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Presenting the 2008 Fast 50

The World's Most Innovative Companies

We canvassed the experts, analyzed the products, and crunched the numbers. From visionary upstarts to storied stalwarts, here are companies that dazzle with new ideas-- and prove beyond a doubt how business is a force for change. We call them the Fast 50. By Mark Borden, Bill Breen, Jeff Chu, Josh Dean, Rebecca Fannin, Amy Feldman, Charles Fishman, Paul Hochman, David Kushner, Mark Lacter, Robert Levine, David Lidsky, Ellen McGirt, Danielle Sacks, Chuck Salter, Elizabeth Svoboda, Linda Tischler

 The Faces and Voices of Google

Google is different, even on a list of distinctive companies. Here, more than a dozen describe what life is like at a place where no goal is too audacious, agility means more than power, and even cafeteria food represents an opportunity to change the world.. By Chuck Salter

Slideshow: The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies

Slideshow: Meet the Googlers

Slideshow: Tour the Googleplex

Fast Talk: Design Makeovers

Designs on Success

By Tim McKeough

Homage to History

By Tim McKeough

A Club is Reborn

By Tim McKeough

Beyond Ballistic

By Tim McKeough

Keeping it Cool

By Tim McKeough

Now

Now: March 2008

What's happening this month: Shiny new airport terminals in London and Beijing take off; why baseball's first pitch is in Tokyo; and Austin's South by Southwest by the numbers. By Ellen Gibson, Jeff Chu, David Lidsky, Theunis Bates, Bianca Bosker, Clayton Neuman

Infographic: Numerology: SXSW

Over the last 20 years, the South by Southwest Festival has grown from a small Texas gathering of songsters into a star-launching mega-event with music, film, and tech components. This year, it runs from March 7-16. By Clayton Neuman

Open House: Just Plane Ambitious

London unveils a new airline terminal on March 30, a few weeks after Beijing. Here's a look at the two new temples of aviation. By Ellen Gibson

The Journal-ist: In the Lead

From this month's academic journals, four views on what makes a top-notch 21st-century leader: curiosity, charisma, neuroscience, and Ivy League thinking By James Kuczmarski

Next

In Praise of Spikes

In an exclusive excerpt, the guru of the Creative Class explains the peaks and valleys of the global economy. By Richard Florida

Where Art Thou?

The four kinds of places that make up today's creative world.

Zipcar Makes the Leap

The car-sharing darling makes its play for the mainstream by emphasizing economics and lifestyle over environmental impact. By Alex Frankel

Infographic: With Car Sharing, More Means Less

Eureka?

Alan Trounson, the new president of California's stem-cell agency, talks about the science, the opposition, and his qualms about working with embryos. By Elizabeth Svoboda

¡Hola Surfers!

When it comes to attracting the lucrative, fast-growing Hispanic demographic online, don't go with what you know--go with what you know works. By Ellen McGirt

Hustle & Flow

Alaska Airlines' Airport of the Future makes quickwork of getting passengers through check-in. By Dave Demerjian

Columns

The Scoble Show: Straight to Video

How will you use next-generation Web TV to reinvent your business? By Robert Scoble

Made to Stick: Heroic Checklist

Why you should learn to love checking boxes. Dan Heath and Chip Heath

Three Instances Where Checklists Have Worked—And How

Three instances where checklists have worked—and how.

Green Business: Another Inconvenient Truth

The reason why companies greenwash their products. By David Roberts

Murketing: Our Profiles, Ourselves

Why marketers who use social-networking sites may be pitching into the void. By Rob Walker

More Great Stuff

Letter from the Editor

Where the wild things are. By Robert Safian

Infographic: Google’s Stock

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