Wall Street's unofficial portrait artist, Geoffrey Raymond, has been at it again - and this time, he's dipping into politics. Raymond, whose past works have included a lugubrious Dick Grasso and a pensive Warren Buffett, has been urging financial workers in New York to scrawl messages on a painting of Barack Obama.
Democrats are given a blue pen and Republicans get a red one. Encouragingly for liberals, the blues so far substantially outnumber the reds, even at a kerbside spot deep among the financial district's skyscrapers.
Raymond, who isn't quite satisfied with his rendition of Obama's mouth, is working on a companion portrait of McCain in an effort to "offer a glimpse into Wall Street's mindset in the upcoming election".
Not everybody is happy. Playing on Obama's promise of reform, one Republican has scrawled on the candidate's image: "If you win, all we'll have in our wallets is change."
Virtual comeback
Britain's Reed Elsevier has emerged as one of the launch clients for a virtual conferencing service on offer from ON24, a Silicon Valley company that appears to have fought its way back from the brink of oblivion. If you don't fancy actually going to a Reed conference on, say, Japanese real estate or clinical nursing, then you might soon be able to attend online.
ON24 mocks up actual conference centres on the web, complete with exhibit booths, auditoriums and lounges. The experience is intended to look and feel as if you're there in person.
ON24 is a bit of an oddity as a company. It used to be a financial news provider but floundered when the dotcom bubble burst at the beginning of the decade. At the time, the chief executive, Sharat Sharan, conceded that it only had a "10-15% chance of survival" and shed most of the workforce.
The company has turned itself into a specialist in online conferences, which, Sharan says, are going down well in scientific, electronic and technical industries. "The cost of travel is a big issue," says Sharan. "There's a real trend towards creating virtual environments."
Coke-free zone
Good to see freedom and democracy in action at the Democratic National Convention. The shindig is being held in Denver's Pepsi Centre, so cans of Coca-Cola have reportedly been banned.
The Huffington Post's Nico Pitney says staff initially tried to prevent political volunteers from bringing boxed lunches into the arena because of a rule forbidding outside food and drink. They eventually relented, on the condition that nothing made by Coke could cross the threshold.
Hot and bothered
Talking of over-zealous sponsorship deals, an American beach volleyball star had an awkward moment during the Olympics when his sunglasses kept steaming up in Beijing's humidity. Phil Dalhausser was being sponsored by the shades' maker, Oakley. The solution? He took the lenses out but kept the Oakley frames on, which, frankly, looked a bit daft.