2007 May: Business
Index: Parent
Other months: April June
Other areas: Climate
computing education health
Internet national science
social technology Others
Topics: Carbon
consumerism
copyright
economics
environment
fraud
globalism
manufacturing
marketing
media
outsourcing
pay
privatisation
publishing
social
Barry Fitzgerald, BP, Rio sure of future for fossil fuels, The Age, 2007 May 22 (BP and Rio Tinto have added an Australian leg to their promotion of coal-fired power generation with carbon capture as part of the attack on global warming)
Liz Minchin, Can climate change get worse? It has, The Age, 2007 May 22 (global carbon emissions exceed scientists' greatest fears, with Australia among worst offenders)
Teena Lyons, Do carbon neutral declarations by big brands mean anything?, Guardian, 2007 May 21 (hardly a day goes by without the announcement of another scheme to reduce carbon emissions, but there are increasing doubts about lack of regulation in the market)
The environment: Not on the label, Economist, 2007 May 19 (why adding "carbon footprint" labels to foods and other products is tricky)
Katharine Murphy, Carbon plan step closer, The Age, 2007 May 19 (a high-level group of business leaders and bureaucrats is poised to recommend that Australia adopt a national emissions trading scheme, possibly from 2012)
Steve Lohr, World mayors get software to track carbon imprint, IHT, 2007 May 15 (a new Internet tool to help individuals and communities curb their roles in adding global-warming carbon emissions was to be announced on Tuesday at a conference in New York of mayors from around the world, said a person who built the Web technology)
David Adam, Flights reach record levels despite warnings over climate change, Guardian, 2007 May 9 (2.51m take-offs scheduled worldwide this month; UK most popular country for international flights)
Neasa MacErlean, How Europe can seize the market in carbon capture, Observer, 2007 May 6 (legal changes would allow the UK and Norway to dominate the nascent CO2 storage industry by using the Atlantic sea bed)
Canada: Greener, Economist, 2007 May 5 (trying again on emissions policy)
Mark Milner, Global carbon trading market triples to £15bn, Guardian, 2007 May 3 (many unregulated offset projects fall short, and EU scheme accounts for bulk of transactions)
Leon Gettler, Carbon claims can be load of hot air, The Age, 2007 May 3 (companies going carbon neutral risk a shareholder backlash and accusations of "greenwashing" - the term for window-dressing by governments or businesses aimed to make them look environmentally friendly - if they fail to do it properly)
Jewel Topsfield, Turnbull to claim Kyoto compliance, The Age, 2007 May 2 (Australia is on track to meet its Kyoto target after the release of figures showing there was no growth in greenhouse gas emissions between 2004 and 2005, Malcolm Turnbull will claim today)
Dan Milmo, EasyJet slams 'snake oil sellers' in offset market and goes it alone, Guardian, 2007 April 30 (budget airline says offsetting industry riddled with 'snake oil salesmen' charging 25-30% to cover administration costs)
George Monbiot, Our blind faith in oil growth could bring the economy crashing down, Guardian, 2007 May 29 (Britain's future prosperity has been hardwired to rising use of transport fuels, without a thought for the supply drying up)
Larry Elliott, Spend, spend, spend is costing the Earth, Guardian, 2007 May 21 (today's consumers make profligate pools winners of the past seem like amateurs)
Martin Feil, We need a consumer tax index to see what we're paying, The Age, 2007 May 21 (indicators show the economy is growing, but is it really that simple?)
Mian Ridge, Shop window opens for subcontinent luxury lovers, The Age, 2007 May 19 (India's potential as a luxury goods market has the brands salivating)
Hannah Fairfield, States start trading program, The Age, 2007 May 7 (amid steadily increasing carbon emissions, and a Federal Government hesitant to take the lead on climate legislation, 10 US states have joined to create the first mandatory carbon cap-and-trade program in the nation)
Jesse Hogan, Clean manufacturing aids environment: scientist, The Age, 2007 May 7 (the increasing corporate trend towards reducing carbon emissions is both inadequate for the environment and a danger to economies, a pioneering scientist believes)
India's consumers: The coming boom, Economist, 2007 May 5 (India's consumption could leapfrog Germany's in two decades)
Nicholas Gruen, Forget regulation, let track records rule, The Age, 2007 May 3 (governments are in the Stone Age, baffling consumers with disclosure overkill)
Mandy Turner, Environment: Scramble for Africa, Guardian, 2007 May 2 (as the industrial powers race to extract the continent's natural resources to feed their own consumption, they are fostering environmental degradation, corruption and human rights abuses)
Katie Allen, UK music industry wins legal battle over cheap CDs, Guardian, 2007 May 30 (the UK record industry has secured record damages from an online music company that imported cheap CDs into Britain illegally)
Amrit Dhillon, Indian devotees tied up in knots over yoga copyright plan, The Age, 2007 May 26 (a California yoga teacher's bid to patent his poses has drawn an indignant reponse from fellow practitioners)
Alan Riding, Heirs of creative artists hold strong powers, IHT, 2007 May 25 (they may have no artistic talent of their own, but they bask in reflected glory, receive royalties and determine how works are interpreted or exploited)
Doreen Caravajal, Swedish company offers new passports for computers to surf the Web, IHT, 2007 May 20 (Relakks, a tiny Web company based on the southern tip of Sweden, prides itself on its official "pirate" endorsements and its swashbuckling circumvention of online barriers erected by governments and corporations)
Bloomberg and Reuters, Copyright extension urged for U.K. sound recordings, IHT, 2007 May 16 (British copyright laws on sound recordings must be extended beyond 50 years to prevent veteran musicians like Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney from losing royalties in later life, a report from a parliamentary committee said Wednesday)
Doreen Carvajal, The law arrives in Wild West of Webcasts, IHT, 2007 May 13 (since Pandora.com closed its box of digital musical delights this month to users outside the United States, the eulogies for the popular American radio Webcaster have been pouring in from Dubai to Patagonia)
Seth Finkelstein, How many freedoms will we give up to help business get richer?, Guardian, 2007 May 10 (it's time for another battle in the war over whether law can suppress technology well enough to enforce some social purpose)
Darren Waters, DRM group vows to fight bloggers, BBC, 2007 May 4 (the body behind copy protection on some hi-def DVDs says it will fight efforts to break its technology)
AP, More legal woes for YouTube, The Age, 2007 May 7 (England's top soccer league and an indie music publisher sue YouTube for alleged copyright infringement)
Kenneth Nguyen, Australia hands over man to US courts, The Age, 2007 May 7 (before he was extradited to the US, Hew Griffiths, from Berkeley Vale in NSW, had never even set foot in America; but he had pirated software produced by American companies)
John Naughton, Blu-ray's secret key: now showing at websites everywhere, Observer, 2007 May 6 (the DMCA is one of the most pernicious statutes ever passed. It casts a chilling shadow over the entire digital world)
Pandora to block non-US listeners, BBC, 2007 May 3 (Internet radio station Pandora is to block most users from outside the US because of music licensing constraints)
Starbucks strikes Ethiopia deal, BBC, 2007 May 3 (Starbucks and Ethiopia reach an agreement which could help end a dispute over coffee bean trademarks)
AAP, Copyright laws still dated, The Age, 2007 May 3 (Australian laws must be drastically updated to protect consumers' rights to access information on the internet, says a legal expert)
AAP, People power forces site to reveal code, The Age, 2007 May 3 (a popular technology news website has chosen to brave the wrath of big business and let its contributors publish a code that breaks the copy protection locks on next generation DVDs)
DVD DRM row sparks user rebellion, BBC, 2007 May 2 (attempts to suppress the spread of a DVD crack have led to a user-generated revolt in the blogosphere)
Lewis Blackwell, We are a boon We are a boon to photographers, not a threat, Guardian, 2007 May 2 (it is inconceivable that two firms could one day own every photo used on the web)
Michael Geist, 'Ignore the US copyright bullies', BBC, 2007 April 25 (countries should resist US bullying tactics over copyright and intellectual property)
John Christensen, Dirty money flows distort our economy and corrupt democracy, Guardian, 2007 May 30 (it's time to confront the tax-haven monster that panders to the rich, robs the poor, and corrodes public faith in our laws)
Economics focus: The great wall of money, Economist, 2007 May 26 (China's economy may be less vulnerable to a bursting of the stockmarket bubble than it appears)
Nicholas Gruen, Buffett's Squanderville all maxed out, The Age, 2007 May 24 (does the billionaire's remedy for the American trade deficit still make sense?)
Nassim Khadem, Buy-out risks blamed on cash in Asia, The Age, 2007 May 22 (the surge in private equity buy-outs is a result of countries such as China and Japan distorting the global price of money, and it poses a major risk to financial stability, says the OECD)
Heather Connon, Money to burn: here comes the Chinese wall of investment, Observer, 2007 May 20 (China is suffering from an embarrassment of riches; as the 'factory' servicing the world's consumers it has, literally, been manufacturing money)
Buttonwood: Mean or meaningless?, Economist, 2007 May 19 (averages need to be treated with caution)
China and US trade: Lost in translation, Economist, 2007 May 19 (if China sharply revalued the yuan, as American politicians are demanding, it could actually hurt the United States and help China)
Paul Jensen and Elizabeth Webster, Making a measure for all innovation, The Age, 2007 May 9 (innovation is one of those concepts that everyone - from economists to business strategists, and politicians to policymakers - embraces with vigour)
Will Hutton, The crash is coming and it could be soon, Observer, 2007 May 6 (the Bank of England must act decisively and swiftly to curb the current house price madness)
Christopher Webb, Livin's easy in a white-hot boom, The Age, 2007 May 6 (money of all hues continues to fuel the white-hot boom that is being played out on the stock exchange)
Tom Kington, Naples burns as residents protest at garbage crisis, Observer, 2007 May 27 (sanitation officials are desperately opening temporary rubbish dumps this weekend as short-term relief from the refuse-collection crisis)
Mary-Anne Toy, Cancer at the heart of China's industry boom, The Age, 2007 May 26 (fear of pollution's human toll is forcing authorities to act, but the clean-up task is huge)
Mark Forbes, Mud volcano threatens endless ruin as magical solutions fail, The Age, 2007 May 26 (efforts to dam Java's bubbling ooze are proving fruitless)
Whaling: Sharpening their harpoons, Economist, 2007 May 26 (the hunters of the world gird for battle with the huggers)
Jonathan Watts, Beijing blames pollutants for rise in killer cancers, Guardian, 2007 May 22 (foul air, filthy water and contaminated soil have led to a surge of tumours in China)
The environment: Not on the label, Economist, 2007 May 19 (why adding "carbon footprint" labels to foods and other products is tricky)
Cornelia Dean, Satellite images reveal harm done by trawlers, IHT, 2007 May 16 (scientists have used satellite images to show fleets of trawlers leaving plumes of mud behind them like contrails; they hope the images will focus wider attention on trawling damage, and on the possible uses of satellites to monitor fishing)
Jesse Hogan, Clean manufacturing aids environment: scientist, The Age, 2007 May 7 (the increasing corporate trend towards reducing carbon emissions is both inadequate for the environment and a danger to economies, a pioneering scientist believes)
Richard Wachman, City wakes up to economic threat of global warming, Observer, 2007 May 6 (higher temperatures could mean a rapid rise in inflation and catastrophic famine; how the business world is taking extreme weather seriously)
'Green eye' tech centre launched, BBC, 2007 May 2 (a new space innovation centre in the UK will lead the development of novel technologies to monitor our planet)
Rebecca Smithers, Bryson wants a tidier island, Guardian, 2007 May 2 (Bill Bryson aims to turn our growing litter problem into a national campaign)
Rachel Williams, Sightseers imperil last great wilderness, The Age, 2007 May 1 (Britain is to warn a summit about Antarctica that soaring numbers of tourists flocking there on cruise ships could have serious environmental implications for the world's last great wilderness)
Ashley Seager, EU clampdown spawns new carousel fraud, Guardian, 2007 May 29 (ministers discuss changes to VAT payment system; 95% of reclaims checked had been made by crooks)
Beverley Head, All that glitters is not gold, The Age, 2007 May 29 (Australia's ranking as the world's seventh most popular phishing destination is unlikely to be challenged, despite an attempt by a US federal grand jury to shut down an online currency favoured by phishers)
UK database theft hurts customers, BBC, 2007 May 25 (Cable & Wireless has served an injunction against a former executive following the theft of a 100,000 customer database)
Charles Duhigg, Firms sell elderly Americans' data to telemarketing con artists, IHT, 2007 May 21 (telemarketing fraud, once limited to small-time thieves, has become a global criminal enterprise preying upon millions of elderly and other people every year)
Jennifer Conlin, Credit card fraud keeps growing on the Net, IHT, 2007 May 11 (though there are no definitive global figures on losses from credit card fraud - most financial institutions are tight-lipped on the subject - an FBI report from 2005 indicated that credit cards represented the majority of the total $315 billion U.S. financial fraud loss for that year, while a recent European study found that more than 22 million adults fell victim to credit card scams in 2006)
Matthew Chapman, Fake students net loan millions, BBC, 2007 May 5 (criminal gangs obtain millions of pounds in student loans by enrolling "ghost students" in universities)
Bobbie Johnson, It's easy money, says online fraudster who stole £250,000, Guardian, 2007 May 3 (despite tougher security, identity and credit card theft are at an all-time high)
Saritha Rai, In India, lunch survives globalization, IHT, 2007 May 29 (in India, where many traditions are being rapidly overturned by globalization, the practice of eating a home-cooked meal for lunch lives on)
Ian Austen, Doubts grow in Canada about foreign takeovers, IHT, 2007 May 29 (in the latest sign that the takeovers had become a growing political issue, the opposition Liberal Party called for a freeze on foreign takeovers of Canadian companies for three months to allow a review of investment laws)
David Smith, Focus: British film-makers ask: what is the hidden cost of your £2 latte?, Observer, 2007 May 27 (two billion cups are sold daily in a £40bn global industry, but now a controversial documentary showing the plight of growers asks whether there is such a thing as ethical coffee)
Heather Stewart, Battle for biofuels drives world food prices higher, Observer, 2007 May 27 (America's thirst for environmentally friendly biofuels is driving up food prices around the world as farmers scramble to devote more land to corn)
David Walker, Public eye: The stuff of American nightmares, Guardian, 2007 May 23 (the internationalisation of state employment is happening, growing and is inevitable)
Heather Stewart, Is China's trick cycle on the turn?, Observer, 2007 May 20 (even if the 'Shanghai bubble' bursts, the growth will go on, but there are roadblocks ahead for the nation that has that has transformed the global economy)
International accounting: Speaking in tongues, Economist, 2007 May 19 (dragging America down the rocky road to a set of global accounting rules)
John Vidal, Global rush to energy crops threatens to bring food shortages and increase poverty, says UN, Guardian, 2007 May 9 (winners and losers in huge biofuel industry; oil price will stabilise but small farmers at risk)
Richard Wachman, Global frenzy as takeovers hit £1 trillion, Observer, 2007 May 6 (Reuters and Microsoft deals lead merger mania)
Spanish business: Conquistadors on the beach, Economist, 2007 May 5 (Spanish companies have gone global, but now trouble is brewing at home with concerns over a property crash)
Simon Jenkins, A sword and shield against globalisation's dark riders, Guardian, 2007 May 2 (having reshaped the political map of Britain, nationalism offers hope to those who have lost faith in tiered democracy)
Economics focus: Use IT or lose it, Economist, 2007 May 19 (new calculations shed more light on Europe's productivity malaise)
Tim Colebatch, Australia's innovation growth run faltering, The Age, 2007 May 1 (the wave of innovation in Australian business over the 1990s and early 2000s is flagging, a pioneering innovation index published today by IBM and the Melbourne Institute reveals)
Jessica Michault, Stealthy screen time: Prime placement for luxury brands, IHT, 2007 May 28 (awareness of the Louis Vuitton brand seeps into the psyche over the course of the film)
Nick Stace, This drugs TV could wreak havoc on our health service, Guardian, 2007 May 29 (pharmaceutical companies are trying to push their products rather than help patients)
Randall Stross, Apple's genius in retailing eludes its rivals, IHT, 2007 May 27 (of the many predictions in the world of technology that have turned out to be spectacularly wrong, a prominent place should be made for what the pundits said in 2001 when Apple opened its first retail store in Tysons Corner, Virginia)
Ben Goldacre, Through the tube darkly, Guardian, 2007 May 26 (three weeks ago, I received my favourite email of all time, from a science teacher)
EU sets new digital media rules, BBC, 2007 May 25 (the EU agrees on new rules for TV and on-demand internet video, allowing more advertising and "product placement")
Melinda Tankard Reist and Renate Klein, Why are we experimenting with drugs on girls?, The Age, 2007 May 25 (the Gardasil program may benefit only drug company shareholders)
Mark Sweney, Lexus ad banned for green claims, Guardian, 2007 May 23 (a Lexus campaign claiming a four-wheel drive SUV was environmentally friendly has been banned)
Steve Hemsley, The power of persuasion, Guardian, 2007 May 21 (advertisers are now looking to engage consumers rather than annoy them - so expect a wacky stunt soon in a street near you)
Louise Story, Networks try new ways to keep eyes on ads, IHT, 2007 May 21 (the changes include creating commercials that last for an entire break, integrating stars from programs into the ads and developing story lines that run through the ads)
Advertising: Spot the eyeball, Economist, 2007 May 19 (for advertisers, sports events need not be such a lottery)
Economics focus: To do with the price of fish, Economist, 2007 May 12 (how do mobile phones promote economic growth?; a new paper provides a vivid example)
Catherine Deveny, Cold callers still don't get our message, thanks to Bill and Co., The Age, 2007 May 9 (the Do Not Call Register has created yet another illusion of choice)
Jesse Hogan, HooHaa sends a clear message to mobile users, The Age, 2007 May 7 (a fledgling Melbourne company is hoping to convince mobile phone users to accept text message advertising without getting paid to do so)
Peter Ker, AFL seeks shelter from air ads, The Age, 2007 May 7 (the AFL has sought a massive upgrade in protection under new aerial advertising laws, a move that would effectively classify more than 100 football matches each year as major events)
Reuters, Microsoft moves into mobile phone advertising, IHT, 2007 May 3 (Microsoft said Thursday that it had agreed to acquire the European mobile phone advertising company ScreenTonic to gain a foothold in the rapidly growing business for placing ads on mobile phones)
AAP, Register opens to block telemarketers, The Age, 2007 May 3 (the register, which will come into force later this month, has been set up by the Federal Government in response to increasing community concern over the increase in unsolicited sales calls)
Kelly Burke, Experts pour cold water on Gatorade, The Age, 2007 May 3 (the Australian launch this week of Gatorade's "world first" sports drink specifically targeting children under 13 has drawn fire from nutritionists and dentists)
Janette Owen, Schools: The school sell, Guardian, 2007 May 1 (teachers, the last stand against advertisers?)
Leslie Cannold, What is so wrong with truthful advertising?, The Age, 2007 May 1 (a bill making anti-abortion groups' ads truthful is faltering)
Zoe Williams, An ethical desert, Guardian, 2007 May 30 (a reality show in which contestants compete for a kidney reminds us TV has one master: money)
It's not laws that keep owners at bay, Observer, 2007 May 27 (editors, you may have observed, do not want more laws affecting their role; they have already counted more than 50 chunks of statute instructing them how to behave, and that's quite enough)
Matthew Ricketson, Papers trail as readers flock online for news, The Age, 2007 May 19 (online readership of newspapers continues to surge while their print counterparts recorded patchy results in the latest survey)
James Robinson, TV anytime, anywhere? Sooner than you think, Observer, 2007 May 13 (the launch of Joost could show why it's time the TV industry stopped fearing the spectre of free shows via the internet)
Conor Clarke, All the president's men?, Guardian, 2007 May 7 (the New York Times's decision to snub an official dinner may not quell fears that the US press are too close to the White House)
Christopher Scanlon, DIY journalism is not a real alternative, The Age, 2007 May 7 (great reporting requires considerable skill and sufficient resources)
Nick Greenslade, Everybody needs good Neighbours; at any cost?, Observer, 2007 May 6 (why ITV and Five want to snatch the Aussie soap)
Thomas Crampton, Google in talks with Belgian papers over links to articles, IHT, 2007 May 3 (Google, the Internet search engine, and the French-language newspapers of Belgium said Thursday that they had begun discussions aimed at defusing a legal battle over what content Google could index)
Simon Caulkin, Make a decision? We're too dumbed-down, Observer, 2007 May 27 (responding to an article on the outsourcing frenzy, a reader lamented that managers had forgotten how to manage: their first reaction was to look for packaged solutions that offloaded responsibility for anything difficult on to someone else)
Simon Caulkin, Out of house, out of mind - and out of pocket, Observer, 2007 May 13 (outsourcing is going through 'a mid-life crisis')
Eduardo Porter, More than ever, it pays to be the top executive, IHT, 2007 May 25 (as executive pay has surged in most U.S. companies, attention has focused on the growing gap between executives' earnings and the average wage of workers in cubicles or on the shop floor; little noticed, however, is how much the gap has also widened between the summit and the next few echelons down)
AFP, Jobs tops pay list with $784m, The Age, 2007 May 7 (Forbes says Apple's Steve Jobs was the top-paid US chief executive last year, receiving some $US646 million)
Nassim Khadem, Is private equity the public enemy?, The Age, 2007 May 26 (the private equity picture is still somewhat blurry)
Hilary Wainwright, A way out of this spectacle, Guardian, 2007 May 19 (it's now clear privatisation and marketisation will only be challenged effectively from outside parliament)
Jason Steger, Text book sets the standard again, The Age, 2007 May 28 (Melbourne publisher Text has achieved a remarkable double with another of its authors winning the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the second year running)
Carmel Egan, Fears about the write stuff sparks row over journal, The Age, 2007 May 27 (with literary journal Meanjin facing takeover, some worry it will be sapped of its strength and independence)
Mobile phones: Screen savers, Economist, 2007 May 26 (Japan's latest mobile craze: novels delivered to your handset)
John Crace, Safety first on the shelves, Guardian, 2007 May 22 (the internet has given new music a shot in the arm; but in publishing, conservatism reigns)
Motoko Rich, Publisher puts book proposals on an online betting exchange, IHT, 2007 May 21 (can crowds predict whether a book will succeed?; that is the hope of the founders of Media Predict, www.MediaPredict.com, a virtual market that opened Monday, and Simon & Schuster, a publisher that plans to select a book proposal based on bets placed by traders in the new market)
John Mangan, Book sellers aren't that wild about Harry, The Age, 2007 May 20 (bokstores are pencilling in July 21 for the next Harry Potter instalment, but they don't expect to get rich)
Carmel Egan, New parent for ailing university magazine, The Age, 2007 May 20 (after 67 years of independence, the tiny but influential literary magazine Meanjin is set to be taken over by Melbourne University Press)
AFP, First A4 colour e-paper unfurled, The Age, 2007 May 14 (South Korea's LG Philips LCD has developed the world's first A4-sized colour electronic-paper - a paper-thin and bendable viewing panel)
Robin McKie, Review: Can a tortoise race into first place?, Observer, 2007 May 13 (what makes a good science book?)
Simon Caulkin, Make a decision? We're too dumbed-down, Observer, 2007 May 27 (responding to an article on the outsourcing frenzy, a reader lamented that managers had forgotten how to manage: their first reaction was to look for packaged solutions that offloaded responsibility for anything difficult on to someone else)
Christopher Johnson, Ageing UK needs 7m immigrants to survive, Observer, 2007 May 13 (only an influx of workers from the East can help Britain's shrinking labour force support the post-war generation in retirement)
Katie Ledger, Social lending gains net interest, BBC, 2007 May 4 (social networking spawns a new concept as banking harnesses the potential of Web 2.0)
Crime 'risk' to Caribbean growth, BBC, 2007 May 3 (violence and crime in the Caribbean are undermining growth and investment)
James Meikle, Schools: Heads link rise in private school numbers to work pressures, Guardian, 2007 May 4 (parents increasingly turning to private schools due to job and travel pressures on families, say headteachers)