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Traditional economic theory states that, if you want to get less of something, make it more expensive. An alarm clock like this, then, seems to be a solution that traditional economists could get behind. Behavioral economists, on the other hand, would likely argue that people are not in a “rational” state when they are groggy and this clock could lead to inefficient outcomes overall.

In related news, I wonder what macroeconomists would think about this alarm clock’s effect on the money supply. At the very least, we can name it the “anti-Bernanke clock.”

Rumors have been flying this morning about everyone’s favorite mobile photo sharing app, Instagram. According to a source from TechCrunch, the popular app is expected to introduce a new video sharing feature later this week during a Facebook press event.

If the rumors are true, the new Instagram feature will allow users to film and edit short videos that are between 5 and 10 seconds long. There’s been no word on any other details, like whether or not the video feature will come as a standalone app or if it will include Instagram filters for videos.

• 7 top video sharing sites and mobile apps

The idea of video for Instagram is not new, and with so many other popular short video-sharing apps like Vine, Viddy, Keek, Socialcam, Cinemagram, Snapchat and others, it’s a smart move for an app already as big and successful as Instagram to join the competition. Vine is barely six months old and has already attracted over 13 million users.

Three more days until we hear the big news. Facebook is scheduled to announce “something new” this coming Thursday, June 20th.

Photo © Getty Images

Being on the radio certainly brings deejays, talk show hosts, and others on the air a certain degree of fame. And that fame feeds the very voracious human ego. Some handle it well, some not so well. But, it would be hard to imagine radio without the ego-driven people in it because it’s competitive and cut-throat and you need an ego to survive. That said, radio doesn’t offer “pictures” like TV so much of the local fame is sucked up by those egomaniacal television news anchors. Drat! Fame, Anonymity, Ego and more is all part of the Wacky World of Radio. Let’s talk about it. (Graphic Credit: © Corey Deitz)

In April, consumers only added another $100 million in credit card debt. This sounds like a lot, until you realize it’s just a 1% increase to the $849.1 billion they already owed. Even that’s much, much less than the $1 trillion owed in 2008. Overall, it’s a healthy sign for a country that tried to attain the American Dream on the back of plastic.

Instead, families are wisely taking advantage of low interest rates to take out auto and school loans. This “Non-revolving” debt rose 6.4% to a new record, $1.97 trillion. Of this, nearly a third ($567 billion) was held by the Federal government for education loans. All told, Americans now owe a record $2.82 trillion in total consumer debt.  (Source: Federal Reserve, G.19 Release, June 7, 2013)

On average, Americans now owe a whopping $6,903 in credit card debt. Although this isn’t as high as prior to the recession, and that’s a good thing, it’s still a lot to owe on a high-interest account. Add that to the $16,200 owed by the average household in school and auto loans, and you can see that White House is not alone in needing to reduce deficit spending!  (Update: This estimate is based on 123 million households or 315 million total people / 2.55 persons per household.Source: U.S. Census, 2012 Estimate; Average Household Size)

What It Means to You

The only good news is that more households are using debt to buy the opportunity to achieve the American Dream through education. True, many students get degrees that aren’t helping them find jobs, but research shows that education is highly correlated with wealth.

How to Reduce Credit Card Debt

• A Life Preserver in a Sea of Debt
• Making a Plan to Reduce Credit Card Debt from the About.com Guide to Credit, LaToya Irby
• More Resources for Reducing Credit Card Debt from the About.com Guide to Beginners Investing, Joshua Kennon

Related Articles

• Consumer Financial Protection Agency
• Consumer Credit Statistics
• Consumer Spending Trends

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I don’t want to promote myself as an all-seeing, omnipotent NFL genius or anything, but I knew this was going to happen.

Tim Tebow is too good an athlete to be completely ignored by the NFL, and so in an amazingly short period of time, Tebow has gone from an unwanted free agent, cast aside by the New York Jets, to a New England Patriot.

Granted, Tebow probably didn’t have many other offers, if any. That’s evident from his two-year, no guarantee contract.

But, at least we should all find out finally whether this polarizing figure can play in the NFL or not.

The good news for Tebow fans is if he makes the team, he will be in the perfect environment to work on that hitch in his throwing motion and to learn from some of the best offensive talent and brains in the league.

For his detractors, well there is no good news other than the fact they will still have Tebow to kick around at least for a time. More on that here.

- Getty Images

I remember my exact reaction to J. Cole’s “Work Out.” I recall saying that his flow on that song was so bizarre it sounded like he was literally rapping at gun point. I know many other J. Cole fans who disliked the song. Cole’s childhood idol Nas wasn’t feeling it, either.

Cole raps about that single on Born Sinner highlight “Let Nas Down.” He also addressed it in a recent Fuse interview. “It was the worst response I’ve ever gotten on any song I’ve ever put out. It was a terrible response,” says Cole. “When I made that song, it was a triumph.”

J. Cole got the news from Nas collaborator No I.D. “I was in the studio with Nas and we was talking about you and he was like, ‘Yo, why did he do that? Why did he put out that song? Don’t he know he’s the one? He ain’t gotta do that,’” the producer told Cole at the time.

“Work Out” would go on to reach #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, further complicating Cole’s relationship with the single. It’s also certified 2x platinum in the U.S.

(Photo © Henry Adaso)

Here’s a look at a few social media headlines from the past week:

Social Media Draws Fire in Turkey

It was another terrible week for protestors and government officials in Turkey. A few dozen Turkish protestors were arrested for using Twitter; authorities accused them of inciting riots by spreading lies about the anti-government demonstrations through Twitter. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meantime, generated headlines around the world when he called social media “the worst menace to society.” Thousands of Turkish dissidents have been using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to get out the word about escalating protests.

Mashing it up with Weavly

Mashing up animated GIFs with sound files is a popular pastime for meme-makers, and it’s been getting easier thanks to the latest crop of mashup apps. One recently released in public beta is Weavly, which integrates with Tumblr and SoundCloud. You provide Weavly with the URL of an animated GIF from a Tumblr post and another url for a sound file at SoundCloud, and voila, Weavly will create a GIF animation with sound for you.

Twitter Revamps Tweetdeck

Twitter this week rolled out a redesign for the Tweetdeck app it bought in 2011, replacing the dark background with a white one and making minor tweaks to the navigation. The new design is only for the web and Chrome, though. Twitter announced a few months ago it was phasing out the mobile app versions for Android and iPhones and also discontinuing integration with Facebook. Tweetdeck has been one of the most popular Twitter clients, but it’s unclear whether it can remain popular without strong mobile apps and integration with other social media.

In May, 175,000 jobs were added, more than the 150,000 minimum required for healthy economic growth. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 7.6%, a sign that more people were encouraged enough to return to the labor force. The April report was revised down, from 165,000 to 149,000, but the March report was revised up from 138,000 to 142,000. Investors signaled their approval by adding 200 points to the Dow.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Leisure and Hospitality sector (bars, restaurants and hotels) was the largest contributor, adding 43,000 jobs, while Retail Trade added 27,700 jobs. This means that consumer spending, the most important piston of the economic engine, is robust. Another big boost came from Temporary Services, which added 25,600 jobs. This is another good signs, because it means that employers who aren’t confident enough to add permanent jobs are still getting enough demand to need temporary workers.

Education and Healthcare added 26,000 jobs. Wholesale trade added 7,500 jobs, Financial Services added 4,000 jobs, and Information added 3,000 jobs. Of note, is that Construction added 7,000 jobs, another sign that the housing market continues to improve.

These industries offset minor losses in Manufacturing (-8,000), Transportation and Warehousing (-3,900), and (of course) Government (-3,000).  (Source: BLS, Employment Situation Summary, June 7 2013

What This Means for You

This month’s Jobs Report is another sign of slow, steady growth. The good news is that housing and consumer spending continue to add jobs. It’s a bit of a concern that manufacturing jobs declined, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

However, it will take a loooong time for growth at this rate to absorb not only the unemployed, but those who got so discouraged they dropped out of the labor force. Expect the unemployment rate to remain at this level for another six months.

If you follow the financial news media, you’ve no doubt heard a lot about concerns over whether the Fed will begin tapering off its Quantitative Easing. This jobs report shows that it won’t happen until at least 2014. Bernanke stated that unemployment needs to drop to 6.5% before he ends QE. That’s going to take at least a year at this rate.

Related Jobs Articles

• Current Employment Statistics
• Current Unemployment Statistics
• Video - Understanding the Unemployment Rate

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If you use Facebook regularly, chances are you’ve seen those sneaky ads that pop up in the middle of your news feed saying “friend name likes page name” along with a related brand or product photo disguised as a shared a post and the word Sponsored displayed beneath it. They’re pretty awful, and Facebook is getting rid of them. Thank goodness.

The worst part about Sponsored Stories was that you couldn’t shut them off, and more often than not, they weren’t tailored to any of your personal interests. If a friend liked a specific page for whatever reason and if that page was paying Facebook to show ads all over the place, that meant it could show up as a Sponsored Story in your feed — no matter how irrelevant it was to you.

• A brief history of Facebook

I recently had a friend ask me in real life why I kept posting about a fishing product on Facebook. Confused, I told him that I remembered liking a fishing company’s Facebook page over a year ago, but I hadn’t posted anything about it since then. Turns out those posts were Sponsored Stories constantly being displayed in my friends’ news feeds. I had no idea.

Facebook is cutting down its current 27 ad formats by about half. Advertisers sure won’t be happy about it, but Facebook users can at least breathe a sigh of relief knowing that certain news feed stories will no longer be disguised as ads.

Photo © Facebook

If your business depends on technology, you may be aware of the changes in patent law with the America Invents Act. The main provision of the law is the change to a system of “first inventor to file” (FITF), which took effect March 16, 2013. Under this system, an inventor can now file a patent and then take some time to “perfect” it. The process then allows public comment both before and after the patent is awarded.

This new system is supposed to be an advantage in international situations, but, a recent Forbes article says there has been fear that  the new system will reward larger companies, who have more access to large legal staffs to help them file. But the article also notes that “the solo entrepreneur with a great idea remains ahead of the patent game.”

In another recent article, Inc.com says small businesses are filing fewer patent applications: the percentage of small business-secured patents has dropped from 30 percent in 2000 to 20 percent in 2013. Part of the issue is the cost of filing a patent and getting it fast-tracked through the system (up to $4,000), costs that larger businesses can better afford than small companies.

The good news is your company doesn’t have to wait until a patent is fully developed to get a patent. Upstart Business Journal suggests filing early and providing as much detail as possible. But make sure you have a fully formed idea before you file.

 

In any case, if you have a patentable idea, talk to an attorney who specializes in intellectual property to help you work through the patent process.

Read more about Finding and Hiring an Attorney

Read more about the New Patent Law and Your Business