Smart Takes

Archive: 03-2011

• Advertising analytics next frontier: Monitoring your subconscious

  A gadget is aiming to monitor consumers’ “deep subconscious responses” and brainwaves to gauge the reaction to advertising and other media content.

  March 21, 2011, 8:56 AM PDT | By Larry Dignan

• Innovation, and why Pepsi lost the cola war

  Coca-Cola passed Pepsi to claim the top two spots in U.S. cola sales for the first time in 20 years. Here’s why the company’s innovation strategy is to blame.

  March 21, 2011, 8:52 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca

• At Continuum, bridging the invention-innovation gap

  How do you bring a great idea from the drawing board to the delivery room — without diluting it along the way? Continuum CEO Harry West offers a peek into the innovation process for...

  March 21, 2011, 7:11 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca

• ‘GRid70′ design hub to incubate innovation in Midwest

  Amway, Meijer, Steelcase and Wolverine are joining forces to open the $5 million “GRid70″ design hub to foster innovation in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  March 18, 2011, 7:46 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca

• Ford retools Michigan plant; gas, hybrid and electric on same line

  Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant is the first facility in the world capable of building gas-powered, electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the same production line.

  March 18, 2011, 7:03 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca

• Google leads $20 million financing round for biofuels startup

  Google Ventures has made an investment in CoolPlanetBiofuels, an 18-month-old startup firm that specializes in the conversion of biomass and agricultural waste into fuel.

  March 18, 2011, 6:33 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca

• Will car tech ding dependability?

  J.D. Power detailed its auto dependability rankings and found that quality continues to improve. However, there’s one key caveat: The rate of dependability improvement is slowing due to...

  March 17, 2011, 10:14 AM PDT | By Larry Dignan

• Will it take a generation for cities to truly boom?

  The boom in city living in the U.S. won’t really happen until younger generations — Generations X and Y — occupy offices in which policy can be set. Right?

  March 17, 2011, 8:02 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca

• Zero Motorcycles raises $26 million; ramps up U.S. production

  Electric bike maker Zero Motorcycles lands $26 million in investments to ramp up American production and expand sales overseas.

  March 17, 2011, 6:42 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca

• Portland taps Ameresco to boost energy efficiency in city buildings

  The city of Portland, Maine awarded a $9.4 million contract to Ameresco to implement an energy efficiency program on 45 buildings across the city.

  March 16, 2011, 8:42 AM PDT | By Andrew Nusca