Oct 22, 2009 0
Remains of the Night
Oct 21, 2009 1
Overheard
“Urban flight online? That’s MySpace right now. Want to find all the hookers? Go to MySpace. They’ve got Craig’s List beat.”
Oct 20, 2009 0
Business Model of the Day: Dynamic Ticket Pricing
If you think about it, setting the right price for a professional sports ticket is a difficult problem. Right now, teams price tickets based on where you sit. A seat in the upper deck behind a pole is going to be less expensive, every game, than a first row seat behind home plate.
The trouble is that not every game is equally desirable. It might be more difficult to attend an afternoon or week night baseball game in early spring than to go to a game on a muggy August Saturday. Monday Night Football, Denver versus San Diego for control of the division is a more desirable ticket than a game against the hapless Lions.
Read the rest of this entry »Oct 15, 2009 0
12 Days
Which is how long it took for Obama to be nominated for a Nobel Prize. Foreign Policy details his Peace-Prize-winning accomplishments here.
Oct 15, 2009 0
A Da Vinci?
Art collector Peter Silverman may have stumbled into the find—and investment—of the decade. In 2007 he purchased an unattributed drawing, thought to be “German, early 19th century”, for $19,000. Further analysis—including carbon dating and fingerprint analysis of a partial on the drawing itself—suggests it may be an early Da Vinci drawing, worth tens of millions of dollars.
Read the rest of this entry »Oct 15, 2009 0
Not Making This Up
Kellogg Co. is introducing new technology in the U.K. that allows it to burn its famous signature onto individual cereal flakes by using lasers.
The technology, which was developed in Britain, is being used in a trial to stamp out imitation cereals — which Kellogg calls “fake flakes” — by branding Corn Flakes with the company logo.
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Oct 14, 2009 0
Power of Corporations
Recent study suggests that a few key corporations influence or control most equity holdings in most countries:
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Oct 14, 2009 0
Japanese Productivity
Is Japan’s economic decline due to the collapse in the famous Japanese work ethic? Guy Sorman thinks so:
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Oct 14, 2009 2
One Way to Innovate
The kinds of business ideas that get all the attention, the ones we think of as real innovation, seem as if they spring fully formed from the creative genius of the individual inventor or entrepreneur. Thomas Edison stubbornly inventing multiple industries. Thomas Watson hurtling his company unstintingly toward the computational future. Steve Jobs whipping various teams at Apple until they realized his vision for iPods that put first a thousand, and then tens of thousands of songs in our pockets.
The trouble is the reality behind these stories isn’t as simple as it seems. Dozens, if not hundreds of brilliant inventors were working on electricity; Thomas Edison was but the most successful, and eccentric. (Even if Nicola Tesla was the more brilliant.) IBM out sold and outproduced its rivals, but much of the most important work was accomplished by others. Steve Jobs’ uncompromising standards, impeccable taste, and ability to negotiate contracts from incumbents that create new business models and different value chains for consumers deserve a great deal of credit. But Apple more often popularizes and perfects the innovative ideas of others.
Read the rest of this entry »Oct 13, 2009 0
The Curse of Specialization
Ever since Adam Smith’s pin factory made obvious the benefits of division of labor, our jobs, disciplines and knowledge have become ever more specialized.
Much of this has been for the good. Scientific discoveries, particularized services, ever-more-precise tools suited to specialized tasks—all this and more have made possible the unprecedented improvements in physical comfort, most measures of standard of living, and longevity that we’ve enjoyed for the last two hundred years.
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