The LZR suit from Speedo has not only been making news in the Beijing Olympics but has also created quite a splash in business circles with rival companies protesting against aggressive marketing tactics adopted by the swimwear brand.

At the center of all the controversy is LZR, the space-age swimsuit from Speedo which has found favor with swimming champions from across the world. Speedo claims that the suit’s corset-like design holds the swimmer’s body in optimum position while the water-repellant fabric and laser bonded seams cut drag in the water. Finally the overall design helps in 5 percent greater intake of oxygen by the swimmer.

However many in the sporting world have raised objections to what they call “technological doping” where athletic performances get an unfair boost from space-age technology and which is perhaps unaffordable by many. Rival companies have also protested that Speedo is psychologically pressuring athletes to wear the LZR suit with TYR Sport even taking Speedo to US court for false advertising and conducting a monopoly.

Despite the fierce debates, the Speedo suit continues to find increasing favor among swimming teams. Some like the US, Italian and Japanese teams have decided to go for the LZR suit even if it means going against contracts with rival swimwear brands.

Online advertisers are flocking to women-oriented websites in order to reach out to an expanding base of women consumers.

If figures provide by comScore, an Internet traffic measurement company, are to be believed, women-oriented portals are pulling in more visitors than before. In July this year, women’s sites had around 84 million visitors which is an increase of 27 percent from the number of visitors in the same month of 2007.

Websites catering primarily to women’s’ interests may range from “mommy blogs” to sites on fashion, shopping, health, food, lifestyle and parenting. According to comScore, such sites proliferated by 37 percent last year which was faster than every other category on the Internet except politics.

Advertisers have been quick to notice the trend. Considering that Women take some of the most important spending decisions in the family, women’s sites have been heavily backed by online advertisers. Another estimate from comScore reveals that in May 2008 alone, as many as 4.4 billion display ads were served up at women’ websites which exceeds those put up at sites for teenagers, children and families.

The heightened traffic to women’s websites and the rapid growth of advertisements on them has brought major media capitalists and venture companies into the fray. Recently the cable giant Comcast paid $125 million to buy DailyCandy which is a popular shopping and entertainment site for women. Clearly the trend is here to stay and will follow whoever holds the purse strings.

Social networking sites offer much more than the pleasure of making new friends or catching up with old ones. They can prove to be a fertile ground for job hunting especially in these times of economic uncertainty.

As the market goes through a difficult time and companies lay off employees, it becomes necessary to use every trick in the book to promote one’s professional image. Social networking sites like Linked In and Facebook can help one to fall back on old college mates or co-workers and even reach out to prospective employers.

While Facebook offers much more glamorous features in creating a profile, Linked In is fast becoming popular for making professional contacts online. In fact the site already has 25 million members and is adding one networker every two seconds. Linked In has a no-fuss user page which requires only a brief professional summary, a resume and a photo.

Social networking sites come in useful for job hunting as they show how many people the user may know from past jobs or educational institutions. The search facility on these sites can be used to look for contacts in companies or organizations. Finally it helps one to get over the embarrassment of not calling or mailing someone for years since the other person is also in the network for the same reason and one just needs to update a contact to renew connection.

Latest figures from the US Census Bureau suggest that in just another generation, ethnic and racial minorities will form a majority of the US population while whites will be reduced to a minority.

The report by the Census Bureau predicts that by 2042, people of Hispanic, African and Asian origin together with American Indians, native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders will exceed the number of non-Hispanic whites in the entire population. By 2050 Hispanics will number 133 million and comprise thirty percent of Americans as opposed to the fifteen percent they form today.

The reason behind these large scale demographic changes are being contributed to rising birth rates among the current minority population and high mortality rates among older native-born whites. Moreover the continuing influx of immigrants has also led to changing demographic patterns. According to one estimate, the percentage of foreign-born Americans which now stands at 12 percent would go up to 20 percent by 2050.

The report brought out by the Census Bureau on Thursday arrived at these figures on the basis of current as well as historical trends in demography and immigration. The predictions may be overturned by certain variables like prospective wide-ranging changes in immigration policies or a higher influx of refugees.

At the opening ceremony of the XXIX Olympic Games, the world’s attention was riveted to the spectacular architectural feat signaled by the Beijing National Stadium. It is popularly known as the Birds Nest Stadium, because of its elliptical lattice steel framework and has been built at a cost of $423 million USD.

In the most expensive Olympics till date, the stadium not only stands for the might of the Chinese economy in the world market but is also a symbol of the coming together of global business and sports. The stadium’s global significance becomes evident in the fact that its architects were chosen in a worldwide design competition and the contract was finally awarded to a collaboration among renowned Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, British engineering firm ArupSport as well as the China Architecture Design & Research Group.

Besides hosting the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Bird’s Nest Stadium will be the venue for the main track and field competitions and will also host the closing ceremony of the Games. Currently the stadium has a seating capacity of 90,000 which will be reduced to 80,000 after the Games. The stadium cost the Chinese government 3.5 billion yuan which is equivalent to $423 million USD or 19 tonnes of 24 carat gold.