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Within 24 hours of pop songstress’ Whitney Houston’s death, the Nielsen SoundScan retail sales monitoring service reported that 91,000 digital albums and another 10,000 physical albums, as well as with 887,000 digital tracks had been sold.  The top-selling album that day was her 2000 compilation “Whitney Houston — Greatest Hits,” which sold 64,000 copies, enough […]

“They’re going to pry it out of my hands…” That was President-Elect Obama protesting the idea of giving up his beloved BlackBerry. At one point, Obama suggested that retaining his BlackBerry was one way to stay connected to the real world.  “I’ve got to look for every opportunity to do that – ways that aren’t […]

Although the economy has improved in the past year, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers that they still must cut the growing budget deficit.  “We still have a long way to go before the labor market can be said to be operating normally,” Bernanke said in testimony to the Senate Budget Committee.  “Particularly troubling […]

In good news for beleaguered homeowners, the Obama administration announced a $26 billion mortgage settlement, which 49 out of 50 state attorneys general signed on to.  The deal won praise from such groups as the Mortgage Bankers Association, the industry trade group for lenders, and the Center for Responsible Lending, a public interest group advocating […]

Green roofs are springing up in the concrete jungle of New York City – plants growing on waterproof membranes on top of buildings – in all five boroughs.  Considering the potential to reduce greenhouse gases, increase energy efficiency and capture storm-water runoff, this movement is understandable.  “Most of this work is small in scale so […]

If you’d like to slash your electric bill, switch to the LED light bulb, the “light-emitting diode” that General Electric invented 50 years ago.  Now, LED bulbs are the focus of intense competition among all of the major lighting manufacturers.  “There are two races going on,” said Todd Manegold, LED product manager for Philips Electric. […]

Sears is trading at its lowest level levels since John Kerry won the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary in 2004 — and that’s not good news for one of America’s oldest retailers. The retailer, which owns Kmart as well as the Kenmore, Craftsman and Lands’ End brands, announced  after Christmas that it would close […]

When we say that a company “went bankrupt,” we imply that it had no other choice. But American Airlines deliberately filed for bankruptcy. The airline had four billion dollars in the bank and was in a position to pay its bills. American has been losing money for some time and its board decided that it […]

Ireland was one of the nations that was hardest hit by the Eurozone crisis, but now it’s being seen as leading stricken nations in their efforts to turn their economies around.  International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU) officials are impressed by its austerity measures, imposed after the massive 2010 bailout.  For the average […]

When Cadillac is staking its comeback on a compact car that boasts fuel economy approaching 40 mpg, what does it mean for hybrid and electric vehicles?  Cadillac’s ATS sedan is one example of how carmakers at the Detroit Auto Show are re-emphasizing small, powerful models with more fuel-efficient engines such as sport-utility vehicles; even, please […]