Jan
05

Media Decoder Blog: New York Observer Makes Ken Kurson New Editor

It will come as no surprise to those who follow the Manhattan media scene that The New York Observer has picked a new editor. After all, the newspaper has already had five editors in the seven years since Jared Kushner, a New York real estate developer, acquired the newspaper at the age of 25 in 2006.Now it has a sixth. Ken Kurson, an author and editor who once worked with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the...
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Scare Amplifies Fears That Clinton’s Work Has Taken Heavy Toll

Pool photo by Brendan SmialowskiHillary Rodham Clinton with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi in Cairo in July. WASHINGTON — When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fractured her right elbow after slipping in a State Department garage in June 2009, she returned to work in just a few days. Her arm in a sling, she juggled speeches and a trip to India and Thailand with physical therapy, rebuilding...
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Scare Amplifies Fears That Clinton’s Work Has Taken Heavy Toll

Pool photo by Brendan SmialowskiHillary Rodham Clinton with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi in Cairo in July. WASHINGTON — When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fractured her right elbow after slipping in a State Department garage in June 2009, she returned to work in just a few days. Her arm in a sling, she juggled speeches and a trip to India and Thailand with physical therapy, rebuilding...
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Common Sense: Google Finds a Line Between ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Evil’

“Don’t Be Evil,” the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, proclaimed in their 2004 “Owner’s Manual” for prospective investors in the company. Despite widespread cynicism, criticism and even mockery, the company has never backed down on this core premise, reiterating in its most recent list of the “things we know to be true” that “you can make money without doing evil.” Mladen...
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Greece Tax Scandal Shifts Focus From Collection Problem

The tax scandal that reignited in Greece over the holidays had all the makings of a grade-B drama. A former finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, was accused of scrubbing his relatives’ names from a CD containing the identities of thousands of possible Greek tax dodgers. Within hours, his chief political rival tossed him from their party. Thanassis Stavrakis/Associated PressGeorge...
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Jan
04

Common Sense: Google Finds a Line Between ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Evil’

“Don’t Be Evil,” the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, proclaimed in their 2004 “Owner’s Manual” for prospective investors in the company. Despite widespread cynicism, criticism and even mockery, the company has never backed down on this core premise, reiterating in its most recent list of the “things we know to be true” that “You can make money without doing evil.” Yet the...
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Scant Proof Is Found to Back Up Claims by Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are the fastest-growing part of the beverage industry, with sales in the United States reaching more than $10 billion in 2012 — more than Americans spent on iced tea or sports beverages like Gatorade. Their rising popularity represents a generational shift in what people drink, and reflects a successful campaign to convince consumers, particularly teenagers, that the drinks...
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Scant Proof Is Found to Back Up Claims by Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are the fastest-growing part of the beverage industry, with sales in the United States reaching more than $10 billion in 2012 — more than Americans spent on iced tea or sports beverages like Gatorade. Their rising popularity represents a generational shift in what people drink, and reflects a successful campaign to convince consumers, particularly teenagers, that the drinks...
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Communications Satellites, Banned as ‘Weapons,’ Now Legal for Export

To the delight of American satellite makers, communications satellites — which orbit Earth to relay phone calls, link ships to shore and broadcast television programs — will become legal for civilian export under legislation that President Obama signed into law on Thursday. Although the United States founded the industry, manufacturers were forced to pull back from international markets after...
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Yuval Diskin, Former Israeli Security Chief, Calls Netanyahu a Poor Leader

JERUSALEM — In a harsh interview published on Friday, less than three weeks before Israel’s national elections, a former head of the internal security service accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of placing his “personal, opportunistic and current interests” over those of the state when making crucial policy decisions regarding the Iranian nuclear program, the Palestinian conflict and other matters....
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Jan
03

U.S. Auto Sales End 2012 on Strong Note

DETROIT (AP) — Strong U.S. sales in December capped a remarkable year for the auto industry — especially Japanese brands — and 2013 should be even better. Sales of new cars and trucks are expected to total around 14.5 million after all carmakers announce figures on Thursday. That is 13 percent better than 2011 and the best performance in five years. In 2012, Americans had plenty...
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5-Hour Energy’s ‘No Crash Later’ Claim Is Disputed

The distributor of the top-selling energy “shot,” 5-Hour Energy, has long claimed on product labels, in promotions and in television advertisements that the concentrated caffeine drink produced “no crash later” — the type of letdown that consumers of energy drinks often feel when the beverages’ effects wear off. But an advertising watchdog group said on Wednesday that it had told the company...
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5-Hour Energy’s ‘No Crash Later’ Claim Is Disputed

The distributor of the top-selling energy “shot,” 5-Hour Energy, has long claimed on product labels, in promotions and in television advertisements that the concentrated caffeine drink produced “no crash later” — the type of letdown that consumers of energy drinks often feel when the beverages’ effects wear off. But an advertising watchdog group said on Wednesday that it had told the company...
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TIMESCAST: A First in Grammy Nods

January 2, 2013By Fritzie Andrade, Emily B. Hager, Krishnan Vasudevan, Pedro Rafael Rosado and Samantha StarkTimesCast Media+Tech: Austin Wintory, Grammy-nominated composer. | Apps to help keep New Year’s resolutions. | Ben Horowitz, entrepreneur and venture capitali...
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Central Africa on the Brink, Rebels Halt Their Advance

Ben Curtis/Associated PressA convoy of soldiers from Chad who are fighting in support of President Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic, traveled on the road to Damara, north of the capital, Bangui, on Wednesday. Rebel forces halted their advance on Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on Wednesday and said they were prepared to enter into peace talks with the government....
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Jan
02

Case Study: A Start-Up’s Dilemma: A Lack of Capital, or Lack of Control

Eatwhatever is a two-step, breath-freshening product created four years ago by a then-26-year-old Australian expatriate named Jacqui Rosshandler. Starting with $60,000 in capital, contracting out production and working solo from her New York apartment, Ms. Rosshandler and her company, Jacquii L.L.C., managed to grab a promising but tenuous toehold in the billion-dollar breath-freshening industry....
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Safed Journal: New Insights on Marijuana in Israel, Where It’s Illegal

Baz Ratner/ReutersTikkun Olam, a medical marijuana farm in Israel, blends the high-tech and the spiritual. SAFED, Israel — Among the rows of plants growing at a government-approved medical marijuana farm in the Galilee hills in northern Israel, one strain is said to have the strongest psychoactive effect of any cannabis in the world. Another, rich in anti-inflammatory properties, will not get you...
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Safed Journal: New Insights on Marijuana in Israel, Where It’s Illegal

Baz Ratner/ReutersTikkun Olam, a medical marijuana farm in Israel, blends the high-tech and the spiritual. SAFED, Israel — Among the rows of plants growing at a government-approved medical marijuana farm in the Galilee hills in northern Israel, one strain is said to have the strongest psychoactive effect of any cannabis in the world. Another, rich in anti-inflammatory properties, will not get you...
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