Archive for January, 2011
Friday, January 21st, 2011
By Stuart Morley
 Stuart Morley How is it that companies that have been around for more than 100 years failed in this economic downturn while other younger companies like Apple, Facebook, WalMart and The Huffington Post continued to grow? It is a similar picture for many lesser-known, mid-sized companies: some have failed and others have thrived, irrespective of their industry, size or location.
It is the best of times and the worst of times. Too many businesses are reacting in fear, pulling back and struggling. There are 10 key differences between a thriving company and a floundering one in this economy. Ask yourself, are you:
Sticking to your industry or crossing the boundaries?
The struggling businesses spend a lot of time try to copy the “big guys” in their industry and wonder why this approach does not work for them. Successful businesses seem to ignore the big guys and focus on current and prospective customers. When probed further it was found that many of these successful businesses are finding opportunities at the overlap of two or more industries. These businesses try to follow the example of companies like Cirque Du Soleil who combined elements of both the circus and theatre industries in better venues than the average circus.
Is your company looking for opportunities at the boundaries of your industry?
Focusing on economists or customers?
Embattled businesses seem to be consumed by watching and reading about bad economic news trying to understand the mind of economists. The successful businesses seldom have time to watch TV or read a newspaper. It does not mean they don’t hear the bad news; it is everywhere. They just don’t dwell on it. They are busy watching and reading about their customers and going to customer events, customer trade shows and customer seminars to better understand their mind of the customer.
When did you last did you go to a customer trade show or event rather than events for your industry?
Focusing on price or value?
We all know stories of airline passengers paying 10 times the price of other passengers. This approach works in many industries. Service can be escalated based on value and delivered to some clients who would pay ten times as much for the added value. The struggling businesses are stuck in commodity-type situations with very little price flexibility. The successful businesses find ways to get price control and avoid competition because they are better at articulating their value and using different ways to price their services.
How much control do you have over your pricing?
Talking to industry leaders or to employees?
It is amazing how much time business leaders will devote to their industry events. They sit on committees and attend conferences for their own industries, spending more time talking to competitors and industry gurus than they do talking to employees who are in daily contact with customers. The successful businesses seldom send people to events in their industry. They spend more time reviewing employee surveys than industry surveys.
Have you recently asked employees about what customers are saying that could open the door to new products and services?
Preparing for best of times or the worst of times?
The struggling businesses are clinging to their existing products and services and focusing on cutting costs in all areas to protect cash in the short term. These businesses assume things are only going to get worse. However the successful businesses say they are seeing more volatility and they are having some of their best months and some of their worst months all in the same year. Thriving businesses are focused on finding things that will help them in the good months and the bad months. They are breathing life into more experiments with new product and service ideas than ever before. Analysis has shown that most of their revenues today come from products and services they did not offer a few years ago.
How much of your revenues and profits come products and services you did not offer a few years ago?
Focusing on jobs or projects?
The most dynamic companies today have 80% of their employees spend more of their time on projects and only 20% doing routine work. It seems the struggling businesses are caught up in traditional management hierarchies where employees are viewed as having routine job descriptions. Management wants employees to do the routine work faster, rather than finding the next breakthrough opportunity. Successful businesses seem to recognize and manage projects carefully, as they find this is where they generate most of the new ideas and breakthroughs.
How much of your company is project focused versus routine focused?
Doing more or less?
We are so busy we tend to stick with existing methods because we don’t have enough time to stop, reflect, research, and implement better methods. The struggling businesses add new work to employees’ to-do lists. The successful businesses have regular exercises to find things to stop doing, so that employees can find free time to do new things.
When is the last time your company had an exercise to see what you could stop doing?
Standardizing or living at the edge of chaos?
The struggling businesses seem to love installing new, complicated (often computer-based) accounting, manufacturing or supply chain systems because that is what the big companies in the industry have done. They hope this will be the “silver bullet” to solve all their problems. These large complicated systems work well in situations where all the variables are known.
However, successful businesses tend to avoid these large complicated systems because they felt they were not in control of all the variables that impacted their business. Complicated systems cannot function in complex environments where many variables are unknown. Successful companies use a wide range of smaller, flexible systems focused on tracking customers and trends rather than tracking employees and financial history.
Is your business complex or complicated?
Keeping your financials secret or sharing with employees?
Many successful businesses have learned that, in the tough times, sharing the news, good and bad, with all employees at all levels works. This empowers employees to act with confidence, as they know they whole story. The success rate with the turnaround increases dramatically with this one step. Successful businesses encourage their workforce to perform less like employees and more like entrepreneurial-minded, strategic partners. They also take time to celebrate successes, both big and small.
How much do you share and celebrate with employees?
Working long hours or take more holidays?
Business owners and managers in struggling businesses seem to work longer hours in the vain hope that putting their head down and doing more of the same is the solution. The successful businesses focus on doing things differently.
Successful businesses owners and managers work fewer hours and take more holidays; they have realized that when times get tough it is usually because customers are buying less. They need an answer to why customers are buying less from them. The successful business owners and managers tell us they find their best thinking is done away from the office in situations that are less stressful.
When last did you work fewer hours in the week or take an extra holiday?
Do you have what it takes to thrive, and not just survive, in this “new normal” economy? Keep your business in mind, and see how many of these 10 questions you have addressed lately. It may give you a clue as to how well you are turning these worst of times into the best of times.
Stuart Morley is the founder and Master Strategist with JUMP, a division of Morley & Associates Inc. Stuart has worked with more than 300 mid market clients to facilitate companies transitioning for growth and profitability. Stuart is an author of “Weather the Storm. A Survival Guide For Mid Market Organizations.” For more information visit his website at www.brsjump.com
Tags: Best Practices, Business advice, Stuart Morley, ten differences between winners & losers in the new normal economy
Posted in Business advice, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Friday, January 21st, 2011
 RESTON, VA – ObjectVideo, a company selling video software that detects and tracts security threats, has raised $27.8 million in an equity and debt offering, according to a regulatory filing.
The company’s security product is used by government agencies, airports, refineries, chemical and nuclear plants. Customers include the Department of Defense, military and naval bases, and laboratories.
ObjectVideo was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Reston.
According to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the financing, principals include director Michael Powell, former chair of the Federal Communications Commission and son of Colin Powell, former Secretary of State. Others cited in the filing include Luis Medeiros, Zalmie Jacobs, and Joshua Ratner of York Capital Partners, and Daniel Gluck, as well as company executives.
Tags: financing, Michael Powell, ObjectVideo, Reston, security video software, VA
Posted in Government/Defense, IT, Money, Security | Comments Off
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 A server farm RALEIGH, NC -A revolutionary new computer memory device developed at North Carolina State University could end the slow computer start ups that annoy many users and at the same time help energy gobbling server farms operate more efficiently.
Traditionally, there are two types of computer memory devices. Slow memory devices are used in persistent data storage technologies such as flash drives. They allow us to save information for extended periods of time, and are therefore called nonvolatile devices.
Fast memory devices allow our computers to operate quickly, but aren’t able to save data when the computers are turned off. The necessity for a constant source of power makes them volatile devices.
But now a research team from NC State has developed a single “unified” device that can perform both volatile and nonvolatile memory operation and may be used in the main memory.
Could revolutionize computer memory
“We’ve invented a new device that may revolutionize computer memory,” says Dr. Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research.
“Our device is called a double floating-gate field effect transistor (FET). Existing nonvolatile memory used in data storage devices utilizes a single floating gate, which stores charge in the floating gate to signify a 1 or 0 in the device – or one ‘bit’ of information. By using two floating gates, the device can store a bit in a nonvolatile mode, and/or it can store a bit in a fast, volatile mode – like the normal main memory on your computer.”
The double floating-gate FET could have a significant impact on a number of computer problems. For example, it would allow computers to start immediately, because the computer wouldn’t have to retrieve start-up data from its hard drive – the data could be stored in its main memory.
Energy-saving for server farms
The new device would also allow “power proportional computing.” For example, Web server farms, such as those used by Google, consume an enormous amount of power – even when there are low levels of user activity – in part because the server farms can’t turn off the power without affecting their main memory.
“The double floating-gate FET would help solve this problem,” Franzon says, “because data could be stored quickly in nonvolatile memory – and retrieved just as quickly. This would allow portions of the server memory to be turned off during periods of low use without affecting performance.”
Franzon also notes that the research team has investigated questions about this technology’s reliability, and that they think the device “can have a very long lifetime, when it comes to storing data in the volatile mode.”
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Tags: eliminate slow computer start up, NC State University, new computer memory device, save server farm energy
Posted in Carolinas, Energy, IT, North Carolina, University Tech | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC – IBM employees have received an email from CEO Sam Palmisano thanking them for helping the company achieve better than expected Q4 results and saying all non-executive employees “who performed consistently over the 2010 Roadmap” will receive a grant of $1,000 in IBM stock, according to a source close to the company.
The Armonk, NY-based company reported Q4 net profits up 9 percent from the same period last year to $5.3 billion. Revenue was up 7 percent to $29 billion. Earnings per share of $4.18, beating analyst expectations of $4.08.
For the full year, net profit jumped 10 percent to $14.8 billion on revenue 4 percent higher at $99.9 billion.
According to the source, IBM CEO Palmisano distributed an email that read in part:
“I want to thank you for everything you did to achieve these results, in the fourth quarter and over the past four years. Our long-term success is the product of the work, innovation and superior execution of more than 400,000 IBMers.”
It continued, “In recognition of this, I am delighted to announce that all non-executive IBMers who performed consistently over the 2010 Roadmap period will receive a grant of $1000 of IBM stock, where permitted, which will vest at the endof the next roadmap, in 2015. Terms will be forthcoming from your leadership team.”
IBM employs about 10,000 people in the NC Research Triangle area and maintains a large Research Triangle Park campus.
We’ll be seeking verification of this from other sources. — Allan Maurer
Email TJS Editor Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournal South dot com.
Tags: Armonk, employees to get stock, IBM, IBM CEO, NC, NY., Q4 2010, Research Triangle, Sam Palmisano
Posted in Carolinas, IT, North Carolina | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 ORLANDO, FL – PandaLabs, Panda Security‘s anti-malware laboratory, infiltrated the cyber-crime black market and has released a fascinating report on what it found in the darker back alleys of the Internet.
It discovered a vast network selling stolen bank details along with other types of products in forums and more than 50 dedicated online stores. This is a rapidly growing industry and cyber-criminals are aiding and abetting each other’s efforts to steal personal information for financial profit. After posing as a cyber-criminal to infiltrate the network, PandaLabs made some alarming discoveries which are available in the full report .
The cyber-crime black market, which has traditionally centered on distributing bank and credit card details stolen from users around the world, diversified its business model in 2010, and now sells a much broader range of hacked confidential information including bank credentials, log-ins, passwords, fake credit cards and more. But as openly available as this information is, PandaLabs discovered that it can only be accessed by personally contacting the hackers who are promoting their information for sale on forums and in chat rooms.
Making the Sale
By having access to bank credentials, criminals can easily defraud any bank or credit card account long before the hack is discovered. Alarmingly, this data can be purchased for as little as $2 per card, but this level does not provide additional information or verification of the account balance available. If the buyer wants a guarantee for the available credit line or bank balance, the price increases to $80 for smaller bank balances and upwards of $700 to access accounts with a guaranteed balance of $82,000.
Prices are higher if the accounts have a history of online shopping or use payment platforms such as PayPal. For a simple account without a guaranteed balance, PandaLabs found prices starting at $10 and increasing to $1,500 depending on the platform and the guarantee of available funds. Similarly, these cyber-criminals also offer cloned credit/debit cards (from $180), card cloning machines ($200-1,000), and even fake ATM machines (from $3,500 depending on the model).
Money laundering, other services available
Additional products such as money laundering services (bank transfers or cashing checks) are available for a commission ranging from 10 to 40 percent of the operation. If buyers want to use stolen bank details to buy products online, but are wary of being traced through the delivery address, the cyber-criminals will make the purchase and forward the goods for a fee of between $30 and $300 (depending on the chosen product).
For more sophisticated cyber-criminals who want to set up their own fake online stores and use rogueware techniques to obtain both user details and also reap the money these unsuspecting victims pay for fake antivirus products, there are also teams available to deliver turnkey projects, design, develop and publish the complete store, even positioning it in search engines. In this case, the price depends on the project.
Prices for botnet rental for sending spam (using bot-infected zombie computers, for example) vary depending on the number of computers used and the frequency of the spam, or the rental period. Prices start at $15 and rise to $20 for the rental of a SMTP server or VPN to guarantee anonymity.
Tags: cyber crime, cyber crime black market, investigative report, Panda Labs, Panda Security, stolen credit cards, stolen passwords
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, IT, Security, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 LANHAM, MD -Lanham, MD-based Optoro has closed a $1.85 million Series A financing from Durham, NC-based SJF Ventures, QED Investors and Phil Pfeffer of Treemont Capital. Optoro sells comprehensive asset recovery solutions for the distressed inventory of retailers, manufacturers and 3rd party providers.
Optoro was founded in 2004 to remarket the idle assets of businesses by leveraging the buying power of millions of online shoppers. It evolved from exclusively an eBay reseller to multi-channel online asset recovery with proprietary software and remarketing algorithms. Currently, Optoro provides our scalable solutions to clients ranging from mid-sized online retailers to large publicly-traded manufacturers.
Optoro specializes in direct-to-consumer remarketing of customer returns, overstock and refurbished products. Its services include reporting & analytics, warehousing & fulfillment, inspection & testing, research & marketing and eco-friendly product disposal.
Optoro says its solution recovers significantly greater value than through a traditional liquidator and is scalable for clients ranging from mid-sized online retailers to large publicly-traded manufacturers.
“Optoro is quickly becoming a leading direct-to-consumer remarketing platform for the reverse supply chain,” said David Griest, managing director at SJF Ventures.
“With over $100 billion of distressed inventory annually in the U.S., Optoro is disintermediating the conventional middlemen and providing higher returns with fully transparent visibility and data analytics for its clients.”
Tags: distressed inventory recovery, Durham, Lanham, MD, NC, Opturo, Phil Pfeffer, QED Investors, retail, SJF Ventures, Treemont Capital
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Maryland, Money, North Carolina, Potomac | Comments Off
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 NEW YORK – Deloitte predicts a significant consumer and enterprise shift away from the desktop and laptop personal computer in favor of mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and netbooks in its forecast of top trends for the technology sector in 2011, released today.
“The last year has seen the market explode with a number of powerful alternatives to the traditional PC, and they are well-suited for an already mobile and always-connected U.S. population,” said Eric Openshaw, vice chairman and technology sector leader, Deloitte.
“Driven by high demand on the consumer side and the ever-increasingly distributed workforce, the enterprise will embrace mobile computing platforms in a big way. Online privacy is no longer a major barrier to adoption as companies proactively manage security policies to ensure the corporation is safely Web-enabled around the clock regardless of location or device.”
Among Deloitte’s top forecasted technology trends for 2011, highlights include:
More than half of all computers aren’t computers anymore
In 2011, more than 50 percent of computing devices sold globally will be smartphones, tablets and non-PC netbooks, breaking the PC’s decades-long market dominance. Unlike the 2009 netbook phenomenon, where buyers chose machines that were essentially less powerful versions of traditional PCs, the 2011 computing market will be dominated by devices that use different processing chips and operating systems than those used for PCs over the past 30 years. This shift represents a tipping point as we move from a world of mostly standardized PC-like devices to a far more heterogeneous environment.
Tablets in the enterprise: more than just a toy
In 2011, enterprises will purchase more than 25 percent of all tablet computers, a figure that is likely to increase in 2012 and beyond. Although some commentators view tablets as underpowered media-consumption toys suitable only for consumers, more than 10 million of these devices will likely be purchased by enterprises in 2011. Consumer demand for tablets is expected to remain strong; however, enterprise demand is likely to grow even faster, although from a lower base.
Operating system diversity: no standard emerges on the smartphone or tablet
By the end of 2011, no operating system will take control of the fast-growing non-PC computing market, which includes smartphones and the new generation of tablets. Some operating systems will capture more than a 5 percent share, but no single player will have yet become the de facto standard, as seen in previous computing ecosystems. Being the dominant operating system provider for the non-PC market will be a tremendous prize; however, it’s unlikely that a winner will emerge before the end of 2011.
Online regulation ratchets up, but cookies live on
Media criticism of online privacy will continue in 2011; however, legislative and regulatory changes that impact the way websites gather, share, and exploit user information will be minor. Cookies, which are the small files of personal information that websites create on a visitor’s computer, are very likely to remain core to the online user experience.
While new online privacy legislation is expected to be modest, the online industry will likely become far more proactive when tackling privacy issues — expanding their efforts to influence legislation and increasing their level of self-regulation with the goal of avoiding new legislation altogether.
Tags: Deloitte 2011 predictions, operating systems, shift from PCs to mobile devices, smartphones, tablets
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Viewpoint | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 Over 500 leading US employers, including some of the largest companies in the world, are joining forces to transform how people use the Internet to quickly and efficiently locate valid employment opportunities.
The catalyst is the unique dot-jobs (.JOBS) Top Level Domain. The new platform, called the .JOBS Universe (www.universe.jobs), is comprised of tens of thousands of geographic, industry, and occupational web sites ending in the intuitive .JOBS suffix.
Examples of web sites in the .JOBS Universe include www.boston.jobs, www.atlanta.jobs, www.insurance.jobs, www.technology.jobs and www.usa.jobs.
Employers, regardless of size or industry, list jobs free of charge, automatically upload new listings on a daily basis, and intelligently distribute job listings to relevant web sites. For example, an IBM listing for an engineering job in New York will be distributed to multiple relevant websites, such as www.newyork.jobs and www.engineering.jobs.
State listings include North Carolina, Georgia and Florida in the Southeast.
The .JOBS Universe is led by Bill Warren, executive director of DirectEmployers Association, a former president of the Monster.com job board who is widely regarded as the founder of online recruiting. Approximately forty thousand of the .JOBS domains, including 126 international locations, will be functioning in January with tens of thousands more planned by the end of the year.
Warren said, “The very largest of employers in the world have pooled their resources to build this recruitment vertical. They want greater efficiencies from the Internet and are taking matters into their own hands to invest in the outcome. The potential for cost savings is natural, real and sustainable as well as available free of charge to every employer worldwide regardless of industry or size.”
Benefits job seekers will find include intuitive web site entry points, verified job listings and the ability to connect directly with employers.\\
“The .JOBS Universe because it’s going to revolutionize the way someone will look for a job. Right now the process is very difficult. It takes so much time and there’s so much duplication of effort. With .JOBS, candidates will be able to go to one, intuitive location and know that the opportunities listed are straight from employers,” says Randy Goldberg, vice presiden trecruiting, Hyatt North America Operations.
Job listings in the .JOBS Universe are fully integrated with social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and others. Job seekers can build their own profile and identify which of their friends or connections are working at a particular company of interest.
They can also find and follow companies and recruiters on the various social networks and share job listings with their friends on social news sites. The .JOBS Universe platform has also been optimized for easy access on mobile browsers. Its “open source” approach allows industry vendors to develop apps that will result in even greater efficiencies in the future.
The .JOBS Universe is the result of a proposal made by DirectEmployers Association to Employ Media LLC, the licensed operator of the .JOBS TLD.
Tags: .JOBS Universe, Bill Warren, DirectEmployersAssociation, jobs, jobs top level domain, Monster.com
Posted in Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 Technowise's Boca Raton HQ BOCA RATON, FL – The Powerwise Group, parent of The Technowise Group, a company selling energy saving solutions, has closed a $3.7 million equity round, according to a regulatory filing.
In early 2006, a group of private investors formed The PowerWise Group, LLC. Creation of this corporation was facilitated by the prior acquisition of assets from a Dallas based startup company focused on energy saving solutions. The acquired assets included a U.S. Patent for an AC electric motor energy savings controller and additional intellectual properties.
In mid 2009, The TechnoWise Group Inc. was established as the operations unit for The PowerWise Group, Inc. The TechnoWise Group, Inc., is responsible for all of the product related activities. Two business units were created within The TechnoWise Group, MotorWise Inc. for commercial products and EcoWise Inc. for the residential sector.
The company disclosed the current raise in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It raised $2.58 million from five investors to wrap up the round.
Tags: Boca Raton, energy saving products, financing, FL, Powerwise Group, Technowise Group
Posted in Energy, Florida, Money | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
 FRAMINGHAM, MA – Market research and analysis firm IDC reports that the Amazon Kindle continues to run well ahead of the pack in the e-reader market, accounting for 41.5 percent of the category in the last quarter (as we predicted in a review of the device late last year). The new quarterly report from IDC also says the iPad practically owned the tablet market, accounting for 90 percent of those shipped in the quarter.
We have noticed other e-reader makers offering devices at lower price points to compete with the wireless Kindle selling for $139 for the least expensive model.
In the tablet market, iPad is about to get a raft of competition from other device makers and is unlikely to hold on to its overwhelmingly dominant position.
Here’s IDC’s breakdown of the e-reader market:
Vendor Outlook: eReaders
- Amazon was the market leader for the quarter with more than 1.1 million units shipped and 41.5% share worldwide.
- Pandigital, which has a U.S. focus for its Novel ereaders with models based not only on epaper but also color LCD technology, came in second to Amazon worldwide and just edged out Barnes and Noble.
- Barnes and Noble, which is currently shipping exclusively in the U.S. market, was a strong contender for the number 3 position in 3Q10 and is expected to have good results in 4Q10 given its strong brand, competitive pricing for its epaper-based products, and the introduction of the new NOOcolor in 4Q10.
- Sony was a distant number 4 vendor with slightly more than 200,000 units shipped and 8.4% worldwide share. Sony’s early lead in North American ereader market has been usurped by Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
- China-based Hanvon edged close to Sony and effectively tied for fourth place with 8.2% worldwide share.
For the ereader market, IDC anticipates 2010 to close at 10.8 million units shipped worldwide, with the U.S. representing 72.4% of global shipments. IDC forecasts 14.7 million units to ship in 2011 and 16.6 million in 2012, with demand driven by price competition among epaper-based device vendors, the introduction of color display ereaders, and the expansion of digital book and periodical content offerings across genres and languages.
Here’s the tablet breakdown:
Vendor Outlook: Media Tablets
- Apple definitively led the worldwide media tablet market in shipments and set the standard for technology innovation in 2010, with nearly 4.2 million units shipped in 3Q10 and an 87.4% share worldwide.
- During 3Q10 a handful of tier 2 and tier 3 vendors shipped media tablets based primarily on Android 2.1 and 2.2. In 4Q10, Samsung‘s introduction of the Galaxy Tab brought the first tier 1 device vendor to the Android media tablet market. Media tablet market growth is expected to accelerate significantly in 1Q11 with new products from multiple high-profile device vendors, including Motorola‘s Xoom, based on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), and RIM‘s BlackBerry PlayBook based on BlackBerry Tablet OS.
- Looking forward, IDC expects the media tablet market to finish 2010 at nearly 17 million units, and forecasts 44.6 million will ship in 2011, with the U.S. representing nearly 40% of the total. In 2012, IDC forecasts worldwide shipments of 70.8 million units. Growth in 2011 and beyond will be driven by device vendors introducing media tablets based on Android and other operating systems, as well as price and feature competition and strong demand in both the consumer and commercial segments.
Tags: Amazon Kindle tops e-reader market, Apple iPad, Apple iPad rules tablet market, IDC, quarterly report
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
 JACKSONVILLE, FL – GXHC, a Jacksonville-based medical device development manager and portfolio investor, says it is raising $50 million to fund its medical device portfolio and additional proprietary US device companies.
GXHC provides its portfolio companies management and development resources through its affiliated medical device developer and business accelerator Gyrx.
The current GXHC portfolio consists of five companies that have developed an array of surgical products that include Pro-Vas, a less invasive alternative to traditional vasectomy; ArthroSteer, steerable instruments for hip arthroscopy; SurgiSteer, laproscopic instruments for computer assisted and single port surgery; ImTac, a fixation device for hernia repair; SpineSteer, instruments for minimally invasive spine surgery; and Procervica, a sensing glove to measure cervical size during pregnancy.
“While over the past years we have raised greater than $20 million through angel investors, our funding requirements have exceeded this capital attainment method. Moreover, we have a pipeline of first and second round medical device companies that also require capital and business assistance. These inventive businesses, the backbone of our industry, usually have a difficult time attracting capital from large VC concerns so we are directing our efforts to this investment niche,” says Bill Dennis, CEO.
Tags: capital raise, FL, GXHC, Gyrx, Jacksonville, medical device management and development
Posted in Florida, Money | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
 ARLINGTON, VA - GrindPoint Inc., which sells smart grid software and services, has raised $23.6 million in new funding, according to a regulatory filing. The company has raised $229 million over five rounds since 2006.
Investors in the company include Goldman Sachs, New Enterprise Associates, Susquehanna Private Equity, Perella Weinberg Partners, and Robeco.
Principals listed in the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the new funding, in addition to company executives include:
J. Roderick Heller, Carnton Capital Associates, Washington, D.C.; Jeffrey Berman, Greenhouse Schools project, London; Robert Mancini, Cogentrix Energy, Inc., Charlotte, NC; Tom Soto, Craton Equity Partners, Los Angeles; Jacob Worenklein, US Power Generating Company, New York, Larry M. Kellerman, Goldman Sachs; Stephen Lehner Morgan Stanley; David W. Mohler, CTO, Duke Energy; Joseph M. Perta, Advanced Software Systems Inc., Sterling, VA; Paul J. Powers, Jr., partner, Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke, NY; George P. Stamas, Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, D.C.; and Eric C. Taubenheim, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, NY.
GridPoint is working with several utilities including Duke Energy and Xcel Energy, which has selected the GridPoint Platform for its $100 million SmartGridCity initiative in Boulder, Colorado.
The platform applies information technology to the electric grid to provide utilities with an intelligent network of distributed energy resources that controls load, stores energy and produces power.
It offers utilities a single interface, located in a utility’s control room, for managing a variety of distributed energy assets including plug-in electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, advanced storage technologies and household devices such as thermostats, electric water heaters, pool pumps, and so on.
Tags: Advanced Software Systems Inc., Carnton Capital Associates, Charlotte, Cogentrix Energy, Craton Equity Partners, CTO, D.C.; and Eric C. Taubenheim, D.C.; Jeffrey Berman, Duke Energy, Duke Energy; Joseph M. Perta, Energy, financing, Goldman Sachs; Stephen Lehner Morgan Stanley; David W. Mohler, Greenhouse Schools project, GridPoint, Inc., IT, J. Roderick Heller, Jr., Kirkland & Ellis, Larry M. Kellerman, London; Robert Mancini, Los Angeles; Jacob Worenklein, NC; Tom Soto, New Enterprise Associates, New York, NY., NY; George P. Stamas, partner, Perella Weingberg Partners, Robeco, Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke, smart grid software, Sterling, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, US Power Generating Company, VA; Paul J. Powers, Washington
Posted in Energy, IT, Money, Potomac, Virginia | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
 - Atlantans print out more savings coupons and seek them out on mobile devices more than those in other cities.
Attention, shoppers: Atlanta residents are saving more money than you are. Or at least, they’re printing out more money-saving coupons, according to the “Most Frugal Cities” list compiled by Coupons.com. Tampa, Florida came in second on the list, while Charlotte, NC was six and Raleigh ten, and Nashville, TN, landed at seven.
Atlanta also heads the list of cities where people use mobile devices to tap coupon deals.
We think this information is likely interesting to the social deals companies, such as Groupon and LivingSocial, as well as to Internet and digital marketers in general. It also points to where people are looking for deals online and where the use of mobile devices to aid shopping is trending.
It’s interesting that the South and Midwest dominate these lists, while the Northeast and far West cities show up much further down.
Atlanta tops for second year
For the second year in a row, Atlanta took the top spot on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list, according to the 2010 Savings Index released today by Coupons.com, a California-based Web destination for coupons and savings. On average, regular users of Coupons.com in Atlanta printed more than $1000.00 dollars in coupon savings from the site in 2010. That is almost twice as much as during 2009, when they printed $531 in savings.
Tampa cashed in with coupons and maintained its position as the city with the second most savings. On average, regular users of Coupons.com in Tampa printed $863 in savings.
The South is a mega-saver: more than one-third of the top 20 frugal cities are in the Southern region of the United States. In addition to Atlanta and Tampa, other Southland cities on the list include Charlotte (#6), Nashville (#7), Raleigh (#10), Oklahoma City (#13), Miami (#13) and Dallas (#14).
Once again, Ohio is the country’s most frugal state. The Buckeye state is represented three times on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list – Cincinnati (#3), Cleveland (#8) and Columbus (#19).
North Carolina is Ohio’s biggest challenger, climbing the penny-pinching ladder with two cities in the top 10: Charlotte and Raleigh.
For the first time it was raining green in the Pacific Northwest as Seattle (#18) joined the list. Seattle is the only city on the West Coast that made the cut.
Nationwide, more than $1.2 billion in savings was printed or saved to loyalty cards from Coupons.com and the Coupons.com network during 2009.
The Top 20 couponing cities are below.
| 2010 Rank |
|
|
Change Since 2009 |
|
|
City |
|
|
State |
|
|
Savings Index |
| 1 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Atlanta |
|
|
GA |
|
|
997 |
| 2 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Tampa |
|
|
FL |
|
|
569 |
| 3 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Cincinnati |
|
|
OH |
|
|
497 |
| 4 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Saint Louis |
|
|
MO |
|
|
420 |
| 5 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Minneapolis |
|
|
MN |
|
|
329 |
| 6 |
|
|
↑ 1 |
|
|
Charlotte |
|
|
NC |
|
|
303 |
| 7 |
|
|
↓ 1 |
|
|
Nashville |
|
|
TN |
|
|
291 |
| 8 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Cleveland |
|
|
OH |
|
|
289 |
| 9 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Pittsburgh |
|
|
PA |
|
|
250 |
| 10 |
|
|
↑ 1 |
|
|
Raleigh |
|
|
NC |
|
|
235 |
| 11 |
|
|
↓ 1 |
|
|
Kansas City |
|
|
MO |
|
|
233 |
| 12 |
|
|
↑ 3 |
|
|
Washington |
|
|
DC |
|
|
207 |
| 13 |
|
|
↓ 1 |
|
|
Miami |
|
|
FL |
|
|
202 |
| 14 |
|
|
↑ 4 |
|
|
Dallas |
|
|
TX |
|
|
198 |
| 15 |
|
|
↓ 2 |
|
|
Oklahoma City |
|
|
OK |
|
|
198 |
| 16 |
|
|
↓ 4 |
|
|
Boston |
|
|
MA |
|
|
192 |
| 17 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Denver |
|
|
CO |
|
|
170 |
| 18 |
|
|
↑ 5 |
|
|
Seattle |
|
|
WA |
|
|
153 |
| 19 |
|
|
↑ 1 |
|
|
Columbus |
|
|
OH |
|
|
147 |
| 20 |
|
|
↓ 1 |
|
|
Wichita |
|
|
KS |
|
|
146 |
Table 1: Top 20 Frugal U.S. Cities
Most On-the-Go Frugal U.S. Cities
Super-savers are tapping into savings via mobile apps for their cell phones, including Coupons.com’s Grocery iQ and the Coupons.com mobile apps.
When it comes to saving on-the-go, the citizens of Atlanta have the most frugal fingertips, based on use of the Coupons.com apps according to the Index, which is reflected in the city’s top position on the Most On-the-Go Frugal Cities list in Table 2. The rest of the South is also smart when it comes to cellular savings. In fact, the South is home to 10 cities represented on the top 20 cities using mobile apps to access, browse, print and save coupons.
“More and more, people are taking advantage of coupons using mobile devices,” comments Pavini. “People are not just clicking for coupons from their computer, they are accessing them on-the-go and even at the supermarket.”
Some cities have a higher propensity to access coupons via mobile phones. For instance, savers in Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Philadelphia are quick to look to their mobile device to maximize savings and advance on the On-the-Go list relative to their position on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list.
While they’re on the couponing wagon, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Seattle missed the mobile train: these cities ranked high on ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list, but each moved down several pegs on the On-the-Go list.
Top 20 Most On-the-Go Frugal Coupon Cities are below.
| 2010 Rank |
|
|
City |
|
|
State |
|
|
Savings Index |
| 1 |
|
|
Atlanta |
|
|
GA |
|
|
906 |
| 2 |
|
|
Tampa |
|
|
FL |
|
|
531 |
| 3 |
|
|
Saint Louis |
|
|
MO |
|
|
490 |
| 4 |
|
|
Cincinnati |
|
|
OH |
|
|
374 |
| 5 |
|
|
Oklahoma City |
|
|
OK |
|
|
363 |
| 6 |
|
|
Dallas |
|
|
TX |
|
|
282 |
| 7 |
|
|
Charlotte |
|
|
NC |
|
|
280 |
| 8 |
|
|
Pittsburgh |
|
|
PA |
|
|
246 |
| 9 |
|
|
Tulsa |
|
|
OK |
|
|
241 |
| 10 |
|
|
Miami |
|
|
FL |
|
|
238 |
| 11 |
|
|
Minneapolis |
|
|
MN |
|
|
235 |
| 12 |
|
|
Washington |
|
|
DC |
|
|
232 |
| 13 |
|
|
Nashville |
|
|
TN |
|
|
226 |
| 14 |
|
|
Raleigh |
|
|
NC |
|
|
222 |
| 15 |
|
|
Wichita |
|
|
KS |
|
|
219 |
| 16 |
|
|
Kansas City |
|
|
MO |
|
|
214 |
| 17 |
|
|
New Orleans |
|
|
LA |
|
|
198 |
| 18 |
|
|
Cleveland |
|
|
OH |
|
|
196 |
| 19 |
|
|
Denver |
|
|
CO |
|
|
177 |
| 20 |
|
|
Memphis |
|
|
TN |
|
|
165 |
Table 2: Top Frugal U.S. Cities – Mobile
Tags: Atlanta, Charlotte, Coupons.com, Dallas, FL, GA, Miami, Most Frugal Cities list, NC, Raleigh, Tampa, TN
Posted in Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Internet/New Media, North Carolina, Other SE, Tennessee | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
 Joe Procopio By Joe Procopio
I’m an entrepreneur and I also consult to entrepreneurs. This kind of consulting is so much fun that I can’t even put it into words. It’s inspiramindblowingtastic. And although the questions I purport to answer are mostly along the lines of “how do I build this?”, I also get a lot of “how do I fund this?”
I like those questions, but the answer I give usually isn’t the smile-producing kind. This is because the answer isn’t what people want to hear. What people want to hear is: “Call this guy. Give him the secret handshake. Sign the term sheet.”
How to Get Rich in Two Easy Steps
What I usually tell them is: “Build something everybody has to have then prove to everyone you know who has money how they can invest that money in your thing and make a substantial return on their money.”
“Also hard work.”
Rich Uncle Moneybags
Most entrepreneurs are ready for hard work, and the ones that aren’t usually abandon the fancy business cards and the WordPress site and return to the cubicle from whence they came. The problem is that most entrepreneurs don’t know a whole lot of people with a whole lot of money.
If you are indeed that fortunate breed of entrepreneur, then Godspeed – go build that airline to the moon.
As for the rest of you, you’re going to have to hustle.
The Hustler
In working with what is now dozens of startups, I’ve attempted to beat down so many doors that I’m like a thief on a safe with a stethoscope and those cool fingerless gloves.
“Oh, what’s that? A Protex-A-Lot 5000? Give me 30 seconds.”
People like me are described as, for lack of a more professional label, hustlers. Keep in mind though, this is not the kind of hustler like the kids talk about today with their Iced-T and their OGs. I’m talking more along the lines of, say, Pete “Charlie Hustle” Rose.
Oddly enough, I too like to bet on sports.
My Lock of the Week
Jason Caplain doesn’t hesitate to talk to those who hustle. He’s a General Partner with Southern Capitol Ventures, a just-turned-ten-years-old VC firm behind companies like Motricity, ChannelAdvisor, ReverbNation, eTix, Zift Solutions, Artus Labs, and so on and so on.
 Jason Caplain Jason talks to me not because of my awesome haircut or penchant to buy the first round, it’s because he’ll talk to anyone who will bust down any door in order to get to someone who will listen or help or point them in the right direction.
However, a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t the door-busting type. They’re the brilliant artist geniuses who are too busy coding and working to get their story out.
Calling All Entrepreneurs
So it became good business for Jason to reach out to them. Southern Capitol started doing this years ago with Calling All Entrepreneurs, an open-to-all, one-on-one ten-minute quick pitch and Q&A that they held in Raleigh as well as in Charlotte, Greensboro, Atlanta, Northern VA, and Baltimore.
They’d hear up to 30 companies in a single day and more than once held sessions until midnight in a hotel lobby.
It was tough for the entrepreneur to get their idea compacted into those 10 minutes, so they added coffee and expanded the blocks to 30 minutes. But they soon discovered that, beyond the initial relationship with the entrepreneur, the overall effectiveness of the sessions began to wane after a while.
Entrepreneur’s Breakfast
So why not have an entire meal, skip the pitch, and turn it into a group discussion?
Bingo.
This became the Entrepreneur’s Breakfast which Southern Capitol has now held in all of their target markets. The structured pitch is gone, replaced by a group discussion of whatever the entrepreneurs are interested in. It’s not always about the money – there’s prospects, customers, product, other employees, other relationships that need to be built.
Plus, now the entrepreneurs build relationships not just with Southern Capitol, but also with the other entrepreneurs in the room, who sometimes have best advice. There have even been a couple of occasions where people have met at the breakfast and gone on to found new companies together.
Hustlermaker
The breakfasts serve to make Southern Capitol more accessible, and also help to clear up a lot of the myths and misunderstandings about VCs. They don’t all wear top hats and monocles, for instance. This in turn sends a lot of entrepreneurs into second gear.
See, once you know the water isn’t full of sharks, it’s a hell of a lot easier to jump in.
So why is this creation of doorbusters a necessary thing? Because the VCs aren’t exactly flocking to the RTP in search of the next Twitter. Yet. Jason says that he and his partner David Jones have never been to a board meeting where they haven’t booked additional meetings with entrepreneurs in the same location. That isn’t being reciprocated here.
Coffee is for Closers
That’s because the investors are customers, and they don’t know what kind of product is here. And that’s because the salespeople here aren’t out there selling – building and managing those key relationships.
Look. I’m not a salesguy, but I know when I need to be. The same is true for any startup. You’re not only selling a product, but if you’re raising money, you’re selling equity in the company. This isn’t even a metaphor, so I won’t extend it.
Except to say that smart entrepreneurs know that they’re selling $5 bills for a dollar.
VC Secrets Revealed
So why would Jason want this out there for his VC kindred to replicate, and potentially steal all those golden opportunities out from under him?
It doesn’t work like that.
Again, it’s about relationships. The more successful investors and therefore the more successful startups that are coming here, or better yet, located here, the higher the exponential on the overall return. Novak Biddle, Valhalla, Noro-Moseley and others are stopping by regularly for board meetings.
They should be on your list of VCs.
Bust a Door
Jason suggests the Price Waterhouse-Coopers Money Tree report as a starting point. Build a list of VCs whose criteria matches your startup (this is crucial, don’t get a reputation for wasting people’s time).
But don’t be afraid to check in with the ones that come here for board meetings, let them know who you are and what your company does, and offer to maybe meet them at the airport. The VCs aren’t flocking, but they are actively looking, a lot of entrepreneurs don’t understand the difference.
The difference is you’ve got to be visible.
Coffee, Bagel, Million-Dollar Advice
And that starts with building your network. Upcoming Entrepreneur’s Breakfasts will be held in Raleigh on January 31st and February 28th. Remember, they’re strictly for entrepreneurs (no service providers), but are indeed open to everyone.
Make sure you give Jason the secret handshake when you get there.
Jason and Southern Capitol will also be hosting the Venture Outlook 2011 with panelists Tom McMurray, formerly of Sequoia (current angel), Hooks Johnston from Valhalla, John Burke from True Ventures, and Matthew Witheiler from Flybridge on February 9th.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet (statsheet.com). He also retains ownership in consulting firm Intrepid Company (intrepidcompany.com) and creative network Intrepid Media (intrepidmedia.com). He can be reached via twitter @jproco.
Tags: Artus Labs, Calling All Entrepreneurs, ChannelAdvisor, column, eTix, Jason Caplain, Joe Procopio, Motricity, NC, Raleigh, ReverbNation, Southern Capitol Ventures, Zift
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Georgia, North Carolina, Viewpoint | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
 NEW YORK – Thirty-five US venture capital funds raised nearly $3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). This level marks a 6% decrease, by dollar commitments, compared to the third quarter of 2010, which saw 49 funds raise $3.2 billion during the period.
The largest new fund reporting commitments during the fourth quarter of 2010 was Raleigh, North Carolina-based NovaQuest Healthcare Investment Fund, L.P., which raised $177 million in its inaugural fund. A “new” fund is defined as the first fund at a newly established firm, although the general partner of that firm may have previous experience investing in venture capital.
For full year 2010, 157 venture capital funds raised $12.3 billion, the fourth consecutive year of declines and the slowest annual period for venture capital fundraising since 2003.
“Given current conditions, a limited number of venture firms will be able to successfully raise new funds in 2011 and many of these will be smaller than previous funds raised,” said Mark Heesen president of the NVCA.
“Yet, the continued downsizing of the venture industry has positive implications for investors and entrepreneurs. An agile venture capital model likely translates into more capital efficient and fewer duplicative deals in the IT arena as well as less capital intensive deals in the life science and clean technology arenas.”
“The most innovative and efficient companies will continue to be funded by the venture community,” continued Heesen. “It is important to reiterate that when it comes to venture capital returns, history has shown that often „less is more.‟
As the year progresses and the exit market continues to improve, we expect better performance from established funds as well as from recently raised funds which have the opportunity to invest in great companies at a time when valuations are more reasonable and the economy as a whole points upward.”
There were 24 follow-on funds and 11 new funds raised in the fourth quarter of 2010, a ratio of 2.2-to-1 of follow-on to new funds.
The largest new fund reporting commitments during the fourth quarter of 2010 was Raleigh, North Carolina-based NovaQuest Healthcare Investment Fund, L.P., which raised $177 million in its inaugural fund. A “new” fund is defined as the first fund at a newly established firm, although the general partner of that firm may have previous experience investing in venture capital.
Tags: 2010 venture capital fund raising falls, Mark Heesen, Naitonal Venture Capital Association, NC, NovaQuest, Raleigh
Posted in Carolinas, North Carolina, venture capital report | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
 ATLANTA – The 2011 Southeast Venture Conference (SEVC) has disclosed the first round
of companies selected to present at its upcoming conference March 2-3rd at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia.
An estimated 50 showcase companies from the South and Mid-Atlantic regions will present at the 2011 Southeast Venture Conference. Showcase companies will range from the NASDAQ sponsored late stage showcase firms to earlier stage high growth firms in the region.
Presenting companies highlight the present and future of the innovation economy, representing some of the most promising technologies in the region from a diverse range of technology industries.
SEVC 2011 showcase companies will present to a sold out audience of hundreds of venture capitalists, private equity investors, angel investors, investment bankers and senior technology executives and entrepreneurs from around the region.
Early attendee registration discount expires this Friday.
Additional companies will be announced over the next few weeks leading up to the conference.
While the initial presenting company application deadline is expired, there’s still time for those interested in presenting (no cost involved). Presenting information can be found at: seventure.org/featured_cos.html
In addition to showcase company presentations, the conference will feature a number of market-driven topical panels, featured speakers and extensive networking opportunities.
To register or for more information on the SEVC 2011, drop by
www.seventure.org
The first round of announced showcase companies includes:
Argyle Social Durham, NC www.argylesocial.com
Bandbox Nashville, TN www.bandbox.com
BitCauldron Gainsville, FL www.bitcauldron.com
Cardagin Networks Charlottesville, VA www.cardagin.com
Cernium Reston, VA www.cernium.com
ecoInsight Atlanta, GA www.ecoinsight.com
HEALTHeME Charlotte, NC www.healthemedoc.com
Integro Earth Fuels Asheville, NC www.integrofuels.com
Keona Health Durham, NC www.keonahealth.com
LumaMed Johns Creek, GA www.lumamed.com
mailVU Charlotte, NC www.mailvu.com
Nitronex Durham, NC www.nitronex.com
Pardot Atlanta, GA www.pardot.com
StatSheet Durham, NC www.statsheet.com
twitpay Atlanta, GA www.twitpay.com
Valencell Raleigh, NC www.valencell.com
Vertical Acuity Atlanta, GA www.verticalacuity.com
Xanofi Raleigh, NC www.xanofi.com
XinRay Systems Research Triangle Park, NC www.xinraysystems.com
TechJournal South’s parent company presents the SEVC.
Tags: Atlanta, Buckhead, presenting companies, Ritz Carleton, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference
Posted in Carolinas, Events, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Potomac, Virginia, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
 SEATTLE – You never know what the heck is going to take off and become a sensation online. Funny captions on pictures of cats wouldn’t be the first thing that pops into our mind as worth $30 million in venture backing. But Seattle-based Cheezburger, publisher of LOLcats and FAIL Blog just raised $30 million from Boulder-based Foundry Group, which also backed social game company Zynga. Participating in the round are Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures and SoftBank Capital.
Founder Ben Huh said the 50-employee company will use the money to hire. It also has smartphone apps in the orks.
Cheezburger has developed humor Web sites that rack up 16.5 million visitors and more than 375 million page views a month.
Cheezburger’s success is a lesson in how to turn user-generated content into a web phenomenon. You make it easy for people to contribute, you pick something that most can relate to, and you give them something to share.
Even before Cheezburger made an Internet meme out of photos of cats with funny captions, people circulated collections of funny cat photos and captions via email, so it obviously had meme potential.
Tags: Ben Huh, Cheezburger, Failblog, Internet memes, LOL Cats, The Foundry
Posted in Internet/New Media, Money | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
 CHAPEL HILL, NC – A browner, grayer and more culturally diverse population and workforce will dramatically transform the nation’s social, economic and political institutions, according to a new report by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The report, “Six Disruptive Demographic Trends: What Census 2010 Will Reveal,” identifies major shifts in U.S. demographics and their implications for business, consumer markets and the nation’s competitiveness in the global marketplace.
“The U.S. population is far different today in terms of geographical distribution, racial and ethnic composition, age mix, family types and economic circumstance from what it was a decade ago,” said James H. Johnson Jr., co-author of the report with John D. Kasarda. Johnson is director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, part of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Kasarda is director of the Kenan Institute.
The six trends are:
- * South-shifting population. More than half of the nation’s population growth during the past decade (51.4 percent) occurred in Southern states, driven in part by an in-migration of an estimated 2.3 million newcomers from nearly all demographic groups – blacks, Hispanics, the elderly and the foreign born – and high fertility rates among some, particularly Hispanics.
- * “Browning” of America. Nonwhites accounted for an estimated 85 percent of U.S. net population growth during the past decade. Non-Hispanic whites represented 65 percent of the U.S. population in 2009 compared to 76 percent in 1995.
- * Intermarriage increase. Marriage across racial and ethnic lines has doubled since 1980, further contributing to the browning trend, with 41 percent of all intermarriages in 2008 between Hispanics and whites; 15 percent between Asians and whites; 11 percent between blacks and white; and both parties nonwhite in 16 percent of intermarriages.
- * “Graying” of America. The first baby boomer born in America turned 65 on Jan. 1, sparking a “silver tsunami” of 79 million baby boomers who will exit the U.S. workforce over the next 20 years. About 8,000 Americans will turn 65 every day over the next five years, and they will live longer than previous generations because of advances in health care and lifestyles that are more active.
- * Gender shift. Women now hold nearly half of all paid U.S. jobs (49.8 percent), own 40 percent of all businesses and hold 43 percent of executive, administrative and managerial positions in the U.S. economy, narrowing the male-female wage gap to its lowest point in history.
- * More grandparent-headed households. The number of children living in grandparent-headed households increased by 26.1 percent between 2001 and 2010, compared to 3.8 percent for all U.S. household types. One or both parents also live in about two-thirds of the grandparent-headed households.
Opportunities and challenges for business
The trends bring both opportunities and challenges for businesses, the researchers said. For instance, the South now offers the largest and most diverse consumer markets for goods and services. Aging boomers, increasingly well-educated, youth-oriented, tech-savvy and possessing more discretionary income, will drive demand for new consumer electronics and other high-technology goods and services as well as a range of products and services related to “elder care.” Meanwhile, more diverse, multicultural consumers and workers will require companies to develop new strategies for attracting customers and managing their workforces.
For the nation, an increasingly diverse workforce can provide significant competitive advantage if lawmakers and policymakers respond effectively to the challenges these shifting demographics present, the researchers said. They advise the following actions:
- * Approaching the process of redrawing lines for state legislatures and Congressional districts to promote economic competitiveness rather than political and electoral advantage;
- * Countering the devastating impact of recent cyclical and structural changes in the U.S. economy on male employment; and
- * Educating a diverse generation of primary- and secondary-age school children to build a competitive future workforce.
This last – education – presents the greatest challenge and opportunity, Johnson said. “The youth at risk of falling through the cracks of our public education system are predominantly nonwhite, mainly black and Hispanic, who attend severely under-resourced and the lowest-performing schools,” Johnson said.
“Allowing these students to languish in failure factories is not only an ethical and moral issue but a major factor in our future competitiveness,” he said. “Given the huge wave of baby boomers who are about to retire, we will need the skills and talents of these younger generations to prosper in the years ahead.”
Tags: demographic trends, reports, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CHAT festival
Posted in Carolinas, North Carolina, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
 While the movie version of Facebook’s creation, “The Social Network,” just won four top Golden Globes awards and is likely to grab several Oscar nominations, the hugely popular website just stirred up privacy concerns once again. Friday, the site disclosed that it had modified its platform to allow developers of third party apps to see phone numbers and addresses, a move it has already has already stepped back from following consternation in the blogosphere.
Douglas Purdy, writing on the Facebook developer’s blog wrote that:
“Over the weekend, we got some useful feedback that we could make people more clearly aware of when they are granting access to this data. We agree, and we are making changes to help ensure you only share this information when you intend to do so. We’ll be working to launch these updates as soon as possible, and will be temporarily disabling this feature until those changes are ready. We look forward to re-enabling this improved feature in the next few weeks.”
I just went to my Facebook account and double-checked to make sure I had not put contact information other than email in my profile. Users can also change privacy settings to disallow app access to personal data now, but the best route for those concerned would be to delete phone numbers or addresses if they’re included in a profile.
Some security experts have said that giving developers access to a home address and phone number, along with other information that can be extracted from profiles, increases opportunities for identity theft.
I’ve noticed that many users among my friends have stopped using third-party apps such as games – or at least they have stopped sharing them (which I appreciate, because while I love my friends, I really don’t care about their position in Mafia Wars, what they bought on Farmville, or how they did at Scrabble).
Privacy tone deaf or just for open sharing?
It’s amazing that Mark Zukerberg and his talented team at Facebook seem so continually deft to the privacy concerns of users. If the “Social Network” and the book “Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal,” by Ben Mezrich got it right, that may be because Zuckerberg has a passion for sharing information freely. He gave away his first program and was enthralled by Napster’s Sean Parker, who became a top exec at Facebook and is a major character in both the book and movie.
On the other hand, both the book and film appear based on a somewhat one-sided view of Facebook’s creation. Court transcripts from the Winklevoss twins and others suing Zuckerberg and Facebook helped. But Mezrich has been criticized for making up characters and scenes in his best-selling book “Bringing Down the House,” and “Accidental Billionaires” is obviously imagined narrative at times.
Some sections of the book start off, “It isn’t difficult to imagine…” and proceed to describe an event in dramatic narrative, complete with so-called “reconstructed dialog.” S0 it is difficult to give it complete credibility.
No US investors due to SEC worries
Nevertheless, it is surprising that Facebook is not more sensitive to the privacy concerns of its users. In some ways, it appears to be a communications problem.
None of this appears to have slowed the social behemoth’s growth. The company’s previous privacy fracas led to an attempt by some to boycott the site – with no noticeable success. We know one user who said he would abandon the site, but following the day everyone was supposed to kill their accounts, he was still there, pumping out status updates.
Meanwhile, on another front, The Wall Street Journal reports that Goldman Sachs Group has shut US clients out of its private offering of Facebook shares. It says the harsh media spotlight on the firm could put the offering in danger of violating US securities law.
–Allan Maurer
Email TJS Editor Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournal South dot com.
Tags: blogosphere, Douglas Purdy, facebook, Facebook developer's blog, Mark Zuckerberg, privacy, Security
Posted in Internet/New Media | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
 ATLANTA – More signs that the economic recovery got a boost from a better than expected holiday season: paid search spend in the United States bounced back with 18.5% growth year-over-year in 2010. Q4 showed impressive gains, increasing +35.5% year over year (YoY) with December leading the quarter at 44.8% YoY growth, according to Atlanta-based searchignite. The company says 2011 is also expected to be a strong year for search spending.
The Q4 holiday season indicated improved consumer sentiment, with AOV up 31.3% YoY compared to a 13% decline in 2009.
These findings come from a report released today by SearchIgnite, a provider of performance marketing technology and services, managing more than $1 billion in media for some of the world’s largest advertisers and agencies, including Chico’s, La Quinta, E*TRADE and more.
Other notable findings in the report:
- The retail vertical reported significant increases in search spend in Q4 (+36.6% YoY)
- Q4 saw a significant increase across all underlying metrics, including spend (+35.3% YoY), clicks (+20.6% YoY) and click-through rates (+17.9% YoY).
- Google continues to gain on YaBing, capturing 82.6% of Q4 advertising spend, while YaBing fell to 17.4% share.
“2010 proved to be a great year for search advertising as the search market recovered from the downturn seen in 2009,” said Roger Barnette, CEO of SearchIgnite.
“Even more promising is the revival of consumer spend throughout the year and the strength of Average Order Values in Q4. We expect 2011 to be a strong year for search and online advertising overall.”
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Tags: 2010, Atlanta, economic recovery, GA, Internet, Marketing, paid search spend
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, Marketing | Comments Off
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