by Erik on July 3, 2009
in Alternative Energy, Asia, Business Logic, Economy, Green Tech, IBM, Jobs, Markets, New Tech, Obama, Recession, Technology, Unemployment, Weekly Roundup
For Modest Earners, Relief Repaying Student Loans – Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful. Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing to work in public service could have their loans forgiven after just 10 years.
New Grads May Have Leg Up On Older Job Seekers – Recent college graduates are finding out that an economic downturn is not the best time to be searching for work. But they do have a leg up on older job hunters: It’s a lot easier for a 22-year-old — unburdened by mortgage and kids — to go to where the work is.
IBM Reinvents the 401(k) – Staffers were nervous when Big Blue replaced its pension plan with a souped-up 401(k). Now, the plan could be the new gold standard.
U.S. Job Losses Rise and Unemployment Reaches 9.5% – The American economy lost 467,000 more jobs in June, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent in a sobering indication that the longest recession since the 1930s had yet to release its hold. “The numbers are indicative of a continued, very severe recession,” said Stuart G. Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh. “There’s nothing in here to show that the economy and the market are pulling out of the grip of recession.”
A Day With 400 Tweets Starts With Simplicity – A Comcast Social Media Associate has plenty of advice to give on using Twitter and other social networking sites, as do other always-on pros and amateurs. Their tips will help you minimize your time and effort while maximizing your social bliss.
Q&A: Rising Unemployment Clouds Outlook – The increase in the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent doesn’t bode well for a smooth transition to economic recovery. Economists expect unemployment to continue to rise into 2010, and possibly longer. Here, a look at what some leading economists say lies ahead as the fall season approaches, when retailers typically expect a boost from back-to-school shopping.
Green Power Takes Root in the Chinese Desert – As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower.
Economist: Stimulus Appears To Be Working – More jobs were lost last month than expected, but the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package promises to create 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, says that without the stimulus, the numbers would be worse.
Obama Disappointed By Jobs Numbers – President Obama said Thursday he is “deeply concerned” about unemployment. The remarks to The Associated Press came after the Labor Department said U.S. businesses shed 467,000 jobs in June and that the unemployment rate increased to 9.5 percent.
Madoff Likely Won’t Be Serving Time In ‘Club Fed’ – Anyone who thinks convicted swindler Bernard Madoff will serve easy time in a “Club Fed” minimum-security prison should think again. He is unlikely to land in a cushy cellblock, and he will need to watch his back, consultants and former inmates say.
NPR has an interesting article on the switch from land-line telephone companies to wireless. This reminds me of the AP piece that talked about how cell-only households now outnumber traditional phone households.That statistic points to problem in our current method of landline national polling for elections, which was brought to everyone’s attention in 2008. As technology improves, we must ensure that industry follows suit, even if we’ve been doing it one way for years. The old adage: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” does not hold true in the Internet age.
[note: why could I only find that AP article archived on the Utah Daily Herald site? I know it’s archived elsewhere. Google let me down for the first time in my life!]
When was the last time someone called at an inconvenient hour to ask if you want to switch long-distance telephone companies? What used to be a frequent annoyance now appears to be a thing of the past because the long-distance telephone business has undergone some big changes.
On AT&T’s Web site you’ll be hard-pressed to figure out the company even offers long-distance telephone service. That’s a big change from the 1990s when Ma Bell’s pitchman Cliff Robertson was on television attempting to woo customers back from Sprint and MCI.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, the long-distance business reached its peak in 2000, when it raked in over $109 billion. By 2007, revenues were down to $58 billion.
Serendipitously, I just uncovered a post relating to IBM and social media use guidelines, which I wrote about yesterday with regard to the Associated Press’ new policy. IBM’s document is a “public submission to the Department of Homeland Security as part of their Privacy Workshops they hosted in Washington D.C. earlier this week.”
Particularly interesting to my discussion is IBM’s take on what it means to engage your staff in social networking, and how to set the proper expectations with your people:
Both governments and business must adopt such capabilities responsibly and thoughtfully, with proper consideration ofthe risks, governance, and legal issues introduced by Web 2.0. Organizations must implement policies that clarify the boundaries ofappropriate use for participants and take steps to protect proprietary or classified materials.
They must set expectations concerning data ownership, visibility, longevity and privacy. The deliberate and thoughtful establishment and implementation of such policies is an essential step toward making Web 2.0 tools suitable for business and government.
First thoughts: I really think it is great that an organization strives to be forward thinking and embraces new technology as readily as I believe IBM does. It is one of the few firms that relishes in the fact that they have the foresight to stay ahead of emerging trends and to ultimately take action when needed to utilize those trends for business purposes. With that foresight, I also realize that it is important (and essential) for a firm to minimize risk, but it is equally essential for a firm to allow their teams to express themselves and explore their creativity–which allows people to “become a global publisher for free – in minutes” when using Web 2.0 tools.
Social Networking Guidelines
On the same point, I also think a hard line document like the one set out by the AP is a bit of a stretch for acceptable use-policies and the managing directors within the Associated Press should consulted the guidelines set forth in the IBM document posted above. “In the mid 1990s, IBM similarly issued a set of Internet Use Guidelines for employees, while encouraging all employees personally to explore and become expert in the use the Internet.” Use Guidelines like the ones IBM enacted enables innovation and knowledge to grow, while the AP guidelines can be seen as nothing other than a set of rules set out to stifle the creative expression of their workforce.
One of my biggest learns from Adam’s snippet was the shear volume and intensity of the IBM social media platform. Not only does the organization provide guidelines for use of these tools, but the company also actively promotes the technology. IBM says they “did so in order to encourage collaboration and provide greater outside exposure to IBM’s greatest asset – its employees.” That sentence in and of itself speaks to the culture that Big Blue maintains.
Globalization and Sustaining Growth
I also wanted to bring attention to one other snippet that caught my eye on Adam’s site: IBM recognized the opportunity to tap into individuals’ use of social media as a way to flatten a geographically and organizationally dispersed employee population and to encourage more learning, collaboration and development – both inside the company and with external parties. Further, our research indicated that the personal interactions individuals have with IBM employees – online or face-to-face – have a more powerful influence on shaping the individual’s perception of IBM’s brand than any other form of communications, marketing or advertising.
Again, I think the focus on the employee, is partly why IBM hires and retains the top talent from around the world, and maintains industry leader status within the many areas it serves.
Check out what Adam had to say here.
Opening Day: The iPhone 3G S – Hollywood has its red-carpet premieres. The NFL has the opening kickoff celebration. For technology fans, Apple’s rollout of its latest devices are as good as it gets.
Tech Recruiting Clashes With Immigration Rules – Half of the engineers working in Silicon Valley were born overseas.
Tech Payoff for Companies Remains Elusive, Study Finds – A new economic index paints a disheartening picture for technophiles — at least the ones inside corporate America.
More Families Pull The Plug On Their Home Phone – Government research shows more and more households are getting rid of their land lines. For the first time, cell-phone-only homes outnumber those with just land lines.
Obama’s Plan Falls Flat With Many Economists – Economists across the political spectrum say they’re disappointed with the president’s mixed-bag proposal to overhaul financial regulation. Some say it will stifle innovation; others, that it could create new accountability concerns.
Jobless Rolls Drop; Leading Indicators Rise – Two new reports Thursday pointed to signs that the economy may be regaining its footing. The total number of people on the unemployment insurance rolls dropped for the first time since early January, and the index of leading economic indicators rose for the second month in a row.
