It's easy to bash Microsoft.

From its CEO, to its massively popular operating system, the company does not exude the cool, hip style of Apple. Nor does it exude the wide-eyed optimism or Google.

For these reasons, and others, Microsoft is regularly bashed by the tech-set who drool over Apple and Google.

It's not just the tech scene. Wall Street is cool to Microsoft. After crushing earnings, Microsoft's stock is underperforming the market.

Well instead of piling on, we're going the other way. Of all the major tech companies out there, Microsoft is one of the most successfully diversified, exciting companies going.

“The Best Magazine Articles Ever” – Sure the list is subjective. It’s all in English, and heavily slanted toward male writers. But you can’t quibble with this. This curated collection features pieces by some of the finest American writers of the past generation. We’ve highlighted 10 notables ones from a much longer list available here.

1 ) John Updike, “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.” The New Yorker, October 22, 1960.

2) Norman Mailer, “Superman Comes to the Supermarket.” Esquire, November 1960.

3) Tom Wolfe, ”The Last American Hero is Junior Johnson. Yes!” Esquire, March 1965.

4) Hunter Thompson, ”The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.” Scanlan’s Monthly, June 1970.

After more than 13 years in Los Angeles, Clint Brauer decided to come home. The Haven native and Kansas State graduate was able to get in on the dot-com boom of the 1990s and turn degrees in business marketing and advertising into a career in high-tech that's taken him from entry level to senior positions at companies such as USWeb, Universal Music Group, Sony and Fox Interactive.

But at 36, Brauer wanted a change in the pace of his lifestyle.

So the West Coast techie opted to come back to his home state and run his current venture, Cyberread.com, an e-book company, from his hometown.

"L.A. was great. (But) L.A. is a hard place to truly relax because the bar is so high to do well there," Brauer said.

This year, it’s different.

For the past three summers Dreamit Ventures has incubated early-stage startups at the University City Science Center, giving each startup a small bit of seed capital while providing advice from some of the brightest entrepreneurial minds in the city.

Startups like SCVNGR, Seatgeek and Notehall all have roots in the incubator.

This year, DreamIt upped the ante by partnering with Brooklyn-based Startl to incubate more companies than ever and DreamIt is starting to receive national attention as one of the best early stage technology incubators in the country.

Dark clouds still hang over the venture capital industry despite a slight improvement in initial public offerings and mergers & acquisitions. Cambridge Associates and the National Venture Capital Association today issued a report showing that 10-year returns -- perhaps the most important measurement of the industry --were a negative 3.7 percent for the period ending March 31.

Early stage venture capital investing in India appears to be the flavour of season. There are funds being set up from $5m to $30m in size. Some are proposed to be set up by angel investors, some by former executives and investment bankers while others by successful entrepreneurs. Some are likely to be supported by government linked institutions, some by international investors and high net worth individuals. I recently had occasion to meet with some fund managers of these proposed funds.

Clearly, they had done their homework: on the state of the Indian private equity and VC market, the various participants had been mapped out, the state of the Indian economy, the performance of existing venture backed companies, the valuations, the exit opportunities, the pluses and minuses of existing funds had all been analysed and the inevitable gaps/spaces/blue oceans (choose your favourite jargon!) had been identified. And they apparently conclusively pointed to early stage investment opportunities in India – the holy grail or the akshaya patra, if you will.

All the presentations however sounded similar if not identical. They all talked about how attractive the opportunity was and how money could be multiplied. They all would source deals by networking and by associating with the same set of organizations and institutions, by having business plan competitions; they all anticipated “adding value” as a differentiating feature – high powered advisory panel, incubation centres, connections with various corporations and the like.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced in May that it’s launching three Energy Innovation Hubs, designed to “help advance highly promising areas of energy science and engineering from the early stage of research to the point where the technology can be handed off to the private sector.”

These hubs not only demonstrate the nation’s commitment to tackling our energy and climate challenges, but they also represent an innovation endeavor not often associated with the U.S. government.

Each of the three hubs will tackle a different energy challenge in a highly collaborative way that welcomes diversity of thought. They will “bring together top researchers from academia, industry and the government laboratories with expertise that spans multiple scientific and engineering disciplines under the leadership of a dynamic scientist-manager.”

It's not just about doing a pilot and then collecting data off of smart meters. Utilities looking to manage data coming from smart metering must have a multi-tiered plan in place, Larsh Johnson, director and CTO of eMeter, said during a GTM Webinar on Wednesday moderated by Chet Geschickter, Smart Grid Analyst with GTM Research.

While many people argue that smart meters are an end point and represent just one part of the smart grid, Johnson said that they should be thought of as a strong starting point that allows for greater intelligence below the substation level.

That intelligence, however, does not come without planning. "It's only getting worse, or better, depending on your viewpoint," Johnson said in regards to the amount of information that will be relayed through devices in the home area network, including smart thermostats, solar panels, smart appliances and electric vehicles.

Phytoplankton, which are responsible for half of the world's primary production and are the basis of all marine ecosystems, have been declining for more than 100 years, perhaps the result of rising sea temperatures, according to a study published in this week's Nature -- a cause for concern about the health of the Earth's oceans.

"It is troubling," said marine scientist David Siegel of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who was not involved in the research. With data dating back to the late 1800s, "this paper finds a long-term trend that's huge," he said. "The phytoplankton community has undoubtedly been changing."

Phytoplankton productivity lies at the base of the marine food web, supporting all ocean life and contributing to global geochemical processes, including the carbon cycle. Through photosynthetic activities, phytoplankton reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. Satellite data from the last few decades has suggested that phytoplankton might be on the decline.

Microsoft Research demonstrated a new street-level image viewing option that knocks the socks off of Google Maps Street View this week at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles. Called Street Slide, the technology allows users to zoom out from the fish-eye pannable photos you see on standard street view options and instead see a series of flat panoramic photos stitched together like a timeline.

It's a little hard to describe, but check out the video below. In addition to being less disorienting than zooming around inside Street View, the open space opened up for annotation in Street Slide is very nice.

Some might like it hot, but extreme heat can overpower the human body. An expert from the CDC explains how heat kills and why fans are worthless in the face of truly high temperatures

Climate change promises to bring with it longer, hotter summers to many places on the planet. This June turned out to be the fourth-hottest month ever recorded—globally—scientists are reporting. With more heat waves on the horizon, and a big one currently sweeping much of the U.S., the risk of heat-related health problems has also been on the rise.

Heat exhaustion is a relatively common reaction to severe heat and can include symptoms such as dizziness, headache and fainting. It can usually be treated with rest, a cool environment and hydration (including refueling of electrolytes, which are necessary for muscle and other body functions). Heat stroke is more severe and requires medical attention—it is often accompanied by dry skin, a body temperature above 103 degrees Fahrenheit, confusion and sometimes unconsciousness.

State ranks No. 5 on Top 10 list, based on strength of biotechnology industry.

Kansas has received recognition from a national site selection magazine for the state’s leadership position in building a vibrant regional bioscience industry.

Business Facilities magazine this week pegged Kansas as No. 5 on its 2010 list of Top 10 states based on biotechnology strength. The states, ranked in order, were: 1. California, 2. Texas, 3. Pennsylvania, 4. Massachusetts, 5. Kansas, 6. New Jersey, 7. North Carolina, 8. Illinois, 9. Maryland and 10. Ohio.

The annual rankings are compiled using more than two dozen criteria, including an assessment of state-funded research and development programs, interaction with institutions of higher education and major projects announced within the past year.

How’s this for absolutely dominating an increasingly lucrative and fast-growing segment?

Google currently boasts a mobile search market share of 98.29%, with it closest competitor Yahoo taking up just over 0.8% of market share and Microsoft’s Bing barely touching even half that, according to recent data from StatCounter as relayed by Pingdom.

This graph, made by Pingdom, puts it all in perspective:

Tangible signs of U.S. economic turnaround are evident, and the recovery is already under way, according to this economic analysis from Ross DeVol, Executive Director of Economic Research.

From Recession to Recovery: Analyzing America's Return to Growth calls for modest but sustainable growth in GDP, consumer spending and jobs. According to DeVol, strong recovery in business investment in equipment, more robust exports, a more upbeat consumer and continued low interest rates will fuel the growing recovery.

Key points in the forecast:

• Real GDP will grow at 3.5 percent in 2010, 3.7 percent in 2011 and 3.8 percent in 2012. Growth returns to slightly less than 3 percent from 2013 to 2015.
  
• The U.S. will add 1.8 million jobs in 2010, 3.1 million in 2011 and 2.6 million in 2012.
  
• Real consumer spending is projected to increase 2.8 percent in 2010, 3.5 percent in 2011 and 3.0 percent in 2012.
  
• New home construction won’t aid economic growth in 2010, but residential fixed investment should jump 26.0 percent in 2011 and 25.7 percent in 2012.

Most people associate Wisconsin with cheese and beer, but you should think about adding startups to that list. Led by a tidal wave of mostly young entrepreneurs, Madison, Wisconsin is staking a claim as the startup capital of the Midwest. Madison was recently ranked as the 7th most innovative city in the country by Forbes magazine – just above perennial powerhouse Boston, MA.

Several key organizations are driving the growing startup community. Capital Entrepreneurs is a group of over 56 companies that meet on a regular basis to help founders network and develop connections. MERLIN Mentors provides free mentoring services to new startups. Applicants are assigned a team of experienced entrepreneurs who help founders navigate many of the challenges facing a new company. These groups, along with the University of Wisconsin, are fostering a great culture for new startups.

There’s a common myth that older workers are technophobic and won’t use new technology as well as younger workers. This is a myth, and a dangerous one. Every member of the team needs to use the tools at their disposal effectively, and if you don’t give older workers the benefit of the doubt, you’re putting them, and your whole team, at a disadvantage.

What is true is that Baby Boomers can be reluctant to adopt new gadgets and frequently struggle to learn them. The trick, then, is to help your more experienced workers understand how the new software or equipment ties in to the work that has to get done, and then give them the chance to actually learn it. Bear in mind that there are exceptions to every generalization, and some folks in every age group are way out ahead of the pack.

When an entrepreneur decides to enter the workforce, they need to ask themselves many questions in order to determine if they are going to be a solid fit in joining a company. Here are some questions all entrepreneurs need to ask themselves. If they answer yes to over 50% of the questions, they could be ready to start working for someone else.

All entrepreneurs

Can you work for a manager?
In other words, are you ready to be managed? Are you ready for someone else to give you work instructions and for you to follow them? Previously as an entrepreneur, you were the one that had people waiting for your instructions – now it’s the other way around.

Are you ready to have less creative freedom?
While at your new job, your role/vision will be important and you will be involved in the creative process – but you will lose the ability to “veto” other creative decisions and realize that the final word belongs to someone else.

Are you ready to be involved in one specific area of business?
As an entrepreneur, you dabbled in all roles – you may have helped with 401k administration, you may have helped hire an accountant – all while also focusing your time on delivering strategy and helping the business succeed. As an employee, you’ll be focused on what you were hired to do – if you are running marketing, the company won’t be needing your advice on who the next accountant will be.

The term “economic gardening” is coming into play across our state as this new public policy initiative of boosting job creation by focusing on growing existing businesses in the state is discussed by Gubernatorial and other public-office candidates.

It is a concept designed to propel the state toward economic growth and stability. Almost all of Michigan’s new jobs from 1993-2007 came from companies with fewer than 100 employees while companies with 500 or more employees lost a significant number of jobs in the same time frame, notes the Edward Lowe Foundation, the 25-year-old entrepreneurial leadership group in Cassopolis.

Introduced by the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM) at its recent annual meeting, the economic gardening concept “needs to refocus our strategy from ‘hunting’ outside the state for job providers to ‘cultivating’ our own home grown businesses,” explains Rob Fowler, SBAM president. It targets especially second-stage businesses ($1 million annual revenue) that have been the primary job creators.

On March 22, 2010, the Plastiki, a ship constructed out of 12,500 post-consumer plastic bottles and other recycled materials, set sail from San Francisco on an eco-adventure to call attention to the issues associated with garbage that ends up in the ocean. 

Last weekend, after 128 days at sea, the Plastiki made landfall in Sydney, Australia, 8,000 nautical miles from where they started.  

At first glance you might think of this project as a personal mission or an inspirational adventure. In actuality, the people who took this voyage were doing their jobs!