“We don’t stop living when we go to work and, very often today, we don’t stop working when we arrive home.”
The line between work and home is disappearing, says former Financial Times columnist Richard Donkin in his new book.  “We don’t stop living when we go to work and, very often today, we don’t stop [...]

Ford Figo
Ford Motor Co. (F) Friday began producing its first small car in India and its engines as the U.S. auto maker tries to challenge Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269.TO) and Hyundai Motor Co. (007380.SE) in this growing market for automobiles.
 

A swordfish attack punctured an oil loading pipe in Angola recently, causing a three-day delay in tanker shipments of Girassol crude. Total, the French oil company which operates the pipeline, declared force majeure on shipments. Total later said that swordfish had damaged a flexible loading pipe. Declaring force majeure frees an operator from supply obligations [...]

a new study shows that many people, when faced with a financial crisis, are not putting their mortgages first.
TransUnion, one of the big credit bureaus, recently released a report showing that an increasing number of consumers are choosing to pay their credit card bills before their monthly mortgages.
My grandmother Big Mama had a key financial [...]

Google Store View?
New York retailer Oh Nuts experienced an odd thing the other day: a Google photographer came in and took pictures of the entire store in all directions, stopping every 6 feet. Sounds a lot like Google Street View, except inside a retail esteblishment.
 

Migrant workers wait for a bus to return them to the labor camps outside Dubai, but many of the jobs have dried up.
When his overnight flight landed, Abdul Wahib walked out of Kochi’s palm-fringed airport and hugged his family. After 24 years of working in the United Arab Emirates, he was home. He carried a [...]

A couple looking at a shop in Greece as the economy has suffered a major deficit crisis.
Governments in Athens, Madrid and Lisbon struggled on Friday to quell fears of a looming debt crisis in Europe that is pummeling the euro and rippling across global markets, as authorities vowed to impose fiscal austerity and plug their [...]

Perhaps a little tart in the bathroom?

Mildred’s Temple Kitchen is inviting customers to have sex in its bathrooms. The Valentine’s weekend promotion takes uncomfortable but electrifying sex from the close confines of an airplane and transfers it to the unisex stalls of the Hanna Ave. restaurant.
The Liberty Village restaurant proposes its modern bathrooms become one [...]

Just what we need. Murray Hill Incorporated has just announced its intention to run for Congress in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
Murray Hill Inc. is believed to be the first “corporate person” to exercise its constitutional right to run for office. As Supreme Court observer Lyle Denniston wrote in his SCOTUSblog, “If anything, the decision in Citizens United [...]

Americans’ love affair with top-shelf booze cooled last year as the recession took a toll on high-priced drinks..  A report by an industry group shows people drank more but turned to cheaper brands. They also drank more at home and less in pricier bars and restaurants.
 

Zero Rupee banknote
Special zero rupee banknotes have been issued by an anti-corruption campaign to challenge India’s bribe culture.  Campaigners from the Fifth Pillar charity, which confronts corrupt officials using freedom of information legislation, have issued notes bearing the image of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of its freedom struggle.
 

Tesla’s next electric car is the Model S, a sedan.
It sounds like the initial public offering of electric-car maker Tesla is already being greeted with skepticism, but some of the fine print about its plans may give potential investors even greater cause for concern.
 

Virtual desktop
Mobile technology driven by the consumerisation of technology and self-service IT will explode in 2010 as will the demand for more flexible workplaces, according to the Citrix Top Technology Trends for 2010 forecast.  
With the month drawing to an end, the estimated cost of January’s fierce weather conditions is expected to run into millions of [...]

Solar panels cover the roof of a California business, SA Recycling.
In 2008, solar electric capacity in the United States jumped 63 percent, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. California leads the nation in this particular trend. Our installed solar photovoltaic capacity more than doubled from 2006 to 2008.
 

The Color Marketing Group forecast color directions for all industries, manufactured products and services
Fashion is a fickle thing, and, unless you follow trends closely, you get left behind in the “that was so last week” heap.   When it comes to the look of your home, fashion is fairly forgiving. Unless you regularly entertain experts from [...]

Small business turning to alternative financing when big banks turn them down
In the glory days of the digital photo frame business, when his products were still a novelty and shoppers were flush with cash, getting a bank loan to manufacture them was a cinch, Michael Levy says.  We would say: ‘We got a $1 million order [...]

After hitting a stiff economic head wind in 2009, business air travel appears to be reviving.  The heads of major airlines, including United, American and Delta, said they’re seeing the early indications of a resurgence as corporations get reacquainted with the idea of spending money on travel.
 

Harvard University has the biggest endowment
Average college endowment returns plummeted 18.7% last year, the worst decline for higher education since the Great Depression, a report says.  Overall, higher education endowments fared better than other indexes; the widely used S&P 500 was down 26.2% over the same period, the 12 months ending last June 30. And, [...]

Facebook
Facebook seems to be a handy tool for companies who want to get more information on clientele like their full names, friends, age, gender and interests. It’s a simple hack that was first publicised by blogger Max Klein.

Indian students not safe in Australia
Avoid Australia – that’s the clear warning to students planning to study Down Under, issued by the Indian government.  On the ground, the government’s warning apart, the unending attacks and two deaths resulting from it have clearly rattled admission seekers and students already studying there.

Kindle
Here’s a riddle: How do you make your book a best seller on the Kindle?    Answer: Give copies away.  That’s right. More than half of the “best-selling” e-books on the Kindle, Amazon.com’s e-reader, are available at no charge.
 

The month of January offered those who track the ups and downs of the U.S. economy 92 significant data releases and announcements to digest. That’s according to a calendar compiled by the investment bank UBS. The number doesn’t include corporate earnings, data from abroad or informal indicators like, say, cardboard prices (a favorite of Alan [...]

Passengers wait in line at a Southwest Airlines tcket counter
Carriers trying to fill planes to the max routinely overbook flights to account for no-shows, leaving some travelers without seats. But those bumped passengers have rights.  Based on the numbers, America’s major airlines are doing a better job of getting us to our destinations on time [...]

Many luxury apartments in New York offering incentives to renters
Scores of stalled construction projects can be found scattered around New York City, but one category of building that doesn’t seem to have been sidetracked by the recession is the luxury apartment rental.
 

California employers cut more workers in December, capping a dismal year in which the state lost more than half a million jobs.  Construction and related industries take a big hit in 2009. Payrolls shrink again in December, though the unemployment rate stays at 12.4%.