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Fixing US Broadband Would Cost $100 Billion

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:16:00 +0000

According to a new report, it would cost $100 billion to wire the US with fiber optics and keep the infrastructure from falling behind the rest of the world. Specifically, they recommend what has worked in many other countries — government investment and unbundling — which are often criticized by free market groups...

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Why is GE Outspending the Entire US Government on Green?

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:45:00 +0000

Why is GE Outspending the Entire US Government on Green?

This January, General Electric announced that it was upgrading its investment in Green to $6 billion dollars by 2010. Where is the US? - $2 billion according to George Bush's State of the Union Speech. Why is GE so heavily investing in green? Because they see it as their future.

Full story here

Lax Controls Costs French Bank $7 B, Lone Trader Blamed

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 07:30:00 +0000

A futures trader at the French bank Societe Generale allegedly bypassed established computer control systems to generate fictitious financial transactions that caused 4.9 billion Euros (US $7.2 billion) in losses for the bank. The bank has lodged a complaint against Jerome Kerviel with French prosecutors. The complaint against him alleges falsification of banking records, fraudulent use of the falsified records, and computer fraud...

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Nintendo Losing Out Over $1 Billion from Holiday Wii Shortage?

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 07:25:00 +0000

Nintendo Losing Out Over $1 Billion from Holiday Wii Shortage?

Nintendo has already gone on record stating that the Wii shortages have been a detriment to the company—that they've lost out on potential sales since much of Nintendo's target casual gaming audience won't bother with it down the line..James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group, puts the estimated lost sales at $1.3 billion stating that...

Source: Gizmodo

What’s More Costly Than Iraq? Illegal Immigration

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 07:21:00 +0000

What’s More Costly Than Iraq? Illegal Immigration

According to some statistics provided in a post, the total cost that illegal immigration for US is a whooping $338.3 billion a year. This includes amount spend on welfare for illegal aliens, food assistance programs, Medicaid, primary & secondary education and so on...

Tax avoidance by UK's super-rich 'worth £13bn'

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:59:00 +0000

Tax avoidance by UK's super-rich 'worth £13bn'

January 27 2008

Tax avoidance by the super-rich costs the British taxpayer £13bn a year - enough money to increase old-age pensions by 20 per cent, according to a study.

The study, commissioned by the TUC and to be published later this week, estimates the Treasury annually misses out on £3.8bn through the controversial non-domicile tax laws, which allow those with overseas connections to escape tax on their income. So called 'income shifting' by millionaires, which includes placing wealth in the name of a spouse or setting up a limited company to shield income, costs the UK £3.2bn. Tax planning and other loopholes account for the remaining £6bn.

Full report here

Guitar Hero Series Grosses $1 bBillion in Sales

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:31:00 +0000

In just over 2 years, the Guitar Hero series has grossed $1 billion in sales. Yes, Austin Powers fans, that’s a Billion!

Guitar Hero was the first video game in the series for the PlayStation 2

OpenID: The Next Quarter-Billion Identities

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:01:00 +0000

OpenID: The Next Quarter-Billion Identities

It’s been less than three years since the OpenID initiative first launched, and today more than one-third of a billion identities have been enabled.

That’s thanks to some amazing news: Yahoo has announced that its nearly 250 million users will be able to start using their Yahoo identities as OpenID identities starting on January 30.

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A 100 billion plastic shopping bags

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:59:00 +0000

According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually.

So, it's probably a good idea to recycle a few.

See this post for more

Bono Defends His Billion-Dollar Business

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Bono Defends His Billion-Dollar Business

Rocker Bono has defended his decision to set up a $1.9 billion investment company, insisting it doesn't contradict his image as a poverty-campaigner. The U2 frontman is one of five co-founders of Elevation Partners - named after one of the band's songs - which has a $1.9 billion fund and recently invested $250 million into American magazine Forbes, which openly describes itself as a "capitalist tool."

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IBM's Billion-Dollar Security Push

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:13:00 +0000

Inside IBM's Billion-Dollar Security Push

By Sean Michael Kerner, Enterprise IT Planet

December 31, 2007

At the time Big Blue unveiled its big security plans in November 2007, it gave some indication as to how the money would be spent in developing new technologies and products. The announcement, however, represents just the tip of the iceberg: The company's new vision has far deeper implications that may well transform the nature of IBM itself. Kris Lovejoy, IBM's director of corporate security strategy, outlined a number of the changes taking place at the company in its effort to make good on its sweeping goals in the security space

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Clean Energy Market Cap Surpasses $1 Trillion

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Renewable energy as a whole broke the $1 trillion barrier last year as its entire market cap grew to $1.3 trillion. That growth will certainly continue as proven technologies and processes emerge and M&A and IPO activity increases.

More from this post that dwells a lot on the investment scenario in clean and green energy

$3 Quadrillion Lawsuit by Katrina Victim Sues U.S. for

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:43:00 +0000

Katrina victim sues U.S. for $3 quadrillion

Jan. 9, 2008: One Hurricane Katrina victim is seeking $3 quadrillion from the U.S. government. MSNBC's Willie Geist reports.

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina's victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.

The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

Of the total number of claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.

More here

Google's $100 Billion Revenue Aim - Strategy or Hype?

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:47:00 +0000

Google Aiming for $100 Billion of Revenue

At Google's analyst day two years ago, CEO Eric Schmidt made a clever remark about Google laying the foundation to become "a hundred-billion dollar company." He wouldn't clarify whether he was referring to a "$100 billion market cap," which Google had already attained, or "$100 billion of revenue."

In a recent New Yorker article, Schmidt clarified the company's ambitions: He means $100 billion in revenue. And what engine will drive Google there? Mobile phones...

Read more on this from this interesting article @ Silicon Alley Insider

Americans Waste 78 Billion Dollars A Year Stuck In Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:46:00 +0000

Americans Waste 78 Billion Dollars A Year Stuck In Traffic

Says a stat from this post (Sep 2007)

Penthouse Buys AdultFriendFinder for $ 500 million

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:45:00 +0000

Need any more proof that sex sells?

Babies Toys & Education - Multi-billion Dollar Niche

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:01:00 +0000

The niche market of newborns to three-year-olds is booming, with toys and educational materials developed for this sector now a $20 billion global industry.

We now spend an average of $1000 a year on toys and nursery products for the up-to-three-year-olds, according to market research company GFK Oztoys. The Australian market topped $1 billion this year - a 10 per cent growth in the past 10 months alone...

Interesting post, more from here

Zimbabwe's Inflation Results in Trillion Dollar House, Billion $ Bed

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:00:00 +0000

Zimbabwe's trillion dollar house, billion dollar bed

11 Dec 2007

A trillion dollar house, billion dollar bed and a million dollar beer. That and a severe cash squeeze are the latest sign of runaway inflation that has vexed consumers in President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. A four-bedroom house with a pool and tennis court in Harare's leafy Glen Lorne suburb sells for about ZW$1 trillion, a whopping $33 million at the official bank rate but only $667,000 on a widely used black market.

Prices of household furniture, groceries and food and rentals have more than doubled in the past month...

Interesting article @ Reuters

New York Art World Makes a Billion-Dollar Bet

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:08:00 +0000

The Art World Makes a Billion-Dollar Bet

Consumer confidence is at a two-year low, oil prices at an all-time high, a million or more sub-prime mortgagees are facing eviction from their homes...But in the art world, the party's just getting started -- and this could be the year the market breaks the $1 billion mark.

The fall art season is in full swing, with the major sales of contemporary art at the principal New York auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's, scheduled for November 2007. Contemporary art has been leading the market for five years now...

At the 2006 New York sales, contemporary art raked in over $871 million altogether - an abstraction by painter Mark Rothko brought $72.84 million, and Andy Warhol's "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)" (1963), sold for $71.72 million...

Full report here @ NJ

New York $2.5 Billion Plan to Revitalize Coney Island

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:05:00 +0000

New York $2.5 Billion Plan to Revitalize Coney Island

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday unveiled a 2.5-billion-dollar plan to revitalize Coney Island and turn it into the largest urban amusement park in the United States.

The plan calls for rezoning the northern end of Coney Island for hotels, residential and retail space, and transforming the streetscape on the west.

Full report from here

Voyager: 8 Billion Miles and Counting

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:15:00 +0000

Voyager: 8 Billion Miles and Counting

This has nothing to do with billions of dollars, but with something that makes even trillions of dollars utterly trivial.

Thirty years ago, the Voyager space probes set off to visit distant planets. As they finally leave the Solar System, Steve Connor @ The Independent, UK looks back at what we've learned. I liked the opening sentences: "Of all the spectacular images sent back to Earth from the two Voyager spacecraft – which celebrate their 30th anniversaries this month – perhaps the most poignant was taken on 14 February 1990, when Voyager 1 turned its camera around to where it had come from and captured a picture of our home planet from a distance of more than four billion miles. The image became known as The Pale Blue Dot – the Earth floating as a single point in the enormity of space."

Well, that's what we are in the big picture - a small, floating inconsequential dot that would have already disappeared from the Voyager's radar by now.

The article on the current status of the Voyager (it is still traveling, now out of the solar system) is quite interesting...full article here

Just one last bit of factoid from the report: "It will take 40,000 years before the two space probes skim past the nearest interplanetary system..." Utterly overwhelming and mind boggling

Over $100 Million Required to Tame Sri Lankan Elephants

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:08:00 +0000

Rs. 10 billion needed to manage wild elephants of Sri Lanka

August 31, 2007, ColomboPage News Desk

A Sri Lanka Minister says that the Ministry needs Rs. 10 billion per year (about us$ 200 million US$) for the management of wild elephants in the country. However, the Ministry receives only Rs. 3 billion for all its work, according to him.

The Minister also pointed out that the shortage of tamed elephants would be a problem in future since - there are only 137 tamed elephants while there are 72 famous cultural pageants per year countrywide.

Extra-ordinary! Who would have thought that taming of elephants would be such a sizable industry!

Oringinal news source: Colombo Page

Custom Installers' Business to Bring in $20 Billion by 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:36:00 +0000

Custom Installers' Business to Bring in $20 Billion by 2012

U.S. revenues generated through the custom integration and installation industry are projected to grow between eight and nine percent between 2007 and 2008, with total industry revenues hitting growing to surpass $11 billion in 2008, as technology advancements permit more retrofit projects and sales by existing dealers grow.

It is highly likely that new owners of homes will upgrade their entertainment, security, and other home systems. On average, 1.5 to 2 million new homes are built annually in the U.S., with six to seven million existing homes changing ownership each year.

Many new owners of pre-existing homes acquire their new residence with the intent to renovate or retrofit it. The power line retrofit method uses the existing power wiring in one's home for new networking.

Increasingly, home technology systems are being networked with Wireless LAN (WiFi) - a WiFi-enabled device can be wirelessly connected to the home's main network by way of a receiver that just plugs right into the nearest mains socket.

Full report from here @ Associated Content

London Finance Bonuses Soar 30% to £14 Billion High

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:15:00 +0000

City Bonuses Soar 30pc to £14 Billion High

By Sophie Borland, 31 Aug 2007

Bonuses taken home by London's financial sector workers have gone up by 30 per cent in the last year, fuelling a mass demand for luxuries such as yachts, Rolls-Royces and country homes - specifically in the luxury car and superyacht market.

The total pocketed by those working in the financial sector now stands at £14.1 billion, the highest on record. This figure has increased by twice as much as it did during the previous financial year when it stood at £10.9 billion.

Read the full report from here @ The Telegraph, UK

$50 billion worth natural gas wasted through flaring

noreply@blogger.com (Ecacofonix) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:04:00 +0000

$50 billion worth natural gas wasted through flaring

The world's oil producers are wasting more than $50 billion a year of natural gas by burning it off in flares — and adding significantly to the world's greenhouse gas emissions in the process.

A study commissioned by the World Bank estimates that, based on satellite photos, 170 billion cubic metres of natural gas went up in oil producers' flares last year.

The bank said the amount was equivalent to 27 per cent of the entire US consumption of natural gas, and 5.5 per cent of global gas output, and has called upon the various countries and producers to take steps to reduce the wastage.

I'm wondering whether the oil & gas industry equipment manufacturers have given this opportunity enough thought...

Read the full news report from here @ The Age, Australia