EMERGING MEDIA/TECH HEALTH CARE• "Health-care highlights four proposals for state"
(THE COLORADOAN - 07/19/07)A statewide commission charged with submitting five recommendations for health-care reform to the Legislature and governor's office by the end of January is poring over four proposals, including a single-payer plan.
REAL ESTATE RENEWABLE ENERGY/SUSTAINABILITY
• "Aarp? That doesn't sound so good"
(DENVER POST - 07/15/07)A pretty cute article about how the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) needs a new name to attract people to join up. The article notes that there are 76 million boomers in the U.S.
EMERGING MEDIA/TECH• "Sites introduce preteens to online social networking"
(INT'L HERALD TRIBUNE - 07/13/07)An article about new Web sites that cater to children -- Club Penguin and Webkinz. Drawing preteens as young as 6 or 7, these sites are forcing parents to decide at what age they are willing to let their children roam about and interact with friends online. They, along with schools, are having to teach earlier lessons on online safety, etiquette and balance with offline activities.• "Mom's site helps families pick cars"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/16/07)A local mother launched MotherProof.com in 2004, a Web site that describes itself as "on a never- ending quest for the quintessential Mom-mobile." The site takes domestic concerns into consideration when reviewing vehicles, such as how they stand up to grocery runs and baby vomit. Cars.com, which has more than 9 million visitors each month, recently added the site as a featured channel -- boosting its audience considerably.
HEALTH CARE REAL ESTATE• "The riskiest housing markets"
(MSN REAL ESTATE - 07/17/07)A new report projects home-price declines for the next two years. The riskiest markets are in Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona.
RENEWABLE ENERGY/SUSTAINABILITY
• "Sullivan Program to Sponsor Bakeoff"
(REGIS UNIV NEWS - 06/25/07)Formerly homeless families will compete in a brownie bakeoff led by socially responsible CEO Julius Walls of Grayston Bakery. Grayston’s mission is to employ the unemployable, while providing brownies for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and highend cakes to the White House. The event gives Walls the opportunity to teach Denver’s formerly homeless the social mission of his company in Yonkers, New York, which is to achieve economic stability regardless of employment background and personal history.
EMERGING MEDIA/TECH• "Find Out What People are Saying Online"
(POYNTER ONLINE - 06/27/07)• Taco Bell Partners with Gizmoz and MTV to Launch Virtual Casting Call"A new Web site named Omgili scans millions of online discussions on more than 100,000 message boards and forums in order to chart online buzz on any topic.
You can also generate graphs comparing certain topics and embed them on your site or blog. This could very useful to quickly assess which topics people are actually concerned with.
(QSR MAG - 07/09/07)• "Google, Yahoo Both Working on Next Generation Social Networks"Taco Bell has partnered with Gizmoz and MTV to launch a virtual casting call: TV Me. Taco Bell is offering participants a chance to star in their own Taco Bell "avatarsment" using their own created avatar via Gizmoz.com. Using Gizmoz.com's photorealistic avatars, consumers can audition for the Taco Bell TV Me! search by simply uploading a digital photograph and getting creative.
(TECHCRUNCH - 07/09/07)Tech enthusiasts are whispering about Yahoo Mosh, a rumored new social network operated by Yahoo that is currently only available on the company's servers. Rival Google has also got a next generation social network in development: Socialstream. Neither site has officially launched, however.
Video of the Socialstream interface is below:
HEALTH CARE• "Kids' health care targeted"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/12/07)A new coalition of Colorado business and health leaders has joined an ambitious drive to get health insurance for virtually every child in the state and nation.• "Anthem Life Insurance Company Adds Additional Face Amount Offerings for Individual Term Life Policies"
President Bush wants Congress to authorize $5 billion in the next five years for the nationwide State Children's Health Insurance Program, aimed at the kids of working-class parents.
But members of the SCHIP Colorado Coalition say 10 times that amount - $50 billion - is needed to cover all states.
(INSURANCE NEWSNET - 07/10/09)• "Changing Family Structure, Increased Longevity Affecting Boomer Housing"Anthem Life Insurance Company, through affiliate company Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, today announced an increase in individual term life insurance benefit options to $15,000, $25,000, $50,000, $75,000 or $100,000 for most ages.
(NAT'L ASSOC. OF HOMEBUILDERS - 07/10/07)• "After 'Boutique' Medical Care, Can 'Boutique' Hospitals Be Far Behind?"Baby Boomers will see their family structures change as their parents age, according to experts who spoke at the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Building for Boomers & Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium 2007. Speaking at the Symposium in Denver last month, builders, architects and trend-spotters indicated that Boomer lifestyle changes will continue to influence the home building industry for the foreseeable future.
Households headed by someone age 55 or older account for 21 percent of new home sales and 18 percent of the total new home buying market.
(WORLD HEALTH CARE BLOG - 07/10/07)The model of medical practice called by various names, such as “boutique”, “concierge”, “membership”, “patient-paid”, and “retainer” began in Seattle in the mid 1990s with a practice called “MD2” (MD-squared), where patients now pay over $10,000 per year for luxury-level access, amenities and services.
Recently a “chain” of eight hospitals in California has been described as operating under a similar approach, involving the cancellation of insurance contracts and avoidance of serving Medicare or Medicaid patients, wherever possible. The owner and operator is Prime Healthcare Services, owned by the family of Dr. Prem Reddy, described as one of the wealthiest physicians around, with two multi-million-dollar mansions and his own helicopter.
REAL ESTATE• "From boomers to Gen-Y -- a dream home for every generation"
(DENVER BIZ JOURNAL - 01/26/07)According to a recent study of more than 1,000 homeowners nationwide by the market research company GFK Rope, definite patterns have emerged of how various age groups prioritize the features they want and need in their dream home. From neighborhood location to public transportation, each generation's definition of their dream home reflects age differences and shows how style and taste shift over the years.• "Downtown Denver’s 'Fontius Building' Acquired by Evan Makovsky"
(DDP ADVISORY - 07/11/07)Less than one month after announcing the acquisition of the majority of Block 162, Evan Makovsky with Shames-Makovsky Realty Company has announced that the historic landmark Steel Building on the corner of 16th and Welton has also been acquired. Commonly known as the "Fontius Building" because of the vacant Fontius Shoe store located on the ground floor, this property has been almost completely vacant since 1988.
RENEWABLE ENERGY/SUSTAINABILITY
• "Social Networks, Tweens and Ads"
(eMARKETER - 07/06/07)Over seven out of 10 US children ages 9 to 17 visit social networking sites weekly according to a new study. The study also revealed over half of teens had participated in some kind of advertiser-branded activity like visiting company profile pages in the past month.• "A life plan for boomers"
(DENVER POST - 07/06/07)A Loveland couple launches a new website, My Plan After 50, that provides data on finances, health and jobs as well as social networking. The site aims to serve a traditionally underrepresented online demographic -- baby boomers.• "Giving Till It Hurts"
(WALL STREET JOURNAL - 07/06/07)Nonprofits say they are receiving an increasing number of "stretch" gifts, donations seemingly out of proportion to the givers' resources. To the shock or chagrin of friends and family, these gifts often require donors to make sacrifices or at least live more modestly than their income would allow.
EMERGING MEDIA/TECH• "Alarm bells for teens hooked on gaming"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/09/07)Video games can be as powerfully addictive as heroin, some doctors contend. A group of doctors is lobbying to have this behavior officially classified as a psychiatric disorder. The article chiefly cites "World of Warcraft" as being addictive.• "HD Radio awaits listeners"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/09/07)Some 47 Colorado radio stations are now broadcasting in HD Radio, a digital format that eliminates static and allows stations to create sister channels with niche programming such as classic country and comedy. Whether anyone is listening is another matter.
HEALTH CARE• "CDC: Antidepressants most prescribed drugs in U.S."
(CNN - 07/09/07)According to a government study, antidepressants have become the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. They're prescribed more than drugs to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, or headaches.• "Seniors flock to the web"
(SAN FRAN CHRONICLE - 07/06/07)In recent years, seniors have been hooking up to the Internet at a rate that far outpaces the rest of the population. Since 2000, the number of Americans older than 65 using the Internet rose more than 160 percent. Over the same period, no other age segment grew by more than 70 percent.
REAL ESTATE RENEWABLE ENERGY/SUSTAINABILITY• "REI Store in Boulder moving into new space"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/09/07)The REI store in Boulder will move into new space Sunday that is being renovated into the first "green-build" prototype for an REI store in the U.S.• "World's biggest solar farm planned in California"
(REUTERS - 07/06/07)A San Francisco company plans to build a 640-acre solar farm near Fresno by 2011. Upon completion, it would be 17 times larger than the largest U.S. solar farm. The goal of the farm is to make California the global leader for huge solar projects and replace Germany as the solar energy hub of the world.
• "Second chances"
(DENVER POST - 07/03/07)The Second Chance Thrift Store gives new life to at-risk youth through trust and responsibility. The program caught the attention of state officials including Don Mares, director of the Office of Labor and Employment. Mares visited the store and spoke with each youth individually.• "Moms Insight Network Taps Collective Online Wisdom"
(MEDIAPOST - 07/03/07 ~ user: dontlike pswd: registrations)A new online community purports to be the first community established expressly for the purposes of market research. In return for a subscription fee, marketers get the chance to put questions to the community through moderators. Product and service categories range from babycare and education to toys and games and health and wellness. More will be added based on client demand.• "Charity does volumes for Ethiopians"
(DENVER POST - 07/01/07)Ethiopian refugee partners with nonprofit guru Rich Male and Strings restaurant owner Noel Cunningham to establish libraries for the children of Ethiopia in an effort to lower the 58% illiteracy rate.
HEALTH CARE• "No surprised patients"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/05/07)Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, in partnership with Centura Health, is testing new software aimed at letting consumers know what they'll pay before they register as patients.• "Taming the health-care tiger"
(MARKET WATCH - 07/02/07)Health-care costs were up 7.7% last year. That's according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of employers. The good news: it's the lowest annual increase since 1999. The bad news: health-care costs have risen 87% since 2000, while incomes have grown only 20% and consumer prices in general have grown 18%.• "Massachusetts Begins Universal Health Care"
(WASHINGTON POST - 07/01/07)Massachusetts became the first state to require its residents to have health insurance or face financial penalties. Making insurance mandatory for its 6.5 million residents is the centerpiece of a law approved by the legislature last year that civic and business leaders hope will dramatically reduce the ranks of the state's 400,000 uninsured and the number of people who seek costly "uncompensated" care in hospital emergency rooms. The law goes into effect July 1.• "Hospital, doctor visits up 20 percent in 5 years"
(MSNBC.COM - 06/29/07)Hospital and doctor visits in the United States have surged by 20 percent in the past five years, and the most commonly prescribed medications are antidepressants, according to new statistics published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
RENEWABLE ENERGY/SUSTAINABILITY• "Home-upgrade plan killed"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/05/07)Mayor John Hickenlooper has rejected a proposal generated by his Greenprint Denver initiative that would have required homeowners to invest up to $1,000 in energy conservation improvements before they could sell their homes. Local Realtors applaud the decision, noting that such an initiative would have adversely affected the stalled real estate market.• "Carbon With That Latte?"
(FORBES.COM - 07/03/07)Starbucks executives say they are looking for ways to trim carbon emissions. However, they are reluctant to say just how much Starbucks' worldwide carbon footprint is--and how it has changed over the past few years. Denver-based engineering firm CH2M Hill was previously hired in 2003 to calculate the carbon footprint of the approximately 3,700 stores Starbucks then had in North America.• "For Job Market, Green Means Growth"
(FORBES.COM - 07/03/07)The green industry in the United States in 2005 was about $265 billion employing 1.6 million people. Green businesses have also been growing at a rate of about 5% annually during the last three years. The greening of industry is creating a constellation of new careers, and they're not your everyday forestry professions.• "Taiwan market: Traffic lights reportedly to be all LED-based in three years"
(CNA - 07/01/07)Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs has budgeted $7 million toward replacing all traffic lights with LED-based versions. The total savings in power consumption is estimated to be 85 percent.
REAL ESTATE (Alexis)• "80202 ZIP hottest home sales market"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/03/07)The 80202 ZIP code in downtown Denver is the hottest sales market in the metro area for the first five months of the year. There were 382 home sales in that area through May -- a 151.3 percent increase compared with the same time period last year.
EMERGING MEDIA/TECH (Efrem)• "Webcam has an eye, ear for cheaters"
(ROCKY MTN NEWS - 07/01/07)A new device records audio and video while college students take tests for online courses. The goal is to prevent students from cheating. The potential future market is national standardized testing.• "Ask.com leads in search results display"
(WALL STREET JOURNAL - 06/30/07)While Google may be the most powerful search engine on the Internet, upstart Ask.com is making waves for its new interface and navigational tools, components which have largely gone unchanged on Google over the years.
