6 things to love - and hate - about the iPhone 6

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But it's not perfect. Like any smartphone, there are some things about the iPhone 6 that will drive you batty.

First, here's what you'll love about the iPhone 6.

1) The rounded edges. The iPhone 6 feels really, really good in your hand.

It's insanely thin and light, and there are hardly any square or jagged edges on the device. The vibrate toggle switch is the big exception -- it nicked me a couple of times when I was pulling the iPhone out of my pocket.

The curves give the iPhone 6 a less distinctive look than some of its predecessors and other smartphones on the market. But what the iPhone 6 sacrifices in appearance it makes up in usability. I don't want to put the iPhone 6 down when I'm holding it.

Related: iPhone 6 has car Bluetooth problems

2) The camera. Ironically, the ugliest part of the iPhone 6 helps deliver its most beautiful features.

The iPhone 6's camera juts out of the phone's back by about a millimeter, and the obsessive part of me kept wanting to pop it back in. But whatever Apple got out of that millimeter was worth it.

Photos are clear just about every time. It performs masterfully in weird lighting situations, such as when the subject is in a shadow but the sun is shining brightly. It takes photos remarkably quickly and -- most importantly for photo-taking dullards like me -- without any fuss. And the front-facing camera also takes surprisingly good photos for the selfie-taking types.

The time-lapse and slo-mo video functions seemed more gimmicky than practical to me, but some people might find them useful -- or at least fun.

3) The screen. The iPhone 6's display is gorgeous. It's noticeably sharp, and the iPhone 6's display even looks great when you're not looking at the screen straight on.

That's helpful, say, when you're watching a video with friends or showing photos to your family.

Related: Is the iPhone 6 Plus bendable?

4) TouchID. There is no shortage of complaints about the iPhone's fingerprint sensor malfunctioning, but I found it to be wonderfully convenient and accurate. It makes signing into your phone, downloading apps and buying music a breeze.

So if it works for the simple stuff, Apple Pay is going to be a cinch. Paying for stuff with your iPhone 6 supposedly will be as easy as holding your phone up to a payment terminal while touching the TouchID sensor. We'll see next month when Apple Pay launches -- but it sounds promising.

And here's what you'll hate about the iPhone 6.

5) iCloud. What an absolute mess.

When setting up my iPhone 6, one of the umpteen prompts asked me if I wanted to "upgrade to iCloud Drive." For about 12 hours, when I went to my iCloud settings, iCloud Drive indicated that it was "upgrading" with a pinwheel of death next to it. And once it finally decided to finish upgrading, it didn't impress me. I uploaded a photo and a document via iCloud.com, and I have absolutely no idea how to view those on my iPhone. There isn't even an iCloud Drive app.

Meanwhile, iCloud says it will back up my photos via Photo Stream, but there's no obvious way to manage that -- it doesn't even exist on iCloud.com. What if I want to store photos on iCloud but not on my phone to save precious storage?

Related: Chinese smugglers make big bucks on iPhone 6

6) iOS 8. There are some really nice new features in iOS 8, including the amazing Spotlight universal search feature, text notifications that let you respond without opening iMessage, and all the brilliant camera software. That's on top of excellent existing iOS features, such as the brilliant Control Center quick tasks launcher, Facebook integration and of course FaceTime.

But there's plenty to hate about iOS 8, too. Setting up an iPhone is an unacceptably lengthy experience with way too many questions, options and notifications. Siri still doesn't do anything particularly worthwhile. Apple annoyingly added unnecessary steps for accessing and clearing notifications. And none of the "widgets" in the notification screen that I tested were particularly useful.

There's also a lot of Apple bloatware, including compass (really, Apple?), "tips," maps and Passbook. Others are redundant, including the contacts, FaceTime and camera apps that you can access in other places. But you can't delete or hide those apps -- the only way to clear them off your screen is to put them in a folder labeled "crap."

So here's the bottom line: The iPhone 6 is a gorgeous, incredibly well-designed smartphone with a world-beating camera and some neat tricks. But Apple's software gets in the way of the iPhone 6 being a perfect smartphone.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 10:36 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Zero Hedge: Wall Street's daily dose of doom and gloom

Zero Hedge posts are submitted under the pseudonym "Tyler Durden," the fictional character played by Brad Pitt in the 1999 film "Fight Club."

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Zero Hedge, a financial blog, offers a deeply conspiratorial, anti-establishment and pessimistic view of the world.

Even though stocks have zoomed to record highs since Zero Hedge launched in 2009, the site continues to hold serious sway among hedge funds, traders and others in finance. That's because Zero Hedge's dark perspective has struck a chord with the sizable portion of the public who remain deeply skeptical of the stock market and economy.

Sometimes the site gets it right before everyone else. Zero Hedge is credited with flagging financial issues like high-frequency trading before they became sexy mainstream stories.

"It's extremely influential in the New York, London and global hedge fund community. I meet clients in London and they mention it, and I meet regulators in Washington and they mention it," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group, a brokerage firm.

Zero Hedge's outlook is nicely summed up by the tagline at the top of its website: "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."

If those words sound familiar, it's because they're from "Fight Club," the 1999 film starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.

Related: There's a 'death cross' in the stock market. Should you worry?

Who is Tyler Durden? Each post on Zero Hedge is submitted under the pseudonym "Tyler Durden," the fictional "Fight Club" anarchist played by Pitt who blows up the headquarters of credit card companies.

A typical post on Zero Hedge reads like it would fit in the movie script. "The retail investor is not coming back," the blog posted on Monday, due to a "complete lack of trust in a market that has been revealed to be more rigged than any casino."

Related: Billionaires are hoarding more cash

Just like in the movie, it's not entirely clear who Tyler Durden truly is on the blog. Press reports in 2009 suggest at least some of the posts are written by Daniel Ivandjiiski, a former hedge fund employee who was banned by Wall Street's self regulator for insider trading in 2008.

"He is your archetypal brilliant eastern European dude who is great at mathematics and a very rigorous thinker," said Colas, who frequently trades emails with Ivandjiiski and checks Zero Hedge multiple times a day.

"He is the most consistent source of that totally off the grid or novel approach. You can agree or disagree, but I don't think he honestly cares. Every day he makes you think. That's hard as hell to do," said Colas.

Zero Hedge now has 215,000 Twitter followers. No one from the site responded to CNNMoney's requests for comment.

Related: Mohamed El-Erian says to take some money out of stocks

One-stop shop for bears: Zero Hedge enthusiasts find real value in understanding and debating all the scenarios that could bring down the stock market.

"Sure, it's got one view of things. But isn't it nice to get the other side of the rosy, cheery side of every bullish analyst on the Street?" asked Joe Saluzzi, who co-wrote a book on market structure in 2012 titled Broken Markets. "If you were to follow it religiously, then you're crazy. You have to put it into your own investment philosophy."

If some obscure credit instrument sparks another panic on Wall Street, readers of Zero Hedge will likely be familiar with it.

"If you read Zero Hedge consistently you will have every bear case covered. It's a one-stop shop. You will have everything that could go potentially wrong in the economy and geopolitics," said Colas.

The first rule of Zero Hedge: Zero Hedge itself warns readers that making investment decisions based on information posted on the blog -- or any Internet site -- "is more than unwise, it is folly."

It's safe to say that those who did make investment decisions based on Zero Hedge's bearish views missed or all part of a bull market that has carried the S&P 500 200% higher.

"The contra trade mentality has gotten its [butt] handed to it on a platter for years," said Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at The Clearpool Group. "I turned bullish five years ago. I may have missed 12% of the move -- but I didn't miss 120% of the move."

And yet Zero Hedge's loyal audience doesn't appear to be jumping ship as stocks shatter record after record.

"The people who don't like him will say he was wrong. That's factually correct but misses the point. The fact he's still here and relevant is interesting," said Colas.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 7:06 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Charging the iPhone 6 costs just 47 cents a year

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

That's according to a study conducted by Opower, a software provider for utility companies. Opower's estimate might even be too high -- it assumes you charge your iPhone 6 from 0% to 100% once a day every day, but most people don't empty their batteries of juice every day.

Don't believe it's that cheap? The calculation is actually pretty simple.

Apple's (AAPL, Tech30) new iPhone 6 charges from 0% to 100% in 1 hour and 48 minutes, which is about 10.6 watt-hours of energy. Multiply that by 365 days in a year, and you get 3.83 kilowatt-hours. Multiply that by the average U.S. residential electricity price (12.29 cents per kWh), and you get 47 cents per year.

Related: iPhone 6 has car Bluetooth problems

Did you buy an iPhone 6 Plus? You'd better factor in another nickel: It costs 52 cents to power up every year. The iPhone 5, meanwhile, costs just 41 cents for a year's worth of charging.

They cost so little to charge, because smartphones -- built to last a day(ish) on a tiny battery -- are incredibly low-power devices.

By comparison, a laptop uses 14-times more electricity per year, and a desktop computer uses 49 times more, according to the Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems. As smartphones continue to replace PCs, consumer energy usage -- and bills could sink.

Smartphones have also eaten in to video game sales. Playing games on a smartphone instead of a television can save you even more money: An Xbox One uses 61 time more power than an iPhone 6, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, and a TV sucks up 72 times more electricity.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 10:05 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks: 4 things to know before the open

Click chart for in-depth premarket data.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

Here are four things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:

1. Strong dollar: The U.S. dollar was strengthening versus other global currencies, and gold prices were declining by about 1%.

Simon Smith, an economist at FxPro, said the dollar's strength against other currencies is now at a level "last seen in mid-2010 when the euro was getting hammered in the early stages of the eurozone crisis."

The dollar was 0.4% firmer against the euro, continuing a recent trend driven by growing divergence in monetary policy between the U.S. and the eurozone, where the economy has stalled.

Related: Fear & Greed Index

2. Bad Apple: Shares in Apple (AAPL, Tech30) were showing signs of weakness premarket after the company withdrew its latest software update following widely reported technical problems. Social media is also buzzing over customer reports that the new iPhone 6 Plus is bendable.

Apple's popular products frequently face a backlash soon after their release, but then complaints from die-hard consumers tend to calm down.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

3. Mixed signals: U.S. stock futures were barely budging Thursday after posting a solid rebound over the previous session. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 154 points, the S&P 500 rose 0.8%, and the Nasdaq closed 1% higher.

European stock markets were broadly firmer in early trading, tracking Wall Street's gains and helped by the dollar's strength.

But shares in retail chain H&M (HNNMY) fell by 4% in Sweden after the company warned of weak September sales because of unusually warm weather.

Asian markets ended with mixed results. The Nikkei was a stand-out performer with a 1.3% gain.

4. Earnings and economics: Nike (NKE) will report quarterly earnings after the closing bell.

The U.S. government will report weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 4:52 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

India's $74 million Mars mission cost less than 'Gravity' movie

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

But the mission's shoestring budget was perhaps its most notable distinction: At a cost of just $74 million, India's space agency put the satellite into orbit for a fraction of what other nations have spent.

The U.S. Maven satellite, for example, arrived in orbit on Sunday in a mission that cost taxpayers $671 million. The European Space Agency's 2003 mission to Mars had an initial budget of nearly $200 million.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has noted that even the Hollywood thriller "Gravity" had a larger budget at $100 million.

"Our scientists have shown the world, a new paradigm of frugal engineering, and the power of Imagination," Modi said in June. "This success of ours has deep historical roots."

While some critics take issue with the government's use of public funds on space exploration instead of social problems, Modi now has yet another space triumph to tout. Only the U.S., Russia and Europe have successfully executed Mars missions; China and Japan have failed.

It's difficult to overstate just how little money the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has to work with. The agency's annual budget for this fiscal year is only $1.2 billion, while NASA has a budget of around $17.5 billion.

Related: Boeing, Space X land NASA contracts

ISRO is able to save money by using short development cycles, and taking advantage of India's cheap labor market. Highly-skilled aerospace engineers in the country might receive a salary of $1,000 per month, a fraction of what the same workers would be paid in Europe or the U.S.

Despite the large disparity in total spending, India actually devotes a similar share of its total budget to its space agency -- around 0.4% --- as the U.S.

The glory days for NASA, however, are long gone. As the space race reached a fever pitch in 1966, the agency was allotted an incredible 4.4% of the U.S. budget, a share that today's explorers can only dream of.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 12:38 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Let your employer get you a cheaper mortgage

London home prices have surged by nearly 50% since the start of 2008.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

Professional services firm KPMG is taking the unusual step of arranging preferential mortgage rates for its 12,000 U.K. employees.

Most of them are based in London, where property prices have shot up to record levels this year as locals and rich foreign investors piled into the market.

The average price for a London home is now £514,000 ($838,000) -- nearly 50% higher than before the financial crisis.

KPMG said owning a home was "becoming a fairytale" for all but the richest in society and it wanted to help staff who are shut out of the market.

It's also worried that rampant property prices could make recruitment more difficult.

Related: London overtakes Hong Kong as city with highest rents

"I can see from a business point of view this is probably a shrewd move," said London mortgage specialist Simon Collins from John Charcol.

"It's interesting to see whether other big employers take this up," Collins said, adding that he hasn't seen companies offering this kind of benefit for over 20 years.

KPMG negotiated the discounts with two U.K.-based lenders -- Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank.

Both are also offering private banking helplines for KPMG staff.

Related: Millenials are still stuck living with their parents

But cheaper mortgages can only get you so far in a market where most lenders demand big down payments, particularly for more expensive properties.

That's still "the biggest stumbling block" to owning a home, said Collins.

Clydesdale Bank has offered 95% mortgages for homes costing as much as £500,000, said Collins. This may explain why KPMG partnered with the bank, he said, allowing employees to put down 5% -- which for an average home in London is still £25,000.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 8:50 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

6 things you need to know about STEM

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Here are six things you need to know about STEM:

Kids need to get excited about science early.

STEM jobs are growing at 1.7 times the rate of non-STEM jobs, and the U.S. is simply not producing enough candidates to fill them. Only 16% of high school seniors are interested in pursuing STEM careers, according to the Department of Education.

The Obama administration is investing millions of dollars to produce an additional one million STEM undergrads by 2022. But that would barely fill the projected shortage in STEM jobs.

To get more students interested, some universities are changing their approach.

"[College professors] have changed how they teach in order to draw in a more diverse group," said Londa Schiebinger, a professor at Stanford. "They show you the cool applications first -- then they bring in the theory and more difficult techniques. It's hooking people in and showing them what they can do with the skills."

Related: Few female engineers and execs at Google

But it's got to happen sooner -- starting in kindergarten -- in order to attract a diverse mix and spur innovation.

"How much cooler would STEM be if we got the creative juices of broader segments of the population?" said Schiebinger.

STEM grads aren't just important for engineering.

74% of college graduates with STEM degrees are going into non-STEM jobs, according to the Census Bureau. They're pursuing careers in everything from healthcare and law to education and social work.

While that's bad news for employers hoping to fill STEM positions, the graduates are highly sought after and earn higher wages than their non-STEM counterparts, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"You want them to go on to higher value-added pursuits. You want them to start their own companies," said Anthony P. Carnevale, director of Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce. "Having a technical degree is the best foundation to give you the most choice in this economy."

Related: Young women raise big bucks for startups

Just in case there's any doubt: Microsoft's (MSFT, Tech30) Satya Nadella, Amazon's (AMZN, Tech30) Jeff Bezos and Yahoo's (YHOO, Tech30) Marissa Mayer all have engineering degrees -- and none are technically working in a "STEM" field.

Fewer women are graduating with computing degrees.

These numbers have actually decreased over the past two decades. According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, women made up just 18% of computer science college grads in 2012. In 1985, it was 37%.

"Women are becoming discouraged from computer science because it's a boy's club," said Vivek Wadhwa, fellow at Stanford Law School and author of Innovating Women. "We need to level the playing field, change our practices. We've created the shortage for ourselves."

Computer science is a growing sector, and it's important for women to be a part of that growth. Employment opportunities are projected to grow 15% from 2012 to 2022 (that's faster than average), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Not all STEM jobs are created equal.

Though women earn roughly half of all bachelor's degrees in STEM fields, according to the National Science Foundation, their concentrations differ from their male counterparts.

Women tend to specialize in less lucrative STEM fields, according to FiveThirtyEight. They pursue careers in health and life sciences, while men are more likely to go into computer science and engineering (which tend to pay more).

Related: Women thrive in China's booming tech scene

The salary difference can be substantial. Nutritional science majors (86.4% of whom are women) earn a median $35,000 out of college. Meanwhile, Mining and Mineral Engineering majors (roughly 90% of whom are men) make a median $75,000 out of college.

Foreigners aren't taking Americans' jobs.

Foreign students gravitate toward STEM fields like medicine and computer software design, which have some of the lowest unemployment rates, according to a report from the Partnership for a New American Economy.

These are also jobs that U.S. companies consistently struggle to fill -- much more than their non-STEM counterparts, according to a Brookings report.

That means foreigners aren't keeping native workers in those fields from finding jobs.

Moreover, immigrants bring knowledge of global markets, which is key for innovation, according to Wadhwa.

The U.S. will be increasingly reliant on foreign talent.

Foreign students study STEM or business fields at a higher rate than American students (about 66% compared to 48%), according to a separate report from Brookings.

Moreover, the number of native-born students pursuing STEM degrees is growing at just 1% a year.

Related: Women take on manufacturing

Members of Congress have introduced efforts to make it easier for foreign STEM graduates to get a green card.

But mobilizing homegrown talent is also a priority for the Obama administration, which is putting $35 million toward a STEM teacher training competition and mentoring initiative that will connect students to tech workers.

Encouraging more people, especially women, to consider STEM fields is key to ensuring the U.S. doesn't suffer a massive brain drain when foreign talent leaves the country.

"We still need immigrants. [But] we need to encourage women to enter those fields," said Wadhwa. "[Then] immigration can take its natural path."

First Published: September 25, 2014: 10:04 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Oil prices plunging despite ISIS

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Prices haven't shot up since the United States and its allies have started to conduct airstrikes against ISIS oil targets in Syria either.

It may seem strange that prices haven't skyrocketed.

Typically, tension in the Middle East has caused serious concerns about oil supply being taken off the market.

But experts say there are several reasons why the ISIS situation has not pushed energy prices up ... and that the trend should continue.

ISIS supply disruption is minimal. While ISIS has made headway in eastern Syria and northern Iraq, it has not yet been able to take control of many oil properties in the southern part of Iraq. Unless ISIS does so, there is probably little reason to worry about global supply being cut.

"There has been no visible production decrease yet. ISiS has made a push for the south of Iraq and has not succeeded. And that's where a significant portion of the country's oil production and infrastructure is," said Dan Pickering, co-president of Tudor Pickering Holt & Co., an investment bank that focuses on the energy industry.

Pickering adds that Libya is starting to restart production of oil again in a major way. That should help boost supply and keep prices stable.

Strong dollar, weak Europe and China. Oil, like many other commodities, is priced in dollars. When the dollar is strong (as it is now) that makes the price of oil much more expensive in areas outside of the U.S.

That's a problem for Europe in particular. Europe's economy is showing serious signs of strain. There are legitimate concerns about deflation and another recession.

Related: The U.S. dollar is super strong right now

"Oil is getting cheaper from a U.S. perspective, but that's not the case for countries with weaker currencies," said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial. "I wouldn't be surprised to see demand fall in Europe and China."

The U.S. isn't as addicted to foreign oil anymore. The shale gas boom in the U.S. is a game changer for oil prices. The U.S. is importing a smaller amount of oil lately as a result of increased domestic production.

According to the most recent weekly figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, imports are at their lowest levels since mid-May.

The U.S. imported just 6.87 million barrels a day in the week that ended September 19. To put that in perspective, the U.S. was routinely importing more than 10 million barrels a day each week in 2008.

In fact, Pickering thinks that supply from the U.S. is actually helping keep oil prices from falling further given the concerns about deteriorating demand. He said that based on current supply and demand trends though, prices for Brent crude, the most common type of oil trading around the world, could fall another $5 to $10 a barrel to the high $80s or low $90s.

And McMillian thinks that the price of the type of oil most commonly traded in the U.S. could tumble as low as $80 to $85 a barrel from current levels of around $93.

"The U.S. energy renaissance is just beginning," he said. "The Middle East is no longer as influential in setting oil prices."

Of course, the situation in Syria and Iraq bears watching. But until there is a legitimate reason to be concerned about a hit to supply, Pickering thinks oil investors will continue to ignore the headlines.

He said investors have grown fatigued by worrying about a geopolitical-induced shock that never seems to come to pass.

"We've had turmoil in the Middle East for a long period of time and we've never had any major supply disruptions," Pickering said.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 11:46 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tech trouble sparks wave of selling on Wall Street

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Apple (AAPL, Tech30) and other technology stocks took a tumble on Thursday, driving the Nasdaq deeply into the red.

But it's not just tech stocks under pressure. The Dow dove over 200 points and the broader S&P 500 is down 1.25%.

The sea of red puts Wall Street on track for its fourth decline in five days and erases Wednesday's big rally.

"Equity investors are concerned about the second, third and fourth largest economies in the world slowing down," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, referring to trouble in China, Japan and Europe.

While the U.S. economy continues to chug along, recent economic data out of Europe suggest the continent continues to be hurt by the sanctions slapped on Russia.

The other two key economic powerhouses China and Japan continue to grapple with their own economic pressures.

Related: There's a 'death cross' in the stock market

Extreme fear: It seems fear is back in vogue on Wall Street -- just in time for Halloween.

CNNMoney's Fear & Greed Index is now flashing "extreme fear," compared with just "fear" a week ago. Very recently, this gauge was in all-out "greed" territory.

Safe haven demand, a key metric in the Fear & Greed Index, switched to "extreme fear" from "neutral" earlier this week.

It's important to remember that low trading volumes caused by the Rosh Hashanah holiday could be exacerbating the selloff. Low volume makes it harder for buyers and sellers to pair up.

Related: Fear factor - Investors are scared again

Sour Apple: One stock that's not seeing a shortage of volume is Apple. The tech giant dropped 3% on Thursday in the wake of apparent glitches with its iOS software update. Some Apple customers have also complained that the new iPhone 6 Plus is bendable.

"It's the last thing you bought so it's the first thing you sell. It's big and liquid," said Michael Block, chief strategist at Rhino Trading Partners.

Other tech stocks are also under pressure, including Apple supplier Avago Technologies (AVGO), SanDisk (SNDK) and biotech names like Celgene (CELG) and Biogen (BIIB).

Related: Zero Hedge is Wall Street's daily dose of doom & gloom

Strong dollar, weak stocks: American stocks have also been hurt by the stronger U.S. dollar, which is now trading at levels not seen in more than four years.

The greenback is rallying on signs the Federal Reserve is moving ahead with plans to raise rates next year even as other central banks are adding more juice to the easy-money punchbowl.

While a stronger dollar can be a positive in the medium to long term, it's often a short-term negative for multinational stocks and commodities like oil.

First Published: September 25, 2014: 12:01 PM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

#FreeSimmons: Twitter reacts to Bill Simmons Suspension

Support for the suspended Bill Simmons was all over Twitter Wednesday night including the trending #FreeSimmons hashtag

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Fans of the writer and host tweeted in droves, helping make the #FreeSimmons hashtag the top trending topic in the United States. It was still a top-trending hashtag early Thursday.

"Wow, I guess someone actually CAN get swiftly and harshly punished for a recording that reflects poorly on the NFL #FREESIMMONS," tweeted Time Magazine's columnist James Poniewozik.

Those who were critical of the decision also remarked on the irony that the original suspension of Ray Rice (two games equaling two weeks) was shorter than Simmons's three week punishment:

Networks like ESPN face a conundrum: They cover NFL news while also having a $15.2 billion broadcasting contract with the league.

Related: ESPN suspends Bill Simmons for three weeks

Yet, ESPN has said it has a "church and state" approach to such issues. Simmons supporters on Twitter didn't agree.

ESPN cited "journalistic standards" in a statement about the suspension, but supporters of the host tweeted that Simmons' suspension was most likely caused by the fact that he called out his ESPN bosses, as well as the Commissioner:

Twitter was also abuzz Wednesday night with curiosity regarding the mysterious disappearance of ESPN's ombudsman blog.

Those who were trying to get to a blog post by ESPN's media watchdog Robert Lipsyte found that it -- along with its praise of Simmons -- had completely vanished:

The site would later restore the blog and blame a "tech issue" for the missing link.

As for the Worldwide Leader in Sports, the network has stayed pretty quiet regarding Simmons.

Related: Conundrum for networks: covering NFL News

Related: NFL scores huge rating despite scandals

First Published: September 25, 2014: 12:41 PM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

How immigrant entrepreneurs are making it

Billy Bauer with his father, Harold Bauer, founder of Royce Leather.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Firsthand knowledge of the culture as well as connections abroad make immigrant entrepreneurs well-positioned to navigate the complicated export landscape.

That's true for Royce Leather, a family-owned leather business in Secaucus, N.J.

Harold Bauer founded Royce Leather in 1974, just one year after moving to the U.S. from Austria.

Today, 65% of his business comes from exporting to 15 countries. That's up from 45% just five years ago.

Bauer, who comes from two generations of leather artisans, has been able to capitalize on family connections in Western Europe (particularly Germany and Austria) for sales leads and distribution partners.

"That's where we're from -- where we understand the customers best," said Billy Bauer, 22, Harold's son and marketing director of Royce Leather.

Billy added that his father's foreign language skills (he speaks five languages) give him an edge in tapping into markets like France and Russia.

Related: I'm a legal immigrant, but not allowed to have a job.

Experts agree that immigrant entrepreneurs have a leg up.

"Family ties, familiarity with the culture, market, and investment environment in the home country all could facilitate export" said Qingfang Wang, an associate professor of Geography and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Wang is quick to note that not all immigrant-owned businesses are able to leverage these ties, however they do have a "much higher propensity for participating in transnational activities."

Doug Barry, an author and trade specialist with the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, agrees.

"Immigrant-owned companies are more likely to export and to be successful in doing so," he said. "Why? One reason is that they just do it. They are comfortable dealing with other cultures."

Related: Want to boost sales? Start exporting

This is true of Priska Diaz, a Peruvian immigrant and founder of New York-based startup BittyLab, which makes innovative baby bottles. She didn't anticipate exporting so early on -- her business is just one year old -- but she didn't shy away from it either.

Diaz, who moved to the U.S. at 17, wanted to first build and establish her business in the U.S. market. But due to "unsolicited international demand" for her Bare Air-Free Baby Bottles, she started exporting her products (sold via Amazon) (AMZN, Tech30) to Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

Now, international sales make up 10% of her business, which she plans to grow. Diaz, 39, said her childhood friends (who live around the world) are proving to be a real business asset in finding international distribution partners (she's been contacted by distributors in South Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East).

"There's a level of trust that makes it easier to work with my friends," said Diaz.

Ben Guez echoes that sentiment. The French entrepreneur launched electronic cigarette company Ophis a year ago in Beverly Hills. He said his European roots help him bridge partnerships abroad.

"Our international clients feel confident to talk with two immigrant entrepreneurs," said Guez, who co-founded Ophis with Rudy Halioua, also from France.

Related: Secrets to success from Smalltown USA

Still, few U.S. small businesses are exporting their goods and services -- just about 300,000 of some six million.

But those that do export anticipate ramping it up over the coming year, according to a survey from Western Union Business Solutions. They surveyed small and medium-sized businesses who engage in international trade. Nearly half said they've grown exports over the past 12 months.

Those looking to start exporting or expand their international base can learn from immigrant entrepreneurs.

"It's natural for them to go to a foreign country to sit down with people who are not like them," said Barry. "These characteristics are not exclusive to immigrant business owners and can be learned and applied by anyone."

First Published: September 18, 2014: 9:57 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Who's getting rich off the stock market?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Only 49% of Americans have any money in stocks at all, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. That figure includes everyone invested in retirement funds (think pensions and 401(k) plans) as well as those who take the time to buy specific stocks such as Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Ford (F) and Facebook (FB, Tech30).

"Part of the reason there is so much discussion about income inequality is there is a group of people who participated in the stock market over a period where it nearly tripled, and there's another group of people that didn't," said Mark Grinblatt, a professor of finance at UCLA's Anderson School of Management.

Related: More families own cats than stocks

Even among the half of America that has money in the market, there are disparities. The top 10% of American households have roughly $282,000 each in the market, if you take the median value of their holdings.

Compare that to the middle class, which has a median value of a mere $14,000 a household.

The reality is the more money you put into the market, the more you stand to gain (or lose).

Putting a dollar into the popular S&P 500 index that tracks the largest companies traded on U.S. stock exchanges in March 2009 would leave you with $3 today. That's a nice 200% return, but obviously if you had invested $1 million in the market over the same time period, you would now have $3 million.

The stock market has been especially kind to Caucasians and college graduates.

White households typically have about three times the amount of money invested that non-white families have, according to the Fed data. That's held true since the 1990s when the market shot up during the dotcom era.

Education also plays a major role. Only 35% of households headed up by someone with a high school diploma have any money in the market. Compare that to homes led by someone with a college degree -- 72% of them have investments in equities.

Professor Grinblatt has shown through research that people with higher IQs are more likely to put money into stocks.

"Even among two siblings from the same family, the sibling who has the higher IQ is more likely to participate in the stock market," he told CNNMoney.

On the one hand, some of these disparities should be expected. Rich people have more money lying around in savings that they can invest than those who are struggling to pay their bills. But the issues go deeper than that.

Even among Americans who are working and likely to have savings, they aren't always choosing to invest.

Related: How we made nearly $1 million on Apple stock

In its latest survey, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that only 64% of workers save for retirement or have a spouse that does so.

"It's much easier for the average American to buy a smartphone that commit to a retirement plan," says Dan Greenshields, CEO of Capitol One ShareBuilder.

In 2007, stock ownership peaked at just over 53% of American households owning any equity investments. The financial meltdown and housing crisis hurt peoples' pocketbooks, but it also shook their faith in the system.

There are calls for more education about money matters to try to close some of the stock market investing gap.

"If we give individuals responsibility for their own retirement savings, we have to make sure that they first of all save enough and that they know how to invest," said Annamaria Lusardi, a professor at George Washington University who specializes in financial literacy.

"We need to start in K-12 schools," Lusardi added. "Any year we delay by not adding financial education is one more generation out out of high school without the skills and knowledge they need."

First Published: September 18, 2014: 6:46 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

New editor of Politico: Susan Glasser

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Glasser, formerly the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, joined Politico in June 2013. In her new role, she will continue to report to Politico editor in chief John Harris, but Harris's focus will be outside Washington, overseeing the company's expansion into new markets.

Glasser will have "full authority" to run "core coverage" by Politico, its subscription-only Politico Pro coverage, and its magazine, Politico chief executive Jim VandeHei said in an internal memorandum.

VandeHei and Harris were the primary editors of Politico when it was founded in 2007. But as the news organization has grown, so has its management structure. VandeHei moved over to the business side of Politico and became chief executive last fall.

Rick Berke, a veteran of The New York Times, became executive editor of the newsroom -- a position just below editor-in-chief -- a short time later. But Berke abruptly resigned earlier this month, citing disagreements with Politico's other leaders.

Berke apparently didn't have the autonomy he wanted to run the newsroom -- which is why it's noteworthy that Thursday's announcement emphasized the "full authority" Glasser will have.

One of her most important tasks will be naming a new executive editor.

She said in a message to staffers that she is also planning "high-impact additions of writing and editing talent."

Glasser's memo alluded to "the next stage of Politico's growth," much of which will come outside the city where it was born.

Last year the company acquired Capital New York, a digital news startup covering politics and media in New York state. The company is interested in expanding into other states -- like California -- and countries.

It announced a plan last week for a joint venture with Axel Springer SE to create Politico Europe.

"Our challenge is to extend our dominance in this space and expand our reach − in Washington, key states and the world," VandeHei said in his memo. "That is why we are redesigning our digital properties, redoing all of our technology, expanding into Europe, exploring new state versions of Politico and growing our operation and leadership here."

Related: Politico's next battleground: Europe

VandeHei praised Glasser, saying she's "as obsessed as we are with dominating news coverage of Congress, politics, the White House and policy."

"Her thinking − and portfolio in this newly designed job transcends the writing and editing. Susan will help us sharpen and deliver on our strategy," he added.

First Published: September 18, 2014: 9:59 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks: 5 things to know before the open

Click chart for in-depth premarket data.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

Here are the five things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:

1. Upbeat markets: U.S. stock futures were looking perky, setting the stage for what could be another record high for the Dow Jones industrial average.

The Dow closed at a new high of 17,157 Wednesday after the head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, said interest rates would stay low for a "considerable time" after its bond-buying program wraps up. Investors cheered the announcement, also pushing up the S&P 500 by 0.1% and the Nasdaq by 0.2%.

Most European and Asian markets were also in positive territory Thursday. The Mumbai Sensex surged by 1.8% and the Dax in Germany was rallying by 1% in early trading.

2. Get ready for Alibaba: The company is expected to price its IPO after the market close in a range of $66 to $68 per share. The Chinese e-commerce giant is set to start trading in New York Friday in what could be the biggest initial public offering of all time. The company could raise more money than Facebook (FB, Tech30) or Visa (V) when they went public.

Related: Fear & Greed Index

3. Scotland votes on independence: Scots have begun voting Thursday morning to decide whether Scotland should become an independent country.

More than 4.2 million people have registered to vote, the largest electorate ever in Scotland, and turnout in the referendum is expected to be high.

A vote for independence would mean Scotland splits from the rest of the United Kingdom, made up of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Polls close at 5 p.m. ET. Results are expected early Friday.

London's main market index -- the FTSE 100 -- was moving higher alongside other European stock markets. The British pound was firmer against the U.S. dollar.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

4. Stock market movers: Shares in Sony (SNE) came crashing down in Tokyo after the company forecast it would post a staggering net loss of $2.1 billion for its fiscal year ending next March. Shares fell by as much as 13% before recovering slightly to close with a loss of 8.6%.

Watch Pier 1 Import (PIR)trading Thursday. Shares plunged in extended trading after the company said profit was nearly cut in half during the most recent quarter.

5. Earnings and economics: Rite Aid (RAD) will report quarterly earnings before the opening bell and Oracle (ORCL, Tech30) will report after the close.

The U.S. government will post weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. August housing starts and building permits come out at the same time.

First Published: September 18, 2014: 5:15 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sony shares plunge as more losses loom

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Shares closed down 8.6% in Tokyo markets, after falling as much as 13% during the day. Tokyo stocks overall performed much better, edging up by 1%.

Sony (SNE) said yesterday that it expected to post a net loss of 230 billion yen ($2.1 billion) for its fiscal year ending March 2015. That's nearly five times the 50 billion yen loss the company previously forecast.

The hit is entirely due to major losses in Sony's mobile communications business, which is facing fierce competition in the mid-range market for smartphones.

The company now plans to focus on boosting its premium smartphone models, and to scale back on its mid-range offerings.

Related: Hackers attack Sony PlayStation Network

Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's warned Thursday that it is now considering downgrading the company's debt to junk status.

"We believe it will not be easy for Sony to maintain brand recognition and generate stable profitability," S&P said, citing intense competition from Chinese rivals, which is depressing prices and margins.

S&P said it would continue to review Sony's earnings and restructuring efforts. If it does downgrade Sony to junk, that would bring its rating in line with Moody's, which issued a downgrade in January.

A poor performance this year will pile the pressure on Sony management. The company posted a net loss of 128.4 billion yen last year, and CEO Kazuo Hirai has his work cut out to turn the company around.

Some investors demanding dramatic changes have largely gone ignored.

Activist hedge fund manager Dan Loeb of Third Point pressed Hirai for a more far-reaching restructuring of the company, suggesting it spin off the film and music division. Sony's board rejected Loeb's plan.

First Published: September 18, 2014: 4:45 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Amazon releases new Fire tablets and e-readers

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A $79 Kindle and the Kindle Voyage are the company's new e-reader offerings.

"This is our thinnest, highest resolution, highest contrast e-reader we've ever done," Amazon VP Peter Larsen said of the Kindle Voyage, which starts at $199.

"We have a long term-vision to replace paper," Senior Vice President of Devices David Limp said at the launch event in New York Wednesday.

That translates to e-readers with higher resolution and contrast display. By releasing a cheaper e-reader, Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) hopes to tap into markets like India and China.

Related: Apple says iOS 8 will shield your data from police

The company also unveiled new Fire tablets, including one aimed at children. Their Fire HD Kids Edition comes with a two-year "worry-free" warranty.

The tablet is equipped with Amazon FreeTime, a feature that lets parents manage what their children can access.

Other new tablets include the 6-inch Fire HD, a tablet the company is touting as "the most powerful tablet under $100" and a $140 7-inch Fire HD tablet.

To prove the durability of Amazon's Fire HD tablets,Larsen said the company puts the tablets through the ringer, blasting everything from salt water to sunscreen on them and placing them inside a tumbler, which simulates the inside of a purse or backpack.

Executives also introduced the Fire HDX, showing off new audio features. As part of the demo, executives said the tablet was 20% lighter than the Apple's (AAPL, Tech30) iPad Air, and had a million more pixels.

All devices are available online for pre-order and will begin shopping in October.

First Published: September 18, 2014: 9:54 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Why NASA is turning to Elon Musk

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Before grounding the program in 2011, NASA flew 135 missions to the International Space Station, the single most expensive object ever built, with an estimated all-in cost of $150 billion.

The International Space Station is a floating laboratory in space that travels at speeds of 17,240 miles per hour, circling the planet every 90 minutes. (Oh, and despite being located in low earth orbit, about 250 miles high, the station has a Houston area code.)

So why are they giving the job to Boeing and SpaceX? NASA wants to pursue something far sexier.

This week, NASA administrator Charles Bolden spent time talking about these greater ambitions:

"We will conduct missions that will each set their own impressive roster of firsts. First crew to visit and take samples from an asteroid. First crew to fly beyond the orbit of the moon. Perhaps the first crew to grow it's own food and eat it in space. All of which will set us up for humanity's next giant leap: the first crew to touch down on and take steps on the surface of Mars."

Even so, NASA won't be able to pull that off on its own, at least according to Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind SpaceX.

"My best guess is that the establishment of a self-sustaining city on Mars will have quite a bit of NASA involvement," Musk told CNN. "But I think it's going to be a public-private partnership. It might be more private than public."

The reason? Cost and bureaucracy. "It doesn't matter how smart someone is within the government, it simply can't be accomplished with that structure," said Musk.

"I don't think NASA could establish a self-sustaining city on Mars simply because it would be cost prohibitive. If NASA did it the traditional government way, the cost of doing it would exceed the federal budget."

Related: Elon Musk admists to "dark dreams" before a launch

But fear not space geeks, before Mars, there is Low Earth Orbit. And both Boeing (BA) and SpaceX think the latest NASA contracts mark a key step in the emergence of "space tourism" industry.

NASA plans to use Boeing's CST100 and SpaceX's Dragon to shuttle 4 astronauts to the space station on each mission.

However, both capsules are configured to transport 5 passengers.

Boeing will work with its partner, Space Adventures, to offer the additional seat to space tourists.

Boeing is also teaming with Bigelow Aerospace, a space technology company that is working on developing expandable space station modules, so that countries that want to be space faring nations will be able to access the Bigelow habitat. Bigelow has also expressed interest in developing space hotels.

First Published: September 18, 2014: 9:41 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple says iOS 8 will shield your data from police

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In a blog post, Apple says that iOS 8, which began rolling out Wednesday, has new encryption that will no longer allow the company to bypass a customer's passcode to access the data.

"So it's not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8," it said.

Related: iOS 8 - How to get it, and whether you should

Earlier versions of Apple's operating system allowed the company to bypass the password, it said.

And that's still true for rival operating systems. For instance, AT&T (T, Tech30) can tap into Android phones to perform customer service.

But it's not foolproof. The protection disappears if customers back up the information on their phone and copy it to the iCloud service, because Apple will comply with warrants to turn over information on its servers.

Plus, the protection only applies to what lives on your phone: text messages, photos, voice recordings, etc. The government can still (and does) pummel Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30) to get your emails. And your mobile provider will give up your call records.

And if you sync your iPhone with iTunes, backing up your phone's files to your computer, then police can grab those files from your laptop -- No PIN code is necessary.

But Apple clearly senses that added privacy protections are a selling point for its products.

"I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will," wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook on the blog.

The site also brags that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has given Apple top marks for "standing with our customers when the government seeks access to their data."

Related: Apple's iOS 8 HealthKit launch derailed by bug

But don't be fooled into thinking Apple is now the patron saint of security. The company is notorious for taking months or years to fix known, serious software flaws. The recent leak of naked celebrity photos on iCloud is a recent example. Apple knew about the weakness for more than a year.

And when the company does update its operating system, it tends to be quiet about what it's fixing.

That's why renowned Apple security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski said: "If Apple is going to be a grown up in this space, and take security seriously, part of that is acknowledging significant vulnerabilities and stop downplaying them."

First Published: September 18, 2014: 7:56 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

NFL's biggest sponsor backs Roger Goodell

PepsiCo is the NFL's biggest sponsor, and its female CEO just gave embattled league Commissioner Roger Goodell a vote of confidence

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

CEO Indra Nooyi decried the domestic violence crisis enveloping the league in a statement released late Wednesday.

"I am deeply disturbed that the repugnant behavior of a few players, and the NFL's acknowledged mishandling of these issues, is casting a cloud over the integrity of the league," she wrote.

But she also said she knows Goodell to be "a man of integrity" and that she is confident he'll respond to the crisis appropriately.

"Over the past several days, it is increasingly apparent that the NFL is starting to treat these issues with the seriousness they deserve," she said.

PepsiCo (PEP) has sponsorship agreements with the league and its teams worth an estimated $100 million a year, according to research firm IEG, making it by far the NFL's most lucrative sponsor.

Related: NFL - Richer than ever despite controversy

Goodell suspended former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for two games after he knocked his then-fiancee unconscious in a casino elevator. But when a video surfaced last week that showed Rice actually throwing the punch it spurred public outrage, and Goodell suspended him indefinitely. The commissioner later acknowledged he made a mistake.

But many commentators, and the National Organization for Women, are calling for Goodell's resignation. And those calls have grown louder after the league didn't suspend several other players, most notably star running back Adrian Peterson, have not been suspended when they were charged with either domestic violence or child abuse.

One major sponsor, Anheuser-Busch (BUD), issued a statement earlier this week very critical of the league. "We are not yet satisfied with the league's handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code," it said. "We have shared our concerns and expectations with the league."

Related: Who would get Goodell's job?

Three other major sponsors, Nike (NKE), Visa (V) and Campbell Soup (CPB) have issued more neutral statements. All of them deplored domestic violence and said they shared their concerns with the league.

Prior to Nooyi's statement, the strongest sponsor support for Goodell came from Verizon (VZ, Tech30) CEO Lowell McAdam, who said last week, "I'm, at this point, satisfied with the actions they've taken."

First Published: September 18, 2014: 11:40 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tim Cook didn't address Apple's real privacy problem

CEO Tim Cook says Apple has addressed customers' privacy concerns. But Apple's security record says otherwise.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Apple (AAPL, Tech30) was all over the news earlier this month for failing to address a security vulnerability that could have prevented the theft of celebrities' nude photos from their iCloud accounts. It took Apple six months to address the problem -- too long, it turns out.

This was just the latest in Apple's lousy record on security. Apple waits too long to fix bugs and fails to update its customers when a major vulnerability needs to be addressed.

That's a major issue as Apple gears up to launch Apple Pay, its mobile payments system that is set to debut next month. The point is not lost on its rivals: PayPal called out Apple in a full-page New York Times ad this week, saying "We the people want our money safer than our selfies."

Now Apple is saying it will be more transparent about the information it collects and shares; it won't sell information to advertisers based on the content of your emails and texts; and it has encrypted iPhones so the government can't get its hands on data stored on your phone.

Related: Apple says iOS 8 will shield your data from police

Those are noble actions. But Apple failed to address the real problem.

The reason customers are losing faith in Apple's ability to keep their information private is because Apple has a miserable security record. That needs to be addressed. Until it does that, Apple can't truly claim that it is protecting customers' data.

For example, Apple waited four months before patching the "goto fail" bug earlier this year -- a serious security flaw that allowed hackers to read private communications sent over Apple devices, including emails, instant messages, social media posts and even online bank transactions. Making matters worse, Apple waited four days after it patched iPhones and iPads to fix the problem on Macs.

Apple waited far too long to fix the Flashback bug that hit Apple in early 2012 -- the largest targeted attack on Macs ever. Flashback exploited a hole in Java, and Oracle (ORCL, Tech30) quickly fixed the bug. But Apple uses its own version of Java and didn't get around to patching its software until two months after Oracle fixed it.

And it took more than three years for Apple to fix the so-called FinFisher Trojan that allowed law enforcement to spy on iPhone users.

Apple declined to comment for this story.

Related: FBI launches a face recognition system

Transparency is a must, and Apple is taking a big step by publishing an easy-to-understand privacy website.

Encryption is a good step -- albeit a limited one (if you back your stuff up on iCloud or on your computer, it's no longer out of the government's reach).

It's good that Apple doesn't sell as much of its customers' personal information to advertisers as Google (GOOGL, Tech30) and Facebook (FB, Tech30) do. Though that's largely because Apple's iAd advertising business is extremely small -- not by choice, but because it failed to take off.

But few customers -- if any -- were saying they don't trust Apple because their iPhones weren't encrypted. Or that Apple wasn't clear about what information it provided to third parties. Or that Apple was selling their personal data to advertisers.

Apple's problem remains its lack of transparency and quick action on security holes. Tim Cook should fix that now.

First Published: September 18, 2014: 12:41 PM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Discovery Channel strands rival senators on island

U.S. Sens. Jeff Flake (left) and Martin Heinrich pitched Rival Survival to Discovery Channel. It airs Oc.t 29

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, and Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, were the ones who actually pitched, said a Discovery spokeswoman.

The result is "Rival Survival," a one-hour special that will be televised on October 29, just a few days before the midterm elections.

Neither senator is up for re-election. And they followed strict Senate Ethics Committee protocols in order to bring the idea to Discovery.

One must imagine the cable channel jumped at the opportunity.

Both are outdoorsmen, and Flake has done Survivor-style excursions before, albeit without television cameras in tow.

In 2009, he made a solo survivalist trip, and last summer he took a similar four-day trip with two of his sons. They "brought no food and no water," speared fish for dinner and slept under the stars.

Related: Sen. Flake spends recess marooned on deserted island

Heinrich is also a sportsman and has made conservation one of his key issues while in office.

"Both of us know just how frustrated people are with Washington right now," the senators said in a statement. "So we decided to do something completely out of the ordinary and frankly a little extreme to show the world and our colleagues that even if you have serious differences, if you want to survive you have to work together. "

Here's how Discovery describes the show: "Disconnected from the world on an uninhabited island surrounded by shark infested waters that mirror the seemingly treacherous terrain of the U.S. Congress," the senators "must put their political differences aside and work together for six days and six nights to find common ground through compromise if they want to survive."

The reality show was shot earlier this year when the Senate was not in session. The producers -- who also make the Discovery series "Naked and Afraid" -- picked Eru, an uninhabited patch of land in the Marshall Islands without any natural sources of fresh water.

If the one-hour special is well-received, Discovery (DISCA) may try to turn "Rival Survival" into a recurring series with other rivals.

Related: Future of media

--CNNMoney's Greg Wallace contributed

First Published: September 11, 2014: 10:32 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alibaba 101: The biggest IPO of all time

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is poised to raise more money in its IPO than Facebook or Visa did. It could generate an eye-popping $24 billion when it begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange -- likely at the end of next week.

Few Americans have heard of Alibaba. It's frequently described as a mix of Amazon.com (AMZN, Tech30), eBay (EBAY, Tech30) and PayPal for China. It doesn't have much of a presence in the U.S., but it's starting to expand and now owns stakes in companies including Uber, Lyft and search engine app Quixey.

There are a lot of reasons Wall Street is abuzz about this company, but here's what you need to know:

Related: Meet the man who built Alibaba

1. Alibaba will soon be worth as much as Amazon

Alibaba set the stage last week for an IPO that would value the Chinese company at a whopping $155 billion.

That dwarfs eBay's $67 billion market valuation and is roughly in line with Amazon's $160 billion market cap.

Related: All you need to know about Alibaba

Alibaba stock is set to price initially between $60 and $66 a share. If it goes at the high end of that range, it will sport a valuation that is within striking distance of Facebook (FB, Tech30), which went public in 2012 and is currently valued at about $201 billion.

There's still a long way to go before Alibaba catches the biggest tech stars. Even if it prices higher than $66 a share, it will be well behind Google's (GOOGL, Tech30) $400 billion and Apple's (AAPL, Tech30) nearly $600 billion market capitalization.

Still, Alibaba is setting the stage to raise more money than any previous IPO, and that means the company will have a lot of cash on hand to put into research, mergers and purchases of startups around the world.

Related: What will Marissa Mayer & Yahoo do with their Alibaba cash?

2. Alibaba's IPO could be the biggest ever

Alibaba's offering would raise up to $24.3 billion, if you include money going to investors and underwriter banks. That would easily top the previous record-holder among U.S.-listed IPOs: Visa's (V)$19.7 billion raised in 2008.

That would also break the global record held by the Agricultural Bank of China (ACGBY), which hauled in $22 billion in a 2010 IPO that was dually listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai, according to Dealogic.

3. Alibaba moves a stunning amount of merchandise

The Chinese company calls itself the "largest online and mobile commerce company in the world."

It bases that call on a common e-commerce metric: Gross merchandise volume. Basically, that's the value of all the merchandise changing hands on a platform over a given time.

Alibaba generated $248 billion of gross merchandise volume in 2013, towering over Amazon.com's $116 billion, according to estimates by IDC.

In fact, if you add up the value of goods being exchanged on Alibaba, it's greater than that of Amazon, eBay, JD.com (JD) and Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten -- combined.

Alibaba's dominance may even grow as China's middle class continues to expand.

First Published: September 10, 2014: 9:40 PM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

First rise in foreclosure auctions in nearly four years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Nearly 52,000 U.S. homes went on the auction schedule in August, a 1% increase from 12 months earlier. Though only a slight bump, it marked the first year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts since November 2010.

This does not mean the return of the mortgage meltdown, according to Daren Blomquist, spokesman for RealtyTrac, which reported the August data.

Related: See the economic recovery in 17 charts

Many foreclosures got delayed, especially starting in late 2010 when it came out that many lenders played fast and loose with the paperwork and processes needed to legally repossess homes -- the "robo-signing" scandal.

Some states enacted new laws or regulations to ensure that borrowers were handled more fairly. The restrictions have delayed many foreclosures.

Related: Mansions for under $1 million

In New Jersey alone, there might be 80,000 defaulting mortgage borrowers still in the system, many of whom have not yet received a notice of default, according to Blomquist. There's a state law mandating that lenders must show that they investigated each default and contacted the borrowers involved before a foreclosure lawsuit can even be filed.

Calculator: Was my home a good investment?

That's not the only place where mortgage servicers have had to adjust their procedures to make sure they stay within legal guidelines. It's common in judicial foreclosure states such as Florida, where defaults have to go through the courts.

The Sunshine State was No. 1 in total foreclosure filings in August with one household in 400 getting hit by a notice of default, notice of sale, bank repossession or other filing.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 2:31 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks: 4 things to know before the open

Click chart for in-depth premarket data.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

Here are four things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:

1. 'Meh' markets: There's not a ton of movement going on Thursday.

U.S. stock futures were shifting slightly lower.

The CNNMoney Fear & Greed index is currently stuck in neutral, indicating investors are feeling neither overly fearful nor overly greedy.

Gold prices were firming around $1,250 per ounce and crude oil prices were edging down to about $91.40 per barrel.

European markets were mostly flat in early trading.

Asian markets closed with some losses. The stand-out performer was the Nikkei in Japan, which rose by 0.8% as the yen weakened.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

2. New base for British banks?: Shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LYG) were rising by about 1% in London after both banks said they were looking to move their bases from Scotland to England in the event that Scotland votes to break away from the United Kingdom.

The announcements were meant to reassure customers, shareholders and creditors worried about Scotland's uncertain future as an independent nation.

Related: Scotland's $25 billion question

3. Earnings and economics: RadioShack (RSH), Lululemon (LULU), and Kroger (KR) are set to report quarterly earnings before the opening bell.

On the economic front, the U.S. Department of Labor will post weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.

At 2 p.m., the U.S. Treasury will release its budget for August.

4. Wednesday market recap: U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday. The Dow gained nearly 55 points, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq ended the day almost 0.8% higher.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 4:43 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Scotland's banks threaten to leave

LONDON (CNNMoney)

The biggest names in banking and insurance say they would move headquarters and parts of their businesses to England if next week's referendum backs a split.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds (LLDTF) and investment firm Standard Life (SLFPF) are making plans to protect customers and investors from the uncertainty that would follow. Lloyds owns the Bank of Scotland and pension provider Scottish Widows.

Clydesdale Bank, owned by the National Australia Bank (NABZY), and TSB Bank -- spun out of Lloyds earlier this year -- may join the exodus.

Related: $25 billion question: How much oil?

British finance has deep historical roots in Scotland. Edinburgh is the U.K.'s second biggest financial center after London.

The financial sector employs 100,000 people in Scotland. It manages over £800 billion ($1.3 trillion) in funds and generates roughly £7 billion ($11 billion) for the economy each year.

Royal Bank of Scotland was founded in 1727, and is nearly as old as the 307-year union between England and Scotland.

So why are companies and investors getting so nervous?

A vote in favor of independence would be followed by months, if not years, of confusion over issues of vital importance to banks and insurers as the details of the divorce are hammered out.

For starters, nobody knows which currency Scotland would use. Independence campaigners want to share the pound in a new "sterling zone," an option ruled out by British lawmakers and the Bank of England.

Related: 5 reasons to worry about independence

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said this week that a new currency union was incompatible with Scottish sovereignty because it would require some sharing of tax and spending powers, a common central bank and deposit guarantee scheme.

"I think we only have to look [toward Europe] at what happens if you don't have all of those components in place. So that's just the economics of it," Carney said.

That means Scotland may be forced to shadow the pound -- which could be very costly -- or adopt a new, untested currency at risk of devaluation.

Standard Life, which was founded in 1825, and others are also concerned about lack of clarity over regulation, consumer protection and future tax policies.

With so many open questions, the worry is that a vote for independence could trigger a flight of capital.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 7:34 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

RadioShack, almost out of cash, seeks a lifeline

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The troubled electronics retailer says it is "actively exploring" ways to get additional cash from a number of parties. It's also negotiating with existing lenders, bondholders, shareholders and landlords about a financial turnaround plan.

But the financial results it reported in the same report were anything but encouraging.

Sales at stores open at least a year plunged 20% due to lack of customer traffic and weak demand for mobile devices. Losses more than doubled to $137.4 million.

The company continued to burn through its cash. It ended the quarter with only $30.5 million on its balance sheet. That's down from $179.8 million at the start of the year.

The announcement initially lifted shares of RadioShack (RSH) in premarket trading. But they turned lower, and went further below the $1 mark.

Related: Six endangered brands

The company's tenuous cash position is one of the factors raising alarms about its ability to survive. Credit rating agency Moody's has said it expects the company to run out of cash by fall 2015.

If it does find a lifeline, it could be from its largest shareholder, hedge fund Standard General, which owns nearly 10% of the company. Last month, sources told CNNMoney that it was in talks to give it a cash infusion.

The company's huge network of more than 5,000 stores has done little to help it hold off competition from Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and other online retailers.

The company now depends on smartphones and tablets for more than half its sales. Those are competitive, low-margin products. And each smartphone sale hurts RadioShack's chance to sell its higher-margin products, such as digital cameras and GPS systems.

But even if RadioShack gets a financial lifeline, that doesn't mean the store near you is more likely to stay open. In fact, part of the reason it needs cash is to close money-losing stores. Closing stores takes cash -- to pay severance, to get out of leases and to dispose of inventory.

In March, the company announced it needed to close 1,100 stores, or about 20% of its total. But three months later, it was forced to scale back to only 200 store closings when lenders balked at providing the cash needed to close more stores.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 7:18 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Same-sex military spouses sue for equal benefits

60-year-old Steven Rains, left, lost his husband Don last year to cancer. Because he lives in Texas, he is being denied $1,215 per month in survivors benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

And now they're suing for those rights.

Law firm Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit last month against the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on behalf of the American Military Partner Association, arguing that equal benefits must be provided to all employees no matter where they live.

60-year-old Steven Rains was married to a veteran, Don Condit, who passed away from cancer last year.

They had been together for 30 years, and the last thing Rains wanted to think about was money. But money was tight.

Gay military widow not getting death benefits

Because Condit's condition was linked to chemical exposure while serving in Vietnam, his spouse should be eligible for death benefits known as indemnity compensation.

But though they were legally married in California, they lived in Texas, where same-sex marriage isn't legal. Rains is therefore being denied those $1,215 per month payments.

Rains would also like to downsize and find a smaller house, but he doesn't qualify for a VA loan, which typically come with favorable rates for veterans and their spouses.

Map: Where same-sex marriage is and isn't legal

"If I got those benefits, I wouldn't have to worry that some day I'm going to lose my house because I can't afford the upkeep or the taxes, and at 60 years old even temporary work is difficult to find," he said. "I just want what anybody else my age, in my situation would get. I'd rather have Don back, but that's not possible. These other things are."

Some federal agencies, like the IRS, now grant benefits based on the state where a couple was married.

The VA says it is bound by a separate federal law requiring it to define marriage based on the state where a couple resided at the time of marriage or at the time benefits are due.

Flipboard: Same-sex marriage - 1 year later

The fate of military couples therefore hinges on the outcome of this lawsuit, as well as the changing landscape of state same-sex marriage laws. As a growing number of states are overturning same-sex marriage bans, the Supreme Court is even being urged to rule on whether state bans are unconstitutional -- spurring hope in people like Rains, who is adamant that more action is still needed.

"People think that now that DOMA is overturned, everything is well and good, and that everything is wonderful," said Rains. "But we're just not there yet."

Another widow is being denied benefits even though same-sex marriage is now legal in their state. Joe Krumbach, from Vashon Island, Washington, says he is unable to receive survivors benefits because his partner, Jerry Hatcher, passed away in 2008, about four years before Washington legalized same-sex marriage.

Related: Big businesses still fighting for same-sex marriage

He and Hatcher, an Army sergeant who served in Vietnam, had entered into the only union that was legal at the time -- a domestic partnership. And because Hatcher is no longer alive, that partnership can't be rolled over into a marriage (as others have been), now that same-sex marriage is recognized in the state.

Not only is he missing out on the $1,215 monthly payments and VA loans, but he is no longer able to shop at military post stores, where items are sold at a discount to service members and their family. He can't even be buried in the same military cemetery as Hatcher.

"Having weathered the federal government's past, longstanding discrimination against them, lesbian and gay veterans and their families find themselves once again deprived of equal rights and earned benefits by the government they served and the nation for which they sacrificed," the lawsuit against the VA states.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 9:22 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Wolf of Wall Street wants redemption

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

There's a reason his nickname is the "wolf of Wall Street" and he spent time in jail.

Now he wants the world -- including his 1,500 victims -- to see him as more of a sheep than a wolf as he tries to recast himself as a motivational speaker.

"I've redeemed myself. I do the right thing every day," he told a packed auditorium Wednesday night at an event run by the 92nd Street Y and the Forum on Law, Culture and Society at NYU School of Law. "I'm turning over all the profits to people who lost money."

Related: Ex-hedge fund manager gets 9 years

Belfort is required to pay back $110 million in restitution to his victims, although he still refers to them as "investors." So far he's handed over about $11 million.

Half of all of the proceeds he receives from book sales, speeches and the 2013 "Wolf of Wall Street" movie staring Leonardo DiCaprio should go to his victims. But some have raised questions about whether that's happening. He has dodged the subject at public events and walked out of an Australian TV interview over it.

Belfort claims he always idolized greedy Gordon Gekko from the 1987 film "Wall Street."

"The biggest problem is [Gekko] didn't take the fall in the movie," he said. "At least in the 'Wolf of Wall Street,' I lose everything. I go to jail."

Related: Ken Springer airs Wall Street's dirty laundry

Belfort spent 22 months in prison. He could have gone away for more than 30 years, but he cooperated with federal prosecutors to bring down others in the stock manipulation scheme he was a part of, and he managed to get a much lighter sentence in the process.

"I take it at face value that he has gone straight. He's tried to turn his life around," Daniel Alonso said at the event Wednesday, appearing alongside Belfort. Alonso is a former assistant U.S. Attorney who was involved in the case.

But for a lot of people, it's hard to think of Belfort as anything other than a crook.

He still views himself first and foremost as an expert salesman.

"Money is like alcohol. It makes you more of what you are. If you're an asshole, it makes you a bigger asshole," he said.

Belfort started as a stockbroker and went on to found his own brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont, which was actually located on Long Island, not Wall Street. He made up the "wolf of Wall Street" moniker.

Belfort and his conspirators owned cheap stocks they were knowingly selling to others to bid up the price.

"Not a day went by where there wasn't a voice in the back of my head saying 'what the hell am I doing,?'" he said, noting that his life changed dramatically the day a co-conspirator handed him a bag with $300,000 in cash.

Related: Why it's risky to invest in pot stocks

Alonso, the former prosecutor, said the movie got a lot right, especially when it came to portraying how backroom deals work with Swiss bankers and others.

"It's relatively accurate, including in terms of debauchery," Alonso noted.

Belfort still gets several hundred emails and letters a day about the film. He's leveraged his fame into a global speaking tour, including gigs at corporate events.

"If you want to hang on to mistakes I made 25 years ago, that's your prerogative," he said.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 7:40 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lululemon soars 17%. Namaste!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The yoga apparel maker's stock surged more than 17% in early trading Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected sales and profits for the second quarter.

Why this big of a rally? Investors seem relieved by the revenue and earnings forecasts for the year, which are a bit higher than forecasts. Lululemon lowered its outlook in June and that freaked out the market.

The company is in the midst of a turnaround under new CEO Lauren Potdevin, who joined lululemon (LULU) following the surprise departure of Christine Day in June 2013.

Lululemon has had its share of problems in the past few years. They began with a recall of some of the company's black pants after learning that they were a little too revealing on the bottom.

The recall hurt sales and profits.

Making matters worse, lululemon founder Chip Wilson insulted customers in November when he said in a television interview on Bloomberg that one reason for the see-through pants was that "they don't work for certain women's bodies."

He went on to suggest that it was about the "rubbing through the thighs" -- a comment that was immediately met with scorn from people who felt Wilson was saying some of his customers were too fat to wear the pants. Apparently, inserting a foot in your mouth is a patented Wilson yoga pose.

Wilson, who was also the company's chairman at the time, later resigned. But he then engaged in a bizarre war of words with the company's board and threatened to wage a shareholder proxy fight for control of lululemon. Wilson eventually agreed to sell a big chunk of his stock and abandon his proxy battle plans.

Related: Danger! Lululemon and American Apparel implode on founder comments

So where does all this leave lululemon now? The good news is that overall sales in its most recent quarter rose 13% from a year ago. But dig deeper and the numbers are still a little lacking.

Same-store sales, a measure that many retail analysts focus on because it excludes a bump retailers get from opening new locations, were merely flat in the quarter. And earnings, while better than what Wall Street had forecast, were down from a year ago.

In the company's earnings release, Potdevin stressed that he was "pleased to be on track" with the company's turnaround efforts but that "there is still much to be done."

Even if you factor in the big move in lululemon's shares Thursday, the stock is still down about 25% so far in 2014 and is trading more than 40% below its 52-week high.

What's more, lululemon faces many competitive threats. Under Armour (UA) recently inked supermodel Gisele Bundchen to an endorsement deal, a clear sign that Under Armour wants to be an even bigger player in women's athletic apparel. Nike (NKE) and Athleta, which is owned by The Gap (GPS), are also strong rivals.

But give lululemon some credit. The worst appears to be over. But can the company return to its pre-recall heights? That might be a stretch.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 10:48 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Target aims to get its groove back

Target is shaking things up.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Sales have declined for the past year, but the retailer's new CEO Brian Cornell has a plan to turn things around after just 30 days in the corner office.

So Target plans to narrow the focus of its stores to a handful of specialties: fashion, baby, kids and wellness.

"They're going after young families," said Robin Lewis, CEO of The Robin Report, a retail strategy newsletter.

The aim is to stand out in a world where just about anything can be purchased anywhere -- online or off. Plenty of competitors are in the business of offering everything under one roof, from Walmart (WMT) to Amazon (AMZN, Tech30).

Target (TGT) says it won't eliminate any of its existing categories like groceries or electronics. But it's presumably looking to revive some of the cachet it used to have as a budget-friendly, but stylish place to shop that garnered it the French-sounding nickname "Tarjay."

Related: Target taps Wal-Mart veteran to lead comeback

In June, Target began carrying eco-friendly products from The Honest Company, which was co-founded by actress Jessica Alba, including diapers, biodegradable baby wipes, and organic skin care products. Target also partnered with luxury designer Joseph Altuzarra for a collection of women's apparel and accessories set to debut Sept. 14.

On Wednesday, the company announced that it will be selling a special line of TOMS shoes, apparel and home goods made specifically for Target. TOMS is known for giving one pair of its slip-on shoes to a person in need for every pair that's purchased.

Fresh merchandise may not be enough. Target's sales have also taken a drubbing thanks to a data breach last holiday season that hit 110 million Target shoppers.

First Published: September 11, 2014: 12:02 PM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

VIP access to Fashion Week...from your desk

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Just tune in to channel 600 on Pluto.TV, an L.A.-based video streaming startup.

Pluto.TV, a TV Guide-style approach to online video, announced a New York Fashion Week channel on Thursday.

"Our goal is to make it really easy and enjoyable for lovers of fashion to quickly tune in and get timely updates," said CEO and co-founder Tom Ryan.

It's just the latest vertical from Pluto.TV, which launched in March and offers over 100 dedicated channels for everything from breaking news to sports to viral videos. Their curators (a mix of humans and data) pull online content from sites like YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. They also have dedicated channels for content partners like Funny or Die, QVC and PopSugar.

Related: Fantasy football's chic alternative

For the next week, Pluto.TV's NYFW channel will feature runway shows from designers who stream their shows online (like Burberry, Chanel and Christian Dior) as well as curated pieces from partners like Refinery29.

"Given our active curation of the channel each day, there may also be other sources depending on what is published for syndication," said Ryan.

Fashionistas can watch online (on a browser or mobile app) or on connected devices like Amazon's (AMZN, Tech30) Fire TV or Google's (GOOG) Chromecast.

Plus, a DVR-like function lets you pause, fast-forward or save shows for later.

This isn't the first time the company has launched a custom channel: Past ones have been both planned (World Cup, Wimbledon) and unplanned when there's breaking news (Robin Williams' death).

Ryan declined to disclose users or profitability, but said the company is generating revenue from advertising. (That could change in the future if the content partnerships were monetized, which they aren't currently.)

First Published: September 4, 2014: 11:05 AM ET

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More