Fidelity Investments said Tuesday it hired Larry Renfro to oversee a new division that will include its human-resources services operations, the latest senior executive to return to the Boston mutual fund giant after a long hiatus.

Renfro, 54, worked at Fidelity previously from 1981 to 1988, becoming a managing director of parent FMR Corp. before leaving for a series of jobs elsewhere, most recently as president of AARP Services Inc., which offers benefits to the nonprofit association's 40 million members.

Renfro will report to Fidelity president Rodger A. Lawson, who himself rejoined Fidelity last summer after fifteen years at other companies. In addition to the human-resources work, which provides payroll and benefits services to other companies, Renfro will oversee Fidelity's life insurance company, a charitable services unit, and a division responsible for acquisitions.
By Ross Kerber, Globe staff

Netezza Corp., a Framingham firm focused on data-warehouse and analytic appliances, said today that Helzberg Diamonds has chosen a Netezza server for its enterprise data warehouse platform.

Headquartered in Kansas City and part of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the investment company of billionaire investor Warren Buffett , Helzberg operates more than 260 stores nationwide that sell diamonds, precious gems, and wristwatches.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

The Business Filter is closing for business today.

When I started in 2005, Technorati was tracking about 14.2 million blogs. People wondered if it was just a fad. But by April 2007, Technorati was tracking 70 million blogs. Today, the Internet is fueled increasingly by social media.

Here at "da Filtah" I’ve covered innovation, technology, and business and had the privilege of weaving in the topics I’m most passionate about. I don’t just write about business. I also do it every day - most recently launching a social network and virtual world. It’s been great to have all of you along for the ride. Thanks for the fun, the e-mails, and the meet-ups.

From here on out, you can find me blogging at maurawelch.com. Drop by and leave me a comment.

This is my last day blogging the Business Filter.

One of the perks I've had over these past 2 years or so is that each week I get to work with James Kraus and the team at the Globe to do an illustration for the print version of this column. James is a great artist (and a good disk jockey too).

As a tribute to all the great work James has done, here are some of my fav Kraus illustrations. James did more than 100 illustrations, so it's really hard to pick.

See more of them at www.artguy.com.

Putting a dollar value on Mom

The tea counterculture

Don't blow that teleconference

Gorilla, Chimp, or Monkey

Seven most annoying things about the future

Candy is the new cigarettes

Blog rats

Adults are the new kids

Why you can't get any word done

Email is life

Source: Genuine VC

How many old laptops, digital cameras, cell phones and iPods do you have hanging around? If you're like me, you don't want to throw them out and wreak ecological havoc. You could sell them on eBay, but you never get around to it. Well, VC David Biesel proudly blogs Venrock's latest investment which directly addresses that problem.

"Second Rotation is an online service which allows consumers to easily sell all of their electronic gadgets. You go to the site, enter or find the name of their product, and rate its condition. Then you’ll immediately find out how much the item is worth and receive a free shipping label to mail it into the company without charge. Once the company receives the item, it’s only a short amount of time before they send out a check or credit your Paypal account. It’s that simple - using Second Rotation an easy way to take both the uncertainty and hassle out of trading in old used electronic goods."

It's win-win-win. You earn money and do the right thing. A new company profits by doing the right thing. The environment wins. Now that's a sustainable model.

eWaste constitutes "between 2% to 5% of US municipal solid waste and is rising three times faster than other streams." So go on - dig out that junk in the drawer and log on to SecondRotation.com.

Source: Logic+Emotion

Creative director David Armano blogs that he's surprised to find himself interviewed in the pages of AdWeek. He doesn't think of himself as an "ad man" because his background is in web and interaction design and social media. Saying he "never touched an ad in my life," Armano wonders if traditional ad guys exist anymore. In the social web it's "getting more difficult to draw firm lines between what's considered advertising, marketing, or just good business. " Instead he says "maybe we're all accidental "Ad Guys and Gals." Or maybe we're all just accidental marketers."

Source: TechCrunch

Blockbuster movies make a good deal of cash on "the ancillary toys, T-shirts, and backpacks that flood stores" along with the release of the movie. So, given that on virtual worlds people pay real dollars for digital gear for their avatars and their virtual rooms…it makes sense that movies would want a piece of the virtual action. Enter a new licensing deal between Paramount and Habbo - a teen site with 1.8 million US users to distribute virtual goods for The Spiderwick Chronicles, timed for the release of that Paramount movie. While the revenue for virtual goods is small now, it will likely grow. But either way Paramount wins, because millions of teens will be able to own and interact with pieces of their hot new movie. It's just marketing in a different framework.

Source: ReadWriteWeb

Forrester Analyst Oliver Young gives three reasons why he thinks 2008 is the year that "IT departments will take their heads out of the sand and embrace web 2.0 technologies." First, IT guys are already using these tools. Second, just try to get employees to stop using them in a business setting - the stuff is really effective. Hey, "if you can't beat them, join them." And lastly, they can be "a high-impact, low-cost method to show leadership and innovation." In other words, even corporate IT wants to look cool.

Vending machines 2.0
Illustration: James F. Kraus

Face to face
Video game nation
Vishing
Google millionaires
Expectation economy

And...
Goodbye

The Business Filter is closing for business at the end of January. When I started in 2005, Technorati was tracking about 14.2 million blogs. People wondered if it was just a fad. But by April 2007, Technorati was tracking 70 million blogs. Today, the Internet is fueled increasingly by social media. Here at "da Filtah" I’ve covered innovation, technology, and business and had the privilege of weaving in the topics I’m most passionate about. I don’t just write about business. I also do it every day - most recently launching a social network and virtual world. It’s been great to have all of you along for the ride. Thanks for the fun, the e-mails, and the meet-ups. From here on out, you can find me blogging at maurawelch.com.

Source: Wired

Even though technology makes it possible to live and act remotely from each other, what's interesting, Tim Hartford points out, is that…we don't. Most of us live in cities. And "the highest-tech industries are the most dependent on geography." One study found that more than half of all US-based commercial innovations came from just three areas: California, New York/New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Harvard economist Ed Glaeser, "argues that communications technology and face-to-face interactions are complements like salt and pepper, rather than substitutes like butter and margarine." So, "paradoxically, your cell phone, email, and Facebook networks are making it more attractive to meet people in the flesh." One study even shows that the most productive workers are those that use email to communicate not with people from all around the world…but with those they see all the time.

Source: Ars Technica

Video game sales are hot. Really hot. "Total sales for 2007 were $18.85 billion, with $9.5 billion of that spent on games played on consoles and PCs and $9.35 billion spent on consoles themselves. "On average, an astonishing 9 games were sold every second of every day" in 2007. Two groups changed their buying habits to help fuel the growth - adults over age 35 and females. Chalk that up to the breakthrough Nintendo Wii, which sold 6.29 million units in 2007. And while everyone seems to concentrate on violent video games, 84.5 percent of all games purchased are not mature-rated games.

Source: PSFK

SkySails is a Hamburg, Germany-based company that is focused on reclaiming wind power for cargo vessels. The system works like "two giant kites that act as sails" connected through a towing rope rather than a mast. Now in testing mode, SkySails claims that the system can lower annual fuel costs "between 10-35% depending on the wind conditions, and up to 50% under optimal wind conditions." That equates to a saving of one third of a ship’s diesel costs.

Thanks to all Filtah readers who have sent in event notices.

It's time to RSVP for the next Web Innovators Group meeting on January 29th, 2008 at 6:30pm in Cambridge. WebInno is an "informal gathering of people interested in internet and mobile innovation. This event has turned into one of the big networking events in town. Maybe I'll see you there.

The AMA's Boston Marketing Club meeting is on January 30th. The topic is Exploring the Impact of Social Media. Get out there and figure it out people. It's here to stay. Plus it's at Flat Top Johnny's so libations are at hand.

Check MarksGuide for a great list of most local events.

Source: WSJ Business Tech Blog

Just in case you need more things to worry about, the FBI " has issued a warning about a new kind of cyber crime: vishing." Short for voice phishing, it's when you receive a voicemail, email or text message telling you to call your bank and resolve some sort of dispute. There's a phone number in the message. You call it and the auto-prompt tells you to enter your account number. Bingo! You've been vished and you can say goodbye to your bank account. Evil hackers.

Source: CNET

Estimates are that "more than 900 [Google] employees became instant millionaires when Google went public in August 2004, and that total has likely ballooned along with the stock price." Some have dropped out of Google (hence the term Xooglers) to travel or go back to school or write books - but others are fueling the next wave of startups.

Xoogler-founded companies include Twitter and municipal Wi-Fi developer Meraki. But probably the most infamous Xoogler is the millionaire Google massage therapist, Bonnie Brown. Now retired, she's established a charitable foundation, and written a book called Giigle. She's giigling all the way to the bank.

Source: BusinessWeek

Taken a look at vending machines lately? Forget stale Cheetos and M&Ms, new vending machines "aimed at young shoppers and wealthy frequent fliers" are starting to invade the landscape. No need to scrounge for quarters. These machines take credit and debit cards and your choices might include perfume, iPods or Rosetta Stone language learning software. "Delayed, bored, and affluent air travelers have been by and large the biggest buyers so far." But ZoomSystems is about to roll out iPod machines at 400 Macy's stores. Consumers, who now buy big ticket items online without ever talking to a salesperson, are clearly making the leap to upscale vending machines. Time will tell…is this a novelty or are these high tech machines here to stay?

Source: Trendwatching.org

Thanks to the internet we consumers are more demanding than ever before. We have information at our fingertips. We can do competitive analysis thanks to sites like Engadget and Styledash and word of mouth travels around the world in a heartbeat. Welcome to the "Expectation Economy" where "experienced, well-informed consumers" apply high expectations to "each and every good, service and experience on offer." In this economy even small brands can get immediate interest from consumers. Don't get comfy. Simply copy your competitors and you're "in a race to the bottom."

Source: Forbes

Hybrid is not the only green option for cars. The latest diesel engines aren't like the old soot-spewing kind and "a new generation of diesel cars is on its way to all 50 states, led by carmakers based in Europe, where half of all consumers prefer diesels." Volkswagen's Jetta TDI gets over 50 mpg on the highway, and 40 mpg around town and it can got over 600 miles between fill-ups. BMW and Audi are alos bringing "clean diesels" to the US. "By 2017 14 percent of cars sold in the U.S. will have diesel engines."

Shop by Mediacart
Illustration by James F. Kraus

Liftopia
Wii-trained surgeons
PlayPump
Likeability
Ghost malls?
Wasted CDs
Super teens

Source: Technomarketer

It can be a little scary for companies to engage in social media, like blogs or social networks. But Matt Dickman makes the observation that "it seems like too many companies are looking for malicious intent right from the start. They treat loyal, fans and content creators like they're criminals when they should be engaging those people in alliances and helping them to add value to the larger community. " Don't sacrifice the discovery of evangelists because you're spending all your time looking for criminals.