David Peterson invents languages for sci-fi and fantasy dramas such as ‘Game of Thrones’; linguistic construction should be taught at school

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

March 6, 2014 4:30 pm

Seven words for sword thrust

By Emma Jacobs

When he was a student in linguistics and English at the University of California, Berkeley, David Peterson worked on a secret language for two months. It was called “Megdevi”. This was an amalgam of both his own name and Megan, his girlfriend at the time. Once satisfied with his new words and grammar rules, he presented it to her. It was his grand romantic gesture: a private language they could use to communicate only with each other. Read more of this post

Filed under Life

Financial engineers feast on Premier Foods; In 2004 Premier was valued at nearly £1.5bn. Last year Premier flirted with disaster. now a confection of massive rights issue, share placing, high-yield bond and £300m credit facility

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

March 7, 2014 8:06 am

Financial engineers feast on Premier Foods

By Neil Collins

Bankers and brokers collect fat fees for reconstruction package

If anyone doubted there is more money to be earned shovelling capital about than actually making things, then the saga of Premier Foods should disabuse them. True, there is a happy ending, of sorts, for the shareholders, but the real happiness is shared among the bankers and brokers who charged for putting the business together and are now collecting saturated fat fees for rescuing it. Read more of this post

Filed under Innovation

Social mobility: a family affair; ‘We are all creatures of our social environment. Wealth generally begets more wealth’

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

March 7, 2014 12:05 pm

Social mobility: a family affair

By Gillian Tett

‘We are all creatures of our social environment. Wealth generally begets more wealth’

When I was a child growing up in England three decades ago, I was confronted with the visual evidence of social mobility every day – but of the downward, not upward, type. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Beware the false reassurance of corporate probes; Directors do not like to embarrass themselves by exposing serious problems, writes Carson Block

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

March 6, 2014 6:20 pm

Beware the false reassurance of corporate probes

By Carson Block

Directors do not like to embarrass themselves by exposing serious problems, writes Carson Block

When it comes to defending themselves against accusations of wrongdoing, management teams and their complacent boards follow a well-worn routine. Their immediate reaction is to issue a blanket denial and announce that an independent committee of directors will investigate the accusations. The committee duly appoints an independent law firm to oversee the investigation, and the consulting arm of a Big Four accountancy to pore over the books. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Once, all you needed to succeed in the music business were a pair of golden ears and some hustle. Now, it also takes mountains of data.

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

The Sweet, Streaming Sound of Data

By BEN SISARIOMARCH 6, 2014

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Daniel Ek, chief of the music streaming service Spotify, which has bought a company that analyzes music consumption patterns

Once, all you needed to succeed in the music business were a pair of golden ears and some hustle. Now, it also takes mountains of data. Read more of this post

Filed under TMT Trends

Alibaba’s internet fund product Yu’ebao hits setback as three major banks refuse transactions

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Yu’ebao hits setback as three major banks refuse transactions

Xinhua and Staff Reporter

2014-03-07

Yu’ebao, China’s most popular internet fund product, is in hot water as three state-owned banks have reportedly halted interbank deposit business with the fund manager Tianhong, a division of Alipay. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Alibaba said to have bought 20% stake in Wasu Media for US$1bn

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Alibaba said to have bought 20% stake in Wasu Media for US$1bn

Staff Reporter

2014-03-07

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has reportedly acquired a 20% stake in Wasu Media Holding Co worth about US$1 billion, the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald reports, citing market speculation after Wasu issued a statement on Tuesday to suspend trading. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends, TMT Trends

As China privatises, foreigners likely to be kept out

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Updated: Friday March 7, 2014 MYT 12:28:54 PM

As China privatises, foreigners likely to be kept out

SHANGHAI: As China embarks on a new wave of opening up state-dominated industries to private capital, foreign firms will largely be kept out and authorities are likely to look to institutions like domestic pension funds and insurers. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends, TMT Trends

Indian shares hit record highs on hopes of new government

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Indian shares hit record highs on hopes of new government

POSTED: 07 Mar 2014 23:08
India’s shares hit fresh a lifetime peak on Friday, boosted by easing strain on public finances and hopes a pro-business government would soon be elected to bring economic growth back on track. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

New perspectives on Strategy: “Intellect Inside: How to do more than simply sell your products?” by Philippe Very, Professor at EDHEC Business School

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

New perspectives on Strategy: “Intellect Inside: How to do more than simply sell your products?” by Philippe Very, Professor at EDHEC Business School

Philippe Very, Professor of Strategy at EDHEC Business School, and Eric Hanoune in charge of Marketing Virbac’s Services Offer, have combined their expertise once again in a new position paper entitled “Intellect Inside – or how to do more than simply sell your products”. Read more of this post

Filed under Life

Don’t Let Workplace Feedback Crush You

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Don’t Let Workplace Feedback Crush You

By Drake Bennett March 06, 2014

“How’m I doin’?” Ed Koch, the late mayor of New York, would famously shout to his constituents. Cynics say the tic was rhetorical, that hizzoner wasn’t really interested in anything but praise. And judging from American bookstores, Koch was before his time. The nation is obsessed with feedback—how to give and receive it without descending into awkwardness or crushing self-esteem. “One in four employees dreads their performance review more than anything else in their working lives,” write Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen in their book, Thanks for the Feedback, out on March 4. That’s why some companies now refer to it in more euphemistic terms: the “performance appraisal” process or, worse, a “midyear check-in.” Read more of this post

Filed under Life

Cancer-Spotting Goggles Help Surgeons Remove Diseased Cells

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Cancer-Spotting Goggles Help Surgeons Remove Diseased Cells

By Caroline Winter  March 06, 2014

Innovator: Samuel Achilefu
Age: 51
Professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.

Form and function: When surgeons remove a tumor, diseased tissues can be difficult to distinguish from healthy ones. A fluorescent marker and special goggles make cancer cells appear to glow under infrared light, so surgeons have an easier time excising them. Read more of this post

Filed under Health

Silicon Valley Hears Echoes of 1999

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Silicon Valley Hears Echoes of 1999

By Leslie Picker March 06, 2014

Not many executives have seen their companies double in value in one day. Peter Bardwick has seen it twice. Bardwick was chief financial officer of financial news site MarketWatch when it started initial trading on Jan. 15, 1999, at $17 a share. By day’s end it hit $97.50, for a market value exceeding $1 billion. Fourteen years later, on Sept. 20, 2013, Bardwick, now CFO of digital advertising firm Rocket Fuel (FUEL), watched its stock almost double in value on its first day of trading. Read more of this post

Filed under TMT Trends

Ask a Billionaire: James Dyson on Dealing With Failure

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Ask a Billionaire: James Dyson on Dealing With Failure

March 06, 2014

image001-22

James Dyson
Founder and chief engineer, Dyson
Net worth: $4.4 billion

What’s your strategy for dealing with failure? Read more of this post

Filed under Life

From Tesla to Dunkin’ Donuts, One Firm’s Quest to Fine-Tune the World; Valor Equity Partners upgrades mass-market restaurant outlets with the same lean-manufacturing zeal that enabled it to help make Tesla viable

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

From Tesla to Dunkin’ Donuts, One Firm’s Quest to Fine-Tune the World

By Ashlee Vance February 28, 2014

At a Little Caesars in Salt Lake City, the pizza making process is executed with precision. The employees receive a worksheet each morning that breaks their day down into 30 minute chunks. From 11:30 a.m. to noon, they’re instructed to have 10 pepperoni, four cheese, two Hawaiian, and three Meat Treat pizzas ready, along with an order of Buffalo wings and 22 sticks of Crazy Bread. During the busiest time, 6:00 to 6:30 p.m., they need 67 pepperoni, 39 cheese, six Hawaiian, and eight Meat Treat pizzas along with three orders of wings and 77 sticks of crazy bread. A college-age kid stands with a headset on and barks out orders–“Two Pep!” “Four Meat!”–to frenetic workers. The goal is to have the product ready and waiting. “People still call and place orders, but it doesn’t really matter,” says Mark, the store’s coach. “We’re already making the pizza, anyway.” Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

In China, FedEx and UPS Wait for Regulators to Renew Permits

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

In China, FedEx and UPS Wait for Regulators to Renew Permits

By Bruce Einhorn  March 06, 2014

This is a good time to be in the package delivery business in China. Last year, Chinese bought 1.85 trillion yuan ($300 billion) worth of goods online. There were 9.2 billion deliveries in 2013, a 60 percent increase, worth 143 billion yuan, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Only the express delivery market in the U.S. is bigger. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

World’s Biggest Arms Importer, India Wants to Buy Local

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

World’s Biggest Arms Importer, India Wants to Buy Local

By GARDINER HARRISMARCH 6, 2014

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In a joint venture with Sikorsky, Tata builds cabins and parts for the S-92 helicopter at the Hyderabad plant. CreditGraham Crouch for The New York Times Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

China Credit Markets Tumble Most In 3 Months As Default Spooks Lenders, Deals Pulled

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

China Credit Markets Tumble Most In 3 Months As Default Spooks Lenders, Deals Pulled

Tyler Durden on 03/06/2014 22:53 -0500

UPDATE: It’s happened – China has suffered its first domestic corporate bond default as Chaori fails to meet interest payments on schedule and rather more surprisingly failed to receive a last-minute mysterious or otherwise bailout… Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Save Us From the SAT: The SAT is a mind-numbing, stress-inducing ritual of torture

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Save Us From the SAT

MARCH 6, 2014

Jennifer Finney Boylan

BELGRADE LAKES, Me. — I WAS in trouble. The first few analogies were pretty straightforward — along the lines of “leopard is to spotted as zebra is to striped” — but now I was in the tall weeds of nuance. Kangaroo is to marsupial as the giant squid is to — I don’t know, maybe D) cephalopod? I looked up for a second at the back of the head of the girl in front of me. She had done this amazing thing with her hair, sort of like a French braid. I wondered if I could do that with my hair. Read more of this post

Filed under Life

China’s ‘land kings’ under threat as tightening takes a toll

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

China’s ‘land kings’ under threat as tightening takes a toll

Thu, Mar 6 2014

By Clare Jim and Yimou Lee

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The days of Chinese developers snatching up premium properties with record-breaking offers are coming to an end as cooling measures bite and sale prices are squeezed, ending the reign of a handful of “land kings” in the world’s second-largest economy. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

China says no casinos for resort island Hainan

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

China says no casinos for resort island Hainan

Thu, Mar 6 2014

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s balmy holiday island of Hainan, long touted as a place where the country could liberalise gambling, will not permit casinos, senior officials announced this week. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Walt Disney, Shanghai Media Group to develop Disney-branded movies

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

Walt Disney, Shanghai Media Group to develop Disney-branded movies

Thu, Mar 6 2014

By Chris Peters and Kanika Sikka

(Reuters) – Walt Disney Studios has signed an agreement with Shanghai Media Group Pictures to develop Disney-branded movies, the latest move by a U.S. studio to grow its presence in China’s entertainment business. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

A week after Mt. Gox collapse, Japan struggles to understand bitcoin

March 10, 2014 Leave a comment

A week after Mt. Gox collapse, Japan struggles to understand bitcoin

3:49am EST

By William Mallard

TOKYO (Reuters) – A week after the collapse of Mt. Gox, Japan is still struggling to craft a response to the bitcoin phenomenon, saying the crypto-currency is not legal tender, though it might be taxable and subject to money-laundering controls. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

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