If technology and systems didn’t come so naturally, I really believe that I would have become an economist. I just find it fascinating. The “business information systems” major was such a perfect fit for my abilities, that I didn’t really think twice about selecting it when I was choosing my major at Lehigh. But, as I continue to read up on the current economic climate, work in an industry where consumer confidence greatly matters to our offerings, and I uncover little gems like this article by John Tierney, I realize that my interests run far deeper than technology and design. I wonder if I should have studied more micro and macro economic principles than the 4 semesters I ended up with…
“Maybe, sometimes, old-fashioned economics is just about right,” Dr. Shayo says. “Maybe when it comes to food, people do have reasonably stable preferences. Some people like shrimp and some don’t, even if it’s worth a lot of money.” [via NY Times]
Check out the article. It’s a rather interesting read about consumer preferences and how price affects those preferences. Oh, how I fondly remember those indifference curves and plotting consumer preferences…
Job Drought in U.S. May Be Near End as Temporary Help, Working Hours Surge — The worst U.S. employment slump in the post-World War II era may be about to end as companies hasten to hire temporary workers and boost hours, according to economists such as John Ryding and Zach Pandl. [Bloomberg]
G.E. Makes It Official: NBC Will Go to Comcast — After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, announced an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company. [NY Times]
Geithner Sees `Progress’ in Job Market, Unemployment Below 10% in a Year — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner predicted the U.S. unemployment rate probably will be lower than 10 percent in a year and said the economic recovery is moving closer to a period of job creation instead of losses. [Bloomberg]
World’s tallest building, Burj Dubai Tower, opens as a golden era closes — Dubai Tower opens next month. But will this crowning jewel also be the city’s high watermark? [CS Monitor]
Dubai Loses `Sovereign Halo’ as $3.5 Billion Nakheel Debt Deadline Looms — Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum wanted to turn Dubai into a global hub for finance and tourism, the next London or Hong Kong. To help execute his vision, the ruler relied heavily on Dubai World, the web of state-owned companies that includes everything from DP World, which operates 49 ports across the globe, to property developer Nakheel to investment arm Istithmar World. [Bloomberg]
Celgene Cancer Pill to Triple Sales on Threat to J&J — Celgene Corp. can more than triple sales for its best-selling cancer pill Revlimid on new data that may convince doctors to choose the drug as a first option over Johnson
& Johnson’s intravenous medicine, Velcade. [Bloomberg]
Sony Chief Pushes Online Plan for Recovery — Sony’s chief executive, Howard Stringer, has a grand idea: an all-in-one online network that pipes Sony’s films, music, games and other content to its TVs, Walkmans and PlayStation game machines. [NY Times]
I.B.M. Joins Pursuit of $1,000 Personal Genome: One of the oldest names in computing is joining the race to sequence the genome for $1,000. On Tuesday, I.B.M. plans to give technical details of its effort to reach and surpass that goal, ultimately bringing the cost to as low as $100, making a personal genome cheaper than a ticket to a Broadway play. [NY Times]
Datacenter energy costs outpacing hardware prices: It’s estimated that the power a server burns over its lifetime will soon cost more than the server itself. A panel of industry speakers discussed a lot of options for saving power, and described how institutional issues can block their adoption. [ars technica]
FTC to Bloggers: Disclose Freebies or Face $11,000 Fine: According to new guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), bloggers who fail to disclose that they have received freebies when they write about a product can now be fined up to $11,000 per post. [NY Times]
Report: U.S. Mac Households Rise to 12 Percent: Nearly 12 percent of U.S. computer-owning households now own a Mac, The NPD Group reports in its second annual Household Penetration Study. That’s up three percentage points from the market-research firm’s 2008 findings. [PC World]
Spending for interactive advertising fell again in the second quarter, making it two quarters in a row that the medium, which had been growing so robustly, fell victim to the economy. [NY Times]
GREEN BUSINESS – It’s no secret that America is going green. Green jobs are popping up everywhere, whether it’s the technician installing solar panels on a home, the scientist researching ways to build better batteries for electric cars, or the executive looking for ways to reduce waste, eliminate unnecessary packaging, and cut costs. Job growth in this area is expected to top 50% by 2016, nearly four times the job growth for all other occupations combined, according to the federal government. And a number of Presidential initiatives, including billions in new investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy research, are likely to accelerate that job growth.
[via BusinessWeek]
