Honda (a car company) and UC-Davis just built a smart home together. Wait, why?

Our homes + our cars = 44 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. So what if the two were synced up — as part of the emerging “Internet of Things” or “smart grid” — in an effort to get to zero-carbon… Continue Reading

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Can you make money (revenue) off social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc? And if you can’t, will social someday become a fad?

Let’s start with a couple of basics: Facebook and Twitter, the two behemoths in the general social media space right now (I’d classify Instagram as Facebook, and I might include YouTube as the third behemoth), are now both public companies.… Continue Reading

Lest we forget in the midst of all the racism discussions, Donald Sterling is also quite the misogynist too

Donald Sterling is (currently, at least for the next several hours/days) the longest-tenured owner in the NBA; he’s been in that role with the Los Angeles Clippers for 33 years. Normally, that would be a major badge of honor — think of… Continue Reading

Two sides of how far the world has evolved, in one airport trip

Yesterday I had to fly from Charlotte to Chicago, then Chicago to Minneapolis (the way out had been direct). It was one of those situations where, as Plane No. 1 lands and taxis forever, you start to get nervous —… Continue Reading

What happened with Abby Hernandez’s disappearance in New Hampshire?

Abby Hernandez left Kennett High School in New Hampshire on October 9th; she hasn’t been seen since. It’s a weird case for a couple of different reasons: 1. She disappeared on Oct. 9, but her mother received a letter from her on… Continue Reading

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Let’s hold off on writing Kay Hagan’s political obituary until after May 6, alright?

Here’s the basic math on the 2014 Senate elections: Republicans need a net gain of six to take control of the upper chamber. Tim Johnson (a Democrat) from South Dakota is out, and his seat will almost assuredly flip. That… Continue Reading

Could something called TINYPulse save the idea of performance management/evaluations?

Fact that’s hard to argue: performance evaluations/management are often a train wreck. They typically happen once per year — if that — and they’re often not even based on what the employee necessarily did that year, but rather what the company’s more abstract… Continue Reading

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The last time Amazon didn’t post at least 14 percent sales growth in a quarter was the fall of 2001. Whoa.

Check out the chart above; essentially, the last time that Amazon had quarter-over-quarter sales growth of less than 14 percent was, ahem, 2001. This is a completely new model in the business world in some ways, because while their sales growth — and the… Continue Reading