Written by: Damian Roache Verizon Wireless acted swiftly on Friday to pacify its customers by dropping new plans to start charging users a fee for online payments. The proposed fee was set to debut on January 15, but the clamoring of thousands of Verizon subscribers caused the company to change its tone. The [...]
For those of you that think of the 1950s as the golden age of Rock ‘n’ Roll, be ready to rejoice: Payola is back! For all the dirty machinations schemed up by music industry executives, payola was one that is actually criminal (rather than just reprehensible), and the one that got all the ink from [...]
In a deal that looks like it will boost the expertise of both companies, Toyota and Tesla Motors have agreed to jointly develop an electric RAV4 and possibly other models. Tesla has become the leader in, if not all-electric car technology, then electric car technology with serious curb appeal – something that the big auto [...]
We’ve all seen those movies where the man who built a company fights to keep it against a tide of back stabbing board members and stockholders giddy to sell out for a quick buck, legacy be damned. Well, there couldn’t be a sexier vehicle to reprise the theme than what’s unfolding now in real life, [...]
Walmart executives really, really like the idea of one-stop shopping. At super Walmart stores, you can get all the things common in large department stores, from clothing to toys, housewares, gardening implements and on and on and on and on. You can also get tires, car repair, money orders and probably tax advice and who [...]
Pornography has a hero’s place in the history of the internet and some day it may have its very own realm there, too. ICANN, the agency that manages web domains, is considering adding .xxx to choices of web address suffixes. If approved, the addition would not only give porn sites a fitting, marketable suffix, but [...]
Washington state’s monopoly on liquor sales is facing a pallet-full of trouble. Retailer’s have long bemoaned the state’s liquor laws that preclude anyone but government run stores from selling, but none have battled to change it like the Seattle, Wash. based warehouse store Costco. Having seen from its wine and beer sales that people like [...]
This is the economic recovery that won’t get out of its own way. Every time one sign points to a light at the end of the tunnel, the light just turns out to be an illuminated sign, pointing to another dim and winding path. Whenever unemployment numbers drop, it’s only about a week before we [...]
Bio-refining company ZeaChem Inc. broke ground June 2 on a cellulosic fuel plant in Boardman, Ore. The new facility’s focus will be on making transportation fuel from fast-growing poplar trees in the Northwest, along with the chemical ethyl acetate, which is used in myriad products. The federal government and many businesses have been interested for [...]
For years politicians and Boeing have been calling foul on what they say are subsidies that Airbus parent EADS receives from the European Union. Thursday, they did something about it – the US House of Representatives voted to force the Department of Defense to consider it as an unfair advantage when reviewing bids for its massive [...]
