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The old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it" is wrong--it cripples us when it comes to optimizing what works. Google is famous for its relentless A/B testing, a technique for making constant incremental improvements by testing one small change against the previous version to see which is more successful. You can apply this model to your own work habits too.

All across the United States, nay all around the world, the message about higher education is uniform: More people should go to university. President Obama has repeatedly stated on record that "by 2020 America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world." The Lumina Foundation is working to increase the proportion of Americans with degrees to 60% by 2025 .

In this extended version of the talk from our new issue , we speak with Blake Simmons, the VP for deconstruction at the Department of Energy's Joint Bioenergy Institute about competing with the fossil fuel industries, balancing needs for food and fuel, and becoming the Radio Shack of bioenergy.

If you’ve seen Eminem’s movie 8 Mile, you surely remember the scene of an industrial basement packed with hip-hop fans assembled for the battle between rival rappers.

DigitalGlobe, the firm that provides much of the imagery for Google Earth, is launching a next-generation satellite in 2014. However, the super-sharp images of the WorldView-3 aren't for Google and Bing Maps: They're going straight to the military and intelligence agencies

The annual PNC Christmas Price Index is a giant, interactive infographic on the price tag for The 12 Days of Christmas. The 12 Days of Christmas is the granddaddy of holiday memes. For centuries, the seasonally inclined have sung of that elaborate parade of presents that includes various fowl, prancing performers and, of course, five golden rings.

Your customers that is. If you're spending tons of money on attracting new customers, you're making a mistake. If you’ve ever tried to explain the concept of "make new friends but keep your old ones" to a five-year-old, you have a pretty good perspective on how many high-growth businesses approach customer acquisition and retention.

Players of the highly popular mobile game

The micro-blogging site buys some help in the mobile security department. Twitter has acquired Whisper Systems, a tiny security start-up that makes software for Android smartphones and other mobile devices

Retailers cashed in on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, but experts caution against any premature victory dances. In the aftermath of the nation's biggest shopping weekend, storeowners and retailers have plenty to be thankful for: voracious consumers blasted through modest sales projections this past weekend, spending some $52 billion from Thursday to Sunday, and about a billion more on Cyber Monday. Though the numbers certainly seem to indicate a strong holiday sales season, experts suggest that with nearly four weeks left until Christmas, it's hardly time to celebrate.

Nearly one metric ton of hardware will land on Mars in about nine months' time, uncurl its limbs, and start rolling around in the name of science. Designing something like Curiosity isn't easy. Around August 6, 2012, a spacecraft will reach Mars' surface after a nine-month journey from Earth

How, and when, to react to employees' social media posts can be challenging. Here, some tips. I treat Facebook and Twitter pretty differently – I use Twitter ( @janinepopick ) for business and Facebook for both.

%excerpt% Read the original post: Can You Close the Big Deals?

Want to help out your less tech-savvy coworkers and loved ones? Don't just upgrade their browser. Set them up with these tools so they can help themselves and hassle you less.

Knowing your content cold helps. But if you still feel nervous, try one of these simple tactics.