BY KATIE ROGERS – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Chirpup.com founder Mark Bradford believes social media will become a lasting industry unto itself, and adds that if you’re a recent college grad, you’d better know how Twitter works.

This week’s Money Talks podcast is below:

Megan Mollmann/MEDILL

BY MEGAN MOLLMANN – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

New, single-family home sales beat analyst expectations and surged 9.6 percent in July from the previous month, the Census Bureau said Wednesday.

Sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of433,000 compared with the revised June rate of 395,000. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg LP forecasted [...]

Image via Jmtimages/Flickr.com

BY KATIE ROGERS – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

When we asked you to grade President Obama’s fiscal strategy so far, an overwhelming number — nearly two-thirds — voted for a grade of “F.” A sample of 39 people isn’t a lot to draw conclusive answers from, but with [...]

Is the “Whole Foods Boycott” impacting the company’s financials? Not yet. (Image via Creative Commons)

BY KATIE ROGERS – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Nearly 29,000 people now subscribe to a Facebook group calling for a boycott of Whole Foods Market Inc. since CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed against proposed methods [...]

Image via Flickr.com
BY MEGAN MOLLMANN -MEDILL NEWS SERVICE
Burger King Holdings Inc.’s [[BKC]] profits rose 16.4 percent in its fourth quarter and beat the analysts’ consensus expectation, helping send the company’s shares up sharply on Tuesday.
Net income in the quarter ended June 30 rose to $58.9 million, or 43 cents per diluted [...]

By KELLEN M. HENRY and JORDAN MELNICK– MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius hosted a roundtable discussion about health care reform, announcing a $1.2 billion award of stimulus funds for electronic records at the Sinai Community Institute on Thursday. Listen below as [...]

Chicago foreclosure activity counts by zip code/Realtytrac.com

BY MEGAN MOLLMANN – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Foreclosures increased 7 percent nationwide in July, according to Realtytrac.com. Illinois came in fifth place for total foreclosure activity, with 14,524 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, and default notices skyrocketed 86 percent during the month, said Realtytrac in a press [...]

Photo by Asad Hayat

BY SHAHZAD CHAUDHARY– MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

A friend of mine obtained an early release of Windows 7. Overall he’s satisfied with it. There are some compatibility issues, he reports, but that’s to be expected on an early release.

One of the differences he noticed in Windows 7 was an improvement in [...]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/randyread/ / CC BY 2.0

BY KELLEN M. HENRY– MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Deere & Co. [[DE]] saw its profits drop in the third quarter of 2009, but the agriculture machinery manufacture fared better than analysts expected.

The Moline, Ill.-based tractor-maker’s net income fell 27 percent to $420 million for the quarter ended [...]

BY SHAHZAD CHAUDHARY– MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. announced the release of a slimmer version of the PlayStation 3 on Tuesday that will be available in stores Sept. 1st. The slimmer PS3 will have a 120 GB hard drive and will cost $299.

With the introduction of this new product, Sony also announced [...]