Corporate Bonding 2.0
Company retreats are nothing new. And then, Fortune reports, there's Eco Seagate, a $2 million, week-long, life-changing challenge in New Zealand that some employees of the Northern California tech company trained months for. The trip, developed by CEO Bill Watkins, costs the company $2 million a year, and though the corporate gains are difficult to quantify, the effect is dramatic.
(read more)Honda Looks to Muscle in on Prius Market
Honda is rolling out three new hybrids, looking to muscle in on rival Toyota in a world ever more receptive of fuel-efficient vehicles. The current Civic hybrid will be joined by a five-door compact, another compact already sold in Europe as the Jazz, and a new hybrid sports car, Forbes reports. The five-door models are to be sold beginning early 2009.
(read more)Nanotech Cancer Risk Seen
Researchers have found that microscopic “wonder particles” used in a small number of materials, including bicycle parts and bumpers, have asbestos-like effects if inhaled, the Los Angeles Times reports. Consumers aren’t really at risk from the carbon nanotubes, but factory workers making the products could be, the researchers concluded.
(read more)Networks Aiming to Rein in RedLasso
Three of the big networks are trying to get a handle on video syndication website RedLasso, cNet reports. The site records and indexes clips from TV and radio shows, making it easy for bloggers to share and embed them. NBC, CBS and Fox News have issued a cease-and-desist letter ordering the site to stop using their material without permission.
(read more)YouTomb Knows Where the Videos Are Buried
When YouTube videos get taken down, YouTomb is watching. The new site, the brainchild of a group of MIT students, tracks every video removed from YouTube, along with who requested its removal. YouTomb doesn’t archive the videos—“We’re not interested in bootlegged videos of Naruto,” says co-creator Dean Jansen—it’s interested solely in watching for fair use abuses.
(read more)Microsoft Will Offer Search Customers Cash
Having largely abandoned its bid to buy, in the form of Yahoo, a significant presence in the Internet search business, Microsoft now will give customers money back when they buy items through its Live.com search portal, the Wall Street Journal reports. To be made official today, the move makes clear Microsoft isn't giving up on its search ambitions.
(read more)Military at War With Rising Fuel Costs
Fuel costs are hitting the US military harder than most, the Wall Street Journal reports, and it's moving forward with efforts to switch to synthetic, and greener, alternatives. Chugging 340,000 barrels of oil per day, the military is the nation's largest consumer; synthetic fuels and massive solar arrays are already in use, and the military is considering nuclear plants on some remote bases.
(read more)Protester Eggs Microsoft CEO
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in Budapest this week to give a lecture to Hungarian university students, but the talk took an unexpected turn when he was pelted with eggs. Unlike Bill Gates, who was hit in the face with a cream pie a decade ago, Ballmer was able to dodge the attack. The protester shouted that Microsoft had stolen money from the Hungarian people, hurled three eggs, and was calmly escorted out.
(read more)Oilman Pickens Throws in With Icahn in Fight to Control Yahoo
Carl Icahn's proxy bid to replace Yahoo’s board won the backing of legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens yesterday, reports the Wall Street Journal, but without a firm offer from Microsoft to acquire Yahoo the effort could still struggle. "I'll jump in with Carl. He goes in first, I jump in behind him," Pickens told CNBC.
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