Tag: business

Who is the next king of cool?

Every decade has its rising stars, cash cows and dying mammoth... Ok, here I am not talking about Darwin or about animals... I am talking about innovative, creative and outstanding companies that...

Scoring a Professional Image: It’s a Tie!

You're a professional guy. Confident. Successful. You're about to leave for a business trip that includes everything from presenting a report to "casual" cocktail chats. And you have absolutely no idea what...

Diesel + EDUN Studio Africa: Uviwe Mangweni

South African photojournalist Uviwe Mangweni has a way of getting so close to her subjects that you can almost see them breathe. Having grown up in Cape Town, she now lives in the creative centre of Johannesburg where her focus is on documenting the places and moments that most people miss. One early project took her to the ex-mining town of Durban Deep - a run-down locale largely overlooked by cosmopolitan Johannesburg - where she spent a week with its people who scratch out a living with the most basic of amenities. More recently, back in the city, she took her camera to the dozens of hair salons in the business district to capture the hum and buzz of these social hubs. Dazed caught up with Uviwe to find out more about her work, what makes something catch her eye and where she wants to take her camera in the future. 

What drew you to using a camera to tell a story? 
Mostly being bored with life in my university days and just wanting to get out there and create something. A youthful restlessness I suppose. 

Who in the world of photojournalism are you inspired by and why?
To be honest I never aspired to be like anyone, I just did what I did because I felt like it. But when I began understanding the significance of photography, especially in South Africa, I began looking up to the legends like Peter Magubane and Alf Khumalo.

You often shoot in black and white - what drives that?
That usually comes in the editing process. I don’t know, maybe I have a bit of an old soul that wants to recreate the same depth and feeling we see in historical images. But I do shoot in color a lot too. 

There's a very intimate, relaxed quality to your photographs. Is that something you look to achieve?
Yeah, I try to capture people in their most natural way of being. I want to be invisible to them.

What was the idea behind your black hair salon series?
Black hair salons are all over the city of Johannesburg. It feels like there is literally one on every block. One day when I was doing my hair as I frequently do, I just thought about how they are huge part of the socio-economic landscape but they’re hardly captured or recognized.

What is about them that fascinates you?
One can't ignore those colorful murals used to advertise the salons. It's interesting cause they all depict international celebrities and hip hop artists and, a lot of the time, a hairstyle will be named after these celebrities. Also fascinated by how so many salons will occupy the same area in the CBD [the central business district] and almost all of them will survive as a business.

What was your eye drawn to when you photographed them?
I was drawn to the characters in the space at the time and how they interact with one another. There's always a little bit of drama or comedy in cases where the hairstyle did not come out the way it was supposed to.

Could you give a little background to the ex-mining town you photographed?
Durban Deep is an ex-mining town off Main Reef Road, West of Johannesburg. People who reside there are mostly migrants from neighboring cities and countries. They get on with life with no electricity and communal water pumps. It felt ghostly, a stark reminder of SA’s brutal past and how far we still have to go as a country in terms of real redistribution.

How did the town's inhabitants feel about you photographing them?
Initially people were uncomfortable, one would walk past and some people would shut their doors at the sight of a lens. But I kept going back and the more I related to them and explained what my mission was, the more they opened up. Just basic human decency and respect gets you a long way.

Are there other sides of Johannesburg you would like to document?
Yes, I would like to capture more stories that project the vibrance and rich creative culture in this city.

Where else would you like to take your camera in the future? 
(Laughing) I wanna take it everywhere.  But I need to get out more, spend more time on the peripheries of the urban environment. 

Former New York Times Editor Makes A ‘Liberal Case’ For The 2nd Amendment

Craig Whitney

C-SPAN

Craig Whitney on C-SPAN

As the debate over gun control in the United States rages on, self-described liberal Craig Whitney

is speaking out against fellow liberals' attacks

on the Second Amendment.

Whitney, a former New York Times editor, argues in his new book "Living With Guns: A Liberal 's Case for the Second Amendment" that Americans have a long-standing common-law right to have guns for self-defense.

That right goes back to colonial times, when Americans felt they had a civic duty to use firearms when called upon to protect the common good, Whitney said in a recent C-SPAN interview.

“If you could ask Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton or John Hancock after the adoption of the Bill of Rights whether they had an individual right to carry arms and use them for self-defense, or to hunt . . . they would have laughed at you,” Whitney writes, according to a review of his book in The New York Times.

“Of course they had that right, they would have said," Whitney adds, in his book. "The Second Amendment didn’t give it to them; it simply recognized a right Americans had always had in common law and protected it.”

But Whitney, a member of the NRA, isn't a Second Amendment absolutist. He told C-SPAN any responsible gun owner knows having a gun is a "huge responsibility," and that the United States needs to live safely with the guns that have become part of its culture.

The NRA has spread a lot of hysteria and fear about possible gun regulations, but the U.S. can start reducing gun violence by checking the backgrounds of everybody who buys a gun, Whitney says. (Currently, private sellers aren't required to conduct criminal background checks before selling guns.)

Whitney told C-SPAN, "How can the NRA oppose regulations aimed at keeping people like criminals and drug addicts from keeping guns?"

SEE ALSO: Here's Why Dianne Feinstein's Assault Weapons Ban Might Actually Work >

Walmart Sells Assault Weapons But Bans Music With Swear Words

Neil DeGrasse

Tysonpoints out

a bizarre dichotomy:

Walmart sells assault weapons but bans music that contains swear words.

That policy tells you a lot about this country.

We can guess why Walmart sells assault weapons: Its customers want them, and the company can make a lot of money selling them.

But Walmart's customers probably also want music that contains swear words, and Walmart could probably make money selling that, too.

And music with curse words is legal (First Amendment and all that), so this isn't about legality.

So why the no-cursing policy?

Based on a description on Walmart's web site, it seems that the retailer worries that some customers might find music with swear words "objectionable":

Wal-Mart does not display album or song titles that contain profanity...Wal-Mart selects 30-second sample clips such that only clips that do not contain profanity are made available to customers. However, other portions of the recordings may contain profanity, and the 30-second sample clips or the recording as a whole may be deemed by some customers to be offensive, indecent or objectionable. Occasionally, Wal-Mart may refuse to stock music merchandise that may not seem appropriate. However, Wal-Mart may carry some recordings that some customers might find offensive, indecent or objectionable.

So Walmart bans profanity on the grounds that some people might find it objectionable, but proudly sells assault weapons that can be used to slaughter people.

Isn't Walmart worried that some people might find that objectionable? Like the parents of children who were just murdered with an assault weapon, for example? Or the parents who worry that their children might be murdered with an assault weapon? Or anyone worried that anyone might be murdered with an assault weapon?

Apparently not.

Apparently, in America, you'd have to be, well, un-American to find that objectionable.

Here's a nice-looking assault rifle Walmart's advertising right now on Walmart.com: The Sig-Sauer M400 With Prismatic Scope. It's "designed for use in law enforcement and military operations." Just what every civilian Walmart customer needs.

(Hurry up, though. Word is that Walmart's selling so many assault weapons in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre that some stores are running out...)

SEE ALSO: I'm Just Not Ready To Accept That We Have To Have Gun Massacres All The Time

Fashion Roundup: Kristen Stewart On The Daily Show & Why Alexander Wang Was Hired By Balenciaga

Fashion Roundup: Kristen Stewart On The Daily Show & Why Alexander Wang Was Hired By Balenciaga

Gwen Stefani (Vogue)Gwen Stefani (Vogue)

Gwen Stefani stars on the cover of Vogue’s January Issue! Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Stefani poses on top of a piano in a head-to-toe look by Hedi Slimane’s debut collection for Saint Laurent. (People)

So why was Alexander Wang the choice for Balenciaga after the departure of Nicolas Ghesquiere? Chief Executive Officer of PPR, Francois-Henri Pinault, explains that Balenciaga will still remain a couture luxury brand and continue to build on what Ghesquiere has achieved with the brand, possibly moving also into more contemporary styles. (Business Week)

While everyone is still talking about Kate Middleton’s McQueen gown at the BBC’s Sports Personality Awards, Buckingham Palace is preparing to put on a fashion show. Set to stage in July, the Royal Palace will host the “Fine Style” exhibit and live runway show featuring designs inspired by royal couture made by local fashion students. (Huffington Post)

Donna Karan takes her brand another step forward in the social world by designing her own dressing app. Just in time for the 70th annual Golden Globes, the new app aims to follow the brand’s journey through celebrities and is available now on Facebook. (WWD)

Forbes presents the top 30 Under-30 list in Art & Style, showcasing the new up-and-coming talents in the fashion world. On the list you can find names like: Gigi Burris, who designs hats for top celebrities such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga; and Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenco, who showcased his first RTW collection in Paris when he was 19; as well as many more rising talents. (Forbes)

Closing our list of fashion highlights for the week, is Kristen Stewart, who people seem to never get enough of. The Hollywood starlet was recently interviewed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. In the interview, Stewart speaks about her experiences in her new film “On the Road,” take a look:

CONFIRMED: EMC’s Paul Maritz Is Leading A New Spinoff (EMC, VMW)

Paul Maritz and Pat Gelsinger, VMware CEOs

VMworld 2012 live stream

Paul Maritz and Pat Gelsinger

EMCconfirmed today

what most Valley insiders had been whispering about for months: Former VMware CEO Paul Maritz will be running a massive new spinoff business.

It wants him to repeat the big success he had with VMware at the new effort called The Pivotal Initiative.

We first reported on those rumors in September, noting in our coverage of the succession contest at the giant storage maker that "EMC might have Maritz working on another spinoff company."

EMC's acquisition and partial spinoff of VMware has been very successful for both companies.

The new business will focus on big data and cloud and will itself be big, right out of the gate. EMC and VMware are dedicating about 1,400 employees to the new unit.

Some 800 employees will come from EMC, specifically from its Greenplum and Pivotal Labs acquisitions.

Soe 600 employees will come from VMware, including VMware’s vFabric unit (that includes employees gained from the Springsource and GemFire acquisitions). The vFabric unit offers software that run Java applications. VMware is also assigning its very important Cloud Foundry unit to the new spin off. Cloud Foundry is VMware's open source cloud platform.

Pivotal is also getting Cetas, the Hadoop analytics startup VMware recently acquired.

This new unit lets EMC and VMware accomplish a lot of things. For one, it gives VMware's "platform as a service" cloud a better shot at competing against the likes of offerings from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. VMware's cloud was sort of an odd fit, since VMware also sells software that lets others build clouds.

With the cloud offering on its own, VMware is free to concentrate on its new thing: taking down Cisco with software-defined networks via its $1.26 billion acquisition of Nicira.

Another big question is where this leaves EMC in its succession plans. EMC said a few months ago that longtime CEO Joe Tucci will stick around until 2015. The hunt for a successor is on. Maritz, who is currently EMC's chief strategy officer, is considered a top candidate. So is the guy who is now VMware's CEO, Pat Gelsinger.

The Pivotal Initiative will be formally open for business around Q2 2013, EMC says. That doesn't give Maritz much time to make it a success before EMC's corner office is vacated.

Don't miss: 9 Tech Trends That Will Make Someone Billions Of Dollars Next Year

YES, IT’S A CRISIS: 1,000 Jobs Gone At Groupon And LivingSocial; Can The Daily Deal Sector Turn It Around? (GRPN)

Daily deals title image lifehacker

via Lifehacker

The daily deal world is in turmoil.

LivingSocial just announced the firing of 400 employees, which is about 8.9% of its total workforce.

What's more unnerving is that over the past six months, Groupon reduced its workforce by 648 positions.

More than 1,000 reductions across both businesses is a huge deal. Those reductions aren't all layoffs; some are through attrition.

To cap it all, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason's job was in question all week, and he only received his board of directors' seal of approval late Thursday.

If this was happening at Facebook or Twitter — or any other major tech brand — people would be freaking out.

So why isn't anyone freaking out yet?

Arguably, this is a recession in the daily deal business.

It's the industry's first, given that it didn't exist until about four years ago.

LivingSocial told Business Insider via email about the job cuts. "After two years of hyper-growth from 450 to more than 4500 employees, these moves will align our cost structure against our 2013 plans and will help us set the company on a path for long-term growth and profitability. Specifically, they will allow us to invest more in critical priorities like marketing, mobile, and the hiring of additional technology staff."

LivingSocial told CNNMoney that it is moving much of its customer service from its headquarters in D.C. to Tuscon, "so some job openings will be available in that area." Sales and editorial, however, have simply been "streamlined."

The job losses reflect the shaky economic underpinnings of the daily deal business, which Groupon and LivingSocial have yet to wrestle into control.

LivingSocial posted a net loss of $566 million in Q3 2012. $496 million of LivingSocial's loss stems from a huge writedown of some of its acquisitions from 2011, the Washington Business Journal reports. LivingSocial's revenue also fell to $124 million in the three-month period, down from $138 million in the second quarter.

As of market close today, Groupon's stock price is currently sitting at $4.54, according to Yahoo Finance. The 52-week range is shocking: it reached a high of $25.84. That followed six months' of shrinking total billings at the company. (Its American business is robust; the international arm less so.)

A Groupon spokesperson tells us that its layoffs were largely due to new technology the company invested in that made those jobs irrelevant. In fact, we're told, Groupon has 200 job vacancies open across North America right now.

And, of course, the job cuts don't mean that Groupon and LivingSocial are going to vanish tomorrow. They're huge businesses after all. But they are cause for concern as they illuminate potential weaknesses in the daily deal business model.

The main problem is operational scale.

Both companies are dependent on large salesforces. It is very difficult for them to leverage operation scale: To sell more, they need to employ more people. Groupon historically has prided itself on the long-term relationships its salesforce builds with its merchants. They have struggled to leverage self-serve, turnkey sales the way Facebook has.

In fact, Groupon and LivingSocial aren't even tech companies. Rather, they're email companies. Although email is here to stay for a long time, the tidal shift among consumers is away from email to instant messaging, social media messaging, and mobile phone messaging. They need to pivot into alternate methods.

Groupon is trying just that, with Groupon Goods, which so far has been a success. And both companies need to do what Groupon says it is trying to do, which is replace human-to-human selling with tech that can increase each individual worker's selling power.

Lastly, the downturn ask whether the daily deal business has hit one of its natural ceilings: new merchants. Both companies need a fresh supply of new merchants to offer more deals, or to re-up on repeated deals. It's an open question that both Groupon and LivingSocial now have to prove: Is there enough new merchants or incremental repeat business from merchants for the sector to continue to grow?

A thousand-plus layoffs suggest that, for now, the question lacks a satisfying answer.

Advertismentspot_img

Most Popular