Issue 151

December 2010/January 2010

Must-See Twitter TV

It is 75 minutes before showtime at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, and the Justin Bieber Watch is in full effect. (OMG!) On the fourth-floor pool deck of the hotel that overlooks the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, a motley collection of MTV marketing partners, entertainment executives, and other shiny Angelenos are enjoying cocktails and squinting at the open-air red carpet.
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Features

The Future of Advertising

Advertising is on the cusp of its first creative revolution since the 1960s. But the ad industry might get left behind.
What's Next for Advertising? Help Us Find Out
How an Army of Techies Is Taking on City Hall

Still waiting for a full reboot in Washington, D.C., an army of citizen techies is redefining civic engagement on a hyperlocal level.
Fixing a Pothole With Your iPhone
Inside the Wild, Wacky, Profitable World of Boing Boing

It's eccentric. It's unprofessional. And it makes money. How four people who do exactly what they want run one of the most popular blogs on the planet.
The Best of Boing Boing
How Willow Creek Is Leading Evangelicals by Learning From the Business World

Willow Creek, one of the nation's largest and most powerful megachurches, leads evangelicals by learning from the business world's best.
Inside BancVue's Audacious Plan to Upgrade Community Banks

BancVue revs up its audacious behind-the-scenes upgrade of community banks.
How Video Games Are Infiltrating--and Improving--Every Part of Our Lives

Games are sneaking into every part of our lives -- at home, school, and work. Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, and even the Army depend on games. and Pretty soon, you'll be a part of one. We guarantee it.

Now

Now: December 2010 January 2011

Conferences and events you don't want to miss this month.
Rebranding and Redesigning Your Company: Color Management Conference

Once upon a time, pigments and dyes from far-off lands were markers of wealth. Today, color may be easier to come by, but it's just as essential to signaling status and intent, especially for a brand's public image -- its logo. We rounded up recent redesigns that the printing professionals will be critiquing this year in Phoenix.
Exporting Your Plastic Surgery: Lifescience Alley Conference and Expo

The number of people jumping on a plane to go under the knife is surging -- in the U.S. alone, medical tourism is growing 35% each year. Plastic surgery, which makes up one-third of these trips, will be much discussed at this Minneapolis expo. Here, we look at where people go to get pretty.

Cisco's Laura Ipsen: Solving the Smart Grid Puzzle With an Almost Unlimited Budget

Cisco's SVP and GM of Smart Grid on green technology, health care, and meeting all five living U.S. presidents.
EBay Dials M for Makeover

How the company that pioneered online shopping, then lost its way, has become a surprisingly potent mobile-commerce power.
Inside Kevin Smith's Booming Podcast Business

For Smith fans, the live-podcasting theater is the sanctum sanctorum where they get to see the king of the comic-book geeks in action, regally decked out in his signature puck u jersey amid a hockey-inspired decor featuring mountains of sticks and red-and-black carpeting for his beloved New Jersey Devils.
Applied Materials and the $1.5 Billion SunFab Flameout

Applied Materials was supposed to revolutionize the thin-film solar business, just as it had spurred chip and display makers to new heights. Instead, it was out of the game in three years. What happened?
Solar Power’s Best Bets
How Interstate Is Shaping the Future of Rechargeable Batteries

Interstate Batteries' electric future.
Why Charities Should Have an Expiration Date

When an organization accomplishes its goal, Nancy Lublin thinks it should consider shutting down -- not finding another mission.
How Multimillionaire Zita Cobb Plans to Turn a Tiny Canadian Island Into an Arts Mecca

A multimillionaire tech exec returns home with dreams of turning little Fogo Island into a magnet for the arts.
How the African Leadership Academy Is Fighting the Continent's Education Exodus

A South African academy aims to teach the continent's brightest -- and fight widespread brain drain.
Teach for America’s Most Influential Alumni

Ahead of Teach for America's 20th-anniversary alumni summit in February, a look at the influentials who have emerged from the ranks of TFA vets.
How to Pick the Perfect Brand Name

Dan Heath and Chip Heath on what we can learn from the world's brand kings.

Fast Talk

Dare To Share

From books to baby clothes, young entrepreneurs are betting that renting is in, and ownership is overrated.
Bye Bye, Baby Gap: Trading Children's Clothes With James Reinhart of ThredUP
Chegg: Saving College Kids Money Through Textbook Rental
RentTheRunway Lets You Wear Designer Fashion on the Cheap
Udemy: A Free Online University for All
Zimride: Carpooling for College Students

Wanted

Object of Desire: Brunello Cucinelli Leather Trolly Suitcase

It may be hard to understand how a $3,868 piece of luggage helps the world, until you realize that Cucinelli's business has been the saving grace of Solomeo, a village of fewer than 500 residents in central Italy.
All I Want for Chrismukkahwanzaa...

We ask some leaders and trendsetters for their holiday wish lists.
Good Libations: Three Luxurious Cocktails for the Holidays

With the help of expert mixologists, we create three cocktails -- and the shopping lists for three divinely drinkable gift baskets.
Today's Special: Sizzling Celebrity Chef Products

After an arduous regimen of cooking and eating, Fast Company selects our favorite celeb-chef products.
RoundUp: The Gift of Giving

This holiday season, there's no better way to spread the joy than to give to charity in someone's honor. Here are 14 ideas, from $3 to $39,000.
BDDW's Retro-Modern Clock

The digital clock that doesn't look anything like one.
Campo Marzio's Artisan Stationery Comes to the U.S.

Our intrepid correspondent falls in love in Rome, and seals the deal in New York.
The Designer Gift Wrap of Whimsy Press

Recycled, avant-garde, retro: There's never been such gorgeous diversity in the marketplace for gift wrap.

From the Editor

A 60-Second Lesson

This issue of the magazine isn't about blindness. As always, it is devoted to possibilities.
Fast Blurbs: December 2010 January 2011
Easily digestible bite-sized news from this past month.

Re: October 2010

Your letters, comments and, yes, gripes about the October 2010 issue.

Issue 151

December 2010/January 2010

Must-See Twitter TV

Features

Now

Next

Fast Talk

Wanted

From the Editor