Archive for December 28th, 2009
CHART OF THE DAY: That Horrible Q3 GDP Report Was Even Worse Than You Thought
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Last week the Commerce Department announced that in Q3 GDP had been revised down to 2.2% growth after first clocking in at a brisk 3.8%. The number was the latest blow to those who are still holding out hopes of a V-shaped recovery.
Not only was the headline number disappointing, but a deeper drill-down is also depressing. As Goldman Sachs analyst Jan Hatzius pointed out in a recent note, major GDP components, including consumption, residential investment, and business investment decline in lockstop. There were no outliers distorting the number.
Quite simply, across the board, things aren’t as good aswe thought… or hoped.
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Tiger Woods Scandal Cost Shareholders Up To $12 Billion
Shareholders of Nike, Gatorade and other Tiger Woods sponsors lost some $5 billion to $12 billion due to the scandal involving his extramarital affairs, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis.
The researchers don’t expect the share prices to rebound any time soon.
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See Also:
- Tag Heuer Stands By Woods, Puts Golfer Front And Center On Its Website!
- Accenture Launches Frenzied Global Campaign To Disappear Tiger Woods
- What To Do When Your Celebrity Endorser Has A PR Crisis
Skee-Ball iPhone App Has A Huge Christmas (AAPL, ERTS)
Given the huge spike in iPhone app purchases on Christmas Day, any company whose apps are near the top of the iTunes bestseller lists is going to have a good week.
This year, one of those big winners was Brooklyn-based Freeverse Inc., whose Skee-Ball game is currently the top-selling paid app in the App Store. (iTunes link.)
On Christmas Day, Freeverse sold 47,926 copies of Skee-Ball at $0.99, the company tells us, generating roughly $33,000 in sales after Apple’s 30% cut. The previous Friday, Dec. 18th, it did 4,847 units, Freeverse tells us. That’s a ten-fold increase, and is in line with similar reports.
Another game, Flick Fishing, sold 31,741 units on Christmas, and 4,072 the previous Friday. At $0.99, that’s almost $22,000 in sales on Christmas alone, after Apple’s cut. Flick Fishing is currently the no. 19 paid app in the App Store.
Other winners include “Tap Tap Revenge 3″ maker Tapulous, whose app has hovered at or near the top of the free app charts since becoming free last week; “Live Cams” maker Barry Egerter, and Electronic Arts, which has six apps in the top 25 paid apps.
Don’t miss: Apple’s 10 Dumbest iPhone App Rejections
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See Also:
- Apple’s 10 Dumbest iPhone App Rejections
- ‘Tap Tap Revenge 3′ Going Free Today As Tapulous Bets On Virtual Goods
- How iPhone Apps Are Raking In Cash From Virtual Goods
Economy Down, Crime Up? Not Here!
They say when the economy tanks, crime explodes.
Not in New York — at least according to the New York Police Department. As of Sunday, there have been 461 murders in New York last year, as compared to 516 in 2008.
Reuters: Nationwide, statistics suggest the United States will have seen a drop in violent crime for a third year in a row. Last week, the FBI reported violent crime, including murder and robbery, dropped 4.4 percent in the first half of 2009.
The FBI also said New York was the safest U.S. big city in 2009.
Read the full article here.
Did you hear that everyone? New York: totally safe!
Many of us who live hear would agree with that, though the tourists who witnessed this shooting in Times Square a few weeks ago might disagree.
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See Also:
- The Decade’s 10 Biggest Financial Crimes
- The Decade’s Most Incredible Crime Sprees
- Quote Of The Day: "The Emergency Room For Society"
Obama Holds Three-Day Late News Conference On Terrorist Attack, Doesn’t Wear A Tie
Normally, those who obsessively focus on terrorism, while disregarding other events, are guilty of getting fooled by randomness. They see one epic event and conclude that it’s a bigger deal than it really is, even if the actual threat doesn’t mean its spectacularness.
In the case of the Detroit would-be bomber, we’re getting fooled by randomness in the other direction. Because it didn’t go off, it’s not being treated as that big of a a deal, at least not by the President, who finally got around to interrupting his vacation today to speak on the matter.
Glynnis Macnicol of Mediatite sums it up pretty well:
[It was] exactly the sort of presser the President should have given three days ago — including the lack of tie and questions, because those are the sort of things you expect from rushed together statement from a president on vacation. Unfortunately, the casualness of his attire matched with the shortness of the statement, and the lack of questions felt a bit tone deaf considering the President and his advisers had the entire weekend to prepare for it. Moreover, they only served to underline concerns that the President perhaps did not have a grasp of the seriousness of the situation. Obama also “strongly condemned” the suppression of the protests in Iran (something he didn’t do back in June).
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See Also:
- TSA Caves On Getting Up To The Bathroom In The Last Hour
- Detroit Terrorist Had An Accomplice Says Passenger
- "Attempted Act Of Terrorism" On Board Flight To Detroit