Brad Spirrison: Part of Barack Obama's proposed energy policy is the creation of a $10 billion Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund. The junior senator from Illinois already has some experience in the venture sector. Five years and a political eternity ago, Obama as a state senator from Chicago actively pushed for more venture investments in Illinois startups.
Sandra Guy: Warranties are the Rodney Dangerfield of the retail and manufacturing industries. Yet companies ignore warranties at their peril. "When a company pays attention to its warranties, it's a great way to improve brand image, save money and improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and repeat purchases," said Eric Arnum, editor of Warranty Week magazine, based in Forest Hills, N.Y. Product warranty claims total a jaw-dropping $28 billion a year in the United States, and extended warranty claims add another $16 billion, Arnum said.
Lynn Sweet: Barack Obama's Democratic convention stage was unveiled Friday at the Pepsi Center here, and like the presidential candidate, it is hip --dressed with giant plasma HDTVs -- and larger than life -- about 8,000 square feet of projection space.
DENVER -- At 2 a.m. Chicago time, from a laptop in the "new media" office of Barack Obama's Michigan Avenue national campaign headquarters, the text message went out: Obama is tapping Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate. "Spread the Word," the dispatch concluded.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas---- Court authorities here will be able to track students with a history of skipping school under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System monitoring.
BEIJING---- Customers in China of Apple Inc.'s iTunes online music store were unable to download songs this week, and an activist group said Beijing was trying to block access to a new Tibet-themed album.
LONDON---- In another embarrassing stumble with computerized data, Britain's government confirmed Thursday that a contractor lost a memory device containing information on every prison inmate in England and Wales.
