9 Drop Out Super Kaya di Jagat Teknologi

Drop out kuliah mungkin bukan merupakan hal yang bagus. Namun jika mengalaminya jangan langsung putus asa, karena bukan tidak mungkin drop out kuliah malah membuka jalan menuju kesuksesan mengagumkan.
Namun memang ada syaratnya, tidak sekadar drop out lalu bisa mendadak sukses. Diperlukan kerja keras dan impian besar sebelum kesuksesan bisa direngkuh. Dan biasanya juga membutuhkan waktu yang tidak sebentar.
Contohnya sudah cukup banyak. Termasuk di dunia teknologi, di mana beberapa pendiri perusahaan raksasa rupanya tidak sempat menamatkan kuliahnya.

5 Maskapai Terbaik Dunia 2012

Pesawat merupakan salah satu transportasi favorit bagi traveler. Untuk fasilitas, ketepatan waktu, dan layanan yang sangat memuaskan, ini dia profil 5 maskapai terbaik dunia tahun 2012.
Kelima maskapai berikut ini menjadi yang terbaik di tahun 2012. Tak sedikit traveler yang berlomba-lomba untuk berpergian dengan beberapa maskapai tersebut. Pelayanan dan fasilitasnya jangan diragukan lagi. Perjalanan berjam-jam di atas udara pun tidak akan membosankan jika traveler terbang dengan salah satu maskapai terbaik ini.
Berikut profil 5 maskapai terbaik di dunia versi Skytrax:

Chase's Website Slowed By Glitches

Chase's website was slow and unavailable for some users for several hours on Wednesday, one day after Bank of America experienced similar issues.

Around 1:40 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Chase's Twitter account tweeted: "Chase.com is experiencing intermittent issues. We're working to restore full connectivity & apologize for any inconvenience." Chase spokesman Patrick Linehan repeated a similar statement, and declined to comment further on the reason for the problems.

Monitoring firm Keynote says the trouble appeared to start around 12:15 pm ET and was mostly resolved by the late afternoon, although some sluggishness remained.

Chase's site issues broke out just as Bank of America was recovering from its own intermittent slowness. Bank of America didn't reveal the cause of its glitches, but both banks recently rolled out changes to their website that could have inadvertently caused a problem.

Massive Demand Awaits Friday's iPhone 5 Sale

Pre-order response to the iPhone 5 has been massive, outstripping expectations of analysts, who were bullish on Apple's latest smartphone to begin with, and apparently of Apple itself.

Apple received more than 2 million pre-orders in the first 24 hours, double the number it got for last year's record-setting iPhone 4S release, the company said.

Apple's initial promise to ship pre-ordered phones in a week, the same day they become available at Apple Stores and other retailers, was pushed back just an hour after pre-orders opened up at midnight Thursday.

Yahoo To Return $3 Billion To Holders On Alibaba Deal

NEW YORK -- Yahoo says it will return $3 billion to shareholders after selling back about half of its 40% stake in Chinese company Alibaba for $7.1 billion, according to documents filed with the SEC.

Alibaba Group Holding, an online marketplace based in China, repurchased its 523 million shares from Yahoo for $7.1 billion.

Discount airlines Scoot into Asia

Asia’s latest discount airliner takes to the skies Monday, with its inaugural flight from Singapore to Sydney.
Launched by Singapore Airlines, no-frills Scoot has already sold more than 100,000 tickets, according to The Straits Times. In its first year, it will offer flights on four Boeing 777 aircraft, linking Singapore with nearby countries, including Australia and China. Currently, tickets are available to the Australian cities of Sydney and Goldcoast, as well as Bangkok and Tianjin, China.

Loving Hut Express - Restoran Vegan yang Menyehatkan

Loving Hut Express adalah restoran vegan cepat saji yang menyediakan makanan sehat dengan harga murah. Semua bahan makanan diolah dari soya (kedelai) dan jamur, dengan perasa non-MSG.

Get used to a life of layoffs

Are technology companies ailing?

Hewlett-Packard certainly is. The venerable behemoth announced it will implement a restructuring that includes eliminating 27,000 jobs. HP tried to bring itself around by replacing its CEO last year. That didn't quite do the trick, so now it's resorting to the good old-fashioned mass layoff.
One suspects that HP is a little too venerable. It was the first "Stanford spinoff," fittingly reflected in the presence of Hewlett Hall and Packard Hall in the engineering corner of the Stanford campus. Yet HP hasn't stayed ahead of the innovation curve, failing for instance to adapt well to the tablet craze.

Euro drops sharply as fears take toll

Euro notes are pictured coming out of an ATM machine on June 22, 2011 in Athens, Greece.

(Financial Times) -- The euro tumbled to its lowest level in almost two years as investors dumped riskier European equities amid signs that policymakers were bracing for the financial turmoil that could be unleashed by a Greek exit from the eurozone. The single currency fell about a percentage point during European trading to its weakest level since the summer of 2010 as European leaders gathered in Brussels for an informal summit. In a sign of how seriously eurozone countries are taking the possibility of a Greek exit from the single currency, it emerged that senior eurozone finance ministry officials had held a conference call on Monday during which each country was asked to detail the contingency planning their treasuries had done to prepare for a Greek departure. European stock markets suffered their worst one-day drop in a month, while investors fled the riskier sovereign debt of the eurozone's periphery and piled into haven assets such as the government debt of the US, the UK and Germany. "It looks like real panic, but it could get worse," said Christopher Iggo, chief investment officer for fixed income at Axa Investment Managers. "We could see real capitulation unless policymakers act decisively and massively."

Brand power: Football's most valuable clubs unveiled

 Manchester United has been announced as the most valuable brand in football by independent consultancy Brand Finance. The global appeal and on-field success of the 19-time English champions has helped them establish a brand worth an estimated $853 million.

(CNN) -- Bayern Munich might be licking their wounds after defeat to Chelsea in the European Champions League final, but the German club can find comfort in victory of a different kind: by beating Chelsea in football's financial league table.

Despite their crushing penalty shootout loss to Chelsea in their own backyard at the the Allianz Arena, Bayern has been ranked as the second most valuable brand in football.

According to a new report by independent consultancy Brand Finance, who have compiled a list of the 50 biggest brands in the sport, the four-time European champions has been valued at $786 million.

Chelsea is ranked fifth with a value of $398m.

But English giants Manchester United lead the way, as they did in 2011, with their brand estimated to be worth $853 million.

"Manchester United have got a global reach," Brand Finance's Head of Sports Brands Dave Chattaway told CNN.

"United have got quite a professional set-up, with people who have worked for Pepsi, Disney, all different kinds of marketing industries. They have brought their expertise into the sports industry.

But Bayern are the year's big winners.

Despite their defeat by Chelsea and having been beaten to the German league and cup by Borussia Dortmund, their brand value grew by 59 per cent over the last 12 months.

"If you look at Bayern Munich, they are a domestic powerhouse," said Chattaway.

"They have got really strong links with strong German brands.

"Bayern have long-term deals, they have been with Adidas for over 10 years. They generate the highest commercial revenue and they are able to negotiate the highest possible deals based on their dominance of the German market."

Munich mourns as Bayern blow big chance

Behind United and Bayern are the Spanish "El Clasico" rivals of Real Madrid, third with a value of $600 million, and Barcelona, with a brand worth $580 million.

Spanish champions Real and Catalan side Barca have seen similar decreases in the value of their brands, seven and eight per cent respectively, which Chattaway puts down to the country's current economic plight.

"They have both had relatively successful years on the pitch," he said.

"The eurozone crisis has really impacted the capital in Spain and Italy.

"It's not necessarily something they are doing wrong commercially. it's a sign of the economy they operate in."

The top 10 is dominated by teams from the English Premier League, with newly-crowned European champions Chelsea fifth ($398 million) and 2011-12 title winners Manchester City eighth ($302 million).

Torres unsure of Chelsea future

"Within Europe, the Premier League is still the pinnacle," explained Chattaway.

"It still generates the most money because of the broadcast rights.

"It is much more attractive to a foreign audience than the German Bundesliga or the Spanish First Division. The Premier League clubs are benefitting from that."

In Italy, Italian Cup winners Napoli ($85 million) were the only club to increase their brand value off the back of a relatively successful Champions League campaign.

AC Milan ($292 million) are Serie A's most valuable brand and placed ninth on the list, with champions Juventus ($160 million) falling from 10th in 2011 to 16th this year.

Former England captain David Beckham and his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates enjoyed a landmark year in 2011, being crowned Major League Soccer champions for a third time.

Despite their success, and despite boasting one of football's most recognizable and marketable stars, the Galaxy ($46 million) only crept onto the list in 50th position.

"The game in the U.S. is still developing massively," said Chattaway.

"The revenues are a fraction of those in Europe. The games are rarely sold out and the grounds themselves have quite a small capacity.

"The commercial deals in the U.S. cannot compete with the European market. The MLS is still largely only shown in the U.S., it hasn't really expanded globally as quickly as we would have expected."

With such a huge gap between the sport's most lucrative brands and those with less commercial appeal, does Chattaway believe football clubs are making the most of their financial potential?

"I think there is more scope for all the clubs to further maximize value -- clubs have traditionally been slow and unimaginative in monetizing the brand they own.

"There is scope for football clubs to learn from U.S. sports marketing practices.

"The clubs need to better understand the brand asset that they own so that they can ensure they get the right returns on all commercial deals."

The list took into account various revenue streams for clubs, such as ticket sales, merchandising, sponsorship deals and money received from the sale of broadcasting rights.

China's Wen in growth push

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's comments has markets betting on stimulus measures from the world's second largest economy

(Financial Times) -- Wen Jiabao, China's premier, paved the way for a fresh round of pro-growth policies at the weekend, triggering a surge in Asian and commodity markets anticipating a burst of stimulus measures in the world's second-biggest economy.

But economists warned on Monday that Mr Wen's comments should not be taken as a sign that Beijing was preparing the same sort of big bang package it rolled out after the 2008 financial crisis and any stimulus was likely to be incremental and cautious.

Concerns over China's slowing economy have weighed on global equities and commodities but Mr Wen's comments were the clearest indication yet that Beijing planned to take policy action to stimulate growth.

"We should continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy, while giving more priority to maintaining growth," Mr Wen said, in comments that prompted a rally in equity markets across the Asian region.

While only a slight change in his previous choice of language, the premier's comments were regarded as a clear signal that Beijing was concerned about crumbling economic indicators.

Although officially China's economic growth was 8.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year, compared with the same period in 2011, new loan growth and commodity imports have plummeted during the past month, implying that the real economy is struggling more than the headline figures suggest.

Mr Wen outlined a broad set of incremental policy measures to keep China's economic growth on track, including more loans for big infrastructure projects, lower financing costs, tax cuts and more credit for small and medium-sized businesses. The premier suggested that a programme to encourage purchases of home appliances and building materials should be extended.

"He wants to step on the accelerator a bit harder than before and step on the brake less than before," said Yu Song, economist at Goldman Sachs. "This statement is his clearest expression of concern over the past half year."

Analysts said the shift in policy would mean more room for local governments to undertake large-scale investment projects and could mean more central government support for such schemes. But there was no indication that Beijing would open the credit taps as it did after the financial crisis.

"You won't get one big package but the incremental efforts will be very meaningful," said Ken Peng, economist at BNP Paribas. "There's little that can be done with monetary policy at the moment but fiscal policy has more room for pro-growth measures."

Mr Wen made his comments after a tour of the area around Wuhan, an industrial centre and a city of 10m people. In a lengthy essay posted on the Chinese government's official site, Mr Wen described his meetings with dozens of business leaders in the area and voiced his concerns about falling demand and sales.

Interactive graphic

The chief executive of Hai'er, an electronics and appliances company, told Mr Wen that home appliance sales fell 13 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with last year. The head of Wuhan Heavy Duty Machine Tool Group said sales were steady but fewer new contracts were coming through.

The eurozone crisis and flagging global economy slowed China's export growth to a meagre 4.9 per cent in April compared with a year earlier, compared with 29.9 per cent export growth in April 2011 compared with the previous year.