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It’s All Fun and Games til Someone Loses a House in Wellesley

Via WickedLocal via the Wellesley Townsman, we find the trickle-up of the housing crisis:

…between January and October 2006, there were no residential foreclosures in town; during that same period this year, there were four.

Word is the affected families had to switch from Whole Foods to Stop N’ Shop. This is about the time when people start REALLY paying attention, right?

Androids, The Good Kind

This Mass High Tech story about the FDA Foxboro’s Cyberkinetics was useful only in pointing out that was a company in Foxboro called Cyberkinectics. Well, that and it pointed out that they are trying do something minor, like cure paralysis or something:

Cyberkinetics’ Andara OFS (Oscillating Field Stimulator) system is a nerve growth stimulator designed as a treatment for acute spinal cord injuries. The device is designed to be implanted in patients within 18 days following a spinal cord injury to stimulate nerves to grow across the area of injury.

OK, not exactly cure, but aid those who’ve suffered spinal cord injuries. From CK themselves:

Results from a ten-participant, Phase Ia trial published in the January 2005 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, reported that all participants showed statistically significant improvement in sensation and some improvement in movement, including hand, arm and leg movement. For those with cervical spinal cord injuries, for example, there is evidence of a two-segment improvement, or the functional difference between non-movement of an arm or hand and the ability to grasp a utensil to feed oneself.

And a vid for the busy is here. This seems fairly radical. So why is it only Mass High Tech that is giving developments here ink? What more interesting business could there be to cover?

As the Globe Turns

The NYTCo, parent of the Globe, expects 1 to 2 percent higher revenues in November. Maybe a bonus for Globe staffers? (Via WSJ)

The company also expects staff-reduction costs of $14 million to $16 million in the current quarter. The New York Times announced the layoff of about a dozen support-staff jobs last month. The company sees cost savings of some $230 million the next two years, including $130 million in 2008.

Eep. Or maybe not.

The WSJ via Marketwatch also has an interesting look at the advantage that Curt Schilling has in the entrepreneur market, comparing his experience with that of fellow entrepreneur Mark Rukavina:

At the Sofitel Hotel, tucked between the massive Oracle Corp. campus and Highway 101, Rukavina and Schilling were among dozens of entrepreneurs that got their turn in the spotlight in front of an audience of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. …The buzz his presence created doesn’t compare to opening day at Fenway Park, but it did turn normally mild-mannered venture capitalists into giddy schoolboys hoping to shake the hand that catapults a baseball 95 miles per hour. Even Rukavina, sitting anonymously yesterday at a round table in the main ballroom hours before presenting the business plan of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based iMemories Inc., said he was “kicking himself” for scheduling a meeting during Schilling’s on-stage interview.

Yeah, I could see how it would get him an audience. But I’d think, you know, profit would come before fandom. Well, in most cities, at least.

Green Christmas

Boston Green Goods (um, located in Waltham) got some good ink from the WSJ today for their website Greenandmore.com. The pic above is their solar powered phone/iPod/PSP charger, which runs about $120. And the wind-up flashlights are pretty awesome, too. You can do so much for the earth without having to stand in Downtown Crossing in the rain asking people if they have five minutes for the environment.

Customer Service and the Death of the Big Box Store

Yeah, finding a rodent infestation has to be kind of a tough thing for Home Depot to handle. (Via WickedLocal) But this juxtaposition between the PR statement and customer quotes is priceless:

“We don’t serve food,” said Bowman. “That construction has really caused a lot of [the problems seen].” Bowman insisted that the rodent problems were under control and being taken care of.

But Abercrombie felt otherwise, “I told my children it’s because they’re a big company. At Home Depot, nobody cares. I said ‘Don’t you people care?’ The reason I got upset is mostly because are we not men? Can’t we solve these problems? These guys are letting mice beat them.”

Yeah, but I bet that mice-filled birdseed was real cheap.

Talbot’s Loses Money, Ditches Arnold

What doesn’t global warming ruin? Arctic vacations, guiltless SUV purchases, the clothing market. Hingham-based Talbot’s lost $9.4 million in the third quarter thanks in part to the warmer weather this year. And Arnold takes the blame, getting the ax in favor of Publicis, a New York firm. Now, I know little about Publicis, but what I found out from their website is that they are the minds behind the unholy terror that are these animated Charmin bear ads:

Back From Vacation, China Still Important

Following closely on my last post, it was announced this morning that Chinese video site Youku.com raised $25 mil in funding in Series C funding, led by Brookside Capital Partners (affiliated with Boston’s Bain Capital). Of course, the press release says Youku.com is China’s leading video site, contrary to what Tudou says. Who’s the victor? Well, that’s hard to say. Though it appears the title goes to either Tudou or Youku, depending on your source. Either way, Boston is pouring money into them at a high rate.

But so far, no one has raised an eyebrow about the ethics of investing in companies that bow to censors. Maybe they should. And maybe in Kendall Square someone should be more worried about how Google is still getting played like a sucker.

China’s Youtube, via Cambridge

I was researching an article on web piracy (published today by Slate) when I first came across a Chinese video site called Tuduo. It seems to be interested in becoming China’s youtube (though the copyright policing is not at youtube’s level yet–which is how I came by them in the first place.) Or maybe better. (via NewTeeVee interview with Tuduo CEO Gary Wang):

NewTeeVee: You’ve been called the Chinese YouTube, but do you compete with YouTube on your own turf?

Wang: YouTube has .1 percentage market share in China — they are nowhere.

Take that, Google. We don’t care how many of your principles you betrayed, we still don’t want your weak youtube. The local connection to Tudou comes from Cambridge’s General Catalyst, which helped lead a $19 mil round of funding this summer for Tudou. Which makes sense, I suppose, given Boston’s Irish heritage. (Tudou is the Chinese word for potato. I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.)

CapitalGains: Backchannelmedia, First Round, ~$10 mil

Boston’s Backchannelmedia closed out another $3 mil this quarter, raising their total to $10 mil over the past two years. (via PEHub) The basic idea behind backchannelmedia is that–and this is their own words–that “television advertising should become accountable.” In other words, bcm can track the efficiency of those big ad dollars by linking TV and internet in such a way that consumers can see an ad on TV and purchase the product immediately. Here’s the co-CEO discussing this with more anecdotes with Xconomy:

“Say you’re watching the Grammies and the Dixie Chicks are on,” explains Daniel Hassan, Backchannelmedia’s chairman and co-CEO. “You have a consumer sitting at home watching when they win the award, and they see an ad that says ‘Go to iTunes now to download this song.’ The consumer clicks the OK button and a link to that exact song is deposited into their iTunes account. Or they’re watching Oprah’s book-of-the-month club-one click and that book is not only dropped into their Web portal inbox, but if they’ve set it up through our Web services, it can be dropped into their personal Amazon shopping cart. It’s all about using a TV property to drive clicks to the Internet.”

I can see how this works well with Rachel Ray (cookbooks), Charlie Rose (books, movies), and even Monday Night Football (apparel). But what can you get when watching I Love New York 2? Besides, you know, a sense of self-satisfaction. Oh! Maybe some arsenic.