Social networking site Facebook has finally decided to take legal actions against its many knockoff sites, and the popular German knockoff StudiVZ was the first to be sued. StudiVZ was started shortly after Facebook’s launch and it was later acquired by the Holtzbrinck publishing group for a reported $112 million in 2006.
I’ve been waiting for this to happen since a long time, because the German site really looks and feels almost exactly like Facebook. It’s a perfect duplicate, which is why I really don’t understand why Facebook hasn’t sued them earlier. Well, now they did it. Looking forward to seeing how much StudiVZ will have to pay to Facebook for damages and to what extent it will have to be changed now.
What a nice idea, and I haven’t thought of it… Damn! A small business in Brooklyn is making bubble calendars with a bubble to pop every day. Isn’t it fun to get up in the morning knowing that there is a new bubble to burst again? The calendars sell for $50 each, which I believe should result in a $45+ profit per calendar. As said, nice idea. Not mine, unfortunately. Here’s the link.
Today I saw this very interesting chart in the NYT, showing that the annual spending on fuel, relative to all personal consumption expenditures, is nearing the cost of the car itself.
(Fortune Magazine) — Let me tell you about Bill Gates. He is different from you and me. First off, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft has always been something of a utopian. In his mind, even the world’s knottiest problems can be solved if you apply enough IQ. Accordingly, Gates, who has been spotted on Seattle freeways reading a book while driving himself to the office, covets knowledge. It’s as if he’s still trying to make up for dropping out of Harvard, as he spends just about any spare waking minute reading, studying science texts, or watching university courses on DVD.
Some say his wealth and famous opportunism are reminiscent of the robber barons of yore. Yet here is a man who has set a goal to eradicate malaria. Rich as he is - his net worth is an estimated $50 billion - you can’t call the man greedy when he has pledged to give back to humanity all but a tiny fraction of 1% of that fortune. …
– Continue reading: Fortune Magazine
…. über den Mindestlohn zu sprechen! Den ausführlichen Schrieb zu diesem Thema werde ich nachreichen. Im Moment möchte ich nur fragen: Brauchen wir den Mindestlohn wirklich? Bewirkt er nicht genau das Gegenteil von dem, was er bewirken sollte - nämlich mehr Wohlstand? Ich habe die Befürchtung, dass ein Mindestlohn zu diesem Zeitpunkt zur Streichung von Arbeitsplätzen und damit eben nicht zu mehr Geld im Geldbeutel des Konsumenten führen wird, sondern zu weniger Geld, das bei den Käufern ankommt. Und damit könnte der Wohlstand sinken, könnte sich das Wirtschaftswachstum verlangsamen… und Politiker gewählt werden, nur weil sie das Wort “Mindestlohn” im Kampf um Wählerstimmen gebraucht haben.
Ach ja, neulich im Restaurant überhört: “Ich habe mir schon überlegt Links zu wählen, nur so aus Protest, damit die da oben sehen, dass wir uns das alles nicht mehr gefallen lassen!” Ich überlasse es jedem selbst, hieraus seine Schlüsse zu ziehen.
Every once in a while there are really extreme examples of monetary inflation in the world. A past example would be Germany shortly after the first world war. One could even argue that the hyperinflation in post-war Germany was one reason why the Nazis could become so popular, an event that ultimately led to WW2. I’ve used the correct term already: Whenever inflation gets to an extreme, we’re referring to it as hyperinflation.
Continue reading ‘Inflation in Zimbabwe’
You don’t think there is a movie that made $15 trillion? Hm, think twice. Because there might be one movie that indirectly added that much to America’s gross domestic product in the 1980s. At least that is the theory of Nobel laureate economist Robert Mundell: Continue reading ‘The $15 Trillion Movie’
It’s not been easy for the United States this year, but at least there is one positive aspect of the country’s weak currency: Because the US Dollar is at a low, exporters find themselves in a better situation than before. This includes major film studios from the US as well as movie production companies and independent producers. All of them see their sales soaring in Europe due to the favorable USD/EUR exchange rate. Additionally, these companies usually fund their movie projects in USD but then sell them overseas for EUR, GBP and other currently strong currencies, which means they might even be able to rake in a premium. However, higher profits due to currency exchange rates are everything but sustainable, so demand must always be driven by quality of the movies being thrown onto the market rather than their price. Quality of content will always remain king.
Large swathes of Asia, the Middle East and north Africa had their high-technology services crippled Thursday following a widespread Internet failure which brought many businesses to a standstill and left others struggling to cope.
CNN: Internet failure hits two continents
HEMA is a Dutch department store that opened its first store in Amsterdam in November 1926. Today they have more than 150 stores in several countries. The company was sold to the British investment company Lion Capital in June last year.
Visit HEMA’s product page. You cannot order anything, you can’t even click on anything. But wait a few seconds to see what happens.
http://producten.hema.nl/
