Piper Jaffray got this when he last surveyed teenagers to learn how they spend money.
Nobody ever said it was easy being a teenager but, this make it look fun. Clothes (including shoes), electronics, movies, music, video games, concerts, accessories, food: That is the life. And together, it makes up about 70 percent of the teen budget.
Continue reading… “Millennials are cheap – a graph that explains the teenage budget”
Mobile penetration in Africa is still growing at 4.2 percent annually.
People tend to have certain paradigms about the “developed world” and the “developing world.” Including, of course, media-fed images of Africa as a place of almost irredeemable poverty, deprivation, and pain. Many of our paradigms are, of course, illusions.
Continue reading… “Mobile penetration in Africa hits 80% and is still growing”
Help Wanted: Teachers in Afghanistan. Also Wanted: A School!
Quote of the Day: “A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.” — Baltasar Gracian
Continue reading… “Top 13 Photos of the Week”
This has been the worst year ever for the TV business. According to Citi Research, audience ratings have collapsed: Aside from a brief respite during the Olympics, there has been only negative ratings growth on broadcast and cable TV since September 2011.
Continue reading… “Here are the stats to prove that TV is dying”
Innovations introduced more recently are being adopted more quickly.
The rates of new product introduction and adoption are speeding up and it seems to be across the board. For instance, an automobile industry trade consultant observes that “Today, a typical automotive design cycle is approximately 24 to 36 months, which is much faster than the 60-month life cycle from five years ago.”
Continue reading… “Adoption of technology is speeding up”
Now, for my next trick, I present hoover cat!
Quote of the Day: “Just the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” – Carl Sagan
Continue reading… “Top 13 Photos of the Week”
Monster.com and market research company GfK conducted a survey of 8,000 workers across the United States, Canada, India, and Europe which we suppose makes it somewhat official: America is number one! Number one in the percentage of employees who hate their jobs, that is.
Continue reading… “Americans hate their jobs more than everyone else in the world hates their jobs”
Train carrying coal to a power plant.
The Great Energy Shift is happening in spurts and is starting in places like Arizona and Mississippi instead of coming from legislation in Washington. Last week two two utilities faced decisions on whether to fight the future or embrace it.
Continue reading… “The death of coal in America”
Americans began taking their foot off the gas pedal well before the recession.
Energy an urban-planning nerds have been pondering a very interesting question these days – has the U.S. passed peak car? Ever since the recession, Americans have been driving less, getting fewer licenses, and using less gas. But is that just the work of the recession, or something more permanent?
Continue reading… “The decline of driving in the U.S.”
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” ~ John F. Kennedy
Preferences and expectations are changing and growing among consumers just as quickly as advancements in technology, encouraging (if not demanding) that brands embrace a strategy of non-stop adaptation to the next generation and the next big thing.
Continue reading… “20 expert predictions for the future of customer service”
Black unemployment is higher than Hispanic unemployment, which itself is higher than white unemployment. This has not only been true for the last year, or the last decade, but it has been true for the last four decades and beyond.
Continue reading… “America’s workforce is even more divided by race than you think”
China’s leading e-commerce marketplace.
Taobao, China’s leading e-commerce marketplace, racked up RMB 1 billion ($164 million) in mobile purchases from over 14 million user accounts one hour into China’s annual Single’s Day shopping blitz,