Archive for the ‘Gifts’ Category

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Making it Work: Internet Shopping Entrepreneurs Talk Shop

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Carla Holtze and Kimberly Skelton used business school as an excuse to do what they already wanted to do: create a social website that roughly imitates the experience of having your best friend give you the thumbs-up or thumbs-down in the dressing room. Thus was born WingTipIt.com.

But starting a company isn’t easy – especially when it involves learning new technology in a relatively new industry. Watch them talk about what’s worked and what hasn’t:

>> TILE brings you exclusive opinions, explanations, and interviews from experts in every industry. Have a burning question or an expert you’d like to see interviewed? Just Ask TILE!

Random Young Writer Making a Killing in the Kindle Store

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011


Amanda Hocking (photo courtesy Business Insider)

Technology changes everything, again.

Amanda Hocking is living the dream: she’s in her mid-twenties, writing what she wants to write, and making a serious profit without any of the usual middlemen. No publishers, no editors, no marketers, no book-signing tours.

The Kindle store allows her to connect directly with readers, who sometimes pay only a dollar to download her work. But multiply one dollar by 100,000 downloads, and then imagine taking home 70% of that. (Amazon keeps the rest.)

This is good news for young writers looking to make a name (and a profit) for themselves, but what about all those people who make their living as publishers, editors, and marketers?

This Fall, Look Forward To High, High Prices!

Friday, February 18th, 2011


(photo credit: Thing Three)

“Most” consumer goods are about to get a lot pricier - food, clothing, appliances, you name it. Why? Commodities, demand, and labor! Here’s what that actually means for you…

  • The cost of raw materials, like cotton, wheat, and metal, has increased wildly in recent years. These raw materials are traded on exchanges kind of like stocks, but they’re called commodities. Just like stocks, the prices of commodities changes frequently.
  • When commodity prices shoot up, it’s more expensive for companies to make their products, and that cost gets passed on to you, the consumer.
  • Besides the price of materials, there’s the cost of people. Workers overseas now demand higher wages than they used to, and with more money to spend, there’s an increased demand for certain goods (like cars and meat). That all adds up to more expensive products.
  • Retailers have been holding off on raising prices to keep customers during the recession, but they say they can’t hold out anymore.
  • Will rising prices lead to inflation? Stay tuned.

Facts & Figures

  • Unemployment in the U.S. is still at 9%, and wages have risen less than 2% in the past year
  • Some brands planning to raise prices include: Nine West, Anne Klein, Victoria’s Secret, Polo Ralph Lauren, Whirlpool, Kraft, Starbucks, Sara Lee, Brooks Brothers, and Hanes
  • Inflation has been low – about 1.4%, but economists expect the rate to rise to 2.5% 2011

Best Quotes

“Consumers are not exactly in the frame of mind or economic circumstances to say ‘Oh, pay whatever they ask.’ There’s going to be pushback.” – Joshua Shapiro, Chief U.S. Economist at MFR Inc.

“These companies are constantly walking a tightrope on how far do I go. Do I offset with price or other cost cuts, or do I just take it and have it eat into my profit margins?” – Jack Russo, Consumer Goods Analyst at Edward Jones

What do you think?

Do you know what goes into the price of the products you buy? Did you ever imagine that the price of popcorn at the movie theater could be connected to weather in the Midwest and a commodites trading floor in Chicago?

Volkswagon Wows With 300MPG Car

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

“Volkswagen has made a car it says can travel 313 miles on a gallon of diesel, and that emits just 24 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre travelled.

The XL1, which seats two adults, combines a 0.8 litre two cylinder diesel engine with an electric motor. The car is constructed around a carbon fibre reinforced polymer monocoque to reduce the weight to just 795 kilos. German rival BMW is also making an electric carbon fibre car, while Mercedes is to make carbon fibre parts.”

What do you think?

What influences your taste in cars?

Americans Open Wallets Wider Than They Have In Three Years

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

The financial times they are a’changing. At least, that’s what these new statistics would have us believe…

  • In 2009, the American GDP (gross domestic product – a measurement of economic activity) dropped more than it had in sixty years. But like a phoenix made up of economic statistics, it rose back up in 2010.
  • We can’t know the exact cause, but the numbers say that people earned a little more, saved a little less, and spent a little more than they had in recent years.
  • Since consumer spending makes up almost three-quarters of all economic activity in the U.S., this is good news. But there are still those issues around high unemployment and a trashed housing market…

Facts & Figures

  • Consumer spending represents 70% of all economic activity in the U.S.
  • In 2010, spending rose by 3.5% – 0.7% of that was in December alone
  • The last time spending rose that high was in 2007 (pre-recession)

What do you think?

Have you been spending more lately? Do you think the economy will recover faster depending on where you spend your money (at independent stores versus chains)?

(Check out this week’s Today at TILE for a closer look at signs of life in the economy.)

What You Should Know Before You Budget

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

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Credit: apium

Sticking to a budget is more or less like sticking to a diet: It sucks, and you’re almost guaranteed to fail.

BUT! There’s another way. With a few simple tricks, you can take control of your spending and avoid feeling guilty all the time. Here’s what Tara Siegel Bernard from the New York Times has to say:

  • Let the robots take control. Set up automatic transfers to your savings and investment accounts. It only takes a few minutes. If your savings is being automatically transferred out of your spending account every month, you don’t have to worry about spending it!
  • Start at the finish line. What are you saving for? Saving is easier when you have a goal in mind (a vacation, a new car, an obscenely expensive pair of shoes). Figure out how much money you need and you’ll know how much money to have automatically transferred each month.
  • Separate the fun money from the serious money. If you have a phone bill or rent to pay, keep that money separate from the money you plan to squander irresponsibly at the mall. Obviously.
  • Brace yourself for big surprises. One of the easiest ways to muck up your budget is to suddenly spend a lot of money you hadn’t planned for. This one’s easy, though. Put a little extra away somewhere each month. You can use that to cover your surprise expenses without feeling like a total budgeting loser.

Best Quote:
“Ultimately, what we want our money to be is an energy source. It should help us get somewhere or do something.”  – Amanda Clayman, Financial Therapist (only in New York!)

Your New Apple Gadget Might Be Selling You Out

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

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credit: Unhindered by Talent

On the night before the night before Christmas, a disgruntled fellow named Jonathan Lalo decided to drag Apple Inc. to court. Why? He says that the UDI (Unique Device Identifier) built in to iPhones and iPads allows apps to collect data on their users without their permission. (He called out some of these apps right in his complaint: Pandora, Paper Toss, the Weather Channel, Dictionary.com.)

Why is that a big deal? Well, appmakers can do pretty much anything they want with the information they collect about you. They can make their products better, customize offerings, or, you know. Sell your most intimate details to the highest bidder.

The suit says: “Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views.”

JLa wants to make his legal challenge into a class action suit – which means that he wants to sue Apple on behalf of everyone who has downloaded an app from the Apple Store in the past two years. If he wins, or if Apple agrees to some kind of settlement, everyone in that “class” (or category of people) would share in the settlement benefit.

The Art of Christmas Money

Monday, December 27th, 2010

moneyisnotimportant:

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Merry Christmas from Money Is Not Important!

Merry Christmas from TILE, too, although we think money is pretty darned important. Not having the most of it, but knowing how to use it. The real art of money is more than budgeting. It’s about spending thoughtfully, planning for the future, and giving to causes and charities you believe in. (And it’s also a little bit about folding up dollar bills into pine trees.)

This holiday season, let’s try to avoid destroying the rainforest

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

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When you crack open a fresh copy of Where the Wild Things Are, do you smell rainforests in Indonesia being decimated? Well apparently, that actually happens.

Our friends at the bad-ass Rainforest Action Network just pulled together a shopping guide for the kiddies in your life. Download the 2-page guide here (pdf), or read more about the project at ran.org.

Lenin! Get your Lenin heeeere!

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

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This is probably not what he was going for when he commissioned all these pictures and sculptures of himself.

The Hungarian government is auctioning off a bunch of Lenin memorabilia to help pay for cleanup of the massive wave of toxic waste that flooded Budapest this October.

Some bourgeois bidders are just picking up kitschy decoration for their homes, but others appear to be having a little Communist-bloc nostalgia.

“When I was young, I didn’t really look deeply into the faults of the system,” says Mr. Torok, a real-estate entrepreneur who says that his business is struggling amid the economic downturn. “I lived a calm, secure life where bread cost 3.5 forints and everyone had a job.”

Hmm.

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