The overuse of financial contracts known as derivatives – which were designed to help companies hedge against risk – was widely blamed for triggering the economic crisis of 2008. None other than Warren Buffet has attacked derivatives as “time bombs – both for the parties that deal in them and the economic system.”
But now, for the first time, researchers have found that hedging can increase firm value. (more…)
Bill Gates steps up to new role as Technology Advisor; John Thompson assumes role as Chairman of Board of Directors.
REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 4, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Satya Nadella as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors effective immediately. Nadella previously held the position of Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. (more…)
UA researchers have developed a rapid screening test to detect disease-causing bacteria in commercial shrimp farms.
A bacterial disease called early mortality syndrome is killing off the stocks of the world’s three largest shrimp producers: Thailand, China and Vietnam. In some places, production is down by nearly 50 percent from last year. But there is hope. Don Lightner in the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences at the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has a solution for detecting the bacteria in the stocks, allowing infected populations to be separated from healthy ones. (more…)
The term cloud telephony is popularly used nowadays. But what is it? Cloud telephony is a very broad term with several definitions, but no definitive ones. Understandably this causes confusion and apprehension for businesses when considering cloud telephony systems. The simplest way to define cloud telephony is that it is a system that integrates applications, web services and IT infrastructure over the Internet.
Is Cloud Telephony Good for your business?
There are several computing models that can be used as a framework for cloud telephony that allows any type of business to scale their requirements instantly, be it an upscale or downscale manner. In other words, cloud telephony can be used practically by any type of business, small to medium to large businesses. (more…)
Promises not to screw it up
SUNNYVALE, Calif. & NEW YORK — Yahoo! Inc. and Tumblr announced today that they have reached a definitive agreement for Yahoo! to acquire Tumblr.
Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business. David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators. (more…)
Point Source Power’s cheap, rugged fuel cells can provide electricity where none exists.
In some parts of the developing world, people may live in homes without electricity or toilets or running water but yet they own cell phones. To charge those phones, they may have to walk for miles to reach a town charging station—and possibly even have to leave their phones overnight. Now a startup company spun off technology developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has created a simple, inexpensive way to provide electricity to the 2.5 billion people in the world who don’t get it reliably.
Point Source Power’s innovative device is based on a solid oxide fuel cell that is powered by burning charcoal, wood or other types of biomass—even cow dung—the types of fuel that many in the developing world use for cooking. The fuel cell sits in the fire and is attached to circuitry in a handle that is charged as the fuel cell heats up to temperatures of 700 to 800 degrees Celsius. The handle, which contains an LED bulb, can then be detached and used for lighting or to charge a phone. (more…)
Microsoft BizSpark startup improves communication and provides easy access to administrative resources combined with an educational social network.
REDMOND, Wash. — March 7, 2013 — During a trip to his home town in St. Petersburg, Russia, Gabriel Levi noticed that his local school system could modernize its services for educators and students by streamlining communication and reducing manual tasks. Using his entrepreneurial instincts, he saw a need and created a solution. Now Levi is CEO and founder of Classed In, where he has turned his mission into a thriving business with a comprehensive educational social network that connects teachers, students, administrators and parents at approximately 27,000 K–12 schools in Russia — more than half the country’s schools.
Levi attended college at Columbia University in New York and studied economics and computer science, while he dreamed of starting a business. When a work assignment took him back to St. Petersburg a few years later, he was struck by how Russian schools were still relying on completely manual processes for everything from registration and grade reporting to class assignments and homework. His point of reference was personal: Levi’s mother was a university instructor, and his younger brother was in middle school at the time. (more…)
Today’s consumers switch between media forms so often – from TV to laptops to smart phones – that capturing their attention with advertising has gone, as one CEO explained, from shooting fish in a barrel to shooting minnows. (more…)
