ANN ARBOR — Retailers and service companies still utilizing a top-down management structure likely don’t see the connection between the frontline and the bottom line until it’s too late, according to University of Michigan professor Noel Tichy.
In the U.S. alone, retail and service workers are estimated to total more than 15 million people, or nearly one-fifth of the U.S. commercial workforce. Despite the common corporate tag line about “people are our most important asset,” we don’t see many company leaders tap into more than a tiny percentage of the knowledge, creativity and judgment of their largest group of employees. (more…)
Xbox Music is Microsoft’s brand new all-in-one music service that enables users to listen to music how, when, where and on what device they want. It is included in a rolling update to Xbox LIVE that starts Tuesday and will be expanded when Windows 8 launches.
REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 14, 2012 — If music makes the people come together, as Madonna says, the new Xbox Music gives people all the music they love, every way they want it.
Xbox Music, Microsoft’s new all-in-one music service, specially designed to let users listen to music in exactly the way they want, begins rolling out to millions of people around the world Oct. 16 on the Xbox 360, then to the masses with Windows 8 on Oct. 26. (more…)
Developing a shared sense of global community could help reduce major episodes of violence
In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence.
“The same reasons – revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women – that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue to drive violence in today’s world,” said Walker, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Humans’ evolutionary history of violent conflict among rival groups goes back to our primate ancestors. It takes a great deal of social training and institutional control to resist our instincts and solve disputes with words instead of weapons. Fortunately, people have developed ways to channel those instincts away from actual deadly conflict. For example, sports and video games often involve the same impulses to defeat a rival group.” (more…)
It’s morning, deep in the Amazon jungle. In the still air innumerable leaves glisten with moisture, and fog drifts through the trees. As the sun rises, clouds appear and float across the forest canopy … but where do they come from? Water vapor needs soluble particles to condense on. Airborne particles are the seeds of liquid droplets in fog, mist, and clouds.
To learn how aerosol particles form in the Amazon, Mary Gilles of the Chemical Sciences Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and David Kilcoyne of the Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS) worked with Christopher Pöhlker of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) as part of an international team of scientists led by MPIC’s Meinrat Andreae and Ulrich Pöschl. They analyzed samples of naturally formed aerosols collected above the forest floor, deep in the rainforest. (more…)
Today’s technology market is saturated with electronic devices from smartphones and e-book readers to sleek tablet computers and digital media players. The consumer challenge is knowing what these devices do, where they can be purchased, and which storefronts afford the optimal blend of affordability and marquee products. Oftentimes the best prices can be found online because digital sellers are competing with one another, which leads to competition and lower cost to the consumer. That said, this article will look at some online storefronts as well as online publications that critique the products sold at those online storefronts. The goal is to help the consumer find the best deals on cutting-edge technologies. uBid.com
This company has been around since 1997 and its auction format, layout, and customer satisfaction measures are very similar to eBay. At any rate, uBid.com states in its credo that it functions as a top auction site that caters to new, overstock, rectified, and closeout products. This means that the customer is receiving a well cared for product at an extremely low cost! uBid showcases twenty five categories and one of which is electronics. uBid carries the latest computers, tablets, phones and cameras. Unlike eBay, uBid’s products are usually sold in bulk and there are many available – perhaps this accounts for the bargain basement deals! Many of the items and auctions on uBid, including electronics, start at only one dollar! (more…)
Findings overturn idea that the Amazon had large populations of humans that transformed the landscape
Small, shifting human populations existed in the Amazon before the arrival of Europeans, with little long-term effect on the forest.
That’s the result of research led by Crystal McMichael and Mark Bush of the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). The finding overturns the idea the Amazon was a cultural parkland in pre-Columbian times with large human populations that transformed vast tracts of the landscape.
The Amazon Basin is one of the highest biodiversity areas on Earth. Understanding how it was modified by humans in the past is important for conservation and for understanding the ecological processes in tropical rainforests. (more…)
MU researchers recommend legislative action to help local economy, state revenue
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Internet, or e-commerce, sales have increased over the past two decades, comprising nearly 17 percent of the total U.S. sales in 2009. However, many states, including Missouri, have no effective means of collecting taxes on those sales. Researchers at the University of Missouri Truman School of Public Affairs found that the state lost approximately $468 million annually in sales tax revenue during the past decade.
Federal law and U.S. Supreme Court rulings only allow states to levy sales taxes on a business with a physical presence in the state. For example, Amazon.com does not charge sales tax in Missouri because it is physically located in California. However, Wal-Mart charges sales tax, since it has stores in Missouri. In the study, researchers analyzed historical data on e-commerce activity and estimated that the state will miss out on $1.4 billion in potential revenue from 2011 to 2014. (more…)
*Go Gaga again – And get 20 GB of free Cloud Drive storage*
SEATTLE, May 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com today announced it will offer a repeat of Monday’s blockbuster Gold Box Deal of the Day: customers can purchase the Lady Gaga “Born This Way” MP3 album today for $0.99. Upon release, the album immediately shot to number one on Amazon’s bestselling MP3 albums list and has remained in the top spot since. (more…)
