Is the Dismal Science Even a Science? - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review
David Brooks puts the discipline of economics in the cross-hairs in his New York Times column, and that's well deserved. As he points out, its leading lights not only failed to address a brewing economic crisis, they actually contributed to it. For that matter, it's hard to say what problem economists have ever solved. Brooks notes a recent exercise by Russ Roberts of George Mason University, who asked colleagues to recall any econometric study that had managed to settle an issue once and for all. The response? "Nobody could think of one."
For Photographers, the Image of a Shrinking Path - NYTimes.com
In 2005, Getty Images licensed 1.4 million preshot commercial photos. Last year, it licensed 22 million - and "all of the growth was through our user-generated business," Mr. Klein said. That is because amateurs are largely happy to be paid anything for their photos. "People that don't have to make a living from photography and do it as a hobby don't feel the need to charge a reasonable rate," Mr. Eich said.
Only a Few Can Multi-Task - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
The researchers found that about 2.5 percent of the college students they studied were able to simultaneously talk on the phone while navigating in a driving simulator. By comparison, the other students in the study saw their driving performance on fall 20 to 30 percent
Austin Heap: how I helped Iran's citizens to beat the censor | Technology | The Observer
A tech wunderkind originally from Ohio, Heap developed Haystack to open up social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, giving voices on the streets a platform, and people in the west a window into a closed-down state. He's now the executive director of the Censorship Research Centre in San Francisco, a non-profit organisation
Media Maverick: Scoping out the spot where entertainment and the Web intersect - CNET News
Before iTunes users can store their movies and TV shows in Apple's cloud, the company must get the studios to sign on. This may not be easy. The studios want to make sure that Apple's plans play nice with non-Apple devices and services. Hollywood isn't interested in any walled gardens, said James McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research.
Ekspertrd: Bygg lyntog i Norge - Nyheter - Politikk - Aftenposten.no
Ole-Harald Nafstad said: Reisetid på 2 time og 5 minutter til Bergen og Trondheim høres ut som en drøm for meg!
*Hyhastighetsprosjekter vil gi omtrent fire ganger s stor nytte pr. investert krone som Jernbaneverkets planlagte prosjekter p stlandet. *Et hyhastighetsnett kan redusere innenriks flybruk i Norge med mellom 65 og 80 prosent. Dette er vesentlig hyere enn i utredningen ekspertgruppen VWI gjorde for Samferdselsdepartementet i 2006, som konkluderte med 30-40 prosents reduksjon. *Deutsche Bahn beregner at Oslo-Trondheim, med opp til 300 km/t, vil koste 81 milliarder kroner. *Strekningen Oslo-Bergen, med spor fra Haukeli ogs til Stavanger og Haugesund, vil koste 129 milliarder kroner.
Google's Hal Varian to newspapers at FTC confab: "Experiment, experiment, experiment!" Nieman Journalism Lab
Varian concluded with this exhortation to publishers: “The three things newspapers should do is experiment, experiment, experiment!”
The dark side of Dubai - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent
"The thing you have to understand about Dubai is - nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing - a modern kind of place - but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship."
Recruitment firms: Joining the queue | The Economist
Recruiters are clearly becoming far more sophisticated, thanks to the new search tools that are available, says Aberdeen's Mr Saba: "You'd think with 10% unemployment, jobs would be filled more quickly, but the focus on sourcing the right people, screening them and so on means that the time to fill has not fallen." Mr Joerres believes that the increasing sophistication of recruiters means that firms will do less "anticipatory hiring" than in previous recoveries. Instead, firms will wait to get exactly the staff they need, when they need them.
Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy
No catch, replied Ibnale. Take an umbrella. You're getting wet. "No, thanks," the man answered, and kept walking through the rain. Ibnale began keeping count. He asked 27 wet people if they would like to have an umbrella. Seventeen of them said no.
