Thursday, January 30, 2014
Friday, March 9, 2012
Chrome Hacked In 5 Minutes At Pwn2Own
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Why Making Facebook Private Won't Protect You
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These Stunning New Bottle Designs Are Revolutionizing The Wine Business
When purchasing a bottle of wine, are you more likely to go for the tannins inside the bottle or the stunning visuals that decorate the label?
Traditionally, you're supposed to buy wine based on taste (and price). But the design world wants to change all that, the same way it's changed food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Gone are the days of boring chateaux, line drawings of figures or script spelling out "Merlot."
Here are the most out-of-the-box—no, not Franzia—wine bottle designs that could grace your spirits rack.
Which are your favorites?
Tierra Earth Wine. Kind of gross and yet kind of amazing.
Arrepiado Wine
The concept behind this Spanish wine, by Lazarus Wine, is to present a wine that has been both grown and cultivated by the blind. Madrid-based Baud designed the braille label.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Facebook Names Its 11 Most-Effective Advertisers
In a celebration of all things viral, Facebook announced the winners of its first-ever Studio Award, which rewards campaigns that "make full use of Facebook marketing products."
With 1,000 submissions from 40 different countries, some stinkers were bound to fail—like Poopbags.com "Be the Butt Campaign," which asked pet owners to submit a photo that would replace its "iconic rear end" logo with the butt of a contestant's dog.
Digitas and Crispin Porter + Bogusky's "Small Business Saturday" campaign for American Express won the Facebook Studio Award's highest honor, the Blue award. If the campaign's title didn't give it away, "Small Business Saturday" effectively mobilized consumers to frequent stores owned by small businesses.
Our favorite was Evolution Bureau's "Mob the Rainbow" campaign for Skittles, which engaged Facebook fans to participate in real-life, physical events. For "Valentine the Rainbow," Skittles had fans sends hundreds of Valentine's Day cards to someone who they didn't think got a lot of love during the rest of the year: a meter maid. (Watch the video here).
1. Blue Award: Digitas and CP&B's campaign for the "Small Business Saturday" -- 2,831,273 Likes
Small Business Saturday served as American Express' campaign to support small businesses.
2. Gold Award: Duval Guillaume's "Fashion Tag" campaign for Flair -- 36,302 Likes
Rather than tagging people, Flair Fashion Tag allows users to tag people's clothing and accessories and ask where they bought them.
3. Gold Award: Hasan & Partners' campaign for KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art
According to their submission, "We wanted to finally raise positive discussion around Kiasma. In advertising we used the real critiques from discussion forums and newspapers and added "Make a better one yourself then" slogan and invited people to upload their own art piece to a Facebook gallery where people could vote, support and comment on their favorites. The campaign was noticed well in magazines and blogs and almost 600 works were submitted during summer."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider10 Things You're Better Off Buying Used
It's no secret consumers have less cash to burn these days than ever before, but there are plenty of ways to save that don't require diving headfirst into a sales bin.
For some products, there's just no point paying full-price when you can find the same quality in a second-hand or used product.
Pets
Dropping hundreds of dollars for a new pet seems almost criminal when you get down to the cold, hard facts.
There are thousands of shelters in the U.S. and sadly, between 3 million and 4 million of the cuddly critters that wander into their doors each year are eventually euthanized, according to ASPCA.
While you're likely to encounter more mutts than anything, those of you who won't settle for less than purebreds are in luck. About a quarter of all shelter animals are purebred.
Textbooks
Textbooks can cost upwards of $200 for some science courses and for a pre-medical student with a full class schedule that could mean dropping up to a grand on reading material — per semester.
For that, we compiled the ultimate guide to scoring deals on textbooks.
Not only can you snap up used books at a fraction of the retail value but you can rent them as well.
Kiddie clothes
We wouldn't recommend going the used route on important items like car seats or strollers, but when it comes to clothing likely to get wrecked with smashed carrots anyway, there's no shame in browsing thrift shops or asking friends and family for hand-me-downs.
Check out Swapbabygoods.com if you don't have a lot of friends with kids the same age as yours and you're likely to save big.
See the rest of the story at Business InsiderFw: 15 Snapshots Of Bento Box Lunches That'll Inspire You To Pack Your Own Feast
Malaika Gordon might pack her own lunch everyday, but the meals are far from routine.
First, there's that colorful Bento box. Then there's the size of the boxes themselves, holding just the right portions of food.
We tapped Gordon to share her favorite snapshots from her blog A Packable Feast to inspire you to pack your own lunch. Read on for her excellent tips.
Daily lunch runs to Pret A Manger were putting a cramp in Gordon's food budget. She knew it was time to start packing her own lunch.
So she purchased her first bento box on Laptoplunches.com
Gordon enjoyed documenting the lunches so much, her family and friends told her to start her own blog.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
The 10 Countries With The Biggest Gold Reserves In The World
Gold is tumbling today, trading at about $1,672.70. It's well off its 52-week high of $1,918.10 per ounce. Prices fell after the dollar rallied on concerns over Greece's debt swap and inflation stayed low in developed countries.
In 2011, global central banks continued to be net buyers of gold as they attempted to diversify from their dollar and euro holdings, rebalance reserves, and protect national wealth.
Purchases by central banks surged to 439.7 tonnes in 2011, from 77 tonnes the previous year, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). Mexico, Russia and South Korea were some of the largest buyers of gold. At 90.5 percent, Portugal is the country with the highest percent of its foreign reserves in gold.
We put together a list of the countries with the biggest official gold holdings as reported by the (WGC). We also included the percent of their foreign reserves they have in gold.
#10 India
Official gold holdings:
557.7 tonnes
Percent of foreign reserves in gold:
9.2%
India's central bank gold holdings lag those of major economies. The RBI is known to buy IMF gold and considers gold to be a safe investment, but rarely comments on its plans to buy gold.
Source: World Gold Council
#9 Netherlands
Official gold holdings:
612.5 tonnes
Percent of foreign reserves in gold:
59.8%
Since 1991, the Dutch National Bank (DNB) sold 1,100 tonnes of gold. But, the bank considers gold to be "the ultimate reserve and anchor of trust in times of financial crisis," according to Zero Hedge, and holds it for diversification purposes. Nout Wellink, president of the Dutch central bank has previously said that the DNB doesn't intend to sell gold.
Source: World Gold Council
#8 Japan
Official gold holdings:
765.2 tonnes
Percent of foreign reserves in gold:
2.9%
In 2011, the Bank of Japan sold gold to pump ¥20 trillion into the economy to calm investors after the tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster in Japan. Meanwhile, the country's gold exports (which include private exports) are expected to reach 100 metric tonnes in 2011.
Source: World Gold Council
SOLAR STORMS, ORBITAL DEBRIS, PANDEMICS: Here Are The Unusual Risks You Should Actually Be Worried About This Year
Solar flares are back in the headlines again. This phenomenon from the sun has potentially devastating effects on earth's power grids and communications networks.
Risk management is a part of our everyday lives. Everyone knows to look both ways before crossing the street. Most also know to diversify their investment portfolios to limit the impact of a stock market crash.
But, what about the less obvious risks like solar flares and nuclear winters.
The World Economic Forum recently published its list of 50 Global Risks of 2012. This list includes many well-known risks like fiscal imbalances, carbon emissions, and income disparity.
But it also includes unusual ones that seem to come right out of science fiction.
What follows is a list of these odd risks that we should be worried about. They're also risks that seriously concern 469 experts and industry leaders surveyed by the World Economic Forum.
Proliferation of orbital debris
Rapidly accumulating debris in high-traffic geocentric orbits jeopardizes critical satellite infrastructure.
Source: World Economic Forum
Vulnerability to pandemics
Inadequate disease surveillance systems, failed international coordination and the lack of vaccine production capacity.
Source: World Economic Forum
Unprecedented geophysical destruction
Geophysical disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic activity, of unparalleled magnitude or unforeseen frequency, that overwhelm existing precautions.
Source: World Economic Forum
See the rest of the story at Business InsiderThursday, October 13, 2011
Steve Jobs Was Robbed At Gunpoint In A Pizza Parlor (AAPL)
For all that's already been written about the life of Steve Jobs, more and more new details keep surfacing.
In an excellent interview with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Dan Lyons (famous for his Fake Steve Jobs blog) pulls some interesting details from a man who has known Jobs almost his entire life.
Read on for 8 things we learned from it, then head over to Lyons's site to read the full interview for yourself.
When he was hired at Atari, Steve was so intense that they put him on the night shift by himself
"Steve saw [my design of] Pong and ran down to Atari and showed it to them and they hired him. Whether thought he had participated in the design, I don't know and I could not care less. They offered him a job and put him on the night shift. They said he doesn't get along with people very well, he's very independent minded. It rubbed against people. So they put him on the night shift alone."
Jobs and Wozniak used to sell "blue boxes," devices that hacked payphones and let you make free calls
"I didn't do it to make money but just to build a device to explore it, not to save money on phone calls. I was so honest I would not use the blue box to make long-distance calls. But I wanted to play pranks, like route signals around the world and make them come back to the phone next to me. We did prank calls. I would call a hotel in Paris and make a reservation. At the dorms in Berkeley we would go door-to-door selling blue boxes. One hundred and fifty bucks was the price."
Wozniak prank-called the Vatican and pretended to be Henry Kissinger
"We were doing a demo of a blue box in a dorm room. I called Italy, then asked for Rome, then asked for the Vatican. I told them I was Henry Kissinger calling from a summit meeting in Moscow. It was 5:30 in the morning in Italy. They told me to call back in an hour. I did, and I spoke to a bishop who said he had just spoken to Henry Kissinger in Moscow."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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The 15 Most Offensive PETA Advertisements
PETA has become notorious for its shocking — and often offensive — ad campaigns.
As an activist non-profit, PETA doesn't have to worry much about making people angry, and they often thrive on it. Whether it's using sex, graphic images or exploiting tragic news events, it's all meant to grab your attention — by any means necessary.
It has developed a brand that's on the fringe, supporting its own extreme stances. Many of the ads go out of their way to offend you and advertising authorities across the world. PETA even puts up websites to promote its ads that have been banned or rejected.
Though they turn plenty of heads, do some of their ads go over the line? PETA gets constantly slammed for objectifying women, so are they alienating potential new followers?
We've compiled 15 ads from PETA's campaigns -- what do you think? (Some may be NSFW)
PETA often gets celebs to pose nude, but this ad featuring Joanna Krupa with a crucifix hit a nerve -- the Catholic Church was outraged
A scantily clad Pamela Anderson starred in this ad, which was banned in Montreal "because it was sexist"
This ad for PETA's "Holocaust On Your Plate" campaign was banned by Germany's high court
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Facebook: Your Personal Data is a Trade Secret
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The 20 Best European Cities For Businesses
With the current economic situation, it may not be the best time to be expanding your business operations to Europe, but if you wanted to, where's the best place to set up?
Commercial real estate company Cushman and Wakefield has been compiling a list of the best cities for businesses since 1990. The report looks at corporations' views on various metropolises across the continent.
The survey looks into 14 factors that affect the attractiveness of the 36 top cities in Europe. It starts by looking at each place's reputation among companies as well as the reputation each city has for promoting itself as an economic center.
The report also looks into the cost and availability of office space and work forces. Logistical factors such as transport links and access to markets are also taken in to account. The survey ranks each city according to each factor.
We've listed the top 20 cities here, while also taking into account the factors where they scored well (i.e. they were ranked in the top 10) and where they scored poorly (i.e. they were ranked in the bottom 10).
#20 Dublin, Ireland
Good for: Availability of office space; business climate created by government.
Bad for: Availability of qualified staff; internal transport; easy access to markets.
SOURCE: Cushman and Wakefield
#19 Lyon, France
Good for: Value for money of office space.
Bad for: Business climate created by government; languages spoken.
SOURCE: Cushman and Wakefield
#18 Birmingham, UK
Good for: External transport links; value for money for office space; availability of office space
Bad for: Self promotion; quality of life for employees.
SOURCE: Cushman and Wakefield
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Suspected US Drone Strike Kills Senior Haqqani Militant - Voice of America
 Globe and Mail | Suspected US Drone Strike Kills Senior Haqqani Militant Voice of America October 13, 2011 Suspected US Drone Strike Kills Senior Haqqani Militant VOA News Pakistani intelligence officials say a US drone strike in northwest Pakistan has killed a senior member of the militant Haqqani network. Thursday's attack in North ... US missiles kill 10 militants in Pakistan Afghan students rally against Pakistan US not sincere about Afghan peace: Haqqanis |
The 12 Best Places For Work-Life Balance
Do workers in your country have their priorities in order?
The OECD might just be able to answer that for you.
It recently conducted a survey of Work-Life Balance in its member countries. It based its ratings primarily on factors:
- The average length of the workday.
- The employment rate of women with children.
- The time responders devoted to leisure and personal care, which includes sleep.
Children with one working parent are three times more likely to grow up in poverty than children with two working parents. Studies suggest that spending more time at work can increase stress, impair personal health and fitness, and jeopardize safety. The OECD believes that more time spent on work and leisure can improve both mental and physical health.
#12 Estonia
Employees working very long hours: 0.03%
Employment rate of women with children: 74%
Time devoted to leisure and personal care: 14.94 hours
Source: OECD Better Life Index
#11 Slovenia
Employees working very long hours: 0.07%
Employment rate of women with children: 74%
Time devoted to leisure and personal care: 15.29 hours
Source: OECD Better Life Index
#10 France
Employees working very long hours: 0.09%
Employment rate of women with children: 66%
Time devoted to leisure and personal care: 16.06 hours
OECD Recommends: "Greater gender equality can be achieved in France"
Source: OECD Better Life Index
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Bill Gates Could Be Renting This $600,000-A-Month South Florida Estate For The Winter
Bill Gates has a famous Medina, Wash. home, but he might be cold and heading south for the winter, according to real estate blogger Jose Lambiet (via Realtor.com).
Gates is reportedly paying $600,000 a month for a winter rental (December to May) in Wellington, Fla.
Gates and wife Melinda probably chose the Palm Beach County town because their daughter Jennifer is a horse jumper and will be participating in an equestrian festival nearby, Realtor.com speculates.
The home's official listing price is $12.999 million. There's an option to buy the house at the end of the lease.
The home is 7,352 square feet, featuring a wine room, a media room and stables.
The sitting room has a great view of the backyard
The formal dining room can fit the entire Gates family
From the dining room, you can see into the wine cellar. This will surely impress the guests
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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