The Fast Company Blog by Fast Company staff

09:53 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Sign of the Dot-Com Apocalypse II

Perhaps the greatest business blunder of the Internet Age is the AOL Time Warner merger. Today's New York Post reports, as we first noted yesterday, that AOL may be dropped from the media company's official corporate name.

This is an inevitable turnabout from a deal that has cost the combined companies nearly $200 billion in lost market value. I rate the deal, engineered by former Time Warner chief Gerry Levin, among the greatest business mistakes of all time. Put it up there with IBM's decision to give Bill Gates control over the operating software for the PC.

What other decisions would you put at the top of this list?

09:17 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Sniffing Bombs for Big Gains

InVision Technologies is gaining more than 8 percent this morning in pre-market trading, after announcing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered new CTX 9000 DSi explosives detection systems (EDS) for integration into the baggage handling systems of certain airports in the U.S.

The delivery order for the new systems is valued at $54.8 million and is an initial order under a broader new three-year agreement with the TSA.

Big money to be made these days ensuring safety on airliners.

07:07 pm | 0 recommendations | 4 comments

Running With Fast Company II

What you won't read in this story is that Fast Company is the only business magazine to have increased its circulation last year or that this year we've gained market share in ad pages against both Fortune and Business Week. But those are issues that would keenly interest the people in publishing circles.

For our readers, the message is clear: There's a new team in place with incredible passion and enthusiasm to put out a magazine that every thinking person in business should embrace for ideas, ideals, inspiration, and insight. That is what Fast Company has always been about.

03:32 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Sign of the Dot-Com Apocalypse

As if we needed any other signs that the reign of high-flying internet companies is over, AOL Time Warner is considering dropping AOL from its name.

It's probably a good thing, considering AOL's real place in the Time Warner heirarchy, but a symbolic development nonetheless.

11:14 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Idea Practitioners

Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge is featuring a very interesting excerpt regarding the concept of "Idea Practitioners," people who know how to get new ideas across and implemented.

It includes a number of helpful tips from some of these innovators on getting your great ideas heard and blocking out the background noise of everyday business.

As old man Goethe said:

"Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game."

10:29 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Wireless Streaming Audio

RealNetworks is introducing its streaming audio service on web-enabled Sprint PCS phones. Maybe wireless is starting to live up to the hype it's been getting since the late nineties? The real quality, of course, remains to be seen, but it's a start.

03:23 pm | 0 recommendations | 5 comments

Working Your Network III

So I just visited Linda's pick, Eliyon's CorporateAlumni. It BLEW ME AWAY. How do they know all this stuff? They remember people from my old company that I don't even remember. It's stunning.

But of course, it's not perfect. I have to ask, Who is Laci Leichliter? It implies she was on the board of my old company, but I looked up her picture (I told you this was scary.) and I've never seen her before in my life.

Hmm...

02:29 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Welcome

Welcome to the world of Participatory Journalism. The article touches on some of the very points we're trying to accomplish here with FC Now.

01:55 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

PalmSpring

I really can't see much good, from an innovation standpoint, coming from allowing Palm Inc. to buy Handspring. Seems to me Palm has been playing catch-up with the more dextrous Handspring for a few years now, and bringing the two together only hurts the consumer in the end.

I do think the combined hardware division is going to have trouble competing head-to-head with the new Sony Clie.

04:07 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Getting a Rise Out of Something

Verizon customers were shocked recently when they received a mailing to say their phone bill was on the rise. When they called to complain at a number provided in the mailing, they were likely further shocked when connected to an adult phone line. I wonder if the person who answered the sex line sounded anything like Ernestine.

Why is it that the larger the company, the greater chance of a colossal foul-up such as this.