Philanthropy in the U.S. made a comeback in large donations in 2013, with the country's wealthiest donors giving more than $3.4 billion to charity, according to a new count of the top 10 gifts of 2013 by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The analysis of the year's top gifts also found more gifts of $100 million or more than in 2012. In 2013, there were 15 publicly announced gifts of at least $100 million, compared with 11 in 2012.
The largest donation of 2013 came from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who announced in December that they had given 18 million shares of Facebook stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The gift was valued at more than $990 million. This was the first time donors under the age of 30 have made the nation's largest philanthropic gift, according to the report.
Colleges and universities were among the primary beneficiaries of some of the biggest donations, the report found.
Nike Inc. co-founder and chairman Philip Knight and his wife, Penelope, made the second largest gift commitment of 2013, pledging $500 million to the Oregon Health and Science University Foundation for cancer research. The university has to match the donation in the next two years to receive the full gift.
The third highest gift of 2013 was a $350 million pledge from Michael Bloomberg to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to promote cross-disciplinary studies and undergraduate financial aid.
Other top gifts by American philanthropists were pledged to Yale, Stanford, the University of Michigan, Yeshiva University in New York City, Georgetown University, Columbia Business School, the University of California at San Diego and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
``The fact that we had so many gifts that were $100 million or more is an indication that people are really giving big again,'' and that may continue into 2014, said said of Philanthropy Editor Stacy Palmer. ``People seem more optimistic about the economy, and certainly the strong stock market has propelled a lot of gifts. It looks like it's going to be a better year.''
In 2012, the top gifts totaled $5 billion, but that count included three $1 billion gifts from Warren Buffett to his children's foundations. When those gifts are excluded, the other top gifts of 2012 totaled just $2 billion compared with $3.4 billion in 2013.
However, the wealthiest philanthropists did not give as much in 2013 as before the Great Recession, according to the analysis. In 2007, before the recession, the biggest gifts totaled $4.1 billion.
The chronicle also examined all gifts of $1 million or more. Those gifts totaled $9.6 billion in 2013, compared with $6.1 billion in 2012. (AP)
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
0109-What to Feed a Cold
The sneezing. The coughing. The lethargy. It's enough to make a cold sufferer's appetite disappear completely. Studies show that certain foods can help alleviate the symptoms of a common cold—and sometimes shorten its duration. One expert, Sharon Horesh Bergquist, assistant professor at Emory School of Medicine and a primary-care physician with a specialty in internal medicine at Emory Healthcare, offers her take on what to eat and what to avoid.
—Heidi Mitchell
Dairy Decoded
The most common misconception about a cold, says Dr. Bergquist, is that dairy should be avoided because it increases mucus production. The belief likely hails, she says, from the fact that when saliva comes into contact with any high-fat drink, it can mimic mucus.
Australian scientists debunked that assumption in a series of 1990s studies where they gave hundreds of common-cold patients either cow's milk or soy milk, and found no difference in mucus production between the two groups.
A body needs hydration when it is sick, says Dr. Bergquist. "So if your beverage of choice is a latté, that counts as hydration."
Cocktail as Cure?
Just make sure the latté is decaf, since any diuretic, such as caffeine, can promote dehydration, which usually worsens a cold. "When you're hydrated, your mucus membranes are lubricated, which will help you feel better," says Dr. Bergquist.
She puts alcohol, also a diuretic, in a "mixed" category. "Mild inebriation can cause pain relief…hence the hot toddy and brandy cure," she says. But while liquor may temporarily relieve symptoms, it, too, can cause dehydration.
'Mom's Penicillin'
Chicken soup may have benefits even beyond the hot liquid and vapors that open sinuses and lubricate mucus membranes. Studies suggest that the chicken and vegetables themselves inhibit the mobilization of neutrophils, immune cells that are the main culprit in causing inflammatory symptoms like stuffy nose and aching bones, says Dr. Bergquist.
Spices, especially pungent ones like hot peppers, can also help open sinus passages and provide short-term relief. But no one spice has been scientifically proven better than any other, says Dr. Bergquist.
Go Steady on the C
According to the most recent review of studies on vitamin C and colds, Dr. Bergquist says, scientists find that people who regularly take 200 milligrams a day of the vitamin can decrease the severity and duration of a cold by continuing to take that high dose. (Starting vitamin C after the cold's onset doesn't provide the same benefit.) To maintain a steady level in your system, she says, "it's reasonable to drink a glass of orange juice every day during cold season."
Zinc is a bit more controversial, "largely because the studies are not high quality," she says. A recent meta-review of research showed that taking zinc within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms can reduce the duration—but not the severity—of a cold by one day.
"However, the dose that is the most studied is 75 mg or greater, and you'd have to take that daily throughout the duration of the cold, which is very hard to get through food," says Dr. Bergquist. You'd need to eat 12 oysters, 2 racks of ribs, 10 cups of cashews or 12 cups of chocolate, she says.
A zinc lozenge is the way to go, but only for short spans; studies show that long-term zinc megadoses can cause copper deficiency.
—Heidi Mitchell
Dairy Decoded
The most common misconception about a cold, says Dr. Bergquist, is that dairy should be avoided because it increases mucus production. The belief likely hails, she says, from the fact that when saliva comes into contact with any high-fat drink, it can mimic mucus.
Australian scientists debunked that assumption in a series of 1990s studies where they gave hundreds of common-cold patients either cow's milk or soy milk, and found no difference in mucus production between the two groups.
A body needs hydration when it is sick, says Dr. Bergquist. "So if your beverage of choice is a latté, that counts as hydration."
Cocktail as Cure?
Just make sure the latté is decaf, since any diuretic, such as caffeine, can promote dehydration, which usually worsens a cold. "When you're hydrated, your mucus membranes are lubricated, which will help you feel better," says Dr. Bergquist.
She puts alcohol, also a diuretic, in a "mixed" category. "Mild inebriation can cause pain relief…hence the hot toddy and brandy cure," she says. But while liquor may temporarily relieve symptoms, it, too, can cause dehydration.
'Mom's Penicillin'
Chicken soup may have benefits even beyond the hot liquid and vapors that open sinuses and lubricate mucus membranes. Studies suggest that the chicken and vegetables themselves inhibit the mobilization of neutrophils, immune cells that are the main culprit in causing inflammatory symptoms like stuffy nose and aching bones, says Dr. Bergquist.
Spices, especially pungent ones like hot peppers, can also help open sinus passages and provide short-term relief. But no one spice has been scientifically proven better than any other, says Dr. Bergquist.
Go Steady on the C
According to the most recent review of studies on vitamin C and colds, Dr. Bergquist says, scientists find that people who regularly take 200 milligrams a day of the vitamin can decrease the severity and duration of a cold by continuing to take that high dose. (Starting vitamin C after the cold's onset doesn't provide the same benefit.) To maintain a steady level in your system, she says, "it's reasonable to drink a glass of orange juice every day during cold season."
Zinc is a bit more controversial, "largely because the studies are not high quality," she says. A recent meta-review of research showed that taking zinc within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms can reduce the duration—but not the severity—of a cold by one day.
"However, the dose that is the most studied is 75 mg or greater, and you'd have to take that daily throughout the duration of the cold, which is very hard to get through food," says Dr. Bergquist. You'd need to eat 12 oysters, 2 racks of ribs, 10 cups of cashews or 12 cups of chocolate, she says.
A zinc lozenge is the way to go, but only for short spans; studies show that long-term zinc megadoses can cause copper deficiency.
0108-Dollar-and-Cents Secrets of Music Streaming
In the good old days of the CD boom, the music industry was all about the first week. Prime the pump with endless airplay on pop radio and MTV, blanket major markets with billboard ads and buy acres of promotional space in big record stores, with a crescendo toward the release date.
Even as digital downloads have started to supplant CD sales, a strong debut remains critical, particularly for the big stars. Witness Beyoncé's recent coup selling more than 1 million copies of her latest album during its first week in Apple Inc. AAPL -2.20% 's iTunes Store—using strong online buzz in place of normal promotion.
But as the industry starts to embrace digital services that let fans rent access to vast libraries of songs for a flat monthly fee, major labels may need to adjust their approach to marketing music, and perhaps to which artists they sign.
Spotify AB, Pandora Media Inc. P +3.10% and a host of less-known competitors pay record labels and artists every time a user listens to one of their songs.
So instead of trying to sell a $15 CD at Tower Records, or even a 99-cent download on iTunes, labels need to get fans listening to a given song or album for years to come.
Spotify set off a flurry of back-of-the-envelope math when it recently disclosed on its website that its average payments amount to tiny fractions of a cent per song.
Some pundits quickly concluded that a Spotify user could never listen to a song or album often enough to generate the same revenue that a download sale would.
But that missed the point.
Data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal showed that one major record company makes more per year, on average, from paying customers of streaming services like Spotify or Rdio than it does from the average customer who buys downloads, CDs or both.
The average "premium" subscription customer in the U.S. was worth about $16 a year to this company, while the average buyer of digital downloads or physical music was worth about $14.
Other data from the same company showed that in the long run, even many individual albums eventually make more money from streaming services than they do from downloads.
Underscore that phrase, in the long run.
The acts were identified in the data only with generic descriptors. When they first hit the market, all the acts' albums made more money from download or physical sales than from streaming.
It took 34 months for an album by an "indie rock/pop group" to make more money from streaming than from sales. An album by one "modern male R&B rapper" reached that juncture after just four months.
In both cases download revenue flattened as sales flagged, while streaming revenue continued to climb as people kept listening to the music.
Notably, pop acts, which tend to rely on heavy marketing, were the least likely to see the revenue from streaming services exceed sales revenue. That is because online listening—and therefore revenue—tended to level off for those types of acts at about the same rate as their sales.
In Sweden, where streaming subscription has overtaken downloading as the most popular method of acquiring music, the difference is more pronounced.
An average premium subscriber there is worth about $17.75 to the company, versus less than $4 for the handful of people who still buy music.
The lesson for record companies and artists appears to be: making disposable hits may once have been a viable business, but new technology could demand tunes built to last.
—Ethan Smith is The Wall Street Journal's bureau chief in Los Angeles. The Upshot is a business column by bureau chiefs around the globe that offers timely analysis of the industries they cover.
Even as digital downloads have started to supplant CD sales, a strong debut remains critical, particularly for the big stars. Witness Beyoncé's recent coup selling more than 1 million copies of her latest album during its first week in Apple Inc. AAPL -2.20% 's iTunes Store—using strong online buzz in place of normal promotion.
But as the industry starts to embrace digital services that let fans rent access to vast libraries of songs for a flat monthly fee, major labels may need to adjust their approach to marketing music, and perhaps to which artists they sign.
Spotify AB, Pandora Media Inc. P +3.10% and a host of less-known competitors pay record labels and artists every time a user listens to one of their songs.
So instead of trying to sell a $15 CD at Tower Records, or even a 99-cent download on iTunes, labels need to get fans listening to a given song or album for years to come.
Spotify set off a flurry of back-of-the-envelope math when it recently disclosed on its website that its average payments amount to tiny fractions of a cent per song.
Some pundits quickly concluded that a Spotify user could never listen to a song or album often enough to generate the same revenue that a download sale would.
But that missed the point.
Data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal showed that one major record company makes more per year, on average, from paying customers of streaming services like Spotify or Rdio than it does from the average customer who buys downloads, CDs or both.
The average "premium" subscription customer in the U.S. was worth about $16 a year to this company, while the average buyer of digital downloads or physical music was worth about $14.
Other data from the same company showed that in the long run, even many individual albums eventually make more money from streaming services than they do from downloads.
Underscore that phrase, in the long run.
The acts were identified in the data only with generic descriptors. When they first hit the market, all the acts' albums made more money from download or physical sales than from streaming.
It took 34 months for an album by an "indie rock/pop group" to make more money from streaming than from sales. An album by one "modern male R&B rapper" reached that juncture after just four months.
In both cases download revenue flattened as sales flagged, while streaming revenue continued to climb as people kept listening to the music.
Notably, pop acts, which tend to rely on heavy marketing, were the least likely to see the revenue from streaming services exceed sales revenue. That is because online listening—and therefore revenue—tended to level off for those types of acts at about the same rate as their sales.
In Sweden, where streaming subscription has overtaken downloading as the most popular method of acquiring music, the difference is more pronounced.
An average premium subscriber there is worth about $17.75 to the company, versus less than $4 for the handful of people who still buy music.
The lesson for record companies and artists appears to be: making disposable hits may once have been a viable business, but new technology could demand tunes built to last.
—Ethan Smith is The Wall Street Journal's bureau chief in Los Angeles. The Upshot is a business column by bureau chiefs around the globe that offers timely analysis of the industries they cover.
Monday, January 6, 2014
0107-Genesis sedans to offer app for Google Glass
Hyundai Motor‘s new Genesis is expected to offer owners a chance to control their cars through a Blue Link application that will that offers the same kind of remote services delivered from a smartphone, including basic remote control, maintenance updates and sending Google Maps directions -- all via Google Glass.
However, Google’s eyewear won‘t be the only wearable device the new Genesis consumers will have access to, since Hyundai has already said it will be offering the Blue Link support for other devices as well.
“Hyundai will offer an application designed for Glass and other wearable electronic devices starting with the 2015 Genesis,”South Korea‘s largest automaker said in a statement.
The feature is an extension of Hyundai’s current Blue Link in-car system that provides diagnostic and maintenance services, the Seoul-based company said.
“The Glass application is only for pre-drive operations -- not when you‘re behind the wheel,” Miles Johnson, a company spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “The goal is that when you get to the car to start your trip, the drive is less stressful.”
Park Min-hyung, a spokesman in Seoul, said further details on other devices Hyundai plans to offer the app will be revealed at this year‘s Consumer Electronics Show to be held in Las Vegas next week.
Hyundai‘s plans follow similar intentions by Nissan Motor Co. and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz to integrate wearable data devices with their vehicles. Google released technical specifications for its Glass computing device in April 2013 to encourage software developers to create applications for the Web-enabled spectacles.
Google, expanding beyond its core search-engine business, has been investing in Glass as it bets consumers will shift more attention to wireless devices that let them easily snap photos, check e-mails or listen to music without the aid of smartphones or traditional computers.
Hyundai will demonstrate the Glass-enabled system Jan. 6 in Las Vegas, before the start of the International CES technology trade show, said Johnson, who declined to elaborate on specific features.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
0106-How to Improve (and Increase) Your Sleep
Growing up in a hard-working Midwestern city in the 1980s, I quickly learned that sleep is the first expense I should cut in a given day. The men I looked up to at a young age regularly boasted about running on just a few hours of sleep. While this was rooted in a good-natured work ethic, it led me to view needing sleep as a sign of weakness. I continue to see this perception in the workplace today, where it is considered a badge of honor to stay at the office late working on a project.
The problem is, one less hour of sleep is not equal to an extra hour of achievement. In many cases the opposite occurs. When you lose an hour of sleep, it decreases your well-being, productivity, health, and ability to think the following day. One of the most influential studies of human performance, conducted by professor K. Anders Ericsson, found that top performers slept 8 hours and 36 minutes per day. The average American, for comparison, gets just 6 hours and 51 minutes of sleep on weeknights.
You are simply a different person when you operate on insufficient sleep. And it shows. If you do not get enough sleep, it can lead to a cascade of negative events. You achieve less at work, skip regular exercise, and eat poorly.
This lack of sleep is also costly. According to a study from Harvard Medical School, lack of sleep costs the American economy $63 billion a year in lost productivity alone. The problem is not just people missing work on account of sleep, the larger issue is people who show up for work in a sleepless state. One scientist, who has studied this topic extensively, claims a loss of four hours of sleep produces as much impairment as consuming a six-pack of beer. According to a survey from the National Sleep Foundation, roughly two-thirds of people studied do not get enough sleep on weeknights.
However, if you are able to get an additional hour of sleep tonight, it can make the difference between a miserable day and a good one. A small adjustment, even 15 or 30 minutes, could make or break your next day. The key is to aim for somewhere between seven and nine hours of quality sleep per night. While getting this much sleep each night is easier said than done, there are a few small tricks to improve your odds of a good night’s sleep.
What you do in the hours before bed could matter most. More than 90 percent of Americans admit to using electronic communications in the hour before bed. This is an obvious problem in terms of allowing things like late-night messages to enter your thoughts. What you may not realize is that the light from these devices alone could also suppress your melatonin levels by as much as 20 percent, which is a more direct threat to your sleep. To avoid these issues, impose a moratorium on all electronic devices in the hour before your normal bedtime and be cautious about bright light from any sources in the hours before bed.
Creating the right environment for sleep in your bedroom can also give you a head start. It is easier to sleep in a room that is a few degrees cooler than the temperature you are accustomed to throughout the day. This prevents your natural body clock from waking you up in the middle of the night. The same principle applies to noise, where using white noise apps or devices can drown out sounds that wake you up unnecessarily throughout the night. What’s critical for a good night of sleep is to create a routine where you eliminate as much variance as possible.
Prioritize seven to nine hours of high-quality sleep ahead of all else. You will be more likely to have a good workout, get more done at your job, and treat your loved ones better when you put sleep first. Keep in mind that every hour of sleep is a positive investment — not an expense. Based on all of the research on this topic, we need to make sleep a core value at home and work.
Sacrificing sleep may no longer be a sign of strength.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
0103-'Samsung, Apple in talks over patents'
By Kim Yoo-chul
A senior Samsung Electronics executive said Thursday the firm is holding working-level discussions with Apple to find a breakthrough in their patent disputes.
“Yes. Working-level discussions are now underway,” the top-level Samsung official said, confirming earlier reports by The Korea Times that the two firms have resumed “peace talks” to end their patent feud.
Samsung earlier agreed with Apple to submit a joint settlement proposal before January 8 to the U.S. federal Judge Lucy H. Koh, who has presided over the patent cases since 2011.
The executive said he will fly to the United States to participate in this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES), which kicks off next week in the U.S. desert city of Las Vegas.
He, however, refused to confirm whether he will meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss the patent issue.
“I will tell you more about that litigation issue in Las Vegas,” according to the executive.
Officials at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and the Korea Fair Trade Commission said Samsung and Apple are “narrowing their differences” over royalty payments.
“Samsung is currently in talks with Apple to sign a patent accord. The two companies are quite softening their positions on some contentious issues,” said an MSIP official.
Still, the two companies are far apart on the value each places on their patent infringement claims. Samsung’s payment to Apple was fixed at $640 million.
A new jury recently ordered Samsung to pay an additional $290 million to the iPhone maker, which is subject to the approval of the presiding judge.
Since 2011, Apple and Samsung have sued each other in the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands.
Samsung has been a primary component supplier to Apple since 2007, which means the latter is paying billions of dollars each year to purchase Samsung flat-screens, application processors, DRAMs and NAND flash chips.
Apple is attempting to shift its sourcing channel to Taiwan’s TSMC to cut its heavy dependence on its Korean rival. However, it remains to be seen whether TSMC will be able to meet Apple’s strict quality guidelines and requirements, industry sources say.
A senior Samsung Electronics executive said Thursday the firm is holding working-level discussions with Apple to find a breakthrough in their patent disputes.
“Yes. Working-level discussions are now underway,” the top-level Samsung official said, confirming earlier reports by The Korea Times that the two firms have resumed “peace talks” to end their patent feud.
Samsung earlier agreed with Apple to submit a joint settlement proposal before January 8 to the U.S. federal Judge Lucy H. Koh, who has presided over the patent cases since 2011.
The executive said he will fly to the United States to participate in this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES), which kicks off next week in the U.S. desert city of Las Vegas.
He, however, refused to confirm whether he will meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss the patent issue.
“I will tell you more about that litigation issue in Las Vegas,” according to the executive.
Officials at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and the Korea Fair Trade Commission said Samsung and Apple are “narrowing their differences” over royalty payments.
“Samsung is currently in talks with Apple to sign a patent accord. The two companies are quite softening their positions on some contentious issues,” said an MSIP official.
Still, the two companies are far apart on the value each places on their patent infringement claims. Samsung’s payment to Apple was fixed at $640 million.
A new jury recently ordered Samsung to pay an additional $290 million to the iPhone maker, which is subject to the approval of the presiding judge.
Since 2011, Apple and Samsung have sued each other in the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands.
Samsung has been a primary component supplier to Apple since 2007, which means the latter is paying billions of dollars each year to purchase Samsung flat-screens, application processors, DRAMs and NAND flash chips.
Apple is attempting to shift its sourcing channel to Taiwan’s TSMC to cut its heavy dependence on its Korean rival. However, it remains to be seen whether TSMC will be able to meet Apple’s strict quality guidelines and requirements, industry sources say.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
0102-POSCO launches 'big data' system
By Yi Whan-woo
POSCO has launched a “big data” system to allow its offices and plants overseas to share information online in real time using mobile devices, the company said Wednesday.
Korea’s leading steelmaker said it implemented the integrated process management system, dubbed POSPIA 3.0, which applies to its headquarters in Seoul, two local plants in Gwangyang and Pohang, and also at its steel mill in Indonesia.
The firm added it will try to run POSPIA 3.0 at all of its branches across the world by the end of the year to improve efficiency in the work process.
The world’s fifth largest steel manufacturer said the big data system was an integrated system optimized to keep track of manufacturing, sales, marketing, finance and other activities and thus to beef up its global operations.
The systems include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Smart Workplace (SWP).
The difference in office locations makes it difficult to share data when needed, according to POSCO.
“We expect POSPIA 3.0 will innovative our work process, enhancing our competitiveness in the global market,” POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang said in a statement.
A POSCO spokeswoman also said, “It was not easy for us at headquarters in the past to find out about the steelmaking process at the Indonesia plant in real time, but now we can check it out via smartphones or tablets.”
The steelmaker will be able to make an optimal decision on its sales strategy based on data collected from its branches, according to POSCO.
The company has updated its strategy on a quarterly basis, but the new network will help it to do so every month, it added.
POSCO also said it can lower its management costs by up to 20 percent with POSPIA 3.0.
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