Money Advice from the World's Most Beautiful Woman: Aishwarya Rai

Money Advice from the World's Most Beautiful Woman: Aishwarya RaiCANNES, France -- Exploring the intersection of celebrity, glamor and personal finance is the raison d'etre for The Price of Fame -- so who better than Aishwarya Rai as a subject? The Bollywood actress and model has $35 million to her name, according to celebritynetworth.com, and 60 Minutes dubbed her the most beautiful woman in the world.

TPOF caught up with Rai, 37, at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday to discuss money. After some gentle encouragement, Rai revealed that the most important financial advice she has learned is to adapt her expectations for each project, from low-budget to blockbuster. "You have to take each film for what it is, rather than having a rule book," she said. "That's what we actors do."

Rai, on the Croisette to promote her new movie, Heroine, operates in a different economic stratosphere than most of us. Her fortune, already considerable when she was a single woman, is even greater now that she's married to Bollywood hero Abhishek Bachchan, from India's premier acting family. Still, TPOF couldn't resist asking whether she was a saver or a splurger.

"I'm realistic and I'm practical," Rai replied.

Maybe her middle-class upbringing is still an influence. Rai had no inkling that she wanted to be part of show business as a child. She was on track to receive an architectural degree until she entered the Miss World Pageant on a whim at age 21 and won. Film and modeling offers poured in, and she rapidly rose to become the most recognizable face of Indian cinema. She has appeared in 44 films, according to IMDB. Rai is best known stateside as the face of L'Oreal (LRLCY) cosmetics and for her role in 2009's The Pink Panther 2 and 2004's Bride and Prejudice. In Heroine, she will play close to type as an Indian cinema icon who endures ups and downs. But she insists the movie is not autobiographical.

While the fun and glitz of Cannes help create a "cinema village" built on the love of movies, she said, she never forgets why she's here. "This an industry."

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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/05/13/aishwarya-rai-money-advice-from-the-worlds-most-beautiful-woman/

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Lowe's Can Gain Market Share With New Customer Incentives

Lowe's Home Improvement StoreOver the past decade, Lowe's (LOW) has gained significant market share at the expense of rival Home Depot (HD). However, in recent years, Home Depot has been looking stronger, with improved, more customer-friendly store interiors and a stronger supply chain that adds to the company's operational efficiency.

As the competition between these two home improvement heavyweights intensifies, customer service is emerging as one of the key features on which they will need to innovate. We previously discussed Home Depot's new mobile barcode program aimed at improving the in-store customer experience.

To improve its customer service, Lowe's has introduced a new incentive program for customers paying with the store's credit card (which does not carry any annual fees) either in store or on the company's website. Customers making a single purchase of $299 or more can opt for either a 5% discount or a special financing offer.

Lowe's Plumbing, Electrical & Kitchen Market Share

The plumbing, electrical and kitchen division is the largest value driver for Lowe's by our estimates, contributing around 33% of our $24.85 stock price estimate for Lowe's. Our number stands roughly in line with the current market price.

Despite facing tough competition and having fewer stores than Home Depot, Lowe's market share in plumbing, electrical and kitchen products has grown from 13% in 2006 to more than 17% in 2010. But the growth rate has slowed in recent quarters. We anticipate more moderate growth going forward, with market share approaching 19% by the end of our forecast period.

According to analysts at Goldman Sachs (GS), 30% of private-label sales relate to big-ticket purchases ($299 and over) currently subject to six-month, no-interest financing. With the introduction of this new customer incentive program, Lowe's has the potential to attract more customers, in addition to retaining its current customer base. As a result, the company could see a pickup in its market share growth.

If, for example, Lowe's plumbing, electrical and kitchen market share grows to 22% by the end of our forecast period (vs. our base case projection of 18.5%), it would imply about 5% upside to our current price estimate for Lowe's stock.

See our complete analysis for Lowe's stock here

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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/05/14/lowes-can-gain-market-share-with-new-customer-incentives/

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Seamlessly Transition Your Music from Mac to iPhone in One Click

You're rocking out to your favorite new song playing in iTunes on your Mac, and you've got to go for a run or meet your friend at the local coffee shop. But you're grooving to the music and don't want to leave until you've found the same song on your iPhone, to continue jamming your heart out. There's a few problems with this scenario though: First, it's time consuming. Second, you're most likely to start the song from the beginning, ruining the groove you had going.

What if there was a way you could seamlessly transition the song you were listening to on your Mac computer to your iDevice without any hassle or time wasted?

Enter Seamless.

The video pretty much tells it all, but my only question?where in the hell does this guy live?!?

In order to transition your favorite song, podcast or audiobook from your Mac to iPhone (or vice versa), you need to download both the Five Details' iPhone app ($1.99) and Mac app (free). It may be more useful when it comes to podcasts and audiobooks, since those are definitely things you wouldn't want to start from the beginning, but it's more entertaining to transition music.

For this to work, you have to have the music file on both your Mac and iDevice; It doesn't transfer music, just transitions it. And in order to initiate the seamless transition, just click on the "Transfer Music from Mac" button on your iDevice. Your iPhone (or iPod touch or iPad) will start playing, raising its volume as the Seamless app fades the volume on your Mac. Pretty impressive.

Maybe in the future Five Details will incorporate a streaming or file transfer function, much like the Android's doubleTwist Player, but that's surely something Apple would have to regulate.

Via Seamlessly Transition Your Music from Mac to iPhone in One Click on WonderHowTo.

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Chevron Learns To Love Its Downstream Business

Chevron's refining, marketing and transportation operations struggle when it comes to profitability. We estimate that EBITDA margins for this segment declined from 3.9% in 2006 to about 1.2% in 2009. This margin recovered to about 2.3% in 2010 as a result of improving prices and the company's own strategic efforts. Chevron has been cutting employee count in its downstream business and plans to focus on the more profitable oil & natural gas exploration and production business. Our price estimate for Chevron stock stands at $104, in line with market price.

Source: http://blogs.forbes.com/greatspeculations/2011/05/13/chevron-learns-to-love-its-downstream-business/

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Liberty and Justice for All?

In light of the ongoing and overwhelming evidence of the deeply embedded regulatory capture, or dare I say Wall Street-Washington incest, is it any surprise why so many in our nation continue to question the multiple standards of liberty and justice on both ends of our national spectrum. The powerful unions have bought and paid for so many pols on the left. Large corporations have done the same to many pols on the right. The monied interests on Wall Street always hedge themselves by paying for favors on both sides of the aisle.

Do you sometimes wonder who is working for you and if our nation truly embraces and practices real liberty and meaningful justice for all?

 

What do we need? I strongly believe we need a meaningful and vibrant Third Party!!

Larry Doyle

Isn?t it time to subscribe to all my work via e-mail, an RSS feed, onTwitteror Facebook?

I have no affiliation or business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.

 

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/xxpl-VMs4Po/liberty-and-justice-for-all-2011-5

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Audemars Piguet's New Elegant Millenary 4101 Watch Hands-On

Audemars Piguet Millenary 4101 watch

The oft neglected (in the US) Audemars Piguet Millenary is getting a major re-haul for 2011 with the Millenary 4101 collection. Using the same ovoid shape of case as the previous Millenary, the dial and movement are totally new and based on the very rare and high-end Audemars Piguet Millenary AP Escapement collection (see image of one below). Those models had a special high-beat escapement and came in a few varieties with a price point usually in the $300,000 - $500,000 range. The style of the movement, as well as the look of the dial, influenced this new and very attractive collection that starts at $21,900 range for the steel.

The idea, of course, is to be able to appreciate the look of the movement each time you glance at the watch. Such appreciation is especially important because this is a finely Swiss-made Le Brassus movement produced by Audemars Piguet. I have to say that the first thing I thought when looking at this watch was just how nicely finished the movement was. Truly at a level of something two or three times the price. Specifically, I am referring to the very nicely polished bridges and plates that have a super high quality look to them. These timepieces shouldn't have much of a problem selling themselves.

On the back of the case is an open sapphire caseback allowing you to see the engraved 22k gold rotor as well as a slew of perlage polishing. This really is a watch for the movement lover. This time around, the time display on the Millenary is actually off-centered, where as it was just a bit of an optical illusion before. The dial has a rich depth to it and you can tell that the movement was designed from the ground up to attractively fit the special oval case.

Read the rest of the story here....

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The Emperor Fertilizes His Virtual Crops While Rome Burns

In case you haven't noticed, the technology world is on a bit of an uptick at the moment. Valuations of tech companies are soaring. Programmers are in fierce demand. Venture capital money is frothing like a Tea Partier at a "How Barack Obama Was Raised By A Family Of Muslim Kenyan Terrorist Death Panel Socialist Wolves" book signing.

Life in Silicon Valley is good. Some have dared suggest this could be the beginning of a bubble, but the several hundred billionaires who own 99.9 per cent of the country's wealth have been quick to assure us this isn't the case. So it must be true. And for a digital guy like me you'd think I'd be kissing every Groupon and crossing myself every time I answer a question on Quora. But there's one nagging doubt that exists at the back of my mind. While our virtual world of fake farms and 1970s-filtered shared photographs might be great, the actual world - i.e. the one we live in - is slowly going down the pan. And that's a problem.

In Virtualville life is simply fantastic for all the main players. Companies like Zynga have grown revenues in excess of $1bn by giving lazy Americans the ability to continue being lazy, via its suite of "...ville" games (think Farmville, Cityville). While wildly successful, these games are the digital equivalent of intentionally pissing yourself on the couch because you can't be bothered to get up and go to the bathroom. Deep down you know it's wrong, but it's just too easy - and besides, if you do it enough times you simply get to a point where you don't care anymore.

In Farmville all the animals are cute, all the crops are green and you can progress through the game by simply clicking repeatedly with your index finger while shoehorning a Cinn-a-Bon into your mouth with your spare hand. Oh what a wonderful (virtual) world.

Now imagine if Zynga created a game that was actually based on real life. Let's call it Shitsville for now. In Shitsville one tenth of the population would be out of work and over 50 per cent of the population would be caught in an ever increasing spiral of debt. It doesn't matter how many virtual coins or "Likes" you get, in Shitsville the bridges and roads keep falling to pieces and there's no way to rebuild them. The town you run starts off with a $100 billion deficit that it has no hope of closing, all of your citizens have bubonic plague because none of them can afford health insurance premiums and college kids are leaving with degrees that are worth a fraction of the six figure sum they owe the student loan company.

There's no question that the United States is the world leader when it comes to digital and technology innovation. And that's something the country should be proud of. But while we're creating a world connected by servers and switches, it would also be nice to think that somebody is looking out for the part of everyday life that kicks in when the laptop closes. Transportation, public utilities, infrastructure - things that almost every other country in the world is pouring cash into with alarming speed. Call me selfish, but I'd trade a Foursquare check-in for the ability to complete a smooth airport check-in any day of the week. But sadly we're becoming experts at the former, and ignorant of the latter.

Despite the fact that Wall Street continues to boom and share prices continue to rise, the real economy for ordinary Americans is a mess. Basic necessities (like food and gas) are rising dramatically, job creation is stagnant at best and every town, state and municipality in the country seems to be swamped in debt. Yet despite this backdrop all the tech blogs read like an 80's feel good movie.

Virtual items, worlds and products are all inherently interesting but ultimately they don't actually exist and thus their real value is zero. Yet more and more of our best and brightest minds seem to be getting sucked into a vortex - whether it be creating exotic financial products on Wall Street or non-existent worlds in a social game - where they're ultimately not producing anything of real value.

So America - I don't have a problem with you fertilizing your virtual crops once in a while. But it'd be really helpful if we didn't lose site of those very real potholes that need to be fixed on the highways, and the fact that my very real dollar bills are buying me less and less merchandise every time I go to the store.

Read more from Jonathan Hills at The Spinning Hamster

For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/YxjcS7wWzb4/the-emperor-fertilizes-his-virtual-crops-while-rome-burns-2011-5

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Cash Out Refinancing for Debt Consolidation

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If you are a homeowner who is looking for the best way to achieve bill consolidation, there are a few different options for obtaining cash through the equity in your home. The first is through a home equity line of credit and the second is through cash out refinancing. The balance of this article will explain with the details of the latter option.

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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6263883

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The Emperor Fertilizes His Virtual Crops While Rome Burns

In case you haven't noticed, the technology world is on a bit of an uptick at the moment. Valuations of tech companies are soaring. Programmers are in fierce demand. Venture capital money is frothing like a Tea Partier at a "How Barack Obama Was Raised By A Family Of Muslim Kenyan Terrorist Death Panel Socialist Wolves" book signing.

Life in Silicon Valley is good. Some have dared suggest this could be the beginning of a bubble, but the several hundred billionaires who own 99.9 per cent of the country's wealth have been quick to assure us this isn't the case. So it must be true. And for a digital guy like me you'd think I'd be kissing every Groupon and crossing myself every time I answer a question on Quora. But there's one nagging doubt that exists at the back of my mind. While our virtual world of fake farms and 1970s-filtered shared photographs might be great, the actual world - i.e. the one we live in - is slowly going down the pan. And that's a problem.

In Virtualville life is simply fantastic for all the main players. Companies like Zynga have grown revenues in excess of $1bn by giving lazy Americans the ability to continue being lazy, via its suite of "...ville" games (think Farmville, Cityville). While wildly successful, these games are the digital equivalent of intentionally pissing yourself on the couch because you can't be bothered to get up and go to the bathroom. Deep down you know it's wrong, but it's just too easy - and besides, if you do it enough times you simply get to a point where you don't care anymore.

In Farmville all the animals are cute, all the crops are green and you can progress through the game by simply clicking repeatedly with your index finger while shoehorning a Cinn-a-Bon into your mouth with your spare hand. Oh what a wonderful (virtual) world.

Now imagine if Zynga created a game that was actually based on real life. Let's call it Shitsville for now. In Shitsville one tenth of the population would be out of work and over 50 per cent of the population would be caught in an ever increasing spiral of debt. It doesn't matter how many virtual coins or "Likes" you get, in Shitsville the bridges and roads keep falling to pieces and there's no way to rebuild them. The town you run starts off with a $100 billion deficit that it has no hope of closing, all of your citizens have bubonic plague because none of them can afford health insurance premiums and college kids are leaving with degrees that are worth a fraction of the six figure sum they owe the student loan company.

There's no question that the United States is the world leader when it comes to digital and technology innovation. And that's something the country should be proud of. But while we're creating a world connected by servers and switches, it would also be nice to think that somebody is looking out for the part of everyday life that kicks in when the laptop closes. Transportation, public utilities, infrastructure - things that almost every other country in the world is pouring cash into with alarming speed. Call me selfish, but I'd trade a Foursquare check-in for the ability to complete a smooth airport check-in any day of the week. But sadly we're becoming experts at the former, and ignorant of the latter.

Despite the fact that Wall Street continues to boom and share prices continue to rise, the real economy for ordinary Americans is a mess. Basic necessities (like food and gas) are rising dramatically, job creation is stagnant at best and every town, state and municipality in the country seems to be swamped in debt. Yet despite this backdrop all the tech blogs read like an 80's feel good movie.

Virtual items, worlds and products are all inherently interesting but ultimately they don't actually exist and thus their real value is zero. Yet more and more of our best and brightest minds seem to be getting sucked into a vortex - whether it be creating exotic financial products on Wall Street or non-existent worlds in a social game - where they're ultimately not producing anything of real value.

So America - I don't have a problem with you fertilizing your virtual crops once in a while. But it'd be really helpful if we didn't lose site of those very real potholes that need to be fixed on the highways, and the fact that my very real dollar bills are buying me less and less merchandise every time I go to the store.

Read more from Jonathan Hills at The Spinning Hamster

For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/YxjcS7wWzb4/the-emperor-fertilizes-his-virtual-crops-while-rome-burns-2011-5

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