Facebook’s Motivations: A Digital Popularity Contest

Though among the most popular social networking sites in the world with over 1.2 billion registered users, Facebook has been losing market share with younger demographics in recent years. The Pew Research Center recently conducted a study revealing waning interest in Facebook from the key teen demographic since its expansion to include more adults, elderly and advertisers among its users. With competitors such as Twitter and Tumblr vying for market share, Facebook can ill afford to lose ground with teens. It seems likely that this most recent move to expand youth privileges on their site is in the interest of reigniting teen ardor for a Facebook presence.

Adult Abilities, Child Judgment

Facebook’s move has been panned by many critics who have noted the dangers of increased exposure of children to advertisers. Children do not have the cognitive disposition to reject the manipulation that marketers put out. Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor and director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Susan Linn, told NBC News that children are susceptible to manipulation such as that of advertisers trying to send a message to kids that certain products will result in happiness. Facebook’s previous restriction prevented advertisers from using their posts to cater their marketing campaigns to specific children. With those restrictions gone, marketers have free reign to target children more effectively than ever before.

Making this issue all the more salient are the figures reported by the Internet Watch Foundation, an independent self-regulatory body of which Facebook has been a member since 2010, that more than 12,000 “selfies” in photographic and video form have been found on child pornography websites. Facebook’s new allowances could fuel this Internet trade for years to come with the provision of open access to thousands of images of children.

A Positive Step?

Not all commentaries agree that Facebook’s self-deregulation is a bad thing. Stephen Balkam of the Family Online Safety Institute and member of Facebook’s safety committee has called the move “a positive step” representing an evolved view of teen privacy that rely on teenagers and parents. Facebook points to the fact that new members will have automatic privacy settings limiting posting to their listed “friends” instead of “friends of friends” as was previously the policy. Changing these settings involves prompting teens twice before allowing them to proceed. By changing their policies, Facebook and its advocates argue they open up a larger forum for education and expression of opinions at an earlier age.

Protection and Prevention

While Facebook argues that the expertise of teens in controlling privacy settings offers adequate protection, the Pew study shows that only 9 percent of teens are concerned with third parties accessing their data while 91 percent post pictures of themselves, 71 percent share their school and hometown name and 20 percent post their cell phone numbers. Despite these statistics, there are ways to limit the online presence of teenagers and protect them from excess exposure.

One way to limit your teen’s online presence is by setting a maximum allowable daily screen time and enforcing a screen-free day once per week. Educate your children early to the responsibilities of Internet and social network usage. Talk to your teens about the dangers that potentially await them and warn them to limit what personal information they share. As part of this process, walk through their privacy settings with them to ensure they have not enabled public sharing features.

Tech Vs. Tech

With predation in the techno-sphere becoming ever more powerful, many parents are interested in taking proactive measures to protect their children, beyond what education can provide. LifeLock, for example, offers customizable identity, data and fraud protection services. Parents can seek further protection with the SAINT App, software that allows children to use Facebook while filtering out any sexually explicit material. Another effective service, ZoneAlarm Social Guard, was noted by the Wall Street Journal as an effective means of monitoring your children’s Facebook account for hacking, predation, pornography and unwanted activity without violating your child’s privacy or alerting their friends to your observation.

Some patients were carried out on flat-board stretchers with their necks locked.

Here’s a chart from BI showing Groupon’s revenue growth over the past 12 months in Boston.  And as you can see, the daily deal site might find that it’s toughest neighborhood to close a deal in might just be Wall Street:

Lowell explained in a conference call that because Apple has been slow in bringing the iPhone 5, to replace the iPhone 4, that is why AT&T is still leading in iPhone sales.

When Verizon started selling the iPhone in February, all the talk was about how disgruntled AT&T customers were going to jump ship and head over to Verizon.

Well that just hasn’t happened.

In the 2nd quarter, Verizon’s iPhone sales trailed AT&T’s and fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Verizon activated 2.3 million iPhone 4’s compared to AT&T’s 3.6 million iPhones.

The AT&T iPhone sale figure is likely to increase dramatically with the new pricing discounts on refurbished iPhone 3GS’s.

Looks like Verizon needs to step up the game a bit to compete with AT&T in the iPhone market.

via NYPost

Apple’s shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) broke $400 this morning for the first time ever, releasing investors into a frenzy on Wall Street.

Apple’s earnings were released today and once again, the Cuppertino company has Wall Street in a frenzy over the likes of the iPhone and iPad domination.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said today, “we’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent.” Continuing with “right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.“

Apple earned $7.31 billion in net profit on revenue of $28.57 billion for the June quarter – both of which are records for Apple.

Trading for Apple shares was halted during the earning call today.  But then, once trading resumed on Wall Street for the almighty AAPL, the stock price surged 8% and blasted into the $400 range for the first time in the history of the company.

Trading for Apple shares has since come back down to earth with the stock trading currently at 388.68, +11.83 (3.14%).

via Google Finance

GoDaddy

The announcement of the sale could come next week as investment companies start lining up for the sale.

According to the Wall Street Journal,

Private-equity firms KKR & Co. and Silver Lake Partners, along with a third investor, are nearing a deal to buy GoDaddy Group Inc., a closely-held company that registers Internet domain names, for between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said… and private equity and venture capital firm Technology Crossover Ventures is also a minority investor in the proposed deal for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GoDaddy, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Here in the US, the white iPhone 4 was met with a lack lusture response in both sales, frenzied lines, and fast sell outs.

But don’t use the U.S. demand for the white iPhone 4 as the gauge for global demand for the device.

Word is in China that the white iPhone 4 was met with the “A-Typical” long lines, sell out crowds, and fast sell outs that are common with Apple releases.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple analysts have been quoted as saying “internationally there seemed to be higher demand with lines forming in markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore and China,” said Ben Reitzes, Barclays Capital.

And another analyst, Brian White from Ticonderoga Securities says, “Our checks this morning indicate that the four Apple stores in China have already sold out of the “white” iPhone 4. Recall, we indicated in a note yesterday that Hong Kong sold out of the “white” iPhone 4 in just one hour based on an article from ElegentTech.com. Clearly, the “white” iPhone 4 is very popular in China, and we believe this is a phenomenon that Apple will experience across most of Asia, including Japan.”

via WSJ

Google has announced plans to partner with CitiGroup and Master Card to bring you the “wave to pay” technology that allows you to complete a purchase with your credit card by simply waving your Google Android device.  This according to the Wall Street Journal.

This futuristic payment system could be here as early as this year.

But look at the companies teaming up with Google – Master Card and Citi Group. What major credit card company is missing here?

Visa – of course…

And let me give you two guesses who’s got Visa in their back pockets….

Apple – that’s who.

It is widely expected that the iPhone 5 will be sporting the new wave to pay technology.

No longer will you need to carry your wallet and fumble around to find your credit card. Simply pull out your phone – or it’s probably already in your hand – wave your mobile phone and pow… that’s it… payment made.

Even though Google is playing a major role in the development of the “wave to pay” technology on Android devices, the search giant does not plan to make any money from the transactions.

Google vested interest lies in the data gathered from local vendors by the users of the wave to pay apps, and then leveraging that data for the local retailers to push out smarter advertising.

For Google it’s all about the advertising dollar.

For everyone else, it’s all about making the transaction a profitable one.

What are you thoughts about this new “wave to pay” technology that is just around the corner?

via WSJ

For some reason, I find myself captivated as to what the most searched stocks are on Wall Street. And not only what the stocks are, but more importantly, why are they so heavily searched – what causes them to rise to the top so quickly amongst all the stocks on the NYSE and the NASDAQ.

Here are the top three stocks being searched right now according to Google Finance:

#1:  Aetna Incorporation (NYSE:AET) is currently the number one most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  Aetna declared yesterday that company’s Board of Directors has agreed to increase the company’s cash dividend to shareholders and move the company to a quarterly dividend payment cycle. (source)

#2: Chart Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLS) is currently the second most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  SmarTrend identified an Uptrend for Chart Industries (NASDAQ:GTLS) on September 09, 2010 at $17.00. In approximately 5 months, Chart Industries has returned 113.6% as of today’s recent price of $36.32. In the past 52 weeks, shares of Chart Industries have traded between a low of $13.85 and a high of $39.32 and are now at $36.32, which is 162% above that low price. (source)

#3: Silverleaf Resorts, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:SVLF) comes in as the third most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  The small cap stock of Silverleaf soared after the company announced that it will be acquired by SL Robert Holdings Inc., an affiliate of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Under the terms of the agreement, SL Resort Holdings will acquire Silverleaffor $2.50 per share in an all cash deal. (source)

This is a little bit scary, I must admit.

According to the Wall Street Journal, hackers have successfully penetrated the computer systems of the NASDAQ over the past year.

And this has not been just a one time occurrence.

The NASDAQ computer systems have been successfully hacked and penetrated repeatedly over the past year, according to NASDAQ officials.

According to the WSJ, “So far, [the perpetrators] appear to have just been looking around,” said one person involved in the Nasdaq matter. Another person familiar with the case said the incidents were, for a computer network, the equivalent of someone sneaking into a house and walking around but—apparently, so far—not taking or tampering with anything.

An investigation is now being conducted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service.

How about some half-and-half with that coffee? Or as of today, an exclusive digital network that all Starbucks customers can access from their computers and other wireless devices while lounging around at the famous coffee chain?

Though it already took the step to make its Wi-Fi access completely free for customers only mere months ago, Starbucks is taking things up another notch with the launch of the Starbucks Digital Network.

Built in a partnership with Yahoo, Starbucks’ network provides customers with premium access to sites that normally require a subscription, like the Wall Street Journal, iTunes, Nickelodeon, SnagFilms, New York Times, and much more.

Coffee enthusiasts can take up residence in one of the various bar stools or oversized couches in Starbucks, prop their laptops or iPads in their laps, and click away to enjoy the content. They will be able to read digital versions of the nation’s top newspapers, enjoy free books and book previews, stream and watch movies, television shows, and user-uploaded videos, and download exclusive music tracks especially picked out by Starbucks.

Even the business workers who hang out at Starbucks will have something to enjoy, with access to websites like LinkedIn as well as a free trial to some popular job hunting services.

To make things even more inviting, Starbucks also ensured that all of the content provided on the Starbucks Digital Network is built entirely in HTML5, making it completely compatible with smart phones and tablet technology so that no one is left out of the loop.

All of these things work to enhance the customer experience at Starbucks, which in turn will encourage them to go back for a second and third cup of coffee rather than rushing out the door as soon as they hit the cardboard bottom of their hot latte.

Coffee rage will also be averted as customers waiting for their caffeine fix can easily look through what the network has to offer and focus their attention elsewhere instead of concentrating on how long it takes to get a macchiato brewed.

Best of all, all of the content provided by the Starbucks Digital Network will be free.

Seeing as how Starbucks already reaches out to create a unique experience for customers with its exclusive music compilations and other related aspects, it only makes sense that a digital network be the next step.

After all, a great number of Starbucks’ clientele do work at the coffee chain, whether they are students studying for the next big exam or business workers hammering out a new proposal.

Making the Wi-Fi experience more personal and Starbucks-friendly is a great way to reach those customers. It is only a matter of time before other popular establishments follow suit and create their own free Wi-Fi experiences for their most loyal patrons.

The Wall Street Journal has taken a survey asking if current iPhone users (those with AT&T) would switch to Verizon once the new Verizon iPhone was released. Over 14,000 people responded to the Wall Street Journal survey and the overwhelming response was yes – we will switch to Verizon – the actual number came in at 73% saying “Yes” and 27% saying “No”, the wouldn’t switch. So much for the theory that iPhone users are happy with AT&T. It looks like no sooner will the Verizon iPhone hit (which is expected sometime beginning in 2011), and iPhone users will jump the AT&T boat.

Thoughts?

Well it didn’t take long for us to learn how Wall Street felt about RIMM’s new Blackberry Playbook tablet. No sooner did the stock market open this morning did RIMM shares (NASDAQ:RIMM) start nose diving. RIMM shares are currently down -3.64% or -1.76 points at $46.60 per share. Not sure exactly what Wall Street didn’t like about the new Blackberry Playbook – perhaps its the estimated price of $300 – $350. Or maybe it’s the actual release date that shows the Blackberry Playbook won’t arrive to the market place until after Christmas.

Thoughts?

via Google Finance

Michael Douglas has a throat tumor.

A spokesperson for Michael Douglas has confirmed that a tumor has been discovered in Douglas’ throat and that eight weeks of radiation treatment and chemotherapy will follow. Doctors who are taking care of Michael Douglas report that they expect a full recovery from his treatment.

Michael Douglas is 65 years old an starred in the hit movie Wall Street.

In a statement released by Michael Douglas regarding the tumor in his throat and his treatment he said, “I am very optimistic!.”

via People, ODT

Company names are starting to drop in the Apple kickback case.

Yesterday news broke that Paul Shine Devine, a global supply manager at Apple, used his position to obtain confidential information from Apple and then sold that information to suppliers which would helped suppliers negotiate better rates and terms in their contracts with Apple.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the parent of Kaedar Electronics Co., one of the six companies named in an indictment of an Apple Inc. employee as having paid kickbacks to land Apple orders, acknowledged Monday that Kaedar did pay brokerage commission to an intermediate trading company for its business with Apple between 2005 and 2008.

The company then proceeded to say they were not sure if the arrested Apple employee is behind the illegal kickbacks and trading.

Stay tuned because I’m sure this case will start breaking open with more details shortly.

via Wall Street Journal

Apparently Wikileaks really enjoyed the attention (and traffic) they got last month when the leaked Afghanistan war documents via their site wikileaks.com because they are back it again.

Wikileaks plans to post additional Afghan war logs, but this time Defense Secretary Robert Gates is stepping up and taking notice.

Gates, and other U.S. defense officials said on Thursday that more Afghan document leaks could further endanger the lives of Afghans who helped the U.S. war efforts.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he is currently going through nearly 7,000 more documents on the Afghan war that he plans on posting, after blocking out names and sources first of course.

So is this information access and sharing gone too far?

Thoughts?

via Wall Street Journal

The small town of Rhinebeck, New York just got a massive injection of capital today!

You may have heard about Chelsea Clinton’s wedding?

Yeah, the event that actually swayed the US government to designate the entire town a “no fly zone”.

Rhinebeck, New York is about 2 hours north of the hustle and bustle of Wall Street.

Quiet, serene, and small.

But today, the small town of Rhinebeck, New York came alive when Chelsea Clinton married her long time boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky.

400 people made it on the wedding invitation list, and the town of Rhinebeck came alive with media, reporters, and a massive jolt to the economy.

Chelsea Clinton’s wedding came in at an estimated $3 million, not to mention all the money spent from the general public, reporters, and everything else that was indirectly associated with the wedding.

So the small town of Rhinebeck, New York enjoyed a stimulus package of their own today!

I’m happy for them…

So it’s all come to this – tomorrow morning it’s expected that the historic Wall Street reform bill will be voted on around 10:30am, and more than likely will pass.

Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat was one of the Senators that was seemingly on the fence about which way he would vote on the legislation. But according to BIC, today he spoke out with this:

“Nebraska taxpayers have already been asked to bail out banks and now we must protect them from future abuses by Wall Street that cost thousands of Nebraskans and millions of Americans their jobs, savings and financial security,” Nelson said in a press release Tuesday announcing his support for the bill. “I will support the Wall Street reform bill to end bailouts, add common-sense consumer protections and make sure that Nebraska Main Street businesses are not adversely affected as we rein in recklessness on Wall Street.”

From HuffPost Hill – It’s been a little less than two years since major Wall Street banks brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse, triggering a steep economic decline and crisis-levels of unemployment. Now, the last time they did that, they wiped themselves so clean off the map that they had little clout to battle Democrats. The SEC and Glass-Steagall were the result. This time around, Congress bailed them out so they were in good enough shape to lobby against the inevitable reform effort. Still, the bill could’ve been much worse, and began improving after Goldman Sachs got itself indicted and the debate was held out in the open on the Senate floor. And the most influential (non)senator may well have beenthe labor-backed Bill Halter, whose primary challenge prodded Blanche Lincoln to slash away at Wall Street. Her derivatives package will cost major banks billions, money that will be redirected into the real economy. Not bad for a $10 million investment.
If the GOP feels like obstructing, it can stave off a vote on final passage until Saturday, but word is they have no plan to do so. The vote should go down around 10:30 a.m.

Kaboom Town 2010 is about to celebrate is 25th year of fireworks, parades, and more! Addison, Texas has always hosted Kaboom Town and it is one of our nations greatest celebrations of the 4th of July.

Kaboom Town is rated one of the top places to watch fireworks in the country by USA Today, the AmericanPyrotechnics Association, Travel + Leisure and The Wall Street Journal

From the Kaboom Town website, the nationally-recognized fireworks show known as Kaboom Town is held at Addison Circle Park in Addison TX, can be seen from anywhere in Addison, including the Addison Circle Park watching party, and many of Addison’s 170 restaurants, 22 hotels and more.

Well, we now know that BP’s Top Kill procedure failed to stop the spewing oil from their oil pipe 5000 feet deep in the ocean floor. BP did not make any guarantees that the Top Kill procedure would work, and the BP CEO was very clear on the point. The procedure was risky and dangerous – what procedure won’t be at those depth levels.

BP is now getting reading for their 3rd attempt at stopping the oil leak with a procedure they call Marine Cap.

The latest procedure involves slicing off the leaking pipe at the top of the well’s broken blow-out preventer, placing a cap over the leak and channeling the captured oil and gas to a vessel on the surface. BP officials said the procedure could take from four days to a week, and it already has two different caps on the ocean floor, ready to be deployed.

BP didn’t try this approach sooner because it feared the kinks in the pipe still attached to the blowout preventer were acting as a choke on the leak. Removing the pipe could lead to a more violent surge of oil.

Carol Browner, White House Energy and Climate Change Advisor, said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the flow of oil could temporarily increase by 20% before the new device is put in place, according to The Wall Street Journal.

BP Oil Spill Live Video Feed

Perhaps the most perplexing aspect of this whole thing is that BP’s live oil feed is not showing any oil spewing out from a pipe like we saw before. I’m wondering if BP has purposely shut off the live video feed that shows the spewing oil from the pipe?

Perhaps BP made the oil leak worse when they attempted the Top Kill procedure, and now they don’t want to show the actual pipe anymore.

NYSE:BP – BP Shares Up As Top Kill Procedure Approaches

Early Wednesday morning marked the beginning of the procedure called Top Kill, which is BP’s effort to stop the gushing petroleum that is causing one of the world’s worst global environmental disasters.’

However, BP (NYSE:BP) shares are currently up on the NYSE as BP’s CEO Tony Hayward gave the Top Kill procedure a chance of 60 to 70 percent at being successful in stopping the gushing oil from the earth.

BP shares are up +6.80 (1.40%), currently trading at 492.00 on the NYSE.

If BP fails at the Top Kill procedure, then the outlook for BP could grow much worse.  According to Shell, if this procedure fails, the company and millions of Gulf Coast residents could have to wait until August for a relief well to be finished. The prospect of oil gushing into the gulf for another two to three months has spooked investors, who have wiped around $30 billion off BP’s market value since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig caught fire and sank last month.

However, if BP is successful with their Top Kill procedure to stop the leakage from its Macondo well, we think we could see a relief rally in the shares to around the mid-500’s p/sh ($47/ADR) level after their 14% underperformance of the global sector, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Now, picture the YMCA gym full of treadmills, weight machines, ellipticals, stair steppers, and bandanna headed mice sweating to the oldies.

Well, according to a Rutgers University study on mice, the combination of exercise and caffeine increases the body’s ability to combat precancerous cells damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

Now, the study did not say how many cups of coffee they got those little-fellers to down, or over what length of time, but it did show that the caffeine consumption alone helped destroy precancerous skin cells, as did the exercise alone. (I’m curious.  Did they have the mice doing palette, aerobics,  or strength workouts?)

Dr. Allan Conney, one of the study authors, pointed out the possibility of some sort of connection between the combination of the two. (The two together provided significant protection.)  In mice there is a protective effect from both caffeine and voluntary exercise, and when both are provided — not necessarily at the same time — protection is even more than the sum of the two –  according to Dr. Conney.

“We think it likely that this will extrapolate to humans, but that has to be tested,” Conney said

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that the study was based on four groups of  hairless mice. Some were fed water containing caffeine, some had wheels on which they could run, some had both –  and a control group had neither.  “The most dramatic and obvious difference between the groups came from the caffeine-drinking runners, a difference that can likely be attributed to some kind of synergy,” Conney said.

“We need to dig deeper into how the combination of caffeine and exercise is exerting its influence at the cellular and molecular levels, identifying the underlying mechanisms,”

“With an understanding of these mechanisms we can then take this to the next level, going beyond mice in the lab to human trials,” he said. “With the stronger levels of UVB radiation evident today and an upward trend in the incidence of skin cancer among Americans, there is a premium on finding novel ways to protect our bodies from sun damage.”

Of course, this is not a substitute for sunscreen!

Researchers also observed that mice drinking caffeine were more active than those that didn’t. (Go figure!) (Of course, that opened up a whole new worry – the dangers of mice drinking coffee – causing hyperactivity –  story at 6!)

Here is some mortgage rate news that is catching a lot of people by surprise – mortgage rates have dropped below the 5 percent level. Now the mortgage companies, and the entire real estate industry, are waiting to see if these historically low mortgage rates will convert into more people buying homes and refinancing their existing mortgages.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the low mortgage rates are happening as a result of the financial trouble that is unfolding in Europe. As the European financial markets continue to become more unstable, international investors are pushing their money into the U.S. in an attempt to seek safer grounds for their investments. The international in flow of investors has pushed mortgage rates here in the US to the lowest levels of the year – and back near 50-year lows, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The housing industry had been bracing for a period of rising mortgage rates, triggered by the end of the Federal Reserve’s $1.25 trillion mortgage-securities purchase program.

Instead, the WSJ writes, many in the industry now say rates could drift as low as 4.5 percent this summer from 4.86 percent now, instead of rising to 6 percent as some economists projected. That makes for significantly lower payments for buying homes or refinancing mortgages.

Mortgage Rates prime for refinance

The drop in mortgage rates creates a perfect environment for refinance your existing mortgages. With mortgage rates creeping down to near 50 year lows, you are sure to be able to find some great mortgage rates for your next refinance.

News is breaking that Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) has acquired the user generated content site Associated Content.

Yahoo is saying that this acquisition will benefit them by expanding their source of high quality, original news and content.

First let me say that Wall Street was not impressed with the acquisition.

Yahoo shares closed down -0.24 (-1.48%), closing at 16.03:

Next, please let me respectively disagree with Yahoo’s perspective of Associated Content being a high quality content provider.

Isn’t it Associated Content that pollutes the top search results with garbage content that is written solely for the purpose of search engine exposure in Google? Tactics such as keyword stuffed articles and titles run rampant at Associated Content.

My impression of Yahoo has always been one of high quality and authoritative content. I’m really quite perplexed by this acquisition.

Perhaps Yahoo plans on a serious overhaul of the Associated Content structure by adding their own editors to oversee the content production and quality. This almost has to be the case because I can’t imagine Yahoo tolerating a lot of Associated Content in it’s original form.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

Yahoo didn’t disclose terms of the deal, expected to close in the third quarter, but a report in Advertising Age said the company paid slightly more than $100 million for Associated Content. A Yahoo spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

Associated has about 380,000 contributors who write their own articles, reviews, guides, interviews or opinion pieces and are paid by how often their work is viewed. The acquisition adds more original content to Yahoo, something the company has been aiming to do.

“Combining our world-class editorial team with Associated Content’s makes this a game-changer,” Bartz said in a press release. “Together we’ll create more content around what we know our users care about, and open up new and creative avenues for advertisers to engage with consumers across our network.”

Although Associated Content does have editors that monitor and review content, for some reason it seems to be an acceptable practice to write content specifically for search engines. Stuffing titles and article bodies with keywords seems to be a pretty low quality content strategy.

What do you think?

So what do you think about Yahoo acquiring Associated Content?

Do you have the same impression of Associated Content that I have, that Associated Content writes specifically for search engines?

President Obama was joined by Pearl’s widow Mariane and their son Adam, 7, in the Oval Office as he signed the law in honor of the slain Daniel Pearl. The law will single out foreign governments that “shackle” press freedoms.

The president said the law “sends a strong message from the US government and the State Department that we’re paying attention on how foreign governments are operating when it comes to the press.”  “This legislation, in a very modest way, puts us clearly on the side of journalistic freedom.”

Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was kidnapped in Karachi on January 23, 2002 while researching a story about Islamist militants.  He was later killed by his kidnappers.

Mariane Pearl was pregnant with their son (now 7) when her husband was murdered.

A  video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in the city nearly a month later.  Al-Qaeda’s alleged mastermind kingpin Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — who claimed responsibility for beheading Pearl and is now in US custody.

I wrote earlier about the how the Dow Jones Industrials were continuing to gain coming into Tuesday. The overall markets are going strong into the positive territory as well.

But there are a few stocks each day that really captures people’s attention and drives to places like Google to search and get more information about these company shares.

Below are the top 3 stocks being searched on Google right now:

NASDAQ:FOSL – Fossil, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:FOSL)

Fossil, Inc. is a global designer, marketer and distributer company that specializes in consumer fashion accessories. Its offerings include a line of men’s and women’s fashion watches and jewelry, handbags, small leather goods, belts, sunglasses, footwear, cold weather accessories and apparel.

Fossil is currently trading up +3.50 (9.24%) at 41.39.

NASDAQ:CRUS – Cirrus Logic, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:CRUS)

Cirrus Logic, Inc. (Cirrus Logic) develops high-precision, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) for a range of consumer and industrial markets. The Company delivers optimized products for consumer and commercial audio, automotive entertainment and industrial applications.

Cirrus Logic is currently trading up +1.91 (15.94%) at 13.89.

NYSE:LM – Legg Mason, Inc. (Public, NYSE:LM)

Legg Mason, Inc. (Legg Mason) is a global asset management company. Acting through its subsidiaries, the Company provides investment management and related services to institutional and individual clients, Company-sponsored mutual funds and retail separately managed account programs.

Legg Mason is currently trading up +4.29 (14.32%) at 34.29.

Those are your top 3 stocks being searched on Google.

Stay tuned to this blog as I will cover the top 3 stocks that are being searched during trading hours with the goal to give you insight into what other stocks people are searching for on a comparatively high volume basis.

So what do you think?

So what it is about any one of these 3, or all 3, or these stocks that are causing people to want to search for them in Google and get more information?

Look forward to hearing your comments…

Senator Bob Bennett – Republican Bob Bennet Loses Party Bid

The republican party continues to pursue a path of restructuring and rebuilding their party from the inside out. This restructuring continued today with the Republican Senator Robert (Bob) Bennett.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Republican Senator Robert Bennett of Utah on Saturday became the first incumbent U.S. senator to drop a re-election bid this year after losing a vote for his party’s nomination.

The three-term senator, hurt by anti-incumbent sentiment and unpopular moves he made in Washington in the past few years, failed to secure enough support from the 3,500 delegates at the state GOP convention here.

Unlike most states, Utah has a nominating system in which delegates winnow down their party’s field of candidates before a primary election. Mr. Bennett was eliminated from the Senate race in the second of three rounds of delegate voting. He finished third in the vote; only the top two advance to the final round.

The remaining candidates, businessman Tim Bridgewater and lawyer Mike Lee, will compete in a June 22 primary. Running on populist platforms, they both have backing from tea-party supporters and have pledged to reduce the federal government’s size if elected.

Is The Tea Party Gaining Momentum?

With the ousting of Robert (Bob) Bennett and looking at the remaining two candidates Tim Bridgewater and lawyer Mike Lee, we are perhaps seeing the support of tea party movement voters growing larger in influence.

But despite has much the Tea Party grows, there are those who are fighting directly against the Tea Party movements – you could call these people the anti Tea Party movement.

Wall Street – DOW Closes Down Triple Digits For The Week (INDEXDJX:.DJI)

DJIA Closes at 10,380.06, -140.26 (-1.33%) for the week

No sooner did President Barack Obama finish his speech about how he is directly responsible for the strong jobs numbers did the stock market begin it’s rebound from yesterday’s dramatic fall from grace.  Even though yesterday we saw a drop on Wall Street, so sudden and dramatic, unlike anything that has possibly been seen before in history – the stock market has actually found a way to only end down currently 166 points or less than 2% for the week.

To experience what happened yesterday in the stock market, and for the Dow Jones Industrial Averages to finish the week out less than 2% is something that I would call pretty good – and perhaps even “dodging a bullet” would be more appropriate.

Right now the DJIA (INDEXDJX:.DJI) is trading at 10,354.21 – this is sharply lower than the recent high of when the DOW hit 11,000. However, it is up from earlier today when the markets first opened. And even though there was improving US job market forecasts and payrolls expanded by 290,000 in the month of April – which is the best month since March 2006 – the market still looks like it will end up closing down for the week in triple digits.

Google Shares (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sink To Below $500

Despite Google turning in impressive financial numbers and generating massive amounts of web traffic for itself, and for millions of other sites on the web, Google shares are clearly not exempt from the over all market declines that have plagued Wall Street since yesterday. Shares of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) sank to a sub $500 level today (Friday).

This was the first time Google shares were below $500 since October of last year. Shares of Google, which traded at well over $600 as recently as January, fell as low as $481.33 on Friday, before recovering slightly to $492.95. Google shares have fallen roughly 20% in the year to date, while the Nasdaq Composite Index has clung to a roughly 3% gain over the same period.

Sources:

MarketWatch.com