Smart Takes

Walt Disney said that it plans to buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. The deal joins Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk and th eX-Men alongside Mickey Mouse and WALL-E. Here's why the move makes...

1 | August 31, 2009 6:50am | By Andrew Nusca

A new breed of entrepreneurs has recently emerged from these tough economic conditions: unintentional entrepreneurs, or folks who lost their jobs and decided to try their hand at a homegrown...

3 | August 28, 2009 3:36pm | By Andrew Nusca

When are e-books going to start acting like real books? There are more than 20 different e-book formats in the wild, and they're all completely incompatible. BooksOnBoard founder Bob LiVolsi wants...

7 | August 28, 2009 6:55am | By Andrew Nusca

Is it a smart idea to be a philosophy major in college? How about Hellenic studies? Perhaps fine art? Common sense might indicate not. After all, each year the list of best and worst paying...

6 | August 27, 2009 12:19pm | By Andrew Nusca

The number of online job postings in August rose 1.6 points from July, a modest increase but an indication that there is continued growth in job posting activity, according to a recent survey.

3 | August 27, 2009 9:43am | By Andrew Nusca

The overall goal for AMR, parent of American Airlines, is to improve the travel experience---boy is there a lot to fix---in a high-tech way with some help from HP.

August 26, 2009 9:01am | By Larry Dignan

A widely-held belief is that younger generations drive innovation, but new evidence suggests that people aged 18 to 35 are impacting technology far more than the teenage generation that follows them.

1 | August 26, 2009 7:51am | By Andrew Nusca

The U.S. Postal Service plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs in a move to save $500 million in the next year. The Postal Service plans to offer buyouts to entice employees to retire or resign before the...

22 | August 25, 2009 12:18pm | By Larry Dignan

If the U.S. State Department is intent on using public office to bridge cultures, Ali Reza Manouchehri says he plans on doing it "one pixel at a time." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be...

August 25, 2009 11:53am | By Andrew Nusca

Media multitaskers are paying a mental price, according to researchers at Stanford.

2 | August 25, 2009 5:48am | By Larry Dignan

If you judge by people's actions and not words, the recession is far from over. Cost-conscious Americans are finding themselves thinking twice about purchasing items at the store, placing them in...

5 | August 24, 2009 12:48pm | By Andrew Nusca

Could there be a nascent movement to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.? The Wall Street Journal has the tale of Farouk Shami, who runs a $1 billion manufacturing company that makes hair...

2 | August 24, 2009 9:24am | By Larry Dignan

It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon and you're looking for a caffeine fix. A hazelnut mocha with whipped cream? (Maybe not the best decision.) How about a cappuccino? (Turns out that's not such a...

1 | August 22, 2009 9:17am | By Andrew Nusca

There's a good amount of buzz about a Piper Jaffray report handicapping a possible move by Apple to reinvigorate its Apple TV lineup and even enter the living room with a television set. Should...

August 21, 2009 6:09am | By Larry Dignan

Should your Internet anonymity be revealed if you call someone a "psychotic, lying, whoring...skank" online? According to a new U.S. court decision, yes.

12 | August 20, 2009 10:48am | By Andrew Nusca

Want to learn better? So do I. And according to a recent study for the Department of Education, it might be wise for both of us to boot up our computers: students who study online performed better...

3 | August 20, 2009 4:03am | By Andrew Nusca

Traveling for work can take you to little-known cities, but that doesn't mean you need to wander the streets when you're looking for the closest copy center, train station or restaurant....

August 20, 2009 2:10am | By Larry Dignan

Ever wanted to read a magazine online? It's a frustrating experience, isn't it: the big, bold typefaces of glossies and other printed publications just aren't there. The makers of Typekit are...

4 | August 19, 2009 1:46pm | By Andrew Nusca

In an economic downturn, everyone's reexamining how much debt they have...and how to reduce it. But what about an entire country? The world's richest man recently warned of the enormous amount of...

August 19, 2009 12:38pm | By Andrew Nusca

Auto dealers are being squeezed by an administrative logjam in the government's Cash for Clunkers program. The Cash for Clunkers program is generally a smart idea. People scrap their gas guzzlers...

2 | August 19, 2009 5:20am | By Larry Dignan