Archive for the ‘Spend Page’ Category

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On Amazon, E-Book Sales Surpass Hardcovers

Monday, July 26th, 2010

The convenience of the skinny Kindle sways more customers.

  • Sales of the Kindle, Amazon.com’s digital book reader, have skyrocketed and Amazon reports that it is now selling more electronic books than hardcover editions.
  • In order to compete with other e-readers made by Apple and Sony, Amazon slashed the price of the Kindle almost in half - a move that increased sales even further.
  • The growing popularity of the e-book boosted Amazon stock, reversing a steady decline since the recession.

Facts & Figures

  • Amazon has sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books
  • Amazon will probably sell 3.7 million Kindles this year

Best Quote

“We’ve reached a tipping point with the new price of Kindle. Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books — astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months.” – Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive of Amazon.com

Early Exhaustion In Online Journalism Careers

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

The Internet has turned many news outlets into frenzies of über-competitive racing to break even the smallest tidbits of news, and many young journalists can’t handle the pressure.

  • The Internet has changed the way journalism works, and now many young people who envisioned trips to exotic locales to capture groundbreaking stories are instead tasked with sitting at their computers and watching for the smallest pieces of information to publish.
  • Editors now foster competitiveness by posting the most-viewed articles on their sites and even calculating paychecks based on how many clicks a writer’s articles have gotten.
  • These conditions have led to increased turnover at news outlets like Gawker and Politico, with many young journalists leaving quickly because they’re exhausted.

Facts & Figures

  • The top editors at Politico wake up as early as 4:30 am on workdays (a typical newspaper workday is from 10 am to 7 pm).
  • Out of a staff of just 70 reporters and editors, about a dozen of Politico’s employees quit in the first half of this year.
  • An entry-level reporting job at Politico can pay as much as $40,000 per year.

Best Quote

“At a paper, your only real stress point is in the evening when you’re actually sitting there on deadline, trying to file. Now at any point in the day starting at 5 in the morning, there can be that same level of intensity and pressure to get something out.” – Jim VandeHei, Politico’s Executive Editor

Dealing with Questionable Content

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Workers who screen websites for explicit content are increasingly in demand, but many companies are failing to provide these employees with adequate psychiatric care.

  • Internet content reviewers, people who police popular websites in order to identify and remove inappropriate content, are being hired in ever greater numbers.
  • Although these jobs are in high demand, they do not pay well, and many companies that hire internet content reviewers don’t guarantee them psychiatric help in order to deal with the hundreds of graphic and disturbing images they see every day.
  • The psychiatrists who have interviewed these workers have concluded that many of them have been psychologically affected by their jobs. These findings are troubling, especially considering that companies want to hire ever more screeners, young people are often attracted to the work, and the jobs are being increasingly outsourced.

Facts and Figures

  • At one company, Telecommunications on Demand, 50 internet content reviewers examine a combined average of 20 million images per week.
  • These employees are paid $8-$12 per hour.

Best Quote

“You have 20-year-old kids who get hired to do content review, and who get excited because they think they are going to see adult porn. They have no idea that some of the despicable and illegal images they will see can haunt them for the rest of their lives.” – Hemanshu Nigam, Former chief security officer at MySpace

Luxury Sites Replace Luxury Stores

Friday, July 16th, 2010

In a struggling economy, online shopping might replace even the highest high-end stores.

  • In the wake of the recession, luxury stores are forced to sell merchandise on the web.
  • Selling clothes online, though less atmospheric than a downtown boutique, allows profits to go directly to the company by cutting out the costs of a store.
  • Technology’s infinite possibilities has increased the number of high-end online stores, allowing boutiques to make their websites seem as impressive and exclusive as their boutique.

Facts & Figures

  • In 2009, when the worldwide luxury-goods industry fell 8%, luxury sales online were forecast to grow 20%

Best Quote

“These brands are finally taking the plunge to establish an online retail presence. The recession forced these manufacturers to realize they needed to look for revenue wherever they could.” – Jeffrey Max, Chief Executive, Venda E-Commerce Sites

First Impression Of The New iPhone: Negative

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Apple’s newest flashy iproduct might not be making quite the positive splash they’d hoped for…

  • Consumer feedback has been harsh on the latest iPhone, reporting that when it is held a certain way reception is sketchy and calls are sometimes dropped.
  • As a result, shares of Apple Inc. have dipped, leaving the company scrambling to issue software updates and attach a bumper accessory to fix the problem.
  • Analysts, however, are doubtful that this blip in Apple stock will have any lasting effects. Apple products like the iPad and iPhone are still too widely popular to truly lower Apple’s stock valuation.

Best Quote

“Checks into Apple’s supply chain do not indicate slowdown in build plans or demand. But a greater focus on this issue could create risk to estimates.” – Shaw Wu, Analyst, Kaufman Bros.

Sales Tax is…

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Sales tax is a set-percentage tax applied to the selling of goods and services. For example, in New York City, the sales tax is 8.875%. So if you buy a chair for $100 in Manhattan, you’ll actually end up paying $108.89 with the sales tax included.

Consumer Reports Criticizes iPhone 4

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Because of a faulty antenna, Consumer Reports refuses to recommend the iPhone 4.

  • Consumer Reports tested the newest iPhone and discovered that it lost reception when held to the ear in a certain way.
  • Apple claims that most cell phones lose reception when gripped a certain way and that the software can be easily fixed.
  • The faulty antenna is located on the outside of the phone in the form of a metal band running around its frame.
  • AT&T has been criticized for poor reception and the inability to handle the network usage of data-guzzling iPhones.

Facts and Figures

  • This is the first time Consumer Reports has not recommended an Apple phone.
  • The antenna problem hasn’t slowed demand for the iPhone 4 – the phone is currently on backorder for about 3 weeks.
  • Apple sold more than 1.7 million iPhone 4s in the first 3 days, making it the company’s most successful product launch ever.

Best Quote

“Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that iPhone 4′s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software.” – Consumer Reports

Nestle Seeks Customers in the Amazon

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Nestle is adapting to the needs of lower-income areas in order to take advantage of a new market opportunity.

  • Nestle is sending a supermarket barge down the Para and Xingu rivers, two tributaries of the Amazon, in order to reach customers in Brazil who cannot get access to name-brand goods otherwise.
  • The company has created smaller and cheaper versions of its products so that lower-income consumers will be able to afford them.
  • If the project is successful, Nestle plans to expand it in Brazil or even in other countries like the Philippines.

Facts and Figures

  • Nestle predicts that as many as one billion people in emerging markets will become able to afford its products in the next decade and that it will make as much as $18 billion per year from selling the smaller and cheaper forms of its products worldwide. The company also plans to increase the proportion of its sales that come from developing countries from 35% to 45% in the next decade.
  • The supermarket barge makes a circuit that brings it to 18 cities and 800,000 potential customers.
  • Nestle has invested one million reais ($560,000) in creating smaller and cheaper products and establishing partnerships with local suppliers.

Best Quote

“In Para, rivers act as streets and avenues. We have to adapt to this reality. [People’s] daily lives here are linked to fishing, to the region they live in. They don’t have the time or money to get to the capital.” – Ivan Zurita, President of Nestle Brazil

Spenders Spending, But Quietly

Friday, July 9th, 2010

It seems that Americans will always be enticed by material gloss and glam, but in this economy they don’t want to show it.

  • Despite America’s recent economic despair, the country’s lavish spenders are still alive and well. However, their spending style has shifted from self-advertising to self-discretion. People are still buying away, but in these tough times, it’s not cool to show it.
  • Though Goldman Sachs claimed to skimp on bonuses this year, the total still came to $16 billion. Americans – seemingly frazzled by Wall Street’s demise – still managed to rack up $800 billion in credit card debt in the two years after the crisis.
  • Some people have certainly been forced to reign in their spending. But their reservation comes from necessity, not respectful conservatism. Spenders are still spending; they just might turn their designer labels to the side.

Best Quote

“The notion that people have crawled into a bunker stocked with canned beans is a bit of a myth. Pleasure-seeking has stubbornly continued. Unless you unfortunately lost your job, nobody stopped. People just aren’t as in-your-face about it.” – Mr. Gordinier, Owner of a high-end personal-concierge company

Internet History 101

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

lolcats-101.png

We here at TILE don’t condone LOLcats. We think they’re stupid and annoying. But somehow this illustrated legend of how they came to be is still fascinating: onlineeducation.org/lolcats

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