In an effort to rekindle European faith in the social and economic power of the 27-nation bloc, the European Commission on Wednesday (27 October) laid down plans for a new Single Market Act, offering a list of 50 proposals that could be put into action in the next two years.

The proposals range from making it easier to register a car in another country to creating an EU professional ID card to help people do business across borders.

The list will be subjected to a four-month public debate in the hope that more European citizens will get involved and voice their opinions.

A Chinese scientific research center has built the fastest supercomputer ever made, replacing the United States as maker of the swiftest machine, and giving China bragging rights as a technology superpower.

The computer, known as Tianhe-1A, has 1.4 times the horsepower of the current top computer, which is at a national laboratory in Tennessee, as measured by the standard test used to gauge how well the systems handle mathematical calculations, said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who maintains the official supercomputer rankings.

Although the official list of the top 500 fastest machines, which comes out every six months, is not due to be completed by Mr. Dongarra until next week, he said the Chinese computer “blows away the existing No. 1 machine.” He added, “We don’t close the books until Nov. 1, but I would say it is unlikely we will see a system that is faster.”

Is it worth spending so much time and money getting a college degree? Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh tells us that aspiring entrepreneurs should just skip college and business school to start a business.

Hsieh, a successful entrepreneur himself, goes on to say that you would still learn more from a failed business venture than you would in school.

How many of us dream of being a big-shot CEO with all the pay and perks that go with the corner office? Or better still, starting and running our own company. Wouldn’t that be sweet?

Well, I hate to burst your dream bubble, but being an entrepreneur
isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sure, if you’re cut out for it, maybe
you’ll survive the pressure and overcome the many challenges. But if
you’re not, and most of us aren’t, I wouldn’t quit my day job just yet.

Before we get into all those aforementioned challenges, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least pay homage to the perceived benefits of becoming an entrepreneur:

• Being your own boss and not having to kowtow to anyone;
• Doing what you want, when you want;
• Escape from the stress of corporate life;
• A shorter and more personal feedback loop; and
• The unique fulfillment that comes from building something from the ground up, more or less on your own.

I’ve noticed that some entrepreneurs seem to have no trouble attracting investors, while others with a great business plan struggle with it. The reality is that angel investors are humans, and personal traits often make or break the relationship, even before the investment is considered.

On the top line, angel investors look to invest in entrepreneurs that have an almost unwavering passion and sense of urgency. In the business, this is commonly called “fire in the belly.” If you don’t have it, you probably won’t succeed, even with funding.

Of course, this has to be in concert with a variety of visible characteristics that indicate that you as the entrepreneur have the attitude and practical skills to make it happen. Here are some key ones they look for:

1. Talks and writes well. Can concisely explain the unique, compelling value of the proposed venture in written terms and in oral presentations (elevator pitch), recognizing that some investors rely more on one than the other. Listens before answering questions.

If you need more proof that seed investing is taking over the world, just look up north to Canada. Three years ago, a group of angels started Montreal Startup, a $5 million seed fund. This week, they are launching their second, $45 million fund under a new name, Real Ventures. It will invest in startups across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver, but mostly within 250 kilometers of Montreal where most of the partners are based.

The partners include serial entrepreneur Austin Hill, John Stokes, and Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Daniel Drouet, Alan MacIntosh, and Mark MacLeod. The fund will invest in web, mobile, software, digital media, social and casual gaming startups.

How do you teach entrepreneurship to high school juniors? In only one hour?

I had the privilege this summer of speaking for an hour to students at the Neighborhood Academy, a college prep school in Pittsburgh for low-income students, about being an entrepreneur. “Being an entrepreneur” is certainly a broad topic, and you could choose to focus on a number of different areas. I decided that I would have three goals: make it simple, make it inspiring, and make it practical.

So when I was considering what topics to cover, I stayed away from the “administrative nuts and bolts” of being an entrepreneur – accounting, taxes, legal, HR, etc. Not that those aren’t important activities, but they certainly weren’t going to meet my 3 goals. I also chose not to talk about the “psychological” aspects of being an entrepreneur – making mistakes, keeping the faith, the highs and lows, the importance of working with strong teammates, etc.

I guess it’s obvious that in order to be a leader, you need followers. But much of what I read in terms of popular management advice seems to treat leadership as something akin to filling up a toolbox. If you can create a vision, give killer PowerPoint, radiate more energy than the sun, fill out a SWOT matrix, develop strategy and motivate like Gen. George S. Patton, you, too, can be a leader.

But these attributes don’t really get to the heart of the issue, do they? There are plenty of managers in possession of these capabilities, but they aren’t leaders. They may have people reporting to them, but no one is following out of a sense of inspiration or commitment.

In these tough economic times, more and more people are turning to entrepreneurship as an alternative to traditional employment. I applaud this trend, but caution all of you thinking this direction to approach entrepreneurship with your eyes wide open. It is not for everyone, as the entrepreneur’s path is fraught with challenges.

Many experts have tried to clearly lay out the criteria for success in a way that allows you to judge your own situation and your own temperament, and make a rational decision before starting down this path. One of the best summaries I have seen is a new book by Bill Murphy, Jr., titled “The Intelligent Entrepreneur,” which outlines the ten rules of successful entrepreneurship, as follows:

The U.S. wind industry is finally getting into the offshore game, and a new consortium of investors led by the Google Foundation just gave it a boost.

“We’re close to the take-off point,” said Jim Lanard, the Offshore Wind Development Coalition President, and “there will be a need for efficiencies in interconnection and transmission.”

Lanard was describing what the new multi-billion dollar investment in an Atlantic coast transmission backbone means for a U.S. offshore wind industry just being born, decades behind Europe’s and years behind China’s.

“In the offshore wind industry, the individual developers do not consider themselves one-off project teams,” said Lanard, who was an offshore wind developer before work with the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) led him to the role of chief advocate for the offshore wind industry.

From YouTube celebrities to chief social-media officers, these unexpected players exert outsize impact and power online -- offering new channels of communication that businesses can't afford to ignore.

Justine Ezarik
(aka iJustine) has more than 300 million video views and corporate clients from GE to Intel to Mattel.

Justine Ezarik -- known on the web as iJustine -- posted a video on YouTube this past spring about her desire to live a healthier life. She asked viewers to share their suggestions of what she might do and more than 11,000 responded. She produced five videos about those ideas that were viewed more than 2.1 million times.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fernandez today announced the winners of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) 2010 Innovation in Economic Development Awards during the Southeast Workforce and Economic Development Conference co-hosted by EDA and the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. The recognition contest is in its 10th year.

"The 2010 Innovation Award winners showcase some of the nation’s best practices for promoting economic development through collaborative initiatives and highlight outstanding examples of regional success in the global marketplace," said Fernandez.  "I congratulate all the winners for their tremendous contributions to strengthen our nation's economy."



Google and news organizations have had a rocky time of it. To overdramatize the situation only slightly: Google insists that it cares about journalism as a necessity of our shared democracy; news organizations resent it as a (perceived) key cause of the financial strife that keeps them from fully defending that democracy. Today, though, brings an olive branch — a multi-million-dollar olive branch: Google is announcing that it will donate $5 million to encourage innovation in digital journalism. The grant will come in two parts: $2 million of it will go to the Knight Foundation, the journalism mega-funder — and $3 million will go to fund international news-innovation efforts, via a partnership with an as-yet-unannounced organization.

“Google has been pretty clear about the fact that we want to do our part to help fulfill the promise of journalism in the digital age,” says Chris Gaither, Google’s senior manager for news industry relations. And while, on the one hand, today’s grant is part of Google’s larger work in philanthropy — as policy, the company commits one percent of its profits and equity toward charitable efforts — it’s also a way for the organization to put some money where its mouth is when it comes to its relations with journalism. “In addition to all the business partnerships and business relationships that we have with news companies,” Gaither told me, “we also wanted to try to encourage innovation at a more grassroots level.”

By Holly Green

There’s a lot of people talking about innovation these days, myself included.

The good news is that business leaders seem to be sitting up and taking notice of this important subject.  The bad news is that once a topic becomes popular in the media, people have a tendency to see it as the next “management flavor of the month.”  In other words, they perceive it as a quick fix solution rather than a long-term change in the way they do business.

Remember a few decades ago when everyone jumped on the continuous improvement bandwagon?  Very quickly, companies of all shapes and sizes began implementing six sigma, lean manufacturing, and other types of process improvement programs.  Many had no clue what they were doing or worked hard without a link to overall strategy and success.  And most had very unrealistic timelines and expectations for the results they hoped to achieve.

The master of horror is on deck for his fourth Scream film and just released My Soul to Take. To prepare for Halloween, watch scenes from the director's 10 favorite creepy classics.

I chose to name films that were in the era where I first really started watching movies and fell in love with cinema. I didn’t watch movies as a kid because my family was a member of a church that didn’t think movies were a good thing—they thought they were the work of the devil—so I didn’t see many movies until I was out of college. There was an art house in the town way upstate in New York where I was teaching and I went to every movie that opened there.

Don’t Look Now (1973)

This was one of the movies that just completely enthralled me and scared me at the same time, where I was watching a film that was a pretty moving work of art as well. There are several scenes where the parents glimpse their missing little girl—wearing the raincoat she was wearing when she disappeared—appearing down at the end of a dank alleyway in Venice. The sense that the child is either a ghost or is torturing them with her presence by disappearing was a wonderful example (not that I followed it) of being able to scare without showing blood.

Anyone who says that schmoozing isn’t critical to business success is just being disingenuous. It’s certainly been a big part of my success. If you knew me, this would come as no surprise. My wife calls me a BSer. There may be some truth to that on a personal level, but when it comes to business, I take schmoozing very seriously.

You see, business success is all about relationships, and schmoozing enables relationships. A couple of weeks ago we discussed how your network is your biggest asset, especially for top execs. Well, schmoozing is how you network. It also plays a big role in marketing and sales, getting deals done, developing and maintaining long-term relationships with customers, garnering support from your peers and coworkers, selling your ideas, even getting ahead in your career.

I’m still willing to bet that some of you, like my wife, think schmoozing is all about BSing, telling people what they want to hear, that sort of thing. So not true. In fact, the actual definition of schmooze is “to converse informally, to chat, or to chat in a friendly and persuasive manner especially so as to gain favor, business, or connections.” Who among you doesn’t consider that to be a critical part of business success?

Solar Millennium’s 1,000 MW Blythe plant checks the final box in its permitting checklist. Still waiting on the federal Loan Guarantee, some hefty equity investors—and then it’s shovel time.
Largest Solar Plant in the World Receives Final Regulatory Approval

Solar Millennium LLC's Blythe concentrating solar project secured a Final 'Record of Decision' from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approving the plant's Right-of-Way Grant.

To see the updated map of U.S. CSP Projects and the tracker list, click here.

Just 13 years ago, Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy.

But then – worried that it would be viewed as a monopoly without competition from Apple – Microsoft came to Apple's rescue with a $150 million investment.

Had that not happened the world may never have seen iPods, iPads, iPhones or iMacs.

But that was just the start of Apple's return to glory, the greatest corporate comeback story of all time.