| With New YouTube Look, Google Ups Google+ Connection and Americans Stay Put: Moving Hits A Half-Century Low |
| News - Financial News |
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For Google (GOOG) investors, the question right now is not: What's new? Instead, the question is: What's being redesigned?This fall has not only been a season of new services and acquisitions, but also a season for a remarkable number of redesigns of its existing products.Most notably, streaming-video site YouTube has just launched a major face-lift, including the most drastic changes since Google's 2006 acquisition of the video-streaming site.The redesign of YouTube makes the site look similar to Gmail and its Google Reader, both of which were also redesigned last summer. [Read the full article] Experts still think office vacancy rates will keep improving in 2012, but only slightly as companies stay cautious about expanding, waiting to see what the economy will do. Occupancy growth has slowed over the past few months in most areas."I think it's fair to say that the office sector is lagging and will likely be the last to recover among the different property types," said Hessam Nadji, managing director of research for property brokerage Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. "It's a very slow, very gradual recovery."Real estate research firm Reis (REIS) sees U.S. office buildings ending 2011 with an average vacancy rate of 17.3%, down from 17.6% at the end of 2010, and reaching 17% in 2012.Mediocre job creation and empty space on the books of downsized corporations, or "shadow space," challenge the sector, Nadji says.Office employers added 562,000 workers over the 12 months ended Nov. 30. [Read the full article] It's more relevant now than ever because of advances in technology, which have made amateur grease monkeys and other do-it-yourself tinkerers less able to cope."It's become more challenging for the DIY customer to perform or even diagnose what's wrong with their vehicle," said analyst Tony Cristello of BB&T Capital Markets.Sizing up long-term trends in the aftermarket industry, car parts supplier Advance Auto Parts (AAP) is throwing a lot of its cards with the do-it-for-me crowd.The professional installer market — sales to garages, service stations and auto dealers — is smaller than Advance's consumer DIY business. But it's growing faster.Commercial sales make up 37% of the total, up from 34% a year ago. Management aims for an evenly split 50-50 mix."I don't think it's a bad idea," Cristello said. [Read the full article] 
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