Sobering

In the Winter of 2009, The Heritage Foundation will release a high-definition documentary that tells the story of the very real threat that hostile nations and rogue dictators now pose to every one of us. In 33 minutes or less, life as we know it in America could end. That's the time it would take for an enemy's ballistic missile to hit the United States. Hit this link to view the trailer.

Fear not where the ideas come from

In speeches and policy statements, Obama has repeatedly emphasized a need to maintain America's technology leadership in the world and to invest government funds to do so. His campaign platform declared that government policy must "foster home-grown innovation" and "help ensure the competitiveness of United States technology-based businesses." Two of his favorite proposals — roundly endorsed by technology industry leaders and university scientists — are to double federal funding for basic research over the next several years and to train many thousands more scientists and engineers.

But such steps would likely amount to well-intentioned but misguided policies that risk doing more harm than good, according to Amar Bhide, a professor at the Columbia Business School. In a new book, "The Venturesome Economy" (Princeton University Press), Bhide makes a detailed argument that contradicts the prevailing view of expert panels and authors who contend that the nation's prosperity is threatened by the technological rise of China and India, and that America's capacity for innovation is eroding. To arrest the decline, they insist that more scientists and engineers, and more government spending on research, are sorely needed

NYT: Agency Predicts a Return of Triple-Digit Oil Prices

The International Energy Agency, which advises industrialized nations on energy policy, warned that the supply shortfalls that pushed oil prices into triple-digit territory this year are far from resolved, and could lead to a new period of high prices.

But even with the lowered demand forecast, the agency warned that the period of lower prices may not last as producers fail to increase oil supplies to meet the developing world’s rising needs. It expects prices to average more than $100 a barrel through 2015, and possibly rise to $200 a barrel by 2030.

NYT: Energy Goals a Moving Target for States

In hopes of slowing global warming and creating “green jobs,” Congress and the incoming administration may soon impose a mandate that the nation get 10 or 15 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within a few years.

Yet the experience of states that have adopted similar goals suggests that passing that requirement could be a lot easier than achieving it. The record so far is decidedly mixed: some states appear to be on track to meet energy targets, but others have fallen behind on the aggressive goals they set several years ago.

FT: The outsider's oracle

In the buzzy, scruffy warren of offices in New York from which Nouriel Roubini runs his economics aggregration and commentary website, one of the young cyber-serfs has taped a New York Post story about the boss to the chalky wall. "NYU Playboy Warns: Econ Party's Over", the sub-heading declares, next to a photograph of a smiling, open-shirted Mr Roubini, sandwiched between two attractive young women.

Subprime Primer

How to understand subprime situation:

Click here for the Google Doc

Seth Godin: Who are these people?

If you look at the numbers, you soon realize that a huge portion of the population apparently:

Has read two books in the last year, Harry Potter and The DaVinci Code
Uses only two websites, Google and Facebook
Visits only a few blog posts a day, and every single one of them is on the home page of Digg
Watches only two or three TV shows, including the Super Bowl
Eats only at McDonalds
Watches only incredibly snarky or juvenile videos on YouTube

Mass phenomena are tricky things. It's true, the typical American reads exactly one book a year. How are you going to predict which of the 75,000 books published are going to be that book?

You can't.

Many bloggers seem to be on a perpetual hunt for the front page of Digg. Sure, it brings you hordes of eyeballs, but then they turn around and leave. What's the point of that, really?

I think that are plenty of tips you can follow to optimize your offering for this fickle mass group. But it's still a crap shoot. Doesn't it make more sense to incrementally earn the attention of a smaller, less glitzy but far more valuable group of people who actually engage with you? And the best part is, your odds of success are a lot better.

The Thirty-Somethings Running Your Company

In case you haven't noticed, the stereotypical image of a silver-haired 50-something chief executive wearing a perfectly dimpled necktie is fading.

The top dog at the company no longer has to fit that mold to gain the trust of his or her peers and shareholders. Authority and competence are no longer found just in a look--and age and experience don't always dictate performance.

Google Advances on Europe

“Googliness” is still important for Google’s operations outside the US, but it is incorporating local touches. In some countries, such as Russia, Google has struggled to compete against local rivals such as Yandex and Rambler. “Our support for the Russian language was not great, so we opened an office in Russia and got Russian engineers to look at the problem,” says Nelson Mattos, Google’s new head of engineering for Europe.

Meanwhile, Google is launching products such as mapping services, which by their nature require regional expertise. A team in Israel is leading developments that include reading internet pages from right to left. The company is keen to move into mobile services, in which London is a global centre.

Above all, there is a fear that unless Google is sensitive to concerns voiced by European governments it could become embroiled in long legal disputes. European data protection officials, for example, question the length of time Google keeps the results of search queries, amid concern that these could compromise users’ rights to privacy.

Designs on a New Market Niche

When the Arizona Diamondbacks decided to overhaul the interior of their 10-year-old baseball stadium last winter, the team's executives went to Target. Not one of the 1,500 retail stores around the country, but the retailer's less well-known commercial-interiors division.

Designers from Target Corp. spruced up the stadium's clubhouse, made the suite-level dining areas more inviting and hunted down a massive conference table for the team's boardroom.