Monthly Archives: December 2010

cloud computing

any service that operates over an Internet connection, allowing immediate access from any computer or mobile device with Web access. Business owners can access software or store information—such as customer contacts, accounting data and presentations—and leave the technical maintenance to the cloud provider. As of April 2010, only about 7% of small-business owners were using [...]

grease payments

small payments that are made by a foreign company in some countries to facilitate the initiation of certain services.   The new [British] law, called the Bribery Act, takes effect in April [2011]. It resembles the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [FCPA], which bars companies that trade on U.S. exchanges from bribing foreign government officials [...]

Nollywood

the name of the Nigerian film industry. It is hard to avoid Nigerian films in Africa. Public buses show them, as do many restaurants and hotels. Nollywood, as the business is known, churns out about 50 full-length features a week, making it the world’s second most prolific film industry after India’s Bollywood… . Only the [...]

Dunbar’s number

#Dunbarsnumber - the idea that a person can only have a limited number of close relationships, probably around 150.   [O]ur minds are not designed to allow us to have more than a very limited number of people in our social world. The emotional and psychological investments that a close relationship requires are considerable, and [...]

desperation week

Procrastination Propels Purchasing Desperation week is what retailers call the week before Christmas each year when shoppers are desperately buying last-minute gifts. “At this time of year, jewelers rely on last-minute men. They are the spouses, the boyfriends, the loved ones, all who, up until this week, have been steering clear of malls and anything [...]

2021-07-20T10:04:50-05:00WORDS|

unstructured data

Unorganized Information Unstructured data is textual or non-textual data that is not in a database. “Math-loving traders are using powerful computers to speed-read news reports, editorials, company Web sites, blog posts and even Twitter messages — and then letting the machines decide what it all means for the markets. … Many of the robo-readers look [...]

2021-07-20T10:04:50-05:00WORDS|

3-D printers

Layering It On ". . . 3-D printers are the best thing to come out of the labs in a long time because they allow for the manipulation of reality instead of virtual space. And although they sound downright magical, they work just as it seems they might. Someone designs an object — a cookie [...]

2021-07-20T10:04:50-05:00WORDS|

entertainment snacking

Light Brain Breaks Entertainment snacking is the practice of playing casual electronic games for limited periods of times during a day. “Why do smart people love seemingly mindless games? Angry Birds is one of the latest to join the pantheon of ‘casual games’ that have appealed to a mass audience with a blend of addictive [...]

2021-07-20T10:04:50-05:00WORDS|

walled garden

Keep Out of My Data Walled garden -- website content that a company collects and maintains but is not accessible to search by other companies. “Another cause for concern [for Google] is that firms such as Facebook and Apple are hoarding customer data, thereby making them inaccessible to Google’s search engine. The rise of such ‘walled [...]

2021-07-20T10:04:50-05:00WORDS|

natural security

Focus on Resources “Rare minerals. Food and water. Arable soil. Air-cleansing forests. In the intellectual heart of the American military and policy-making world, these are emerging not just as environmental issues, but as the potential stuff of conflict in the 21st century. In some ways, the role of resources in shaping conflict is nothing new. [...]

2011-01-14T00:52:18-06:00WORDS|
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