Archive for the 'Business' Category

Time to Reboot America

We don’t just need a bailout in this country, we need a national makeover. That is why the next few months are among the most important in U.S. history.

While Detroit Slept

Someone is already developing an alternative to Detroit’s business model. I don’t know if it will work, but I do know that it can be done and Detroit isn’t doing it.

No Laughing Matter

George W. Bush never challenged Americans to do anything hard, let alone great. The next president is not going to have that luxury.

Dear Iraqi Friends

As Americans lose their homes and sink into debt, they no longer understand why we are spending $1 billion a day to make Iraqis feel more secure in their homes.

Keep It in Vegas

Government’s job is to police that fine line between the risk-taking that drives innovation and gambling with other people’s savings in ways that threaten us all.

Making America Stupid

Unless we make America the country most able to innovate, compete and win in the age of globalization, our leverage in the world will continue to slowly erode.

Following the Russian standard

Highly interesting in case you have any business in Russia. The Russian rules to mind:

“THIS week, in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia, our city-by-city series of etiquette guides turns to Moscow. Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s put-upon president, may not be needing the advice any time soon, but other would-be visitors should benefit from a quick perusal.”

Apple Store SoHo cited as a bad neighbor

Filed under: ,

Is Apple’s oldest NYC retail store causing agita for its well-heeled neighbors in SoHo? AFP and Dow Jones are reporting that the SoHo Alliance, an umbrella community organization, has complained to city officials and Apple execs about a litany of issues with the popular outlet. Crowds outside the store (sometimes overnight) have blocked streets and left trash behind, to the frustration of nearby residents.

The recent Jonas Brothers in-store concert may have been the final indignity for alliance director Sean Sweeney. “This concert attracted thousands of young teenage girls who screamed incessantly on the street for hours for their idols, blocking traffic, injuring one resident in the crush, and inconveniencing scores of other people and businesses.”

I suppose there’s a price to pay for being busy and popular. Considering that the immediate vicinity of the store is home to scores of restaurants, bars and high-end boutiques, it’s surprising that Apple is the biggest quality-of-life offender in the area, but maybe it’s time for some of the bigger draws to move to the 14th Street store instead.

[via Cult of Mac]

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Apple – Get a Mac – TV Ads

Some really funny apple ads can be found on this page. So far this series of advertisements has made both of the actors stars (John Hodgeman, as the PC and Justin Long as the Mac) So no wonder that microsoft is not too happy about is and is starting to launch a new campain to revamp its image as the looser computer. One of its latest efforts is the www.mojaveexperiment.com. Have a look at this article in the Economist

 


Foreign Policy: Top 100 Public Intellectuals

I just stumbled over the list of the alleged Top 100 Public Intellectuals, published by the foreign policy magazine. This list is very interesting and by far more accurate and diverse as the lists which are regulary featured at the Time Magazine.

Some remarkable (? really) discoveries, which can lead to a rediscovery and more intense occupation with their thoughts:

Thomas FriedmanUnited States

Journalist, columnist

Friedman—New York Times foreign affairs commentator, three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and author of The World Is Flatand From Beirut to Jerusalem—is one of the world’s most popular and influential syndicated columnists. He wrote “The First Law of Petropolitics” for the May/June 2006 issue of FP.

Samuel HuntingtonUnited States

Political scientist

Through such works as Political Order in Changing Societies, Huntington’s influence on his field is profound, but his most famous book is certainly The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Currently the Albert J. Weatherhead III professor at Harvard University, Huntington cofounded Foreign Policy in 1970. He wrote his provocative article “The Hispanic Challenge” for the March/April 2004 issue of FP.

Paul KrugmanUnited States

Economist, columnist

A fiery political commentator for the New York Times and a respected trade theorist, Krugman is a John Bates Clark Medal-winning economist at Princeton University. His most recent book is The Conscience of a Liberal. He wrote “Europe Jobless, America Penniless?” in the Summer 1994 issue of FP.

Jürgen HabermasGermany

Philosopher

Habermas’s diverse interests range from epistemology to the rule of law, but his most influential work is on the “public sphere”—the arena in which arguments about political matters take place. He is author of The Theory of Communicative Action and, most recently,The Dialectics of Secularization, a dialogue with Joseph Ratzinger.

Noam ChomskyUnited States

Linguist, activist

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1955, the prolific Chomsky is a groundbreaking linguist and a prominent critic of U.S. foreign policy. He wrote “What Is the International Community: The Crimes of ‘Intcom’” for the September/October 2002 issue of FP.

Umberto EcoItaly

Medievalist, novelist

Eco’s dense novels, such as The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum, are a dizzying blend of philosophy, biblical analysis, and arcane literary references. An expert in the burgeoning field of semiotics, he is president of the Advanced School of Humanist Studies at the University of Bologna.

Muhammad YunusBangladesh

Microfinancier, activist

Recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Yunus is the founder of the Grameen Bank and a pioneer in the field of microfinance. He shared his “Epiphanies” in the January/February 2008 issue of FP.