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TRADER: 4 Reasons The Euro Is Ridiculously Strong Right Now

Simone Foxman — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:17:00 -0500

The euro has been incredibly strong lately, despite the fact that the outcome of the eurozone crisis remains uncertain and the drama never ends around the terms of the second Greek bailout.

So what's going on?

Tommy Molloy, chief dealer on the trading floor of FX Solutions, told us that there are four good reasons for the euro to hear "nothing but bad news and [do] nothing but go higher":

Lately, Southeast Asian central banks have been building up their domestic reserves and diversifying their reserve portfolios. Dollars are their main purchase, but they're also buying euros and even British sterling.
The Middle East has traditionally been a key buyer of euros, and the fact that oil is now selling above $100 per barrel means they have cash to spend—particularly when the euro is cheap. Molloy explained, "The amount of euro appetite from the Middle East has been notable on any dips below $1.30."
The market is extremely short of euros right now. "If you put a gun to anybody's head and say, 'Are you buying or selling [euros],' you have to say sell it," Molloy told us. "This suggests that a weak side is the upside."
European banks, corporates, and Industrials are all repatriating their funds from abroad to strengthen the appearance of their balance sheets. As these transactions go through, this produces euro strength despite the fact that the cause is economic weakness.

Ultimately, these four developments show up as euro strength in the short term.

That said, that doesn't mean the euro is fundamentally strong. In fact, Molloy pegged the purchasing power of a euro at around $1.20.

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WATCH: Was This Dunk Better Than Blake Griffin's?

Cork Gaines — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:08:00 -0500

When Blake Griffin threw down his dunk that nearly broke the social mediasphere a couple of weeks ago, there were some that weren't sold on its greatness. The main concern was that the actual "dunk" part, was more like a layup because he was so far from the basket.

Well, those people won't have the same problem with this dunk by Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Whatever Griffin's dunk wasn't, this one was.

Of course, this one won't blow up like Griffin's because: a) nobody suffered the same embarrassment as Kendrick Perkins did for getting dunked on (unless of course you consider the pain inflicted on the ball. No way it survived); and b) it wasn't Blake Griffin.

But we can still enjoy the beauty of flight mixed with sheer power (via TNT)...

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This Is What It's Like When The Tea Party Invades Washington

Grace Wyler — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:12:00 -0500

The first day of the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference is finally winding down, as the visiting Republicans make their way to secret hotel suite after-parties and other conservative bacchanalia going on around Washington tonight.

For the uninitiated, CPAC is an annual opportunity for right-wing Americans to really let their freak flag fly, away from the prying eyes of the liberal elite. Thousands of conservatives descended on Washington this year for three days of Republican pageantry, during which even the fringey-est elements of the GOP are allowed to make their presence known.

The entire spectrum of American conservatism was on display for the opening day on Thursday. Candidates of conservative past (Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry) were on hand, as well as candidates of the movement's future (i.e. Rand Paul, Marco Rubio).

Away from the main stage, white nationalist Peter Brimelow spoke at a panel on the "failure of multiculturalism," convicted Iran-Contra propagandist Elliot Abrams talked about the relative merits of the Arab Spring, and "juggler/pickup artist" Wayne Elise schooled young conservatives in the perils of bipartisan dating.

Overall, it was a spirited start to what promises to be an eventful election-year CPAC. We can only hope that this is a preview to the 2012 RNC in Tampa this summer.

Not surprisingly, the first sight upon pulling up to CPAC was our old friend Herman Cain's omnipresent face-bus — a great omen for the madness to come.

Mr. Cain proved he can still draw a crowd — the grand ballroom was packed for his CPAC address.

Cain took the opportunity to endorse his good friend, Joe The Plumber, who is running for Congress in Ohio.

Joe The Plumber, otherwise known as Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, has apparently promised to promote Cain's signature 9-9-9 tax plan, a prerequisite for Cain's support.

Interestingly, Cain did not mention Newt Gingrich, despite his very public endorsement of the former House Speaker in Florida last month. Rick Perry, another former candidate backing Gingrich, also neglected to mention him in his CPAC speech Thursday.

CPAC also helped us out with some other lingering "Where Are They Now?" questions. Former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron (better known in this crowd for his role in the Left Behind films) was on hand to introduce his new film "Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure."

The movie retraces the voyage of the Pilgrims and the history of the Founding Fathers in order to discover why American has lost its exceptionalism and why the American family is falling apart.

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Dwight Howard Snubs The Wheelchair-Bound Owner Of The Orlando Magic

Cork Gaines — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:51:00 -0500

The bad blood between Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic may have boiled to the surface yesterday. According to Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com, Howard appeared to snub the owner of the Magic when he entered the locker room prior to last night's game.

It looks even worse now that the 85-year old owner is restricted to a wheelchair.

While players such as Jason Richardson and Daniel Orton went out of their way to greet [Richard] Devos, Howard did not acknowledge the wheelchair-bound owner upon entering the locker room or during Devos' media session.

It is no secret that Dwight Howard wants the Orlando Magic to trade him (to a team of his choice). And so far, no deal has been made, and the Magic are still hoping to re-sign their superstar.

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Here's How Microsoft Could Sell Lots Of ARM Tablets To Big Companies (MSFT)

Julie Bort — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:36:03 -0500

Enterprises might get a break on Windows 8 devices with Office 15 -- if they happened to have signed a new Enterprise Agreement after mid 2011.

That's speculation from Cynthia Farren, principal of a software license consulting company.

While Microsoft has not yet laid out its plans for how to charge enterprises for Windows ARM devices, it has offered clues.

An Enterprise Agreement is a license with Microsoft which covers much of a company's Microsoft software. It includes side benefits, particularly free upgrades to the latest versions of Microsoft software.

Earlier today, Microsoft said that Windows 8 ARM devices will include a special version of Office.

In EA agreements after mid-2011, Microsoft deliberately changed the definition of "qualified desktop" to "qualified device" when indicating what type of device is covered by the EA.

"If your EA includes Office and specifies 'device' then Microsoft will likely have to include Office 15 on ARM in your EA licensing agreement," says Farren.

But the trickier part is how Microsoft will charge for the Windows 8 operating system itself. To understand the potential gotcha, you've got to understand how Microsoft treats non-Windows devices in these agreements.

If a company yanks out its Windows desktops and replaces them with iPads that are set up to be able to run Windows and Office apps, Microsoft charges a "Virtual Desktop Access" fee for each device. And it doesn't remove those devices from the cost of the EA agreement unless a company deliberately goes back and negotiates for that. So Microsoft will double charge for those devices -- still charging for the Windows license no longer in use and also charging a fee to access Windows in a virtual Web-based cloud way.

Microsoft is clearly trying to penalize non-Windows devices by making it uber expensive to run Windows software on them.

So, if Windows 8 on an ARM tablet is considered a "fully functional OS" and not an "embedded OS" then an upgrade to it would be covered by the EA license with SA. A company with a recent EA could swap out other Windows devices with the tablet and be squared away.

It is unclear how Microsoft will treat customers with older EA agreements that still use the words "qualified desktop."

Farren also says that she doesn't expect Microsoft to be offering any great deals on EA licenses for Windows ARM tablets. While companies may not have to pay for Office 15 or the VDA fee, there are other gotchas. Because employees may actually need two devices -- their PC and their tablet -- enterprises could wind up spending more on Microsoft overall.

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Check Out This Crazy Front Page Of A Greek Newspaper

Joe Weisenthal — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:23:28 -0500

We don't speak Greek, but it's not hard to figure out the message going on here. (Via @fgoria)

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INFOGRAPHIC: How Kissing Helps Men Live Longer

Jana Kasperkevic — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:03:11 -0500

In anticipation of Valentine's day— and ensuing lipstick and chocolate stains — Clorox came out with some enlightening infographics.

Apparently, consumers buy more than 52 million pounds of chocolate during Valentine's week bringing the sales of chocolate for the holiday to more than one billion dollars. To work off all those extra calories, consumers should plan on doing a lot of smooching since one minute of "passionate kissing" burns 6.4 calories.

Another heart-healthy factoid: men who kiss their wives in the morning live fiver years long than those who don't

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WATCH: Charles Barkley Thinks Truman Defeated Nixon In '48

Cork Gaines — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:54:00 -0500

During halftime of tonight's Celtics-Lakers game, the TNT studio crew discussed Duke's win over UNC. And in doing so, they poked some fun at Kenny Smith with a Photoshop job on the iconic image of Harry S Truman holding up a copy of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman." In the TNT version, Smith is holding a paper that reads "UNC Defeats Duke."

Well, while the other hosts were giggling like schoolgirls, Charles Barkley can be heard asking "was that Truman-Nixon?" And then just before going to commercial, he asks it again.

While this certainly good for a chuckle, we need to keep in mind that Chuck says he will run for Governor of Alabama in 2014. Let's hope he brushes up on his history first.

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These Vandalized Mad Men Ads Are Absolutely Wonderful

Jim Edwards — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:30:00 -0500

Ever since AMC began advertising the new season of Mad Men (starting March 25) with almost entirely blank posters showing a falling man in a suit, vandals in New York have been adding their own flourishes in the white space.

And the results are brilliant. You can see a collection of vandalized Mad Men posters here.

The Gothamist blog went one further and asked its readers to create their own Photoshopped version of the Mad Men ads, and got even better results.

Who wouldn't want to see Mad Men CSI: Miami, for instance?

This is an actual, original, unaltered Mad Men poster as displayed in subway stations. Next, see what people did to them...

Singin' in the rain

Breakdancing! (By Deric)

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49 States Agreed To The Mortgage Settlement—Here's Why Oklahoma Refused To Go Along

Ben Walsh — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:48:36 -0500

The New York Observer's Foster Kamer has a great post on why Oklahoma's Attorney General refused to join into the mortgage settlement.

There are, expectedly, diverse opinions on the settlement, from both sides of the debate and a comfortable middle.

Wherever you land on that spectrum, when 49 states go along with a decision and one holds out, there's something going on.

Kamer does a great job debunking Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's claim that Oklahoma homeowner's will get the same amount of money as those in the other 49 states and tosses aside the claim that the state didn't need to participate because it has an acceptable foreclosure rate.

So what's up with Pruitt? It's impossible to know his motivations with any certainty, of course, but this doesn't make things look good:

In Pruitt’s words, he did it for the community banks. And on principle, of course.

For what it’s worth, the article provides some samples from Pruitt’s 2010 donation cycle:

JP MORGAN CHASE & CO: $10,000.00
ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF OKLAHOMA: $5,000.00
ERC LAND DEVELOPMENT GROUP LLC: $5,000.00
AMERICAN FIDELITY CORP: $5,000.00
KOCH INDUSTRIES: $5,000.00
OKLAHOMA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS: $4,000.00
OKLAHOMA BANKERS ASSOCIATION: $3,500.00

And some broader totals:

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate: $175,172.00
Lawyers & Lobbyists: $142,835.00
General Business: $125,546.00

Read the full post at the New York Observer here > >

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The 8 Wildest Hotel Pool Parties On The Planet

Oyster.com — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:40:00 -0500

This post originally appeared at Oyster.com.

It’s time to get wet, y’all! With Spring Break just around the corner — and the rest of us here dying for a warm-weather vacation — we thought about where we’d wanna party in the sun.

Check out the hottest pool parties around the globe.

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino; Las Vegas, NV

WHY SPLASH AROUND HERE: Easily one of the most popular with the bachelor-and-bachelorette set, the weeklySunday Rehab Pool Party is notorious for bringing in huge (but sexy!) crowds. An eight-hour affair (it starts at noon), the party is known to bring in top party DJs from around the globe including Paul Oakenfold and Bad Boy Bill who spin tunes that range from Top 40 pop hits to banging house beats.

Source: Oyster.com

Bahia Principe San Juan; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

WHY SPLASH AROUND HERE: Party-seeking, money-saving folks flock to this vibrant all-inclusive resort in the middle of nowhere — which doesn’t seem to bother its guests. In addition to its lively pool activities, the hotel features regular karaoke and a bitchin’ disco where plenty of people boogie down.

Source: Oyster.com

Room Mate Grace; New York City, NY

WHY SPLASH AROUND HERE: Well, for starters, Room Mate Grace offers New York City‘s only swim-up bar — practically in the lobby. (There’s also a 24-hour steam room and sauna to enjoy, too.) But the party to check out here is on Wednesday nights for the gay-friendly crowd; tales from nights here have been legendary. The hotel’s location isn’t so bad too, located smack in the middle of the city: The heart of Times Square.

Source: Oyster.com

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SPOTTED: This Hot Model Made An Appearance At New York Fashion Week

Travis Okulski — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:38:00 -0500

New York's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week has officially kicked off. Designers from around the world are starting to show off the newest and most stylish looks for men and women on the runway.

But some of the models might be more at home on a highway.

Nothing goes with fashion better than a stylish new ride. Unsurprisingly, there is a large Mercedes presence at the Fashion Week events.

Our own Meredith Galante is off covering every little nuance of Fashion Week, and she just happened to stumble across one of the latest cars Mercedes has introduced.

This 2013 SL convertible was just hanging out to the entrance of one of the many events Meredith will be attending over the coming week. While we initially did not like the car, the design is really growing on us.

Have you spotted a rare or unusual car/plane/train/boat/industry person in your travels? Did you take a photo? Do you like sharing?

If you answered yes to these questions, please send the picture to tokulski@businessinsider.com along with where you spotted it to be considered for our Photo of the Day.

Now take a peek at yesterday's Photo of the Day >

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The NY Mets Owners Are Asking The Supreme Court To Intervene In Their Fight For Madoff Money

AP — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:09:01 -0500

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Mets' owners want the Supreme Court to decide whether only those investors who lost money should get a share of proceeds recovered from Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

Sterling Equities Associates, which owns the Mets, on Feb. 3 asked the high court to hear the case. It will likely take months before justices decide if they will.

Thousands of investors lost billions of dollars before Madoff revealed his scheme in 2008. Judges repeatedly agreed with a trustee trying to recover money for investors that only those who lost their original investment can get a portion of what he recovers.

Trustee spokeswoman Amanda Remus says the Supreme Court should decline to hear the case because Sterling Equities is offering the same arguments that were already rejected by lower courts.

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Markets Are Inching Lower In Asia

Sam Ro — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:03:48 -0500

There hasn't been any major news since U.S. markets closed and Asian markets opened for trading.

Japan's Nikkei is down 0.1%.

Korea's Kospi is down 0.5%.

Australia's S&P/ASX is down 0.3%.

It appears Greece and the troika (i.e. the EU, ECB and IMF) have finally agreed on austerity measures, which should get Greece one step closer to its much needed bailout money.

However, we didn't see markets move in a major way in either direction.

This tight global market trading range has simultaneously been remarkable and quite boring.

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55% Of Young Investors Don't Plan On Funding Their IRA This Tax Season

Jill Krasny — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:00:04 -0500

Young adults just can't seem to catch a break.

According to T. Rowe Price, 55 percent of Generation X and Y investors—defined as ages 35-50 and 21-34, respectively—don't plan to do a thing with their IRA and/or aren't sure whether they want to.

Contrast that with last year when 71 percent of these investors made a contribution for the 2010 tax year.

A mix of factors—feeling too poor (32 percent), market volatility (14 percent) and job uncertainty (12 percent)—played a role, but debt was probably the biggest issue, with 56 percent of respondents saying they'd prefer to sock their cash in a rainy day fund or pay off their bills instead. (See the best and worst places to hide your emergency cash.)

"Given their economic fears, it is understandable why many younger investors might be unable or unwilling to fund all of their tax-advantaged accounts and are focusing primarily on their 401(k) during this tax season," said Stuart L. Ritter, CFP and senior financial planner for T. Rowe Price.

But young investors are missing out, as their greatest asset is time.

Per Your Money contributor Wealthfront: "The power of compounding mean your dollars are twice as powerful in your 20s as your 30s.

If you invest $2,000 a month starting at age 20 to withdraw when you’re 60, and earn a conservative 4%, you end up with $1.4 million. If you wait until you are 30 to start, you’ll end up with $670,000."

Don't Miss: 3 Things Advisers Are Doing To Get Millennials Excited About Investing >

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WATCH: 14 Videos Of Michelle Obama Exercising

Jordan Teicher — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:47:00 -0500

Today is the Second Anniversary of Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative!

To celebrate, we've collected 14 videos of Michelle Obama, well, moving. We found her playing ping pong, basketball, soccer, and basketball and dancing with just about everyone.

Click here to go directly to the videos >>>>>

As the Washington Post's Krissah Thompson noted today, Obama will do just about anything to promote fitness in America. That includes competing in a potato sack race with Jimmy Fallon, doing push-ups with Ellen DeGeneres, and getting silly on a Nickelodeon television show.

She really, really wants everyone to exercise. And she's been effective, apparently. According to a survey by the Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than eight in ten Americans have heard of Obama's initiative.

But the First Lady's work isn't done. Thompson reports that Obama has announced a four-state tour to promote her efforts. So expect to see more of Obama breaking a sweat soon. We'll keep you posted.

Feel the burn, Ellen!

Were those real push-ups? We're not experts but this still looked pretty impressive. Maybe Ellen will think twice next time she challenges the First Lady.

No need to teach Michelle the Dougie. She already knows it.

Michelle has some dance skills, and this video is undeniable proof.

Show me your moves.

When Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres meet, there tends to be some movement. Back during the 2008 race, Michelle and Ellen showed off their best moves.

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INTRODUCING THE AZERBAIJAN TOWER: Soon To Be The World's Tallest Building

Adam Taylor — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:46:00 -0500

We brought you the news last month that Azerbaijan was planning to build the world's tallest building at 3,645 feet — taller than both the Burj Khalifa and the upcoming Kingdom Tower to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Now, News.az brings us more information on the building, which will be known as the Azerbaijan Tower and will feature 189 floors.

The building is being built on a series of artificial islands, called the Khazar Islands, constructed in the Caspian Sea off Garadag, southwest of Baku. The company behind the building, Avesta Group, is said to be in talks with the companies behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and hopes the building to be complete by 2018-2019.

It's all going to cost a pretty penny, of course. Architizer reports that the islands are due to cost $100 billion and the tower itself $2 billion — it looks like Azerbaijan will be putting that energy money they are getting into use.

Let's hope the building fares better than the Burj, which is now a "distressed" property.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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SAM STOVALL: Here's The Best Way To Profit From The January Effect, Presidential Cycle And S&P 5-Day Rule (SPY)

Sam Ro — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:40:00 -0500

Bear with us as we set aside fundamentals for a moment.

Much has been made about a slew of popular bullish stock market indicators that have been confirmed since the beginning of the year. Lets review a few:

January effect: A positive January for stocks has led to a positive year 86 percent of the time since 1945.
Election year: The fourth year of a presidential term is usually a good one for stocks. In fact a positive January during an election year has led to a positive year 100 percent of the time.
The early warning signal: Also known as the 'S&P 5-day rule,' if stocks are positive during the first five days of January, then January and the full year are positive 86 percent of the time.
The Super Bowl Indicator: When a team from the old NFL (NFC division) wins the Super Bowl, the S&P 500 rises for the year 78 percent of the time.

No one knows more about this stuff than S&P's Sam Stovall, who wrote the book on Wall Street rules of thumb. Literally. It's titled The Seven Rules of Wall Street. And his father, Wall Street legend Bob Stovall, is the Super Bowl indicator's official custodian.

Sam's latest Stovall's Sector Watch addresses these indicators. And he starts off with the warning you'll get from any piece of investor advice: "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."

Having said that, Stovall notes that predictive power of these beginning-of-the-year indicators aren't completely without merit. He argues there are strong "behavioral reasons" that could drive investors to pour into stocks. From his note:

Investors are a lot like dieters; they look to January as a new beginning. With cash on the sidelines, combined with the desire to take advantage of the more favorable tax treatment offered by long-term capital gains, investors are likely to reinvest these assets in opportunities that are perceived to reap rewards over the coming 12 months.

But he suggests a targeted approach to investing over buying the whole S&P 500. It's called the January Barometer Portfolio, which "uses January performances for sectors and sub-industries as a clue to their results for the coming 12 months." From his note:

As I wrote in my book The Seven Rules of Wall Street, which leverages time-tested rules of thumb to create market-beating portfolios, investors could have reaped rewards by taking a cue from the three S&P 500 sectors or 10 S&P 500 sub-industries that posted the strongest results during January. Since 1990, a portfolio consisting of an equal weighting to the three best performing sectors in January posted a compound annual growth rate of 8.0% in the following 12 months (February through January), versus 6.6% for the S&P 500, and beat the market in nearly two of every three years. The sub-industry-level results were even more encouraging. Since 1970, a portfolio consisting of an equal weighting to the 10 S&P 500 sub-industries with the best January performances went on to post a 12- month CAGR of 14.4% versus 6.8% for the S&P 500 (excluding dividends). What's more, this January Barometer Portfolio of sub-industries beat the market nearly 70% of the time. Of course, there's no guarantee that what worked in the past will work again in the future.

Of course, this isn't an air-tight investment strategy. Stovall is the first to admit it. Again, from his note:

No technique works every time, and the same holds true for the January Barometer. Last year's two January Barometer Portfolios (sector and sub-industry) underperformed the broader market. While the S&P 500 rose 2.0% from January 31, 2011 through January 31, 2012 (excluding dividends), the three sectors gained 0.5%, while the 10 sub-industries advanced 0.6%.

The recent underperformance of the Barometer Portfolio is probably a turn off. But Stovall invokes another popular rule of thumb: Murphy's Law. From his note:

But I believe Murphy's Law applies to investing as well: The year you give up on a time-tested investment strategy that has suffered through a batting slump is the year in which it begins to outperform once again.

So, are you willing to bet that the Barometer Portfolio will be a home run this year? If so, here are the sectors and sub-industries you should be in:

Sectors: Financials, Information Technology, Materials
Sub-industries: Aluminum, Construction & Farm Machinery & Heavy Trucks, Diversified Metals & Mining, Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals, Internet Retail, Investment Banking & Brokerage, Life Sciences Tools & Services, Multi-Sector Holdings, Other Diversified Financial Services, and Real Estate Services

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Inside TaskRabbit: Nobody Does Their Own Chores, So There's More Time For Fun And Pranks

Boonsri Dickinson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:32:00 -0500

Kobe the dog is TaskRabbit's chief inspiration officer.

It's a fancy position for a pet, but it's well-deserved, considering the dog actually inspired Leah Busque to start TaskRabbit.

Click here to see what it's like to work at TaskRabbit→

One night on February 2008, Busque was sitting at home and getting ready for dinner with her husband when she realized she was out of dog food.

The couple wondered: Are we going to have a cab stop on the way home? Later that night, they kept talking about how it would be nice if there was a place to go to online where could name a price they were willing to pay for someone to get them dog food.

Busque quit her job at IBM and founded TaskRabbit in June 2008. The site has grown since we last spoke to Busque: since the company's series A round in May, TaskRabbit has seven times the amount of users, and the posted tasks have tripled. TaskRabbit also closed a second funding round of $17.8 million in December, and is now in seven cities: San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, Seattle, and Portland. The next city is Austin, which will launch at SXSW next month.

We visited TaskRabbit's San Francisco offices to see what it's like there...

Here we are. That rabbit looks busy!

Johnny Brackett showed us around. He's talking to marketing head Jamie Viggiano. Brackett joked that most employees love TaskRabbit so much, they probably should start doing their own errands again.

TaskRabbit began serving consumers, but small businesses are beginning to see the value. Susie Cakes likes to use the service for delivery. Companies like Google and Twitter offer a discount to their employees.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Here Are The 10 Best Rivalries In The NBA

Bleacher Report — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:06:00 -0500

This post originally appeared at Bleacher Report.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics resume their storied rivalry Thursday night as Kobe Bryant and the Lakers take on the Green in Beantown.

And whether it's Kobe versus Boston's "Big Three" or Magic going up against Bird, this Lakers-Celtics rivalry—probably the NBA's best ever—has seen plenty of meaningful iterations in recent years.

But there are plenty of other NBA rivalries that are nearly as bitter.

Here's a look at 10 of pro basketball's best rivalries of the last 30 years, at BleacherReport.com >

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