In 1930, famed economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that within his lifetime, the future economy would be powered with a quarter of the effort. In a hundred years, he wrote, humanity would actually be confronted with the problem of too much leisure time, and what to do with it. Technological innovation meant that we could accomplish whatever needed doing in a 15-hour workweek, and we’d be endeavoring “to spread the bread thin on the butter,” distributing what little work was necessary as equally as possible.

Image Courtesy of BrianHolm / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

George Bell grew up in a Wall Street family, made adventure documentaries after school, and then went on to become an entrepreneur. He was CEO of Excite when it went public and recently sold Jumptap to Millennial Media.

In the video below, he explains four basic (but difficult) truths he learned through the experience to finance career site, OneWire.

Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The image that many have of the startup world is a bunch of 20-somethings pitching their businesses in hoodies and jeans, playing ping-pong, working flexible hours, drinking lots of beer and Red Bull, and closing million or billion dollar acquisition deals. Entrepreneurship is seen as trendy, sexy, and a fun and easy way to make a lot of money, especially among my Millennial counterparts (60% of whom consider themselves entrepreneurs). People currently employed at other companies view entrepreneurship as the gateway to freedom and prosperity. Universities, cities, and entire states view startups as their economic saviors and as a result bend over backwards to cater to and attract them. This is the picture that has been painted of entrepreneurship. 

Image: lawsonhembree.wordpress.com

Last week on the Upper East Side of New York, Starbucks unveiled its newest outpost, Teavana. Unlike the company’s other 13,000+ stores, Teavana will only carry tea and it will be served in a calm environment specifically designed to lure the 158 million Americans who prefer Chamomile over cappuccinos. In addition to an interior design that caters to tea drinkers--here food displays come after you order drinks so that you may peruse while your tea steeps--the company also revamped the most identifiable aspect of its original store: the cup.

Image: www.fastcodesign.com

When Warner Bros decided not to fund Rob Thomas’s feature film for the now cancelled TV series Veronica Mars, he looked to Kickstarter—and the Kickstarter community responded. Reaching $2 million dollars in less than ten hours, Veronica Mars broke multiple records, gathered the attention of the industry, and had people seriously reconsidering the legitimacy of crowdfunding. Today, the top five projects combined have received over $32 million dollars in funding.

Most people think creativity is divinely-inspired, unpredictable and bestowed on only a lucky few. There are a lot of popular myths about business creativity, yet none of them have much scientific evidence. A new study based on the latest research-- "The Myths of Creativity," by David Burkus -- helps demystify what's behind the forces and processes that drive innovation.

Image Courtesy of Victor Habbick / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

By tracking brain activity through electroencephalography, or EEG, software may be able to maintain a patient in a medically induced coma more safely than a human expert can.

Anesthesiologists use EEG to monitor a patient’s level of sedation through sensors placed on the scalp. When a patient is deeply sedated in a medical coma—a technique sometimes used to reduce brain swelling after a traumatic injury or to treat uncontrolled seizures—a nurse or doctor must currently monitor the patient’s brain activity and adjust the rate of anesthetic delivery around the clock, sometimes for days.

Image Courtesy of jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The multitude of interested stakeholders attempting to break into novel mobile payments (m-payments) markets is holding up the creation of common standards, a leading standards body representative has admitted. M-payments describe many already existing payments methods, including so-called "digital wallets" which includes software platforms to consumers' existing banking cards and facilities, and other distinct payments services.

Image Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This fall the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education has launched a start-up incubator specifically to help education business ideas get off the ground. The Education Design Studio Inc. (EDSi), as it's called, has received $2.1 million in funding as well as support from a number of investors, including McGraw-Hill Education. Most of the initial round of start-up participants were finalists in an education business-plan competition that ran earlier this year.

Image Courtesy of ArtJSan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The old adage of "think before you speak" is never truer than when you're on a job interview. One unwitting slip-up could cost you your dream position, so it's crucial to know what kinds of questions and answers will set off a red flag for your interviewer.

While a hiring manager has a responsibility to avoid illegal interview questions, there are certain things that you shouldn't say as a candidate, either. Five career coaches weighed in on the most common questions and answers that interviewees should avoid at all costs.

Image Courtesy of khunaspix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mastering productivity is a challenge even for the best of us. After all, there are only so many hours in the day and exercising, responding to emails, getting work done and catching up on sleep don't seem to fit so nicely within that time frame. Yet, excuses aside, making the most of any given 24 hours is not only doable, but those who manage to do so consistently often become the most successful of the bunch.

Image Courtesy of photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Germany’s immigration policy isn’t perfect, but hey, at least it’s not the U.S.

Entrepreneurs in Berlin’s budding tech scene say Germany’s relatively relaxed visa-application process gives them an edge in attracting international talent, such as software engineers who don’t want to go through the strained H-1B route in the U.S.

Image Courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You’re looking for a new job, and you discover an amazing opportunity. The job looks like a great fit with your career direction and you want to be part of the team.

The one thing holding you back: you don’t think you’re qualified. Your skills, experience, or education don’t exactly align with the job description. Is it worth applying?

That the world is full of great ideas yet only a very few become reality is an enduring and sobering truism. Novice entrepreneurs need meaningful advice, resources and funding to bring their ideas to fruition. The MassChallenge provides just that as the single largest accelerator program and startup competition in the world. Using the power of competition to create urgency and aggregate high-impact teams and resources, the MassChallenge strengthens and accelerates its finalists by providing them high-quality mentorship and connecting them to potential team members, advisors, customers and sponsors.

Image: http://www.innovationexcellence.com

By now, everyone knows that there is huge potential in data. From reducing costs by improving quality, to enriching existing products and services by informationalizing them, to innovating by bringing big data and analytics to bear, data are showing themselves worthy across the board. Still, data do not give up their secrets easily. And most readily admit their organizations are unfit for data.

Image Courtesy of jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Do you ever “back door brag” about being a perfectionist?

Unlike other obsessions and addictions, perfectionism is something a lot of people celebrate, believing it’s an asset. But true perfectionism can actually get in the way of productivity and happiness.

Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Facebook finally admitted what many people have long predicted, and what CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied this summer: Facebook is losing its cool with teens.

During today’s earnings call—initially dominated by news of significant growth in mobile ad revenue—Facebook officials also offered a somber note about the social network’s teen audience. "We did see a decrease in daily users, specifically among younger teens," Facebook CFO David Ebersman said. He added that overall usage by teenagers remained stable in the quarter, although he didn't specify how Facebook measured that.

Image Courtesy of marin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Kansas Bioscience Authority has seen a 45 percent drop in total revenue compared with 2012, with most of the loss coming from a decrease in state funding.

The KBA's board of directors met today to discuss the KBA's latest financial report and other items. The report showed a decrease in state support of nearly $11 million, from $14 million in the 2012 fiscal year to $3.2 million transferred in 2013.

Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Intelligent Community Forum today named the world’s Smart21 Communities of 2014. This select group of communities is now in contention for the prestigious designation of Intelligent Community of the Year in June 2014.

“Once again the cities and towns on the Smart21 list have impressed us with their ability to use innovative ideas, broadband resources and hard work to improve local economic and social conditions,” said Intelligent Community co- founder Louis Zacharilla. “Not surprisingly, there are many repeats on the list, which means that continuous and sustained improvements are taking place. Building great communities is a long process.” Only 126 communities around the world have been named an Intelligent Community over the past 16 years.

As universities increasingly consider the possible use of patent-licensing and patent-litigation agencies, a couple of new studies by law professors may help them evaluate the pros and cons.

The studies, by Robin C. Feldman at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law and Colleen V. Chien at Santa Clara University, both tackle the question by asking venture capitalists for their assessments of so-called patent trolls.

Image Courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net