Latest Posts

  • Marketing 0

    Why Personalized Content Marketing Requires People and Technology

    “Hey, you.” Me? Him? Her? That dog? “Hey, Christine.” That’s me. When you’re addressed by name, you pay attention. It’s clear that the speaker’s message is intended for you, and you alone. You’re also more likely to respond positively to someone who remembers your name—and uses it. In Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People, he asserts, “Remember that a person’s name, to that person, is the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” The benefits of this basic interpersonal courtesy also apply to content marketing. Personalized content eliminates ambiguity about the target audience and ...
    On January 17, 2015 / By
  • Social 0

    U.S. military social media accounts apparently hacked by Islamic State sympathizers

    Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State took control of the social media accounts of the U.S. military’s Central Command on Monday, posting threatening messages and propaganda videos, along with some military documents. The command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts were eventually taken offline, but not before a string of tweets and the release of military documents, some of which listed contact information for senior military personnel. A Centcom spokesman confirmed their accounts were “compromised,” and said later that the accounts have been taken offline while the incident is investigated more. “CENTCOM’s operation milita...
    On January 14, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Amid price rise, discounts to stay for new car purchases

    Though many car makers have hiked prices from this month, discounts and other customer benefit schemes will continue for new purchases at least for this quarter. Last week, car makers announced increase in prices of their models after the expiry of excise duty benefits, adding to the price hikes that were already announced to offset higher input costs. Industry hopes that the latest price hikes do not dampen consumer sentiments. Since the demand recovery has not been inclusive, companies are keen to continue the special incentives and schemes for new purchases. But discounts are reported to have come down to normal level when compared with De...
    On January 13, 2015 / By
  • Technology 0

    Garmin Enters Smartwatch Space with Sports-Oriented Vivoactive

    You probably know the name Garmin as a familiar manufacturer in the sports watch space.  But the company will be making its debut in the smartwatch category with the new Vivoactive, which was announced today ahead of the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which formally kicks off tomorrow. At $249, the Garmin Vivoactive stands out as a device that’s part classic smartwatch, part sports watch.  You can choose from several apps that would allow you to track biking, swimming, walking, running, and golfing stats, which is a nice touch and something you don’t see too often.  It’s also compatible with both Android and iOS devices...
    On January 5, 2015 / By
  • Real Estate 0

    Will 2015 Be Better Or Worse For Real Estate?

    Whether you’re looking to sell your home or spent the last year waffling between renting or buying, you probably have one question as we head into the new year: Will 2015 be better — or are we headed into another year of the same? There’s no such thing as a real estate crystal ball, and anyone who claims to have all the answers probably has a hidden agenda. With many factors to consider, let’s take a closer look. The recovery process — where are we? Trulia’s Chief Economist Jed Kolko recently came to the conclusion that while none of the five measurements in Trulia’s TRLA +0.92% Housing Barometer are completely back to norma...
    On December 31, 2014 / By
  • Finance 0

    Big Stock Market Gains Mean More Taxable Pain in 2015

    It’s hard to imagine mutual fund managers nostalgic for the big losses many booked in the financial crisis. But for actively managed funds, those realized losses did come to serve one useful purpose — as the bull market stretched on and managers took profits, they offset capital gains. Six years into a bull market, those losses are largely used up. That means more investors who own actively managed funds in taxable accounts will confront the biggest taxable distributions seen since before the crisis. Funds run by the Morgan Stanley Growth team, which Morningstar crowned 2013’s stock fund managers of the year, give a glimpse ...
    On December 24, 2014 / By
  • Technology 0

    BT chooses EE over O2 in $19.6 billion mobile deal

    (Reuters) – Britain’s BT has entered into exclusive talks with Orange and Deutsche Telekom to buy EE for 12.5 billion pounds ($19.6 billion), opting for the country’s biggest mobile operator over rival suitor, Telefonica’s O2. BT had been in talks with Telefonica and EE’s owners since late November about a deal to buy one of the providers, giving the fixed-line firm an unusually strong position to return to the consumer mobile market. BT said that if the deal completes Deutsche Telekom would hold a 12 percent stake in BT and would be entitled to appoint one board member, whereas Orange would hold a 4 percent stak...
    On December 15, 2014 / By
  • Entertainment 0

    Exclusive: Gorbachev Blames the U.S. for Provoking ‘New Cold War’

    “It’s America calling the shots in everything!” the former Soviet leader tells TIME In the offices of Mikhail Gorbachev, still sharp at 83 and plainspoken as ever, the walls are lined with photos from his travels as the leader of the Soviet Union and, in the years after its demise, as a living icon of the Cold War. One picture shows him with his late wife Raisa standing arm-in-arm with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. In another frame he wears a cowboy hat and jeans as he stands beside Ronald Reagan, the U.S. President who famously branded Gorbachev’s country an “evil empire” in 1983. These portraits, like many others in his Mos...
    On December 12, 2014 / By
  • Real Estate 0

    Revel Without a Cause: The Spectacular Fall Of Atlantic City’s Biggest Casino

    FOUR ATLANTIC CITY CASINOS have closed this year—another is expected to be shuttered soon—as revenues plunged because of new competition in neighboring states. The most spectacular fall in the Boardwalk empire? The $2.4 billion Revel. Eight years ago, Atlantic City’s gaming revenues reached $5.2 billion (an alltime high). In this environment, Morgan Stanley MS -0.76% purchased the Revel’s land for $74 million and picked Kevin DeSanctis, who had run Trump Plaza and worked with Steve Wynn, to plan a new, wildly ambitious casino project. The Revel was designed to attract overnight guests (in contrast to the city’s typical daytime visit...
    On December 9, 2014 / By
  • Finance 0

    Top Independent Adviser With $3.5 Billion Once Lived on Credit

    When Debra Wetherby started her investment advisory firm in 1990, she was 32, just married and had less than $50,000 of capital. She plunged into an emerging industry of advisers who run their own businesses rather than operating inside big brokerages such as Morgan Stanley, which she’d left in 1988. With 10 clients betting on her, working without a salary and living on credit cards, she rented an office on San Francisco’s Sansome Street and gave herself a deadline: make money in three years, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its January issue. Today, Wetherby Asset Management leases the entire eighth floor of a financial-district...
    On December 3, 2014 / By