Rupert Murdoch, the owner of NewsCorp, has long had a problem with the way Google integrates newspaper articles and blogs into its search filters. He is of the opinion that it costs them readership, subscribers, and traffic. Most experts, and fellow media moguls, disagree with him–but that hasn’t stopped him from waging a high profile campaign against Google.

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp., said newspaper publishers should prevent search engines like Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s Bing from displaying full articles for free.“It’s produced a river of gold, but those words are being taken mostly from the newspapers,” Murdoch, 79, said yesterday at a taping of “The Kalb Report” at the National Press Club in Washington. “I think they ought to stop it, that the newspapers ought to stand up and let them do their own reporting.”

It is interesting the way Murdoch phrases this–that “words are being taken” from newspapers. Every newspaper whose articles are indexed into a search engine is offering their articles for free online. So rather than Google taking the newspaper’s articles, it seems as if the newspapers are offering their articles to search engines, doesn’t it?

This article gives some good hints about gift cards. While gift cards are popular year round as birthday and anniversary gifts, their sales reach a fever-pitch during the holiday season. This is a recent trend, gift cards have only emerged in the last couple of years. At first they had spending caps and expiration dates. However, now expiration dates and spending caps are being removed by most companies in order to encourage more use of gift cards. Instead, companies depend upon gift cards being lost or forever unused.

In order to get the most out of your gift cards, an AP writer recommends you treat them as cash. Instead of stuffing it in your drawer somewhere and forgetting to use them, keep them in your purse or wallet.

This isn’t a bad idea–it will get customers in the mindset that gift cards are just like any other money.

There are many industries that suffer during a recession–indeed that is why we call it a recession, because the market recedes from it’s higher point. The automobile, cinema, and travel industries will all decline steeply in a recession, as would be expected. However, there are a variety of products and industries which will do well in recessions. Generally speaking, these will be products, or industries, which are cheaper or more cost effective. These are the products which have stood the test of time–offering quality for low cost.

Campbell’s Soup is a company that produces those low-cost, high-quality, products. As a result, they have made steady gains during this latest recession. Soup that is delicious, but cheaper than the competitors has performed well. So while the industry of soup sales has increased in general, Campbell’s has been able to corner a larger share than in recent years.

This article has a great piece of information on the company’s recent successes.

The latest quarter’s earnings topped analysts’ expectations. The company — which makes soups, Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 juice — has faced sales pressures on beverages and higher-priced offerings. But Campbell has been trying to market its soups as a good option for frugal consumers looking to cut back on eating out.