information escrow: a confidential allegation (e.g., re sexual harassment/ assault) transmitted to a secure, online site where it is time-stamped and held for possible future reporting to appropriate authorities. *** TROVELOG *** Callisto [is] an online nonprofit startup that seeks to leverage the power of tech to fight sexual harassment and assault. Using Callisto, a victim can [...]
smart kitchen: a home kitchen equipped to access data from its internet-connected “smart” appliances and gadgets to cook food, download recipes, manage inventory, and order groceries. *** TROVELOG *** Household brands like Whirlpool, Samsung and Bosch are racing against tech behemoths like Google and Amazon to dominate the kitchen with internet-connected appliances and cooking gadgets that include [...]
rage room (aka: “anger room”): a facility that charges customers fees to smash objects: household items, office machines, electronics, furniture, human effigies or any of the customer's personal items. *** TROVELOG *** Donna Alexander, proprietor of the Anger Room in Dallas, can barely keep her business stocked with printers for customers to crush. “Rage rooms,” as they’re [...]
"Authenticity is like authority or charisma: If you have to tell people you have it, then you probably don't." --Andrew Potter "Whenever you find something described as authentic, you know that you are already in the realm of fake authenticity," says Andrew Potter in his recent book "The Authenticity Hoax." It's not unlike [...]
11.9: The percentage of American workers in unions last year, the lowest proportion in more than 70 years, according to the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of workers in unions fell by 612,000 last year, to 14.7 million. About 20 percent of workers were in unions in 1983; the figure was [...]
Pity poor Hannah, who received a startling text message on her cellphone, sent from her father: "Your mom and I are going to divorce next month." After Hannah registered her alarm, her father quickly texted back: "I wrote 'Disney,' and this phone changed it. We are going to Disney." Welcome to the world [...]
a provision in a commercial real estate loan agreement that holds individual developers personally liable for the loan if their borrower company should file for bankruptcy. The commercial real estate market is being hobbled by billions of dollars in distressed debt, and some experts are pointing to a provision in many loans — [...]
Shortly before the iPad tablet went on sale last year, Steven P. Jobs showed off Apple's latest creation to a small group of journalists. One asked what consumer and market research Apple had done to guide the development of the new product. “None,” Mr. Jobs replied. “It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
