Through its powerful ability to remove intermediaries from transactions, the internet excels at making once-bizarre ideas the norm. Buy things directly from total strangers, send them your money and actually expect the items to arrive at your door, rather than have the seller abscond on a Caribbean holiday? Well, hello eBay. Give money to someone online that you’ve never heard of because they want to make something that intrigues, form a company or borrow some cash?

Image: Dan Marom, author of The Crowdfunding Revolution, at Open Innovation 2.0 in Dublin last week. Photograph: Conor McCabe Photography 

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Since every business is built by unique individuals, I’m totally convinced that exceptional people are the key to an exceptional company.

To check out the Google founders, and because I still see so many business plans that are modeled after Google (more search engines, and more billion dollar growth models), I had to take a look at the definitive book about them, called Inside Larry & Sergey’s Brain, by Richard L. Brandt. It didn’t disappoint me.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034362831@N01/2505321929 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The gimmicks to attract attention and passengers — a $1 million raffle, a chance to win a Porsche 911, or a monthlong shopping festival — are still there but are hardly needed anymore. Travelers from around the world no longer need to be lured to this parched former trading post on the edge of the Persian Gulf.

London and Cambridge are leading the way in the UK’s entrepreneurial endeavour.

A new report – Start me up: Creating Britain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem – highlights the dominance of London and Cambridge in leading the UK’s entrepreneurial ‘ecosystem’. Authored by Cambridge start-up Social i Media, the report investigates how entrepreneurs in the UK are supported and the barriers that hinder them, as well as wider trends that are shaping the UK innovation ecosystem.

Image: Cambridge from St Johns: Picture Alessandra Caggiano 

"Don't use your phone while it's charging," "don't leave it plugged in overnight" and "always let it die completely" — these are just a few popular myths about smartphone batteries.

When it comes to battery life, there are many little rules for what you can and can't do with your smartphone. While plenty of real rules exist, there are several rumored ones you can simply ignore. Phone batteries have evolved so much over the years, becoming smarter and easier to manage. Most lithium-ion batteries, used by major retailers like Samsung and Apple, should last between three and five years, if you take proper care of it.

Image: http://mashable.com/ 

Richard Bendis and BioHealth Innovation were among the small businesses and individuals honored by the US Small Business Administration at the 2014 Tibbetts awards. Winners of the award have been critical in supporting the SBIR/STTR program in many different ways and are at the forefront of driving innovation. Read the full PR Newswire press release here.

The BHI SBIR/STTR Federal Funding Assistance Program offers biohealth companies support in preparing applications for federal funding inclusive of SBIRs, STTRs, and other federal government awards. Companies submit their federal funding concepts and receive pre-proposal feedback to help troubleshoot and strengthen your application. Further support from professional consultants and service providers is available to assist in improving your application.

For more information on the program, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Buildings are capable of a lot more than simply covering our heads. They can collect enough rainwater to last a 100-day drought. They can run on algae. And some can also clean smog.

One of the latest designs in the latter category comes by way of Milan, which will host a universal exposition dedicated to feeding a planet with dwindling resources. And to serve an impressive 20 million expected visitors, the architects of the building created specially for the exposition decided the structure should riff on the theme.

Image: http://www.fastcoexist.com/ 

Angel investors are the lifeblood of the high-growth startups that create the majority of jobs and innovations in the U.S.

In 2013, accredited angel investors directly invested $24.8 billion into nearly 71,000 early-stage companies, according to estimates by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) presented 25 high-tech small businesses with the honorable Tibbetts award and inducted two firms into its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Hall of Fame for the critical role they played in research and development for the government and for their success in driving innovation and creating new jobs.

Washington, D.C., New York and Boston are “witnessing the end of sprawl” -- and several other cities may soon join them, according to advocates who studied job centers in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.

“This is a major change in how we build the country,” said Christopher Leinberger, one of the researchers who surveyed the country’s most populous 30 metropolitan areas. The shift from car-friendly suburbs to foot-friendly urban areas is as significant, he said, as the closing of the American frontier in the 1890s.

Image: A virtually empty parking lot in Tysons Corner, Va., which is trying to free itself from car-dependency with the help of new parks, trails and four Metro stations. David Kidd/Governing 

You’ve been offered a new job, and your prospective employer wants you to sign a noncompete agreement. Should you? A recent New York Times article points out that noncompete agreements, traditionally reserved for high-level executives, are popping up more frequently in surprising industries. Yoga instructors, hair stylists, and camp counselors are being asked to sign away their rights to move around in their industry.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

SHOULD I STAY OR GO? AS THE ECONOMY IMPROVES, MORE PEOPLE ARE PONDERING A JOB CHANGE. HERE'S WHAT TO DO IF YOU'RE CURRENTLY UNHAPPY AT WORK.

BY LINDSAY LAVINE

There’s nothing worse than feeling stuck in a job you hate. The good news is, with the economy improving, people who feel stuck in their jobs are looking to make a change, says Sheila Nielsen, president of Chicago-based Nielsen Career Consulting, an executive coaching firm for business and legal professionals.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

The longer it takes a student to graduate, the lower the chances that they ever will

Like many friends from her graduating class, Daranie Ounchaidee attended a community college not far from their Indianapolis high school. In the corridors, the classmates often stopped to commiserate about the twists, turns, and missteps they had already taken on their paths to associate’s degrees.

Image: Daranie Ounchaidee, a student at Ivy Tech Community College. Courtesy of Ivy Tech Community College 

Intellectual property and trade secrets are increasingly seen as the heart of competitive advantage, and the easiest way to get that information from a competitor is to hire one of their key employees.  The concern about losing that information rightly drives many employers nuts, and the use of noncompete agreements to keep that information seems to be expanding considerably, as recent reports suggest.  Perfectly understandable, right?

At Steelcase, we all understand that the rhythm of a global team is not a perfect 9-5 melody.   But understanding something can be very different from living it.   My team has grown increasingly distributed across multiple time zones and regions of the world over the last couple of years, and we have learned, through experience and experimentation, a few ways to leverage the value of a global team while also minimizing the pain and disruption it can create for us as individuals.  Since this is a shared experience for many multinational teams, I thought I would share five good global team practices we’ve adopted:

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

The way you can raise money has dramatically changed over the last few years. In the past, you had to go from lender to lend begging to get money. That’s no longer the case and now you can get others to pay for your projects if they have a wide appeal. You may or may not have heard about crowd funding, where someone posts a project or product they plan to create if they get enough donations from supporters. Crowd funding websites have become pretty common within the past few years and have ended up producing everything from movies to books to clothing. If you have a project you’re looking to get help with, or even a project you’re interested in supporting, here are some different crowd funding websites to consider:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued proposed guidelines for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries for posting information on social media networks and correcting misinformation posted by others.

The long-awaited guidance would effectively limit the amount of product advertising a company can do on sites where character space is limited, such as Twitter.

Image: http://medcitynews.com/ 

Whoever thinks that hoodies don’t belong in the workplace has probably never seen the Executive Pinstripe Hoodie from Betabrand. The Executive Hoodie is made from suit fabric and retails for $168. Mark Zuckerberg provided the inspiration behind the hoodie, and its launch coincided with the social media giant’s IPO.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com/ 

I listened to the commencement speech from Bill and Melinda Gates at Stanford University over the weekend and one thing stood out: the couple are big on innovation. This is, after all, the guy that revolutionised the face of personal computing. The speech was quite thought provoking, on what true innovation really is and what technology is and can be used for. Is the role of technology to make people’s lives better? Whose life? Should innovation bridge the digital divide? Who is technology serving right now?

Image: http://ventureburn.com/ 

Hey, gamers, this one is for you: Your technology strategy doesn’t necessarily need the latest bells and whistles to succeed. Sometimes, the best strategy involves taking a different approach to what’s already out there. That’s how Nintendo powers up its bottom line.

Image: http://associationsnow.com/