Data
Insurers test data profiles to identify risky clients
Life insurers are testing an intensely personal new use for the vast dossiers of data being amassed about Americans: predicting people's longevity. Insurers have long used blood and urine tests to assess people's health, but now data-gathering companies have such extensive files on most U.S. consumers that some insurers are exploring whether data can reveal nearly as much about a person as a lab analysis of their bodily fluids. Full article.
Verizon offering unlimited plan
Verizon is trying out an unlimited mobile calling plan. It's offering some existing subscribers unlimited data, text and in-network mobile to mobile calling. Along with 450 anytime minutes a month, the package goes for $69.99. Full article.
Entrepreneurs don't love the great recession
The Great Recession has been bad news for small business owners on almost every dimension one can measure. For instance, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that fewer people are starting a business, and small business employment shrunk dramatically. Full Article.
Geography of a Recession
If you are interested in looking at how unemployment resulting from the recession affected the United States, you may want check out the map displayed on this website. The time-lapsed display shows progression of unemployment throughout the entire US since 2007. Data used came from the US Dept of Labor, Bureau of Statistics. View time-lapsed map.
Keep Your Data and Your Business Safe
Despite the hype around cloud computing and the promise of off-premise centralization of applications, data, and other computing resources, most small businesses continue to store critical information on hard drives, USB drives, or even floppy drives. Hackers are getting smarter, more brazen, and more sophisticated all the time, but there are things companies can do to protect themselves. Full Article. Similar Article.
Social media sites confront privacy loophole
Facebook, MySpace and several other social-networking sites have been sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find consumers' names and other personal details, despite promises they don't share such information without consent. The sites may have been breaching their own privacy policies as well as industry standards, which say sites shouldn't share and advertisers shouldn't collect personally identifiable information without users' permission. Full Article.
The perils of market research
Market research can be a powerful strategic planning weapon, but it can also backfire. When using market research, there are five essentials to consider. Full Article.
Shortage of Female Entrepreneurs, Despite Evidence That Female-Led Businesses Outperform
Men and women entrepreneurs are similar, with equivalent education levels, early interest in starting their own business, and similar other advantages, yet no woman has ever been CEO of a Wall Street firm. Kauffman Foundation's analysis of Dun & Bradstreet data showed that women were primary owners of only 19% of the 237,843 firms founded in 2004. Full Article.
Dietary Overload? Now Part of Daily American Diet: 34 Gigabytes of Data
Interesting NY Times article re: Average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data and information each day. Full Article.
Why No One Knows Where the Economy Really Stands
Interesting BusinessWeek article about difficulty finding data that determines the status of the economy. “One has to read a lot of state newspapers.” Full Article.
