Topic: Taipei

Nations Of Notebooks

Love your laptop? No matter what brand is on the outside, the brand inside says, "Made in Taiwan." Here's the story behind Horace Tsiang and four of his top suppliers -- entrepreneurs who assembled an industry and produced a fast country.READ»

Fast Cities: Taipei, Taiwan

Taipei has strived to achieve "zero landfill, total recycling" by 2010. It will probably fall short, but its policies are still exemplary. The city has encouraged the private sector to build composting facilities and recycling plants, and requires residents to pay for trash collection by the bag.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Nike SB Stefan Janoski Michael Lau Edition

Michael Lau offered up his wood-grained take on the Nike SB Stefan Janoski in celebration of the Gardner 10th Anniversary (and exhibition). Stef’s boat-like skate shoe has witnessed a bunch of other interesting colourways, including ...READ»

Fast Cities: Malmö, Sweden

After recession nearly wiped out Malmö's industrial base in the 1980s, the city had a chance to start over. It created eco-friendly neighborhoods of transformed tenements and old shipyards.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities 2009: Seattle Is the City of the Year

Seattle, the city that sprawls across seven hills, is Fast Company's city of the year for 2009. A visit to the city last month reminded me of all the reasons it was chosen. The car rental agency at the airport handed me the smart ...READ»

Innovators Reveal Cool, Creative Spots in Seattle

Where are the cool and the creative? Nine Seattleites on the places that inspire them in their hometown.READ»

• Seattle: City of the Year

Fast Cities: Cleveland

One of America's most blighted cities, hard hit by rustification and foreclosure, is also home to one of its loveliest urban initiatives, a plan to create acres of tree nurseries, oases of native plants, and community gardens with bees and chickens.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: New York

In the aftermath of September 11, New York police commissioner Ray Kelly built the most successful local counterterrorism unit in the U.S. and perhaps the world. The team, which has 600 experts that know some four dozen languages, routinely dispatches officers overseas for work in cities believed to be terror targets.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Dragon Dream

Stan Shih's 'Dragon Dream': Building Taiwan's first global brand.READ»

Corpses Power AC in Funeral Parlor

Whether it comes from factories or crematoriums, waste heat is a valuable energy-producing tool. And one Taiwanese crematorium wants to make sure waste heat from dead bodies doesn't, well, get wasted. The Taipei Mortuary Services ...READ»

Pixel Qi: The Screen Tech Behind CES' Most Buzzworthy Gadgets

Ever tried to read an email on your smartphone in direct sunlight? Well, if you haven't, don't--because it's pretty much impossible. That's because the screens on most computers and cell phones are backlit, especially now that both ...READ»

Fast Cities: New Orleans

The recovery of post-Katrina New Orleans has unleashed a new generation of social entrepreneurs. A sterling example: the Broadmoor Improvement Association and its dynamic president, LaToya Cantrell. Broadmoor is a racially mixed, middle-class historic district dating to the 1920s.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Denver

The arts may often be associated with money and power, but the Mile-High City's Five by Five program opens the doors of Denver's cultural institutions to some of its youngest and poorest residents.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Vancouver, British Columbia

The host of the 2010 Winter Games is going for green, using its big moment as a chance to catalyze change. All 18 buildings in Vancouver's Olympic Village are being built to LEED Gold and LEED Platinum standards.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Chicago

It seems almost too simple: one card that gives access to the trains, buses, and a local car-sharing program. The Smart Card is Chicago-based nonprofit I-Go Car Sharing's idea to extend public transportation to include public cars.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: San Francisco

Many people joke about stashing their cash under the mattress, but what if that were really the only option? Bank on San Francisco, a public-private partnership formed by the city and several financial organizations, gives citizens access to bank accounts and financial education.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Microsoft's Dumb New Name for Netbooks

Betraying an apparent hatred of all things simple, easy and natural, one of Microsoft's top marketers announced yesterday that Redmond will no longer be using the term "netbook" to describe mini-notebooks like the Dell ...READ»

Asus Reveals More Laptops; Large-Screen, Gaming-Oriented

Taipei-based Asus [TPE: 2357] is expanding its consumer electronics line so quickly that it almost doesn't do justice to the impressiveness of each device's individual specs. Case in point: two large-screen portables they were ...READ»

Asus Intros Two Powerful Gaming Notebooks

Taipei-based Asus [TPE: 2357] is expanding its consumer electronics line so quickly that it almost doesn't do justice to the impressiveness of each device's individual specs. Case in point: two large-screen portables they were ...READ»

Acer to Introduce First Google Chrome OS Devices in Early June

Google's Chrome OS is a bit of a mystery, but it shouldn't stay that way for long--Acer is believed to be launching the first Chrome OS devices in Taipei within two weeks.READ»

Fast Cities: Houston

When the property in downtown Houston came up for sale, city leaders knew they could find a better use for it than yet another condo or office building. They proposed Discovery Green, a 12-acre, $122 million park in the heart of downtown that has reminded urban planners of the power and potential of green space.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Philadelphia

How do you save your home from foreclosure? Philadelphia's answer: communication. The city's Mortgage Foreclosure Protection Program relies on door-to-door outreach, free counseling, and meetings between those on the brink of losing their homes and their mortgage lenders.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Seattle: City of the Year

The capital of the Pacific Northwest is blessed with divine geography, frontier spirit, and an abundance of both artists and geeks. Plus, it's not even that rainy.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

Fast Cities: Tucson

In 2003, Tucson native and former surgeon general Richard Carmona challenged his friend, Mayor Robert E. Walkup, to turn their hometown into the model of a healthy city. He has done it, reshaping his city into a place where health and safety aren't an afterthought, but an integral part of municipal planning.READ»

• Fast Cities 2009

HTC "Continues to Assess" Making Their Own Smartphone OS--or Buying One From Palm

HTC's got the chops to make their own OS, and it sounds like they're contemplating making that very choice. Of course, that comes with its own set of challenges and rewards.READ»