Last week I joined the ranks of confused parents wondering how to treat my child’s cold without resorting to the tried and true cold medicines. While my job at Hoover’s had already given me insight on the voluntary product withdrawal …
Archive for October, 2007
The restless wind — energy production in Texas
by Stuart Hampton, October 30, 2007, 6:05 am“I saw miles and miles of Texas” croons Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel. And what fills the big empty space of the second-largest state? Wind, that’s what.
And wind does not just blow tumbleweeds across Hank Williams’ lost and lonesome highways. In an energy …
Boo! It’s Halloween and you’re broke!
by Alexandra Biesada, October 29, 2007, 7:59 amThe scariest thing about this Halloween may be how much we’ll spend celebrating. The average American will fork out nearly $65 this year on Halloween accoutrements, such as candy, costumes (including pet costumes), cards, and decorations. That’s up from …
Tektronix going into the maw of Danaher
by Jeff Dorsch, October 26, 2007, 5:55 amWhen I was cutting my teeth as a cub reporter with Electronic News 25 years ago, one of the companies they set me loose on was Tektronix, the big instrument manufacturer in suburban Portland, Oregon.
It was with some nostalgia that I saw the …
Netflix surprises with Blockbuster results; Subscribers wooed by lower prices
by Linnea Kirgan, October 25, 2007, 11:27 amWhat a difference three months can make. Netflix left investors grinning this week when it announced better than expected results for the third quarter, following a dismal second quarter.
Here’s the good news: Nearly 300,000 new subscribers, boosting the company’s total subscriber base to 7.03 …
Hormel in a stew
by Barbara Murray, October 25, 2007, 6:25 amOK, we’ve all sniggered over the behemoths of business battling it out in court. A more-or-less recent example is Gillette’s suit against Schick after Schick introduced yet another of the never-ending improvements one or the other company makes in order to make its shaving implement …
Wildfires close high-tech offices, plants
by Jeff Dorsch, October 24, 2007, 11:17 amThe Southern California wildfires are not only forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to flee their homes; they’re also forcing many businesses to temporarily shutter their operations. QUALCOMM has closed its headquarters in northern San Diego. Most of the company’s 12,800 employees are based …
Insurers are feeling the heat from the California wildfires
by Kristi Park, October 24, 2007, 9:34 amAs the wildfires rage on in Southern California, Bloomberg reports on an early estimate of insurance costs for the disaster. The Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group, says the fires may cost insurers upwards of $500 million, though it calls that number …
Gift horse or cure? Opinions differ on the subprime mortgage bust
by Patrice Sarath, October 24, 2007, 5:33 amSo how bad was it, and how bad is it going to get? The subprime mortgage bust has cast some expanding ripples in the sea of the financial sector. Just take a look at a couple of representative victims:
Northern Rock’s chairman …
Pfizer makes friends with Sermo’s social network
by Kristi Park, October 23, 2007, 5:33 amIn case you still thought social media sites were just for teenagers spreading rumors and bands posting their MP3s, along comes news of Pfizer’s new collaboration with Sermo, a kind of MySpace for doctors. The AP has a rundown of the …
