Water Shortages: Opportunities for Entrepreneurs (Part 1)

By Guest Author Dominique Trempont

While people focus on carbon footprints and potential ways to reduce the impact man-made CO2 emissions, the world is running out of another of its key elements: fresh water.

We use fresh water much faster than it can replenish: it is increasingly scarce and has no alternative.

Water is a strategic resource for countries and governments. According to United Nations, drinkable water only serves 4 and, by 2050, 6 billion people on earth, up from less than 2+ billion a decade ago, and is still not safe or readily available for an additional 2 billion people. >>>

Designs of the Week: Blog Ad Space

By guest authors Charles W. Bush and Kathy Hwang of 3Strand Innovation, a business brand experience consultancy.

How do you design web advertising into a blog, without it becoming an eyesore and a bad experience for readers? Naturally, these decisions will be a trade-off. You can’t just get rid of all ads and ignore your revenue stream. But you also can’t create a simple design and a pleasant reader experience, while scattering advertising distraction points all over the page.

We sifted through over 100 blogs, specifically looking for good design of the Adspace, and the results were…extremely underwhelming. Honestly, it’s an area that most blog sites haven’t quite figured out yet. But to offer some examples for inspiration and analysis, here are a few blogs that seem to have given a bit more thought to designing their ad space. >>>

I Want To Change TV: Mitch Berman, CEO of ZillionTV (Part 4)

SM: As a result, the user is sitting back as opposed to sitting forward. With that, let’s take the next step into the ecosystem. ZillionTV comes into this universe; is it the only player that has established itself in this frame of reference or are there other players sharing the space?

MB: There are many out there who are attempting to get to that TV screen, but they are not doing it in a way that is enhancing this ecosystem we are talking about. They are also attempting to do so in a one-dimensional way. >>>

There is an ‘I’ in Visionary
(But do they really have to be arrogant egomaniacs?)

By Guest Author Tony Scott

Last week I wrote that there should be no ‘I’ in CEO – at least not in successful CEOs. Of course, that was a broad generalization. Plenty of very successful founders/CEOs who are rightly lauded as visionaries are also often described as arrogant egomaniacs by the press and by those who know them. But is being an egomaniac a necessary requirement for entrepreneurial success? >>>

Redesign That: Online Personal Finance (Part 6)

By guest authors Charles W. Bush and Kathy Hwang of 3Strand Innovation, a brand, design and business consultancy.

3Strand’s Concept Features for Wesabe:
Support Groups and Scorecard

Trying to get your finances under control can be an extremely stressful and overwhelming process. Throw in the worst economic downturn Generation Y has ever faced, and you’ve got a whole generation crying out for something to offer them a sense of control and stability. >>>

I Want To Change TV: Mitch Berman, CEO of ZillionTV (Part 3)

SM: At the same time, our iMac screen has almost the same resolution as this TV screen. They are incredibly high-resolution.

MB: What is really important for this discussion is to take ourselves out of Silicon Valley to the rank and file television viewer in this country. HDTV, or high definition, is growing in consumer adoption, daily. >>>

The Atlantic: How The Crash Will Reshape America

My friend Barb Rybka forwarded this excellent article from The Atlantic, How The Crash Will Reshape America. Please do spend the time reading this rather long article. It is worthwhile. Among other things, it says: “If anything, our government policies should encourage renting, not buying. Homeownership occupies a central place in the American Dream primarily because decades of policy have put it there. A recent study by Grace Wong, an economist at the Wharton School of Business, shows that, controlling for income and demographics, homeowners are no happier than renters, nor do they report lower levels of stress or higher levels of self-esteem.”

I could not agree more. I have never understood the obsession with buying homes, and look at where it has got us!

Forbes Column 2009: An Entrepreneur Stimulus Plan

After quite a bit of thought, I have come to the conclusion that the problem with President Obama vis-a-vis entrepreneurship is that he doesn’t have any entrepreneur on his advisory council. This column pushes the issue further: An Entrepreneur Stimulus Plan.