Written on January 20, 2012 by Douglas R
COMING NOW: Facebook will start requiring people to switch to a new profile format known as Timeline. It’s essentially a scrapbook of your whole life on Facebook, compared with a snapshot of you today.
WHAT THAT MEANS: Photos, links and personal musings from the past will be much easier to find.
DIDN’T THIS ALREADY HAPPEN?: Although some people have voluntarily switched to Timeline, Facebook hadn’t made that mandatory. Beginning Tuesday, Facebook is telling some users that they have seven days to clean up their profiles before Timeline gets automatically activated.
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Written on January 19, 2012 by Maragaret Harrison
TrustCo Bank Corp NY on Monday said fourth quarter net income grew 26.2 percent to $8.7 million, up from $6.9 million a year earlier. The diluted earnings per share equaled 9.3 cents. An analyst estimate had put earnings per share at 10 cents.
Earnings for the year climbed to $33.1 million, or 38.9 cents per share, from $29.3 million, or 38.1 cents, for 2010.
Nonperforming loans were $48.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2011, about the same as a year earlier, but below their peak of $50.4 million as of March 31, 2011.
TrustCo Bank Corp NY, with assets of $4.2 billion, operates 136 offices in New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts and Florida as of Dec. 31, 2011. Shares (Nasdaq: TRST) closed 3 cents higher at $5.78, but were down 3 cents in after-hours trading.
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Written on January 18, 2012 by Nicole Hopkins
Valentine’s Day 2012 is coming fast! According to the experts at the National Retail Federation, retail spending for the holiday will increase nearly 13 percent this year – that’s huge! On top of this, the average person will spend $116.21 on traditional Valentine’s Day merchandise this year, an increase of 12.8% over 2011’s total, with expenditures on jewelry and clothing expected to rise substantially.
This makes this Valentine’s Day the fourth most popular shopping holiday of the year, just behind the winter holidays of Christmas/Hanukkah, Back-to-School and Mother’s Day.
How can you share in the love-fest and reap the rewards this Valentine’s Day? The good news is, no matter what industry you’re in, or kind of business you have, you can capitalize on the theme. And, the time to get started is now!
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Written on January 8, 2012 by Douglas R
Sports Direct said today it was disappointed by the sale of Blacks Leisure to its rival JD Sports Fashion and accused suppliers of obstructing its own pursuit of the outdoor clothing retailer.
JD Sports confirmed last night it had bought Blacks Leisure’s 290 stores for £20 million in a pre-pack administration deal which will protect some 3,500 jobs.
But Sports Direct, founded by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, said the deal was disappointing given its own bid for Blacks Leisure in 2010 which was dismissed as “inadequate”. The to
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Written on January 5, 2012 by Maragaret Harrison
The New Year is shaping up to be the year of the consumer. The rise of social networking sites has given customers the power to rapidly spread their like or dislike of a product. According to Bazaarvoice.com, 53% of people on Twitter recommend companies and/or products in their Tweets, with 48% of them delivering on their intention to buy the product.
Whether negative or positive, you as a company can make this work to your benefit. User generated content is a way to harness the reviewing habits of your customers in a constructive way. When you foster an online community you can build an environment where even unhappy customers can leave feeling better with your company or product.
Getting a customer Q&A page on your website can be monumental in making every one a returning customer, and it gives you the opportunity to get free recommendations from your product users. People want to be heard, and this provides them with a platform to do just that.
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Written on January 3, 2012 by Maragaret Harrison
Albany Molecular Research Inc. said late Thursday that it will cut jobs primarily in its domestic operations during the fourth quarter as it winds down all of its internal research and development activities. It also said it wold terminate the lease of one of its U.S. plants, although it didnt identify which one.
The company also didnt say how many jobs would be cut in this latest round of downsizing.
It expects to save $10 million to $11 million annually from the reductions. It will tax a restructuring charge of $5 million to $6 million in the fourth quarter.
AMRI lost $5.9 million in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to a loss of $9.9 million a year earlier. In March, the company cut 20 jobs in the Capital Region. At that point, it employed about 640 people locally and 1,400 worldwide. Shares (Nasdaq: AMRI) gained 5 cents to close at $2.85.
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