A high school teacher in Greenwich, Conn., has decided he's tired of students sleeping through class. So tired, in fact, that he sponsors the Power Nap Club, encouraging students to briefly nod off throughout the day.
According to CNN, the Power Nap Club teaches relaxation, breathing, and catnapping skills so students can face the rest of their stressful day feeling rested and focused. The 20-member club continues to grow. We suspect there are thousands of members nationwide -- they just don't know it yet.
The FOOL 50, asleep on the job, dropped almost 2% today.
In today's Motley Fool Take:
- Bye-Bye HP. Hello WorldCom?
- Quote of Note
- Retirement Fact of the Day
- Do It eBay
- Discussion Board of the Day: eBay
- Rent Movies Online
- Shameless Plug: Motley Fool Stock Advisor
- Quick Takes: General Electric, Nokia, Microsoft, more
- And Finally...
Bye-Bye HP. Hello WorldCom?
Don't ever accuse Michael Capellas of not enjoying a challenge. He worked alongside Carly Fiorina to push through the sticky sale of Compaq to Hewlett-Packard
Capellas has served as HP's president since the acquisition was completed in May of this year. He was Compaq's chief executive officer and chairman before that. A seasoned and well-respected executive with some 20-plus years of working in technology (including at Oracle
His loss will be felt at HP. Fiorina won't replace his position and therefore will be responsible for the day-to-day operations Capellas handled so deftly. He was the man in the trenches, keeping the combined company on target. Can Fiorina do the same, as effectively? Investors don't seem sure, and shares of HP traded down over 12% today.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Capellas is on the shortlist of candidates to head up bankrupt WorldCom. No comment from either HP or WorldCom today about the possibility, but if it were to happen, it would be a coup for WorldCom. Capellas is considered one of the ablest and brightest tech executives around; his leadership could make all the difference at a company many have written off altogether.
WorldCom is reportedly a few days to a week away from announcing its decision on its new chief. The court-appointed monitor must give the go-ahead for the CEO's compensation package, in addition to getting the green light from WorldCom's board, senior management, and creditors' committee.
There is still much to be done on the WorldCom side, and lots of uncertainty surrounding the entire situation. Will Capellas be named as WorldCom's new head? How will Fiorina and HP manage without him? Will he go on to do something completely different? Stay tuned.
Quote of Note
"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace." -- Amelia Earhart
Retirement Fact of the Day
Retirement wealth declined 11% from 1983 to 1998 for households at the median.
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Do It eBay
Did you catch the new eBay
"Do it eBay" is the new slogan, and, like Sinatra, it's hard to argue with the way eBay is doing things -- its successful track record speaks for itself. Two weeks ago, the company provided yet another upbeat outlook.
Keep in mind that eBay is an online freak of nature. It's like a 300-pound linebacker running a 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds. The company, with just over a billion in revenue over the past year, is still growing its listings by 48% this quarter. That percentage is on top of both a higher fee structure than last year's and new money-making enhancements, such as allowing sellers to reach under-bidders with second-chance offers.
While other e-tailing bellwethers, such as Amazon
With eBay holding true to its aged prediction of achieving $3 billion in revenue by 2005, maybe "My Way" wasn't the best Sinatra cut to butcher. The "New York, New York" references to "king of the hill, top of the heap" are far more appropriate. Even Nancy Sinatra's boots are worth mentioning, since the online auctioneer's been walking all over detractors for nearly six years of its publicly traded life.
Maybe the ad is a little over the top. That's fine. So is eBay's performance.
Discussion Board of the Day: eBay
What do you think of the new "Do it eBay" ad? Do you think the site is a viable holiday shopping site, or is it strictly an overblown flea market? How bazaar. How bazaar. All this and more -- in the eBay discussion board. Only on Fool.com.
Rent Movies Online
This is a good time to be a stay-at-home movie buff. Not only are hit flicks available in rental stores and via mail services like Netflix
Movielink is the joint venture of five major studios: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Users pay a fee ranging from $1.99 to $4.95 to download a movie. Because the files are large, broadband is a must, and even then, transfers take about 90 minutes. Although the movies are available for 30 days after purchase, once a user plays one, he can access it for only 24 hours thereafter. They can be viewed only via computer and cannot be transferred to DVD.
Considering those limitations, the service will appeal to only a small segment of videophiles, initially. But the filmmakers are pouring resources into the venture to head off an explosion of illegal file swapping through peer-to-peer services -- thereby avoiding the problems now facing the music industry. Many pirated movie files are of uneven quality and completeness, so the studios are hoping high-quality offerings at a low price satisfy the pent-up demand as technology evolves.
Web-delivered movies will be available to burn onto DVDs or played directly on a television set at some point in the future. So while the venture may not reap significant revenue now, it has great potential.
Shameless Plug: Motley Fool Stock Advisor
Searching for stock ideas? The Motley Fool Stock Advisor, written each month by co-founders David and Tom Gardner, features an easy-to-follow stock scorecard so you can monitor the performance of their head-to-head investment picks in a multiyear battle. (You should hear them going at it here at Fool HQ...).
Quick Takes
General Electric
Tenet Healthcare
Research in Motion
Some think that Microsoft
And Finally...
Today on Fool.com: Dayana Yochim suggests six ways to save during the holidays.... Rex Moore says Priceline's awkward business model will keep it small.... In Fool's School, don't make costly mistakes when you crunch numbers....The Fool Community discusses whether one should beg for a job.... And the Post of the Day: Qualcomm.
Contributors:
Bob Bobala, Robert Brokamp, Tom Jacobs, LouAnn Lofton, Bill Mann, Selena Maranjian, Rex Moore, Rick Munarriz, Matt Richey, Jackie Ross, Reggie Santiago, Dayana Yochim