SHUT 2,000 energy-wasting factories — China has ordered 2,087 steel and cement mills and other factories with poor energy efficiency to close as it struggles to cut waste and improve the country’s battered environment. BEIJING The “backward” facilities produce steel, coke, aluminium, paper and other materials in areas throughout China and must close by late next month, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced yesterday. “Accelerating the elimination of backward production facilities is an important move to change the economic growth pattern, restructure the economy and to improve quality and efficiency of growth,” the ministry said on its website. The authorities said last week that a five-year plan to improve energy efficiency suffered a setback this year as China’s economic rebound and a construction boom boosted demand for steel, cement and other energy-intensive products. The plan calls for a 20 per cent reduction in China’s energy consumption per unit of economic output, or energy intensity, by the end of this year. The government said in March it had cut energy intensity 14.4 per cent by the end of last year but it said last week that energy intensity crept up 0.09 per cent in the first half of this year. China overtook the United States last year as the world’s biggest energy consumer, though with a larger population it still is well behind in consumption per person, according to the International Energy Agency. China’s surging energy demands have alarmed communist leaders, who worry about dependence on imported oil and gas from volatile regions such as the Gulf and pollution damage to scarce water supplies and forests in a densely populated country. The country’s growing presence in international energy markets has prompted complaints that it is pushing up crude prices. In the latest crackdown, the facilities would lose their certification to emit pollutants at the end of September, utilities would cut off power supplies and banks would be ordered to stop dealing with them, the ministry said. Its list included 762 cement factories, 279 paper mills, 175 steel mills, 192 coking plants and an unspecified number of aluminium mills. Provinces with the biggest numbers of affected facilities are Henan in central China and Shaanxi in the north, both traditional centres for heavy industry. AGENCIES |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 13:08
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China milk powder blamed for ‘baby breasts’ BEIJING Medical tests indicated the levels of hormones in three girls, ranging in age from four to 15 months and who were fed the same baby formula, exceeded those of the average adult woman, the “The amount of hormones in the babies definitely means there’s a problem,” Mr Yang Qin, the chief physician in the child care department at the Hubei Maternity and Children’s Hospital, was quoted as saying. Local FOOD SAFETY authorities, however, REFUSED a parent’s request TO INVESTIGATE the formula made by SYNUTRA, based in the eastern city of Qingdao, saying they do not conduct tests at consumers’ behest, the report said. Synutra insisted that its products were safe. “No manmade ‘hormones’ or any illegal substances were added during production,” it said in a statement. The infants showed unusually high levels of the hormones estradiol and prolactin, the
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 12:57
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Another BLODDY DEATH at FOXCONN plant
BEIJING The 22-year-old woman, who died late on Wednesday, was an employee at a packaging department in Foxconn’s Kunshan plant in eastern Jiangsu province, it said. The company said it is working with the local authorities to investigate the incident. Foxconn, which assembles Apple’s iPhone and other well-known products, has seen a series of 13 suicides in its Chinese plants this year that has put the spotlight on conditions for millions of factory workers in the “workshop of the world”. It was unclear whether the latest death was also suicide. Labour rights activists have blamed suicides at Foxconn — the world’s largest maker of computer components and a supplier to leading brands such as Dell and Nokia — on tough working conditions in its factories. AFP — A woman worker at Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn died in eastern China after falling from a dormitory building, the company said on Friday. |
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Hulumas
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 12:08
Yells: "INVEST but not TRADE please!" |
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Is there any difference you eat fish meat and shark fin? Are they not edible?
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 11:43
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Shark’s fin gaffe Offers ended early but some continue promotions Letter from Jennifer Lee ABOUT two weeks ago, a concerned Hong Kong citizen saw a Citibank (Hong Kong) promotion advertising discounted shark’s fins. He started a Facebook group page demanding Citibank HK cease all promotions related to the sale of shark’s fins. Within a week, the group had gained 1,000 supporters and Citibank HK, to its credit, reacted almost immediately, ending the promotion early. Then, the spotlight was turned on Citibank (Singapore), as people around the world found out about its promotion with a restaurant selling shark’s fins here. Likewise, Citibank ended the promotion, which was set to run until Dec 31. Citibank’s efficient, “No-Excuses” RECOVERY from the environmental gaffe is admirable. However, there are still a number of well-known companies in SINGAPORE that continue to harm the world’s shark population, such as other banks running joint promotions boosting the sales of shark’s fins, firms hosting business lunches with shark’s fin on the menu, or giving shark’s fin as gifts to corporate partners. The Citibank saga can be a good learning point for all image-conscious companies seeking to be socially and environmentally responsible, that it is never too late to do the RIGHT THING. Of the 100 million sharks killed annually, 73 million are killed for only their fins. This figure excludes unreported and illegal fishing. More often than not, the fins are removed while the shark is alive and the finless body is thrown back into the ocean. The BLEEDING SHARK suffers a slow death, unable to feed or breathe. It can sit on the seabed for days before finally dying from blood loss and suffocation. Singapore, despite its size, is currently among the world’s largest entrepot ports for the fin trade, as well as high on the list of consumers. |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Aug-2010 11:12
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