Facebook shares hovered around $32 Wednesday morning, its fourth day of trading, as several banks involved in the company’s initial public offering have come under scrutiny. Reuters reported Tuesday that the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth has issued a subpoena to Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter for the social network’s market debut. The subpoena comes after it was reported that analysts working for Morgan Stanley — as well as analysts at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs — had all cut their revenue estimates for Facebook after seeing the company’s revised S-1 filing on May 9. In that document, Facebook expressed concern about its ability to respond to consumers’ shift to mobile devices. Read full article > >

Read more:
Facebook IPO: Questions about disclosure swirl as stock stabilizes

What happens when people stop being polite and start getting real? According to the last few seasons of MTV's “The Real World,” they get drunk, hook up and make innumerable questionable decisions. What happens when strangers come to live on a family farm in rural Arkansas, grow their own food, give up modern-day conveniences and attempt zero waste? While it may not sound like a compelling reality show by MTV's standards, that's exactly the premise of the independent film, “The Garden Summer,” which debuted to a sold-out crowd in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 16. It also premiered in Conway, Arkansas, on May 18. Inspired by the idea of social capital, then-Georgetown graduate student Hailey Wist came up with an idea for a social experiment that would challenge people like her to live off the land. The ultimate goal was “to inspire, not preach.” Wist already had a location in mind for the experiment – a farm in the Ozarks that had been in her family for generations. Despite not knowing much about gardening, she had the assistance of her mother and aunt, both avid gardeners. All that was left to do was find people willing to give up modern conveniences to spend the summer living a bit more simply. “Will I get warm bodies?  I don't know.  Probably not,” she mused in the film’s trailer. Four willing “suburbanites” – Seth Amos, Marie Barker, Ben Williams and Emilee Cleary – eventually signed on without much persuasion. Wist said she sought out people who were strangers to each other, but who she also wanted to get to know better. In preparation of their summer, the group had to decide what produce they would grow and what they could sell at the local farmers market. They also decided that coffee, cooking oil and booze would be the only three things they would source outside of the 100-mile radius of their garden. When the group met at the farm in May to plant their garden, friendships took root immediately; everyone was getting along and having fun. However, the summer was not without challenges. When the group returned weeks later to live within Wist's parameters, it took only a week and a half before they started “airing grievances” by candlelight on the front porch of the farmhouse. Everyone obviously had a stake in the garden; their ability to eat and make money depended upon its success. As the creator of the concept, Wist became the leader by default, but being everyone's boss was not a role that came easy to her. Maintaining a garden makes for long days of hard labor. Along with the close quarters of communal living, “there was a lot to be cranky about,” Wist said. Unlike some of the other reality-based programs that portray alcohol-induced arguments over hook-ups and break-ups, the rifts featured in “The Garden Summer” were rooted in the division of labor in the garden and expectations over what “local consumption” really meant. In fact, a budding romance between Wist and Williams wasn't really featured in the film at all. Over the course of the summer, the group made friends with locals who taught them, among other things, how to make soap and butter. They also welcomed a steady stream of visitors from the “outside,” and found that showing off all they'd accomplished always gave them new energy. It certainly didn't hurt that one of those friends was James Beard award-winning chef Mike Lata, who helped them prepare a field feast with the food they'd grown. “The Garden Summer” turned five typical consumers of modern conveniences into producers and contributors to their community. While Wist remains very much a part of the Charleston food community, she admits her farm experience has been difficult to completely replicate in her real life. But if farming isn't in her future, filmmaking might be, at least according to part-time Charleston resident and actor Bill Murray. “To make a movie that is lousy is difficult,” he said after attending Wist's first screening. “So to make one that is good, it's quite an accomplishment.”

Follow this link:
Documentary cultivates real-life lessons

The US computer maker hopes new Windows 8 touchscreen computers can turn around a slump in sales to consumers.

More:
Dell focuses on touchscreen PCs

The slowing of the growth rate is partly explained by the recession, but evidence suggests that changes in the behavior of health care providers and consumers also partly account for it.

Read the original:
In Hopeful Sign, Health Spending Is Flattening Out

The infected dairy cow in central California never posed a danger to consumers, as milk does not transmit the disease, the chief veterinarian of the Department of Agriculture said.

Read the original post:
Case of Mad Cow Disease Is Found in U.S.

Cadbury’s famous Milk Tray chocolates have been the subject of criticism recently, with reports of a number of consumers claiming they don’t taste like they used to.

Excerpt from:
The recipe rage problem

The agency set up to protect consumers appears to be allowing high upfront fees for credit card issuers.

Read more:
Consumer Agency Seems to Soften Limit on Credit Cards Fees

For consumers, the news that the Department of Justice is suing Apple and several publishers, accusing them of price-fixing, boils down to one kitchen-table question: Will this mean my e-books will get cheaper?

See more here:
Will Apple suit mean cheaper e-books?

Google is about to open an online store that will sell tablets directly to consumers, according to reports.

Continue reading here:
Google plans online tablet store

The Federal Trade Commission asked for legislation that would allow consumers to access the information collected on them by so-called data brokers.

Originally posted here:
F.T.C. Seeks Privacy Legislation

Advertising and technology industries, which have been under pressure to do more to ensure privacy, said they would support a “Do Not Track” mechanism, yet consumers would hardly be invisible online.

See the rest here:
Opt-Out Provision Would Halt Some, but Not All, Web Tracking

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Thursday revealed a new version of its operating system for the electronics maker’s laptop and desktop computers. Cook said the product, dubbed Mountain Lion, will be made available to developers Thursday with a wider release to consumers slated for this summer. Read full article > >

Read the original post:
Apple’s Mountain Lion operating system is a move toward technological convergence

The government’s new consumer watchdog on Monday outlined the first steps of its plans to regulate mortgage servicers, which have come under fire for fraudulent foreclosure practices . The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will revamp the billing statements sent to homeowners and the disclosures required for some complicated mortgages. It also is drafting new rules to prevent servicers from improperly charging consumers for homeowner’s insurance. Read full article > >

View original post here:
CFPB outlines plans for mortgage servicers

Microsoft on Wednesday seized on Google’s privacy flap as an opportunity to tout its own services as better for consumers. In a national ad campaign to launch today, Microsoft says that it offers greater choice to its users and that it isn’t as interested in collecting data for behavioral advertising. Read full article > >

Go here to read the rest:
Microsoft ads to slam Google on privacy

The amount of non-mortgage borrowing held by consumers fell in December by the largest amount on record, £377m, the Bank of England says.

Follow this link:
Record fall in personal borrowing