NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon isn’t the only company that is using data on employees to improve productivity. A New York Times article over the weekend portrayed Amazon’s work culture as “bruising” and “Darwinian” in part because of the way it uses data to manage its staff. The article depicted a work culture where staffers […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders started work on single-family houses last month at the fastest pace since the Great Recession began in late 2007. Housing starts in August rose 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million homes, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Construction of singlefamily houses accounted for all of the […]

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAMBER: MC 3 is an alliance of seven chambers of commerce (Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber is one) that markets the Mid-coast as a region, coordinating with and lending power and breadth to each chamber’s individual efforts. The council produces materials for tourism kiosks and travel shows, educates the Maine Office of Tourism […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity rose at a moderate pace in the April-June quarter as growth picked up and hiring remained steady. The Labor Department says worker productivity increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 percent, up from a drop of 1.1 percent in the first quarter. The first quarter’s decline was revised […]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — One of tech’s biggest names, Google, is reorganizing under a new moniker — “Alphabet” — in a move underscoring its founders’ ambitions to pursue ventures far beyond the company’s Internet search core, from self-driving cars to cutting edge medical research. It will still use the Google name for its popular Internet […]

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAMBER: Here’s a fun, but useful, segment from “The Wickedly Fun Dictionary of Business.” Use it when dealing with customers, partners and colleagues. Personalities, n.pl. Basically four types (see Analytical, Driver, Expressive, Amiable personalities). If you can learn to read them, it’s as close to mind reading as you’ll get. You’ll know […]

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama sought to clamp down Monday on power plant emissions with a federal plan that — if successful — would attempt to slow global warming by dramatically shifting the way Americans get and use electricity. Touting the plan at a White House ceremony, Obama described his unprecedented carbon dioxide limits as the […]

NEW YORK The big three U.S. airlines have all this week banned the shipment of hunting trophies, although it is unclear how many — if any — they have been carrying in recent years. Delta Air Lines was the first to announce the change Monday, saying that it would no longer accept lion, leopard, elephant, […]