Last week, Google rolled out a major change to its search engine's interface. American users, and some users in other countries, began to see the results for their Google searches appear onscreen while they were still typing. For example, if you type "b" into Google's search box, you might see the results of a Google search for "bank of america" appear below the box, along with a sponsored link from Bank of America. Keep typing until you have "bat" in the search box, and the results could suddenly change to match a search for "batman."

We are told that families earning over $250,000 a year are wealthy. That is, of course, if the family consists of two working adults who happen to be married. If said family simply lives together under the same roof without being married, then they can earn up to $400,000 per year before they join the ranks of the wealthy. Hmmm—something seems very wrong with policy that essentially penalizes people who make the commitment of marriage, which researchers tell us again and again is a significant predictor of positive educational outcomes for the children involved.

Individuals are considered to be wealthy once they earn $200,000, which, coincidentally, is just above the current salary earned by Members of Congress (except for those in leadership positions who earn more). It would be meaningful if congress were asked to vote on legislation that would essentially force them to tax themselves.

The apprenticeship system, long considered an educational relic by some educators and policy makers, is gaining new attention as a promising model for improving job skills and meeting national college-completion goals.

Sweden is a country by the founding of scientific and technological innovation, scientific research each year about 4% of gross domestic product, ranking in the world. In addition to the national scientific and technological innovation into account the total investment of 3 / 4 part of scientific and technological innovation of enterprises, the promotion of Scientific Research and rapidly transformed into productive forces, the Government of Sweden has been the focus of the work to promote scientific and technological innovation.

News from the Swedish Ministry of Education and Scientific Research and Innovation Board and other agencies in Sweden learned that since the last century since the 90's, the Swedish government adopted a series of support initiatives of university research to market, mainly in the following three aspects.

Global micro-lending site, Kiva.org just got smarter.

It already allows people from all over the world to donate small micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Today the forward-thinking non-profit has announced it's making available higher education loans for individuals in Lebanon, Paraguay, and Bolivia. The move opens up the micro-lending process from a focus on small enterprises to empowering individuals in developing countries to attend college. The basic Kiva model will continue, allowing people all over the world to make loans as small as $25. After a yearlong pilot program in the three countries, Kiva plans to expand to at least 15 countries.

"Student loans don't really exist in the developing world, like they do in the U.S.," Kiva President Premal Shah tells Fast Company. The process is like watching a "new baby being born," he says. "Everyone wants their child to be able to go to school."

Jobs, jobs, jobs.

Other than trimming budget deficits, creating jobs dominates the political discourse as we enter the fall elections. So far, from Washington D.C. to St. Paul, Minnesota, the proposals seem to revolve around the familiar suspects: cutting corporate tax rates and extending tax relief to small businesses.

Sounds reasonable enough. Minnesota has some of the highest corporate rates in the country, so cutting Medtronic’s tax bill means the medical device maker could finally open that new local manufacturing plant. And since small businesses create the majority of jobs in the country, policy should focus on them.

Some 24 graduates will be given three months of tutelage by some of Ireland’s top entrepreneurs, including Jolt’s Dylan Collins, and if they are lucky, may be in with a chance obtaining full-time jobs.

The graduates will be awarded internships with the finalists of this year’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

The internships are being offered for a minimum period of three months, and will give the budding business people a rare glimpse into the working lives of an entrepreneur – and a chance to impress them enough to be kept on.

Sometimes tiny mistakes can have a major effect on your business and income potential. This article will discuss the top 5 mistakes most entrepreneurs make online and what to do to avoid them.

You must realize that developing these “Success” characteristics takes time and will be an ongoing process. You should always look for chances to grow, ways to learn more, and try to always stretch beyond your comfort zones.

Mistakes ARE going to be made – it’s just a fact of life!

In fact, any aspiring entrepreneur is are bound to make a plenty of mistakes…Don’t let this scare you…

Interviewing a candidate for a job can be an exciting prospect. Your company is hiring and you are anticipating finding a new star player for your team. However, it’s also a time when you might say something that can cause you trouble later.

You may know that it’s illegal to consider a candidate’s gender, race, ethnicity and/or national origin, marital or maternity status, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability when they apply for a job – but here are five questions you should never, ever ask:

1. I love your accent … where is it from? – Even if the origin of the accent is clear, don’t ask.

Years ago, the nations of the world signed a space treaty. No, this isn’t a recap of the latest Mass Effect 2 DLC. It basically said, “OK, space exploration will be for the benefit of all mankind. All areas of space belong equally to all nations.” Ludicrous, by the way, the thought that we should have any sort of sway over the stars. The point is: we came together, at least on the surface, for the benefit of every person on the planet. With that in mind: how would you react to a similar Internet treaty? Something the nations of the world can get behind in order to save the Internet?

Angels – venture capitalists can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.

On one hand, angel investors are increasingly sparking tension in the venture industry. They’re sparring with VCs on blogs and conference panels over the value they offer entrepreneurs, while battling with them behind the scenes for access to the hottest start-ups. In some cases, well-connected angels are banding together to form large pools of capital, blurring the line between them and VCs.

On the other hand, these two sets of investors feed off each other. Angels need cash-rich venture capitalists to do the heavy lifting once their companies begin to mature. And venture capitalists lean on angels to take some of the risk out of newly formed start-ups, while also co-investing with them in seed deals.

PepsiCo Corp. set out in June to find 10 relatively unheard of start-ups to put it on the cutting edge of digital media and social marketing.

Now the company has announced the winners of the inaugural PepsiCo10, an incubator program that matches technology, media and communications entrepreneurs with PepsiCo brands for pilot programs set to launch in the coming months. PepsiCo is working with the companies to tailor its marketing message to their technologies.

The FlatPad A10 looks a lot like an Apple iPad, with the same black bezel and single circular button at the bottom of the screen. But the A10 costs only $220, compared to $499 for the cheapest (16-gigabyte, Wi-Fi-only) iPad. The A10 is also has a slot for more memory (micro-SD format); and most importantly, the A10 runs Google's open source Android operating system, making it one of the first Android-based tablets available for sale in the U.S.

The A10's specifications make it seem like a strong competitor to the iPad. This Android 2.1 device has a 10.2-inch touch screen. It has 256 megabits of RAM and two gigabytes of built-in flash. There's Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port, two USB ports (one for programming the A10, one for connecting other devices), and built-in stereo speakers. It's got a one-gigahertz processor, an accelerometer to detect screen orientation, and runs Google Maps. The battery lasts five hours.

In the latest edition of the HuffPost Innovators series (check out previous editions here, here and here), we've compiled some of the most promising eco-friendly cars in the world. And, yes, they are fast. Very fast.

The seven vehicles below are all finalists in the $10 million Progressive Automotive Insurance X PRIZE. The X PRIZE Foundation is a Playa Vista, Calif.-based non-profit that organizes prizes and competitions to drive "radical breakthroughs" in technology and innovation. (The foundation recently challenged innovators to help solve the Gulf oil spill.)

I successfully avoided government throughout the first 20 years of my private sector career. But in 2003, after a career first in industry and then as a road-warrior strategy consultant, I found myself as an accidental bureaucrat in the public sector.

I never saw it coming. After a weak attempt at retirement, my wife wasn't in the market for a strategy consultant to advise on household operations. What I hoped would be a year at home to sort out options quickly became a not so subtle nudge out the door to find my next gig.

I naively raised my hand to the newly elected Governor of Rhode Island and the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) and asked how I could help. The next thing I knew I was at the RIEDC, first as the agency's lead for strategy and development, and then as a member of the Governor's Cabinet and Executive Director of the agency. I had become an accidental bureaucrat.

As companies begin to focus on growth, innovation has once again become a priority, based on a recent McKinsey Global Survey.
While 84% of executives say innovation is extremely or very important
to their companies’ growth strategy, many of the challenges—finding the
right talent, encouraging collaboration and risk taking, organizing the
innovation process from beginning to end—are remarkably consistent.

The authors offer some suggestions on how companies can be more
successful at innovation: “In particular, they can formalize processes
for setting priorities and commercializing products and integrate
innovation into their strategic-planning efforts.”

By: Valerie Gaydos Chairman, Treasurer Private Investors In Entrepreneurial Endeavors (PiPAC)

While the criticism of angel tax credit legislation  written in the August 20 article “The Problem with Tax Credits for Angel Investors” has some merit, the author fails to notice what is right about this legislation as well as the other pieces of legislation which are more inclusive or offer other ways to help propel entrepreneurship. Tax credits can indeed be extremely valuable to both angel investors and entrepreneurs by encouraging private capital to invest. However, tax credits are only one small piece of the puzzle. The legislation discussed is indeed far too limiting as it only offers a tax credit for investing in SBIR investments.  Limiting the tax credit to SBIR companies is like inviting people to a party they can not attend.  It certainly might be one way for Congress to keep the cost down but it will have very little impact since there are a limited number of companies that would be eligible, especially to angel investors.  (Note: The sponsor of the legislation is from Maryland where a number of government funded companies are located.) 
 
Another and fairly substantial issues which plagues all of the tax credit bills is the issue of Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) since a tax credit may trigger an AMT liability. The alternative minimum tax began as a way to ensure that taxpayers pay at least a minimum amount of tax but the whole system is flawed. While some investors oppose the tax credit on that grounds, it would not effect all recipients of an angel tax credit and frankly, it is too big of an issue to be addressed in one small angel tax credit bill.  Instead, the AMT system should be part of an overhaul of our entire tax structure.

Editor's note:  NASVF welcomes guest editorials to NetNews. Their comments and content do not necessarily represent the membership and staff of the NASVF organization----Richard Miller

On a hilltop high above the city center on the campus of the University of Coimbra stands an imposing statue of King Dinis, the university's founder. He is tufted with tatters of black fabric, remnants of a tradition in which friends rip a graduate's academic robe to celebrate completion of his studies. Like much at Coimbra, which was founded in 1290 and is one of Europe's oldest universities, the practice dates back centuries.

But now the Portuguese government hopes Coimbra and the country's other higher-education institutions can help the nation face the future, by leveraging university know-how to turn the country into a center for innovation. "A small country like Portugal can only survive," says Manuel Heitor, the secretary of state for science, technology, and higher education, "by becoming innovative and international—a true knowledge economy."

What India needs is a national innovation system (NIS) that operates like a national grid in which innovation change agents and operators can be plugged in, and where common issues can be abstracted and dealt with separately. By harnessing all the nodes of positive influences for scale, the NIS functions like a dynamic web of public–private partnerships that broker transactions between grassroots innovators, entrepreneurs and large corporations. The role of the NIC as apex body is to serve as a policy-orientated intellectual property think-tank that enables the functioning and harnessing of the actors.