It's official: Apple is the new ruler of the technology world. Today the company beat out Microsoft for the title of world's most valuable — based on the value of all its stock — technology company. The announcement isn't surprising, given the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for everything Apple, including news, in recent months. When Gizmodo acquired a prototype of the iPhone 4GS after Apple employee Gray Powell (now infamously) left it at a bar, people paid attention. The product leak article has, as of this writing, garnered almost 11 million views, and it got the attention ... Read More
In Class-Action Lawsuits, You’re Only Suing Yourself
May 20, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Feeling let down by a financial firm? These days, you’re probably not alone. While you may have a hard time retaliating against Goldman Sachs (although their stock prices are down, most shareholders have still posted profits), new research by law professors Lynn Bai, James D. Cox and Randall S. Thomas suggests that you may want to rethink your class-action lawsuit, anyway. Their paper, to be published in the upcoming edition of University of Pennsylvania Law Review, indicates that these suits should target the people responsible for a financial loss and not the company they work for. ... Read More
Alcohol Makes Bigger Guys More Aggressive
May 18, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
A little guy and a big guy walk into a bar. After a few drinks, which one is more likely to start a fight? New research suggests it's the big guy. In "The big, the bad and the boozed-up: Weight moderates the effect of alcohol on aggression," C. Nathan DeWall, Brad J. Bushman, Peter R. Giancola and Gregory D. Webster write that heavy men are more likely to be aggressive under the influence of alcohol than men who weigh less than them. They believe their findings, to be published in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, provide some support for the "big, ... Read More
Extending the Sin Tax to the Tanning Bed
May 17, 2010 • By • 6 Comments
The case against indoor tanning is a strong one: According to the American Academy of Dermatology, indoor tanning before the age of 35 is linked to a 75 percent increase in the risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. But the cancer risk hasn't been bad for business — on an average day, more than 1 million people visit indoor tanning salons, and research conducted in 2008 found an average of 42 tanning salons per city in the United States. Tanning aside, there are more than 1 million new cases of skin cancer diagnosed every year, and an estimated $300 million is ... Read More
Blondes Have More Funds
May 15, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
As a (natural) blonde, I have heard my fair share of "dumb blonde" jokes, ranging from the insidious to the relatively harmless. "How do you keep a blonde busy for hours?" (Write 'Please turn over' on both sides of a piece of paper.) "What do you call a blonde behind the steering wheel of a car?" (An air bag.) The list goes on. But a new study suggests that blondes are the ones having the last laugh. Research by David W. Johnston, a postdoctoral fellow at the Queensland University of Technology, School of Economics and Finance, indicates that there is a "pretty premium" for blondes in the ... Read More
Rerouting Gray Whales By Audio
May 13, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Although the government’s approval of the nation’s first offshore wind project, Cape Wind, has stolen the green-energy spotlight as of late, another renewable energy source has been (literally) making waves off the coasts of Ireland, Hawaii and Australia. Wave power is a growing industry, albeit one that doesn’t yet provide competitively priced green energy. It is very capital intensive, which has prevented its implementation on a broad scale. Still, by one World Energy Council estimate, the solar-power derivative (waves are generated by winds, which are themselves a result of ... Read More
Continental’s Charitable Donations May Be In Departure Lounge
May 11, 2010 • By • 2 Comments
A recent Nick Anderson cartoon in the Houston Chronicle highlights the city’s concerns about the proposed United-Continental merger, which would relocate Continental’s headquarters to Chicago. Houston, which has been the airline’s home since 1982, fears the merger means a loss of jobs, prestige — and charitable contributions. Research outlined in a previous Miller-McCune.com article suggests this concern is well founded. Corporate headquarters do increase charitable donations in a city, not necessarily because the corporations themselves donate more, but because they employ and ... Read More
One Grad Faces Decisions in a Time of Recession
May 9, 2010 • By • 2 Comments
To go or not to go? That is the question. For many recent college grads (myself included), graduate school is an option with ever-increasing appeal. With young people’s unemployment at almost 19 percent in March, hiring of 2010 college graduates down 7 percent from last year’s already dismal numbers and underemployment of 16- to 24-year-olds estimated at a whopping 31.9 percent at the end of last year, career opportunities aren’t exactly plentiful for the bright young minds of the future. Enrollment in graduate school is on the rise; the Higher Education Research Institute’s 2009 ... Read More
Better Weapons Don’t Make for Shorter Wars
May 8, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
As the British gobbled up much of Asia and Africa in the late 1800s, tiny forces of red-coated soldiers routinely thrashed huge groups of native troops, the odd Isandlwana aside, thanks to the Europeans' superior military technology. As historian Hillaire Belloc famously observed about a particular machine gun: "Whatever happens, we have got The Maxim gun, and they have not." Superior military technology should make a war winnable. That suggests nations with the best offensive military technology — say Predator drones now or Maxim guns a century ago — are more likely to wage wars and ... Read More
The Benefits of Broadband on Internet Use
April 30, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
A decision by a D.C. federal appeals court earlier this month allowing telecommunications companies to block users from accessing certain content sparked a major debate over Net neutrality, and now the Federal Communications Commission is fighting to regulate Internet broadband services. The FCC, which rolled out its National Broadband Plan in March, wants to phase out the Universal Service Fund, a program initially designed to keep telecommunications costs low in rural communities and instead impose a 15 percent tax on current broadband users that would be used to connect rural America to ... Read More
