Back 9 Biz Bites: A Carbon-Neutral Chocolate Bar on a Wooden Ship
The weird and the wonderful for Friday, May 25: To catch a Dragon by the tail, "Hitchhikers" celebrate Towel Day, and the unusual voyage of a rare chocolate bar. ... Read Blog
A New Lubricant for Condiments
It’s not every day our toes curl up and we get our minds blown by a ketchup bottle being turned upside down, but this is just too damn cool! ... Read Blog
A Big Fat Geek Survey
It’s good to be a geek these days, with more than half of Americans (51 percent) defining geeks as professionally successful, up from 31 percent in 2011, a new survey finds. And when it comes to tech gadgets, they're ... Read Blog
Identity Protection Firm Gains Big-Time Backers
Intel Capital, Visa, and other large companies are backing SecureKey, which provides security for online transactions. ... Read Blog
Business Hotel Roundup:
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley might be the dominant spot for high-tech and innovative companies, but its vast sprawl can make finding the right hotel for a business trip a tricky task. ... Read Blog
Payment Grab for Groupon?
Is the daily deal site trying to square off against the likes of Square? One report says the company is testing a credit-card reader for merchants. ... Read Blog
Consumer Sentiment Hits High Note
U.S. consumers haven’t felt this good about their personal finances in four years, a survey released on Friday showed. ... Read Blog
When Call-Center Scripts Go Bad
Talking with call-center agents—whether they’re in customer service, sales, or tech support—can often be like talking to robots, especially when poorly written and illogical scripts get in the way. ... Read Blog
Tall Order for OrderWithMe
The startup that helps U.S. small businesses get products directly from Chinese factories via group-buying deals has amped up its global business via a deal with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten. Its founders are also taking a road trip. ... Read Blog
How to Measure the Value of Your Network
Knowing a lot of people is one thing; knowing the right people is another. Use these seven questions to evaluate business relationships before they start. ... Read Blog
What to Do With Antisocial Media
Social media allows companies to get customer feedback more readily than ever. But there are both hazards and opportunities in working with socially empowered customers. ... Read Column
G-Men Recruiting Tech Innovators
A new federal program seeks to turn citizen entrepreneurs into government innovators solving the problems Americans love to complain about. ... Read Blog
Signpost Makes Deal With Newspaper Biggies
Advertising platform Signpost has sealed a deal to provide local merchant-provided content to Digital First Media, which manages two of the largest U.S. newspaper companies, MediaNews Group and the Journal Register Co., reaching 57 million Americans in 18 states. ... Read Blog
5 Travel Tips for Your Next Business Trip
Need to sharpen up your road-warrior weapons? Here are five new must-have items for the well-equipped, well-prepared, modern business traveler. ... Read Column
Ask Shama: What Does Facebook’s IPO Mean for Us?
Analysts and Wall Street made a big deal of the social network's public debut, but what are the implications of the IPO on users and on advertisers who rely on the platform to drive traffic and dollars to them? ... Read Column
The Lies of Moneyball and Online Advertising
Many ad professionals can relate to the Billy Beane-Oakland A's story because they are seeing data transform their industry. But there’s data, there’s big data, and there’s data overload. ... Read Column
Can You Afford to Be Afraid to Play Against Big Names Like Facebook?
ExchangeHut was on a high-growth path when Nathan Lustig and his partners got spooked by Facebook—and missed out on a potentially life-changing opportunity. ... Read Column
Cybersecurity Czar Steps Down
Former Microsoft and eBay security chief Howard Schmidt is leaving his post as the White House’s first cybersecurity coordinator. ... Read Blog
The Ricketts' Rumpus: When Politics, Business and Family Clash
Up until this week, the Ricketts family was known mostly for its entrepreneurial endeavors. But now the patriarch of the family, known for TD Ameritrade and the Chicago Cubs, is getting into the anti-Obama business. Given that his daughter ... Read Blog
Cash for Docs Startup Goes National
The startup Health In Reach merges with PriceDoc Inc. to offer a Web-based service connecting patients who pay cash with health care providers. ... Read Blog
Magic Coming to Dodgers Stadium
A group led by Earvin "Magic" Johnson has cut a $2 billion deal to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's the richest price ever paid for a sports franchise, and the reaction in Los Angeles is joy that the ... Read Blog
The Case for Yahoo's Survival
There was a time when Yahoo was the Internet; now it’s synonymous with corporate drift, management blunders and worker turnover and disenchantment. That's too bad, because the Internet needs Yahoo. It's content strategy, not to mention its ability to ... Read Blog
Art Imitates Life for Ashton Kutcher on Men
Ashton Kutcher is coming back to the small screen, playing an Internet billionaire. Will his character be more successful than Kutcher has been with his own foray as a Web entrepreneur and investor? ... Read Column
Banks Sow Seeds of Next Crisis
Banks are doing their best to revive the excesses of 2006, which led to the financial crisis and recession. Despite a plethora of new laws and regulations, regulators have given financial institutions enough wiggle room and loopholes to have ... Read Column
Wall Street Reform Is an Unfinished Business
We can learn a lot from the financial-reform efforts of 2010, as halting and ineffective as most of them were. Here are five lessons to take away from the mess. ... Read Column
Best Places for Senioritis
The most popular retirement destinations this year are in the traditional hot spots of Florida and Arizona. But look deeper and some unlikely areas emerge as favorites for seniors, a Portfolio.com survey finds. ... Read Column
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Today's top stories, conversation starters, and the back nine business bites.
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People & Ideas
Bagels With a Schmear of Geek
Since tech startups tend to be magnets for funding and attention, it stands to reason that other types of startups would look to their business plans for inspiration. But a bagel shop?
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