August 21, 2010 – 9:03 pm | Comments Off

MP3 … For more than 20 years, the mantra in Washington has been “more, not less” when it comes to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the expansion of homeownership. But in light of the financial …

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Stem Cell Researchers May Have Found Baldness Cure (Irish Times)
August 18, 2010 – 7:29 pm | Comments Off

Researchers working at the forefront of stem cell technology may also unexpectedly have come up with a cure for baldness. They almost miraculously changed one cell type into a completely different one, but in the …

How Ageing Hurts House Prices (Business Spectator)
August 18, 2010 – 5:14 am | Comments Off

Governments of advanced economies face a difficult task in coming years, as they grapple with the problem of rising health costs and falling tax receipts caused by a rapidly ageing population. But housing prices around …

The Future of Magazines (Diane Rehm)
August 17, 2010 – 5:43 pm | Comments Off

Windows Media | Real Audio … Magazines are in trouble. Hundreds of periodicals folded last year and the former powerhouse Newsweek was sold for a dollar in exchange for millions in debt: What’s ahead for …

Consumed: Rethinking Business in the Era of Mindful Spending. By Andrew Benett and Ann O’Reilly. Palgrave Macmillan.
August 17, 2010 – 5:05 pm | Comments Off
Consumed: Rethinking Business in the Era of Mindful Spending. By Andrew Benett and Ann O’Reilly. Palgrave Macmillan.

As the effects of the global recession linger, consumers everywhere are changing their purchasing patterns, paying greater attention to what and why they are buying, and from whom. While many feel rampant spending is hard-wired …

China to Loan Ecuador One Billion Dollars (AFP)
August 17, 2010 – 4:32 pm | Comments Off

China will loan a billion dollars to Ecuador for energy, oil and telecommunications projects and a Chinese company is interested in investing another billion dollars in agricultural projects, Ecuadoran authorities said. … Read more

Coolfarming: Turn Your Great Idea Into the Next Big Thing. By Peter Gloor. AMACOM.
August 17, 2010 – 12:03 pm | Comments Off
Coolfarming: Turn Your Great Idea Into the Next Big Thing. By Peter Gloor. AMACOM.

Building on the ideas found in the groundbreaking book Coolhunting, consumer trend expert Peter Gloor’s Coolfarming moves beyond simply hunting for the latest hot ideas that are already happening and shows you how to get …

Innovation, Reinvented (PhysOrg)
August 17, 2010 – 5:58 am | Comments Off

A carmaker reports that design time on a new model dropped from six months to just one, thanks to new tools for innovation and collaboration developed by European researchers. The way companies get and develop …

Reverse-Engineering of Human Brain Likely by 2020 (Gizmodo)
August 17, 2010 – 5:57 am | Comments Off

Reverse-engineering the human brain so we can simulate it using computers may be only a decade away, says Ray Kurzweil, artificial intelligence expert and author of the best-selling book The Singularity is Near. … Read …

China Reduces Holdings of Treasury Debt in June (Forbes)
August 17, 2010 – 5:55 am | Comments Off

China reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasury debt for a second straight month in June while the holdings of Japan and Britain rose. … Read more

China Surges Past Japan as No. 2 Economy; US Next? (Forbes)
August 17, 2010 – 5:53 am | Comments Off

China has eclipsed Japan as the world’s second-biggest economy after three decades of blistering growth that put overtaking the U.S. in reach within 10 years. … Read more

China Slowdown Sends Chill through Trade Partners (Forbes)
August 17, 2010 – 5:48 am | Comments Off

China’s abrupt growth slowdown is sending a chill through Asian economies and as far away as Australia and Africa as its voracious demand for imports fades. … Read more

Giant Nets Could Remove Orbiting Space Junk (PhysOrg)
August 17, 2010 – 5:47 am | Comments Off

A dozen space vehicles, equipped with 200 nets each, could scoop up the space debris floating in low Earth orbit, clearing the way for a future space elevator. That’s the idea described at the annual …

The Future of Interfaces is Mobile, Screen-less and Invisible (Technology Review)
August 17, 2010 – 5:45 am | Comments Off

Reto Meier, an “Android Developer Advocate for Google” recently laid out a fairly science-fiction account of where computer (or at least mobile) interfaces are headed. In the spirit of the best futurism, all of his …

Technology Needed to Feed World in 2050: Scientists (CBC)
August 17, 2010 – 5:40 am | Comments Off

Artificial meat, nanotechnology and genetic tools are among the “tools of science” that may be needed in the coming decades to help supply food to the world’s population, scientists say. … Read more

India to Top China as Fastest Growing Economy by 2015 (Businessweek)
August 16, 2010 – 4:35 am | Comments Off

India may overtake China as the world’s fastest growing major economy by 2015, as the South Asian nation doubles infrastructure investment and adds six-fold more workers than its northern neighbor, Morgan Stanley said. … Read …

US Judge Bars Growing of Genetically Modified Beets (PhysOrg)
August 16, 2010 – 4:34 am | Comments Off

A US judge has ordered a ban on growing genetically modified beets in the United States until the Department of Agriculture fully investigates their environmental impact. … Read more

A New Kind of War (Forbes)
August 16, 2010 – 4:32 am | Comments Off

A fundamental shift is under way in deep technology research. As the complexity and cost continue to escalate beyond the means of one or an ecosystem of companies, governments are stepping in to pick up …

Soon, Vehicles Will Have High-Tech Number Plates (Times of India)
August 16, 2010 – 4:25 am | Comments Off

The registration number plate of your car will soon have RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, which will make it easier for the RTO and traffic police to get details about you and your car even …

Savage Spending Cuts Could Herald the Death of the Countryside, Warns Lord Taylor (Telegraph)
August 16, 2010 – 4:24 am | Comments Off

Savage cuts in public spending in this Autumn’s spending review could hasten the deaths of thousands of rural villages, according to a senior Liberal Democrat peer and former rural adviser to the UK Government. …

Peter Miller: The Smart Swarm (Diane Rehm)
August 15, 2010 – 7:13 pm | Comments Off

Windows Media | Real Audio … Ants do it. So do fish, birds, bees and humans. They think better in groups than as individuals. How understanding flocks, schools and colonies in the animal world can …

The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy. By Adrian C. Ott. HarperBusiness.
August 15, 2010 – 7:01 pm | Comments Off
The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy. By Adrian C. Ott. HarperBusiness.

Today’s customers are overwhelmed, overworked, and over-stressed, and it seems that everyone–from CEOs to soccer moms–is short on time and overwhelmed with information. As a result, despite the availability of 24/7 commerce …

Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, Out-Sell to Win Every Time. By Landy Chase. McGraw-Hill.
August 15, 2010 – 6:36 pm | Comments Off
Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, Out-Sell to Win Every Time. By Landy Chase. McGraw-Hill.

There’s a hard fact we all have to face: Buyers have evolved. They almost never consider a single vendor when making a buying decision. Instead, they call you — and your competitors — …

Russia Ban on Grain Export Begins (BBC)
August 15, 2010 – 8:27 am | Comments Off

Russia has imposed a ban on grain exports until the end of the year, after a severe drought and a spate of wildfires devastated crops. Russia is one of the world’s biggest producers of wheat, …

China-Funded Port a ‘Symbol of Non-Partisan Policy’ (AFP)
August 15, 2010 – 8:25 am | Comments Off

A China-funded port in Sri Lanka will be a symbol of Colombo’s non-partisan foreign policy, the president said amid Indian concerns over Beijing’s interests in the region. Sri Lanka is part of the 118-member Non-Aligned …

How Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You’re In. By Rick Kash and David Calhoun. HarperCollins.
August 14, 2010 – 10:35 pm | Comments Off
How Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You’re In. By Rick Kash and David Calhoun. HarperCollins.

For the past twenty years, the growth formula for business has been to increase revenues by expanding product offerings and streamlining supply. But with the recent financial collapse, the world economy has changed forever. Now, …

Genetically Modified Crops Pop Up in the Wild (Los Angeles Times)
August 14, 2010 – 7:52 pm | Comments Off

Genetic engineering has been hailed as a tool to produce crops that are left unharmed by weed-killing pesticides and that are more productive than their forebears. But critics have worried that modified plants might take …

Climate Change Will Cost Us All (Business Day)
August 14, 2010 – 3:38 pm | Comments Off

You don’t have to be Lord Stern to see how the costs of climate change are already compounding and spiralling, out of control. … Read more

America’s Real Asian Trade Problem (TIME)
August 14, 2010 – 3:35 pm | Comments Off

Asia is becoming much more economically integrated and intra-Asia trade is growing rapidly. Part of this is just a natural process – as the region gets wealthier, its firms are finding more and more customers …