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Trademarkia, a searchable repository of trademark and logo information, helps ensure that your business ideas don't infringe on anyone else's rights. It's also a great brainstorming tool for your brand--after all, "Twitter," "Yahoo," and "Googles" failed the first time around, and their trademarked names were ripe for the picking. Raj Abhyanker remembers one of his first encounters in the world of trademarks.

More than half the people on Earth now live in cities, so they'll be where we have to face our changing weather patterns. The most prepared cities are finding ways to keep citizens safe--and make them money. Even if you haven't been paying attention to the seemingly nonstop stream of wacky weather recently, chances are that your local government has.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. A new study finds that while biodegradable products help reduce mass in landfills, they may be worsening global warning. Luckily, there's a solution: Make earth-friendly plastics that actually disintegrate more slowly.

Is it possible to separate economic growth from environmental damage? President Obama's nomination today of Natural Resources Defense Council cofounder John Bryson as Commerce Secretary means we're trying. President Obama's nomination today of businessman and Natural Resources Defense Council cofounder John Bryson as Commerce Secretary is a refreshing sign for those who want economic growth and environmental protection to go hand in hand.

The Fast Company reader's essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web--updated all day.

Near-field wireless tech could reinvent not only your wallet, and how you shop--but also how you return defective products to the store under warranty. Near-field wireless tech may soon reinvent your wallet and how you shop--and now also how you return defective products under warranty to the store

Apple's just revealed that Steve Jobs will be presenting the keynote at next week's WWDC event, and it will include the next Mac operating system, OS X Lion, the next iOS operating system, iOS 5, and the word everyone's been waiting for: iCloud. Apple 's next Mac operating system, OS X Lion, and the next iOS operating system, iOS 5, will both be revealed at the upcoming World Wide Developers conference--by none other than Steve Jobs--but it's the official release of its keenly anticipated cloud services effort, iCloud, that will most certainly snag the biggest spotlight.

Microsoft doesn't receive a lot of accolades in the press--or even much coverage at all --but when it comes the company's legal team, Microsoft sure does deserve a round of applause.

Plastic doesn't have to end up in landfills or the ocean.

From the archive, we pose a question that's still as relevant as ever: Why has Memorial Day, like so many of our national holidays, been reduced to appliance sales, fast food specials, and vacation deals? With the recent near-collapse of our economy, the ways in which we understand and celebrate national holidays seem particularly challenged. This erosion of meaning is just one of many examples of the growing gap between the promise of America--freedom and opportunity through sacrifice and unity--and how people experience Brand America

No one is buying them because of charging confusion. Is there a future for electric two-wheelers sold as personal electronics? We proclaimed that electric motorcycles were going mainstream after Best Buy introduced the Brammo Enertia electric commuter bike to select stores in 2009.

There are whispers from a pretty reliable source that the House of Jobs is testing a MacBook computer powered by one of its own ARM A5 chips, straight from an iPad. It may be the Mac of the future.

Post-revolution Egypt is in a state of flux overlooked by outsiders. New political parties are forming while various factions hustle for power.

Someone at Amazon must have read our post about how Apple spun the white iPhone 4 fail into a PR win , because it's making a game attempt at turning its Lady Gaga blunder around. The company is relaunching its Lady Gaga offer (99 cents for her new album, plus a free upgrade to 20 GB of cloud music storage on its servers), noting "this time we're ready." Earlier this week, a crush of Gaga fans jumping on the deal crashed the company's servers, creating hours-long download times and leading commenters to publicly flog Amazon via the comments section on the Gaga's Born This Way album page--creating exactly the opposite of the goodwill it was going for.

A company that started out looking to join the social commerce revolution found an opportunity in simply being useful to people trying to manage email receipts. Inboxes are the new wallets--stuffed with too many receipts to even begin to organize. That’s why Project Slice is today launching a new application that will automatically scan your emails and collect all your purchase information in a single place.