Just Think …

By Richard Laermer, Guest Author It’s uncanny how little we do for our brains considering all they do for us. Imagine the following scene: One day restaurants put a simple bin near the door. Not for lost and found. Not for umbrellas. But for our cell phones, Blackberries, Treos (do they still make those?), anything

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Featured Videos

Social Networking Without Boundaries : hi5 CEO Ramu Yalamanchi (Part 1)

Ramu Yalamanchi runs hi5, one of the leading social networking companies in the world. The company is recognized as one of the fastest growing social networking companies. Here I discuss the strategy behind hi5 with Ramu and gain some of his insights for the future.

Book Business

The Economist echoes what I wrote in Forbes recently: The book business is going to change in favor of authors. “Publishing has only two indispensable participants: authors and readers. As with music, any technology that brings these two groups closer makes the whole industry more efficient—but hurts those who benefit from the distance between them.”

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Paul Graham: Cities and Ambitions

Interesting essay by Paul Graham, Cities and Ambitions. What always strikes me when I am in New York is that the city is based on “financial engineering,” while the essence of Silicon Valley is still “value creation.” The latter has more power to feed the soul, the former, after a while, feels dry.

Vertical Travel Search Engine Kayak CEO Steve Hafner (Part 7)

SM: What is your read on some of the other travel and ad network players out there? There are some vertical travel ad networks which have been reasonably successful so far. SH: There are three things you need to do to have a viable vertical ad network. You need to get a set of publishers,

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Forbes Column 08: Mobile Microfinance

My new Forbes column, Mobile Microfinance discusses how startups are trying to use the cell phone to bring banking to the under-banked.

Obama’s Economic Policy

Yesterday’s discussion on Obama’s Economic Policy somehow got side-tracked to a discussion on venture capital compensation, which is not what I had intended.

Vertical Travel Search Engine Kayak CEO Steve Hafner (Part 6)

SM: The major gains from purchasing SideStep were adding their display advertising business and their email marketing platforms? SH: That is right.