The Pebble
The Pebble has raised $7 million from nearly 50,000 strangers in a matter of weeks. That’s the power of a growing trend toward crowd funding, as demonstrated by the most successful Kickstarter campaign yet.
Continue reading… “The Pebble raises $7 million in Kickstarter’s most successful campaign ever”
One billion dollars neatly stacked.
With all the chatter about Billion dollar valuations — like Instagram, Evernote, Splunk — combined with recent S1 filings and IPOs, the topic of tech company valuation is coming to the forefront of people’s minds. Specifically related to the software industry, the growing number of SaaS IPO candidates of late is signaling an important shift in the way that enterprise software is built and sold. It also indicates that the subscription business model is here to stay. What does this shift towards a subscription economy means for startups, investors and the IPO landscape?
First of all – get Instagram out of your mind. The price it sold for is not relevant to us mere mortals who are building B2B software businesses. For all good, non-bubble reasons, SaaS companies need tens of millions in revenue, high growth, and solid business fundamentals. What you may notice though, is that revenue may be lower than what we’ve become accustomed to during the last few years of IPO drought…
Continue reading… “How much revenue does it take to be a $1B public company?”
Samsung Galaxy Note
In the first quarter of 2012, Samsung became the world’s largest cellphone brand for the first time, overtaking longtime market leader Nokia.
Continue reading… “Samsung overtakes Nokia to become world’s largest cellphone brand”
Are doctors rich?
There are few doctors that think of themselves as rich, and only about half think they’re fairly compensated, according to survey by Medscape released this week.
Continue reading… “51% of all doctors believe they are compensated fairly”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Every couple years, as the November election draws near, my wife Deb and I receive our ballots in the mail. Both of us spend considerable time studying the issues and candidates before making our final decisions. As with most couples, we don’t always agree.
Continue reading… “Pre-Testing Your Right to Vote”
More than a third of U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who don’t pay all manner of debts, from bills for health care services to credit card and auto loans.
Breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay end up behind bars because of a medical bill she didn’t pay– one the Herrin, Ill., teaching assistant was told she didn’t owe. “She got a $280 medical bill in error and was told she didn’t have to pay it,” The Associated Press reports. “But the bill was turned over to a collection agency, and eventually state troopers showed up at her home and took her to jail in handcuffs.”
Continue reading… “The return of debtors’ prisons”
How much time do you have to read the privacy policies you encounter?
In The Cost of Reading Privacy Policies, by Aleecia M. McDonald and Lorrie Faith Cranor, the authors calculate that the average Internet user would have to spend one full working month per year in order to skim all the Internet privacy policies she encounters in a year. Mike Masnick reports on Techdirt…
Continue reading… “Reading all the privacy policies you “agree” to would take a month per year”
Graduates with bachelor’s degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs.
The 2012 graduating classes in U.S. colleges are in for a rude awakening to the world of work.
The weak labor market has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don’t fully use their skills and knowledge.
Continue reading… “1 in 2 recent graduates are jobless or underemployed”
“China’s evaporating cheap labor pool will disrupt supply chains and consumption habits around the world.”
Shaun Rein takes a hard look at the economic colossus in The End of Cheap China. Rein is managing director of China Market Research Group, a strategic market intelligence firm with clients like Apple, DuPont and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Continue reading… “World must adjust to end of cheap labor in China”
Mike Mann has been snapping up Internet domain names and selling them off to the highest bidder for years.
Mike Mann is one of the longest members of the world of domain speculators, and he’s buying up names in force these days. Not all of them are on the aftermarket, as some other speculators buy domain names. They are new names. Dot-com names that aren’t registered — even though 100 million-plus already are — that he then turns around and sells for a few hundred bucks, sometimes far more.
Continue reading… “Mike Mann registers 14,962 domain names in 24 hours”
The new startup, Planetary Resources will mine asteroids for precious metals.
Peter Diamandis, entrepreneur and X-Prize impresario, earlier in 2012 hinted he was about to unveil something amazing: a startup that will mine asteroids for precious metals.
Continue reading… “Google and tech ecexutives back Planetary Resources to mine asteroids”
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Ten years ago, offshoring manufacturing jobs to China looked like the perfect way to cut costs. But now companies that manufacture everything from computers to car parts are returning to the United States in growing numbers. The country needs to invest in more vocational and technical training programs so millions of jobless factory workers are equipped with the skills to benefit from this trend, say labor economists.
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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