TechCrunch

comScore: Facebook And MySpace Still Lagging In Japan
Jason Kincaid Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:10:16 -0000
According to data released today by comScore, both Facebook and MySpace still trail Japan’s leading social network Mixi.jp by a wide margin, despite recent pushes by both networks to expand in the country. While Facebook’s Japan site has grown three fold in the last year, it still has only about 4% of the users that [...]
The Record Industry’s Digital Distribution Plan (TotalMusic) Comes Back From the Dead
Erick Schonfeld Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:16:03 -0000
The music industry’s attempts to create its own digital distribution business is like a bad horror movie. It just keeps coming back no matter how badly bludgeoned it gets. Back in 2001 in response to Napster, the music labels launched two competing music download sites, PressPlay and MusicNet (the latter became a white-label [...]
CG’s John Biggs Signs a Big Boy Book Deal
Peter Ha Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:45:58 -0000
Wow. I’m completely speechless right now. Our very own Editor-in-chief John Biggs has himself a real book deal. That’s not to say his previous foray with “Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age” was anything to scoff at, but Biggityboo’s (that’s what I like to call him) ” book was the object [...]
Elaborate Facebook Worm Virus Spreading
Michael Arrington Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:57:32 -0000
Facebook malware attacks to date have largely consisted of getting user credentials via phishing sites and then spreading spam and additional phishing attempts. But a new worm is disseminating through Facebook that aims to install trojan software on a user’s machine. The worm spreads when a compromised user’s account is used to send message to [...]
TuneWiki: Android’s iPhone-Like Media Player That May Become The Platform’s Standard
Jason Kincaid Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:48:19 -0000
Israeli startup TuneWiki has come a long way. Soon after the iPhone’s launch, the company released an application that allowed users to view highly-accurate lyrics synced karaoke style to any song stored in their music library. But because there was no App Store at the time, TuneWiki was limited to users with jailbroken (hacked) iPhones. [...]
Facebook To Give Developers A New Set of Metrics
Mark Hendrickson Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:01:20 -0000
Facebook will announce later today that it is adding a “Features” tab to the “Insights” area of the application management page. The new tab will give developers a greater range of statistics on application usage, including the number of canvas page views, clicks on profile boxes, confirmations of feed forms, and additions and removals of [...]

ENN Investing and Corporate Social Responsibility

Study Suggests Carbon Market Encourages Chopping Forests
The current carbon market actually encourages cutting down some of the world's biggest forests, which would unleash tons of climate-warming carbon into the atmosphere, a new study reported Monday.
Technology Companies Tout Greener Credentials, but Significant Improvements Are Distant
With energy costs high and environmental friendliness making for good public relations, more tech companies are touting ways they are "greening" data centers, which serve up Web pages, swap Internet traffic, and process and store business information.
Westinghouse Seals Mega China Nuclear Deal
U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric signed on Tuesday a multi-billion-dollar deal with Chinese partners to build four nuclear reactors in eastern China, finalising a pact agreed between Beijing and Washington seven months ago.

The Financial Page

The Cross-eyed Queen
Rebecca Mead Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0000
In May, a tiny, exquisite volume went on display at the Morgan Library & Museum: a prayer book made for Queen Claude of France, who was born in the penultimate year of the fifteenth century. Claude, a near-contemporary of Anne Boleyn, who served her at the French court as a . . .
Sponsoring Recklessness
James Surowiecki Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0000
When do the words “not guaranteed” actually mean “guaranteed”? Whenever the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are involved. The two companies have long been required to tell investors that their securities are not guaranteed by the federal government. But in the financial markets everyone has always assumed that . . .
Oily Speculations
James Surowiecki Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0000
When bad things happen, it’s always nice to have a scapegoat. So, with Americans furious about soaring oil prices, Congress has gone in search of someone to blame. There are a number of usual suspects to choose from, depending on your politics--OPEC, greedy oil companies, lily-livered environmentalists opposed . . .

NYT > Your Money

Your Money: Ditch the Gas Guzzler? Well, Maybe Not Yet
Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:30:41 -0000
There are some questions to consider if you are tempted to get rid of your S.U.V., and some tips for figuring out whether it may be more financially sensible to hang onto it for a little longer.
Advertising: The High Cost of a ‘Free Credit Report’
Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:46:54 -0000
Catchy television ads for FreeCreditReport.com don’t highlight another catch tied to the service: a monthly fee.
Strategies: The Stars Have Yet to Align for Stocks
Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:59:34 -0000
The rally that began three weeks ago is fully supported by investor sentiment and not by fundamentals, suggesting that the bottom of this bear market has not yet been reached.

The Economist: The World Bank and the IMF

Who runs the world?: Wrestling for influence
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:45 -0000
The post-war global institutions have largely worked well. But rising countries and growing threats are challenging their pre-eminence THE powerful, like the victorious, do not just write history. They grab the seats at the top tables, from the United Nations Security Council to the boards of the big international economic and financial institutions. They collude behind closed doors. They decide who can join their cosy clubs and expect the rest of the world to obey the instructions they hand down. That is how many outsiders, not just in the poor world, will see the summit that takes place from July 7th to 9th of the G8, the closest the world has to an informal (ie, self-appointed) steering group. Leaders of seven of the world's richest democracies, plus oil-and gas-fired Russia, gather this year in Toyako, on Hokkaido in northern Japan, to ruminate on climate change, rising food and energy prices, and the best way to combat global scourges from disease to nuclear proliferation. ...
International government: What a way to run the world
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:45 -0000
Global institutions are an outdated muddle; the rise of Asia makes their reform a priority for the WestCLUBS are all too often full of people prattling on about things they no longer know about. On July 7th the leaders of the group that allegedly runs the world--the G7 democracies plus Russia--gather in Japan to review the world economy. But what is the point of their discussing the oil price without Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest producer? Or waffling about the dollar without China, which holds so many American Treasury bills? Or slapping sanctions on Robert Mugabe, with no African present? Or talking about global warming, AIDS or inflation without anybody from the emerging world? Cigar smoke and ignorance are in the air.The G8 is not the only global club that looks old and impotent (see article). The UN Security Council has told Iran to stop enriching uranium, without much effect. The nuclear non-proliferation regime is in tatters. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the fireman in previous financial crises, has been a bystander during the credit crunch. The World Trade Organisation's Doha round is stuck. Of course, some bodies, such as the venerable Bank for International Settlements (see article), still do a fine job. But as global problems proliferate and information whips round the world ever faster, the organisational response looks ever shabbier, slower and feebler. The world's governing bodies need to change. ...

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