Vodafone opens Silicon Valley startup accelerator
Posted on March 8th, 2012
Mark Boslet is a contributor to PE Hub, a Thomson Reuters publication. This article originally appeared here.
Everyone these days seems to be getting into the startup accelerator business. Why not an international mobile phone giant?
Why not, indeed. Vodafone is the latest institution to open a Silicon Valley accelerator with the aim of sparking innovation, and, according to a press release, providing “potential financial assistance.”
In an interview, Fay Arjomandi, a head of U.S. R&D, played down the equity side of the center. “We may choose to invest,” she said, referring to Vodafone’s venture capital arm.
The real target of the Vodafone Xone is to offer a fast track for new products to conduct user trials in as little as nine months. The idea is to “identify and qualify innovative technologies from startups, R&D labs, universities and venture capital portfolios,” according to the release.
Change is afoot, said Arjomandi. It used to ta
Fun new products from the annual toy show
Posted on March 1st, 2012
February may be the shortest month of the year but it packs a pretty heavy punch! Theres Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, the Super Bowl, and of course my eagerly awaited excursion to the annual American International Toy Fair.
Held in mid-February this year at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, this is the largest toy trade Show in the western hemisphere. It had more than 1,100 exhibitors and introduced more 100,000 products.
I could never have survived such a huge show without my dedicated and playful associate Courtney Pennicook. Heres a snapshot of what we saw.
The toy fair was huge on movies! To coincide with the release this May of Jakks Pacific will be introducing the MIB neuralizer. Maybe it was used on you so you dont recall that the neuralizer was that device in the movie that erased memory. Although the one from JAKKS cant do that, it does feature Will Smith’s voice as well as other sounds and lights.
Tags: Annual, Annual Toy
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Personal finance editor Amanda Morrall exposes financial vampires in our midst, asks for your stories for publication
Posted on February 11th, 2012
Some of you might know Im writing a book. Its a laymans guide to personal finance. Its the anti-thesis of the how to-get-rich quick genre of books. My thesis is that in addition to being mindful, smart, and sensible with your money, you need build up your inner bank account.
What does that mean? Lots of things but it starts with taking stock of your non-financial assets, what you really want out of life and how you can make a difference. My thinking is that its not going to do you much good having a million bucks in the bank, if the means by which you achieved it makes you miserable, sick, divorced, or perhaps morally bankrupt.
A more holistic approach to personal finance takes into account the bigger picture.
Tags: Finance, Personal Finance
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Jan 26, What to Look When Investing in Small Start-up Companies
Posted on February 3rd, 2012
Investing in small start-up companies is a smart decision. The right decision could earn a person a lot of money. However, not every start-up is going to end up a game-changing business. This is why people really need to do some research and put a lot of thought into which group they put time and money into. A smart decision can have some serious short and long term effects. The following are some things to keep in mind when reviewing possible start-up investment options.
The best businesses have a plan. After all, one needs to understand how much they will spend on staffing, where they will turn for supplies, and more. A specific business plan is important for an investor. This shows a person that a business is run by people who know what they are doing. It is appropriate to ask for a meeting with a business owner before any funds change hands or before an investment is made.
When researching a small business, it is important that people take the time to review the group’s marketing efforts. A
What’s cooler than a Facebook conference? A Sean Parker after-party.
Posted on January 23rd, 2012
When somebody who was played by Justin Timberlake in a Hollywood movie decides to throw a party, the expectations are pretty high.
And Sean Parker, the man behind free music-sharing service Napster and an early Facebook advisor, clearly likes to give people what they want.
Parker, who is an investor in the music service Spotify, pulled out all the stops in a post-Facebook developers conference party on Thursday that was a cross between a backstage concert pass and Trimalchio’s feast.
The party was reminiscent of the dot-com boom era in the late 1990s, when extravagant blowouts thrown by well-funded startups were practically a weekly event. A decade later, Web company valuations are on the rise again, led by companies like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, and talk of another tech bubble is in the air again.
This time around of course, the broader economy is sputtering and unemployment is stuck at 9.1 percent. Bu
Tags: Parker, Sean Parker
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Finding your inner personal finance guru; Living on an average income; Consumer ploys to avoid like the plague; Profiting from your passion; The gift of gratitude
Posted on December 17th, 2011
By Amanda Morrall (email)
1) Worship at your own altar
As most of you know by now, Im a dedicated yogi and Buddhist. How I ended up in finance seems a somewhat random spin of the wheel or else destiny. In any case, as one of “those types” I have enjoyed my fair share of retreats, some good, some bad and some just weird. One of them was on a mountaintop in the South Island. Indulge me for a moment but theres a personal finance thread here.
On this particular retreat, I had an opportunity for a one on one chat with the resident guru. Overall, this individual struck me as being more enlightened than the average bear. You can tell this about a person usually. They have an inner glow about them that is missing from the general population. Regardless of that radiance, my spidey senses were tingling. For one, I had to pay for this private chat (no, no clothing was removed!) on top of the retreat fees.
Tags: Finance, Finance Guru
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Dec 10, IBM Stock Price (IBM) Today, History, Forecast, Chart, Target, Now
Posted on December 6th, 2011
Check experts’ opinions about where IBM stock price is headed and take advantage of social media discussions, chart and latest news all in one place.
Official Website:
http://www.ibm.com/
Ever since its inception IBM has been one of the leading global suppliers of hardware and software related to computers and also provides services for machines having basic as well as nanotechnology configurations.
Products offered by IBM can be broadly categorized under four sections namely software package, systems and servers, storage and equipment which can be purchased online. The software section is mostly concerned with various management issues like software management named Rational, service management named Tivoli, collaboration software named Lotus and content and information management. Servers are offered to suit a variety of systems like UNIX, Linux and many others where as storage options include disk, tape, A-Z and so on.
Tags: Chart, Ibm Stock, Ibm Stock Price, Stock Price
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