Peter Thiel has an interview at CNET that I agree with to a shockingly high degree. That’s not say I expected something bad from Thiel but simply that I tend to disagree a lot when someone takes on as wide a set of issues as he did, from IPOs to the Arab Spring.

My most fundamental quibble is with this:

I don’t think most of the economy should be planned. But I think to the extent you’re going to have large government, it would be good if the government should be planned rather than unplanned. If you’re going to invest in alternate energy, you should have a plan of what kind of alternate energy you should be investing in, and you shouldn’t be randomly buying lottery tickets. Planning is preferable to buying random lottery tickets or politically motivated lottery tickets, which is the concern with the clean-tech stuff

A whopping 39% of venture groups say they have pulled back on their investments in the U.S. life sciences field over the past three years. And the same proportion say they'll continue to hold back over the next few years, according to a new survey out from the National Venture Capital Association. If that proves to be the case, adds the venture group, the shortfall could starve the industry of $500 million.

DURHAM – The $232 million N.C. Innovation Fund is getting ready to deploy cash in a new “accelerator” involving Durham-based venture capital firm Hatteras Venture Partners    that will target life science companies.

The accelerator would promote tech transfer from universities, research institutions and companies, according to the Innovation Fund’s website. To accomplish that mission, the accelerator will target “three to five commitments to life sciences-focused venture capital/private equity funds.”

You could remember Steve Jobs as a pioneer. An innovator. As someone who didn’t compromise and who eventually brought much of the world to see things his way. But another way to see him is as a business genius. Although he made his share of mistakes, Jobs made one amazing call after another, doing things that critics sometimes thought were insane, but which turned out to be prescient.

Here’s a look at some of the best moves Jobs ever made — decisions that weren’t just sound, but ground-breaking. Choices that most of the smart business set wouldn’t have taken. That’s what makes them something more than savvy. It makes them great.

If you’re like me, you probably get your best ideas while shampooing your hair. There’s something about the steam of a shower, the relaxation, and letting your mind wander that invites brilliant ideas to bubble up. But is there any way to bump that bubbling process up a bit? Can you consciously power up your shower?

I asked career coach Jenn Lee, who does corporate team building and productivity workshops, for some tips.

1. Think about what you want to think about. “Prior to entering the shower, take a few moments and pick one item you want to focus your creative thoughts towards,” says Lee. “Most of us have a ‘must do today’ list as well as things you would like to accomplish over the next week or so. Because I blog and speak on a variety of topics I keep a list of generic ideas I want to flush out. Right before I enter my shower I choose one topic to focus my thoughts on and voila, my next speaking topic is formed!”

What linkages have you made between academia, government, incubators, professional associations, funding sources and businesses of all sizes in sparcely populated agrarian communities? Who were the key stakeholders and how did you get buy-in?

EARLIER this year a Federal Reserve official tried to tamp down worries about inflation by noting that, while food and petrol were getting more expensive, you could now buy an iPad that was twice as powerful for the same price as the previous model. The remark, soon lampooned as “Let them eat iPads”, predictably drew derision. But it typified a tactic to which American leaders frequently turn when they need a rejoinder to economic doomsaying: cite an Apple product.

As bad as their politics has got, Americans could always comfort themselves with the knowledge that their business leaders, entrepreneurs and workers were the most dynamic and innovative in the world. But they may look back on 2011 and see three events that undermine that story: the downgrade of America’s credit rating; the last flight of the space shuttle; and Mr Jobs’s death. The first, coming as it did on the heels of a debilitating and entirely pointless fight over raising the debt ceiling, captures how American political dysfunction has undermined the economy’s institutional pillars. The latter two symbolised the waning of, respectively, American public and private technological pre-eminence.

What kind of multi-tasker are you? “Bleary-eyed,” might seem like the most obvious answer, and for many who juggle multiple roles, it’s no doubt true. But a study by Tracy Hect at Montreal’s Concordia University and Julia McCarthy at the University of Toronto finds that there are actually three distinct types of multitaskers-and that some styles are definitely more healthy than others.

Three ways to cope

Hect and McCarthy studied people who had three hats to wear: student, employee, and family member. How did they cope? In three ways:

EDA, along with the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, today announced the launch of the beta version of the U.S. Cluster Mapping Web site, a new tool that can assist innovators and small business in creating jobs and spurring regional economic growth.

The site, accessible at www.clustermapping.us, provides cluster initiatives and other economic development organizations an opportunity to register in a national database. The registry allows initiatives to showcase their activities and events to a wider public, search for appropriate partners across the nation, and learn from best practice examples of their peers. The site also provides free access to a rich database on the profile and performance of clusters and regional economies.

At a press conference with Mayor Bloomberg to celebrate the opening of Twitter’s New York City offices, co-founder Jack Dorsey gave the Big Apple his endorsement as a startup capital. “New York will have a thriving tech community and we will help build that,” he says.

Twitter already employs 30 to 40 people in New York City and its new office can accomodate 100 people. At Twitter’s current rate of hiring in the New York City, that should hold it for at least a year. Dorsey points out that New York City has more Twitter users than any other city and the state has the second largest number of Twitter developers.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away Wednesday at the age of 56, but during his time at Apple’s helm, he brought world an incredible array of visionary products that he helped design and create.

Jobs liked to call some of his products “magical.” While that might be a bit of an exaggeration, there’s no doubt he and the people he oversaw at Apple changed the way people interact with computers. One of Jobs’ biggest notions was the idea of building a device focused on the needs of a user and not just building technology for the sake of it. He oversaw the creation of the world’s single most popular portable music player and smartphone.

Here are 10 important products Steve Jobs brought to the world while at Apple:

In 1850, a decade before the Civil War, the United States’ economy was small—it wasn’t much bigger than Italy’s. Forty years later, it was the largest economy in the world. What happened in-between was the railroads. They linked the east of the country to the west, and the interior to both. They gave access to the east’s industrial goods; they made possible economies of scale; they stimulated steel and manufacturing—and the economy was never the same.

Observers and advocates on Long Island — New York's Nassau and Suffolk counties — have repeatedly used age group population estimates to bolster land use policies based on their preferred narrative. The assumption? Young adults are moving away from the region in large numbers due to the high cost of living, particularly housing prices. So, the story goes, the suburban pattern must be broken, and small, high density housing units must replace detached, single-family homes as the dominant urban form if young adults are to be retained.

When the Long Island Housing Partnership dedicated a dozen affordable housing units in Southampton town in 2007, a spokesperson explained. “We're losing our young from the ages of 20 to 34 at five times the national average. People can't stay because of the high cost of living.” The region's premiere daily, Newsday, editorialized a few years later, “Unless Long Island stops this brain drain, it won't prosper.”

In his famous Stanford commencement speech Jobs urged eager students to “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”.

Steven Paul Jobs helped to shape the modern world of tech and he will be remembered for more than the quotes listed below.

1985 — Playboy magazine

“I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on something, but working on Macintosh was the neatest experience of my life. Almost everyone who worked on it will say that. None of us wanted to release it at the end. It was as though we knew that once it was out of our hands, it wouldn’t be ours anymore. When we finally presented it at the shareholders’ meeting, everyone in the auditorium stood up and gave it a 5-minute ovation. What was incredible to me was that I could see the Mac team in the first few rows. It was as though none of us could believe that we’d actually finished it. Everyone started crying.”

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Stephan Paternot, founder and general partner of the Actarus Funds, was co-founder and co-CEO of theglobe.com. He authored "A Very Public Offering," which chronicled his experience creating the Internet's first social networking site. Ongoing instability and uncertainty in the stock market has delayed nearly 200 public offerings so far this year, including several high-profile IPOs by tech companies like Zynga and Groupon.

Stephan Paternot is former co-CEO of theglobe.com. He is now an investor. For more about him, click on the photo. However, for those handful of large players and the legions of smaller companies desperately eyeing an IPO further down the line, an alternative has arisen to meet their capital and liquidity needs.

It would be no fun if starting a business was simply plotting a straight line between your idea and success, with no challenges along the way. Zigging and zagging amongst the obstacles is the fun part of being an entrepreneur, and it’s what sets you apart from the average worker who knows exactly what he or she has to do every day to get paid. Relish it, or if it scares you, don’t try it.

That doesn’t mean that starting a business should be a random walk into the unknown. There are certain foundational elements that every entrepreneur must build on to succeed, as well as some critical tools we all need. I found these tried-and-true principles summarized very well in a new book “The Zigzag Principle” by serial entrepreneur Rich Christiansen:

OMAHA, Ne. (Oct. 4, 2011)—A group of Nebraska entrepreneurs, angel investors, technology leaders – along with the University of Nebraska - announced today a commitment to help fund the regional expansion of the PIPELINE Entrepreneurial Fellowship program, which will now include Nebraska. This investment will be matched dollar for dollar by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as part of an $800,000 challenge grant that was awarded to PIPELINE earlier this year. As part of the partnership, Nebraska entrepreneurs may now apply for the Regional Class that will be selected for 2012.

PIPELINE is nationally recognized for its work in accelerating high growth entrepreneurs while building out a national network for their sustained growth. Now in its fifth year of operations, PIPELINE is expanding to serve a broader region with the help of the Kauffman Foundation. As part of the challenge grant, PIPELINE has been in discussions with various leaders in the Midwest to determine the right boundaries of the expansion. Nebraska became a front-runner very early in the process and will now be a key partner for the 3-year pilot expansion project.

From California’ Silicon Valley to Austin’s “Technology Cluster,” there are numerous examples of successful collaborations between universities and industry. Chief executive officers and others involved in site selection should consider whether collaboration with one or more universities would enhance their next facility location decision. In the right circumstances, working with a research university in the area in which your company is locating may prove to add tremendous value. Three key areas need to be considered:

1. R&D of new and innovative technologies, processes, and products;

2. Best practices for business leadership and management principles; and

3. Work force development and recruitment of engineering and management talent, as well as talent for other positions.

(Scottsdale, Ariz.) –Arizona State University’s Venture Catalyst in collaboration with ASU’s technology transfer arm, Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), is launching a new program aimed at creating startup activity in postdoctoral researchers and graduate students.

As opposed to standard academic modules and programs, this part-time program applies a very ‘pracademic’ approach to developing an entrepreneurial mindset and real new venture creation. The program modules are taught by pracademic adjunct faculty from leading external organizations, supplemented by online modules from the ASU Venture Catalyst.

“It is a matter of evangelizing entrepreneurship to those ‘latent’ entrepreneurs that exist within Arizona State University. In a sense this is a ‘school’ that isn’t a school in the traditional sense. We want to cover the main aspects of creating a new venture, taught by people who do this as a day job, but with an emphasis on the participants thinking about their own venture or idea,” said Gordon McConnell, Executive Director of the Venture Catalyst. “An MBA student or a young researcher may have an idea from one of the university’s research labs, but doesn’t know where to start in terms of developing the idea or a team to execute the idea.”

Daniel Pink quoted in one of his presentations, “Left brain thinking gets you the job, right brain thinking gets you the promotion“. Since we are living in a ‘conceptual world’ through the impact of the digital economy we need to use both our analytical left brain but also our creative right brain. However, many of us struggle to develop our creative right brains because our educational system focuses on analysis, critical thinking, and facts and figures.

A key driver of business growth and development is the ability to nurture the intellectual capital in organizations (that is, the employees, their tacit knowledge, skills and experience). One critical success factor is to enhance creativity in people and subsequently in the organization by creating a “Hothouse Effect”. Dr Barton Kunstler author of the “The Hothouse Effect“ describes a number of ways to intensify creativity in your organization using secrets from history’s most creative communities. The book describes common characteristics of history’s “Creative Hothouses”, including ancient Athens, Renaissance Florence, the creative communities of the Parisian salons (early 1900′s) and the German Bauhaus (1919-1933).