For a New Year, Signs of a Bottom (Barron's Online via Yahoo! Finance)

For Birinyi, whose Westport, Conn., firm also manages about $250 million in assets, 2008 was a tough year in terms of performance, as it was for most money managers. The firm's managed accounts were down last year, though typically ahead of the S&P 500's 40% loss by five to eight percentage points, he says.

Bright Ideas for 2008 (BrandWeek)

Marketing is about solving problems. Young people aren't buying our cars. Mothers think their diapers are better. The cheaper store brands are eating into our profits. In the course of solving problems, marketers often stumble onto ideas.

Option Quest, LLC Announces Seminar to Reveal Fortune 500 Internet Profit Secrets (PR.com)

The Manor Inn in Milldale will be home to a free seminar on January 10th and 13th that promises to bring energy, ideas and insight to both business owners and wage-earners looking for a shot at a solid side income online. A number of secrets and misconceptions about making money online will be revealed and discussed, critical to online success in a fluctuating economy. [PR.com - January 01, 2009]

Legal OnRamp Founder Sells Its Virtues (Law.com)

At just over 6,000 members, Paul Lippe's brainchild, Legal OnRamp, a social networking site geared primarily to in-house lawyers, has yet to take the legal profession by storm. Lippe discusses how Legal OnRamp and its select network of clients might revolutionize the practice of law.

It's going to be the toughest year yet so...spend a day taking these 25 tips & save yourself a pile in 2009 (Daily Mirror)

The signs are the recession will be even tougher this year than the last - but there is plenty you can do to soften the blows.