Stocks: Terror threat could have impact

Click on chart to track premarkets

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

U.S. stock futures were little changed.

"After the market posting record highs last week, we'll probably move sideways as investors take a look at the terror warnings abroad," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. "That might be an excuse for investors to take a break."

Investors are waiting for the Institute for Supply Management to release its monthly service-sector index at 10 a.m. ET.

On the corporate side, Tyson Foods (TSN, Fortune 500) is set to release quarterly results before the opening bell.

Fear & Greed Index, still greedy

HSBC (HBC) shares dropped 3.5% in London trading after the company reported results for the first half of the year that disappointed investors. The company announced an increase in revenue and profit before tax over the previous year as it sold assets.

U.S. stocks finished higher Friday after a worse-than-expected monthly jobs report. Investors initially hit the sell button after the report came out, but sentiment soon recovered. The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 both closed at record highs.

Related: Will stock momentum continue?

European markets edged higher in morning trading. London's FTSE 100 index was up by as much as 0.5%, taking a lead over the other European exchanges.

Asian markets ended with mixed results after investors got a chance to react to the Friday U.S. jobs report.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei index fell by 1.4% as the yen strengthened. But the Shanghai Composite index rose by 1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged up by 0.1%.

First Published: August 5, 2013: 5:11 AM ET

19.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mysterious smartwatch maker Kreyos raises $1 million on Indiegogo

Kreyos smartwatch makers won't reveal their identities, but the company still raised $1 million through crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company, which says it's making a pioneering new smartwatch, doesn't have a finished product or even a website. Kreyos doesn't have a store you can visit, and until one of its founders held a Reddit exchange last week, its executives were largely anonymous.

But it has raised more than $1.1 million through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Thousands of people have contributed $100 or more, and in exchange Kreyos says it will provide its "Meteor" smartwatch.

Just about all we know about Kreyos' smartwatch comes from the company's Indiegogo page, which details some very impressive features. The company says the watch includes voice and gesture control and compatibility with the Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone, Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android devices and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) Windows. It can monitor your heart and your golf swing. It connects to social networks like Facebook (FB), and it's waterproof.

If it accomplishes all that the promotional material says it will, it could disrupt the burgeoning wearable tech field that includes devices like Google Glass, Pebble and a host of other smart devices.

But for such a promising gizmo, the company is acting strangely secretive.

Related story: Kickstarter pulls plug on scam minutes before $120,000 heist

Kreyos says on its Indiegogo profile page that it is an international team founded in the United States, and its team members have worked for companies including Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500), Microsoft, Acer, Lenovo, Hitachi, Toshiba, Amazon and others.

When I met with Kreyos spokeswoman Patricia Roché on July 24, she would not tell me the name of the company's CEO, or any other team member, on the record. (Some hunting turns up one press release with a quote from co-founder Steve Tan.)

"We don't think, in the end, you buy it because so-and-so created it; you buy it because it does what you want it to do," Roché said.

The founders, she said, want to focus on shipping the smartwatch to backers on time, so they only wish to communicate with the public through her.

Unlike other crowdfunding campaigns, Kreyos does not post photos or bios of team members -- or even name them. Finally, after the campaign had been raising money for more than a month, Tan came briefly into the spotlight last week to hold a public forum on Reddit where he answered questions about the smartwatch.

Roché did have a few prototypes to show me in July. She said they were fully operational, but that's just about where the demonstration ended -- she had not yet figured out how to sync it with her new phone.

Indiegogo advises those running campaigns on its site to "be thorough, communicative, and transparent" and "introduce yourself and your team," and other campaigns post pictures and bios of their founders.

Yet experts in the industry say it is not all that uncommon for a crowdfunding campaign to post little about the company.

"Too many of them are like that," said Sara Hanks, the CEO of CrowdCheck, which advises investors and entrepreneurs on crowdfunding. "Failure to identify the person is really omitting the one thing you're supposed to be able to see on the crowdfunding sites."

For Kreyos, shipping the Meteor on time is likely to be a tall order: it has promised to ship smartwatches to its Indiegogo backers in November. But the company claims the gadget is still being tweaked and hasn't been manufactured yet.

Crowdfunding campaigns do not have a stellar track record of shipping on time. In fact, a CNNMoney survey of 50 projects on the cowdfunding site Kickstarter found that 84% miss their target delivery dates.

Related story: Why 84% of Kickstarter's top projects shipped late

Yet crowdfunding sites like Indigogo provide no clear, legal obligation for companies to ultimately deliver the product they raise money for. The transaction is more like making an investment and less like buying a good in a store.

Even with loose rules, there is very little outright fraud in crowdfunding, according to Ethan Mollick, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

"The lack in regulation means there's a funding source accessible to a lot more people," Mollick said. "There's something risky about that, but there's something very nice about it, too."

Almost 10,000 people have faith in the Kreyos smartwatch. Time will tell whether or not it was misplaced.

First Published: August 5, 2013: 6:07 AM ET

19.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Washington's budget brawl: 8 things you need to know

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The stars seem aligned for an ugly fight over the federal budget, automatic spending cuts and the debt ceiling.

At the heart of the issue: The two parties can't agree on a level of spending going forward, and there is disagreement even among Republicans as well.

Experts expect deals will be struck by key deadlines, but that's hardly guaranteed.

What's the first thing lawmakers must do? Fund the government past Sept. 30, which marks the last day of fiscal year 2013.

Given the serious differences between the House and Senate on spending, there's no chance they will pass a real budget for fiscal year 2014.

So lawmakers will at least have to pass a temporary funding bill known as a "continuing resolution," or CR, by Oct. 1.

And if it's very short term, Congress will have to pass another one -- or several -- before Dec. 31.

Are they likely to pass a funding bill? Probably, but a lot could complicate the effort.

Normally when Congress passes a CR, it does so at current spending levels. Think of it like this: We can't agree on what to do, so let's keep on keepin' on until we can.

But that would be risky this time around because the law calls for lower spending caps to take effect in fiscal year 2014.

Related: Debt ceiling awaits Congress after summer break

So approving temporary funding at this year's higher level means federal agencies would need to make abrupt cuts later to stay under the caps. By law, those cuts would need to occur 15 days after Congress adjourns for 2013 in a process known as sequestration.

Right now, Democrats and Republicans can't even agree on whether to keep those spending caps in place. And some conservative Republicans have threatened to vote against any funding bill that includes money for Obamacare.

What happens if Congress doesn't pass funding by Oct. 1? Much of the federal government will shut down.

What does a government shutdown mean? Hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed without pay. And most federal government offices, programs, museums and parks would be shuttered.

There would be exceptions, however.

Essential services that protect human life and property would continue to operate. That includes air traffic control, national security, the handling of hazardous waste, food inspections and disaster assistance.

Federal employees needed to preserve "essential" elements of the money and banking systems would not be furloughed. Mail would still be delivered.

And President Obama and Congress would keep coming to work.

What's more, an analysis by the Congressional Research Service concludes that the implementation of Obamacare is also likely to continue in the event of a shutdown.

How long would a shutdown last? As long as it takes Congress to agree on spending levels and pass appropriations bills that fund agencies at those levels. The longest shutdown lasted 21 days starting at the end of 1995.

Is a shutdown the worst that can happen? Sadly, no. The ramifications of not raising the country's debt ceiling in time would be much worse.

The country's legal borrowing limit is currently set at $16.699 trillion.

That level was reached in mid-May. And the Treasury Department began its official juggling act, employing "extraordinary measures" to keep the country from breaching the ceiling. But those measures aren't expected to last much longer.

Budget wonks expect the debt ceiling will need to be raised sometime between mid-October and mid-November. Treasury, the real arbiter in this matter, is still only saying it will need to be raised sometime after Labor Day.

Why does it need to be raised at all? Both parties in Congress have approved permanent tax cuts and spending increases over the years, knowing full well they will add to deficits.

By doing so, they increase the country's future borrowing needs.

What's more, the aging population means there will be more spending on Medicare and Social Security with each passing year.

That's why raising the debt ceiling is not a "license to spend more," as some Republicans assert. And it's why the debt ceiling always needs to be raised periodically. Over the past two decades, it's been raised about 15 times.

Raising the ceiling simply lets Treasury continue to pay all the country's obligations that Congress has already approved -- whether it's a payment to a federal contractor, a Social Security check to a senior, or interest on the debt to a bond investor.

What happens if the debt ceiling isn't raised? Uncle Sam still has revenue coming in to pay for government services and agencies. Just not enough to pay for everything. And the longer the debt ceiling crisis lasts, the harder it would be to keep government operations running.

"After two weeks you'd have absolute paralysis," said Steve Bell, economic policy director at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

More problematic: The country could no longer pay all of its bills in full and on time. Treasury then would have to make legally murky decisions about who to pay and who to stiff.

Even if bond investors continue to be paid on time, the country could still be perceived as in default if it fails to pay its other legal obligations.

And if the full faith and credit of the United States is called into question, that could be disastrous for markets and interest rates -- which would harm the U.S. economy and Americans' financial well being.

First Published: August 5, 2013: 6:03 AM ET

19.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Does college still pay off?

Michael Crow wants people to see how a school's graduates fare in the job market.

(Money Magazine)

Does college still pay off?

Changes in college funding

Here's how much costs have risen since 2002 -- and how much funding has fallen.

	Public colleges	Private colleges
Funding per student	-23%
Sticker price	36%	22%
Cost after aid	31%	7%

Notes: All data in 2012 dollars. Sticker price is published tuition, fees, and room and board before receiving financial aid. Sources: State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, College Board, Census Bureau

Our calculations and those of economists say the return on investment for a college education, in terms of additional earnings, is about 12% per year over your lifetime. The answer is unequivocally yes.

But a lot of people worry that the math has changed. This generation faces higher tuition and much higher debt.

That's very important. People say, "The system has changed -- and why did it change for me?"

We have had a perfect storm. The recession greatly accelerated a decrease in public investment in higher education -- at least in terms of direct support for schools. Match that with the inability of most schools to control their costs.

And then, while families have always been willing to borrow for college, their wealth has significantly deteriorated. All those things at the same time are a shock, and colleges haven't adjusted. We need to.

Related: How much will college really cost?

Are we pushing too many kids toward college? For in-state students, four years at Arizona State, all expenses included, is about $100,000. It's easily twice that at private schools. There are good jobs that require technical skills but not four years of college.

First, those prices are sticker prices. Our average in-state tuition is $3,800 a year.

Everybody's not being pushed to college. First, we have to get everybody through high school, and we can't even do that yet.

If we could get 40% of the high school grad population up to some level of technical training, that would be fantastic. And then maybe get 40% to the university level. That's what we need based on the job profiles of the future. Everybody doesn't need to go to college. We do need a broad set of career paths.

You say that colleges need to adjust to new economic realities. What's ASU done to control cost?

In our teaching of freshman math, we have found a way to dramatically improve outcomes while reducing our costs over 50%. We've been able to do this with an "adaptive learning" technology -- software that guides students through assignments customized to their learning style. We grew the university by 25,000 students -- didn't expand the faculty -- all by injecting technology.

Related: Get the financial aid you need

To a parent that might sound like an impersonal campus with giant lectures.

It's not giant lectures. The technology is being applied to those classes where it is valuable, where we have an outcome superior to the professor-on-a-stage model. We offer 16,000 individual courses; a large proportion are under 20 people.

Students majoring in the sciences get much of college's payoff. Should parents of English majors worry?

If the college does its job well, your child will emerge as someone capable of learning any new subject. Parents and other people tend to look to the past and think that you need to get a certain kind of degree to get a certain kind of job. But you don't know what the changes are going to be.

Many state schools have gotten very selective. You say that's a mistake.

There's a belief that a school is better because it accepts fewer people. A public university should be measured only on the quality of its graduates and the impact of those graduates on society. That's it.

But lots of parents want prestige.

If parents are looking for status upon admission, well, that's one thing. We're saying, "Let's look at achievement upon exit."

Can I compare colleges now, based on that information?

It's hard. Most rankings are based on exclusivity. You see some efforts: The Chinese have a measure of world universities based only on outputs. But I think we're a ways away.

What should I be able to see?

You should have access to things like the number of academic honors kids receive. What percentage go on to graduate school? How rapidly are they employed, by field or major? Graduation rates -- but graduation rates by family income.

Do colleges want this data out?

I don't know that they fight against having that information. I think many administrators are focused on overtaking the schools just ahead of them on the status hierarchy. Right now you don't do that based on output but by exclusion.

About graduation rates: Only 57% of ASU students graduate in six years.

If a student goes to ASU and then graduates somewhere else, that number counts them as a non-graduate. We have a calculation that puts us in the mid-60s.

Related: Congress OKs cheaper student loans

If you take only kids from higher-income families, nearly all will graduate. Having a more diverse class -- more kids working while in college, more first-generation college students -- affects graduation rates. Our goal is a 75% graduation rate, the rate for public research universities admitting only the top 10% of a high school class.

What if kids maybe aren't ready for college? Should they take a year off?

I'm not big on delay. Between 17 and 24 is a critical stage in brain development. I might say, "Go to community college for a year."

Even then, kids who are qualified for a four-year school and who go to community colleges don't graduate at a high rate. If your kid wants to go on to a university, he or she should get onto a pathway program.

These programs tell students, "Take certain classes, perform at a certain level, and engage with university advisers." If they do all of that, they'll move to the university automatically.

Are the new free online courses going to change how college works?

They're very powerful for enhancing what we do and lowering costs. But we won't have students sitting at home watching Princeton professors talk on their laptops. That's not an education. There's a science-fiction world where rich kids and brilliant kids actually interact with people called professors, and everybody else just learns from a computer. That would be a social disaster.

First Published: August 2, 2013: 4:52 PM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Time Warner Cable blacks outs CBS stations for millions as fee spat continues

CBS's summer hit "Under the Dome" is one of many shows some Time Warner Cable customers lost access to Friday as a result of the companies' dispute.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The cable provider blacked out CBS stations in a number of cities on Friday after the two companies failed to resolve their disagreement over transmission fees by the 5 p.m. deadline they had set. CBS said it was the first time in its history that it had been dropped from a cable system over a business dispute.

The roughly 3 million customers affected are in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Those are the cities where CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) owns the affiliates that carry the network. In other markets, CBS is carried on stations with different owners.

Time Warner Cable customers nationwide have also lost access to the premium cable networks Showtime, The Movie Channel and The Smithsonian Channel, which are also owned by CBS.

The negotiation deadline had been extended on a number of previous occasions since the former contract expired on June 30. But on Friday, Time Warner Cable (TWC, Fortune 500) said CBS "has refused to have a productive discussion."

"It's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms," TWC spokesman Eric Mangan said in a statement. "We thank our customers for their patience and support as we continue to fight hard to keep their prices down."

Related: The 6 longest TV blackout wars

CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) said Time Warner Cable "has conducted negotiations in a combative and non-productive spirit, indulging in pointless brinksmanship and distorted public positioning."

"What CBS seeks, and what we always have sought from the beginning, is fair compensation for the most-watched television network with the most popular content in the world," the company said. "We hope and believe this period of darkness will be short and that we can all get back to the business of providing the best entertainment, news and sports to the Time Warner Cable customers we both serve."

Mangan said Friday evening that negotiations are "ongoing."

Time Warner Cable has claimed that CBS is demanding too high a rate -- 600% more than what the cable provider has to pay for the network's programming in other parts of the country. In those areas, Time Warner Cable negotiates with local CBS affiliates that are not owned outright by the network.

CBS says the 600% figure is inaccurate, but has declined to provide more specifics. It said its requests "are far more reasonable and well in line with what the industry is paying for content."

The two sides are very likely to reach a deal at some point, especially if the dispute threatens NFL broadcasts scheduled to air on CBS later this year.

"In the end, of course, an agreement will be reached," CBS said earlier this week.

CNNMoney's Charles Riley and Melanie Hicken contributed reporting.

First Published: August 2, 2013: 5:53 PM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Newsweek sold to all-digital news company

Newsweek, which abandoned its print edition at the end of 2012, has been sold to IBT Media by IAC.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

IAC, (IACI) another online media company, sold Newsweek for an undisclosed sum, IBT Media announced Saturday.

The Daily Beast, the IAC site that operates Newsweek, announced last October that it would abandon the magazine's print edition at the end of 2012 and run the content strictly online. Tina Brown, the editor-in-chief of both Newsweek and The Daily Beast, said at the time that the growing use of tablet computers by readers, combined with continued weakness in print advertising, forced the decision.

IBT said Saturday it will take control of Newsweek's content 60 days after completion of the deal, which is expected "in the coming days."

"We believe in the Newsweek brand and look forward to growing it, fully transformed to the digital age," said Etienne Uzac, IBT Media's CEO in a statement. "We respect the brand's long history of delivering high-quality, impactful journalism and believe this aligns well with IBT Media's culture and mission."

New York-based IBT Media's other online properties include International Business Times, Latin Times and Medical Daily.

Related: Time Inc. taps veteran executive Joe Ripp as CEO.

For most of its 80-year history, Newsweek was owned by the Washington Post (WPO) (WPO). But the Post sold the magazine to audio industry pioneer Sidney Harman in August 2010. It was merged with The Daily Beast in a deal finalized in February 2011, creating a joint venture that was half-owned by IAC. IAC/Interactive took a controlling interest in the joint venture in 2012.

IAC says it has more than 150 online properties, including The Daily Beast, Ask.com, Match.com and Vimeo.

The print edition of Newsweek was a long-time archrival of Time. Time is published by Time Inc., a partner in CNNMoney with its fellow Time Warner Inc. (TWX, Fortune 500)unit CNN.

--CNNMoney's Chris isidore contributed to this report.

First Published: August 3, 2013: 7:39 PM ET

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Blackout deadline looms in CBS-Time Warner Cable fight

Summer hit "Under the Dome" is one of many shows some Time Warner Cable customers would lose access to if a deal isn't reached.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The two companies have until 5 p.m. ET Friday to find a solution in their disagreement over the transmission fee that Time Warner Cable (TWC, Fortune 500) pays to run CBS-owned stations, including network affiliates in major cities. A failure to resolve the dispute threatens millions of cable subscribers with a CBS blackout.

The deadline has already been extended on a number of occasions since the former contract expired on June 30. Time Warner Cable spokesman Eric Mangan said Friday that "negotiations are continuing," declining to comment further.

Spokespeople for CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 3 million customers affected by these talks are mostly in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, but subscribers in Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Denver are also at risk. Those are the cities where CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) owns the affiliates that carry the network. In other markets, CBS is carried on stations with other owners.

Related: The 6 longest TV blackout wars

Time Warner Cable customers nationwide also stand to lose access to the premium cable network Showtime, which is also owned by CBS.

Time Warner Cable has claimed that CBS is demanding too high a rate -- 600% more than what the cable provider has to pay for the network's programming in other parts of the country. In those areas, Time Warner Cable negotiates with local CBS affiliates that are not owned outright by the network.

CBS had been running TV commercials warning customers in the affected cities that "Time Warner Cable is threatening to hold your favorite shows hostage."

Time Warner Cable and CBS are very likely to reach a deal at some point -- especially if the dispute threatens NFL broadcasts scheduled to air on CBS later this year. The question is whether consumers will be forced to endure a blackout.

CNNMoney's James O'Toole contributed reporting.

First Published: August 2, 2013: 12:28 PM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Does college still pay off?

Michael Crow wants people to see how a school's graduates fare in the job market.

(Money Magazine)

Does college still pay off?

Changes in college funding

Here's how much costs have risen since 2002 -- and how much funding has fallen.

	Public colleges	Private colleges
Funding per student	-23%
Sticker price	36%	22%
Cost after aid	31%	7%

Notes: All data in 2012 dollars. Sticker price is published tuition, fees, and room and board before receiving financial aid. Sources: State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, College Board, Census Bureau

Our calculations and those of economists say the return on investment for a college education, in terms of additional earnings, is about 12% per year over your lifetime. The answer is unequivocally yes.

But a lot of people worry that the math has changed. This generation faces higher tuition and much higher debt.

That's very important. People say, "The system has changed -- and why did it change for me?"

We have had a perfect storm. The recession greatly accelerated a decrease in public investment in higher education -- at least in terms of direct support for schools. Match that with the inability of most schools to control their costs.

And then, while families have always been willing to borrow for college, their wealth has significantly deteriorated. All those things at the same time are a shock, and colleges haven't adjusted. We need to.

Related: How much will college really cost?

Are we pushing too many kids toward college? For in-state students, four years at Arizona State, all expenses included, is about $100,000. It's easily twice that at private schools. There are good jobs that require technical skills but not four years of college.

First, those prices are sticker prices. Our average in-state tuition is $3,800 a year.

Everybody's not being pushed to college. First, we have to get everybody through high school, and we can't even do that yet.

If we could get 40% of the high school grad population up to some level of technical training, that would be fantastic. And then maybe get 40% to the university level. That's what we need based on the job profiles of the future. Everybody doesn't need to go to college. We do need a broad set of career paths.

You say that colleges need to adjust to new economic realities. What's ASU done to control cost?

In our teaching of freshman math, we have found a way to dramatically improve outcomes while reducing our costs over 50%. We've been able to do this with an "adaptive learning" technology -- software that guides students through assignments customized to their learning style. We grew the university by 25,000 students -- didn't expand the faculty -- all by injecting technology.

Related: Get the financial aid you need

To a parent that might sound like an impersonal campus with giant lectures.

It's not giant lectures. The technology is being applied to those classes where it is valuable, where we have an outcome superior to the professor-on-a-stage model. We offer 16,000 individual courses; a large proportion are under 20 people.

Students majoring in the sciences get much of college's payoff. Should parents of English majors worry?

If the college does its job well, your child will emerge as someone capable of learning any new subject. Parents and other people tend to look to the past and think that you need to get a certain kind of degree to get a certain kind of job. But you don't know what the changes are going to be.

Many state schools have gotten very selective. You say that's a mistake.

There's a belief that a school is better because it accepts fewer people. A public university should be measured only on the quality of its graduates and the impact of those graduates on society. That's it.

But lots of parents want prestige.

If parents are looking for status upon admission, well, that's one thing. We're saying, "Let's look at achievement upon exit."

Can I compare colleges now, based on that information?

It's hard. Most rankings are based on exclusivity. You see some efforts: The Chinese have a measure of world universities based only on outputs. But I think we're a ways away.

What should I be able to see?

You should have access to things like the number of academic honors kids receive. What percentage go on to graduate school? How rapidly are they employed, by field or major? Graduation rates -- but graduation rates by family income.

Do colleges want this data out?

I don't know that they fight against having that information. I think many administrators are focused on overtaking the schools just ahead of them on the status hierarchy. Right now you don't do that based on output but by exclusion.

About graduation rates: Only 57% of ASU students graduate in six years.

If a student goes to ASU and then graduates somewhere else, that number counts them as a non-graduate. We have a calculation that puts us in the mid-60s.

Related: Congress OKs cheaper student loans

If you take only kids from higher-income families, nearly all will graduate. Having a more diverse class -- more kids working while in college, more first-generation college students -- affects graduation rates. Our goal is a 75% graduation rate, the rate for public research universities admitting only the top 10% of a high school class.

What if kids maybe aren't ready for college? Should they take a year off?

I'm not big on delay. Between 17 and 24 is a critical stage in brain development. I might say, "Go to community college for a year."

Even then, kids who are qualified for a four-year school and who go to community colleges don't graduate at a high rate. If your kid wants to go on to a university, he or she should get onto a pathway program.

These programs tell students, "Take certain classes, perform at a certain level, and engage with university advisers." If they do all of that, they'll move to the university automatically.

Are the new free online courses going to change how college works?

They're very powerful for enhancing what we do and lowering costs. But we won't have students sitting at home watching Princeton professors talk on their laptops. That's not an education. There's a science-fiction world where rich kids and brilliant kids actually interact with people called professors, and everybody else just learns from a computer. That would be a social disaster.

First Published: August 2, 2013: 4:52 PM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Time Warner Cable blacks outs CBS stations for millions as fee spat continues

CBS's summer hit "Under the Dome" is one of many shows some Time Warner Cable customers lost access to Friday as a result of the companies' dispute.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The cable provider blacked out CBS stations in a number of cities on Friday after the two companies failed to resolve their disagreement over transmission fees by the 5 p.m. deadline they had set. CBS said it was the first time in its history that it had been dropped from a cable system over a business dispute.

The roughly 3 million customers affected are in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Those are the cities where CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) owns the affiliates that carry the network. In other markets, CBS is carried on stations with different owners.

Time Warner Cable customers nationwide have also lost access to the premium cable networks Showtime, The Movie Channel and The Smithsonian Channel, which are also owned by CBS.

The negotiation deadline had been extended on a number of previous occasions since the former contract expired on June 30. But on Friday, Time Warner Cable (TWC, Fortune 500) said CBS "has refused to have a productive discussion."

"It's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms," TWC spokesman Eric Mangan said in a statement. "We thank our customers for their patience and support as we continue to fight hard to keep their prices down."

Related: The 6 longest TV blackout wars

CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) said Time Warner Cable "has conducted negotiations in a combative and non-productive spirit, indulging in pointless brinksmanship and distorted public positioning."

"What CBS seeks, and what we always have sought from the beginning, is fair compensation for the most-watched television network with the most popular content in the world," the company said. "We hope and believe this period of darkness will be short and that we can all get back to the business of providing the best entertainment, news and sports to the Time Warner Cable customers we both serve."

Mangan said Friday evening that negotiations are "ongoing."

Time Warner Cable has claimed that CBS is demanding too high a rate -- 600% more than what the cable provider has to pay for the network's programming in other parts of the country. In those areas, Time Warner Cable negotiates with local CBS affiliates that are not owned outright by the network.

CBS says the 600% figure is inaccurate, but has declined to provide more specifics. It said its requests "are far more reasonable and well in line with what the industry is paying for content."

The two sides are very likely to reach a deal at some point, especially if the dispute threatens NFL broadcasts scheduled to air on CBS later this year.

"In the end, of course, an agreement will be reached," CBS said earlier this week.

CNNMoney's Charles Riley and Melanie Hicken contributed reporting.

First Published: August 2, 2013: 5:53 PM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks slip on weak jobs report

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The government said Friday that employers added 162,000 jobs in July, below forecasts. But the unemployment rate did fall to 7.4%.

The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 both retreated from the all-time highs they hit Thursday. The Nasdaq slipped as well.

The response in the bond market was more pronounced. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank from about 2.74% before the report to 2.61%. That may be a sign that the Federal Reserve may not pull back on stimulus as quickly as some investors expected.

The Fed has repeatedly said that improvement in the job market would be a trigger for it to begin removing the liquidity it has been pumping into the market for the past few years. Some experts thought that this so-called tapering could begin as soon as September.

But Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital in London, said he thinks the Fed will not change its policy this year given the modest improvement in hiring.

"We need to see clear signs of sustainable improvement and stronger momentum in the jobs market before tapering can really start," he said.

The U.S. dollar was also under pressure following the jobs data. The greenback was down 0.7% versus the U.K. pound and 0.4% versus the euro.

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On the corporate front, Dell (DELL, Fortune 500) shares rose after the PC maker announced a buyout deal with founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management.

On the earnings front, Toyota (TM) reported a 94% jump in quarterly profit, helped by a weaker yen.

Viacom (VIA), the media company that owns cable networks MTV and Nickelodeon. reported a jump in quarterly revenue and profit.

Shares of Weight Watchers (WTW) plunged after the company reported weak earnings and announced that CEO David Kirchhoff will step down.

After the closing bell, LinkedIn (LNKD) reported better-than-expected results and boosted its full-year forecast. The stock surged in early trading.

AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) shares rallied after the insurer announced plans to reinstate a dividend and buy back shares.

First Published: August 2, 2013: 9:50 AM ET

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