Seems impossible, but it's true: Until April, the U.S. Army did not have mobile-Internet capability. This is particularly ludicrous since the Department of Defense's budget for military communications this year is $23.7 billion. (For ...READ»
Every year, the loggers and farmers of the world chop and burn an area of forest the size of New York State. That's bad news for the creatures who live in those woods, but it's also grim for the rest of us: Deforestation accounts for ...READ»
Forget the beloved storyline (a kid wakes up in monsterland); the all-star director (Spike Jonze); a famous author as screenwriter (Dave Eggers cowrote with Jonze); stunning visuals (Imax); and the kiddie-lit legend who penned the ...READ»
Whatever you do, don't confuse the BlogWorld & New Media Expo with that other techie meeting in Austin. "South by Southwest is spring break for geeks," sniffs event chief Rick Calvert. "We're more focused on educating online ...READ»
At a surgery conference, doctors were polled on two treatment options for a hypothetical patient. The vast majority voted for a newer procedure that is more complicated but yields higher payment. But when the surgeons were asked, ...READ»
This book could be nick-named "The Hangover." Journalist and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich saw America binge on the power of positive thinking, and now tries to piece together what the hell happened. In the process, she dissects ...READ»
Motel 6 says it'll leave the light on for you, but these nights, some hotels can't afford to. In the first half of 2009, average revenue per available room in the U.S. fell nearly 19% from 2008, according to Smith Travel ...READ»
Since the holiday falls on a Sunday this year, just show him some love -- it's a bear market for teddy bears. Plush-toy revenues are down 17% this year, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Build-A-Bear posted a $6.8 million ...READ»
Half of all U.S. adults have taken an adventure-travel vacation in the past five years, and the sector has grown solidly among women -- especially for no-boys-allowed trips. Susan Eckert, founder of the Montana firm Adventure Women, ...READ»
Food banks have reported a 30% increase in requests for aid since 2007, and it's estimated that one in eight Americans doesn't have stable access to sufficient food. Leave it to do-gooder foodies to find a way to feed the hungry by ...READ»
Forget the networking and the keynote speeches at the American Institute for Graphic Artists' summit -- for true design geeks, there's only one reason to attend this biennial creative meet-up: the typographic quiz. Some 200 ...READ»
What does TV's Mr. Nasty want for his birthday? More money. Cowell, whose net worth is estimated at $200 million -- plus, earns millions each year savaging wannabes on American Idol and Britain's Got Talent, which he also created. But ...READ»
When this league of extraordinary gentlepeople convened in Washington last spring, they were met -- as is usual for world summits now -- with a small but creative resistance. "There were about 1,500 of us," recalls Lacy MacAuley of ...READ»
As the quest to improve America's health-care system continues, the tech crowd is ready to offer its own prescription: Apply the fundamentals of Web 2.0 (consumer-focused tools; crowd-sourced, minable data; robust community) to the ...READ»
In the good old days, the AFP's annual conference must have been quite the celebration for the 6,500 gathered wannabe masters of the universe. If the headlines are to be believed, these are not the good old days. But wait! According ...READ»
If Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling were around today, "I think he'd be doing things on the Internet," says Zone historian and sci-fi writer Marc Scott Zicree. "It would allow him to sidestep the production companies, sponsors, ...READ»
On just one day during last year's Summer Olympics, beijing2008.cn--the official 2008 Games Web site-- racked up nearly 200 million hits. That's a potential bonanza for the host that emerges from the pack of four 2016 finalists ...READ»
We have a big oil problem. As demand for olive oil has soared over the past decade, the trade in the commodity has become unfortunately slippery, says congress chairman Rod Mailer. Shady dealers have been mislabeling and diluting the ...READ»
Thanks to Richard Branson, one lucky fellow will tap the malty brew's semiquincentennial with a Virgin Galactic flight and a zero-gravity pint. (We're buying everyone a round if the winner says, "One two-step pour for man, one foamy ...READ»
Conference organizers of the world, pay attention: The Industrial Designers Society of America is schooling you in how to put together a convention. Let's start with a little surfing in the morning, then lunch in a gallery, and then a ...READ»
Outlook for Bangalore: Cloudy. Experts on cloud computing -- that fancy term for using supercomputers and amped-up servers for remote services -- will gather in India. Ahead of the meeting, we called Ramnath K. Chellappa, the ...READ»
Seventy products. Six minutes each. No PowerPoint. "Those are the rules," says DEMO exec Neal Silverman. "We're looking for real products, not canned presentations." For almost 20 years, this Gong Show -- style approach has helped ...READ»
The last time kids paid to watch crazy things fall from the sky, Disney's Chicken Little gobbled up $135 million stateside. We think that bodes well for Sony's Meatballs, the latest in the genre, in which a goofy scientific experiment ...READ»
Did anyone really expect the United Nations to have a serious, implementable plan for climate change by mid-December's convention in Copenhagen? We were skeptical after negotiations in Bali and Bonn, and apparently we're not alone. A ...READ»
There's a lot of disagreement about how best to move toward a sustainable future, but most everyone agrees on one particular point: our electricity grid, as it stands, is outdated and horribly, horribly inefficient. D.C.'s GridWeek ...READ»
