4078413
submission
Anonymusing writes:
It was only a matter of time: someone is building a Twitter-based ad agency for entertainment clients. In this nine-minute video interview, Carri Bugbee discusses her award-winning tweeting for the TV show "Mad Men," and how she's using that success to expand her PR business. Still, if you're following a popular person on Twitter — Obama, Brittney Spears, Kanye West, Guy Kawasaki — you're probably reading the tweets of a ghost Twitterer: a paid staffer who tweets in the celeb's name. Not every celebrity pays others to Twitter for them: Shaquille O'Neill notes that "It's 140 characters. It's so few characters. If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you."
3997677
submission
Anonymusing writes:
Not long ago, professional video gamer Emmanuel Rodriguez earned a base $30K salary plus prizewinnings in the Championship Gaming Series. However, with the economy suffering, sponsors like DirecTV and News Corporation are backing out, leaving Rodriguez with a more typical job for a 23-year-old: store clerk. The only pro gamer league left is Major League Gaming, though it expects to turn a profit this year — some of its players earn more than six figures from the $1 million in prizes given throughout the season, while others are putting off college to work on their gaming careers.
3921375
submission
Anonymusing writes:
Do you follow a popular person on Twitter — perhaps President Obama, Brittney Spears, Kanye West, or even Guy Kawasaki? You're probably reading the tweets of a ghost Twitterer: a paid staffer who tweets in the celeb's name. Not every celebrity pays others to Twitter for them: Shaquille O'Neill notes that "It's 140 characters. It's so few characters. If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you." In defense, however, one marketing exec comments that, "It's O.K. to tweet for a brand, but not O.K. for a celebrity.... the truth is, they are a brand."
3726067
submission
Anonymusing writes:
In spoken Chinese, "grass-mud horse" sounds virtually identical to an obscenity (hint: it begins with "mother-") — and as a cartoon character, it has become an amazing phenomenon. Meant as a subversive attack on censors, the alpaca-like mythical creature has led to a cuddly stuffed animal — selling over 180,000 in a few weeks — and a wildly popular YouTube video with children's voices singing words that are either completely benign or incredibly offensive, depending on how you listen.
3724527
submission
Anonymusing writes:
"We're a high-volume, low-cost company... a mentality [that is] sorely lacking in the health-care industry." So says a Wal-Mart exec helping launch the retail giant's newest service: a bundled electronic health records package for doctors, including installation and maintenance. The service will be offered through the Sam's Club chain, and will combine eClinicalWorks software with Dell hardware. Although it has an up-front cost of $25K, this may be incentivized under Obama's recent stimulus package.
3234693
submission
Anonymusing writes:
At IBM, Mark Papermaster was a leading expert in the Power microprocessor architecture. When Apple recruited him to lead iPod and iPhone hardware development, IBM sued over his noncompete clause. The case has been resolved, and Papermaster will take his VP seat at Apple. However, "Papermaster must check in with IBM if he suspects that any innovations he develops at Apple infringe on confidential or proprietary information [from IBM]... only IBM gets to decide if the techniques in question derive from its intellectual property, and its decisions are not subject to appeal." What does this mean for Apple's hardware development?
3195003
submission
Anonymusing writes:
In the wake of other announcements from IBM, Microsoft, and Intel, several more companies are handing out layoffs: Sprint (laying off 8,000 employees), Philips (6,000), Pfizer (up to 19,000), Caterpillar (20,000), Home Depot (7,000), and more. Sprint says that its job cuts are part of its plan to trim costs by $1.2 billion, and will hand out most of the pink slips by March 31. And, in a tone of understatement, the president of Caterpillar noted, "These are very uncertain times."
