8 crucial elements for developing corporate strategy

Mad Men meets Daft Punk [video]

mad_men_daft_punk

If you enjoyed Ken Cosgrove busting a move on Mad Men, then you’ll love it even more when Daft Punk comes to call in the last century.

We dare you to keep those happy feet still.

Full story at YouTube via Kottke.

Messing with TV.

 


One-upping Bond: Behold, the self-destructing hard drive [video]

self_destructing_laptop

Worried about someone making off with your hard drive and all those super, secret files the bad guys are dying to get their dirty hands on?

Well, chances are they’ll just hack you and the damage will be done before you have a clue what happened, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the show put on by Caleb Kraft as he constructs a self-destruct mechanism out of thermite and lights that baby on fire! *Insert evil laugh here*

Full story at Hack a Day via Boing Boing.

DIY destruction.

 


What a week’s worth of groceries looks like around the world

food us

USA

Ever stop and look at your grocery cart as though it wasn’t yours?

Would people say you were a healthy eater, a busy person, a late-night snacker?

Photographer  Peter Menzel decided to use a wider lens and focus on what families from different countries consume in a typical week and, as you might guess, pizza figures prominently in the shot from the States.

Italy

Italy

Japan

Japan

Australia

Australia

Full story at Peter Menzel Photography via Fstoppers.

We are what we eat.


One thing a leader must to do succeed

leadership

Sadly, 25% of businesses fail within their first year and an astonishing 70% of businesses fail within ten years. So, if you’re thinking about starting a business or you’ve recently made the leap, how can you optimize your chances of success? What is the single most important factor in determining your success?

1. Build a strong leadership team

2. Have a great mindset

3. Execute

4. Create value

Most important: focus!

Full article on LinkedIn by Dave Kerpen

More on leadership


Wow! Couple’s close encounter with surfing killer whales in boat wake


How to lose a geek in ten seconds

how to lose a geek

 

Photo courtesy of Joy of Tech.


A brand guide to choosing the right social media platform

Choosing the most effective social media platforms - Infographic
Courtesy of: Infographics.SG

Early bilinguals pick up two ‘sound systems’

2-speaker boom box

People who learn two languages early in life can switch back and forth between separate sound codes for each language.

While “pa” and “ba” sounds exist in both English and Spanish, how those sounds are produced and perceived in the two languages varies subtly. In the case of “ba”, for example, English speakers typically begin to vibrate their vocal chords the moment they open their lips, while Spanish speakers begin vocal chord vibration slightly before they open their lips and produce “pa” in a manner similar to English “ba.”

As a result of those subtle differences, English-only speakers might, in some cases, confuse the “ba” and “pa” sounds they hear in Spanish.

“When most people think about differences between languages, they think they use different words and they have different grammars, but at their base, languages use different sounds,” explains Andrew Lotto, associate professor of speech, language and hearing sciences and the study’s co-author.

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: Sean Davis/Flickr


Daily calcium linked to longer life in women

woman eating cheese

Women who consume 1,000 mg of calcium a day—regardless if consumed in food or supplements—may live longer, new research suggests.

“We found that daily use of calcium supplements in women was associated with a lower risk of death, irrespective of cause,” says the study’s lead author, David Goltzman, director of the Calcium Research Laboratory at McGill University. “The benefit was seen for women who took doses of up to 1,000 mg per day, regardless of whether the supplement contained vitamin D.”

The longitudinal study of participants living in or near 9 cities across Canada monitored the health of 9,033 Canadians between 1995 and 2007. During that period, 1,160 participants died. Although the data showed women who took calcium supplements had a lower mortality risk, there was no statistical benefit for men. The study found no conclusive evidence that vitamin D had an effect on mortality.

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: Alex Valli/Flickr


8 crucial elements for developing corporate strategy

Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 10.14.54 AM

Alan Kennedy, along with his son Thomas, has written a book called: The Alpha Strategies. Not only for corporations, but also for public agencies and marketing firms, he wrote this because he saw a need for a book on developing corporate strategies after years of experience as a deal-maker for some major corporations in Canada. He was frustrated with the, as he says, “hazy and unfocused” boardroom discussions about strategy. He also noticed that the business leaders often couldn’t even communicate strategy effectively. And so he compiled his list of 8 elements for corporate strategists to consider.

1. Business definition

2. Financial management

3. Growth

4. Marketing

5. Organizational management

6. R&D/technology

7. Risk

8. Service delivery

For details about each point, see the full article here: Globe and Mail.

More stories about business.

Photo credit: DOC RABE Media – Fotolia.com