Blogcritics

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

MidWeek Market Rag: Exxon Is Rolling In It

John Guilfoil — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:39:43 EDT

Life is good when you're in the white collar side of oil.Exxon posted the second largest profit by an American company ever after posting $10.5 billion for the third quarter. They came up just shy of the record set by... themselves in Q4, 2005.The company easily beat Wall Street expectations by almost a billion dollars. A CNNMoney report showed First Call predicted a $9.68 billion profit for the third quarter.Exxon boasts the largest revenue of any corporation worldwide.Much of the world's remaining oil lies beneath politically charged areas such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Russia and Venezuela and recent reports show as much as 25 percent of untapped natural resources are buried under the North Pole where economic worries have slowed the drilling process. Companies like Exxon have been criticized for not doing enough to increase production and keep prices low. Exxon stock is up a modest 1.23 percent in trading so far.Oracle is taking aim at the Linux market. CEO Larry Ellison unveiled plans to offer big businesses their own level of technical support for Red Hat Linux at a 50 percent reduced rate over Red Hat's own service. Ellison used the term "enterprise support" in a Reuters article.Red Hat shares took a nose dive and dropped an additional 11 percent after hours on the announcement. Oracle, on the other hand, has been on a tear in the last 12 months, climbing at a steady rate. Ellison may be outspoken, but he's certainly doing something right over there, and getting on board with Linux is a smart move, because more and more companies are starting to use Linux as an effective and cost-saving solution.Finally this week, in the alcohol world, Budweiser saw its third quarter earnings rise 26 percent and its shares were up accordingly yesterday.The company is facing stiff competition from imports and microbreweries lately but its market share did rise to 49 percent, up slightly. Anheuser-Busch has increased its variety, especially in its Michelob line. Their Specialty Sample Collection has proven popular as of late.August Busch IV is the new man upstairs and the latest generation is off to a good start after acquiring Rolling Rock in May, but they continue to face competition and an all out advertising blitz from Miller, one of their nearest competitors. This company will be closely watched come Superbowl time.That's the rag. See you next time.

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

Mid-Week Market Rag: Do You Yahoo!?

John Guilfoil — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 06:58:05 EDT

It seems some advertisers don't anymore, but the Market Rag does.This is the Mid-Week Market Rag for Oct. 18, 2006.The rebuilding, or deconstruction, of AOL is well underway. After May's announcement that it would close its Jacksonville, Fla. facility, the dethroned Internet service pontiff is closing its Albuquerque call center, according to a report. The move is an attempt to raise and save money for the company and will result in the loss of 900 jobs. Time Warner stock responded with a one percent gain in trading today.IBM IBM IBM: Making money is good for business. After a 50 percent rise in its third-quarter profits and a multi-percent increase in its stock price after the announcement. The veteran technology company beat Wall Street predictions last quarter, and they have reason to celebrate entering the holiday season.Reuters reported today that Microsoft plans to spend $7.5 billion in research and development in 2007. This spending spree comes as a re-supply ship on the horizon for Microsoft's troops on the front lines of the bloody and brutal data and advertising war. Microsoft is under pressure to show investors it can compete with Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. in the Internet search business.Ballmer said for years Microsoft had faced no competition to recruit staff. "Finally, we have some competition (from Google) for talent," he said.Microsoft is also confident that their Windows Vista operating system will fly with European anti-trust laws. On the eve of the release of its HD-DVD addition for the Xbox 360 and what will be an exciting holiday season from a gaming perspective, Microsoft is putting on its Sunday best. The company posted a modest gain in trading today.Finally today, Yahoo slid to a 1-year low today as poor 4th quarter forecasts and a continuous delay of the launch of their new revenue generating search/ad platform pushed their stock down almost five percent. They are giving all indications of a distant third place finish in the advertising wars, which may drop further as News Corp. gains speed and momentum. The rest of 2006 will determine the fate of one of the web's originals.The rest of the week is the time period you'll have to wait for the next Mid-Week Market Rag

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

Mid-Week Market Rag: Google, Apple, News Corp and a Li'l Alcoa

John Guilfoil — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:06:01 EDT

Mid-week is synonymous with the Market Rag.Firstly, Google is up in trading today after spending over a billion and a half dollars acquiring YouTube. Meanwhile News Corp is down today as the details of this trade begin to trickle down and bad news for the newspaper business continues.According to the Wall Street Journal, News Corp tried to jump in and possibly make a counter-offer to buy out YouTube, but the startup video service didn't even return their calls, indicating one of two things: either the 20-something founders were diehard-locked-in to Google, or they were terrified that if they shopped around, their payday might slip through their fingers. While indicative of their age, this course of action still seals a huge acquisition for the search engine leader and in all honesty, pissed off the boys at News Corp, who met according to the Journal after the deal to discuss the possibility of banning YouTube links on MySpace.com.Things remain cordial, however, as Google and News Corp executives, including Rupert Murdoch, plan to meet in Los Angeles this week. Smartly, the two companies see that despite their competition, they both can make a lot of money off each other. Shares of Apple Computer are down slightly today as their stock option scandal churns. Federal prosecutors have begun to look into the company's option practices, according to reports. As a bit of breaking news, (at 4:00 p.m. EST) a plane crashed into a residential building in New York today, according to a CNNMoney report. CNN is also reporting that this development has dragged market prices lower this afternoon. All eyes are now focused on this development.It has now been confirmed that the plane was flown by New York Yankees pitcher, Cory Lidle and that two people were killed in the incident.Finally this week, Alcoa, the first blue-chip company to release its earnings, posted an 86 percent increase in net income and is reportedly having its best fiscal year in the aluminum company's long history. Despite that, the company did not meet analysts' expectations and predictions. This development is driving stocks downward today, and Alcoa itself is down five percent despite an 86 percent jump in income. There are clearly economic explanations for this, but it is amazing to see this be the case.And that, my dear friends, is the rag for this week.

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

MidWeek Market Rag: Apple, Starbucks, and Elmo

John Guilfoil — Thu, 5 Oct 2006 02:53:58 EDT

Alcohol makes the Market Rag again this week.As we know, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had a record-setting week, but not every company has been celebrating the happy days.Apple CEO Steve Jobs apologized for the company's financial practices. This comes as Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson resigned from the board of directors.Apple admitted Jobs was aware of the scandal, which included favorable stock option dates for certain people.Shares of Apple stock were up in trading this afternoon but down after-hours.Coffee giant Starbucks saw its shares rise today after news that sales in existing stores were up in September. Stores that had been open for at least 13 months experienced a rise of six percent. A CNNMoney report said colder weather lately, combined with lower gas prices may have contributed to more coffee consumption.Finally, as the holiday season arrives, the top toys start to emerge. Mattel's new high-tech Elmo doll is leading the way and people are already starting to pillage store shelves and each other in the process. Hasbro's new Monopoly product I previously reported on will also be a big seller this holiday season. The fan-chosen "Here and Now" edition breathes new life into the classic board game. Wii and Playstation 3 are both going to cause excitement as well as we await word of the unfolding game explosion.This Tickle Me Elmo/TMX Elmo situation is bound to get out of hand. The holiday movie, Jingle All the Way, portrays the yearly situation perfectly, whether you agree with the lead actor's politics or not. Now that is a buzz -- creating a killer instinct/desire to have one certain toy for your children. The biggest difference between the Hollywood situation and real life: in reality, the parents want the toy more than the kid does.That's the rag for this week! Do read the article by Peter Hoy about moderate social alcohol consumption as it relates to the business world. As it turns out, drinking may be good for your career.

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

MidWeek Market Rag: Xbox 360, Tissues and Beer

John Guilfoil — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 05:58:58 EDT

Wednesday = Market RagThe markets are up lately, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its second highest rate ever.Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson will work with Microsoft to develop the next title in the Halo XBox series. This is separate from Halo 3, which Bungie studios is already developing. Jackson is already signed on to develop the movie adaptation of the popular first person shooter game. He is also working with Microsoft to bundle an HD-DVD version of his movie, King Kong, with Microsoft's HD-DVD peripheral. This is all in an effort to put the Xbox 360 on top of the videogame console world, where Sony currently enjoys a 70 percent market share. Take Two Interactive also announced they would port the latest and next launches of the Grand Theft Auto series to Xbox 360, according to a Microsoft release reported by CNN.Sony's Playstation 3 launches Nov. 17.On the environmental side of things, Kimberly-Clark is taking heat from Greenpeace this week amidst allegations the Kleenex maker is wiping out forests in the production of their products. Greenpeace accused Kimberly-Clark of lying about the amount of recycled fibers it uses in its brands, which include Scott tissue, Viva, and Cottonelle. The pulpy details were available in a CNNMoney report by Marc Gunther.Finally this week, October is nearly upon is, and that means beer. Fortune has created a list of the six best fall brews.Two New England flavors that should not be left out: Sam Adams and Harpoon Octoberfest. These local favorites provide season enjoyment before giving way to Winter Ale and other holiday brews. But, don't rush the fall by. Enjoy the 17th annual Harpoon Octoberfest celebration Friday Sept. 29 and Saturday Sept. 30 at the Harpoon brewery, 306 Northern Ave., Boston. That's the rag. Cheers!

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

Mid-Week Market Rag: Chrysler Losses, California Sues Automakers, Sony's Mylo, Motorola Makes a Move

John Guilfoil — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:12:26 EDT

Hello out there in PR land. This is the mid-week market rag.You know you've had a bad day when this is on the headline that CNN/Money gives you:The automaker's failure to use simple good sense raises questions about company management.That's the situation at Chrysler right now. First they announced the possibility of a $600 million loss for the 3rd quarter. As it turns out, that loss is going to be around $1.5 billion. I simply can't write it better than Alex Taylor at CNN/Money in his article: Either the top executives at DaimlerChrysler are operating with their eyes shut, or somebody isn't telling them the truth. All year long, Chrysler has been operating with bloated inventories that sometimes stretched out to 100 days or more.But I guess I can try.Dieter Zetsche should spend less time making television commercials and more time saving his company, which has not profited by the value of a World War II-era German Mark since he took over nine months ago. Inventories are high; sales are low; advertising expenses are high. You know that layoffs are coming soon.Compound that with this breaking news: the State of California is suing DaimlerChrysler/Chrysler Motors Corp., General Motors, Ford, Toyota Honda and Nissan for damages caused by global warming.Let that one sink in for a moment.California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said today, in a statement, that it was time "to hold these companies responsible for their contribution" to the Global Warming crisis. The suit alleges the state suffered millions of dollars in damages due to the effects of and costs of dealing with global warming.Thus we know who the true spinsters are. There isn't a PR guy or girl in the world who would concoct the sort of malarkey politicians and lawyers do for a living. How original is it for a government to sue private business for something that the government has been unable to deal with itself. Sure cars and trucks pollute, but cars and trucks are legal, and the pollution caused by cars and trucks is legal. Governments will not and should not receive a dime from private enterprise until government itself takes responsibility for the environment.In lighter news, the Sony Mylo debuted to some positive reviews. Short for "my life online," the Mylo is a hand-held device that works on any 802.11 wireless hotspot and allows users to access high-speed internet in the palm of their hand without paying cell phone companies by the minute or byte.At $350, it is priced well up there with the rest of Sony's latest ventures, but this is a powerful and neat little gadget.Sony stock was down slightly in trading today as negativity continues to surround their Playstation 3 launch.Finally this week, portable giant Motorola bought out retail mainstay, Symbol Technologies, in a $4 billion deal. Symbol is the leader in barcode reading technology. This, according to Barron's, raises speculation that another portables powerhouse, Palm, will be bought out soon. Motorola would be a lead contender in any such deal, which would be a huge chip in their slowly played game of poker with Research in Motion, producer of the Blackberry portable technology.Motorola stock was up in trading today in what is a very good deal for a high-tech original.

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

Mid-Week Market Rag

John Guilfoil — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 20:32:00 EDT

The week is half over already. This is the Mid-Week Market Rag for Wednesday, August 23, 2006.An effort has been made not to make this a weekly Dell/AOL problems column.However, Dell makes the cut again today as image problems continue for the direct-sales computer manufacturer. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that institutional investors like Fidelity and Wellington have started selling Dell stock "amid concern about the CEO's leadership."Slowed growth over the past several quarters and a stock that has tumbled nearly 30 percent this year are among issues that have raised flags among investors and consumers alike. A recent recall of several million laptop batteries fanned the flames of concern.Despite concerns, reports indicate founder and chairman, Michael Dell, still fully supports his CEO, Kevin Rollins.Shares of Dell stock are down around eight cents per share today.Nestle, the world's largest food and beverage company, posted an 11 percent rise in profits for the first half of 2006. The company cited growth in sales in emerging markets around the world.The company sent out a very number-intensive press release today citing their strong performance figures.Any person that consumes dairy products, breakfast cereals, ice cream, chocolate, bottled water, or has a pet has probably used a Nestle product at some point.Shortly after losing a deal with MySpace to Google, Microsoft reached a deal to become the sole advertising partner for the popular social networking portal, Facebook. Facebook, the 7th most trafficked website on the Internet, according to its public relations claims, is second only to MySpace in terms of social networking sites. This is a deal that today Forbes called a "modest online victory." Finally, PNC has decided to reimburse customers who are charged fees at competitors' ATM's. This was reported today by the Wall Street Journal Online. This trend comes as banks try to offer more incentives to encourage customers to make deposits and open accounts. PNC shares are down alongside other banks this afternoon with news that existing home sales fell to a two-year low in July.That's the rag for this week. Thank you for reading PRrag.com.

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

Mid-Week Market Rag

John Guilfoil — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:56:20 EDT

We're halfway through the week and this is your Mid-Week Market Rag.Microsoft unveiled plans to allow the world to create their own Xbox 360 games. XNA Game Studio Express will launch a beta on August 30 and become widely available in the Fall. The premise is to allow basically anyone to create their own games using advanced technologies previously available only to larger companies and studios with big budgets and staffs.The company has had a good week on the Nasdaq and is up again today.Apple Computer risked delistment when they decided not to deliver their second quarter report on time and announced they would be looking into and possibly amending their financials as far back as 2002.Conflict stems from internal stock option trading. The issue has created a negative buzz and generated masses of press coverage including a spotlight on Yahoo! Finance. Apple has requested a Nasdaq hearing, which will keep the stock listed in the meantime.Apple's stock tumbled when the news was released but has surprisingly rebounded and is up almost two percent in trading this afternoon.Why no rush to sell as the company risks losing its listing? The answer is simple, Apple is not seen as the next Enron. Their crisis management team has responded well considering the circumstances. Apple has been fairly open about disclosing the problems, and their stock rebound reflects this.Google has had a huge news week. Off the beaten news path, Google has started providing unlimited free WiFi to the entire town of Mountain View, California, where the search engine mammoth sets up shop, as reported by the Wall Street Journal Online.Also, the News Corporation-owned portal, MySpace, has decided to use Google's services for all their searching needs. Google stock is up over two and a half points today, but that is not even one percent of the $383 price per share Google enjoys.Finally, in a power struggle, Dell has recalled over four million laptop batteries, representing the largest computer recall in the direct-order company's and the American computing industry's history.Dell has created a list of affected models and a guide with frequently asked questions appears on the WSJ Online.Dell stock is up currently, however, because sales of its products are as well. The Associated Press reported booming sales as flat-panel screens and other electronics have sold well this year.That's the rag for this week. Story submissions are always welcome. Thanks for reading!

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

Mid-week Market Watch

John Guilfoil — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 05:20:42 EDT

I hope you are all enjoying your week and the variety of news that has gone along with it so far. This is the Mid-Week Market Rag for Wednesday March 9:The success of its movies and theme parks helped Disney post a 71 percent increase in its net income, the Wall Street Journal reported today.It should go without saying that the amazing profits of movies such as Cars and the continued realized and projected success of "Pirates" trilogy have propelled Disney this quarter. Shares of Disney stock are up over 3 percent this afternoon.There has been an across-the-board decrease in airline fares announced this week. United, American Airlines, Continental and Delta have all lowered their fares to match each other. Air travel revenues are down and stocks are down significantly on each mentioned airline. The cuts are reported to be temporary, however.Technology company Cisco saw one of its biggest one-day jumps and is currently up nearly 15 percent for the day. Its earnings helped ease an otherwise unsettling technology sector.British oil producer BP does not appear to be suffering any ill stock-related effects from their Sunday morning shutdown of their 400,000 barrel-per-day Alaskan pipeline. It's stock is up over one percent today.Finally, good news for Sprint. Their stock is up almost two and a half percent on news that their plans for the use of wireless broadband, called WiMax, include spending nearly $3 billion on the exciting new technology.

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.

Mid-week Market Watch

John Guilfoil — Thu, 3 Aug 2006 02:48:51 EDT

This is the first in what will be a weekly series of financial news and how public relations and crisis play a role in stock prices. Special thanks to Yahoo! Finance for the financial data.The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other news sources are reporting a major legal setback for chipmaker Rambus. Rambus, primarily known for its catastrophic loss in the RD vs DDR ram wars, has been accused of monopolistic practices by the FTC. Shares of its stock are currently down over 20 percent.It has been a long, bumpy road for Rambus, whose potentially technologically superior RAM products failed, not because of product design, but because of marketing and a failure to "work well with others". In an older article, PC World Magazine explained that Rambus was requiring manufacturers to pay expensive licensing fees to use its products. According to Tom Mainelli, Rambus is also no stranger to legal battles:RDRAM is also plagued by its creator's tarnished public image. Rambus has infuriated much of the memory industry by filing lawsuits claiming ownership of basic patents to SDRAM. Rambus recently lost its first case, which was against Infineon Technologies.Also in the Wall Street Journal Online, Adobe Systems shares are up following the company meeting quarterly expectations. Game maker Electronic Arts is surprisingly up despite a growing loss. Surging videogame sales seem to be carrying them for now.Trouble for Internet telephone provider Vonage continues. Their stock is currently trading at lower than half its initial public offering price.Finally, troubles continue for Kodak. MSNBC recently reported that the veteran camera maker is selling its entire camera manufacturing line to Flextronics Ltd. It has been reported today that Kodak's revenues dropped 8.8 percent last quarter. Kodak's public relations efforts have responded strongly to the news of the outsourcing, saying that this "move will bring greater flexibility and cost efficiency while ensuring Kodak’s world-class quality and product leadership in the digital camera marketplace" in a press release yesterday.Flextronics' stock has responded in kind with a boost today.

John Guilfoil is the editor of Blast Magazine. He is the former editor and founder of The Review Center. He currently maintains the blog PRrag: All the news that's fit to spin.