Business
$318 million for Massachusetts victims of unlawful foreclosures; state to seek additional money
By adamg - 2/9/12 - 5:10 pmSettlement with large national banks; Attorney General Martha Coakley said she will continue to purse a separate lawsuit against lenders.
We lose another online entrepreneur - but not to Silicon Valley this time
By adamg - 2/8/12 - 8:38 amWhy monkey with a good thing? Curious George bookstore to re-open in Harvard Square
By adamg - 2/6/12 - 1:50 pmWicked Local Cambridge reports a Roslindale couple is working to re-open the shuttered kids' bookstore in the heart of the square. Reopening is sometime this spring.
Urban Outfitters too sexy for Dedham?
By adamg - 2/6/12 - 7:38 amDedham Patch reports on one Dedham mother's efforts to get the clothing store to put the sexy books (yes, of course Urban Outfitters carries books about sex) in an "adult" section where the teenlets who flock there from as far away as West Roxbury can't have their impressionable minds sullied by titles such as Sex Tips for Girls by Guys and Get Laid.
She has, of course, set up a Facebook page.
Court: Fidelity investment advisers not covered by federal whistleblower law
By adamg - 2/3/12 - 5:56 pmA federal appeals court today tossed a lawsuit by two people working for a Fidelity subscontractor who alleged they were fired for bringing up possible accounting irregularities, because a federal law intended to protect the public from securities fraud is limited to employees of companies that are publicly traded.
Sandwich chain doing its part to destroy the wallet industry
By adamg - 2/2/12 - 8:38 amStreet Fight interviews Mike Conley, director of marketing at Sebastians Cafe, which now has 2,200 people signed up for its phone-based payment and loyalty programs - customers use their phones rather than old-fashioned cash or credit cards to pay for lunch. Naturally, the chain started with its Kendall Square location first.
It's just an easier, great way to pay. I forgot my wallet one day, going into a meeting, and I was like: "Oh, crap. I can't pay for food. Oh, wait a minute. I have my phone. I have LevelUp." It's interesting that everyone is starting to realize how this is a very usable tool for payments.
Editors are so passe
By adamg - 1/28/12 - 10:00 amSome educational publishing startup in the South Station area is looking for people who can hire and supervise writers and take charge of the company's content in their subject areas. You know, content leaders. Also, among the job requirements:
Incredible work output, like a force of nature, or like The Beast from X-Men.
Local technopreneurs ponder: Do you have to be an asshole to be a successful CEO?
By adamg - 1/27/12 - 8:04 amXconomy provides the roundup.
Venture capitalist: Cambridge is not Boston, dammit
By adamg - 1/25/12 - 9:37 amBrad Feld, managing director at the venture-capital firm Foundry Group, says it's past time for Cambridge tech types to embrace their inner Cambridgeness (or maybe even their inner Kendallness) and stop using "Boston" to refer to themselves:
In my world view, the entrepreneurs drive the startup community. Focus on entrepreneurial population density and entrepreneurial density – and make sure your geographic region is small. Over time, linking the critical mass together in a larger region (e.g. Silicon Valley or Boston) is fine, but the real power comes from the startup communities with the largest [entrepreneurial density] in small physical regions which are big enough to have critical mass.
Ed. note: He lost me a bit when, after making his Cambridge argument, he wrote that the 128 and 495 tech belts are part of Boston. Um, what?
Mass. General, Brigham and Women's not doing us any favors with newly announced rates
By adamg - 1/22/12 - 9:56 amPaul Levy, who complained loudly about Partners Healthcare when he was CEO of Beth Israel, marvels at what he says is the spin on its recently announced contracts with Tufts and Blue Cross, that what the hospital holding company says is a willingness to rein in costs only perpetuates a system in which consumers and employers pay more than they should.
Looking back over the past decade, it is not unreasonable to posit that this system has added in the range of two billion dollars to the health care costs paid by the state's businesses and individuals. The newly announced deals change little in that regard, extending that hidden tax for years to come.
