The end of traffic jams? Dutch test new GPS system; By letting drivers know in time that they should change lanes and drive at a certain speed, researchers hope they can prevent traffic jams forming

The end of traffic jams? Dutch test new system

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 – 22:18

AFP

THE HAGUE – Researchers in the Netherlands will next year test a GPS navigation system aimed at preventing the international curse of motorway traffic jams by telling drivers which lane to move to. Tests will be carried out as early as April on a 75-kilometre (around 50 mile) stretch of motorway passing through the Netherlands, from Germany to Belgium, which is popular with freight lorries. Read more of this post

Berkshire’s Verisk Heads for Record Plunge on Revenue Slump

Verisk Heads for Record Plunge on Revenue Slump

Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK), the supplier of actuarial and risk data to banks and insurers, headed for the biggest drop since its 2009 public offering after revenue missed analysts’ estimates as growth slowed in the health segment. Verisk slumped 8.4 percent to $62.12 at 10:02 a.m. Shares of the Jersey City, New Jersey-based company advanced 22 percent this year, compared with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s 24 percent climb. Third-quarter revenue of $438.6 million fell short of the average $444.8 million estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 13 analysts. Sales tied to health care at the decision-analytics operation climbed 6.2 percent from the third quarter of 2012 to $73.6 million, the company said in a statement late yesterday. That compares with a 21 percent increase in the second quarter. “We’d expect this slowdown to generate some concerns and questions,” William Clark, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, said in a research note following Verisk’s earnings report. “Certainly something to keep an eye on.” Net income for the quarter rose 16 percent to $96.4 million on growth in its insurance and financial-services business, Verisk said in the statement. “Our health-care business delivered growth that was below our plan,” the company said in the statement. “But we remain enthusiastic about our longer-term outlook.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Marci Jacobs in New York at mjacobs63@bloomberg.net

Blockbuster Video-Rental Chain Will Shut All U.S. Stores

Blockbuster Video-Rental Chain Will Shut All U.S. Stores

Blockbuster LLC, the video-rental company owned by Dish Network Corp. (DISH), will close its remaining 300 U.S. stores, ending an era for a chain that was once a ubiquitous part of American shopping centers. Blockbuster will shut the outlets by early January and discontinue its DVD-by-mail service by mid-December, Englewood, Colorado-based Dish said today in a statement. Each Blockbuster store has eight to 10 employees, so the move is expected to cost about 2,800 jobs. Dish will keep the licensing rights to the Blockbuster brand and use it to sell other services. Read more of this post

Seven Ways Marketers Would Fix Twitter; Ad Executives Speak Out About How the Messaging Service Can Win Them Over

Seven Ways Marketers Would Fix Twitter

Ad Executives Speak Out About How the Messaging Service Can Win Them Over

SUZANNE VRANICA

Updated Nov. 6, 2013 7:47 p.m. ET

As Twitter Inc. prepares to make its stock-market debut, a fundamental question looms: Can the messaging service turn its army of followers into a moneymaking business? Although the service and its 140-character messages has become part of popular culture, many marketers still view Twitter as experimental. It doesn’t have enough scale for some marketers, and some advertisers want more information about Twitter’s users and more proof that ads on the service work. Over the past year, Twitter has taken steps to be more advertiser friendly, such as adding new services. Read more of this post

Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Invest in Twitter

Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Invest in Twitter

FARHAD MANJOO

Nov. 6, 2013 7:30 p.m. ET

Twitter Inc.’s rise has been a remarkable story. Both because it was beset by chaos (see Nick Bilton’s new book for the operatic details) and because, despite the chaos, Twitter has somehow managed to become a legitimate, even straitlaced business, its IPO is a good time to congratulate the firm on its unlikely success. But it isn’t a good time to invest in Twitter when it starts trading Thursday. Here are three reasons to sit this one out: Read more of this post

Twitter Vies to Open Door for Consumer-Web Companies’ IPO Plans

Twitter Vies to Open Door for Consumer-Web Companies’ IPO Plans

Twitter Inc. (TWTR) has the potential to pry open the door for consumer-Internet initial public offerings after it slammed shut following Facebook Inc. (FB)’s troubled share sale last year. Zulily Inc., an online seller of apparel for moms and babies, and digital-education service Chegg Inc. are set to debut next week. Care.com Inc., owner of a site used to find babysitters, plans to hold an IPO early next year, people familiar with the matter said in August. Read more of this post

Vote of Confidence in Linio, Mexico’s Version of Amazon.com

NOVEMBER 6, 2013, 3:26 PM

Vote of Confidence in Mexico’s Version of Amazon.com

By VINOD SREEHARSHA

The Mexican venture capital firm Latin Idea Ventures said this week that it had made its first investment in an e-commerce company, Linio, a Mexico City start-up that, like Amazon.com in the United States, sells a wide array of products. The investment, announced on Tuesday, was a sign that Latin Idea, founded in 2000, is growing and poised to make significantly larger investments as Mexico’s nascent start-up scene gains momentum. Read more of this post

China becomes Evernote’s biggest market outside the US as its userbase doubles in six months

China becomes Evernote’s biggest market outside the US as its userbase doubles in six months

November 4, 2013

by Josh Horwitz

Today Evernote revealed that the company has passed the 8 million registered user benchmark in China, effectively doubling its userbase in the country since last May. In an interview with DoNews (hat tip Technode), Evernote China managing director Gu Yi stated that China has now become Evernote’s largest market outside of the US, surpassing Japan to take the number two spot. Read more of this post

From Martians to Japanese Eye-lickers: Media Mania Is Nothing New

From Martians to Japanese Eye-lickers: Media Mania Is Nothing New

Oct 30, 2013 Opinion North America

Seventy-five years ago today, Martian invaders landed in Grovers Mill, N.J., marched death machines across the Hudson River and destroyed much of New York City. Or so many people thought as they listened to Orson Welles’ radio dramatization of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. The reasons this story – and the subsequent media reports of it — gained such traction may offer insights into contemporary media obsessions and the misunderstandings they can cause. Read more of this post

India’s Telecom Rules Could Derail Potential Deals; Telecom Commission Recommends Fee on Mergers and Acquisitions

India’s Telecom Rules Could Derail Potential Deals

Telecom Commission Recommends Fee on Mergers and Acquisitions

R. JAI KRISHNA and KENAN MACHADO

Updated Nov. 6, 2013 8:52 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI—India approved new rules on acquisitions of cellular companies Wednesday, in a move analysts say could increase the cost of buying phone companies in the world’s second largest telecommunications market. India’s Telecom Commission—the government’s top telecommunications policy-making body—recommended that any company acquiring an Indian cellular company be asked to pay a fee to the government on top of what it pays for the company. The fee will be connected to the current value of the bandwidth which the target company holds. Read more of this post

Wal-Mart Online Price Error Leads to $100 Can of Lysol

Wal-Mart Online Price Error Leads to $100 Can of Lysol

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s (WMT) website was selling kayaks for about $11 and computer monitors for about $9 earlier today owing to a technical error that led the world’s largest retailer to shut down its online store for maintenance. The pricing abnormalities were caused internally, said Ravi Jariwala, a Wal-Mart spokesman. “We’re working quickly to correct” it, he said in a telephone interview, adding that there would be “intermittent site unavailability” until then. Read more of this post

U.S. Investors Brush Aside Fears About Chinese Internet Companies

NOVEMBER 6, 2013, 12:06 PM

U.S. Investors Brush Aside Fears About Chinese Internet Companies

By PETER THAL LARSEN

For American investors, love of technology has conquered a fear of China. Shareholders are snapping up shares of Chinese Internet companies going public stateside. It is a striking contrast with the recent past, when accounting scams and poor governance prompted many to shun Chinese stocks. The travel booking website Qunar, which doubled in value on its first day of trading last Friday, is the prime example of the new boom. The same week, shares in the local listings group 58.com – billed as China’s Craigslist – jumped almost 50 percent on their debut. Read more of this post

Drone-piloting Beijing videomakers earn their pie in the sky

Drone-piloting Beijing videomakers earn their pie in the sky

Wednesday, 06 November, 2013, 6:26pm

Wu Nan nan.wu@scmp.com

Business for a Beijing aerial film crew took off after their images of a rooftop folly went viral

The business model is simple enough – take something interesting but out of reach. Give people a bird’s eye view of it, literally. And fame and fortune follow. That, in brief, is the remarkable story of Beijing FlyCam Culture and Media, an aerial photography firm that struck it rich thanks to the determination of a couple of Beijingers to turn their hobby of flying model aircraft into a money spinner. Read more of this post

Chinese developer makes free map and audio guide apps for 100+ tourist spots, reports 1 million active users

Chinese developer makes free map and audio guide apps for 100+ tourist spots, reports 1 million active users

November 6, 2013

by Paul Bischoff

Now plastered on a wall at the south entrance to Nanluoguxiang, one of Beijing’s most popular tourist streets, is a billboard-sized advertisement with a QR code. Scanning it will prompt you to download an app containing a map of the area spotted with several points of interest. Tapping on any of those points gives you free access to a professional audio guide, user-submitted photos and reviews, and a detailed description.

Read more of this post

Baidu splashes money on Digione, a mobile firm that wants to overthrow Xiaomi as China’s smartphone king

Baidu splashes money on Digione, a mobile firm that wants to overthrow Xiaomi as China’s smartphone king

November 6, 2013

by Josh Horwitz

Today Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), the search giant that’s slowly expanding its software ecosystem, announced an investment in Digione, a mobile logistics company based in Shenzhen. The exact sums and conditions haven’t been disclosed, but according to Techweb, the deal officially makes Baidu the company’s biggest investor. Before we dive into more specifics about the partnership, let’s backtrack a bit and ask: What is Digione and why should I care? The answer might surprise you. Read more of this post

Aging Gracefully, China’s Internet Heads to Launch Insurance Venture

November 6, 2013, 10:05 PM

Aging Gracefully, China’s Internet Heads to Launch Insurance Venture

When the two biggest names in the Chinese Internet sector get together to start an online insurance business, it can mean only one thing: China’s heroes of online innovation are getting old. Speaking together at an event in Shanghai on Wednesday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Chairman Jack Ma, 49, andTencent Holdings Ltd.TCEHY +1.00%Chief Executive Pony Ma, 42, both agreed that growing older in the fast-changing tech sector is a challenge. Read more of this post