Home Depot Inc. (HD) recently signed a deal with diversified media and merchandising company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSO) to create a new line of home improvement products.

The strategic move is aimed at outsmarting rival specialty retailers like Lowe Co.s Inc. (LOW). The new product line will primarily feature outdoor living, home organization and home decor items.

The outdoor living products are scheduled to hit US markets by January next year and will be available in Canada by February. Home organization products are expected to be launched across the globe in February. Martha Stewart plans to promote the products through diverse marketing channels including its magazine, TV shows and web portals like Twitter - a free social networking and micro-blogging website.

The home improvement industry has deteriorated drastically due to the overall decline in the housing industry. Increasing unemployment and foreclosures amid the continued

...

Two months after Hearst announced its intentions to divest or shut down the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Seattle PI is set to become the largest and (arguably) the first newspaper to convert from print to web only delivery. This comes after the Christian Science Monitor announced intentions to cancel daily print editions in favor of a web centric strategy supplemented by weekly print editions. 

While the recession may have sped up this migration, increasing penetration of internet readership and the mainstreaming of news aggregators which pay no production costs has been spelling doom for the traditional newspaper industry for years. Little information is available about Seattle PI’s internet strategy, but this switch does raise some questions. The newspaper has slashed staff from 140 to 20-25.

My guess is that the the new venture will focus on editorial and

...