Patents are back in the news. In the past few weeks alone, Microsoft bought AOL’s patent portfolio for $1 billion, then resold much of it to Facebook for $550 million. Twitter pledged to use its patents only defensively, and to give its employee-inventors a say in
A couple of years ago, after the bubble crashed, my wife and I decided to buy a condo in Vegas. There were many reasons behind that decision, but Sin City is known for delivering the unexpected. And so, political junkie
So Facebook filed its IPO papers, and the numbers are eye-popping. The company appears to be worth about $100 billion, or a bit more than the GDP of Tunisia. Others shade it a bit lower, but one thing is certain:
It’s hardly a secret that the 2012 election is shaping up as a contest between free markets and big government. And while the choice seems clear in the current political environment, it’s important to recall that government does play a
I’ve grown weary reading about the disappointing nature of the Republican field for President. So allow me to take a contrarian view: We have a solid field of candidates that seems to be leading to an exciting choice. First, a
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), currently the subject of hearings in the House Judiciary Committee, has generated interest far beyond the community of copyright lawyers. To its proponents, SOPA is a critical addition to copyright law, necessary to help
Burning Man has entered the mainstream. Not only did the event sell out for the first time in its history, but the Wall Street Journal and New York Times both gave it prominent coverage. What is Burning Man? For the
Is Obama Smart? It’s a question that more and more people are asking. His devoted fans like to note that he made it through Columbia and Harvard–supposedly a stark contrast to Rick Perry’s less-than-stellar transcript from Texas A&M, though Obama’s
Osama bin Laden is dead, and the world is a better place for it. Moammar Qaddafi may soon follow. His departure, too, will leave the world a better place. If all goes well, 2011 will also witness the demise of
Last week, Google announced its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility, effecting a vertical integration from the Android operating system into hardware. Investors responded by shaving roughly 13% off Google’s value–roughly twice as much as the NASDAQ lost and three times
Google is one of the worlds most intriguing companies. From its humble beginnings as a search engine company, Google has leveraged its mastery of the elusive formula for monetizing web traffic into a force capable of tangling with China–making it
Quick. Look at a map of the world and put an “X” through all the places that should be off-limits to Black residents. Great. Now put an “X” through all the places from which we should ban Muslims. Then, just
Gold has a long history of being many things to many people. To some, it is a shiny bauble, to others a commodity, and to still others a currency. To financial economists, gold is the traditional hedge against inflation. This
Salman Taseer, the Punjabi governor known for his opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, was assassinated earlier th is year. While his murderer has become something of a hero at home, the West lamented the death of this prominent Islamic moderate.
Battle lines are being drawn across the Middle East. On one side sit the forces of stability, with Saudi Arabia at the helm. On the other sit the forces of revolution, with Iran prominent in leadership. The alliances they lead
Anders Breivik provides a stark reminder of a not-too-distant past. The dream of a Europe purged of swarthy foreign elements may be history, but it is hardly ancient history. Far too many people alive today still bear the marks of
With talk of the “Arab Spring” focused on whether it presages winter or summer, the whiff or metaphoric chlorophyll wafting through the desert misses a truly apt “spring” metaphor. The demonstrations rocking the Arab world are a surface phenomenon, a