Brian Banmiller's blog

A picture is worth a thousand words; and they might all be lies.

Recently professional reviewers from the hotel review website, oyster.com, traveled around snapping photos of hotels from Barbados to Boston. What they found didn't exactly match up to some of the photos being displayed on the hotel websites.

They say these photo fakeouts should be a tale of caution for anyone planning a vacation and relying solely on those websites.

Some difference are so extreme it looks like two completely different places. For example, many hotels will make it look like their pools are a lot bluer than they are. They will also take zoomed in cropped pictures of the pool to make it look a lot bigger than it is.  read more »

Companies pay millions to find the perfect slogan; even if it isn't true.

The U.S. based sandwich chain, Subway, was the subject of some internet backlash after an Australian teenager measured his footlong sandwich and found it an inch short.

He posted a photo of the sandwich next to a tape measure on Subway's Facebook page and quickly received hundreds of comments. In response, Subway Australia said the Subway footlong was a registered trademark and not a measurement of length.

The company said the sandwich does appear to be slightly undersized and could have been caused by the bread being undercooked.  read more »

The Country ended the year teetering on the fiscal cliff; and we're still not on solid ground.

On New Year's Eve, Congress reached a last minute deal to avert financial disaster. Terms included extending tax cuts and extending unemployment benefits for one year.

But despite the deal, former San Francisco mayor and media pundit, Willie Brown, tells me this won't be the last time the economy will be on the edge.

"We no longer have the ability, the willingness or the understanding for the stability of the stock market and for the stability of the economy. We should play politics with things as important as the debt limit," said Brown.

Brown says this financial game of politics isn't sitting well with voters and is being reflected in surveys.  read more »

Brazilian prostitutes are improving their speaking skills just in time for next year's World Cup. In order to maximize profits and hook more customers the ladies of the night are signing up for English classes.

The President of the Association of Prostitutes said 20 people have already signed up for the courses and she expects at least 300 of the group's 4,000 members to soon follow.

The association is organizing classes and asking English teachers to volunteer services for free. Several volunteer psychologists and doctors have already signed up to help out.

The classes will begin in March and will last eight months. If English lessons go well, the courses could expand to include French and Italian to accomodate the wide range of tourists expected for the 2014 Cup.  read more »

The tech world is upgrading from California casual to Formal Fridays.

Akshay Kothari is CEO and co-founder of San Francisco based Pulse. A company with an app that organizes your news content.

The slick website caught my eye, but so did the workers' dress code. They call it "Formal Fridays." Instead of going business casual at week's end, employees wear their Sunday best.

"It's a really neat thing because it's kind of like become this cool, little tradition where we all dress up," Kothari.

Now the idea is spreading to other companies. Silicon Valley may be on its way to a best dressed list. Former San Francisco mayor, and always well dressed media personality Willie Brown says this doesn't surprise him.  read more »

Casual Friday is getting a make-over. Recently I spoke with Akshay Kothari; the CEO and co-founder of the San Francisco based company Pulse.

The company runs a website that organizes your favorite news sources. But they've also made some news of their own.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Pulse employees dress up for "Formal Fridays," when workers turn up in their Sunday best, be it sweaters and ties or fancy dresses.

“It’s a good way to end the week. We’ve worked really hard. We’ve really put in a lot of hours. Friday is a way for us to kind of take it a little light. And we do it the other way. We dress up to take it a little bit light,” said Kothari.  read more »

Thieves down under are getting more than they bargained for from their local McDonald’s.

In an effort to stop a rash of fast food robberies in Sydney, McDonald’s has hired a British security firm to install a new system in its restaurants. It's already in place in 13 McDonald’s restaurants in Australia.

It works by spraying a non-toxic solution with DNA code on thieves as they head out the door. The company says the spray contains a UV tracer and a unique DNA code that links robbers to the crime scene.

When police have the suspect they can see the spray using a UV torch. The solution is harmless and too small to be seen so thieves won’t know they've been hit with it.  read more »

Want to stay alive in social circles; keep your finger on the news pulse.

Akshay Kothari is the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco based Pulse; a website that helps you stay on top of your favorite news sources.

“So you could actually read the New York Times, you could read CBS news, you could read your small blog all in one place. It’s an organizer for all your news that you want to read. It allows you to actually see them visually.” Kothari said.

I spoke with Kothari about the app that he and a friend developed at Stanford. He says it was hard to check in with various news sources on handheld devices. So instead of jumping to different websites, they created one news app on one screen.  read more »

The recession is plundering more than countries; the Seven Seas aren’t faring so well either.

At possibly the first press conference ever held by a Somali pirate; Mohamed Abdi Hassan announced that he is hanging up his pirate hat.

Hassan also known as “Big Mouth” is one of the most feared pirates at sea and has been in the kidnapping and ransacking business for the past eight years. He made the announcement earlier this week saying he has decided to retire because business is no longer good.

But that wasn’t always the case. In 2009 his men were reportedly involved in seizing a Ukrainian transport ship carrying Soviet-era tanks. After months in captivity, the pirates were paid a ransom of three million dollars.  read more »

Russia is pulling out all the stops for next year’s winter Olympics; but if you try to buy your way into an event it’s going to cost you a lot of gold.

According to reports Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a new law targeting ticket scalpers for the 2014 games. The Russian government says only the International Olympic Committee has the power to establish ticket prices.

Anyone caught selling tickets above their set value will face a fine of up to $39,000. First time offenders or low level scalpers could face fines up to ten times the ticket’s price.  read more »