This article is about a term used in economics. For other uses, see service (disambiguation).

In economics and marketing, a service is the non-material equivalent of a good. Service provision has been defined as an economic activity that does not result in ownership, and this is what differentiates it from providing physical goods. It is claimed to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating either a change in customers, a change in their physical possessions, or a change in their intangible assets.

By supplying some level of skill, ingenuity, and experience, providers of a service participate in an economy without the restrictions of carrying stock (inventory) or the need to concern themselves with bulky raw materials. On the other hand, their investment in expertise does require marketing and upgrading in the face of competition which has equally few physical restrictions.

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TechCrunch

Verisign’s Personal Identity Portal Is Half Way To Password Bliss
Michael Arrington Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:41:37 -0000
Verisign’s new Personal Identity Portal (PIP from now on) isn’t the sexiest application out there to help you manage passwords. But it has Verisign’s strong reputation for security behind it, and it is a surprisingly easy way to manage website credentials. PIP is a a single sign in solution that supports both OpenID (you are issued [...]
The Truth Behind Liveplace’s Photo-Realistic 3D World And OTOY’s Rendering Engine
Jason Kincaid Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:33:00 -0000
Last week we posted a video that presented LivePlace, a 3D world with an incredible amount of detail. The impressive technology behind it is called OTOY, a streaming platform that allows developers to generate movie-quality renders “in the cloud”, which can then be streamed to more modestly-powered computers and even mobile phones. For [...]
This Week on CrunchBoard
Dan Kimerling Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:30:55 -0000
Does this remind you of your job? Maybe you should check out the latest job listings on CrunchBoard. Here is a sample from the past week: VP of EngineeringFederate Media - San Francisco, CA Senior QA EngineerCastTV - San Francsico, CA Senior Web/Business AnalystDigg.com - San Francisco,CA CTO/Co-FounderEmpatica3 - San Francisco, CA or New York, NY Senior PHP [...]
Songbird Releases Beta of Web-Integrated Media Player
Jason Kincaid Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:35:40 -0000
Later this evening Songbird, the open source web-integrated media player, will the unveil the .7 beta release of its software that introduces scrobbling to Last.fm, speedier track importing, and a more polished interface among a number of other features. The resulting application is a marked improvement over the last release we covered, but still [...]
Jackson Fish Market Does It Again With Another Beautifully Useless App
Michael Arrington Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:59:00 -0000
I have no idea what these guys actually do to pull in revenue, but God love ‘em. Jackson Fish Market, the ex-Microsoft team that brought us They’re Beautiful and Tafiti, launched Elmore City Dance Club earlier today. The application, which was conceived, designed and built by the company’s summer interns (Tyler, Luke and Alex) lets [...]
Ten Startups Debut At TechStars Demo Day
Guest Author Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:22:14 -0000
Editor’s note: The following on-the-ground report comes from Don Dodge, who blogs at The Next Big Thing and is a business development executive for Microsoft. He is in Boulder, Colorado today attending TechStars demo day. Much like Y Combinator (which had its own demo day last week) and LaunchBox (which also had [...]

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

Strategies: Illusions About Inflation
Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:09:34 -0000
If other things are equal, the value of a company’s future earnings will be lower to the extent that inflation is higher. But other things are not equal when it comes to stocks and inflation.
Mortgages: Finding Cash in a Home
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:38:10 -0000
A new service essentially offers a cash advance on the home, in exchange for the owner’s promise to share in the home’s future appreciation.
Market Values: Small Stocks Survive, and Thrive
Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:52:16 -0000
The current downturn should be particularly rough on corporate minnows, yet for the last six months, smaller-capitalization stocks have outperformed.

The Economist: The World Bank and the IMF

Who runs the world?:
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:
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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