| Bill Gates - You Asked The Questions
I've just emerged from the Microsoft machine, shaken but unscathed. I've interviewed Bill Gates three or four times over a 12 year period, and each time I come out impressed by the sheer professionalism of the Microsoft PR operation but wondering whether we've been successfully spun. This time we tried a new tactic - getting BBC viewers, listeners and readers to ask the questions. We had thousands, covering every aspect of Bill Gates and Microsoft - past, present and future. Over two hundred were seeking jobs, one gentleman was proposing himself as the next CEO of Microsoft, and another wondered whether the secrets of Windows software had been recovered from a crashed UFO. We did not ask that one, but managed to get through around fifteen questions during our allotted fifteen minutes.
Google uses workers' bets to bolster business
It probably doesn't come as a huge surprise to learn that while employees in many companies sit in the cafeteria gossiping about work or the boss or the competition, at Google they are doing something else. Employees there are encouraged to go to an online exchange that tries to forecast events based on the money wagered on a particular outcome. Such prediction markets have been used for years for elections and the like. At Google, they are used for business. In the past two and a half years, 1,463 employees have made wagers with play money (Goobles, as in rubles) on questions like: Will Google open a Russia office? Will Apple release an Intel-based Mac? How many users will Gmail have at the end of the quarter? The lure, nominally, is accumulating those Goobles, which can be converted to modest prizes, valued at $10,000 each three months.
TFS Energy Launches its TFS Green Finance Division
NEW YORK, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- TFS Energy, a leading interdealer broker and subsidiary of Compagnie Financiere Tradition, today announced it officially launched TFS Green Finance, a division that provides clients with a comprehensive range of merchant banking and brokerage solutions for the environmental markets. Matt Williamson, Head of Renewable Energy and Carbon Finance, will manage this new endeavor and will focus on transactions in renewable energy project development, clean tech, tax equity, carbon credit and clean power offtake agreements. The Green Finance division will further reinforce TFS's position as a preeminent global environmental broker. Matt's activities will compliment the awarding winning global REC and Kyoto Projects brokerage team in the US, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America in assisting project developers and owners in creating and marketing carbon credits under the CDM and JI elements of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as creating marketable verified emissions reductions (VERs) for sale to voluntary purchasers.
McCain Presses Obama on Public Funds
YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio, Feb. 20 -- Sen. John McCain intensified his attacks on Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday, blasting the Democrat for backing away from a commitment to public campaign financing and calling him "naive" for suggesting several months ago he would attack targets in Pakistan without that government's permission. .
BP America Announces Resolution of Texas City, Alaska, Propane Trading ...
HOUSTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BP America today announced two plea agreements and a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and a consent order with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which end governmental investigation of company wrongdoing on matters related to the March 2005 explosion and fire at the Texas City refinery, the March and August 2006 oil transit line spills in Alaska and improper propane trading in April 2003 and February 2004. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/NYM120LOGO ) "These agreements are an admission that, in these instances, our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law. For that, we apologize," said BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone.
Traders left to search for signs of capitulation
World markets are running out of superlatives. Tuesday saw the biggest cut by the Federal Reserve to its target Fed Funds rate in 26 years, and the biggest emergency cut it had ever made between scheduled meetings. That followed the biggest falls in European and Asian markets since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which occurred amid the highest levels of equity market volatility since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. .
Momentum had started to build before the opening bell following better ...
The world's largest retailer reported its net income rose 4 percent to $4.1 billion, or $1.02 a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. Excluding charges for dropped real-estate projects and restructuring, the world's largest retailer earned $1.04 a share, beating analysts' expectations by two cents a share. Revenue increased 8.3 percent to $106.27 billion. "The death of the consumer has been greatly exaggerated," Jack Bouroudjian, a principal at Brewer Investment Group, told "Squawk Box" after Wal-Mart's report. Still, Wal-Mart warned that consumers are becoming more cautious and said its earnings in the current quarter would fall short of estimates. .
Ace Ethanol LLC Selects Planalytics EnergyBuyer for Natural Gas ...
WAYNE, Pa., Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Planalytics Inc. announced today that Ace Ethanol LLC has licensed the EnergyBuyer(SM) service to help the company monitor natural gas market prices and identify when it is a good time to buy or hedge its natural gas. "Planalytics' always accessible web-based tool and weekly e-mail newsletters will help Ace Ethanol stay on top of a volatile market and take advantage of good buying opportunities when they arise," said Paul Corby, Senior Vice President, Planalytics Energy. "We look forward to helping Ace successfully manage their natural gas costs, providing them with stable pricing and lower volatility." Planalytics EnergyBuyer continuously analyzes market conditions to provide clients with straightforward "buy" or "don't buy" guidance up to a year in advance.
Dark clouds have silver lining for agri info operation
CLIMATE change, drought and pollution may seem to indicate a bleak future, but for Canberra information management firm Agrecon these problems mean big business here and overseas. Agrecon, formed in 1992 and split from the University of Canberra three years ago, has tapped into booming demand for environmental data driven by the agriculture sector. The company has collected reams of information from satellite imagery to the Bureau of Meteorology's daily climatic output. The sheer volume of data collected has forced Agrecon to strengthen its technology infrastructure as it gears up for further international expansion and what it expects to be several years of strong growth. "In Australia the prospects for natural resource management and agricultural production, as well as the pressures on water, the environment and land, mean essentially that the next five years are our best years," Agrecon managing director Dr Brian Button says.
|
