Category Archives: Communications

Madoff: How You Could Have Known

Communications, Companies, , , ,

Before the Madoff story broke, a research and portfolio advisory firm called Aksia issued a statement warning clients to avoid doing business with his investment fund, citing several red flags which it uncovered during an investigation. A review of these indicators offers insight into due diligence as well as warning signs to look out for prior to doing business with a firm. Aksia picked up on the following patterns and inconsistencies, and the fund’s concerns were quickly validated:

  1. The firm utilized an especially volatile investment strategy, but was still able to garner stable returns of 8-10% over an entire decade.
  2. A financial advisor who claimed to have studied the firm’s operations issued a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2005 stating that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.
  3. The firm was run by family members, and the strategy was erratic and undocumented.
  4. The firm’s comptroller wasn’t based in the United States, but in Bermuda. The “feeder funds” were audited by reliable auditors, while the primary investments were not.
  5. Accounting statements were sent via mail, as opposed to email, as is commonly practiced in the industry.
  6. The firm had been looked into previously.

Copyright Alert System Hopes to Gently Reduce Illegal Downloading

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Downloaders Beware!
Downloaders Beware!

It’s been about ten years since the entertainment industry tried to aggressively to end illegal downloading of movies, music and TV shows with huge lawsuits that attacked everyone from children to seniors, ending from time to time in huge monetary payouts.

Noting that the lawsuits had little effect on halting the copyright infringement which is still rampant, a new tactic is about to be launched on internet pirates who share their downloaded files. Anyone illegally sharing their files online will receive warning notices from their internet providers, telling them bluntly that they are in violation of federal laws prohibiting the copy and use of protected intellectual property. If the warnings go unheeded those in violation can be subjected to a 48-hour internet slowdown. Those who believe they are being falsely accused can file a protest, but it will cost them.

The hope is that the implementation of the Copyright Alert System, which uses warnings and education, will be enough to curb much of the abuse, while giving violators multiple chances to make amends will reduce the number of lawsuits.

“There’s a bunch of questions that need to be answered because there are ways that this could end up causing problems for Internet users,” such as the bureaucratic headache of being falsely accused, said David Sohn, general counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based civil liberties group. But he added: “There’s also the potential for this to have an impact in reducing piracy in ways that don’t carry a lot of collateral damage.”

The program begins this week, and is being implemented by the five biggest internet service providers in the country: Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Cablevision; plus two key organizations that represent the entertainment industry: the Motion Picture of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Blockbuster Owner Dish Planning Massive Layoffs

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Layoffs from Blockbuster on the Horizon

In an effort to improve profitability of the US-based video rental store Blockbuster, parent company Dish Network Corp is planning on closing down as many as 300 outlets across the country.

Dish just recently began administering Blockbuster, and would like to unload the unprofitable Blockbuster stores whose business model has been eroded by such online retailers as Amazon and download sites like Apple’s highly popular iTunes store. The closure of 300 stores would mean the laying off of as many as 3,000 workers, representing about 40 percent of Blockbuster’s total workforce of 7,300 in the United States.

“We continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand and we will continue to analyze store-level profitability and, as we have in the past, close unprofitable stores,” Dish said in a statement.

The exact locations of the outlets bound for the chopping block have not yet been revealed.

Internet Marketing Takes Advantage of Global Village

Communications, Companies, , ,
Court Conningham, CEO of Yodle, Reviews the World of Local Internet Advertising

In the most general terms, internet marketing is the selling of products and/or services over the World Wide Web, or internet. The term also includes sales done through email and any other wireless media.

There are many companies engaged in this approach to advertising and marketing, and the number is constantly growing. In the case of companies like Karmasnack, Server Side Design and Yodle, reviews suggest that business is booming.

Every internet marketing company has its own style and business model which include strategies and methods designed specifically with the latest technologies and trends in mind. Some marketers specialize in the “one-to-one” approach in which the marketer targets a particular user who is browsing the internet so that the message reaches the surfer in a more personal way.

Some marketers prefer, or concentrate on niche marketing, geo-targeting, or the appeal to well-defined, specific interests that a user has. All these methods have advantages and disadvantages, and it is up to the marketer and his client to decide which methods are the correct ones to get the best results.

In the 1970s Marshall McLuhan coined the term “Global Village,” envisioning a time in the future when people in vastly different locations would nevertheless be intimately connected to each other. With the rise of the internet and its influence on just about every aspect of our lives, it is safe to say that McLuhan’s prediction has come true. Today we live in a global village. It is possible for consumers in one part of the world to make purchases with incredible ease just about anywhere in the world. As the world in this sense shrinks, internet marketers will continue to take advantage of the power of the internet to find consumers anywhere on the globe.

New Yorkers Paying More for their New York Times

Communications, ,
New York Times

New Yorkers now must pay the same price for their beloved New York Times as the rest of the country. Beginning on Monday the cost of the Times will be 50 cents more in New York, catching up to the $2.50 for the daily edition that the rest of the country has been paying for the esteemed newspaper of record.

Spokeswoman for the Times, Eileen Murphy, relieved worries when she said that Sunday’s deluxe edition of the newspaper will remain steady at $5.00 in the Big Apple, and $6.00 in the rest of the nation. Those patrons subscribed digitally do not need to fear, as their price will also not change, at the moment.

Home delivery however, did rise in price by 4%, as they were informed it would about 6 weeks previously.