Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Where the rubber doesn't meet the road -- While erectile dysfunction ads have become as common as cell phone ads on television, the networks have been much less receptive to condom ads. Companies such as Church & Dwight Co.'s (NYSE: CHD) Trojan are eager to make buys during shows such as the new CBS show Swingtown, but face stiff opposition from the networks.
Free bikes in Chicago? In Paris, outdoor advertising company JC Decaux (EPA:DEC) maintains a fleet of 10,000 free bicycles on the street that are available for free use by anyone for 30 minutes, and longer by rental. The city repays Decaux by granting it exclusive rights to market at more than 1,000 publicly-owned sites around town. Chi-town mayor Richard M. Daley recently visited Paris to check out the idea for possible adoption back home.
In the past day or so, Burger King Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKC) and Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) have moved in opposite directions in terms of social responsibility and the role that each sees itself playing in the war on juvenile obesity.
Burger King announced that it will "help lead the way in promoting children's nutrition by joining 11 major food and beverage companies that have pledged to focus their advertising to children under 12 on products that promote healthy dietary choices and lifestyles."
The plan is pretty ambitious. In its marketing, it will target children only with products that have no more than 560 calories per meal, less than 30% of calories from fat, less than 10% of calories from saturated fat, no added trans fats, and no more than 10% of calories from added sugars. In addition, the burger giant will stop using third-party licensed characters to market unhealthy foods to children, stop advertising in elementary schools, and promote healthier lifestyles with its advertising. And to make eating healthy food easier, it will develop new items that are low in fat and sugar.
It has been assumed for several quarters that as McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) adds high-end coffee, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) might suffer. But, an analysis by Bloomberg shows that the coffee chain may be in for some very rough times. One money manager, speaking about McDonald's, told the news service, "They're a lot cheaper than Starbucks coffee in general, and they have the high quality to go with it.''
McDonald's says that it offers lattes, cappuccinos and iced brews in 9,000 U.S. restaurants. McDonald's coffee also tastes pretty good. Bloomberg reports that in March, a Consumer Reports taste test of basic black coffee found McDonald's stronger blend beat Starbucks, Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) and Dunkin' Donuts Inc.
In June, rising sales of McDonald's coffee prompted Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. analyst Marc Greenberg to reduce his Starbucks stock-target price by 14 percent to $32. "The golden arches are doing coffee better,'' Greenberg wrote in an investors' note. He rates Starbucks as a "hold.''
A day after markets rallied on rate-cut hopes, U.S. stock futures indicated a weak open this morning as oil prices reached a record high and the dollar found new record lows. Texas Instruments lowering estimates yesterday after the close and Japan PM resigning suddenly only help to agitate investors and add to uncertainty.
Yesterday, U.S. stocks rallied across the board as some good news from General Motors and McDonald's helped Wall Street already hopeful mood -- hopeful for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 180 points, or 1.38%, the S&P 500 rose 1.36% and the Nasdaq Composite 1.5%.
Today, without much economic data, investors will continue to eye rising crude prices after they settled at $78.23 a barrel - 2 cents higher than the previous closing record, set July 31. Today, oil prices extended gains ahead of U.S. crude inventories report released today and as many worry about tight supplies. OPEC announcing it would boost output didn't alleviate concerns.
As oil hits records highs, the dollar hits record lows and fell against the euro due to expectations of Fed rate cut causing the U.S. interest-rate advantage over Europe will narrow amid the housing market slump, which also means the U.S. Federal Reserve may be the only central bank to cut rates. The dollar declined for a sixth day, the longest losing streak since April. The dollar declined against the yen too.
Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed with Japan's Nikkei sliding 0.5% after the announcement of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intention to resign and the ensuing political uncertainty. Honk Kong, however, reached a new high. European markets were also mixed.
Corporate news:
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) are down 0.7% in premarket trading after the chipmaker raised its third-quarter EPS target, and tightened revenue forecast. The higher EPS numbers include gains from sale of a unit and the revenue numbers matched the Street's.
Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) announced it has set nutritional guidelines to follow when targeting children under 12 in advertising, and would unveil a healthier kids menu.
Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) shares are up 1.5% in premarket trading after a U.S. panel of health experts gave it and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) declined to recommend restrictions on the use of their anti-anemia drugs in kidney disease patients. UBS upgraded Amgen to Neutral from Sell.
Burger King Corp. (NYSE: BKC) is a burger and fast food chain that seems to be doing the right things, yet its stock may have some issues that already reflect what appears to be good news on the surface. It posted $0.26 EPS on revenues of $590 million, versus First Call estimates of $0.27 EPS and $580.4 million. Worldwide comparable sales were up 4.4% for the quarter and 3.4% for the fiscal year
The company said late night and early morning orders were a big boost along with ad promotions, and margin in the United States and Canada increased by 30 basis points in the fourth quarter and by 120 basis points for the year. This was also its year end and it gave an adjusted EPS for the year of $1.11, up 31% from Fiscal 2006. At a $25.00 stock, this gives the company a current P/E ratio of 22.5.
The new goal of the company is to take an average restaurant sales (ARS) from the current $1.3 Million up to $1.5 million, and the company believes this will add $55 million in EBITDA for each $100,000 ARS. It opened 441 new restaurants this last year and expects a record number of restaurants this next year.
On the surface the growth numbers sound good, but Wall Street was a tad above these numbers after expected growth has been carrying the stock. Shares are up like 80% off of the yearly lows and shortly after the open it looks like shares have fallen by almost 2% to $24.50. After a huge performance like this and after a huge EPS growth, it may be hard to believe in growth numbers again like McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD) was posting for the last two-years. Mickey D's Big Mac is taking more of the headline attention today with the burger turning 40 years old.
Jon Ogg is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
The Party's Over In an era of easy money, the pros forgot that the party can't last forever. Cover Story: Not So Smart - BusinessWeek What Commercials Do People Really Watch? TiVo, the company that made it possible to skip the ads, tells us which ones people are actually sitting through. The most watched commercial is for CORT Furniture Rentals followed by commercials for Domincan Republic Tourism and Hooters among others. http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/08/0824_ads/index_01.htm?technology+slideshows&popupWidth=770&popupHeight=600 Top Biz Etiquette Tips: Slurping and Belching is Good Globalization has made cross-border business deals more common than ever. But, every day, deals are jeopardized or lost when foreign associates are offended by Americans unaware of other countries' customs, culture or manners, etiquette experts say. In some regions of Asia, for example it's a sign of pleasure to belch after a meal and you should slurp your noodles as loudly as possible. In the Middle East & Africa never turn up your nose at the local delicacy. Also, Americans often do not realize how dismaying their directness can be for people from different cultures. See what is accepted and what isn't in different regions of the world. Doing business abroad? Simple faux pas can sink you - USATODAY.com 'Underpriced' at $100 Million Five homeowners are trying to break the record for the most expensive home sale in American history, market slump not withstanding. The price to beat is $103 million. Take a look at each of these homes and see which one has the best change to be the new champ. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118791696265107415.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal Innovative Company Cafeterias Good eating-on the clock. Lunch is far more than just a turkey sandwich at some companies focused on offering fresh, tasty, and healthy dining options. From Google and Cisco to Hallmark and Hearst these corporate cafeterias rock. The Most Innovative Corporate Cafeterias In Pictures: Top Cafeterias
Has the time come for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to worry about competition from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), the search giant that has become such a formidable competitor to Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT)? Well, talk of the Google Phone or Gphone has been floating for a quite a while and now, according to Rediff, the Gphone launch "is believed to be a fortnight away." Also according to the site, Google "has started talks with service providers in India for an exclusive launch on one of their networks," and that "a simultaneous launch across the US and Europe is expected." Of course, Google wouldn't comment on rumors. The Gphone, if ever launched, will no doubt be compared to Apple's iPhone, but as I said, rumors of the Gphone have been around a while now. Google never commented, yet these rumors keep returning. Will this be another such rumor that will fade away into the blogosphere?
The Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) reported earnings after the close yesterday and quite impressed Wall Street as the stock is trading up 3.33% in premarket action (7:46 a.m.). Gap posted a second-quarter profit that surged 19% to $152 million, or 19 cents per share. While online sales soared 26%, second-quarter revenue declined 1% to $3.69 billion, and same-store sales declined by 5%. Analysts expected Gap to earn 19 cents per share on revenue of $3.72 billion. Analysts liked what they saw as well.
And ... the coast is clear to Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI), Wild Oats Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: OATS) merger to proceed after an appeals court upheld the ruling from last week, denying the FTC its request to block the merger. WFMI stock is trading up 2.68% in premarket (8:00 a.m.) while OATS is up 2.27% (8:06 a.m.). Will we see Sirius and XM moving higher on the news as many believe this merger approval would pave the way to the satellite radio companies' merger being approved as well?
Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) reported fourth quarter results this morning, posting a profit versus a loss a year earlier. BK earned $36 million, or 26 cents per share and sales rose 11% to $590 million. Analystshad expected earnings of 27 cents per share on sales of $580.4 million. Shares of BKC are up 4.33% in premarket trading (8:02 a.m.).
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), Pepsi Bottling (PBG), Brinker International (EAT), Northwest Airlines (NWA) and Spectrum Brands (SPC) were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Merriman upgraded shares of Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) to Buy from Neutral on valuation as they believe the 25% sell-off post in-line earnings is overdone.
Banc of America upgraded shares of Pepsi Bottling (NYSE: PBG) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the company's earnings power in 2008, ongoing cost controls and more robust product pipeline.
SMH Capital upgraded shares of Brinker Int'l (NYSE: EAT) as they believe expectations are too low for Q4 and FY08.
Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley on valuation.
Spectrum Brands (NYSE: SPC) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Buckingham on valuation...
OTHER UPGRADES:
Gap (NYSE: GPS) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at CL King & Associates.
Raymond James upgraded Ruby Tuesday (NYSE: RT) to Market Perform from Underperform.
Burger King (NYSE: BKC) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
MetLife (NYSE: MET) was added to Goldman Sachs' Conviction Buy List.
Burger King (NYSE: BKC) has licensed its brand name for a line of chips to Inventure Group (NASDAQ: SNAK), USA Today reports. This fall, junk-food lovers can try new Ketchup & Fries or Flame-Broiled burger-flavored chips. "It's a fun fit," BK's chief marketer, Russ Kline, says. "This makes great sense for us. When you think about the sheer impressions of our trademark that this will create, the value is gigantic."
"Fun" fit? "Gigantic" value?
This looks like a direct marketing campaign to get children attached to the BK brand name. While the chips, sold in two-ounce and five-ounce packs, are expected to sell in stores, Inventure Group plans to market a one-ounce, 100-calorie pack in vending machines.
"We've got our own business objectives," Kline says. "You'll never see me interested in how Burger King Ketchup & Fries stacks up against Doritos in some Nielsen report."
Is it a stretch to think this is a direct attempt to attract kids? Is it also a stretch to think the new 100-calorie packs could be marketed for America's schools?
If there's still any doubt whether the pampering of pets is getting out of hand, the debate should be settled once and for all by Neuticles, a patented testicular implant that sells for up to $919 a pair. The idea, says inventor Gregg A. Miller, is to "let people restore their pets to anatomical preciseness" after neutering, thereby allowing them to retain their natural look and self-esteem. Americans now spend $41 billion a year on their pets - more than the gross domestic product of all but 64 countries in the world. That's double the amount shelled out on pets a decade ago, with annual spending expected to hit $52 billion in the next two years. That puts the yearly cost of buying, feeding, and caring for pets in excess of what Americans spend on the movies ($10.8 billion), playing video games ($11.6 billion), and listening to recorded music ($10.6 billion) combined. BW Cover Story
BW's Best Global Brands 2007
Yes, Coca-Cola is still No.1. But several other brands have done well in the past year, shooting up the list by six or more spots. They range from Apple, which rode a wave of iPhone hype to the No.33 spot, to Nintendo, which has had runaway success with its Wii video game console, launched late last year. The biggest ranking jump came from Zara, an innovative Spanish fashion retailer that leaped nine spots to No.64. Far and away the biggest percentage jump was claimed by Google, jumping 44% and four spots to number 20.
You have to admit: Stocks have risen to mighty heights mighty fast. The Dow has hit three milestones in nine months - crossing 12,000 in October, 13,000 in April, and just last week, 14,000. On Thursday, the leading stock index closed down 311 points, or more than 2 percent, the second biggest point drop this year. The biggest came Feb. 27, when the Dow fell 416 points, or 3.3 percent. What to make of this? Stocks are volatile. Or more to the point, investors' emotions are. It takes nerves of steel to shake off a big stock drop. But the world's best investors not only shake them off - they thrive on them. Here are several simple and effective steps you can take to turn a stock market crash to your advantage.
You can save as much as 70% on household supplies by shopping at your local dollar store. Dollar stores are able to offer such low prices because they buy most of their stock at reduced rates from wholesalers. Among the best deals to be found at dollar stores are on cleaning products, shampoo, school supplies, food-storage containers and snacks such as potato chips and crackers. But beware: Some of the products sold at dollar stores don't meet established safety and nutritional standards. Consumer Reports' Shop Smart magazine found that certain brands of multivitamins it tested didn't contain nutrients listed on the label.
Worse, the magazine found that several kinds of soft vinyl lunch boxes sold at dollar stores contained trace amounts of lead. It also warns consumers to steer clear of electrical products, like Christmas lights and extension cords, some of which contained undersized wiring that can pose a fire hazard.
Celebrities show their real-people side by sharing their savings experiences. See what Adam Brody, Jennifer Tilly, Jordan Knight and others have to say about the money they make. Celebrities talk about emergency savings
America's Best-Paying Blue-Collar Jobs While being tough to get into, these traditional manufacturing and service fields can be well paid.
Oink! Oink! The 10 Piggiest States Belly up. It's feeding time in the nation's capital. Congress is deliberating 12 appropriations bills that are supposed to be passed by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, and already we've seen some good examples of excess spending for lawmakers' pet projects back home, otherwise known as "pork." There's $30,000 requested by a Pennsylvania senator for a program called coolvirginity.com; there's $34.5 million that one influential Democratic Hawaiin senator, has sought for the "Education of Native Hawaiians." An unknown senator has set aside $1 million for the Irish Institute in Boston. Article | Slideshow: 10 Piggiest States
Minnies is an interesting new restaurant concept. At Minnies owner Jonothan A. Segal has created a restaurant where you can get all your gourmet food, but in tiny sizes. Expand your palette, try new things, or just get more of what you like, Minnies lets you sample to your heart's content.
But in a world where big is always considered better, and value-sizing runs amok, what's the possibility that you might ever see a Minnies coming to your neighborhood?
As the nation celebrates the liberation of Burger King from the chains of trans-fat and the Senate awaits the food industry's ideas for self-imposed restrictions on advertising to our nation's youth, we learn that the soldiers fighting in Iraq are putting on pounds like a dairy-belt freshmen.
Apparently, along with democracy, we've exported our taste for fast foods to Baghdad's green zone. Soldiers there can dine on the finest American-style fried chicken, burgers, pastries, cheese steaks, and sodas. The Army & Air Force Exchange Service there operates outlets for Burger King (NYSE: BKC) , Pizza Hut and KFC (Yum Brands, NYSE: YUM).
According to a Los Angeles Times report, military doctors report some soldiers return to the States with a serious cholesterol problem and the "Baghdad 15" due to the ready supply of trans-fat rich foods. In response to the problem, they have created a diet program called "Operation Weight Loss" for the soldiers.
Those interested in better understanding this issue might check out a new web game, Fatworld! As described in Wired Magazine, the game allows participants to play the role of restaurant magnates, enjoying along with their customers "food allergies, diabetes, heart disease, and death".
I'll wait for the Wii version, where I can race my wife to see who can scoop up the most dip with virtual tortilla chips.
Zac Bissonnette posted earlier how Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO) criticized private equity. What strikes me is just how late Moody's is to join the critical chorus.
Roughly 11 months ago I made arguments similar to the ones that Moody's is making today. And I was pleased that some media outlets -- specifically Barron's Alan Abelson -- picked up on them. What really got me going is that as of August 2006, there were two busted IPOs from which Bain Capital -- as the Boston Globe reports enriched presidential candidate Mitt Romney -- took enormous fees:
Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) - Bain Capital and others lent Vonage $200 million before taking this money-loser public. VG has lost 80% of its value since the May 2006 IPO.
Burger King Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKC)- That same month, Bain Capital and others took a $30 million "management termination fee" out of Burger King before taking it public. (This fee is chump change compared to the $367 million dividend Bain Capital and its partners extracted from Burger King in February 2006.) By August 2006, Burger King had tumbled 26% since its IPO after announcing that it lost $9 million in its fiscal fourth quarter due, in part, to the management termination fee. Fortunately for its shareholders, the stock has doubled since then.
It takes a long time for a battleship the size of private equity to turn. But when Moody's -- which is supposed to be protecting the public from poorly structured debt rather than profiting from it -- kills its formerly golden goose, the time for turning may be closer than it was a year ago.
Burger King Holdings (NYSE: BKC) announced today that it has started to roll-out its trans-fat-free cooking oil to its restaurants around the United States. Expectations for the fast-food giant to become trans-fat-free are slated for the year-end of 2008 and could be sooner if additional supplies of fat-free oil are available.
Burger King, known for its flame-broiled burgers, uses cooking oil for its French fries and the majority of its chicken products. The switch to trans-fat-free oil follows the steps of other fast food chains like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX), Wendy's (NYSE: WEN), Applebee's (NASDAQ: APPB), Yum! Brands' (NYSE: YUM) KFC and Taco Bell units, and even Wal-Mart Stores' (NYSE: WMT) delicatessens.
Where did all the taste go?
"In tests on over a dozen core items, consumers determined that products cooked in trans fat-free oil tasted the same or better than products cooked in the traditional oil," according to a statement from Burger King's president of global marketing, strategy and innovation, Russ Klein.
Burger King is one of the last fast-food companies to address the issue of trans-fat, according to Bloggingstocks.com's Julie Tilsner. The Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest sued Burger King in May saying the company moved too slow and failed to set a time table for the removal of trans-fat from its restaurants.
Regardless of the taste, in order for consumers to eat the "healthier" fast-food products, investors will more than likely have to cough up a little more at the register -- the supply of trans-fat-free oil is limited.
A consumer advocacy group, the Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights, isn't happy about Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) battery replacement program for the iPhone, which currently requires ssers to submit their iPhone to Apple for battery service, a service that would cost users $79, plus $6.95 for shipping, and will take three business days. The battery, is apparently soldered to the device.
The Boeing Co.'s (NYSE: BA) new jet, the 787 Dreamliner, is set to launch on July 8 (very clever: 07-08-07). There have been fears the company may have to delay the launch due to several setback it had encountered in assembling the jet, but apparently, in two days, we will get to see it. "It won't have passenger seats, it won't fly -- in fact, it won't even motor itself down the runway." But it will be unveiled at its Seattle-area factory on 7/8/7 nonetheless.
Deutsche Bank upgraded Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS) and BP (NYSE: BP) to Buy from Hold, increasing both target prices to $95.82 per U.S.-listed share and to $81.09 per U.S.-listed share. DB raised targets on other oil companies as well, seeing the cycle as being still far-off its peak. Shell shares are up 2.5% in pre-market (7:45 a.m.) and BP shares are up 0.9%.
Following the footsteps of other chains such as Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) and rivals such as McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) that have already announced such measures, Burger King (NYSE: BKC) also announced it will use trans-fat-free cooking oil at all its U.S. restaurants by the end of next year.
Bloomberg has a nice feature about Meg Whitman, eBay Inc.'s (NASDAQ: EBAY) CEO and how it accomplished "what most Internet chiefs can only dream of: She's beating Google Inc. (NADSAQ: GOOG) in at least one corner of the Web." The article refers, of course, to eBay's PayPal, but continues with a more in-depth look at both companies' growth and businesses.
And finally, comScore reports about Facebook's growth in the past year since the open registration came into effect. Unique visitors grew by 89% while page views grew by 143%.
Five analysts, including Bear Stearns and Citigroup, downgradedHilton Hotels (NYSE: HLT), mostly from Buy/Outperform to Hold/Neutral as a better bid from the one given by Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) is unlikely.
Cramer on BloggingStocks: Price targets for tech's four horsemen
Anglo America PLC (AAUK): Hot commodities
Sprint CEO Gary Forsee resigns: Under pressure
This week in Advertising Age:
In the past day or so, 
And now on to Starbucks: The company has a long-held 
It has been assumed for several quarters that as 
A day after markets rallied on rate-cut hopes, U.S. stock futures indicated a weak open this morning as oil prices reached a record high and the dollar found new record lows. Texas Instruments lowering estimates yesterday after the close and Japan PM resigning suddenly only help to agitate investors and add to uncertainty.
As the nation celebrates the liberation of Burger King from the chains of trans-fat and the Senate awaits the food industry's ideas for self-imposed restrictions on advertising to our nation's youth, we learn that the 
Main market news 
