Things I Learned Today

Let's get ready for another remix of "things I learned today".

• They released the US Olympic uniforms today for the opening ceremony. They were designed by Ralph Lauren, which is an excellent choice for a true, innovative American designer. That being said, I think they're atrocious... I showed them to a couple of friends and we all laughed that the tagline for the article was that the uniforms are "meh", because I got a response ranging from "We look like the French girls from the Harry Potter movies" to "What are we now? Hitler youth?". So there you have it.... in choosing an American designer, we've unknowingly associated ourselves with the French and Germans. Thanks Ralph
• Apple released the MacBook and then the MacBook Air, which spurred computer makers to launch this idea of the "ultrabook", which is basically code for "a smaller, thinner laptop that is light, but that we can also upcharge you to death on". IDC and Gartner released a report today that showed HP, Lenovo and Dell taking a wallop-ing, while Apple smoothly cruised by with a rise in units shipped and in overall US market share. They attribute the lacklustre adoption of ultrabooks to the high price and the changes on the horizon (Windows 8)
•  I hate to be a hater...well, actually, that's kind of a lie. I kind of like being a hater. Especially if it entails me being right. I feel bad because Groupon is from my hometown, but their stock took a plunge again today, meaning that they've dropped approximately 70% (!!!!) since their IPO. The drop is attributed to the public's uncertainty of a sustainable business model, which is something I've been questioning for awhile, though I did read an article recently that although there's a lot of copycats out there, Groupon is still killin' it with a definitive lead as the market share leader. There's a fun little infographic too
• Chicago seems to be getting some notice in the travel scene, and was featured in the Travel Section of the New York Times. Note to self: Make a trip to The Roof at the The Wit before the summer is out. I am long overdue!
• Viacom apparently is demanding a 30% increase in fees from DirecTV, and because they are getting in a bit of a tussle over it, Viacom has pulled Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central from its offerings. Media execs seem increasingly worried (and rightfully so) that the Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Primes of the world will soon be taking over. Viacom pulled full episodes from the redirected options that DirecTV provided its customers, but have left full episodes on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime
• Apparently the average working week in Spain was 35 hours a week. Rajoy recently raised it to 37.5 hours a week as part of an effort to restructure his country to be more productive and to align better with the austerity measures that he is phasing in place. In response to some cutting of coal subsidies, miners marched from surrounding regions and threw rocks and firecrackers at police, who responded with truncheons and rubber bullets. Can you imagine if that happened in the US? "Today, hoards of white collar workers gathered on Wall Street to protest the tax subsidies. They threw rocks and firecrackers at police, who responded by shooting rubber bullets into the crowd"-- America just doesn’t know how to throw a good public riot like Spain does I suppose
• Airlines have consolidated their flights into the higher-volume airports, and due to this shrinking sphere of activity, some of the cities on the periphery (Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Oakland) now have a lot of extra space sitting idle. Airports generally generate revenue in two ways-- through fees paid by airlines and general aviation operators and through income from parking, rentals, concessions, advertising space and rentals of maintenance and other buildings. If no airplanes come through, no people will, and without people, an airport is a giant empty space. Options?  Sell space to commercial interests (DHL), transform into a giant maintenance hub (Pittsburgh), or sell to expanding budget companies that specialize in smaller planes typical of a smaller airport (Southwest). Not so friendly skies anymore I suppose