What Are the Ramifications of Target Being 'Targeted'?

"Data theft helps cut Target's profit in half" by Tiffany Hsu

The Daily Press

February 27, 2014


The recent theft of customer data from Target has had serious impact on the company's profits.  Target is now making roughly half of what it made one year earlier.  This is largely due to consumers' loss of trust in the company.  Some good may come out of the event, however.  Other companies may view it as a warning to increase their security.  Some people think that the theft might be the impetus needed to spur the U.S. into the adoption of chip-and-PIN style credit cards (see earlier blog post).

Is the Weather to Blame for the Slow Economy?

"Cold blamed for shaky growth" by Gail MarksJarvis
The Daily Press
February 20, 2014


The economic growth in the beginning of this year has been slower than expected, and many economists blame it on the unusually cold weather.  Their reasoning is that the cold has discouraged consumers from leaving their homes and spending money.  This doesn't seem to actually be the case, though, since online shopping is also lower than expected.  The actual reason may be that disposable income is only rising about 2% annually.  According to Russ Koesterich, this rate of increase is "'barely keeping up with inflation.'"  Janet Yellen says that "the labor market has improved."  Although there have been economic gains this year, the increases are not as substantial as expected.

Antibiotics to be Removed from Chick-fil-A Chicken by 2019

"Chick-fil-A backs off antibiotics"  (no author listed)

The Daily Press

February 13, 2014

Recently, Chick-fil-A announced that it planned to remove antibiotics from its chicken by 2019.  This is due to pressures from consumers who are concerned about food safety.  A year ago, Chick-fil-A removed yellow dye from its chicken soup to address similar concerns.  The company says it in in the process of taking high-fructose corn syrup out of its dressing and sauces.  Chick-fil-A isn't the only company making changes, however.  Subway has removed a certain chemical from its bread that is also found in yoga mats, rubber shoe soles, and fake leather.  Kraft has vowed to stop using artificial preservatives in its foods.

Why Do Americans Use a Different Type of Credit Card Than the Rest of the World?

"Plastic Surgery" by Bill Saporito
TIME magazine
February 10, 2014
http://business.time.com/2014/01/23/the-stripe-on-your-dedit-card-is-a-massive-achilles-heel/
(The article online is slightly different from the one in the magazine.)


The credit card technology used in the United States (a magnetic stripe) isn't as up-to-date as what is currently used in Europe and the rest of the world (a microchip and a PIN number).  In other countries, transactions are authenticated by scanning the chip in the card and then having the purchaser punch in their PIN code.  The credit cards here are more susceptible to hackers because they rely on 40-year-old technology.  The information in the magstripe can be stolen by malware because it is not encrypted (the information in a chip-and-PIN card is).  Annually, American credit-card fraud adds up to about $5.5 billion.  The use of chip-and-PIN cards could greatly reduce this amount.  Why, then, haven't our credit card issuers made the switch?

Birthday Speech

My dear People,

I welcome you to my blog.

Today is my seventeenth birthday:  I am seventeen today!

I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as much as I am.

I shall not keep you long.

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT.

I am going.  I am leaving NOW.  GOOD-BYE!

(POOF!)

(credit to J.R.R. Tolkien)