Once upon a time, people didn't camp outside the local Apple Store just to sneak a peek at a jumbo iPhone (we're talking about you, iPad).
Read More »Category Archives: Professional Development News
Feed SubscriptionFacebook Places, Foursquare: Social Media’s Tiny 2% Impact on Businesses
"What our clients are struggling with is: How big a deal are social media and location-based services, and how much of it is just sound and fury?" says a senior VP of Applied Predictive Technologies, which runs data analytics for Starbucks and Subway. "You've got your Groupon and Living Social , and your Foursquare and Facebook Places," says Jonathan Marek. "What our clients are struggling with is: How big a deal are social media and location-based services, and how much of it is just sound and fury?" That's the question on the mind of most every marketer and retailer--and Marek might finally have an answer
Read More »Bizwords
SELF-PROCLAIMED "social-media guru" and "jargon techspert" Alex Blagg from BajillionHits.Biz keeps sending us lists of "hot new Bizwords," which he insists are creating tons of buzz in the biggest meetings and boardrooms. We'll let you decide. | Illustrations by Andrew Rae #table { clear:both; width:620px; height:800px; background-image:url('http://images.fastcompany.com/magazine/154/next/next-40-arrows-background.jpg') ; background-repeat:no-repeat; } #table p{ font-size:13px; } #top #left { float:left; width:200px; margin-top:29px; } #top #right { float:right; width:200px; } #middle { height:200px; width:200px; float:left; margin-top:197px; margin-left:3px; } #bottom #left { float:left; width:200px; clear:left; margin-top:20px; margin-left:20px; } #bottom #right { float:right; width:200px; margin-top:52px; } APPTERNOON DELIGHT (AKA ANGRY LUNCH) The practice of barricading oneself in a bathroom stall for 20 or 30 minutes every afternoon just to play Angry Birds on your smartphone FACEBLOCKING Losing an otherwise solid sale, job, or business relationship just by acting like a jackass on Facebook REHABUZZITATION A hibernation period during which a person or brand takes a break from creating Internet buzz in order to recharge their buzz-driving batteries REVENUDE The sensation of vulnerable nakedness one feels when all one's puffed-up BS and profit-jargoning has been stripped away to reveal actual numbers in the harsh light of day CONTENT SHARECROPPING A practice employed by large online "content farms," in which they festoon their harvested content with a bunch of pointless social-media sharing buttons in order to give their "crops" more substance A version of this article appears in the April 2011 issue of Fast Company
Read More »ShowYou, a Remote Control for Web Video
A social networking app just for videos--designed especially for tablets and mobile--gives you the feeling of having the world of web video in the palm of your hand.
Read More »American Express Invests in PayFone, Powers Mobile Payments Plan
It was barely a month ago that American Express launched its futuristic mobile payments system Serve , and it's already moving to reinforce it by investing in a small firm
Read More »iFive: Rebels Hack Libya Phones, AMD Gets USB 3.0, Duolingo’s Clever Translation, Bing Streetside Hits Europe, Grammys for Games
1. As the military battle for Libya goes on, a different battle has been won behind the scenes: Rebel forces have successfully hacked Gadhafi's mobile network, and have used it to establish their own communications grid. Gadhafi shut the networks and Internet down weeks ago, to confound the rebels
Read More »How Mint Exec’s New Company Will Teach All Employees to Teach Others
Training has traditionally been part of centralized departments—and the bane of everyone else.
Read More »When Writing a Business Plan Is a Waste of Time
Walk into any bank in the country and ask for a loan to start a business and the knee jerk reaction of the banker behind the desk will be to ask you to write a business plan—even though they themselves have likely never written one and will not base their lending decision on its content. The problem with writing a business plan as a start-up is that it will be based on one assumption on top of another. If your first assumption is flawed, then the whole thing is useless.
Read More »Interviewing Geoffrey Moore: Great Business Books
This article is Part 1 of an 8 part series. Geoffrey Moore is a best selling author, with successful books such as Dealing with Darwin , Crossing the Chasm , and Inside the Tornado to name a few
Read More »Interviewing Geoffrey Moore: Great Business Books
This article is Part 1 of an 8 part series. Geoffrey Moore is a best selling author, with successful books such as Dealing with Darwin , Crossing the Chasm , and Inside the Tornado to name a few
Read More »Cisco Kills Flip Camera
Flip Camera, your fifteen minutes are up. Just a couple of years ago, it was the VW Bug of Camcorders.
Read More »Dropped-Call Rage May Abate Thanks to Cellphone Signal Advances From MIT
By using the host of position-relating sensors in modern smartphones, scientists at MIT think they could make the phones and network perform better so your calls don't drop when you're on the move. When you're strolling or rolling through a crowded city chatting on your cellphone, there are a number of things that can get in the way of your call working properly. A primary culprit is handoff between different cell towers.
Read More »Wanted: Reclaimed Firehose Bag Can Easily Survive Your Bathroom
Hand-cleaned and assembled with a silk lining, they've gone from saving the lives of Britons to cradling your cosmetics. Noble indeed. A team of leather workers use scrubs and brushes to clean soot and grime off this reclaimed firehose material, which is then sewed into uber-durable washbags lined in old parachute silk.
Read More »Wanted: Reclaimed Firehose Bag Can Easily Survive Your Bathroom
Hand-cleaned and assembled with a silk lining, they've gone from saving the lives of Britons to cradling your cosmetics. Noble indeed. A team of leather workers use scrubs and brushes to clean soot and grime off this reclaimed firehose material, which is then sewed into uber-durable washbags lined in old parachute silk.
Read More »Work Smart: 5 Easy To-Dos That Keep Your To-Do List Healthy
To-do lists are like fashion. One season sky-high stilettos are in, but three months later it's all about ballerina flats.
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