Keeping tabs on gift cards

The Irvine-based company hopes its online service, at www.leveragecard.com, will alleviate some of the frustrations associated with gift cards. This year, consumers will lose about $8 billion in unredeemed gift cards, according to Consumer Reports, which also found that 27% of gift card recipients have at least one unused card from last year.

Shoppers listed gift cards among their favorite presents to receive, but many acknowledged having a difficult time keeping track of their whereabouts and balances. Some had found creative ways to keep their gift cards in one place.

"I used to lose them like crazy," said Andrea McCoy, a corporate flight attendant from Los Angeles. "Now I keep them all in a Ziploc bag. It's not very sophisticated but it works."

Julie Foster, a Long Beach accountant, was so notorious among her friends for misplacing gift cards that one pal gave her a business card case for her recent birthday."When you lose several of them," she said, showing off the new leather case filled with 11 gift cards, "it adds up."

By registering a card at Leverage, users can track their gift cards online and are notified when gift card balances change. If a card is misplaced, a backup mechanism can retrieve lost card numbers.For those who buy gift cards on the site, there's a small financial reward: 3.65% in interest. Cards that are registered with but not purchased from the website earn 1%
interest.

"People might not be making $100 a year from this," Mathe said, "but it's definitely better than having dead plastic sitting in your wallet."

Facebook May Revamp Beacon

In the wake of mounting criticism, Facebook executives are discussing changes to a controversial advertising tool that publicizes users’ Web activities outside of the popular social network. Alterations to the recently introduced Beacon system could be announced as early as Nov. 29, BusinessWeek.com has learned.

Executives of the three-year-old company were in deep talks over proposed changes late into the afternoon on Nov. 28, according to a person familiar with the matter. At issue is the Beacon program, which alerts members' Facebook "friends" to purchases and other activities on third-party Web sites. A spokesperson for the company declined to discuss changes, reiterating an earlier statement: "Facebook is listening to feedback from its users and committed to evolving Beacon."

Online Company Offers Gift Card Management

Gift cards are expected to be a major component of holiday giving, with estimates putting sales at more than $100 billion in 2008. And according to Consumer Reports' survey, 62% of consumers are planning to buy gift cards this season, many of which will be bought online. Consumer Reports' survey also found that when the time came for consumers to redeem their gift card, the majority of consumers also spent their own money, with 60% spending more than the value of the card.

Leverage (www.leveragecard.com) is a way for consumers to manage an array of gift, reward and loyalty resources online. Users can perform the following tasks online with a single, free online application including purchase, track and exchange gift cards from retailers who are online; earn interest on gift card balances; enroll in and manage loyalty and rewards programs; receive targeted offers and savings from retailers based on gift card holdings, as well as self-reported demographic, psychographic, gift occasions and travel calendar information and maintain complete privacy of all personally identifiable information.

Users create an account and profile, and then register their gift cards, reward and loyalty program information. This information is securely collected from participating partners, aggregated and presented to users in a friendly and intuitive interface. Changes across all accounts are visible immediately as they occur.

Leverage also gives advertisers an opportunity to deliver relevant and timely messages to users based on self-reported, non-identifiable information. When users log in to their Leverage account, they are invited to view their offers and savings from retailers in a format that is similar to an email inbox.

The promotional messages are accompanied by a key that provides insights into each merchant's targeting rationale. Criteria include non-personally-identifiable demographic and geographic information (age, gender, and location), recent gift card transactions, loyalty program membership, or an upcoming gift occasion. This transparency provides consumers with far more control over the timing, volume and relevance of advertising.

Poking Facebook

Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg created one of the most trafficked sites on the Web and became a paper billionaire as a result. But ongoing lawsuits suggest that Facebook's origins are murkier than Zuckerberg would like to admit. Is the man many are calling Harvard’s next Bill Gates telling the truth?

Skype Goes Mobile

Bit by bit, big names in the computing world are barging into the cell-phone business. First came Apple's (AAPL ) game-changing iPhone. Next came word that Google (GOOG ) is creating its own software platform for a new breed of cell phones.

Now Skype (EBAY ), which popularized free and cheap phone calls over the Internet, is set to launch a customized cell phone developed jointly with 3 Mobile, a wireless carrier in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Code-named the "white phone," the Skype handset will be introduced by late October in Britain, Italy, Hong Kong, and Australia, and will reach 3's other five markets later, BusinessWeek has learned. There are no immediate plans to bring the device to North America, though the companies may try to license it to other carriers or sell versions straight to consumers for them to use on other networks.

A Business Best Seller in Japan

What do you get when you combine a guitar-playing eggplant with McKinsey-style reasoning? In Japan, a best-selling business book. Titled The World's Easiest Problem-Solving Class, it aims to teach consultant-style analysis to middle and high schoolers in a country where test-taking and rote memorization are second nature to kids at an early age. But since its June release the book has been snapped up by adults, rising as high as No. 2 on Amazon (AMZN) Japan, where it currently ranks No. 26 with 250,000 copies in print.

Author Kensuke Watanabe, a Japanese national who was educated in the U.S. and Japan and worked as a McKinsey & Co. consultant for nearly six years, says he wants to teach Japanese kids to "use critical thinking skills more and be more proactive in shaping the world."

Health is wealth for leaders on the 24-hour treadmill

The dirty little secret of leadership is that it is not nearly as stressful as being a subordinate. Lack of autonomy and control over your work - now, that is stressful. Boring, repetitive tasks and being excluded from the really interesting networks - this is what makes working life unpleasant and potentially damaging to health. If you don't believe me, read Sir Michael Marmot's book Status Syndrome , based on his three decades of research into the subject.

So Many Ads, So Few Clicks

Can more targeted pitches on Facebook and other sites reverse the shrinking response to online ads? In June, Luke Mitchell's student marketing service, Reach Students, ran a series of Web ads to promote an offer from a major parcel delivery service. The timing seemed perfect: just when college students decide whether to store belongings for the summer or ship them home. So did the placement--on the Facebook social network, where students hang out for hours.

Yet when the results rolled in, Mitchell was stunned: Only 0.04% of those people who got the ads on their screens bothered to click on them. He had expected at least 1% to respond. "We had just a handful of users come to the site," he says.The truth about online ads is that precious few people actually click on them. And the percentage of people who respond to common "banner ads," the ubiquitous interactive posters that run in fixed places on sites, is shrinking steadily.

The so-called click-through rate for those ads on major Web destinations such as Yahoo! (YHOO ), Microsoft (MSFT ), and AOL (TWX ) declined from 0.75% to 0.27% during 2006, according to Eyeblaster, a New York-based online ad serving and monitoring firm. It says that last March the average click rate on standard banner ads across the whole Web was 0.2%. This reflects a surge in new ads and Web pages, fueled by the rise in social networks.

House Approves 7-Year Ban on Internet Tax

The House approved a bill yesterday to bar states from taxing Internet access through 2014, clearing the way for President Bush to sign the measure into law before the current ban expires tomorrow.

The unanimous vote resolved a conflict with the Senate, which last week called for the longest-ever Internet-tax ban by passing the seven-year ban. The House had voted Oct. 16 to prohibit the taxes for four years.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged Bush to sign the bill immediately.

Since 1998, a federal law has prohibited cities and states from taxing most forms of Internet access. The ban was last extended in 2004. Groups representing state and local officials had pushed for a four-year ban.
High-speed Internet service providers AT&T, Verizon Communications and Comcast, and Web companies such as Google, had sought a permanent ban but welcomed the seven-year renewal.

The legislation would allow states and cities to continue taxing all forms of telephone and pay-television service, even if carriers bundle those services with Internet access.

Most House Republicans wanted a permanent tax ban and "will continue to fight" for one after the seven-year renewal expires, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the second-highest-ranking Republican in the House, said in an e-mailed statement.

The Thirty-Somethings Running Your Company

In case you haven't noticed, the stereotypical image of a silver-haired 50-something chief executive wearing a perfectly dimpled necktie is fading.

The top dog at the company no longer has to fit that mold to gain the trust of his or her peers and shareholders. Authority and competence are no longer found just in a look--and age and experience don't always dictate performance.

NHL, Reebok Create Glitzy Midtown Manhattan Store

The NHL store landscape ispunctuated by larger-than-lifeplayer images.

The National Hockey League and Reebok have collaborated on an apparel store in midtown Manhattan with a dazzling display of video screens and designer t-shirts where shoppers can also relax over a double mocha latte.

The NHL Powered By Reebok, as the store is billed, is intended to stop hockey fans strolling by in their tracks with enough eye candy to rival the window displays in the city's diamond district across from the Sixth Avenue location.

It lives up to the billing, as yesterday's press tour revealed. Next to a wall display of Reebok shoes, fans can design their own pair with an NHL team logo. Along with newly-designed high-ticket Reebok NHL jerseys are designer variations on the NHL team themes, including t-shirts and pullovers designed by Reebok for men and women

Read more of this story

Can Facebook be worth $10billion?

They are joined by more than 100,000 new users a day – the company is set to triple in size this year. In America, more people visit the site than go to eBay and, to applause, Zuckerberg said they were working on overtaking Google.

Facebook has emerged as the star of the latest wave of “Web 2.0” internet companies. Now, Zuckerberg told Fortune magazine, he was about to unveil “the most powerful distribution mechanism that’s been created in a generation”.

It’s the sort of statement guaranteed to stop executives in the technology and media industry in their tracks.

In Seattle, Microsoft was clearly listening. The software giant has struggled in recent years as Google has stolen its thunder, and software services have moved increasingly online. Last week Zuckerberg was at Microsoft’s HQ, where he was reported to be negotiating the sale of a minority stake in the company for $500m (£244m). The price would value Facebook at $10 billion.

There have been rumours Zuckerberg may be holding out for $15 billion. Google, too, is said to be considering an offer.

Google Advances on Europe

“Googliness” is still important for Google’s operations outside the US, but it is incorporating local touches. In some countries, such as Russia, Google has struggled to compete against local rivals such as Yandex and Rambler. “Our support for the Russian language was not great, so we opened an office in Russia and got Russian engineers to look at the problem,” says Nelson Mattos, Google’s new head of engineering for Europe.

Meanwhile, Google is launching products such as mapping services, which by their nature require regional expertise. A team in Israel is leading developments that include reading internet pages from right to left. The company is keen to move into mobile services, in which London is a global centre.

Above all, there is a fear that unless Google is sensitive to concerns voiced by European governments it could become embroiled in long legal disputes. European data protection officials, for example, question the length of time Google keeps the results of search queries, amid concern that these could compromise users’ rights to privacy.

Forget the Israel Lobby. The Hill's Next Big Player is Made in India.

With growing numbers, clout and self-confidence, the Indian American community is turning its admiration for the Israel lobby and its respect for high-achieving Jewish Americans into a powerful new force of its own. Following consciously in AIPAC's footsteps, the India lobby is getting results in Washington -- and having a profound impact on U.S. policy, with important consequences for the future of Asia and the world.

"This is huge," enthused Ron Somers, the president of the U.S.-India Business Council, from a posh hotel lobby in Philadelphia. "It's the Berlin Wall coming down. It's Nixon in China."

Designs on a New Market Niche

When the Arizona Diamondbacks decided to overhaul the interior of their 10-year-old baseball stadium last winter, the team's executives went to Target. Not one of the 1,500 retail stores around the country, but the retailer's less well-known commercial-interiors division.

Designers from Target Corp. spruced up the stadium's clubhouse, made the suite-level dining areas more inviting and hunted down a massive conference table for the team's boardroom.

Founder of Ryanair dies at 71

Tony Ryan, who, as founder of Ryanair, was a pioneer of the European low-cost airline industry, died on Wednesday after a long illness at the age of 71.

The son of a train driver, he became one of the giants of Irish business and was a role model who inspired a generation of younger business leaders. Among them were Denis O'Brien, the telecoms entrepreneur, Michael O'Leary, Ryanair chief executive and Domhnal Slattery, founder of Jetbird, all of whom at one stage worked for him.

The Cheap Revolution

WSJ Oped from Richard KarlGaard

Poor Steve Jobs. First he apologizes for dropping the price of the iPhone from $599 to $399 after just 10 weeks on the market and offers Apple customers a $100 rebate. Now he's being slapped with a $1 million lawsuit from a New York woman who says Apple violated price discrimination laws when her fancy new phone was suddenly worth $200 less.

What's going on here? Did Mr. Jobs gouge early technology adopters just for a couple extra (billion) bucks? I don't think so. After a long streak of successes, Mr. Jobs and Apple -- whose stock is up more than 20-fold since 2002 -- have collided with two forces stronger than they are: One is the cheap revolution; the other is the global economy. Together they forced Apple to drop the price of the iPhone and offend its geeky customer base.

A Reward for Good Behavior

A billionaire wants to give $5 million to African leaders who rule responsibly.

Mo Ibrahim's ideas have been labeled wacky before. A decade ago, when even American consumers were just getting used to cell phones, he decided that the real growth market was sub-Saharan Africa.

"I'm not a visionary," says Ibrahim, 61, a Sudanese businessman who was raised in Egypt and now lives in London. "Things are obvious, but most of us just don't open our eyes."

Celtel, the Pan-African telecom giant he created then, was sold to a Kuwaiti company in 2005 for $3.4 billion. Now Ibrahim wants to use that money for another big, possibly loopy gamble—to pay African leaders to retire.