Category: News

Everyone loves to play the guessing game when it comes to Facebook’s, and other social networks’, revenue and worth. Some are more informed than others, but at the end of the day, without any official figures, all they can do is speculate. Not that this is stopping anyone and the Wall Street Journal is revealing (subscrition required) some of the numbers private market advisory firm NYPPEX has come up with.

The firm uses data from internal share transactions and deals made with private-equity companies to estimate what Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are worth. The social networks have had a very varied price tag put on them over time, but these numbers seem as accurate as it is reasonably possible at this time.

NYPPEX says that Facebook is worth about $7.6 billion, a rather conservative figure but one in line with previous estimations. Most recently Facebook has been valued at $10 billion when Russian investment firm DST bought a small stake in the social network. However, the same firm also bought common shares from Facebook employees at a lower $6 billion valuation.

LinkedIn, a social network geared at professionals which has passed 50 million users recently, is estimated to be worth $1.25 billion, again, a conservative number. Finally, Twitter, the microblogging / social networking sit… (read more)

London, Acre Resources

Our client, one of the largest producers of biofuels in the UK is now looking to recruit a key individual for the organisation, the Head of Biofuels Sustainability. This role has developed as a consequence of the growth of company’s biofuels business and the increasing regulation that is being applied to the sector, and the post holder will be tasked with building on the Company’s expertise in the delivery of sustainable Biofuels.

As a high profile role it will involve a significant amount of interaction with customers and suppliers at all stages of the supply chain as well as consultants, external regulatory and advisory bodies and internal stakeholders.

Key responsibilities are as follows:

– Manage the supply chains for the company’s Biofuels products
– Provide assurance over the integrity of the environmental and social sustainability
– Responsible for the integrity of the carbon data supplied by the supply chain
– Represent the company at expert workshops and stakeholder meetings
– Lead the annual carbon and sustainability audit to the Renewable Fuels Agency

Familiar with technical carbon and sustainability requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive and the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, we are looking for a candidate who has proven experience in managing sustainable supply chains whether in Biofuels or other commodities. You will have a keen interest in working within a dynamic and fast moving environment and as such an enthusiastic approach to work is a must.

This opportunity offers the chance to join a recognised leader in the biofuels market who consistently lead the debate on the issues associated with the delivery of sustainable Biofuels to the European market.
 

After Friday’s surprising jobs report, there has been a glimmer of hope that the U.S. won’t be stuck with 10% unemployment for years.

Perhaps, like the stock market, the job market will come roaring right back, in a terrific v-shaped recovery.

Unlikely, says Asha Bangalore of Northern Trust.

Since the peak, Asha says, the recession has wiped out 7.2 million full-time jobs.  2 million of those jobs were in the auto and real-estate industries, both of which have been semi-permanently downsized.

At the same time, the length of the work-week has dropped to a record low, and the number of folks working part-time because they can’t find full-time work has soared.  As new demand kicks in, employers will likely start by hiring temporary workers and giving part-time employees more work.  This will absorb a lot of the initial slack. 

Only when the work-week has returned to normal will hiring of new full-time employees return in earnest.  This will likely keep a lid on hiring at least through 2010.

See the story in charts >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Now See The REAL State Of The US Labor Market
• Lack Of Seasonal Work Is The Real Reason To Question The Official 10% Unemployment Rate
• Gartman: Here’s Why The Unemployment Arithmetic Must Be Wrong

Filed under: Motorsports, BMW, Toyota

After months in limbo, the FIA has released a short statement to announce that it has approved the Sauber F1 team – formerly owned by BMW – to fill Toyota’s vacant spot on the grid for next year’s F1 championship.

The announcement puts an end to a long period of uncertainty for the Swiss team that started when BMW announced it would withdraw its support. A deal was then penned with a shady investment firm known as Qadbak. But after Qadbak emerged as little more than a shell company for a convicted fraudster, the team’s founder and namesake Peter Sauber negotiated a deal to buy the team back from the departing Bavarian automaker.

BMW motorsport chief Mario Thiessen – who supervised the company’s F1 participation from providing engines to Williams through its purchase of Sauber – has announced that he’ll remain with BMW and not leave with Sauber, leaving old Peter in charge.

The newly independent team has reportedly negotiated a deal to run Ferrari engines next season, an arrangement that powered Sauber F1 cars for eight years, rebadged as Petronas under the sponsor’s name. Reports also suggest that Giancarlo Fisichella – who raced for Sauber in 2004 alongside Felipe Massa – could drive for the team once again in parallel to his Ferrari test duties.

A revised entry list is expected within the next few days. Follow the jump for the FIA’s official announcement.

[Source: FIA | Image: Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images]

Continue reading FIA gives Sauber the green light to fill Toyota’s slot

FIA gives Sauber the green light to fill Toyota’s slot originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week I want to skirt the whole holiday gift guide thing again and talk basics.

Recently, I asked some of our staff to write about their most useful kitchen tools and three of them have stepped forward so far: Emily, Emma and Faith.

Now it’s my turn.

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An admission, a challenge, and an unnamed diplomatic source, sounds like the beginning of good mystery novel.


The UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen wrapped up its first day of talks with a some interesting developments.


The Admission


The Environmental Protection Agency, of the United States, came out of the closet and finally admitted carbon dioxide as a threat to human health. And while most of us know that breathing from an exhaust pipe is probably not good for you, this admission does have some strength behind it. With this admission, should the U.S. Senate fail to adopt legislation (on emissions) the E.P.A. now has the authority to regulate.


The Challenge


The European Union was beating its chest yesterday, suggesting they will raise their emission reductions from the 20% they have already adopted to 30% if “other major players (read United States and China) undertake ‘comparable commitments’”, however, the statement does not specify what would qualify as being “comparable”. Most agree this move is only meant to keep pressure on the United States and China. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to bully our political leaders?


Unnamed Diplomatic Source


Financial Times Deutschland is reporting the European Union is ready to put money on the table as a sign of good faith. The money will be earmarked for climate change mitigation and adaption in vulnerable third world countries over the next three years. In a draft obtained by news agency AFP, the amount is just noted as “X billion euros for the years 2010 to 2012”, however according to the unnamed source the X will be replaced by a figure in the range of one to three.


Time Magazine has a great read on the “Five Things to Watch for at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.



1. “Will the U.S. lead?” The second Bush administration seemed to enjoy playing the spoiler, often “gumming” up the works on carbon emissions. And we all remember when they walked out during the middle of negotiations at the Montreal summit in 2005.


2. “Will China and India Follow?” While the U.S. is the globe’s largest carbon emitter, China and India are not too far behind. And while they have a lower per capita emissions ratio, under the Kyoto Protocol, they haven’t been required to take any verifiable actions to control emissions.


3. “The Two Step Tango” In 2007 leaders laid out the “Bali road map” a series of steps towards replacing the Kyoto Protocol. Well, the international community got a bit delayed in implementing those measures.


4. “Seeing REDD on deforestation” The loss of tropical forests plays a major role in climate change, contributing to 15% of global greenhouse gases. Slowing the rate of deforestation has a double benefit, but presently there’s no mechanism for developing countries to earn carbon funding by keeping their trees.


5. “Financial Adaption” It’s not all about the smoke, Global warming is coming even if we do act fast. For a long time no one could agree on how much money would need to spent, the numbers range from $10 to $100 billion, its time to nail that number down.


Read the entire article at Time.com


Lets hope day two is just as interesting.

share:

related.posts:

1. Copenhagen Climate Conference: Day 3
2. Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: Day 8 Recap
3. We Have A Deal: The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Result

The following Xbox 360 games are now ready for direct download from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace:

Content: Trivial Pursuit

Price: Check pricing for your region

Availability: Australia, New Zealand, Europe except Belgium, Ireland, and Portugal

Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) This game supports English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". The Trivial Pursuit video game from EA builds on the original gameplay with stunning visual presentation, new question types and all-new questions, and the innovative Facts & Friends game mode. The quick-playing Facts & Friends mode adds a whole new social dynamic to the game that keeps everyone involved by challenging players to guess whether their opponents will answer their questions correctly There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Add Trivial Pursuit to your Xbox 360 download queue

Content: Disney Bolt
Price: Check pricing for your region
Availability: North America and Europe 
Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) This game supports English, Spanish, and French. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". Join Penny and her super dog, Bolt, as they travel the globe on a dangerous mission to save Penny's dad from the evil Dr. Calico. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Add Disney Bolt to your Xbox 360 download queue

Content: FaceBreaker
Price: Check pricing for your region
Availability: Australia and Canada
Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) This game supports English and French. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". FaceBreaker™ brings you a pretty sweet game that you should totally play. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts

Add FaceBreaker to your Xbox 360 download queue

Xbox LIVE Members in Japan can now download Diario～Rebirth Moon Legend～

Don’t worry, later today we plan to do a feature on every reason people are skeptical of last Friday’s unemployment report. By our count, people found at least 300-or-so reasons to doubt the veracity of the 10% unemployment number and the 11,000.

In the meantime, Dennis Gartman is the latest to try poking holes in it (via FT Alphaville):

Workers simply have become discouraged and are still pulling themselves out of the job market, thus forcing the participation rate, as it is known, to its lowest level in two decades. Further… and this really does cause us some confusion and casts doubt upon the veracity of Friday’s report… the civilian labour force was actually reported to have fallen when mere demographics… mere arithmetic… said it must increase instead.

We wonder how this can be? Further, there are other anomalies, not the least of which is the continued reliance upon rather faulty seasonal adjustments and an even more faulty “birth/Death” factor, but we shall leave those for another day. The “economic reasons” question and that of the “participation rate” are sufficiently disconcerting for our purposes at the moment to make us just a tad skeptical of the euphoria surrounding Friday’s report. It was a good report. It was a nice report. It was a report consistent with the first few weeks, historically, of an economic rebound, but it was not a report to elicit Hosannas.

Now, see why the government’s data does match up with ADP >>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Rosenberg: There’s Just A 1-In-35 Chance Friday’s Employment Number Was Right
• Actually, Government Employment Data Matches Up Nicely With ADP
• TrimTabs: The Real Job Loss Number Was 255,000

As more and more Americans enjoy wine, giving wine and wine related gifts has also grown in popularity. From the special gift to the fun stocking filler, here are some ideas that have caught my eye, including some special (and some not-so-expensive) bottles for last-minute hostess gifts.

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You may recall a few years ago all the negative publicity Yahoo got after it came out that its Chinese operations handed over information on certain users that resulted in some Chinese dissidents being arrested. This resulted in some lawsuits filed in the US. However, in one such case, the court has noted that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which protects user data in such cases, doesn’t apply outside the US, and since this happened entirely within China, there’s not much of a case to be made about it. Either way, Yahoo recognized what a blackeye it got from the PR in these cases, and has settled some of them, and I’m guessing the company is now a lot more aware of the potential backlash in dealing with these kinds of issues.

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Did you stock up on canned pumpkin before Thanksgiving? Did fears of a shortage leave you with a few extra cans? Whether it was all a marketing ploy or not, you can still put that pumpkin to good use. You surely know a few pumpkin dessert recipes, so why not try it in a main course, appetizer or a drink?

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In theory, blogging is not difficult to do. You only have to write posts on a regular basis and include necessary advertising or links in order to be called a blogger. However, if you want to do more than write a few posts every week and your goal is to make a decent profit, you must understand how to create blog posts that will capture the interest of readers, keep  them coming back for more and encourage them to click on the links that will ultimately be your payout.

1. Choose a niche that matches your writing ability and knowledge experience or be prepared to hire a professional blogger who can do it for you.

2. Incorporate multiple media in your blog and blog posts. Images, photos, screenshots, video, charts, graphs or software that can be manipulated by the reader are great for giving your blog an edge over those that use only one medium: writing.

3. Keep your blog posts relatively short and easy on the eyes. Two to six hundred words is the norm for most blogs. Separate paragraphs into blocks of text, creating plenty of white space to make for easier reading as well.

4. Unless your blog is scientific or very technical, make the posts easy to digest for anyone with an 8th grade education. Th

atís right! Studies have shown that the majority of online readers have a junior high reading level. You donít have to ìdumb it downî, just be clear, simple and concise and avoid using verbiage that inspires a ìhuh?î

5. Get personal. Write in first person as though speaking directly to the reader. Talk about things that inspire you and inject some of your personality into your posts. Think ìpersonableî and ìfriendlyî.

6. Unless you are absolutely crazy about a product, donít express extreme enthusiasm. Be honest in your reviews and critiques. This will not only instill a sense of trust between yourself and your readers, it will keep readers coming back to purchase more of the products you DO recommend highly because after trying something you like, they find you that you are trustworthy.

7. Keep your blog fresh. Outdated information will have people running for the hills whereas content that is current and trendy will make them want to stick around. Update your blog at least twice a week ñ more if possible.

8. Do not overwhelm the pages with huge banners and flashing animations when adding advertising to your blog. A few smaller banners scattered here and there along with text links should be enough to get some clicks.

Remember:

Your blog is not the place for the high-pressure sales pitch but a place to discuss relevant information that pertains to your niche and encourage readers to delve deeper into what you have to offer.

Related posts:

1. Helping others is what blogging is all about Do you know what blogging is all about? It’s about…
2. Real successful blogging Passionate Be passionate about blogging, and be passionate about the…
3. 5 things bloggers can learn from Christmas. 1. If you really want it, you can blog from…

Web apps can be great for many things and Google is a big supporter of anything that lives in the cloud. But they have one major disadvantage, if there’s no Internet connection there’s no app. Broadband is becoming ubiquitous in some countries and wireless connections are increasingly available and reliable, but we’re still far from the point where this is no longer a concern.

In the mean time, Google along with other web companies are working on making web apps usable without the need for an Internet connection with much of the focus being placed on some HTML 5 features which would make this possible. Those are still only half-backed and there may still be a while until most people and developers can take advantage of them.

This hasn’t stopped Google though and the company has launched an offline version of its flagship product Gmail almost a year ago. The feature has been in testing since and Google is now confident that it reached a point where it can be rolled out to everyone.

“Now, we’re happy to announce that Offline Gmail is graduating from Labs and becoming a regular part of Gmail. If you’re already using it, then you’re all set. While you’ll no longer see it on the Labs tab, you can tweak your settings and turn it on and off from the Offline tab under Settings,&rd… (read more)

A few things to ponder as the flu activity (mercifully) declines, at least for now:

• Interested in evidence that HIV treatment has become staggeringly effective?  Fully 87% of patients receiving treatment in the large British Columbia cohort have an HIV RNA < 50; not only that, the incidence of HIV drug resistance has declined more than 12-fold since 1997.  Wow.  I wouldn’t want to be in the business of selling resistance tests.
• Did you read about this scam?  The text from the hoax is pretty awkward — “This profile has to be created both for the vaccinated people and the non-vaccinated ones” is a choice bit of prose — but one could easily imagine how it could trap at least somebody.  And as an example of the levels to which humans will stoop to make money, using fear of a real virus to spread a computer one has to be way down there.
• Has anyone yet actually used telavancin?  Not in a clinical trial, but in a patient in clinical practice?  If so, what were the indications?  How did it go?
• Related, here is a great cartoon — but there’s an even better one on antibiotics that has not yet appeared on-line at The Cartoon Bank, so stay tuned.

I would be lying if I told that I was expecting a lot of entries for the Barley event. I knew that I won’t be receiving as many entries as I received for the whole wheat and oats event, because whole barley flour is not easily available like the other two. I thought this time for the round up I would be posting only my entries. Fortunately Priya, Sadhana & Muskaan, Sweatha and Swathi came to my rescue sending 11 entries in total. Thank you very much dear friends for supporting this event.

From cookies to cakes, quick breads to yeast breads, the participants have proved that barley flour is as versatile as whole wheat flour or even better. So check out these stunning barley flour recipes.

Breads & Rolls

Priya’s Potato Stuffed Vegan Barley Flour Buns

Priya’s Butternut Squash & Chocolate Breakfast Bread

Sadhana & Muskaan’s Vegetables Stuffed Rolls

Priya’s Vegan Whole Grain Breadsticks

Priya’s Banana and Almond Quick Bread

Cake

Madhuram’s Vegan Barley Chocolate Cake

Madhuram’s Vegan Barley Flour Brownies

Madhuram’s Vegan Barley Flour Sponge Cake

Cookies

Swathi Spicy Onion and Barley Crackers

Priya’s Spicy Cumin and Barley Cookies

Madhuram’s Vegan Barley Cookies

Sweatha’s Barley Raisin Cookies

Muffins & Scones

Priya’s Pumpkin and Multigrain Scones

Sadhana & Muskaan’s Vegan Multigrain Muffins

Sweatha’s Jam Filled Barley Muffins

Winner
Congrats Priya for winning again. Will send you a mail with the details of your giveaway.

Google Analytics has evolved over the years to become a very powerful tool if used to the full extent of its capabilities. The free tool allows webmasters to get detailed information on the visitors to their websites and how they engage with the content. One of the strengths of the product is the possibility to customize the tracking and focus on a particular group of users or a particular behavior. Now Google is taking the customization features one step further while also introducing some interesting new tools.

One of the interesting new features is Annotations which, as the name suggests, allows users to leave notes right inside the graph display to mark any unusual activity or a specific event. The explanation for traffic surges or drops can now be added right next to the graph making it easy for other users of a shared account to know what happened or to explain the phenomenon months after it happened.

Not only that, future events can be labeled in advance so that everyone is aware of any special circumstances. The applications for this feature are numerous and it can come in really handy especially for larger companies. Google says this was one of the most requested feature by its users and it’s easy to see why.

Google introduced a useful new feature about a mo… (read more)

Indulge your sweet tooth while baking holiday treats with less guilt! Use canola oil in recipes that call for oil or solid fat in baked goods such as breads, loaves and muffins, says Shirley Corriher, author of the “Bake-Wise” cookbook and winner of the James Beard Award for Excellence. “Canola oil not only makes baked goods healthier, it makes them moister and more tender,” Corriher says. “I use canola oil in almost all of my muffin and cake recipes. “Oil makes cakes more tender by preventing gluten formation in the flour,” she explains. “Oil does this better than solid fats. I prefer canola oil because of its healthy fats, light texture and mild flavor.”

Canola oil has the least amount of saturated fat of any common cooking oil and is free of trans fat and cholesterol. When substituting canola oil for other oils or melted solid fat, you will reduce the saturated fat content of baked goods. You will also reduce the total amount of fat by up to 25 percent and eliminate trans fat and cholesterol when using canola oil instead of butter or shortening/lard. Use this chart to convert your recipes

Solid Fat (Melted) to Canola Oil Conversion Chart

1 cup Solid Fat = 3⁄4 cup Canola Oil
3⁄4 cup SF = 2⁄3 cup CO
1⁄2 cup SF = 1⁄3 cup CO
1⁄4 cup SF = 3 Tbsp CO

For a variety of holiday and anytime-of-year recipes, go to www.canolainfo.org. Each week in November and December, a new holiday recipe will be featured on this web site. To kick off the season, here’s a delicious holiday dessert that’s easy to make and likely to impress your guests.

So Light, So Easy Pumpkin Cake

INGREDIENTS:

18.25-oz. box white cake mix
11⁄4 cups water
1⁄4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1 cup canned pureed
pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
Canola oil cooking spray
Fat-free whipped topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325° F.

2. Combine all ingredients except oil spray and whipped topping, in large bowl. Using electric mixer, mix per directions on cake package. Coat 13×9-inch nonstick cake pan with cooking spray and spoon batter evenly into pan. Bake 25-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Place pan on wire rack and cool completely.

3. When serving, spoon 1 tablespoon of whipped topping on each slice. May freeze leftover cake up to one month.

Yield: 20 servings.

For more recipes, go to the CanolaInfo web site at www.canolainfo.org.

16% of total jobs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been eliminated during just the last 12 months, according to the Wall Street Journal. This is because government companies are the largest employers, mostly in construction, and property companies such as the infamous Nakheel are reeling.

One wonders what the longer term effects of such a sharp jobs destruction might be.

'Luckily', for the UAE, many of these workers can just be sent home. They won't have to deal with mobs of unemployed with nowhere to go. So perhaps their serfdom model of construction employment could pay off of the country.

There are even more job losses to come.

WSJ: Last month, Deyaar Development PJSC (DEYAAR.DFM), Dubai's second-largest developer, laid off around 60 people, or 20% of its workforce. Dubai World has cut its global workforce by 15% to just under 70,000, with the deepest cuts in the U.A.E. Last November, Nakheel cut 500 jobs, or 15% of its workforce.

A further reduction of the emirate's working foreign population could weigh on an economy already hit by a 50% fall in real-estate prices over the last year. Oil sales account for less than 5% of the sheikdom's economy, with the majority of its income coming from service industries, retail, trade and tourism.

Of those expatriate workers who were laid off, most returned home, the survey said, while others relocated to neighboring Abu Dhabi or other Gulf countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Gulf Talent said among expatriates living in Dubai, the percentage who work in Abu Dhabi has tripled over the last year to 3% from 1%.

Read more here.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Dubai World To Sell Overseas Assets, Retain Private Equity Arm
• Creditors Gave Billions To Dubai, With Just Barren Land As Collateral
• Times Of London Censored Again In Dubai After Ruling Sheikh Is Called A "Benign Dictator"

Chewy caramels and caramel sauce, we love. Cleaning the sticky pot shellacked with sugar residue after making those caramels, we love not so much. Here’s a trick that will save you some time and save your poor arms a lot of scrubbing!

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