Today, BMW announced the planned creation of a tech incubator in New York City to seed innovations in mobile and location-based services. The announcement follows the automaker's establishment in February of a venture capital company, BMW i Ventures, with an investment fund of as much as $100 million, and serves as yet another indication that BMW is turning its eye toward the mobile startup scene
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Feed SubscriptionWalking the Line Between Good and Evil: The Common Thread of Heroes and Villains
Mythology, science fiction, and comic books are chock full of stories of heroes and their battles against the ills of society, the eternal struggle between good and evil.
Read More »Chen Guangbiao, China’s Charity Champion
Photographs by Darren Soh An elderly women holds a sign that says "Please, sir hold on. I'm not asking for a red envelope." | Photographs by Darren Soh It is a couple of weeks before Chinese New Year and Chen Guangbiao is sitting in the back of his SUV, barking orders out the window at his press secretary, a serious lady with a serious clipboard: "Beijing News, Beijing Evening News, Beijing Youth Daily ..."Chen, a member of China's new and fast-growing billionaire ranks, has just paid these newspapers to publish articles listing the charitable deeds he's done over the course of the year.
Read More »Google Settles With FTC Over Privacy Concerns and "Deceptive Tactics" of Google Buzz
Last year, Google launched Buzz , a social network "built right into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch," boasted the search giant. "Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most…[and] building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately." Much to Google's dismay, Buzz turned out to be a huge bust, and not only because it was incredibly unpopular among users. The social network was riddled with privacy concerns, so much so that the Federal Trade Commission charged the company with using "deceptive tactics" and violating "its own privacy promises to consumers." Today, Google settled with the FTC.
Read More »Does Your Business Have Curb Appeal?
When my wife and I saw the ad for a small, lemon-yellow cottage, we immediately knew we wanted that house. It was in Toronto's Beaches community. Newly married and without kids, we envisioned going for long walks on the beach and then retreating to our cottage abode
Read More »Large-Scale Problem: Our Broken Global Food System
Dear EarthTalk : I understand a recent government report concluded that our global food system is in deep trouble, that roughly two billion people are hungry or undernourished while another billion are overconsuming to the point of obesity. What’s going on?
Read More »Apple, Google, Twitter Execs Part of Palindrome’s "Giving Pledge" for the Non-Billionaire Set
A sort of Match.com for philanthropy pairs up industry executives who want to give back with non-profits who need their skills. People who reach a certain level of success often decide they want to give back.
Read More »Japan engineers knew tsunami could overrun plant
(Repeats to add PDF link) * Tokyo Electric ignored own study on tsunami risk * Utility decided safety issues, not regulators * Kept vulnerable vent systems despite quake data * Tokyo Electric cited the most for safety violations By Kevin Krolicki, Scott DiSavino and Taro Fuse TOKYO, March 29 (Reuters) - Over the past two weeks, Japanese government officials and Tokyo Electric Power executives have repeatedly described the deadly combination of the most powerful quake in Japan's history and the massive tsunami that followed as "soteigai," or beyond expectations. When Tokyo Electric President Masataka Shimizu apologized to the people of Japan for the continuing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant he called the double disaster "marvels of nature that we have never experienced before." But a review of company and regulatory records shows that Japan and its largest utility repeatedly downplayed dangers and ignored warnings -- including a 2007 tsunami study from Tokyo Electric Power Co's senior safety engineer.
Read More »Do You Have What It Takes to Start a Business?
People who can't manage their own lives don't make good entrepreneurs. Small businesses require multi-tasking, work prioritization, and decision-making, with no entourage of assistants and specialists
Read More »How Color’s Bill Nguyen Was Influenced by Steve Jobs, and Plans to One-Up Groupon
"Steve Jobs loves talking about trucks," says Bill Nguyen, serial entrepreneur and founder of online music service Lala . "What he says is that in the industrial age, trucks were awesome because we just had to move stuff around. All you ever needed was a truck.
Read More »How This Man Led IBM’s Watson Team to Innovate
IBM's Watson , a super-computer best known as a Jeopardy-winning robot, might not exist if not for Dr. David Ferrucci
Read More »Color: Brilliant or Bubble?
I spent 20 minutes at lunch playing with a cool new iPhone app called Color , which automatically shares photos you've taken on your phone with other people who are close by. What's the point of this?
Read More »Siemens Taps Into Zynga’s Popularity, Launches PlantVille
Social gaming firm Zynga has blossomed into a billion-dollar company thanks to the popularity of games like CityVille, FarmVille, and Café World.
Read More »7 Blogging Mistakes That Small Businesses Make
Blogging for your business is important, but doing it wrong can cost you customers and your reputation. As more and more small businesses enter the world of content development, the scrutiny continues to increase. Consumers can be retained or lost simply from your blogging efforts, so its imperative this public-facing activity is done correctly.
Read More »Johnson Says There’s No ‘Magic’ to Business Success
When you hear the name Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr., the first thing that comes to mind is basketball. Yes Johnson is a former point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers with five NBA championships, three MVP awards and an Olympic gold medal
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