Sibling from NJ sold their enterprise for $100 million

What were your priorities at 21 ?? Maybe enjoying your final year at college or peparing for the further "post graduation" studies. Perhaps for this sibling-duo from New Jersey, "studies" and "job oppurtunity" is holding the last proritization in their current life. Afterall not everybody make $100 million dollars at the young age of 21. In 2005, Catherine Cook and her brother David had an idea for a startup. The high schoolers flipped through a yearbook and wanted to make a digital version. The 15-and-16-year-olds got to work and created MyYearbook. In the 6-year span, the duo raised $17 million in financing, grew the site to 20 million users*, and generated 1.2 billion monthly pageviews. Today, a publicly-traded Latino social network, Quepasa,...

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2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG coupe Black Series : A glance

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the much anticipated Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe Black Series, which is making its debut today and tomorrow at the Formula 1 race on the Nurburgring. The most powerful C-Class ever produced gets the Black Series treatment with insane amounts of power, a track-focued chassis and aggressive sporty styling. Power for the new 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe Black Series comes from a 6.3 liter naturally aspirated V8 engine making 517-hp at 6,800 rpm with a maximum torque of 457 lb-ft at 500 rpm. The engine gets forged pistons, conrods and crankshaft, a new engine control unit and a 50 percent bigger oil cooler. It is mated to an AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7-speed sports transmission with four ESP control settings and can go...

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Super Batteries

Imagine charging your iPhone or mobile in a few seconds. Well, your imagination may someday turn into a reality, say scientists who claim to be working on "super batteries" which not only recharge in just seconds, but also have an almost indefinite lifespan. A team, led by Dan Li of Monash University, says that a combination of two ordinary materials -- graphite and water -- could help produce such "super batteries" which perform on par with lithium ion batteries. The scientists are, in fact, working with a material called graphene which may form the basis of the next generation of ultrafast energy storage systems, the 'Advanced Materials' journal reported. "Once we can properly manipulate this material, your iPhone, for example, could charge...

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Apple's Mac OSX Lion crosses million mark

Apple has announced that its latest operating system the Mac OSX Lion has been bought and downloaded by over a million users in a day. Apple also revealed that it was the fastest adoption rate for any OS released by the company. According to Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller "Lion is off to a great start, user reviews and industry reaction have been fantastic, Lion is a huge step forward, it's not only packed with innovative features but it's incredibly easy for users to update their Macs to the best OS we've ever made." For those who do not know Lion introduces more than 250 new features to the Mac, including Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, the Mac...

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AMD back on track

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has been punished so hard for unexpectedly ousting its CEO more than 6 months ago that the second-quarter profit it posted Thursday gave investors a measure of confidence about its direction. AMD shares rose 38 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $6.88 after the No. 2 maker of computer microprocessors reported its results. The stock had fallen by 30 percent since CEO Dirk Meyer was ousted in January. The numbers were a rare bright spot in an industry in tumult. They showed early signs of success for a new chip that combines general-purpose and graphics capabilities. AMD sold more than 7 million of the "accelerated processing units" in the second quarter, more than half of the total since they went on sale in November. The...

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Star Wars theme XBOX 360

The Force will be with the Xbox 360. Star Wars themed XBox 360 Microsoft Corp. unveiled a limited edition Xbox 360 console at a Comic-Con panel on Thursday that will be modeled after the character R2-D2, with a wireless gold-colored controller resembling his droid pal C-3PO. The console will make the character's signature beeping sounds when the white-and-blue console is turned on and the disc tray is opened. It will also feature a 320-gigabyte hard drive, the largest available for Microsoft's gaming system. The "Star Wars"-themed console, available later this year, will cost $449.99 and come with a white Kinect sensor, headset and "Kinect Star Wars," an action-adventure game utilizing the camera-based controller system. "Kinect Star...

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Apple may bid for Hulu

Apple Inc is in talks to potentially bid for video-streaming service Hulu, a person close to the situation said Friday. The person, who said Apple is among several companies interested in Hulu, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the matter. In early July, search giant Google Inc. was said to be among about a dozen companies in talks to potentially buy Hulu. Yahoo Inc is also believed to be interested.  Hulu, which is owned by Disney, News Corp., Comcast Corp. and Providence Equity Partners , started presenting its financial information to interested bidders late last month, after an unsolicited offer prompted its board to look for other offers. The online video service streams movies...

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Nestlé's loss Hsu Fu Chi's gain

A fund advised by Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) stands to make a substantial gain on its investment in Chinese confectionary company Hsu Fu Chi after Nestle tabled an offer of $1.7 billion for a 60% stake in the company. The size of the deal, which values the Chinese firm at $2.8 billion, is further proof that Nestle is committed to its goal of deriving 45% of sales from emerging markets in the next 10 years. Hsu Fu Chi is best known for its Sachima breakfast bar and Chinese New Year candies, but also manufactures a range of candy, cereal-based snacks, cakes and traditional Chinese snacks. The company operates four factories and employs 16,000 people, but Nestle is probably most interested in its 17,000-plus sales outlets and 120-plus...

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Nokia lost its throne to Apple

Mobile phone maker Nokia Corp on Thursday posted a loss of 368 million ($523 million) in the second quarter and for the first time was overtaken by Apple's iPhone in smartphone shipments. Nokia, which posted a profit of 227 million in the same period in 2010, said revenue fell 7% to 9.3 billion from 10 billion last year. It shipped 88.5 million mobile devices in April through June, down from 111 million a year ago and 108.5 million in the previous quarter. Its smartphone volumes fell to 16.7 million units, which means Nokia is no longer No. 1 in the smartphone sector. Apple Inc sold more than 20 million iPhones in the same quarter, lifting its net income to a stronger-than-expected $7.31 billion. "The challenges we are facing during our...

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China clones Apple store now

An Apple Store "doppelganger" has been reported to be found in the south-central city of Kunming, China. China's four official Apple stores are found in Beijing and Shanghai (two in each of these major cities). These stores were authorized by Apple resellers through an extensive application process. Apparently, an estimated number of 40,000 visitors enter these stores on a daily basis. Statistic wise, that is four times as much as any Apple store in the entire United States! However, Apple's popularity has brought into light the discovery of a fifth hoax store this week by an expat blogger. The American woman, called BirdAbroad or Jessica, according to some sources, wrote about how deceivingly similar this store is to the original. According...

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Nokia rebrands its map service

Back in May, Nokia announced that it will start in July/August to rebrand its first Ovi services as Nokia services which basically means that each of the services under the Ovi umbrella will simply be rebranded as Nokia - with no planned disruption to the service roadmaps. Today, Nokia Germany announced that its Ovi Maps is now known as Nokia Maps. The transition from Ovi to Nokia began in July this year, with the intention of it being completed across all countries and all services by the end of 2012. It's likely that anybody buying a new Nokia smartphone or mobile phone later this year will start to see the new branding on services included within. It's expected that Nokia made this decision after it joined Microsoft to focus on Windows...

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A Wal-Mart Brand for the Ages

So, do you fancy yourself as an expert on branding? You should have no problem with the following question, then. What's the biggest fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand in America? The answer isn't Coke, Gillette or J&J - it's Great Value, Wal-Mart's own-label range. Thanks to its presence in every one of Wal-Mart's 4100 US stores, and the fact that more than 5000 stock-keeping units are sold under the Great Value label, it is the biggest grocery brand in the US by both sales and volume. And it's about to get a lot better. Wal-Mart has announced the conclusion of a year-long project to improve the appeal of its own-label line. The world's biggest retailer doesn't do anything on a small scale, and has conducted 2700 consumer tests...

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List of Top Online Brands

Each quarter, General Sentiment releases its “Top Global Brands Report,” which ranks brands based on the dollar value of their online “buzz.” What does that mean exactly? General Sentiment measures these brands based on two criteria: impact value and perception value. Impact value measures all online mentions of the brands and places a value on the overall level of discussion and exposure for the brand. Perception value measures the positive, negative, and neutral mentions of the brand. Now that we’re caught up, here are the top 20 brands from the first quarter and the overall dollar amount of their “buzz”: 1. Apple - $952, 303 2. Google - $704,327 3. Microsoft - $522,769 4. Yahoo - $259,046 5. Ford - $251,683 6. Intel - $202,262 7. Toyota...

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Top 10 bloggers

Blogging, which is no more a mere social hobby to voice your opinion on interesting topics, but over the years it has been transformed into the serious business. With major blogs having more than 100 million dollars valuation, blogging has changed the lives of these opinion makers. The blog directory websites like "technorati" itself have registered more than 150,000,000 blogs since 2002. According to the reports approximately 80% of the active internet users have read or subscribed to some or the other blog. So here is the list of few money makers who hit the bulls eye in this utterly clouded sphere called as "Blogosphere". Here is the list of  owners of top 10 blogs.       1.  Arianna Huffington Blog    ...

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HTC status smartphone : Now in market

The HTC Status smartphone has finally arrived at the AT&T and is selling for under $400 (excluding any taxes) without a contract and for under $50 (excluding any fees) with a 2 year agreement. But the big question is Does this phone really have any market value more-so when Facebook's market share is constantly on decline and there is a big threat from Google+. In this kind of uncertainty whether Facebook would able to survive this difficult phase or not is still a big question, this phone is certainly not the best option for the networking users. The mobile device with the blue button for accessing Facebook has hit the shelves of select retailers.Best Buy will be offering an exclusive color for the social mobile device. With the special...

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Rachel Weisz : new ambassador of Bulgari

British movie star and fashion model Rachel Weisz is now the new face of Italian luxury brand Bulgari known for watches, jewelry, accessories and fragrances. More than Weisz’s Italian blood from her mother’s side, it was probably her sultry looks that match the brand image of Bulgari’s new perfume Jasmin Noir that bagged the deal. The campaign, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, with the Bulgari lion is being described as having “a seductive and sophisticated boudoir-style aura”. The Mummy star, stunning at 40, is shot in an elegant boudoir, broodingly caressing the Jasmin Noir bottle, draped in breath-taking Bulgari jewels. Weisz, wife of James Bond star Daniel Craig, now joins Julianne Moore and Kirsten Dunst, Hollywood celebrities...

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How to increase Page Rank of your Website and Blog

Here is the 10 brief ways to increase your page rank. Do follow it to get your "website" or "blog" self optimized for the search engine. Use lots of meta keyword tags. Use it WITH Commas. Make sure you don't repeat the same word more than 3 times in a row. Google only indexes the first 101K of the document - so don't use TOO many. Make sure you include at least one link to Google. They need quality traffic as well. Don't be greedy and hog it all to yourself. This can do wonders for your pages. Remember - Google may be going public soon - so the more traffic you send them the better Use invisible text but make it close - colors like 00FF33 & 00FF66 are both browser safe, but are so close most humans can't tell the difference. Even...

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DropBox : the next big thing ?

Silicon Valley has never been this optimistic at the same time careful in financially upgrading out of box ideas. Recently when Valley pundits predicted the over cash flow and irregular distribution of financial support to the ventures, it only turned out to be hoax call as valley is growing organically. Here is one more promising web-sharing (not web hosting) company which is being seen as the potential venture and in simple words a money maker, through the eyes of PE firms and VCs. According to the company, Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Dropbox was founded in 2007 by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, two MIT students tired of emailing files to themselves to...

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SPOTLIGHT ENTREPRENEUR : Harsh Bhasker

About twenty minutes into our conversation, Harsh Bhasker pauses to ask if this story will focus on his being a dalit rather than his success as an entrepreneur. "I am not very comfortable talking about that," he says. Having created one of Agra's most-recognised brands in engineering and medical entrance coaching, and a private college, Bhasker, 35, has come far enough to put caste prejudices behind him and speak about his work. As he enters his office, parents waiting in the reception area stand up to greet him with folded hands. He is, after all, the face of Kota Tutorials, credited with shaping the careers of many youngsters in his city. He is also the rare dalit who in the knowledge business. "Harsh is among the few who have made it...

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Google + spoof

Google plus, is indeed the trending topic not only on twitter but on facebook too. The latest buzz coming straight  from Google is that its social venture has already registered nearly 18 million users inspite of being in "beta and invite only mode." Here are few of the videos (coustesy-youtube, one of the closet in Google's vast wardrobe) which spoofs the Facebook founder's take on Google +. Ever thought How would Adolf Hotler react to this online sensation. If not then have a look Now how about the Google- (minus) project. Even the babies are concerned about this online phenomenon. Have a look Google minus not that bad either ...

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Coca-Cola vs Pepsi

The fight between these two major cola brands had hardly any impact on respective cola lovers as both the brands have strong brand following and it is due to this brand sincerity only that both the "Beverage giants" are unperturbed by the market share and constantly perform better. Here is the few data and number analysis of both brands. ABOUT  COCA-COLA With a portfolio of more than 3,500 beverages, from diet and regular sparkling beverages to still beverages such as 100 percent fruit juices and fruit drinks, waters, sports and energy drinks, teas and coffees, and milk-and soy-based beverages, their variety spans the globe. The coca-cola company offers a portfolio of more than 3,500 products in over 200 countries. Market...

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