A Marriage of Economic Convenience

THE scene last Tuesday night at a shopping party to preview the new Versace for H&M collection was fairly predictable, if you didn’t count the midnight concert by Prince. When the racks of gold-studded dresses and tropical-print shirts were finally unveiled, in a temporary store on a Hudson River pier, the invited fashion editors, celebrities and Nicki Minaj quickly picked them clean. “Many of the women in the crowd made beelines for the collection’s men’s clothes,” Style.com said. There was still a line outside the shop at 2:30 a.m.

More than a decade since Target first popularized collaborations between high-end designers and mass retailers, and seven years since H&M introduced a collection with Karl Lagerfeld, there is still allure in the concept of cheap and chic.

Based on news media coverage to date, there is every reason to expect huge crowds and long lines when the Versace clothes go on sale Thursday at international H&M stores (Donatella Versace is to attend the opening in London) and Saturday in the United States. Items from the collection like a cropped baseball jacket with vivid leopard-spotted sleeves, for $129, will undoubtedly sell out, and many of them will then likely reappear on eBay at a higher price. (Actually, that jacket is already there, with an asking price of $179.99.)

Despite concerns that the commonplace appearance of designer names at stores like Macy’s, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart and even Payless ShoeSource would eventually lead to shopper fatigue, such collaborations are proving to be both a reliable business model for retailers and a business in themselves.

And designers, even those who have far less name recognition than Ms. Versace, are finding these collaborations to be increasingly lucrative. While few details about financial relationships have ever been made public, the typical fees paid to designers have generally more than doubled over the last five years, according to several participants in recent deals, though each seems to follow its own rules.

Mr. Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney, who designed an H&M collection in 2005, were each reportedly paid $1 million for their services; and Madonna, whose M by Madonna collection was sold there in 2007, was said to have received $4 million. (Billboard reported in 2007 that sales of Madonna’s collection, which was broader than most, reached $20 million.)

Ms. Versace’s payment is expected to be closer to that of the other designers, according to company executives, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the terms were confidential. But Ms. Versace’s deal is based on a percentage of sales. It also includes a higher financial commitment from H&M for advertising and promotions. A spokeswoman for H&M said the company would not comment on any sales or compensation figures for the collaborations.

Marc Beckman, a founder of Designers Management Agency, a talent agency that has worked with labels like Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam, Christian Siriano and Sophie Theallet, said that deals with the biggest players in the fast-fashion sector now typically include cash payments of over $1 million. In 2007, many of those payments, particularly for Target’s Go International program for emerging designers, were reported to be around $250,000. Mr. Beckman negotiated a long-term contract for a Jay Manuel collection at Sears Canada, connected Rachel Roy with Amar’e Stoudemire for a collaboration and paired the handbag designer Monica Botkier with Swatch.

“The deals we have done, as long as they are for designers at the high end, are seven digits, and at the low end they are six digits,” Mr. Beckman said.

While the mechanics of such collaborations have become more sophisticated, just how they work has remained somewhat mysterious to shoppers, who may not realize that sales of Ms. Versace’s collection for H&M, or the wildly popular Missoni line that was sold at Target this fall, will barely have an effect on the retailers’ overall sales volumes. In fact, their success is not measured in dollars, but in overall media impressions, the metric used to determine how many times consumers read or saw a mention of the collaboration in the news media. The Missoni for Target collection, for instance, was covered in the September issues of more than 40 magazines and amassed impressions in the billions.

AT&T, U.S. argue over witnesses in antitrust trial

AT&T Inc complained on Wednesday that the Justice Department was too slow in telling who its witnesses would be as the government seeks to block the telecommunications giant's acquisition of rival T-Mobile USA.

The government, in a court filing Wednesday, proposed giving AT&T an initial list of up to 15 witnesses on November 18 and additional lists in December and January. The trial begins on February 13.

This did not please AT&T, which noted that the court had initially urged witness lists be exchanged "at the earliest possible time."

"More than six weeks after the court's order, defendants are still no closer to receiving a witness list. Yet plaintiffs seek to push the date back still further," AT&T said in its filing.

Instead, AT&T suggested Special Master Richard Levie consider giving each side a specific amount of time during the trial to be used as each side wishes.

"Plaintiff's (the government) case is likely to focus on the few competitors that plaintiffs claim matter in the market. Defendants' (AT&T) case will broaden that focus to show the much broader array of market participants competing fiercely for customers," AT&T said.

The government, for its part, argued that AT&T's desire for a quick trial would be undermined by its failure to cap its witness list.

"Defendants' proposal presages well over 100 depositions in December and early January. That is unreasonable, and court intervention now is necessary to stop it," the Justice Department said.

The Justice Department's antitrust division filed its lawsuit on August 31 to stop AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG, a $39 billion deal.

The deal would vault No. 2 ranked AT&T into the leading position in the U.S. wireless market. The current industry leader is Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. carrier, has also sued to stop the deal. T-Mobile is the No. 4 operator.

In addition to concerns about market concentration, the government believes that the loss of T-Mobile could push up wireless prices since T-Mobile generally costs less than other carriers.

AT&T argues the deal will accelerate its expansion of high-speed wireless service to nearly all Americans.

Other wireless carriers have also filed suit to stop the deal.

The cases are USA v. AT&T, T-Mobile USA Inc and Deutsche Telekom AG, case No. 11-1560; Sprint Nextel Corp v. AT&T Inc et al, No. 11-1600; and Cellular South v. AT&T, No. 11-1690. The three challenges are all before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Motorola revives Razr name with smartphone

With its super-slim, stylish frame, Motorola's Razr phone became incredibly popular in 2004 — a smash hit that Motorola hasn't been able to replicate. Now, many years later, the company is trying to recapture some of that magic by ushering the Razr into the smartphone age.

The new Droid Razr, available Friday through Verizon Wireless for $300 with a two-year service contract, echoes the svelte form and good looks of its ancestor.

It has many great features, including a big touch screen and the ability to use Verizon's high-speed 4G LTE network for zippy Web surfing. It also has Motorola's MotoCast service for wirelessly streaming and downloading content stored on your computer.

Yet I couldn't get much time to enjoy the phone because using it with LTE quickly wore down the battery.

And while the phone runs the latest version of Google Inc.'s Android software that is available for smartphones, shoppers may be tempted to wait. Verizon will soon offer Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, which will come with an even newer version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich. The Droid Razr is expected to get that update, too, but not until next year.

Don't get me wrong, though: The Droid Razr is a hot phone.

Gazing at it for the first time, I had the same thought as I did when I first laid eyes on the now-ancient Razr phone: How the heck did Motorola make the phone that thin? Except for a chunk at the top that houses the rear camera, flash and an external speaker, the Droid Razr is slimmer than any other smartphone. It's just a third of an inch thick. It's light, too, at 4.5 ounces.

It makes other smartphones — Apple's iPhone included — look chubby by comparison.

Its back is covered in diagonal gray and black lines composed of Kevlar fiber, which is meant to increase the phone's strength. Another perk, though one that's not visible: The phone has a water-repellent coating both inside and outside that is meant to shield it from damage caused by the occasional spill.

The Droid Razr boasts a 4.3-inch display, which is too big to fit too comfortably in my hand, but plenty large for watching videos and checking out websites. It isn't the highest-resolution screen you'll find on a smartphone, but colors looked bright and images were crisp.

The screen also works well as a viewfinder for the Razr's 8-megapixel camera. The camera snaps photos pretty quickly. I was able to capture sharp shots in bright and low light.

The phone is speedy overall, owing to its dual-core processor and 1 gigabyte of memory. I had no problem streaming tunes while I bounced between IM'ing friends, checking up on gossip sites and using Google Maps to find a good restaurant near my office.

The phone has a big battery that promises 12.5 hours of talk time. To keep the phone slim, the battery is built-in and cannot be easily replaced.

And, as expected, it won't last long if you're on Verizon's faster data network: Using a combination of LTE and Verizon's slower 3G network to surf the Web, stream an episode of "The Office," download apps and stream music from Pandora, I only had 15 percent battery life left after two-and-a-half hours.

That seemed lame. Of course you can lengthen the battery life by not using the LTE network, or by severely limiting how much you use it. But access to this high-speed network is one of the phone's best features, improving all sorts of Web-related tasks, including video streaming and Web surfing.

Fortunately, Motorola included a very neat app called Smart Actions that can alleviate a bit of the battery drain. Smart Actions can be set to automatically alter the Razr's settings at a certain time, either by using built-in "rules" that you can modify or by using ones you determine.

For example, you can set a low battery saver rule to dim your screen, turn off the phone's GPS and stop content from syncing in the background when the phone's battery reaches a certain level or when you get home. You can also set rules to support your own laziness. I instituted one that makes the phone launch its music app whenever I plug in a pair of headphones.

The phone also includes a service called MotoCast, which comes across as Motorola Mobility Holding Inc.'s answer to Apple Inc.'s iCloud content streaming service. With MotoCast, you can wirelessly access and download documents, music, videos and photos stored on your Mac or PC on your Razr.

Unfortunately, because content you stream with MotoCast is housed on your computer — not on remote computer servers as it is with iCloud — that computer must be on and connected to the Internet for you listen to The Beatles or watch old episodes of "The Simpsons." I don't know about you, but I don't leave my home or work computer online all the time.

You can download files to the phone for use at any time, but even with the phone's 32 gigabytes of storage space you can't possibly store as much content as you could on your computer.

Still, MotoCast is free. The software, which works with a number of Motorola smartphones, was easy to set up on my home computer. On the Razr, streaming songs show up in the phone's music app, denoted by a tiny icon, and they played flawlessly. Videos are less obvious: I found them in the phone's file manager and gallery apps. They didn't seem to stream as well, looking pixelated despite my connection to LTE.

Beyond the strengths and weaknesses of its hardware and software, though, I couldn't forget about the Razr's $300 price tag. This is higher than most other Android smartphones offered by the major wireless carriers. Even the cheapest iPhone 4S can be had for $200. It's sure to make some potential buyers balk.

The Droid Razr is as impressively skinny and stylish as its namesake. But shortcomings like its brief battery life when using LTE will likely make it hard for this smartphone to become as popular as its predecessor.

The song's the thing for Swift, Perry at CMAs

Though still largely the domain of men, triumphs by Taylor Swift and The Band Perry at the Country Music Association Awards show that the young women of country music are finding their voices and shoving the boys out of the way.

Swift won the CMA's entertainer of the year for the second time Wednesday night, Kimberly Perry of sibling act The Band Perry took home song of the year and two other awards with her brothers, Neil and Reid. Add in wins by Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Sugarland, and the songwriting strength of today's country girls is undeniable.

"When Taylor won entertainer I secretly sang (Beyonce's) 'Who runs the world? Girls,' to Blake," Lambert said after she and husband Blake Shelton repeated as male and female vocalist of the year. "I'm just really happy that females are starting to be very prominent and it is the female singer-songwriter.

"It's so cool that Kimberly wrote song of the year by herself. And that's a dream of mine. I'm just so happy the girls were really celebrated tonight."

Celebrated like rarely before. Swift became the second woman to win entertainer of the year twice, joining Barbara Mandrell, and she did it by the age of 21.

"To win it twice is like the coolest thing ever happening to me twice," Swift said backstage. "I'm freaking out right now."

She's inspired legions of young girls to take up guitar and write their own songs, and she has spread the gospel of country music to the Far East, filling stadiums like few others can. She crossed the 20 million mark in album sales and has almost no rival in the genre when it comes to bringing converts over the wall.

She's made all that headway on the strength of her songs. She loves nothing better than the process of turning inspiration into something that makes a connection with people all over the planet.

"All of the sudden this idea that was just yours is now everybody else's and they sing it in their cars and sing it about their breakups or falling in love and they incorporate it into their lives," Swift said.

Perry experienced a similar kind of revelation when her song "If I Die Young" conquered country radio then began to crossover on to pop stations. Rarely do country songs resonate across genres, and that the melancholy "If I Die Young" ran hard in the face of the successful formula so many follow made it even more impressive.

The song earned Perry song of the year, which goes to the writer, and The Band Perry, which includes her brothers, single of the year and new artist of the year.

Perry said the song came to her one afternoon and she got most of it down right away. She showed it to her mom and said she thought she'd bring it to Nashville to get help from another songwriter to finish it, but her mother encouraged her to keep ownership. It turned out to be the right choice.

"We sort of feel like we are part of the country evangelism scene and we love to hear country songs on pop radio," she said.

Crossing over was another strong theme of the night.

Jason Aldean, who earned his first major CMA award when his platinum-selling "My Kinda Party" won album of the year, also won musical event of the year for his duet "Don't You Wanna Stay" with pop star Kelly Clarkson. And Kenny Chesney won music video of the year for his duet "You and Tequila" with rocker Grace Potter.

Lady Antebellum, whose crossover appeal is rivaled only by Swift's, won its third straight vocal group of the year award and Sugarland took vocal duo of the year for the fifth straight time.

That theme also carried over to the stage where stars from different genres came together for some of the CMA's strongest performances. The show also featured plenty of sexy dancing, fire and belching smoke special effects and, at one point, acrobats spinning down from the ceiling on lengths of unspooling fabric.

Lionel Richie had every star buzzing on the red carpet before performing duets from his new country album with Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker and Little Big Town. He posed for a picture with Lambert and gave advice to Lady Antebellum on the red carpet.

Gregg Allman joined fellow Peach State natives Zac Brown Band on "Georgia on my Mind," Natasha Bedingfield, in a dress that featured a fluffy red skirt, joined Rascal Flatts on stage to perform their duet "Easy," and that was just the start of genre shuffling.

Shelton and Kenny Loggins opened the show with a high-energy version of Loggins' hit "Footloose." Later, Glen Campbell, one of country's biggest crossover pioneers who is now battling Alzheimer's disease, was given a musical tribute when Vince Gill, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley sang three of his songs.

Richie hadn't performed on the CMAs since 1986 when he appeared with Alabama. He noted the show has changed dramatically over the decades, as has country music.

"It's Cirque de Soleil ... it's full-on production," Richie said. "This is off-the-chain. This is the Oscars of the music business, the CMAs."

Lambert and Shelton made a little history when they took male and female vocalist of the year. They're the second married couple to win the awards in the same year.

"Congrats to my hubby, too," Lambert shouted from the stage to Shelton on the eve of her 28th birthday. "It's going to be a good night tonight, baby!" The camera cut to Shelton, who rubbed his hands together and smiled devilishly.

Pregnancy made my voice stronger

Mariah Carey is known for her five-octave range, and she says her voice has gotten stronger, thanks to pregnancy.

The 42-year-old gave birth to fraternal twins in April via C-section. She recently lost 30 pounds by following the Jenny Craig diet, and says the process has enhanced her vocals.

"Right now I feel like pregnancy actually helped me vocally," Carey said in an interview Wednesday. "At this moment my voice is in great shape."

The Grammy winner is also working on new music, which she said is partly inspired by her pregnancy.

Carey made the comments as she was announced as the new brand ambassador for Jenny Craig, which is now called Jenny. The singer said after giving birth she was "approached by a lot of different companies," but that the folks at Jenny "understood me."

During her pregnancy Carey dealt with gestational diabetes and toxemia. She says "you couldn't make me go through that again.

"I knew I was going to gain weight during the pregnancy, but I didn't think about the pain the weight would cause," she said. "I didn't know if I was going to be able to walk again ... I couldn't get up out of my chair alone."

Carey said in addition to eating right, she worked out a lot, though husband Nick Cannon wasn't her partner in that sense.

"He's in great shape and he can eat anything he wants (and) I'm jealous of that," she said. "But sometimes I'm glad 'cause he has candy by the bed, and I'll sneak one of his little candies."

Carey says her involvement with Jenny — which supports the American Heart Association's "My Heart. My Life." initiative — stretches beyond just helping women bounce back from weight gain during pregnancy.

"We just lost Heavy D," she said of the rapper who collapsed and died Tuesday. "I considered him my friend and ... he was (in his) early 40s, so it's serious. It's really serious."

What are Some Affordable Digital Cameras

Many of us, are very interested in photography, and get attracted towards cameras, especially digital cameras that are available in the market. We look out for the best one which has a better mechanism and most importantly, we see, whether it confines to our budget or not. But, we still don't want to compromise on the quality. This requires proper analyzing of the product and its features. Here are some digital cameras listed below, that may be affordable and in your budget. Take a look...

Affordable Digital Cameras

Nikon Coolpix S570 ($149.95 - $199.95)
Nikon Coolpix S570 is a slim, light-weight digital camera with nice design and good features like smart portrait system, good lens specifications, etc. This ultra compact camera is simple and stylish and it is available in pink, red, blue and black.

Key Specs

• Dimensions (WHD): 3.6 x 2.2 x 0.8 inches
• Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Megapixels: 12 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.7 inches
• Zoom: 5x
• Highest Resolution Size: 4000 x 3000 pixels

Canon Powershot A480 ($89 - $110)
Canon Powershot A480 is one of the affordable models designed by Canon. It is simple and easy to use. The design is not really very attractive but, it is good enough to take fine photos and to serve your modest requirements in photography. It is available in red, blue, silver and black colors. The performance is not very high but satisfactory. It is powered by AA alkaline batteries.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 3.6 x 2.4 x 1.2 inches
• Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Megapixels: 10 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.5 inches
• Zoom: 3.3x
• Highest Resolution Size: 3648 x 2736 pixels

Canon PowerShot A1200 - Silver ($ 109.00 approximately)
This Canon model is quite inexpensive and affordable one. Though it is inexpensive, the quality of this camera is not compromised, but don't expect very high performance. It delivers high photo and video quality but shooting performance is not up to the mark. I wouldn't recommend it for daily active use, but as of money is concerned, it is budget-friendly. AA alkaline batteries are employed to power this compact digital camera.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 3.8 x 2.5 x 1.2 inches
• Weight: 6.5 ounces
• Megapixels: 12 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.7 inches
• Zoom: 4x
• High Resolution Size: 4000 x 3000 pixels

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W570 ($144.99 - $186.80)
This is an ultra-compact digital camera, which is reliable and simple to use. Lens softness in the some edges and corners is an undesirable feature in this camera. Decent photography and auto shooting features are some of the good features in it. Shot to shot slowness, prevents it from high ratings. It is powered by lithium-ion batteries.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 3.6 x 2.1x 0.8 inches
• Weight: 4.1 ounces
• Megapixels: 16 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.7 inches
• Zoom: 5x
• High Resolution Size: 4,608 x 3456 pixels

How does YouTube Make Money?

The first YouTube video was uploaded on 23rd April, 2005 and featured Jawed Karim, one of the founders of the site, at the San Diego zoo and since then the site has come a long way. Before the advent of YouTube in 2005, people easily sent text through email and even photographs and images as email attachments but sharing videos on the Internet was something that no one could think of. But thanks to Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, the three men behind the creation of YouTube, video sharing became fun and easier than ever before. All you need to do is visit the site, search for your favorite video and then just sit back and enjoy! What's more, you can even create your own profile by registering with the site for free and then log in and upload your own videos. The videos on the site are Flash videos and to view them, you need to have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed in your browser.

Before we get on to find out how YouTube makes money, let's try to understand a little about the business dynamics of YouTube, which includes the cost of hosting and distributing so many videos. If we consider the expenses of any website, the first thing that comes to our mind is sourcing the content. However, most of the content on YouTube is free as the videos are uploaded by people who are members of the site. However, there are other charges that include hosting charges, uploading charges, charges for transcoding and most importantly, charges for distributing. The estimated price that YouTube pays per month for bandwidth is around 30 million U.S. dollars, which is a pretty big amount!

How does YouTube Earn Money?

In November 2006, Google bought YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion and now the site functions as a subsidiary of the Internet giant. The fact that Google Inc. showed interest in acquiring YouTube means that YouTube was indeed a money spinning venture that made huge profits. So, where does all this money come from and what makes YouTube such a successful business venture financially? Read on to know.

Revenue from Advertising
This is by far the biggest source of revenue for any site and YouTube is no exception. If you type something in the search box and click enter, you are directed to a page that displays the search results that match the words you had typed in. If you look at the right side of this page, you'll find that there are a number of links of websites featured under a section named 'Google Ads'. These are nothing but Google AdSense advertisements and every time someone clicks on these links, YouTube earns revenue.

Another way to earn money through advertisements is to place ad clips before or after a video. This is termed as premier advertising and is rare in YouTube. Even though millions of videos are viewed by people who visit the site, you can see that hardly any of the videos have ads in them. Only 3-4% of the total videos on the site have ads in them while the rest do not.

The estimated revenue earned can be arrived at by a simple calculation: if the amount gained from advertising is greater than the cost of hosting, per video, then the site definitely stands to gain huge revenues. Now, advertisements are again not all the same and fall under two major categories. Advertisement clips that are a part of the video and play either before the video clip or at the end of it, come under the category of macro-advertising. On the other hand, micro-advertising includes Google ads that are not a part of the video but appear on the web page. In YouTube, you would rarely find macro-advertising but mostly you would find Google ads. No matter what the type of ads, the revenue of a site is directly proportional to the percentage of content that carries an ad with it. And taking into consideration the huge popularity of YouTube and the millions of users the site attracts, it does manage to make huge profits in spite of the humble web advertising rates for micro-advertising.

Revenue From Bidding Keywords
If you know the basics of search engine optimization, you must be aware of what keywords are. They are words or a group of words that most people search for. Now, if you begin typing something in Google's search box, you'd see that there are a few suggestions that appear. In the same way, you find suggestions appearing below the search box in YouTube as well. The phrases that appear are termed as keywords. Now, say the name of the video you have uploaded on the site is "How to Jump Around the House" and you wish more and more people to come and "see" you jumping around. So, what is the best thing to do? Well, if you can make your title appear as a suggestion the moment someone types 'how to', then the chance that people would land up on your page increases manifold, isn't it? For this, all you need to do is bid for keywords. The more the number of people who bid for their video titles (or a part of it) to appear in the list of suggested keywords, the more the revenue earned by YouTube!

In addition to this, YouTube has launched a service in the U.S. whereby people who subscribe can watch movies online on a rental basis. Also, agreements with various entertainment houses allowing them to showcase their films and shows on the site, contribute to the revenue earned.