160-Year-Old American Express Out-Innovates Google and Groupon This morning American Express is launching a new deals platform in partnership with Facebook that should make big waves in the payments and offers space. Winners: Facebook, American Express, small businessesLosers: Groupon, LivingSocial, Google, foursquare, VISA, MasterCard With the new platform, merchants will be able to target deals at American Express cardholders on the Facebook platform. Initial launch partners include H&M, Sports Authority, Dunkin’ Donuts, Sheraton, Westin, Travelocity and Celebrity Cruises. The platform covers both one-time and loyalty offers. Spend $30 and get a $10 statement credit.Spend $50 and get 10% back.Visit 3 times, spend $50 each time and get a $10 statement credit. The offers work much like the recent foursquare and American Express deal: you link an American Express card to your Facebook account, select an offer to load it on your card and then pay using your AMEX. Merchants also benefit from analytics that AMEX can provide.
thepoke.co You were wondering how to decorate the house this year? Here’s some inspiration. ► Our NEW Android friendly app - brings you our latest exclusives PLUS the funniest videos and pictures from the internet DAILY - in one place. ► Bargain Mug Of The Week from The Poke Shop to respond to new NYC request for proposals Stanford University said today (July 19) that it looks forward to responding by October to New York City's request for proposals (RFP) for a new campus for engineering and applied sciences. The RFP, announced by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a major speech about economic development on Tuesday, is the next step in an initiative unveiled in December that seeks a university, institution or consortium to develop and operate a new or expanded campus in exchange for access to city-owned land. Bloomberg also announced that the city is prepared to offer up to $100 million in support to the selected institution or consortium. Bloomberg hopes the initiative, called Applied Sciences NYC, will result in an engineering and applied sciences campus that will drive technology development in the city, diversify the New York City economy and generate new companies and jobs. Hennessy added, "Applied Sciences NYC is a big idea.
What Are The 20 Most Expensive Keyword Categories In Google AdWords? Google makes a heck of a lot of money from online advertising. In fact, 97 percent of Google’s revenue, which totaled $33.3 billion in the past twelve months, comes from advertising. WordStream, a venture capital-backed provider of hosted software that automates most of the manual work involved with creating and optimizing both paid and natural search engine marketing campaigns, has done some research to discover which keyword categories fetch the highest costs per click (CPC) in Google’s AdWords solution. And of course, they made an infographic based on the results of their research (embedded below). WordStream compiled data from its own, vast keyword database and the Google Keyword Tool to determine the top 10,000 most expensive English-language keywords over a 90-day period. Subsequently, the list was organized into categories by theme. The top twenty keyword categories that demanded the highest costs per click are: 1.
A Meat-Eater's Guide for Easing Climate Change Impacts | Business Of all the things that an individual can do to help slow the process of climate change -- change lightbulbs, turn down the AC, ride a bike -- few if any have as much impact as eating less meat. So, at least, says the Environmental Working Group in its new Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health. Yes, this is a guide for meat eaters, not an argument for a vegetarian or vegan diet, which may be too much to ask of a nation of carnivores. But just eliminating a meal or two or three of meat can have a big impact, according to EWG: If everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, over a year, the effect on emissions would be the equivalent of taking 7.6 million cars off the road. Or If you eat one less burger per week, over a year, it’s like taking your car off the road for 320 miles or line drying your clothes half the time. Or, as Mark Bittman notes, if for two days a week you don't eat any meat or cheese until dinnertime, you'll accomplish something similar.
Is Going Green Elitist? Making Green Marketing Less Niche-Oriented? In this post, Robert focuses on the green marketing gap, the perception gap that exists and results in most Americans perceiving green as an elitist phenomena. He outlines some of the principle problems that have caused this state of affairs to develop and argues that marketing should be geared to reinforcing the benefits that your product offers the planet. by Robert Piller, President, Eco Marketing Solutions. Robert has worked to help plant over 25 million trees through his live tree seedling gift program over the past dozen years. Read his blog GreenSpotBlog.com; follow Robert on twitter @ecomarketing; reach him on Linkein. Green marketing messages targeting mainstream American consumers are missing the mark, according to a study released this week by consultant group OgilvyEarth. One of their findings is that Green feels like niche rather than normal. [See related post: "Green Marketing Not Over, Just Misdirected", for a further discussion on this subject.] Featured Resource: Shortlink:
Japan’s crippled nuclear plant reaches stability | Eco-Business The crippled reactors at Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear power plant have reached stability after more than four months since the disaster, and the plant is on track for a cold shutdown within six months, the government and plant operator said Tuesday. Workers have toiled in hot and harsh conditions to stabilize the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami destroyed reactor cooling systems, triggering partial meltdowns of the reactors and making the disaster the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. The assessment of reactor stability was based on several milestones: temperatures at the bottom of reactor pressure vessels are no longer climbing, a makeshift system to process contaminated water works properly after initial problems and nitrogen injections are helping prevent more explosions. The progress achieves TEPCO’s initial goals of its road map to bring the plant under control, the report said.
researchers find that a simple change in phrasing can increase voter turnout Voting is a constitutional right, a civic duty and – perhaps most importantly – a way to change or maintain the political landscape. But many people don't vote, even when the stakes are high. So Stanford psychologists have found a way to motivate them – by making them see voting as an expression of who they are. L.A. Cicero 'When voting is framed as an indication of the kind of person you are, it's likely to feel more meaningful. In a paper slated for publication this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that people are 13 percent more likely to cast a ballot if a subtle change in the wording of a few questions makes them focus on themselves as a voter rather than thinking of voting as an Election Day task. "Being a voter is seen as a way to be a good or valued person in our society," said Christopher Bryan, a postdoctoral psychology researcher and lead author of the paper. Media Contact
freshmen to debate war ethics in 2011 'Three Books' program L.A. Cicero The class of 2015 will read 'March' by Geraldine Brooks, 'The Violence of Peace: America's Wars in the Age of Obama' by Stephen L. Carter, and 'One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer' by Nathaniel Fick. When Professor Scott Sagan chose "war ethics" as the theme for this year's Three Books selections for incoming freshmen, he knew he had to offer the students some extra guidance. "This is a pretty serious set of books, and potentially controversial," Sagan said. The class of 2015 will be reading March by Geraldine Brooks; The Violence of Peace: America's Wars in the Age of Obama by Stephen L. The Three Books program, sponsored by the office of Undergraduate Advising and Research, is a "common book experience" (funded by private donors) that serves as both summer reading and an introduction to intellectual life at Stanford. This year's panel will be held on Sept. 25 in Memorial Auditorium. Sagan, who is the Caroline S.G.
robotics students show off class projects Steve Fyffe The 'JediBot' can swing its sword about once every two to three seconds. Robots that can swordfight against humans, play mini-golf, cook a hamburger medium-rare and even add the ketchup when it's done. They were part of the lineup for the final day of the Experimental Robotics course, when Stanford students show off their automated creations to classmates in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. "The whole project – from design to performance – is three-and-a-half weeks, so this is remarkable," said computer science Professor Oussama Khatib, who taught the class. The course is a chance for students to take the mathematical formulas and programming skills they learned in the Intro to Robotics course and use them to direct a pre-fabricated robotic arm to perform a task in the real world. "The most exciting part is when the students start thinking, 'OK, what can we do with that?' Some students find inspiration in unexpected places.