"In fact, one food giant, General Mills, has essentially conceded that cooking their food in a microwave isn't good enough."

"Now tell me again: Why do we submit papers to, referee papers for, and buy journals from these people? Some sort of misplaced sense of loyalty? Or some sad combination of apathy and inertia? What will it take for the research community to cut Elsevier loose?"

"The duplicability of recordings has had another unexpected effect. The pressure is on to develop content that isn’t easily copyable—so now everything other than the recorded music is becoming the valuable part of what artists sell."

"Many of these smaller dealerships are family enterprises; three and even four generations old. Their longevity is a testament less to Detroit's products and more to their smart and sharp business practices. And now that some of their competitors are closing they may do even better. Let's consider what business leaders can learn from these small-town auto dealers."

[Watch the video] "The sensor meanwhile detects surrounding pH levels–the higher the pH concentration, the faster the electromagnetic pulses emitted by the micro-machine. The external computer uses these signals to direct a swarm of about 3,000 magnetically-sensitive bacteria, which push the micro-machine around as it pulses. The bacteria push the micro-machine closer to the higher pH concentration."

"37signals not only constantly fine-tunes their products, they also think about the customer experience even when the customer is leaving.

I find that instructive, educational, and inspiring."

"Universities are going through a tough time financially. People no longer have to attend them to get the credentials they need. People inside universities think they are selling an experience and that people are turning away from that. I think universities were always selling credentials.

They're just not the only place to get them any more."

"The ad protests a bit too much that the higher cost of electrification is actually a LOWER cost once you figure in the benefits. People are creatures of habit, and I'm sure many Ypsilantians said, "No–the gaslights I've got now are fine, thanks." An imperfect analog today is solar power. Of course it's more expensive, and similarly offers benefits in the long run. Perhaps one day every home will come with built-in panels and we will look back on DTE as something as quaint as gaslight."

"What’s the gap between dreams being fantasy and reality? Obviously, it’s a matter of action. But, what makes the free man take action where the cubicle citizen recoils? This is the question that has been burning in my mind for some time. This mindset makes the difference between success and near certain failure."

[Considering this and some related exercises as simple tutorials for Nudge programming]

"In this tutorial one of our senior members from our forums Japaslavian (Jeff Masamori over at Flickr) shares a simple photoshop technique for enhancing contrast."

"An early and prominent employee of Google, Georges Harik, recently made the assertion that pairs working together in startups are 20 times more productive than individuals working alone. The author has also personally experienced the boost of what is here termed pairwork in a university setting during the startup phase of several educational and interdisciplinary initiatives. The paper briefly explores pairwork in the history of technology and constructs both qualitative and little quantitative models of pairwork. The quantitative model under reasonable assumptions easily recovers Harik’s 20x boost. The paper also briefly examines the author’s recent experiences with pairwork in four interdisciplinary and educational initiatives."