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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Aug 20, 2014
August 20, 2014
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The Internet:
Remember when you complained about your boss on Twitter? Yeah, you might want to delete that.
A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers says that many companies are going to begin checking their employees' social media sites even more than usual. Unsurprisingly, only about a third of younger workers surveyed were okay with sharing personal information with their bosses. For the older workers --those not of the "Millenial" generation-- the numbers were even lower.
According to the five-hundred Human Resources executives surveyed, this monitoring is for the good of their employees, since it lets HR figure out how to best motivate their employees. But employees have to volunteer this information, volunteer being the key word. It's easy to see how this would go bad, in the sense that "volunteering" their personal information could become a hiring condition.
Of course, you should be fine if you have nothing to hide. (So you might want to take that post about still being drunk from last night down --AB)Fast Food:
Novelty Oreo alert: The ShopWell database is already listing the nutritional panel for this season's limited-edition Caramel Apple Oreos. (After we regained consciousness from our swoon, we at the RBR can tell you they look to be 140 calories for two cookies that are light brown with an inner creme filling that's half green, half caramel brown.) Yes, they are showing up on store shelves.
If that's not enough dizzying news for your hips, Consumerist says there's word of a Pumpkin Spice seasonal Oreo that's soon to be unveiled as well. Because you need something to dunk in your pumpkin spice latte! (Kaye)Fashion Emergency:
Beauty brand Elizabeth Arden is collapsing, and the company says it's all JUSTIN BIEBER and TAYLOR SWIFT'S fault. Net sales for the company fell 28.4 percent, to $191.7 million dollars. They released new fragrances during that period, but added that longtime celebrity fragrances by The Biebs and the pop star ain't selling like they used to. What's more, Elizabeth Arden says sales declines were "steeper than expected" and that lower sales are expected to continue.
While the beauty side of the company is tanking, it's brick-and-mortar stores saw a nine percent increase in sales, and they expect online says to return to profit this year. (Bartha)Broadcast, cable and video news:
Get ready --and get some sleep tonight! Because the FXX channel will be airing all 552 episodes of "The Simpsons" in a marathon starting tomorrow at 10 am with Season 1 (1989-90) and Season 2 (1990-91) starting at 4:30 pm. The marathon runs thru September 1st.
JULIANNE HOUGH is slumming it with a day job until she makes it as a bona-fide movie star. She's reportedly in talks to come back to "Dancing With The Stars" --but this time as a judge-- and not a pro. TMZ reports she would be the fourth judge on the panel, since the other three are returning at this point for the upcoming Season 19. It would also allow her plenty of time for an acting career, since her films like "Footloose" and "Rock of Ages" didn't exactly turn out to be blockbusters.
There was some question about whether judge LEN GOODMAN would be leaving the show, but at this time it appears he'll be back.Grace notes:
You can pre-order the TONY BENNETT/LADY GAGA duets album, "Cheek To Cheek" right now from iTunes. If you do, you'll get the tracks "Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" instantly. There's also a limited edition album bundle which has the deluxe edition of the CD, plus a lithograph signed by Tony and Gaga. There are only 250 of those, so get crackin'! "Cheek To Cheek" will be out on September 23rd. (Marino)
Weird science:
A robot has successfully hitchhiked across Canada.
The so-called HitchBOT was built by a group of Toronto researchers as an experiment in human-robot interaction. They used a beer-cooler, foam pool noodles, solar panels, rain boots, and a computer with GPS technology. Wherever the robot goes, scientists can track its location and pull up a live picture. HitchBOT was left on a curb in the Atlantic coastal town of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After three weeks hitching rides, it finally arrived on the west coast in Victoria, British Columbia.
Researcher DAVID SMITH of McMaster University says, "It's been really great fun and to me it seems like it brought people together in a really interesting way." (Still) -
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