The Fed’s rate dilemma
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talked about the risks posed by both further economic weakness as well as inflation in testimony to Congress last month.
New Recommendation System = 40 Percent More Diggs
One month after launching its new recommendation system, Digg is already reporting positive results. Digg recommends stories based on other members with similar voting patterns and interests. Chief scientist Anton Kast writes on the Digg Blog:
- Digging activity is up significantly: the total number of Diggs increased 40% after launch.
- The Recommendation Engine is running strong: at any given point in time, the system is generating over 54 Million Recommendations, with the average Digger having nearly 200 Recommendations from an average of 34 “Diggers like youâ€.
- Friend activity/friends added is up 24%.
- Commenting is up 11% since launch.
Digg’s recommendation engine takes a Last.fm approach to finding people’s whose tastes overlap with yours and then suggesting stories they’ve Dugg up but that you’ve missed. It is collaborative filtering for news.
As Digg becomes more mainstream, it needs technologies such as this to bring it back to its glory days when everybody was interested in the same niche categories. Social recommendations work best when they are extracted from niche communities who are obsessive about one or two topics. Digg started out as a haven for hardcore techies, but has branched out.
The recommendation system is designed to, in effect, help Diggers carve out their own niche communities again. If you happen to like tech industry news, you will see stories from other like-minded Diggers. If you prefer politics or sports, you’ll get those stories. And if you like a combination, the system will grab recommendations from each appropriate bucket.
At least, that is how it is supposed to work in theory. The recommendations seem decent. But I personally haven’t noticed anything that really strikes home. Over time, it should get better.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Stocks take a tumble
Wall Street's losses accelerated at the end of the day Thursday as investors fretted about the labor market and a reading on the economy's growth that was less positive than forecast.
Wikinvest Gives the World Embeddable, Interactive Stock Charts
Embedable stock charts are nothing new, and neither are interactive charts that give you price information as you mouse over different dates. Both Yahoo Finance and Google Finance offer interactive charts on their respective sites, and Yahoo offers embeddable static charts. Neither one brings that interactivity to chart widgets that can be embedded on other sites.
But starting today you can get interactive, embeddable WikiCharts like the one below from Wikinvest. Hold the mouse down over the chart and you can pan it from left to right. Hover over the line and you will get date, price, and volume, information.
And it’s a wiki, so anyone can add an annotation. Do you think you know what’s been driving Yahoo’s stock price up and down lately? Stick in your best explanation before or during big price movements as an annotation.
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Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Wikinvest Gives the World Embeddable, Interactive Stock Charts
Embedable stock charts are nothing new, and neither are interactive charts that give you price information as you mouse over different dates. Both Yahoo Finance and Google Finance offer interactive charts on their respective sites, and Yahoo offers embeddable static charts. Neither one brings that interactivity to chart widgets that can be embedded on other sites.
But starting today you can get interactive, embeddable WikiCharts like the one below from Wikinvest. Hold the mouse down over the chart and you can pan it from left to right. Hover over the line and you will get date, price, and volume, information.
And it’s a wiki, so anyone can add an annotation. Do you think you know what’s been driving Yahoo’s stock price up and down lately? Stick in your best explanation before or during big price movements as an annotation.
.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
When Political Giving Doesn’t Pay
Investor groups want greater board oversight and disclosure of the political contribution process
Having Won his Board Seats, Icahn Decides To Skip Yahoo Shareholder Meeting
Secure in knowing that he will get minority seats on Yahoo’s board, Carl Icahn has decided to skip tomorrow’s shareholder meeting. He doesn’t want to cause a “media event,” he says. (Because he’s so shy, you know).
Seriously, it’s probably a good idea for him not to show up. On his blog he explains his reasons, and his thinking on why he settled for a compromise deal with Yahoo instead of going ahead with a full proxy battle:
Realizing I could not gain control, I saw no point in spending the final two weeks in a debilitating fight, where little would be accomplished except to build animosity between both camps and the end result would be no better than the compromise that was reached. In fact, in winning a minority position on a board by a fight to the end, you always have to be concerned that you may be “boxed” out by the majority that remains on the board. Committees can be formed that you are excluded from and you are given information only on a need to know basis. An important part of my compromise with Yahoo is that the board in the settlement agreement has agreed “that any meaningful transaction, including the strategy in dealing with that transaction, will be fully discussed with the entire board before any final decision is made.” Additionally, if any committee is formed to negotiate a meaningful transaction, Carl Icahn will be a member of that committee.
In other words, it might become a media and shareholder circus tomorrow. But don’t look for anything “meaningful” to happen until afterwards, when the new board is in place.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Having Won his Board Seats, Icahn Decides To Skip Yahoo Shareholder Meeting
Secure in knowing that he will get minority seats on Yahoo’s board, Carl Icahn has decided to skip tomorrow’s shareholder meeting. He doesn’t want to cause a “media event,” he says. (Because he’s so shy, you know).
Seriously, it’s probably a good idea for him not to show up. On his blog he explains his reasons, and his thinking on why he settled for a compromise deal with Yahoo instead of going ahead with a full proxy battle:
Realizing I could not gain control, I saw no point in spending the final two weeks in a debilitating fight, where little would be accomplished except to build animosity between both camps and the end result would be no better than the compromise that was reached. In fact, in winning a minority position on a board by a fight to the end, you always have to be concerned that you may be “boxed” out by the majority that remains on the board. Committees can be formed that you are excluded from and you are given information only on a need to know basis. An important part of my compromise with Yahoo is that the board in the settlement agreement has agreed “that any meaningful transaction, including the strategy in dealing with that transaction, will be fully discussed with the entire board before any final decision is made.” Additionally, if any committee is formed to negotiate a meaningful transaction, Carl Icahn will be a member of that committee.
In other words, it might become a media and shareholder circus tomorrow. But don’t look for anything “meaningful” to happen until afterwards, when the new board is in place.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Pill Could Boost Sports Performance
Rodent study found taking it increased speed, endurance during training
The First Fiberglass Ferrari
The aerodynamic 1971 512 M was the fastest car Ferrari had ever built, capable of speeds in excess of 235 mph