Weekly Review

GM stops all Facebook advertising for its cars, says waste of money WSJ: "General Motors Co. plans to stop advertising on Facebook after the auto maker's executives determined their paid ads had little impact on consumers' car purchases, people familiar with the matter said." Link...
California to increase sales, income taxes to save budget and decrease $16 billion deficit Brown has said there will be even deeper cuts, mostly to public education, if voters do not improve tax hikes in November. He is seeking a quarter-cent increase in the state sales tax for four years and a seven-year hike on incomes of $250,000 or more tha...
Poll: Romney opens 8 point lead over Obama The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows Mitt Romney earning 50% of the vote and President Obama attracting 42% support. Four percent (4%) would vote for a third party candidate, while another three percent (3%) are undeci...
Facebook co-founder renounces US citizenship to avoid paying $600 million in taxes SFGate.com: "Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook, renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network in upward of $90 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill." Link...
One of the toughest careers out there is being an entrepreneur VentureBeat.com: "How JackThreads grew from a bootstrapped bedroom startup to 2M members" Link...
University of Illinois: Drinking beer increases intelligence The Telegraph: "Men who drink two pints of beer before tackling brain teasers perform better than those who attempt the riddles sober, scientists have found." Link...
Research: Pinterest delivers more revenue per click than Facebook and Twitter VentureBeat: "If you’re an e-commerce marketer and you’re not already on the Pinterest bandwagon, you need to hop on it as soon as you can. Pinterest is the first social network that’s delivering not only lots of traffic but also real revenue and lo...
Wow! #Facebook buys Instagram for $1 billion VentureBeat: "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg just announced Facebook is acquiring Instagram. The photo-sharing startup recently passed 30 million members. Particularly since picking up a slew of new users with its Android app launch, Instagram has bec...
Montreal University scientists couldn't find a single man in Canada who didn't watch a porn movie "Scientists studying the effects of pornography fell at the first hurdle - after failing to find a man who had not viewed X-rated material. The researchers were comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography to regular u...
Zimmerman who killed Trayvon Martin was a registered Democrat Recently we found out that if Barack Obama had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin. Perhaps because of the same color of skin, who knows. Today we found out that "the individual at the center of the controversial Trayvon Martin shooting is a register...
T-Mobile to lay off 1,900 employees, close call centers in 6 states VentureBeat: The job cuts will come from closing centers in Allentown, Penn.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kansas; Thornton, Colo.; and Redmond, Ore. Around 3,300 employees at the seven impacted facilities will be let ...
Santorum: Obama is a better choice than Mitt Romney Presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday said Republicans should give President Barack Obama another term if Santorum isn't the GOP nominee and for a second day compared rival Mitt Romney to an Etch A Sketch toy. Link...
New York Times has over 500K paying subscribers after introducing a paywall last year A year after launching a controversial pay wall, The New York Times revealed Tuesday that it has nearly half a million paying subscribers for its flagship paper. The company also said it will make it harder for people to read web publications without p...
Report: Obama piles up more cash than entire Republican field FoxNews.com: "The Republican Party's extended primary campaign has allowed President Barack Obama to build a huge financial lead for the fall election. New fundraising reports released Tuesday show that Obama is stockpiling cash as the GOP hopefuls ...
Romney inches it out in Illinois, time for Gingrich to get out of the race FoxNews.com: Mitt Romney left Rick Santorum with a dwindling number of opportunities to shake up the race, at least for another month, after trouncing his chief rival in the Illinois Republican primary Tuesday. Link...
Eurozone Economy Shrinks in 4Q A collapse in household spending, exports and manufacturing sucked the life out of the euro zone's economy in the final months of 2011, the EU said on Tuesday, showing the scope of the downturn that looks set to become a fully fledged recession. Link...
Fox drops "Terra Nova" Fox's dinosaurs may have been just too big to survive. Fox Broadcasting Co. said it doesn't plan to order a second season of the dinosaurs epic "Terra Nova," potentially ending one of the most expensive new television series ever made. Link...
Rick Santorum: ‘I Would Consider’ Air Strikes in Syria I spoke to Rick Santorum by phone for a few minutes on Monday afternoon as he rode across Ohio on the eve of tomorrow’s Super Tuesday extravaganza. The interview mostly covered ground for a piece you can read in the upcoming issue of TIME. But I did ask...
John McCain calls for air strikes against Assad Sen. John McCain on Monday became the first senator to call for airstrikes against Syria, saying President Barack Obama has taken too soft a stand against President Bashar Assad and his brutal crackdown on his own people. Link...
Daily Kos trying to stage protests at Andrew Breitbart's funeral... well, there is never shortage of liberal pinheads Although the news of Andrew Breitbart’s death is still fairly fresh, the merry band of faceless marauders at the Daily Kos have decided it is time to use his death as an opportunity to make political hay. A post dated March 1 by “dragon82a,” t...
Zynga moves its future away from Facebook, launches its own gaming platform Zynga Inc is launching a new games service that allows users to play on the company's website instead of Facebook, potentially driving traffic away from the world's No. 1 social network that is its biggest partner. The service is the online game compan...
Yelp Prices IPO Valued at $900M Yelp Inc priced its initial public offering of class A common stock at $15 a share, above the expected price range, valuing the U.S. consumer review website at nearly $900 million. Link...
Bill Clinton increases anti-Obama rhetoric, says we should embrace Keystone Pipeline Former President Bill Clinton said the federal government should embrace the Keystone XL pipeline that the Obama administration rejected last month. Clinton also said that one of the “best things” about being out of office is “you can say whatev...
Huffington Post calls Catholics a barbaric cult A group of socially conservative leaders is demanding Huffington Post publisher Arianna Huffington apologize for allowing a column to be published on her website that compares Catholics to pedophiles and attacks communion as a "barbaric ritual." Link...
Green energy company given Obama stimulus funds lays off 125 workers, gives pay raise to executives An electric car battery company reportedly has laid off 125 employees since receiving $390 million in government subsidies, but is still handing out big pay raises to company executives. Link...
Groupon captures 76% of daily deals market in Poland According to Poland's Gazeta Prawna, Groupon has captured 76.08% of the daily deal market in Poland with 286,6 million of PLN ($91 million) in sales in 2011. The next largest competitor is a local clone of Groupon - the Gruper which captured 12,13% of th...
Billary Clinton certain Obama will get reelected Hillary Clinton: ""He's our president. He represents all of the United States, and he will be reelected president, so I think that that will be a very clear signal to the entire world as to what our values are and what our president believes," she said,...
President Obama Confident He's Got Five More Years in White House President Obama pressed with confidence about his future at the White House saying, "I've got another five years coming up," when asked why he hasn't passed immigration reform in a radio interview Wednesday with Univision. Link...
NJ Gov. Chris Christie vetoes gay marriage bill, sets eyes for 2016 presidential race DailyCaller: "Gov. Chris Christie has followed through on his promise to reject a bill allowing same-sex marriage in New Jersey by quickly vetoing the measure Friday and renewing his call for a ballot question to decide the issue." Link...
Facebook once again copycats Twitter, will introduce verified accounts for high-profile members VentureBeat: "Facebook will soon begin rolling out verified accounts for high-profile members with large numbers of subscribers, and it will give verified users the option of a pseudonym for their name." Link...
#Groupon looking for new revenue sources after miserable earnings report for last year VentureBeat.com: "Groupon is in the process of testing a new VIP service that will cost $30 per year and give users early access to deals, easy refunds, and more, according to a Business Insider report. The company reported poor-to-mixed results with...
Google enters 2012 race, manipulates search engine results for Romney and Santorum to help Obama win Fox News: "A Google bomb is the intentional manipulation of a search engine to return a specific result, thanks to large numbers of relevant links or related searches. One recently uncovered by FoxNews.com connected the search string define: to certai...
Rasmussen: Obama 47% - Romney 43%, Obama 48% - Santorum 42% Rasmussen Reports: "In a potential Election 2012 matchup, the president posts a 47% to 43% lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. If former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is the Republican nominee, the president leads 48% to 42%." Link...
Hundreds rally against Alabama immigration law Fox News: "Hundreds packed the Alabama Statehouse courtyard on Tuesday to rally against the state's tough immigration law, with organizers saying they chose to send a message on Valentine's Day that lawmakers need to love and respect immigrants." Link...
The app economy created 466K jobs in America already Report: A research by TechNet shows that the app economy in the United States already created over 466.000 jobs. According to the report, the estimation is rather conservative, meaning that the 446K number would be actually lower than the real number of j...
Zynga loss jumps to $435 million, stocks down Fox Business: "The San Francisco-based company reported that it swung to a loss of $435 million in the quarter ended in December, compared to a profit of nearly $43 million in the period a year earlier. Sales rose to $311.2 million. On an adjusted basis, ...
Whitney Houston passes away at 48 Yahoo News: "Whitney Houston, the iconic American singer whose battles with drugs, alcohol and ex-husband Bobby Brown marred her star power, has died. She was 48. Houston's publicist confirmed the singer's death to ABC News. Her cause and location of d...
Groupon Shifting Strategy toward Customer Retention DailyDealMedia: "Almost all companies that profit from marketing to consumers have to debate between the relative values of customer retention and acquisition. Depending on various circumstances such as the social, economic, and personal behavior of consu...
Jon Huntsman joins Ford Board of Directors Motor Trend: "Two senior executives at Ford Motor Company have announced they will retire in April, and Ford announced it will place former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, Jr. on its board of directors." Link...
Analysts: It's time to sell Groupon's stocks MoneyShow.com: "While Groupon (GRPN) has quickly made a name for itself, this recent IPO appears ripe for selling. The company does not appear to have an economic moat, and even after falling after the IPO, the stock still looks richly valued. Caveat em...
Greece decreases pensions, minimum wages by 20%, GDP to shrink by 5% Bloomberg: "Greece will pledge permanent spending cuts, including lower pension payments and a 20 percent reduction in the minimum wage, as the economy contracts this year at a faster pace than originally estimated, according to the draft of a new finan...
6 secrets to a Successful Start-Up Inc.com: "It's every entrepreneur's most pressing question:Is this company going to make it? All companies need to have the basics: a solid business model, a viable market, and a brilliant product or service. But the most important-- and unpredictable-- ...
Fab.com: How a gay website transformed into a daily deals powerhouse Inc.com: "It's the overnight success story heard 'round the start-up world: In June 2011, serial entrepreneur Jason Goldberg and interior designer Bradford Shane Shellhammer relaunched their struggling social network as Fab.com, a flash sales site promot...
Report: MBA degrees now less valuable than undergrad degrees in IT or engineering Inc.com: "Not according to a recent white paper from Identified, tellingly entitled "Revenge of the Nerds." The company, which analyzes Facebook profiles, combed through its database, culling information on the profiles of CEOs and founders to see what p...
AOL to transform HuffPost into an Internet TV network VentureBeat: "AOL is planning to launch a new streaming video network branded under its Huffington Post web news site, the company announced Thursday. The new network will feature live streaming video content 12 hours a day during the week from 9 a.m to ...
Mitt Romney: "I don't care about poor people" TheDC: "On Wednesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer reacted to a statement former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney made earlier in the day that he was “not concerned about the very poor.”�...
U.S. company making Santorum sweater vests is booming The Bemidji Pioneer: "Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s call for a return to “Made in America” production also includes “Made in Bemidji” as part of his campaign. The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania donned a royal blue swe...
Sarah Palin and Herman Cain: Vote for Newt! TheDC: "Well, when both party machines and many in the media are trying to crucify Newt Gingrich for bucking the tide and bucking the establishment that tells you something.” Based on that, Palin told viewers to “rage against the machine” and to �...
Facebook to reach 1B active users in August, that’s 14% of the world VentureBeat: "Facebook is soon to have 14 percent of the world’s population all to itself. A new study says the social network will hit one billion users this year. Gregory Lyons, a senior analyst at digital marketing firm iCrossing, ran the number...
Yahoo revenue down 13 percent in Q4 VentureBeat: "Yahoo‘s revenue dropped 13 percent compared to the same period last year, the company reported today. In its quarterly earnings’ announcement Tuesday, Yahoo reported $1,324 million in GAAP revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011, while co...
Romney breaks into 2 digit lead ahead of Gingrich before FL primary Rasmussen: "The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Republican Primary Voters, conducted Saturday, shows Romney up by 16 points with 44% support. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a distant second at 28%. " Link...
Facebook to go Public on the NYSE – Shares Priced Between $38 and $40 DailyDealMedia: "PrivCo, a New York firm and ‘The Private Company Financial Data Authority’ that tracks private companies, believes that Facebook plans to file IPO documents as early as late Tuesday (1/31) or early Wednesday (2/1). This makes total s...
Chris Christie: New Gingrich has embarrassed the party in the past "On Sunday’s “Meet the Press” on NBC, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that Former Speaker of House Newt Gingrich “has embarrassed the party over time,” and that “we don’t need another legislature in the Oval Office.” In the Republican ...
3 new SC polls: Newt Gingrich ahead of Mitt Romney TheDC: "In three South Carolina polls released Wednesday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich bested former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who had previously maintained a lead in the state." Link...
NYTimes: Jon Huntsman to drop out of GOP race on Monday morning NYTimes: "Jon M. Huntsman Jr. informed his advisers on Sunday that he intends to drop out of the Republican presidential race, ending his candidacy a week before he had hoped to revive his campaign in the South Carolina primary." Link...
Michelle Obama plans to run for Senate in 2016 from Illinois TheDC: "In November 2016, Illinois voters will go to the polls to decide who they want to occupy the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Mark Kirk. And although it is a long way off, could one of the names on the ticket be first lady Mich...
The largest SC newspaper endorses @JonHuntsman for President The State: "Mr. Huntsman is a true conservative, with a record and platform of bold economic reform straight out of the free-market bible, but he’s a realist, whose goal is likewise to get things done. Under his leadership, Utah led the nation in job cr...
Poll: Americans fear Obama's re-election more than Iran's nuclear weapon U.S. News & World Report: According to the newest poll conducted by the newspaper: "As we enter the presidential election year of 2012, what potential news event do you fear the most? President Obama wins reelection 33% Taxes will increas...
Gov. Chris Christie attacks Jon Huntsman a day before NH primary TheDC: "In an appearance with “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski in Manchester, N.H. that aired on Monday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie alleged that former Utah Gov. Jon Huntman’s presidential run itself calls into question his integrity. C...
10 Daily Deal Sites that Received Big Cash Funding in 2011 DailyDealMedia.com: "Despite the down economy there seemed to be no shortage of venture capital and other forms of investment within the daily deals and group buying industry for 2011. Some companies pulled in some pretty big bucks this year to keep their...