We all know Google’s corporate philosophy is “don’t be evil, ” but what does that really mean? Is it okay, for example, to be just a little evil, rather than bad to the bone? Or is it okay to enable evil in others? The latter case certainly represents the minimum coefficient of evil I see operating at the Googleplex now that I know the search giant is involved with the Online Lenders Alliance. You know, payday loans.
Payday loans are cash advances provided to consumers until their next pay cycle secured by post-dated checks with most advances not exceeding $500. These loans are for people who can’t find money any other way to buy milk for […]
Driving around America for nine weeks and more than 10,000 miles, I’ve had a chance to see how our economy does and doesn’t work. The startups I visited were all good companies — reader favorites, after all — so they tended to shine. And their glow was generally green and even a bit altruistic, yet still based in for-profit philosophy. These are the kind of companies that create industries, build or renew cities and industrial centers — companies that create jobs in the kind of abundance needed to keep our nation prosperous. Yet in terms of government policy, it is as if they are unknown. The Obama Administration just successfully passed important small business legislation, […]
Shortly after our Startup Tour began this summer, Heath Ledger died. No, not Heath Ledger the actor, who died a couple years ago of an accidental drug overdose — Heath Ledger, my four year-old Garmin NUVI GPS who spoke with an Australian accent. My Heath had been going quietly insane for some time. This is his story.
So the phone rings at a big publishing company in New York. “How long is a book? ” asks the caller.
The Cringely (Not in Silicon Valley) Startup Tour is less than two weeks from being over yet where is all the video? It’s coming, I promise.