Filed under: Products and services, Competitive strategy, Starbucks (SBUX)

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) stated this week that it plans to re-introduce some breakfast food selections to its menu. For a company that can’t seem to keep a single strategy in place, this is a rather odd reversal of course from earlier this year. Why would Starbucks want to squelch the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee in its stores — again?

Perhaps the new Piadini breakfast selection will have aroma inhibitors to prevent those breakfasty smells wafting into those coffee aromas? As with all new sandwich shops these days, the new Piadini will feature “artisan” breads along with sausage, egg and cheese selections, or other selections such as portobello mushrooms. Yummy!

Starbucks stated it has changed the cheese to minimize the cooking smell interference with its trademark coffee aroma, but customers will ultimately tell the tale by snatching up the new sandwiches or fleeing Starbucks due to the lessening of the svelte coffee scent they know and love. It’s somewhat surprising that Starbucks could not have changed its cheese type back at the begin of the year and kept breakfast sandwiches all along, but perhaps it took eight months to do some odor engineering and ingredient research before re-launching more non-coffee products.

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), watch out.

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Filed under: Features, Blogging, Web services, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL

On Monday, AOL (Weblogs Inc.’s parent company) announced that they are shutting down the AOL Hometown and AOL Journals services. AOL Journals members will be able to migrate to a new service, but AOL Hometown users have been instructed to back-up their files and prepare to go somewhere else.

There have also been reports (but Wikipedia is the source, so keep that in mind) that Yahoo! GeoCties has removed or shut-down some of its UK web servers. With Google killing its Page Creator tool and migrating everyone to Google Sites, the free static web host is a dying breed.

So what can you do if you are an AOL Hometown user (or you use another older service that might be on its last legs)? Read on for tips on backing up your content and publishing options for the future.

Continue reading So your web host is retiring: How to back-up and move forward

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Filed under: Products and services, Competitive strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares have been pounded in the recent market downturn, falling from around $175 to shut below $129 Wednesday. Even though, at the same time, Apple has been selling its Mac Computers at a blistering pace as well as selling millions of iPhones. Even though Apple’s current quarter ends at the end of September, it seems like it is growing sales among almost its entire product line during one of the worst consumer economic times in current memory.

Its share price, though, is definitely not being rewarded. Will this trend continue? Apple is known for continuing to have great sales performance while the markets it operates in falter, and this year has been no different. Even if the company reports superior than expected results sometime next month for the quarter ending next week, the market probably won’t prop its shares up much, similar to how the market treated the announcement of the second-generation iPhone 3G back in June. In fact, that moment marked the downward slide of Apple’s shares.

Even though Apple is reportedly canceling memory chip orders amid a possible downturn in MacBook Pro sales coming as consumers turn to lower-priced notebook Computers, this doesn’t necessarily mean Apple sales will soon begin plunging, although that is a possibility. In the latest quarter, Apple saw a 41% year-over-year increase in Mac sales while the overall Computer market grew only 15%. Apple, though, is still continuing to polish itself even in this environment due to its excellent breadth of talked-about and well-designed and marketed products. I don’t see that stopping anytime soon as long as the Cupertino brain trust is operating.

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By Will Chen

Welcome to Wise Bread's Ideal of Personal Finance roundup!

NPR gives the best explanation of the economic collapse.  Two programs on NPR explain the situation using great analogies anyone can understand.  If you know how Vegas bookies work, you can understand credit default swaps.  Fresh Air  and This American Life

Can you travel for less than you live on at home? “Factoring in my flight, insurance and gifts, I actually spend less on a regular basis while traveling than I do in New York.” Emma Johnson, MSN Money 

Dave Ramsey's plan to fix the credit crisis. Instead of a bailout, Ramsey recommends removing capital gains tax and insuring the underlying subprime mortgages with a FHA-type insurance.  All Financial Matters

Watch out for this grocery pricing trick. Mighty Bargain Hunter asks what's wrong with this picture:

“DiGiorno’s Pizza — 5 for $3.99 each”

Are you getting paid for what you're worth? Use these online tools to compare your salary with your peers.  Get Rich Slowly

How to find a good financial adviser. “A really good financial planner will always look towards structuring your financial and personal situation first.”  Free Money Finance

The 3 biggest risks of retirement. Longevity, inflation, and market changes are the key risks — diversification is the way to diffuse them.  Five Cent Nickel

The stock market is on sale.  “Because I believe this economic crisis will end within the next few years or sooner, I took today’s 777+ point decline in the Dow and 8.8% decline in the S&P 500 as a sign that the stock market, as a whole is on sale.”  Consumerism Commentary

How I live without borrowing money.  “It’s been four years since I borrowed money or used a credit card.  Here’s how I live without borrowing money.”   No Credit Needed

6 easy steps to creating a to-do list. “Consider the list as a planning tool, an anti-anxiety device (if it’s on the list you won’t forget it), a push in the behind to get the engine started, and a rationale in the name of getting something done. Grace Kepplin on Dumb Tiny Man

Personal finance management on a biweekly pay schedule. “My last job paid me each two weeks, and I know quite well some of the traps people can fall into…” The Easy Dollar

Finding great deals at government surplus sales. Want to help out the government and your pocketbook at the same time? Geener Pastures via Smart Spending

Wait one day for every $100 you might spend. “A friend of mine has had a series of status updates on Facebook regarding an iPhone. Each few days he lets us know that he’s successfully resisted the temptation to purchase one again. I like that he’s put it out there because the longer he waits, the more likely he’s to avoid the purchase. ” My Daily Dollars

Should couples keep their finances separate? Kristy shares a juicy cautionary tale: “Being in the banking industry, you always know when the husband or wife has been unfaithful because nine times out of ten, the other will come in and clean out the bank account. The drama we witness, let me tell you! At any rate, we recently had a customer come to the credit union to pull out money because her husband was cheating…”  Master Your Card

The low-down on FDIC insurance. Don't panic.  Check out this FAQ for accurate information about the insurance protecting your deposits.  Julia Scot from Daily News

Credit default swaps: Are taxpayers ultimately responsible? “In the end, it's the taxpayers - it's always the taxpayers - who are left to cover all the losses…” Money Aisle

Happy birthday to Gov Gab!  Gov Gap is the official government blog that shares little-known (and usually free) government resources available to help you out.  Find information like:

• How to save on heating bills
• How to collect unemployment
• How to avoid the certified deed scam

If you’ve a suggestion for the next edition, please share them in the forum!

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By Paul Michael

Well folks, I hope you have plenty of time on your hands. The initial 3-page document that Bush and Paulson put forward has grown somewhat. It's hardly surprising, considering how much of a broad sweep the initial bailout plan was. However, you have to wonder how many people out there have the time, patience and understanding to read a 451-page economic document. But, if you want, you can download it right here.

Simply click this link and you should be prompted to save the entire document to your computer. For those with slow connections, this could take a while. But certainly nowhere near as long as the monumental read that awaits you. A document like this could hide all sorts of legal loopholes and technicalities, so I hope there are plenty of non-partisan economists looking through this for the sake of every American taxpayer. Happy reading.

Note: This PDF was current at the time this article was published. These days, an hour is a long time in politics.

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