word
Weight Watchers Made A New Logo That Looks Like Microsoft Word Art
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/weight-watchers-has-a-new-logo-2012-12
Weight Watchers just underwent a branding makeover. Unfortunately its new logo kind of looks like it was made with Microsoft Word Art.
According to the press release:
As part of the program overhaul and looking forward to the next 50 years, Weight Watchers also gave its brand a new, highly modern visual system that brings to life the transformation members experience when they adopt a new lifestyle that can lead to significant weight loss.
But while the 1.3 million member program says its modern, we say that the chunky font with the fade to grey color gradients is reminiscent of what we’d slap on the cover page of an Eleanor Roosevelt book report to spice things up. If only the new logo came with clip art…
The typeface is based on a customized version of the font Fort and comes in five other bright color options.
Paula Scher at Pentagram created the identity redesign and according to Pentagram’s website, “The new identity features a friendly, accessible logotype with the Weight Watchers name set in lowercase. The logotype appears in a gradient that visibly lightens from left to right, embodying the idea of transformation and losing weight.”
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The Most Overpaid CEOs In America (OXY)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/obermatt-overpaid-underpaid-ceos-america-2012-2
Executive compensation is one of the most ironic hotly-debated topics out there. It’s hotly debated because people often complain that CEOs are overpaid. It’s ironic because most of the people who complain about excessive pay have the capacity to do something, yet they do nothing.
You see, every year shareholders of a company are mailed a Form DEF 14A, also known as the proxy statement. In the proxy are the details of the company’s executive compensation plans, and they are typically written plain English. If shareholders don’t like the plan, they vote it down.
But many shareholders will receive the proxy in the mail and throw it right into the trash. And by default, they vote in favor of whatever plan is recommended by the Board.
Anyways, research firm Obermatt (via The Economist) computed the excess pay of CEOs of the S&P 100 companies. Excess pay is calculated as deserved pay less actual pay. Deserved pay is measured considering earnings growth and shareholder return and the compensation practices of peer group companies.
On the top of the “Most Overpaid” list is Occidental Petroleum’s Ray Irani. Irani is widely considered the poster child of excessive pay.
On the bottom are fan favorites Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett.
Here’s a chart of Obermatt’s rankings courtesy of The Economist:
SEE ALSO: These CEOs Were Paid $100+ Million To Quit >
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See Also:
- INFOGRAPHIC: It’s Not Easy To Be A CIO
- Apple Might Lose A $1.6 Billion Lawsuit For Using The Word ‘iPad’
- DOUG KASS: SELL EVERYTHING! EVEN ROUBINI IS BULLISH!
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5882869/even-after-shutting-down-limewire-cant-catch-a-break
LimeWire has been kaput as a file-sharing service since October but that hasn’t stopped its legal woes. Now, after settling with the RIAA to the tune of $105 million, the MPAA and a host of indie music labels have filed lawsuits against the company as well. Talk about beating a dead horse.
Six studios—Twentieth Century Fox, Viacom, Comedy Partners, Disney, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Brothers—have filed suit, citing the court’s summary judgement in the RIAA case as basis for their claims. In that case, the court concluded that LimeWire “intentionally encouraged direct infringement.” Now, the court will have to decide LimeWire’s culpability in the illicit trade of movies and TV shows as well.
In addition, a group of independent record labels are arguing that, because of the same summary judgement, that they too are owed $105 million. There’s no word yet on how much the MPAA is asking for in damages, but if its anything near what it enjoy threatening the common user with, LimeWire’s going to need to find some deeper pockets. [Hollywood Reporter via Techdirt]
Image: Pakhnyushcha / Shutterstock
Monster and Beats Electronics discontinue partnership, audiophiles rejoice
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/monster-and-beats-electronics-discontinue-partnership-/
In the the followup, Monster will pump eight new headphone lineups featuring due out this year, Monster is also noted to have brought in 60% of its own revenue from Beats by Dre, and now plans to shift its focus on older demographics, such as executive types, which the brand never exactly catered to. Notably, Businessweek also states that Beats Electronics will retain to the rights to the headphone’s iconic design, sound-signature and branding. Considering Beats’ partnerships reign far with companies like HP and HTC, things probably won’t be all doom and gloom for the company — but the amount of time left to pick up your very own JustBeats likely just got slim. Hit up the source link below for more details.
Monster and Beats Electronics discontinue partnership, audiophiles rejoice originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Redbox’s $1 per night DVD rentals jump to $1.20 October 31st, Blu-ray and games stay the same
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/27/redboxs-1-per-night-dvd-rentals-jump-to-1-20-october-1st-blu/
While its movie rental rivals Netflix and Blockbuster have struggled for varying reasons recently, it seemed like Redbox could be just the ticket for thrifty renters. That may be tougher now that it has announced Monday we’ll see a slight increase in pricing for DVD rentals, from $1 to $1.20, citing increased debit card fees. So far, nightly pricing for Blu-ray discs ($1.50) and videogames ($2) is staying the same, but with studios already pushing for longer rental delays, there’s fewer safe ports or those pursuing cheap, current movies. On the conference call, executives floated the idea of using the first sale doctrine to buy and rent retail discs if necessary. Overall, as seen above Redbox’s share of the disc rental market rose last quarter, while there’s still no word on plans to jump into online streaming.
Check below for parent company Coinstar’s full Q3 earnings report plus a FAQ that helpfully points out this is Redbox’s first increase in eight years and that discs reserved online will still be just $1 for the first night through November. The actual email customers are receiving is included after the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Redbox’s $1 per night DVD rentals jump to $1.20 October 31st, Blu-ray and games stay the same originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Redbox FAQ, Coinstar Q3 earnings | Email this | Comments
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Comparing Watch Brands via Search Volume
Two insights from this chart:
1. people buy watches for Christmas
2. overall search volume has been on the decline consistently for years
3. only watch brands which are mainly watches (vs Cartier which also makes jewelry, etc.) and also not generic words (e.g. omega) are detectable
Watch brands which are generic words like “omega” or “citizen” are hard to distinguish from the search volume for the generic word.
like the iPod touch, only bigger (updated)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/30/ipads-trailing-costs-like-the-ipod-touch-only-bigger/

Whether or not you think the iPad is in and of itself a worthy purchase, let’s not forget the investment doesn’t end at the retail counter or online shopping cart. Two little newsbits have popped up to serve as a helpful reminder to just that effect. The first comes way of verbiage from the iPad end-user licensing agreement dug up by MacRumors; in a nutshell, it suggests that while iPad OS 4.x updates will be provided gratis, subsequent releases (5.x, 6.x, and so on) could be offered at a premium, à la how iPod touch handles firmware. This is far from a confirmation, but it’s well within Apple’s right to do so. The second bit is derived by The Consumerist by way a supposed leaked app store video. Comparing the prices of iPad-optimized software with the iPhone equivalents showed quite a hefty uptick in consumer cost — e.g., $4.99 Flight Control HD vs. $0.99 Flight Control. The pool of eight apps seen in the video would cost $53 in all to purchase, while the same set for the iPhone is $27. That screen real estate don’t come cheap, y’know — that is, should the prices seen prove legit. At this point we can’t confirm, and more than likely, we won’t know for sure until the eleventh hour.
Update: The BBC has word direct from developers that iPad apps will indeed be costlier than their iPhone / iPod touch brethren. Multiple devs are cited in the Beeb‘s article saying that their 99 cent apps will grow in price to $1.99 and $2.99 price points for the slate device [thanks, Ben].
iPad’s trailing costs: like the iPod touch, only bigger (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | MacRumors, The Consumerist | Email this | Comments
How Google Crunches All That Data
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5495097/how-google-crunches-all-that-data
If data centers are the brains of an information company, then Google is one of the brainiest there is. Though always evolving, it is, fundamentally, in the business of knowing everything. Here are some of the ways it stays sharp.
For tackling massive amounts of data, the main weapon in Google’s arsenal is MapReduce, a system developed by the company itself. Whereas other frameworks require a thoroughly tagged and rigorously organized database, MapReduce breaks the process down into simple steps, allowing it to deal with any type of data, which it distributes across a legion of machines.
Looking at MapReduce in 2008, Wired imagined the task of determining word frequency in Google Books. As its name would suggest, the MapReduce magic comes from two main steps: mapping and reducing.
The first of these, the mapping, is where MapReduce is unique. A master computer evaluates the request and then divvies it up into smaller, more manageable “sub-problems,” which are assigned to other computers. These sub-problems, in turn, may be divided up even further, depending on the complexity of the data set. In our example, the entirety of Google Books would be split, say, by author (but more likely by the order in which they were scanned, or something like that) and distributed to the worker computers.
Then the data is saved. To maximize efficiency, it remains on the worker computers’ local hard drives, as opposed to being sent, the whole petabyte-scale mess of it, back to some central location. Then comes the second central step: reduction. Other worker machines are assigned specifically to the task of grabbing the data from the computers that crunched it and paring it down to a format suitable for solving the problem at hand. In the Google Books example, this second set of machines would reduce and compile the processed data into lists of individual words and the frequency with which they appeared across Google’s digital library.
The finished product of the MapReduce system is, as Wired says, a “data set about your data,” one that has been crafted specifically to answer the initial question. In this case, the new data set would let you query any word and see how often it appeared in Google Books.
MapReduce is one way in which Google manipulates its massive amounts of data, sorting and resorting it into different sets that reveal new meanings and have unique uses. But another Herculean task Google faces is dealing with data that’s not already on its machines. It’s one of the most daunting data sets of all: the internet.
Last month, Wired got a rare look at the “algorithm that rules the web,” and the gist of it is that there is no single, set algorithm. Rather, Google rules the internet by constantly refining its search technologies, charting new territories like social media and refining the ones in which users tread most often with personalized searches.
But of course it’s not just about matching the terms people search for to the web sites that contain them. Amit Singhal, a Google Search guru, explains, “you are not matching words; you are actually trying to match meaning.”
Words are a finite data set. And you don’t need an entire data center to store them—a dictionary does just fine. But meaning is perhaps the most profound data set humanity has ever produced, and it’s one we’re charged with managing every day. Our own mental MapReduce probes for intent and scans for context, informing how we respond to the world around us.
In a sense, Google’s memory may be better than any one individual’s, and complex frameworks like MapReduce ensure that it will only continue to outpace us in that respect. But in terms of the capacity to process meaning, in all of its nuance, any one person could outperform all the machines in the Googleplex. For now, anyway. [Wired, Wikipedia, and Wired]
Image credit CNET
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