Tag Archives: Business and Economics

The company that owns the venerable and iconic Village Voice — now in its 50th year — will merge with the nation’s largest alternative weekly chain, New Times Media, to form an alternative media company with 17 papers and a combined weekly circulation of 1.8 million, about 25% of the …

A national poll conducted by the Sacred Heart University Polling Institute concluded 78% Americans believe gas prices are very seriously or somewhat seriously impacting their quality of life. Jerry Lindsley, director of the Polling Institute, thinks politicians should be wary. “Spiraling gas and home heating oil prices may be the …

If you have observed any gathering place of teens — malls, school and campus, movie theaters, concerts, etc. — you may have come away with the impression that every other kid has a cell phone and is afraid not to use it. Your impression was correct: almost half of 10 …

A first-of-its-kind online study combining a questionnaire with an eye-tracking method has revealed that sex in print advertisements improves the ad for men — including their “like” for the ad, the product, and all-important “purchase intent” — but it decreases ad effectiveness for women. Interestingly, with their brains presumably aswim …

Having little kids I see quite a bit of Nickelodeon, especially Nick toons, and most especially of all SpongeBob, Fairly Odd Parents, and Jimmy Neutron, which seem to just about equally entertain all of us, ranging in age from 22 months to 47 years. I have recently discussed Nick’s “Let’s …

“Broadband over power line” (BPL) — using the electricity grid in a city and the wiring in individual homes to provide direct “plug in” broadband access through electricity sockets — made a significant stride yesterday when Manassas, Va. became the first city in the country with city-wide commercial deployment of …

I have always been fascinated with franchises: on the one hand they represent the entrepreneural spirit given shape, structure and support — for a hefty fee of course — but on the other they represent the march of the formulaic, unimaginative and monochromatic across the global landscape. In the big …

Globalization marches on, supporting rising boats (unevenly, of course) around the globe. Average pay worldwide is expected to rise 2.4 percentage points above inflation in ’06, compared to 1.9 percentage points for ’05. Pay in the European Union is likely to rise by 2 percentage points over inflation, and in …

The fairy tale really is over: the divorce of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston became final yesterday, October 2, and a relationship that seemed — from the outside anyway — to be something closer than the usual to the real thing is officially no more. They went their separate ways …

The question is, why should Canada continue to live up to its ends of the agreement?