How to Look Good in a Recession Here at FastCompany.com we've devised a solution for holiday shoppers who want to look like a millionaire without having to go broke. Yep, here are 8 great things that you can rent.
Posted Fri Dec 5, 2008
The Curious Case of Manny Ramirez At what point does the cost of a valuable employee, say Manny Ramirez, outweigh the potential profit they represent? If a high-performing employee becomes disruptive because of their attitude, dress, or behavior, when do you draw the line?
Posted Tue Dec 2, 2008
Innovation and the Obama Presidency During his presidential campaign, President-elect Obama was quoted as saying, “America risks being left behind in the global economy: Revolutionary advances in information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other fields are reshaping the global economy. Without renewed efforts, the United States risks losing leadership in science, technology, and innovation.” Unfortunately, the numbers corroborate words; American Federal investment in Science and engineering research has been cut in half since 1970.
Posted Wed Nov 19, 2008
Google Brings Voice to the iPhone The New York Times reported Friday that Google will be launching a new application for Apple’s iPhone that will allow the phone to understand the human voice. Finally catching up with the likes of Yahoo and Microsoft (who already offer voice services for cellphones), Google has taken another step toward becoming a serious player in the smartphone and advertising industries.
Posted Tue Nov 18, 2008
Real Change in Washington: Obama Announces Plan to Update Fireside Chats Reports that Obama plans to bring the President’s weekly “fireside chat” into the new century surfaced this weekend. The president elect plans to not just offer the chats on the radio, but on YouTube as well.
Posted Mon Nov 17, 2008
How Do We Boost Those Much Needed R&D Dollars? I just read a blog on WashingtonPost.com that essentially says that a business is doomed to failure if it cannot be on the cutting edge of innovation. And there is no bigger source of innovation than the ideas, products, and designs that come out of those valuable R&D dollars. But R&D will experience a squeeze on a widespread scale in the coming year. Why? Well, for one, offshore outsourcing has become an ingrained practice for the U.S.
Posted Fri Oct 17, 2008
Reflections on a Depression: I’ve Got All This Blame, Where do I Put it? Wherever he is, Chicken Little is probably grinning. For many Americans these days, it feels like the sky is falling, and financially speaking, the evidence supports Mr. Little’s claim. The consensus around here is that we are experiencing the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Dow succeeded in halving itself last week, banks are taking more dives than Italian soccer players, and the bailout bill hasn’t yet found its legs. In times like these, when few are exempt from feeling the squeeze, people demand answers.
Posted Wed Oct 15, 2008
Thinking Creatively: Making Coal into Diamonds
In the October edition of Fast Company Magazine, Gregory Berns wrote an article entitled “Neuroscience Sheds New Light on Creativity”, which I think is fascinating. Read it here.
Posted Fri Oct 3, 2008
Creative Thinking: Making Diamonds from Coal In the October edition of Fast Company Magazine, Gregory Berns wrote an article entitled “Neuroscience Sheds New Light on Creativity”, which I think is fascinating. Read it here.
Posted Fri Oct 3, 2008
Who The Blogosphere Says Is The Most Sustainable According to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Environmental Sustainability Report, four brands—Toyota, General Motors, Honda, and Whole Foods—have received the most positive attention in the blogosphere regarding eco-sustainability.
Posted Thu Oct 2, 2008
Talkin' Political Leadership Blues I want to talk about leadership. I want to talk about a facet of the present American political climate, and I ask you to weigh in on this issue.
Posted Wed Sep 24, 2008
The Biggest Hack Exposed: How Safe is the Web Really? Last week, the Department of Justice cracked the biggest case of credit card and identity theft in U.S. history. Oh, snap. Last Tuesday, Federal prosecutors charged 11 hackers with the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers. The thieves charged with the crime allegedly hacked into the wireless networks of nine major retailers, including BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, TJ Maxx, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, and Sports Authority.
Posted Fri Aug 15, 2008
I'm Voting For: The Youth Vote Goes Online
When I was in college, I worked for a non-profit, unaffiliated organization that registered people to vote, specifically targeting young people. We would drive to supermarkets and movie theaters, wherever there was foot-traffic, and attempt to register people on their way to and from buying their groceries, or from watching their Scary Movie 3’s.
Posted Wed Aug 6, 2008
Encouraging Innovation: How Can We Do It Better? In Tuesday’s New York Times, there was a story about how entrepreneurs have been getting into the game of buying undervalued websites, revamping them, and then selling them for a profit. Read it here.
Posted Fri Aug 1, 2008
Not so Fast Buckaroo: T. Boone Loses Big With Yahoo
On Tuesday, I wrote a post on T. Boone Pickens, the oil colossus-gone-softy, who is currently waging a ubiquitous, multi-million-dollar ad campaign to convince Americans to stop guzzling gasoline like it’s Happy Hour at TGI Friday’s. Read my post here.
Posted Fri Aug 1, 2008
Let’s Hear it For T. Boone Pickens
If you have cable TV, you’ve probably seen the new “energy awareness” commercial, paid-for and narrated-by T. Boone Pickens. For those of you who haven’t laid your eyes on this, watch it here.
Posted Tue Jul 29, 2008
Amazon Now Supplying "On Demand" Yesterday, Amazon introduced its new on-demand, online store for movies and TV shows, called “Amazon Video on Demand.” Supposedly, Amazon’s new repository will operate much like a cable-on-demand service, offering customers access to more than 40,000 titles in streaming digital video. I say “supposedly” because the store is still in beta and will only be accessible to certain invited Amazon.com customers--until the store officially opens to the public later this summer.
Posted Fri Jul 18, 2008
Er, Bud-Wise?
One month ago, I wrote an entry on InBev's unsolicited takeover of Anheuser-Busch. At the time, I worried about Anheuser-Busch's attempt to use patriotism in its favor to ward off a potential buyout and suggested that by manipulating consumer loyalty, the company might be setting the average-Bud-drinker up not only for an actual defeat, but for symbolic defeat as well. Compounding the letdown.
Posted Tue Jul 15, 2008
The Cloud Profiteers: Syncplicity and the New iPhone
Over the last year, Web 2.0 became cloudy. Yes, once upon a time, Sergey and Larry defined their vision for Google as an effort “to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible.” As a result of this ambitious goal, “cloud computing” as the web savants call it, has become all the rage. Move over Doppler 5000. Today, “cloud computing” has become an integral part of the interwebs’ inexorable movement into sunny weather.
Posted Fri Jul 11, 2008
