M I L L I O N H E I R

2011-12-18T12:10:00.003-05:00

2011-12-18T12:07:00.001-05:00

2011-12-15T01:46:00.001-05:00

2011-12-15T01:28:00.003-05:00

2011-12-15T01:28:00.001-05:00

2011-12-15T01:04:00.001-05:00

2011-12-15T01:03:00.001-05:00

2011-11-20T14:55:00.003-05:00

2011-11-20T14:55:00.001-05:00

2011-11-20T14:11:00.001-05:00

2011-11-20T13:59:00.001-05:00

2011-11-20T13:38:00.001-05:00

2011-11-20T13:36:00.001-05:00

2011-11-20T13:34:00.001-05:00

2011-11-20T13:27:00.003-05:00

2011-11-20T13:27:00.001-05:00

2011-10-31T18:57:00.003-04:00

2011-10-31T18:56:00.003-04:00

2011-10-31T18:53:00.001-04:00

2011-10-24T20:27:00.001-04:00

2011-10-24T20:26:00.001-04:00

2011-10-24T20:25:00.003-04:00

2011-10-22T17:34:00.005-04:00

2011-10-22T17:34:00.003-04:00

2011-10-22T06:44:00.001-04:00

2011-10-22T06:42:00.001-04:00

2011-10-22T06:41:00.001-04:00

2011-10-19T20:20:00.003-04:00

2011-10-19T20:20:00.001-04:00

2011-10-19T20:19:00.000-04:00

2011-10-10T14:15:00.003-04:00

2011-10-10T14:15:00.001-04:00

2011-10-06T20:51:00.001-04:00

2011-10-06T20:00:00.002-04:00

2011-10-06T19:54:00.002-04:00

2011-10-04T02:50:00.001-04:00

2011-10-04T02:43:00.003-04:00

2011-10-04T02:40:00.000-04:00

2011-10-04T02:31:00.006-04:00

2011-10-04T01:51:00.002-04:00

2011-10-02T15:01:00.002-04:00

2011-10-02T15:00:00.001-04:00

2011-10-02T14:59:00.000-04:00

2011-10-02T14:56:00.001-04:00

2011-10-02T14:51:00.001-04:00

2011-10-02T14:45:00.000-04:00

2011-10-02T14:34:00.001-04:00

2011-10-02T14:30:00.000-04:00

2011-09-09T22:35:00.003-04:00

2011-09-09T22:34:00.001-04:00

2011-09-09T20:26:00.000-04:00

2011-09-03T16:10:00.003-04:00

2011-09-03T16:10:00.001-04:00

2011-09-03T16:07:00.000-04:00

2011-09-03T16:05:00.000-04:00

2011-09-03T16:04:00.000-04:00

2011-08-27T15:52:00.002-04:00

2011-08-27T15:52:00.000-04:00

2011-08-27T15:51:00.000-04:00

2011-08-27T15:49:00.002-04:00

2011-08-27T15:45:00.000-04:00

2011-08-25T19:15:00.001-04:00

2011-08-25T19:14:00.001-04:00

2011-08-25T15:40:00.002-04:00

2011-08-22T16:10:00.004-04:00

2011-08-22T16:10:00.002-04:00

2011-08-21T11:31:00.002-04:00

2011-08-21T11:31:00.000-04:00

2011-08-21T10:28:00.000-04:00

2011-08-19T06:34:00.001-04:00

2011-08-11T22:56:00.003-04:00

2011-08-11T22:56:00.001-04:00

chess.

2011-08-11T17:48:00.001-04:00

2011-08-11T17:45:00.000-04:00

2011-08-11T17:15:00.000-04:00

2011-08-11T12:28:00.002-04:00

2011-08-11T12:20:00.000-04:00

2011-07-23T14:06:00.001-04:00

"play your cards go against all odds, shoot for the moon if you miss you still amongst those stars" - Beanie Sigel

2011-07-23T14:04:00.004-04:00

2011-07-23T13:59:00.000-04:00

vivo.

2011-07-13T12:31:00.002-04:00

2011-06-30T18:18:00.001-04:00

[SPECIFIC MEDIA] ACQUIRES [MYSPACE]

2011-06-30T18:02:00.010-04:00

[ Specific Media, a digital media company, today announced its acquisition of Myspace, a leading social networking destination for consumers, celebrities and artists. As part of the deal, Emmy and Grammy winning artist Justin Timberlake will also take an ownership stake and play a major role in developing the creative direction and strategy for the company moving forward. ]

Specific Media and Timberlake plan to unveil their vision for the site in an exclusive press conference later this summer.

"There's a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. Myspace has the potential to be that place," says Timberlake. "Art is inspired by people and vice versa, so there's a natural social component to entertainment. I'm excited to help revitalize Myspace by using its social media platform to bring artists and fans together in one community." Myspace has created a robust social networking infrastructure that connects people with the artists and content they love. Specific Media and Timberlake plan to evolve Myspace into the premiere digital destination for original shows, video content and music.

Specific Media will also leverage the Myspace social networking infrastructure to deploy socially-activated advertising campaigns, enabling brands to turn their campaigns viral by allowing users to share their favorite ads with friends.

Brothers Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook founded Specific Media in 1999 to address the needs of the burgeoning online advertising space. Since then, the company has developed into one of the world's largest online advertising companies, with capabilities spanning addressable advertising, original programming and cross-media distribution. By bringing its advertising technology and Fortune 500 client base to Myspace, Specific Media is creating a digital hub where consumers, content and brands connect based on mutual interest and relevance.

"We're thrilled about the opportunity to rebuild and reinvigorate Myspace," said Tim Vanderhook, CEO of Specific Media. "We look forward to partnering with someone as talented as Justin Timberlake, who will lead the business strategy with his creative ideas and vision for transforming Myspace. This is the next chapter of digital media, and we are excited to have a hand in writing the script." As part of the agreement, News Corporation will take a minority equity stake in Specific Media. Additional terms of the agreement are confidential and will not be disclosed.

About Myspace Myspace, Inc. is a leading social entertainment destination powered by the passions of fans. Aimed at a Gen Y audience, Myspace drives social interaction by providing a highly personalized experience around entertainment and connecting people to the music, celebrities, TV, movies, and games that they love. These entertainment experiences are available through multiple platforms, including online, mobile devices, and offline events.

Myspace is also the home of Myspace Music, which offers an ever-growing catalogue of freely streamable audio and video content to users and provides major, independent, and unsigned artists alike with the tools to reach new audiences. The company is headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA.

(source) CNBC

trust in your own beliefs. the cart never came before the horse.

2011-06-30T17:51:00.004-04:00

2011-06-30T17:26:00.007-04:00

2011-06-30T17:24:00.000-04:00

2011-06-11T15:43:00.001-04:00

2011-06-11T15:42:00.002-04:00

"Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." - Andy Warhol

2011-06-11T15:37:00.000-04:00

2011-06-09T14:47:00.001-04:00

2011-06-09T14:39:00.000-04:00

2011-04-01T22:34:00.003-04:00

2011-04-01T22:31:00.000-04:00

2011-04-01T22:30:00.000-04:00

2011-03-29T13:28:00.002-04:00

THIS IS GREAT.

[VADO] SIGNS TO [INTERSCOPE] RECORDS

2011-03-29T12:57:00.001-04:00

[ Cam'ron's U.N. protégé follows The Diplomats and signs a solo deal with Interscope. ]When the Diplomats eventually finalize their group deal at Interscope, they will have some company, as Cam’ron formally announced today that a familiar face would also be signing at his future label.

“[Vado] just signed a deal with Interscope,” Cam’ron told Hot 97’s Angie Martinez. “Shout out to DJ and Jimmy Iovine at Interscope; we appreciate that. I’m really excited that he’s getting the opportunity to do his thing on his own.”

Cam crowned Vado as the new voice of Lenox Avenue, citing Vado’s solo performance at the 2010 Summer Jam concert. He also praised Vado’s ability to cater to radio by revealing Vado was responsible for the chorus to the single “Hey Muma.”

Various members of the Dip Set have mentioned signing a deal with Interscope since the fall of 2010, and Cam also explained the reasons for the multiple delays.

“We working with DJ and Jimmy Iovine to get the deal over there at Interscope done for us as well,” Cam added. “It’s just a little more intricate, being that everyone is signed to a deal already. Everything’s still going, but we all just had prior obligations. Me and Vado got this Gunz 'N' Butta album coming out. Jim [Jones] has a solo album coming out called Capo, and Juelz [Santana] is working on his mixtape.”

(source) HipHopDX

[MADE IN USA] BOOSTS SMALL BUSINESS

2011-03-29T12:17:00.000-04:00

[ With the spring season looming, Dartmouth College men's head rugby coach Alex Magleby didn't want to risk waiting the roughly eight weeks his two suppliers typically took to get jerseys, shorts, and jackets from their workshops in Asia.

So in February he turned to Boathouse Sports, a Philadelphia manufacturer that promised to provide similar gear in four weeks at about the same price. "We found that Boathouse delivered the quickest, hands down," says Magleby. Boathouse and other small U.S. clothing manufacturers that bucked the offshoring trend are catching a tailwind as rising costs for labor and transportation make Asia more expensive. ]

In the U.S. apparel market, domestic production fell from 41 percent in the late 1990s to just 3 percent in 2008, according to the most recent government data. Still, hundreds of small companies, most with just a few dozen employees, manufacture in the U.S. Many are benefiting from their decision to keep production stateside, says Nate Herman, vice-president for international trade at the American Apparel & Footwear Assn. "There haven't been any new manufacturers popping up, but the ones that are around are pretty much at maximum production," Herman says.

The recession winnowed out many factories in Asia, so those that survived—primarily large operations—have started turning down or postponing smaller jobs, says Jeremy Lott, a vice-president at SanMar in Preston, Wash., one of the biggest wholesale apparel suppliers in the U.S. Overseas factories "can really pick and choose the orders they want to take and what they're producing because there's a shortage," Lott says. "If you don't have the buying clout at the factory level, your orders are taking significantly longer than they used to."

That has led to growing interest in the services of Contract Sew & Repair. Cheryl Evans, who runs the 15-employee company from a vast warehouse near Seattle, says established companies are coming to her with sizable orders—as many as 20,000 shirts or pairs of pants—that were spurned by factories in Asia. "This is a reverse," Evans says. "Usually companies come to us when they're first starting out in business because they can't make [big enough orders] for offshore."

For some buyers, the price gap between U.S. and Asian factories is no longer the primary concern. Boathouse President and Chief Executive Officer Doug Tibbetts acknowledges that his prices often are about 10 percent to 15 percent higher than those of rivals that manufacture overseas. That's down from 25 percent two years ago, and the change is enough to win buyers such as Dartmouth coach Magleby, who don't want to wait months for their orders. "When I talk to peers, they're always shocked and surprised that we've made this commitment" to keep production in Philadelphia, Tibbetts says. That decision, though, is paying off for the 200-employee company. "Our business is up significantly across the board," Tibbetts says, over 15 percent this year to the "$20 million range."

Labor trouble in China is making it harder for some retailers that buy from overseas manufacturers to keep their store shelves stocked. Scott Jones, founder of Beyond Clothing, which makes custom outdoor wear in Seattle, says rivals experienced shortages after the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday last February, when many migrant workers decided not to return to factories in Guangdong Province. That supply advantage, combined with growing concern among customers over the loss of American jobs, means sales of Jones's jackets, fleeces, and waterproof pants are on track to jump as much as 40 percent this year. Consumers "are disgruntled about overseas production, they're disgruntled with not being able to get their product," says Jones. Will Manzer, CEO of 65-store outdoor outfitter Eastern Mountain Sports in Peterborough, N.H., says the change in the labor market is hardest on smaller brands. "Many [Asian] factories don't want to take their orders," he says. "The capacity availability is just not there."

Some small companies also say U.S. manufacturers help them maintain a better grip on the quality of the goods they order. While Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), Target (TGT), and other big brands can afford to station buyers in China and send executives across the Pacific to vet suppliers, that would be prohibitive for brands with just a few hundred thousand dollars in sales. Janice Kajanoff, founder of Zentek Clothing, also in Seattle, contemplated using overseas factories, but last year she hired Evans's company, CSR, to make her brand's vests, dog coats, and pet crate mats. "Unless you're gonna hop over and check it all by hand," Kajanoff says, "you don't have control over quality."

The bottom line: Small apparel manufacturers that produce in the U.S. are getting a boost as shipping and labor costs in Asia increase.

(source) BusinessWeek

2011-03-27T19:43:00.001-04:00

2011-03-25T21:52:00.005-04:00

2011-03-21T22:09:00.003-04:00

TIME.