It’s taken a while, but Google has finally caved in to pressure from the entertainment industries including the MPAA and RIAA. The search engine now actively censors terms including BitTorrent, torrent, utorrent, RapidShare and Megaupload from its instant and autocomplete services. The reactions from affected companies and services are not mild, with BitTorrent Inc., RapidShare and Vodo all speaking out against this act of commercial censorship — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Vodafone Group has shut down cell phone service in Egypt after being ordered to do so by the government, which is under siege by protesters — via redwolf.newsvine.com
There’s hardly a more prominent financial product in America today than the almighty credit card. Nearly everybody has at least one — almost 80% of consumers in 2008, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston – and many use it on a daily basis. Without a doubt, there are also those consumers who know their credit card numbers by heart (makes online shopping and booking travel so much easier, if anything). But how many of you know what those numbers really mean? Contrary to what you may think, they aren’t random. Those 16 digits are there for a reason and, knowing a few simple rules, you could actually learn a lot about a credit card just from its number. This infographic shows you how to crack that code — via MintLife Blog
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is pressing the Federal Government to give it enough power to prevent price signalling by banks — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Vodafone has terminated its dealer agreement with Communications Direct after this website on Friday revealed allegations that staff at the dealer were misusing customer information and forwarding detailed call records outside the company — via redwolf.newsvine.com
After yesterday’s news that DC Comics was dropping the Comics Code, leaving Archie the last surviving member of the Comics Code Authority… comes word that Archie has also dropped the Code, starting with books on sale in February. The move will have no effect on content — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The independent MP Nick Xenophon will push for a Senate inquiry into the flood insurance market as the Coalition backed calls for insurers to broaden access to policies and develop a standard flood definition — via redwolf.newsvine.com
One of Australia’s biggest banks has raised the prospect that people who have lost everything from flooding in Queensland and Victoria may not need to repay their home loans — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A Vodafone dealer’s staff have been caught posing as customers to cancel the customers’ original accounts in order to sign them up for new contracts with higher commissions.
The staff members of Communications Direct Pty Ltd have also breached privacy by forwarding detailed customer call records outside the company — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The Audit Bureau of Circulations’ attempt to bring greater transparency to newspaper figures has taken longer than anticipated, with a pre-Christmas deadline missed and the flood emergency creating further delays — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The United Commercial (UCO) Bank has opened the country’s first lockless branch at Shani Shinganapur in Maharashtra, even as the Centre has made hi-tech security mandatory for all nationalized and private sector banks. Shani Shinganapur is a small village in Ahmednagar district whose presiding deity is Lord Shani. More than 5,000 devotees visit the temple every day, while on weekends the number crosses the 1 lakh mark.
We took note of the general belief and faith of the people. Ever since the most revered temple came into existence several years ago, the village has not witnessed a single crime. In fact, all houses in the entire village have no doors. We took the risk and started the lockless bank a week ago,
a senior bank official said — via redwolf.newsvine.com
As the most significant event in advertising grows nearer, it will be interesting to see how many brands enlist the endorsement services of celebrities during the Super Bowl. After all, popular wisdom asserts that getting a celebrity endorsement is a tried-and-true, simple-to-implement way to maximize advertising effectiveness. Sure, it’s expensive, but celebrities always yield stronger ties with viewers and, ultimately, greater sales, right?
Wrong. Over the course of last year, time and time again we observed incredibly low effectiveness scores of TV ads starring celebrities. From Tiger Woods to Donald Trump, we found that with rare exception, celebrity endorsements were largely ineffective and failed to yield the benefits popular wisdom promises — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Online dating company Gotham Dating Partners has announced plans to create profiles for non-registered individuals based on publicly available information on social networking sites.
The company operates several dating sites, including: Dons and Divas, Faithful Lover, Marry Me First, Prison Hookup, and Ugly People Date. Incorporated in New York in January 2010 by Aaron Fraser, it is the parent of online footwear startup LeBron Jordan, which came under fire from Nike this month for potential trademark infringement — via redwolf.newsvine.com
An outbreak of salmonella linked to a bakery in Sydney’s west is being investigated by the State Government’s public health unit — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The news on Tuesday that MySpace is laying off nearly half its staff of 1,000 employees is regrettable for the workers who soon will be out of jobs.
But it’s hardly surprising. In less than three years MySpace has gone from being the top social networking site in the world to a site desperately trying to survive, never mind regain its relevance — via redwolf.newsvine.com
I have a post coming about days payable outstanding (DPO) in by various mega-corporation – and the uses and abuses of corporate power. However before that I have to tell a story – the details of which have probably been embellished in my memory – but which mixes high finance with marijuana, chocolate biscuits and the munchies. It all happened twenty years ago – so the story has had time to embellish — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Vodafone has ordered an immediate investigation into alleged breaches of its internet site, which has been revealing the personal details of millions of customers — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A group of Hollywood studios and technology companies has come up with a system for buying digital movies and TV shows that’s supposed to do away with the problem of content being locked to a narrow set of devices by the company that sold it.
They say the system, called UltraViolet, will allow consumers to buy a DVD or digital download and then watch it on almost any TV, computer or games console from any participating manufacturer, regardless of where it was bought — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Despite all the talk of investing in education
, you’d be outraged if Wall Street traders could actually buy and sell stock in your local school. Who wants investors betting for – or against – student performance?
Absurd as it sounds, we’re headed there. Just as corporations have become their stock prices, public schools are becoming their test scores. The school-as-business model that has gained momentum over the past decade now dominates education reform. In this high-stakes testing world of guts-and-glory races to the top, students are statistics. Without saying that test results don’t matter – they do – the real job at hand is not just turning around schools, but turning around students — via redwolf.newsvine.com
An Adelaide company has been found to have falsely advertised its plastic bags as biodegradable — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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