Sports Illustrated christens Lindsey Vonn the “Best Woman Skier Ever” on the cover of the mag’s special edition Olympic Preview Edition, out this week. But the 25-year-old slope slayer, and the publication, are coming under fire from women’s rights activists who are uncomfortable with the “objectifying” pose the Olympian struck for the S.I. cover shot.
Pink gave a show-stopping performance with her ballad “Glitter in the Air” at the Grammys last Sunday. The performance featured the singer dangling upside down in the air, and at one point — dripping wet. Now Pink is bringing circus act to The Oprah Show.
The singer will perform an acoustic version of her hit track “I Don’t Believe You” during O’s weekly “Live-in-Chicago” special this Friday, Feb. 5.
In the meantime, Pink is using her Twitter page to shoot down rumors that she lip-synched her way through her performance last weekend.
“I hear there’s a debate over whether or not I sang live on grammies,” Pink Tweeted on Tuesday night. “I have never lip synched in my entire life. I’m 100% against it.”
The star performed the stunt nearly 160 times during her recent “Funhouse Tour.”
Article Tags: Met Office, You could not make it up
A COMPUTER that cost £30million was supposed to improve weather forecasting at the Met Office.
But after a few blips, including last year’s “barbecue summer” that never was, officials are instead relying on an amateur, it was revealed yesterday.
Keith Davis, 48, collates rainfall, temperature and humidity readings from a homemade weather station in his garden in Tavistock, Devon. The Met Office contacts him for updates, despite its own modern technology.
Mr Davis said: “My information is very accurate, especially the barometer readings.” Last night a Met Office spokesman said: “We use his measurements more as a guide rather than part of our observation network.”
Click source to read more
Source: express.co.uk
Audi’s Green Police Super Bowl ad for clean diesel technology and the A3 TDI has gotten a bit of negative attention, but some parts of the campaign have gone unnoticed. For example, did you know that none other than Cheap Trick provided the soundtrack for the ad? They did, and the band even went back to the studio to re-record their hit Dream Police as, surprise, Green Police. Maybe this is why names like Eco Police or Enviro Police – names that wouldn’t have caused any sort of uproar – were not chosen.
Audi of America’s chief marketing officer, Scott Keogh, said in a statement that:
We have no doubt that viewers will walk away from the Super Bowl with that song playing in their heads. It is certain to make the environmental message behind the Green Police ad hard to forget.
You can hear for yourself by listening to the track and/or downloading the MP3 after the jump. See a teaser video for the Green Police campaign here.
[Source: Audi]
Audi gets Cheap Trick to re-record Dream Green Police for Super Bowl ad, download it now for free originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The seventh season of So You Think You Can Dance will premiere Thursday, May 27, FOX said Thursday.
Article Tags: Alan Caruba
Bryan Walsh has a great career in public relations awaiting him. Unfortunately he is currently passing himself off as a journalist for Time Magazine.
PR, a profession I have enjoyed for several decades, is widely seen to “spin” facts to a client’s advantage and this is frequently the case. PR is advocacy. Journalism is supposed to be something else, i.e., the unbiased, objective reporting of the facts. Someone needs to explain this to Bryan.
In an article titled “Explaining a Global Climate Panel’s Key Missteps”, Bryan barely pretends to be a journalist as he engages in whitewashing some widely known facts about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations’ scam for the propagation of the huge global warming hoax.
Bryan correctly notes that the IPCC was “one of the most respected organizations in the world” and, in October 2007, had shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, a famed global warming blowhard and fabulist best known for predicting the end of the world next Tuesday.
Source: factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com
Article Tags: Sea Level Gate
A United Nations report wrongly claimed that more than half of the Netherlands is currently below sea level.
In fact, just 20 percent of the country consists of polders that are pumped dry, and which are at risk of flooding if global warming causes rising sea levels. Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer has ordered a thorough investigation into the quality of the climate reports which she uses to base her policies on.
Climate-sceptic MPs were quick to react. Conservative MP Helma Neppérus and Richard de Mos from the right-wing Freedom Party want the minister to explain to parliament how these figures were used to decide on national climate policy. “This may invalidate all claims that the last decades were the hottest ever,” Mr De Mos said.
The incorrect figures which date back to 2007 were revealed on Wednesday by the weekly Vrij Nederland. The Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency told reporters that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) added together two figures supplied by the agency: the area of the Netherlands which is below sea-level and the area which is susceptible to flooding. In fact, these areas overlap, so the figures should not have been combined to produce the 55 percent quoted by the IPCC.
Source: rnw.nl
Earlier this morning we saw Jay Leno hop into a Morgan Aero Supersports – now Jay is giving his take on the new Bentley Continental Supersports Coupe, the fastest, most powerful Bentley in the company’s 90-year history.
Oh and we here there is a convertible version in the works as well.
Refresher: Power for the Bentley Continental Supersports Coupe comes from a 6.0L W12 twin-turbocharged engine making 621-hp with a maximum torque of 590 lb-ft. 0 to 60 mph comes in 3.7 seconds with a top speed of 204 mph. The engine is capable of running on gasoline and E85 biofuel or any combination of the two.
Make the jump for the video.
– By: Omar Rana
Just over a year ago, Mac users began to feel a bit more Windows-like after a major Mac trojan horse was discovered in the wild. Of course, you’d get it only if you obtained copies of pirated software. While there had been a few scattered OS X virus reports, this trojan had the most destructive potential to date.
Since that rumble last year, the Mac security front has been relatively quiet. This begs the question that has been on many people’s minds and one I get asked on a daily basis: “Why don’t Macs get viruses?”
Of course, we know the question isn’t valid. Macs can be attacked as evidenced earlier. Even Apple suggests running some kind of antivirus software on your Mac and included one with a .Mac subscription. Additionally, numerous security flaws are found and Apple releases regular security updates to patch them up. So, a better question might be “Why don’t Mac users have to worry about malware like Windows users do?” I suspect a relatively small number of readers have active antivirus software running on their Mac, despite Apple’s recommendation. For purposes of simplicity, we’ll lump viruses, worms, spyware, malware, and trojans under the common term of “viruses.” Here are the common responses given and my take on them.
Why do people rob banks? That’s where the money is! (Sutton’s Law). Because Windows-based computers represent around 90 percent of the market, virus writers get more bang for their buck. Not only does a Windows virus spread farther and faster due to its numbers, but the people writing viruses are more likely to have Windows machines upon which to code. And the banks are running Windows as well, so Windows is where the money is.
Of course, when Apple introduced Intel-based computers, some were concerned that Macs would get PC viruses because they were running the same chips. The chip switch was a legitimate concern, but for a different reason. If cheap PCs could be turned into Macs, the enemy could use that to their advantage and begin diversifying. Hacking the Mac OS to run on a PC would provide an easy way for malware writers to explore the MacOS.
However, as the Mac’s popularity has increased, we haven’t seen a rise in viruses for the Mac. Popularity is a weak rationale.
Since 1984, Apple has made multiple shifts in its operating system strategy. First there was the shift from 68K processors to PowerPC, and then the shift from Classic to OS X, and then finally the shift from PowerPC to Intel based processors. That old copy of MacWrite or NetTrek won’t run on your new MacBook without major emulation and other chicanery. On the other hand, WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS runs great on a Windows 7 PC with just a minor tweak.
Microsoft, in order to maintain compatibility with older products, has never fully excised old code and flaws in its operating system. Apple has been willing on at least three occasions to completely abandon old software and start from scratch. Because Apple controls the hardware and the software and has a much smaller installed base, it is better positioned to make these drastic moves.
Ironically, Macs used to get tons of viruses in the System 7 days. I fondly remember “Disinfectant,” and countless viruses spread via floppy disk. As the Classic OS evolved, less and less viruses worked until finally OS X rewrote the OS book. Which leads to the final reason for the dearth of Mac nasties.
Since Apple knew about Mac viruses, it was able to redesign the operating system with safeguards in place to prevent malware outbreaks. The proper use of the Administrator account and password was the most important key in preventing the spread of any Mac viruses. For those unfamiliar, on a Windows XP PC, programs can install automatically without an administrator name and password. While Vista and Windows 7 ask permission sometimes, you can still easily install programs (and therefore viruses) without intervention from a user.
Alternatively, Mac programs requires someone with Administrator privileges in order to install most software. In my day job as a computer repair tech, countless Mac clients can’t even remember their own password, so they are extremely unlikely to accidentally install some software. Windows PCs are usually infected by clicking on some kind of link followed by Windows automatically installing a virus in the background without user consent or intervention. This idea is as foreign to Mac users as a .dll file.
Because Apple has a quicker schedule in updating and patching its operating system, any flaw that is found and acknowledged by Apple can easily be patched via an update or the next operating system. Getting Apple to acknowledge some of these flaws is a different story, though Snow Leopard provided protection against the trojans discovered last year.
Good question. Apple said at one time it recommended antivirus software (though later it recanted), yet most Mac users don’t. The risks of a virus on your Mac are slim and protection software is perceived as slowing down computers and being generally buggy. Unlike most other software, virus protection requires a yearly fee to keep protection active. If you stay away from the red light district on the Internet, you are much less likely to get a virus. Make sure your system password is a good one and hard to guess. Be wary of any software you download and check the source. That’s why you get the warning now whenever you download a program from the Internet. Common sense is your first line of defense.
Personally, at home, I have ClamXav installed. It’s a free program that will scan your Mac to determine if you have a virus, but won’t pre-emptively protect you from getting one. It’s an “on-demand” versus an active scanner. I update and run it every so often after I hear of some new threat.
For my work computer, I have Intego VirusBarrier installed. The program is unobtrusive and has little or no impact on the performance of my Mac mini. Because I work with a large number of clients, I can’t always guarantee that they haven’t downloaded an Internet Nasty and I don’t want to catch what they have on their computer.
The choice is yours whether to run antivirus software. The reasons why Macs don’t get many viruses are as much based on luck and market conditions, as they are on inherent security. At the very least, besides a good administrative password, a Mac on the Internet should have a copy of ClamXAV on it that can be run at the first sign of trouble and updated after a suspected outbreak. Furthermore, remember that “social engineering” threats, like phishing emails that attempt to steal your passwords can affect Mac and Windows users equally. Stay on your toes and never respond to unexpected emails that try to scare you into visiting a website that requires your password or other personal information.
Filed under: Etc., Celebrities
It’s official – The Fast and the Furious franchise will get another chapter. Speculation about a fifth installment had been rampant since Fast and Furious once again struck box office gold for NBC Universal last year. The rumors of a fourth sequel came to a head last month when Dominic Toretto himself made the announcement to his 7,385,034 Facebook fans that writer Chris Morgan had handed him scripts for a fifth and sixth movie in the series. Yet, there was no official word from the studio, until now.
Besides Vin Diesel (Toretto), Paul Walker (Brian O’Conner) and director Justin Lin will also return for what’s now known simply as Fast Five. Apparently the gang isn’t so furious anymore. The franchise should be in good hands, as this crew has ridden through at least two movies apiece and Chris Morgan was the author of the screenplays for the last two installments (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast and Furious). Those two chapters were arguably the best in the FNF filmography.
The official announcement didn’t include word of the suggested sixth installment, but if Vin is to be believed, they might be filming episode five and six back-to-back with a staggered release schedule possibly taking the franchise to its ten-year anniversary in 2011.
[Source: Cinematical | Image: Charley Gallay/Getty]
Fast Five official: Walker and Diesel reteam for fifth Furious movie originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Lance MacLean, the embattled mayor of Mission Viejo, said Thursday he is regrouping after losing a recall election held after opponents accused him of "uncivil behavior" and fiscal irresponsibility.
MacLean, a Republican, has five days to request a recount in Tuesday’s election, which ended in a 19-vote difference. With a 23.9% turnout, 7,370 voted to remove MacLean from office, and 7,351 voted against recalling him.
"With all the shenanigans these guys have pulled … but I am clearly leaning toward challenging the vote," MacLean said.
Voters elected local businessman David Leckness, a Democrat, over recall proponent Dale Tyler, a Republican, by 9.2 percentage points.
"I think that we need to thank Lance for a lot of years of service," Leckness said Thursday from the print shop he has run in Mission Viejo for 25 years. "It’s too bad that happened like this, but my job is to keep the city moving in the great direction that it’s been going in."
Recall proponents had criticized MacLean for approving in a 4-1 City Council vote to double his stipend from $500 to $1,000 a month. MacLean said on his website that the council was adjusting the stipend for inflation and cost of living and noted it had remained unchanged for two decades.
MacLean said some of his biggest detractors were once his strongest supporters who helped get him elected to the council in 2002.
"It’s ironic because — and I’m frustrated here — I’ve doubled our reserves from $15 million to $30 million," MacLean said, noting the city’s AAA bond rating, a grade of financial stability bestowed on a handful of U.S. cities.
"What this group wanted to do was pound cash away in the bank," MacLean said. "You collect the tax dollars to provide services, not create a giant bank account."
Recall proponents turned in nearly 14,000 signatures in September, and 9,400 of them were verified. But the efforts of Citizens to Recall Lance MacLean are being investigated by the Orange County district attorney and the state Fair Political Practices Commission, said City Clerk Karen Hamman, who alerted the commission to possible reporting violations.
Councilman John Paul Ledesma, a recall proponent, said the group’s treasurer did not realize he had to provide financial reports on a quarterly basis.
Some residents had balked at the special election’s $270,000 price tag and noted the recall shaves just a few months off MacLean’s term, which was set to end in November.
MacLean’s Republican opponent, Tyler, came under fire in January for not possessing a California driver’s license and for having cars in California that were registered in Indiana, Hamman said. Tyler could not be reached for comment.
But Ledesma said some recall supporters felt "blindsided" by the 11th-hour revelations of Tyler’s lack of a state driver’s license.
"I think some information came out about Dale Tyler that kind of shook confidence in people … but I think Dave Leckness is an improvement over Lance McLean," Ledesma said.
Leckness, who previously served as a city planning commissioner, said during the campaign that the recall election was unnecessary.
"The message we were putting out was ‘Vote no on the recall … but if there is a recall, vote for Dave Leckness,’ " he said. "And that’s what people did."
— Amina Khan
Nearly 10,000 fans of comedy legend and beloved actress Betty White have launched a Facebook campaign to get the wisecracking Golden Girl to host Saturday Night Live!
The always-adorable Betty, now 88, has never before hosted NBC’s long-running sketch series — now in its 37th season. If fans can convince network suits — and more importantly SNL producer Lorne Michaels — to give Ms. Betty a shot, the animal rights activist would grab a page out history by becoming the oldest SNL host ever.
Let’s all join the campaign to bring Betty to Saturday Night Live.
Earlier this week, we jokingly pointed out that with the Supreme Court’s ruling on how corporations were people, a company like Google could run for President. Well, it appears that others have the same basic idea. A PR firm in Maryland has announced that it’s running for Congress in Maryland’s 8th District and has put together a nice campaign ad:
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Toyota is well-known to be a family affair, still controlled by members of the founding family; Akio Toyoda sits as president while his father, Dr, Shoichiro Toyoda serves as honorary chairman and remains deeply involved in operations.
Such being the case, one would have expected to see and hear from at least one of the Toyoda’s with regard to the recent recalls facing the company, but that was not to be. Instead, an American sales exec by the name of Jim Lentz was the one to face questioning on behalf of the company. Lentz, who is one of the top executives in the field, is not Toyota’s top exec, nor is he an engineer; bringing to question his qualifications to address this issue. Many in the industry have grown short with the Toyoda’s for not addressing the safety crisis with their leading market head-on.
CEO Akio Toyoda has even acquired the moniker ‘No-show Akio’. In fact, Toyoda was seen hopping into an Audi after a conference last week in Europe.
Toyota has historically had a poorly developed sense of communication with the American market. Toyota is a company run by engineers, who are more adept to root-cause problem solving than any artful PR moves.
Despite the above PR challenge to the the company, the company has made slow but steady progress towards warmer relations, but that has gone by the wayside given their handling of the current situation. With out some prolonged media exposure by the Toyoda family, the company’s ability to continue to grow and expand on the global market comes into serious question.
– By: Stephen Calogera
Source: CNNMoney
From the time the market started rallying last March, skeptics have been warning of a coming storm ahead.
Today, it felt like we experienced it. As one market pro put it today: This was real.
Here are the key highlights:
Join the conversation about this story »
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It probably won’t result is as many hilarious candids as Street View, but the rumored “Google Store View” sure sounds handy. Presumably, it will eventually let you check out the interior of any participating retailer through Google Maps.
The report comes from Search Engine Land, which was contacted by a New York company called Oh Nuts. Apparently the almond-monger recently got a visit from camera-toting Google guys, who photographed their entire store, six feet at a time, in every direction.
So essentially, you’d be able to see a storefront in Street View, click on it, and check out the interior for inventory, cleanliness, layout, etc. Not bad! Although a project of this scale would take a looooong time to roll out.
Google’s officially issued a no-comment non-denial of the sort that early-stage projects like this usually get. We’ll find out eventually, I suppose, especially if any other nut stores out there come forward with tales of Google guy visits past. [Search Engine Land via Consumerist]
The Coming Default Tsunami Grabs Power From Banking Industry – about government bonds and inflation – The Prudent Investor
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Obama Keeps Fannie, Freddie Off U.S. Budget, Counts Dividends – By Dawn Kopecki – President Barack Obama’s budget blueprint for the next fiscal year excludes the $6.3 trillion in liabilities of government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and delays for a second time a decision on restructuring the mortgage-finance companies that were seized 17 months ago. – Bloomberg BusinessWeek
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Zombie Update: Loan Repurchases and REO Anyone? – Christopher Whalen – on GSE repurchase demands and the future of securitization – The Institutional Risk Analyst
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Regulator to Block New Loan Products from Fannie, Freddie – By NICK TIMIRAOS –
Mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not be allowed to introduce new loan products in the mortgage market while they are under the control of the U.S. government, the companies’ federal regulator announced Tuesday in a letter to Congress. – Wall Street Journal Politics
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FHA to Increase MIP and Cut Principal Limit for Reverse Mortgage Product – Reverse Mortgage Daily
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US FHFA Text: Private Entities May Take Up Fed GSE MBS Slack – … The first part of the letter will review the establishment and purposes of the conservatorships, and how the conservatorships are operating. FHFA is focused on conserving the Enterprises’ assets and meeting the goals of the conservatorship. The second part of the letter describes FHFA’s views on the future direction of the Enterprises’ business activities while they are in conservatorship, particularly: loan modifications and mitigating credit losses; retained portfolio; new products; and affordable housing mission. … – iMarketNews
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No Help in Sight, More Homeowners Walk Away – By DAVID STREITFELD – … “People like me are beginning to feel like suckers,” Mr. Koellmann said. “Why not let it go in default and rent a better place for less?” … – NY Times
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Treasury considers changing mortgage-modification test – By Dawn Kopecki and Theo Francis – The Treasury Department is looking into altering its "net present value" test, which is used to determine whether modifying a mortgage or foreclosing on the property would be more beneficial to the lender and bond investors. "We’re looking at the NPV model to see whether there should be some changes" that would result in more mortgage-principal write-downs, said Seth Wheeler of the Treasury. … – Bloomberg
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S&P increases loss assumptions for mortgage securities, downgrades 12,000+ RMBS - Standard & Poor’s today updated its loss projections for 2005-2007 vintage prime, subprime, and Alt-A residential mortgage-backed securities transactions, leading it to place 12,000 classes of securities (RMBS) issued in 2005-2007 on CreditWatch with negative implications. – Research Recap
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FHFA reducing Fannie, Freddie portfolios – The federal regulator in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Tuesday that the mortgage finance giants would not be taking on additional measures to bring down interest rates on home loans as other government programs to stimulate the housing market expire. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it is committed to reducing the companies’ mortgage portfolios and does not expect the firms "to be substantial buyers or sellers of mortgages." – Washington Post
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thoughts on Australian housing bubble by MISH – Pool of Greater Housing Fools in Australia Finally Runs Out; OZ Dollar, Where to from Here? – Michael Shedlock – Seeking Alpha
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GSE Refinancing Soar 37% In Dec. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency reports that refinancing at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac climbed 37% in December to almost 297,000. – EMII.com
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Arm Reset Problems: Mortgage-Index Quirks Prove Costly – By CARRICK MOLLENKAMP – Tens of thousands of homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages have seen their monthly payments jump or stay high even as they have fallen for other homeowners. This disparity owes to the indexes used to calculate those payments have moved in unexpected ways. – WSJ Real Estate
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Second Mortgage Jackpot? – How Banks Can Win From Being Second – BY PETER EAVIS – however, government programs aimed at making first mortgages less burdensome have left the junior loans largely unmodified, meaning in some cases the junior lender is basically getting bailed out for free. … – WSJ Heard on the Street
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Contemplating the Fed’s Exit – … So while it may be a stretch to suggest that mortgage rates have been “pushed down,” it is fair to ask how much higher they might be without the government intervention. Not only is it a fair question, it is the question of the moment. Come March 31, the Agency MBS market is going to find out how it will perform without the government’s involvement (the Treasury has already quit its buying program). … – Annaly Capital Management
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read this – Another Reason Why RE Defaults Will Explode This Year – IRS Form 4506 – … We have created incentives for default. And they are powerful incentives. Tens of thousands of dollars a year are at stake – has 3 reactions from consumers regarding mods – … The implication is that starting sometime in July and continuing for some time thereafter there will be a very big wave of new defaults, jingle mail, short sales, DIL transactions and foreclosures. It means RE will suffer and prices will likely have to fall. The timing for this could not be worse. … – Bruce Krasting Blog
In an interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush on Thursday, pop sensation Lady Gaga set the record straight about recent rumors that she was supposed to participate in the star-studded re-recording of “We Are The World” for Haitian Relief — only to pull out at the last moment.
The “Bad Romance” crooner explained that while she was asked to lend her famed vocals to the 25th anniversary of the charity effort, she politely declined.
“I’ve actually been in rehearsal for my new tour, but I was never supposed to do ‘We Are The World.’ So that’s a rumor,” Gaga told Billy. “I believe that they may have asked, yes, about it, but I was unable to do it.”
Gaga says she’s already been more than involved in raising money for the earthquake-ravaged nation. She’s donated all the proceeds from one of the shows on her sold-out tour, and has been busy selling t-shirts for the effort via her Web site.
“…I’ve been working on my own charity projects for Haiti. We’ve raised over half a million dollars for Haiti already and we like to work specifically with charities that are based in Haiti itself,” she said.
“I donated all of the proceeds from one show worth of ticket sales as well as all the of the merchandise from that show and for 24 hours we had a ‘Gaga for Haiti’ day where everything that was bought on the Web site… every dollar went to Haiti,” the star added. “We’re continuing to work on more projects and we’re supposed to go to Haiti later this year for a show, which is very exciting.”
Toyota and the NHTSA have been aware of unintended-acceleration incidents with regard to the Lexus ES 350 since at least 2007. Regulators concluded that it was due to a floor mat defect, a recall of about 55,000 floor mats was declared, and the case as closed.
Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., told congressional investigators that the company first knew of sticking accelerator problems in October, and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., is unhappy with the contradiction, and citing his awareness of reports that disclose sticky accelerator issues dated as early as 2004, is calling into question ToMoCo’s candidness and honesty.
A hearing is scheduled for February 25th whereby Toyota will answer questions before congress.
“We believe our statements have been consistent, and we will endeavor to explain this to the committees next week,” Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight said in response to Stupak’s statements.
In a letter to Toyota this week, Stupak and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., have asked the company to reconcile conflicting statements as company officials have mentioned in private conversation with congressional committee staff members that there were internal doubts as to the causes of the issue.
In a separate letter from Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., Toyota was asked to furnish information dating back to 2001 pertaining to complaints of unintended acceleration and other matters.
– By: Stephen Calogera
Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)
By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now
eBay, the giant online garage sale facilitator, and RecycleBank, the company that figured out how to get Americans recycling by offering them consumer rewards, have announced a partnership in which each company will offer incentives to the other companies clients.
Kind of like a swap-meet in the middle of a flea market.
A little history: eBay, the online marketplace that began in 1995, began thinking green in 2007 when a group of employees formed eBay’s Green Team community. The Green Team tries to inspire eBay’s 90 million users to “buy, sell & think green every day” by offering pertinent eco-friendly tips and sustainable advice.
Enter RecycleBank, a fast-growing company that rewards its consumers for recycling by giving them points based on the weight of the products recycled.
The companies are partnering to reward eBay users for reusing, which is integral to what they’re doing anyway when they sell or buy previously owned products. (According to eBay,”the greenest products are ones that already exist.”)
RecycleBank will give 50 points to each of its members who joins eBay’s Green Team community and also plans to soon allow its members to use their RecycleBank points for discounts on eBay purchases.
“RecycleBank has always been rewarding more responsible environmental behavior like recycling for households across America. Working with eBay on an initiative to promote reuse and rewarding consumers for that behavior becomes a natural progression of our business,” said Morley Ivers, RecycleBank Chief Rewards Officer.
In just five years, RecycleBank consumers have more than doubled the quantity of items recycled. To date, RecycleBank has saved 4.3 million trees and 288 million gallons of oil through recycling, the company estimates.
For eBay, the reward is more eyeballs on its listings, meaning more potential buyers and sellers.
“Thousands of eBay sellers have built successful businesses by recycling, re-using and re-selling products that already exist and may otherwise have ended up in landfills. Our relationship with RecycleBank offers an innovative way to encourage and reward green-conscious consumers who are looking for more sustainable ways to shop,” said Amy Skoczlas Cole, Director of the eBay Green Team.
Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
