Calculated Risk: More Stress Test
WSJ: U.S. Banks’ Not-So-Stressful Test
WSJ: An Entrepreneur Offers New Ways to Buy Bach Online
Footnoted.org: More on the GAO report on the SEC… — So you could imagine our surprise after reading the GAO report released yesterday (the summary is here)
that SEC attorneys were actually doing most of their own copying, and
often had to search the building for working copy machines. TPM
Muckraker has a good account of some of these administrative snafus.
Paid Content: Why $700 Million Is Too Much For Twitter — at $700 million the cost per user would be twice what was paid for YouTube and MySpace
WSJ: Stress Tests Find U.S. Banks Need $75 Billion — or the stock market back to its 2007 levels.
AllThingsDigital: Murdoch: Get Ready to Pay for Our Stuff Online–But Not on a Kindle — But Murdoch also made it clear that he doesn’t plan on selling his content via the Kindle, as publishers like the Washington Post (WPO) and the New York Times (NYT) are doing.
Reflections of a Newsosaur: Finally, someone makes hyperlocal pay — Richard M. Anderson, a publisher serving four Maine communities, generates up to a fifth of his ad revenue through hyperlocal websites, including blogs sponsored and maintained by local merchants.
WSJ: Sprucing Up Online Display Ads — Online display ads are taking a hit, with many marketers questioning their effectiveness. Now, some Web companies are trying to breathe new life into the format.
ReadWriteWeb: Twitter Crowns Bit.ly As The King of Short Links; Here’s What It Means — Today Bit.ly quietly became the new default link shortening service for Twitter.
WSJ: Take This Dream and Crunch It — The greatest advantage of working for yourself may be the independence — but higher expenses and other costs come along with this liberty. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you ponder a business budget.
ReadWriteWeb: Startup 101: Introducing Our Serialized “How to Build a Startup” Book — Targeted to tech startups. Startup 101 is for first-time entrepreneurs who want to go through the whole startup life cycle – including raising money, building a valuable business, and making a lot of money by selling the venture or taking it public.
WSJ: Franchise Sales Pull Back — Discouraged by economic conditions, some franchisers are cutting back on efforts to sell franchises.
WSJ: More banks will need capital — The U.S. is expected to direct about 10 of the 19 banks undergoing government stress tests to boost their capital, a move that officials hope will quell fears about the solvency of the financial sector.
WSJ: When Safe Places No Longer Feel Safe —For 401(k) participants, the usual havens of money-market, stable-value and short-term bond funds pose new risks.
WSJ: In Glum Times, Repair Shops Hum — Economic fears are driving a resurgence for repairmen.
AllThingsDigital: IPod to Reach Out and Touch Someone — Skype and other alternatives to the iPod Touch
TechCrunch: ‘Flight Control’ Sales Stats Offer Fascinating Look At Inner Workings Of The iPhone App Store
Calculated Risk: GDP Report: The Good News — Although Q1 GDP was very negative due to the sharp investment slump (this was expected, see: Q1 GDP will be Ugly), the decline in Q1 was weighted towards lagging sectors.
BoingBoing: Clay Shirky Debunks the WSJ’s “Bloggers For Hire” Feature — Continued dissection of WSJ’s America’s Newest Profession: Bloggers for Hire
There was no way to rescue this piece, since the argument rests on incorrect extrapolations from selective readings of suspect data; the Wall Street Journal should be embarrassed to have published it. (The dispositive critique of the “Bloggers: Livin’ Large!” meme remains Chris Anderson’s Don’t Quit Your Day Job, useful as an antidote now.)
Calculated Risk has two pieces on homeownership following the Census Bureau’s that Q1 2009: Homeownership Rate at 2000 Levels. In a follow-up, U.S. Homeownership by Age Group, which looks at homeownership by age groups, particularly the impact of Baby Boomers:
I expect the homeownership rate to remain high for the boomer generation too. Although there will probably be a geographic shift as the boomer generation retires (towards the sun states) and some downsizing, I don’t think the aging of the boomer generation will negatively impact the homeownership rate for 15 years or more.
AllThingsDigital: Why Portfolio’s Peers Shouldn’t Be Celebrating
Here’s how its peers performed during the same period, via the Magazine Publishers of America:
- McGraw-Hill’s (MHP) BusinessWeek: Down 39.8 percent
- Time Warner’s (TWX) Fortune: Down 26.3 percent
- Privately held Forbes: Down 15 percent
AllThingsDigital: Is Twittermania Running Face-First Into Quittermania? — Nielsen Online estimates that 60 percent of Twitter’s users leave after a month.
TechCrunch: iPhone Owners Don’t Use Their Devices For Work? Yeah, Right
WSJ: ‘Tweeting’ Carefully to Avoid SEC Ire — More companies are using blogs and “tweets” to communicate with investors and customers, but risk running afoul of SEC regulations.
Gawker: Inside Fort Polio: A Former Staffer on What Went Wrong
With today’s news on Pontiac (GM shuts Pontiac, widens cuts), it’s worth spending a few minutes on Wikipedia’s List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers.
WSJ: Entrepreneurs Cut Own Pay to Stay Alive
Places to test connection speed: Digital Landing, 2Wire and McAfee.
ReadWriteWeb: The State of the Smartphone: iPhone is Way, Way Ahead
WSJ: Pontiac Headed for Junk Yard
NY Times: Subprime Loans, Corporate-Style, Will Fuel Defaults
So it went with the subprime mortgage crisis. And so it is now going with corporate loans and bonds. It appears that defaults on leveraged loans and corporate bonds will soon rise to levels not seen since the Great Depression.
NY Times: Gadgetwise: How to Manage Your Reputation Online
TechCrunch: Venture Capital Down 50%. It’s Not Just the Recession, Folks. — greentech VC also down
ReadWriteWeb: The State of the Smartphone: iPhone is Way, Way AheadWSJ: Pontiac Headed for Junk Yard
NY Times: Subprime Loans, Corporate-Style, Will Fuel Defaults
So it went with the subprime mortgage crisis. And so it is now going with corporate loans and bonds. It appears that defaults on leveraged loans and corporate bonds will soon rise to levels not seen since the Great Depression.
NY Times: Gadgetwise: How to Manage Your Reputation Online
TechCrunch: Venture Capital Down 50%. It’s Not Just the Recession, Folks. — greentech VC also down
ReadWriteWeb: Nobody is Making Money Online from Susan Boyle Video (Yet) — While 100 million are viewing the video, YouTube and ITV bickered over what type of ads to run.
So how much money did ITV lose so far? About $1.87 million according to the Times Online’s Dan Sabbagh …
ReadWriteWeb: GeoCities Closure Signals End of an Era – Will Others Survive on Freemium Model? — I think I may still have some pages there.
ReadWriteWeb: Nielsen: Online Video Continues to Gain Momentum
TechCrunch: Android Catches Up To Palm In Mobile Ad Market Share. IPhone Still Blows It Away.
AllThingsDigital: Newspapers Desperately Burnish Traffic Stats [MediaMemo]
Dave Winer: What I learned about being rich
Interesting piece in the NY Times magazine about Twitter and how connectivity is for poor people. I learned about this when I made enough money in the late 80s to realize what wealth buys — distance. Then it took a few years to learn that distance is not what I wanted, in fact I don’t think it’s human to crave distance. People are built to want to be among others, at least I was.