sacred bird » business and economy

need some help deciding between the iphone or evo?

630 — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:07:09 +0000

if you can’t decide between the iphone or evo, maybe these two videos will help you decide. brian maupin, who worked as a phone salesperson at best buy before his videos were discovered, made the animated cartoon of a cute bear buyer who goes into “phone mart” to buy an iphone. despite what the cute bear salesperson says, the cute bear buyer cannot be swayed to consider the htc evo phone. the second video is an htc evo phone user who appears in an apple store to get service for his phone. after the videos were discovered, maupin was fired from best buy despite the fact that neither of the videos mention best buy. both videos are hilarious* but beware, you might find these videos offensive… that is if you’re like the idiot characters in these videos who are clueless about the decisions they make and don’t listen to anything people say… or maybe if you don’t like a lot of swearing.

[associated press]

how badly do you want a free iphone 4?

630 — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:15:12 +0000

with a reported 1.7 million iphone 4 phones sold in the first three days, it’s doesn’t take a genius to starting thinking about business ideas for that customer base. one entrepreneur guy (or gal) is way ahead of the game. check out this job posting on craigslist:

“Starting an online interactive pornography firm where woman will use the iphone 4 to video chat with potential customers on a pay as you go basis.

Hours are flexible, pay will increase as the business builds. Woman will receive a free iphone 4 to use as personal time when not working. Woman will talk to potential clients and chat with them and perform various acts as desired by clients. All information will be confidential.

Payment will be based on percentage of sales volume and performance. Potential launch date of the company is 9/1/2010 or based on feedback received.

Woman will receive, as before mentioned, a free cell phone and a very competitive salary.

Please send information and pictures – we would like to launch sooner than 9/1/2010.

Woman must be at least 18 years old.”

[craigslist]

crayola better watch out

630 — Wed, 26 May 2010 18:43:16 +0000

check out these new awesome edible crayons luxirare created. the box of 8 crayons is made from organic products like nuts, sesame seeds, bananas and even marshmallow (for the white crayon). the ingredients are turned into a fine power which is then put into a crayon mold. add a little packaging and voila, it’s ready for coloring (or eating). these are not for sale but i expect since we’re all finding out how easily it can be done, it’ll be on the market soon.

[luxirare]

soon to be collector’s items

630 — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:30:33 +0000

if you’re still using 3.5 floppy drives for storage 1) you should wake up, it’s 2010 and 2) you should stock up. (if you’re 25 and under, you probably have no clue what I’m talking about). sony announced the other day that they will discontinue the sale of the floppy disks in march 2011. introduced in 1983, you might not find the disks in computer stores today nor can you find a drive to read the disks but they are still sold in japan. the hd version of the floppy disks help up to 1440kb of data, that’s 1.4MB, not even enough for one powerpoint presentation.

photo courtsey of suburbanslice

they’ll have to do it old school after saturday

630 — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:40:16 +0000

but seriously, kidnappings and crime are no joke in mexico where the mexican government decided last year to put a cellphone registry in place. most of mexico’s cellphones are prepaid handsets making it easy for kipnappers and other criminals to buy one to use for extortion or ransom negotiations. with the deadline to register phones coming up quickly this saturday, it’s estimated that over 30 million of the 84 million lines are still unregistered. phone companies will be required to cut service for unregistered phones. one company, telefonica, says it plans to maintain service for unregistered users despite the new law. “Telecommunications are of public interest, protected by the constitution … and they can not be denied to the population” said a spokesperson for the company.

so if you have family or friends in mexico you want to talk to, you might want to give them a call before saturday, just in case.

photo courtsey of sorry, that name is already taken

maybe it uses the energy produced by a star

180 — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:59:42 +0000

which is a LOT.

a secret federal investigation revealed that many products labeled with the energy star logo aren’t in fact energy efficient., “In a nine-month study, four fictitious companies invented by the accountability office also sought EnergyStar status for some conventional devices like dehumidifiers and heat pump models that existed only on paper. The fake companies submitted data indicating that the models consumed 20 percent less energy than even the most efficient ones on the market. Yet those applications were mostly approved without a challenge or even questions, the report said.”

for example, one such product, labeled an energy efficient air purifier was an electric heater with a feather duster affixed to the top–it received the stamp. the crack team at the government revealed that the automated system that hands out the stamps acts as an “initial screen” for products but they really only ’spot check’ certain items.

of course, the government says they’ll get right on this to make sure that the products that are certified energy star are indeed energy saving and good for the consumer and the environment. let’s just hope that when they hold the meeting to discuss the problem, some angry senator doesn’t designed to end the meeting because it happens after the sun goes down.

bill finally becomes law today

630 — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:54:22 +0000

obama might’ve signing the bill into law today, but healthcare is not quite done yet. there are some nitty gritty details the senate still needs to work out between the senate bill and the proposed changes to that bill in what is being called the reconciliation bill. the new york times does a great job at detailing the difference but what it comes down to is one bill (the senate) cost $871 billion dollars and will cover 31 million people, leaving 23 million uninsured while the other, the reconciliation bill, will cost $940 billion and insure 32 million people, leaving 22 million uninsured. not that this bill wasn’t sorely needed but when you think about it, it’s crazy that it’s considered such a momentous occasional since it still leaves 40-42% of the population uninsured.

*for more details of the healthcare bill/law, check out cnn’s timeline of what provision goes into effect when, christian science monitor’s health care reform bill 101 and washington post’s interactive tool, what does the healthcare bill mean to me.

photo courtsey of the schoolhouse rock video

march madness

630 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:51:46 +0000

in my office, i have noticed a lot of people milling about chatting bracket strategy so it was no surprise for me to find that american businesses loses an estimate $1.2 billion in productivity during the ncaa tournament. it’s a little late but if you still need some help on how to fill out your brackets, here’s some interesting stats:

there is a correlation between distance travel by a team and their outcome
#1 seeds won everytime in the first round for the last 16 years
#2 seeds have only lost 3 first round games for the last 16 years
the last 18 champions have been seated # 4 or higher

want more tips? check out the data below from bodog.com

trouble with sacred bird’s new coop

630 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:31:37 +0000

if you haven’t already heard by now, anderson cooper is in the processing of rehabbing a firehouse for his new home. unfortunately, his interior designer took a little plunge down a hole and is now suing andy along with the developer of the building. the uncovered hole was where a fire pole was previously installed.

yesterday greta van susteren, andy’s arch enemy in the media world since they both have shows on competiting networks at the same time, defended andy in her blog by saying the media has been skewing the news. “I have my suspicious about why this is in the news and and it seems unfair that Anderson Cooper has to wake to this every day – he is NOT accused of pushing her or of leaving a hole open with the specific intent that she fall in it” adding “sometimes law suits against famous people amount to blackmail….” you know you’re in trouble when your competitor defends you.

that’s why the lion is king

630 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:07:53 +0000

top 5 wildlife attractions in nairobi, kenya are… elephants, leopards, rhinos, buffalo and lions. how much would the amboseli national park pay to ensure they retain the 20% the region currently makes from tourism? seems the answer is 4,000 zebras, 3,000 wildebeest and $1.4 million dollars.

the live zebras and wildebeest will be bought over to the park to feed the lions who have had a shortage of food since the recent drought killed off 80% of the herbivores. the lions, being animals that they are, have started killing off livestock and the villagers are non too happy.

i’ve been reading some of the comments attached to this story on cnn and it’s interesting. most seem to feel that zebras have been “food for lions, have been for thousands of years” and because there are only an estimated 2,000 lions remaining, they have no problems with the what the park plan to do. a very small group seem to think it’s disturbing that no one bothered to save the herbivores by providing water during the drought or that there’s something not quite right in interfering with the natural order of things by trekking in food for the lions. which camp do you fall in?

photo courtsey of sublimeshooter23