A huge number of e-readers are on display at this year’s CES. Although the biggest player, Amazon, isn’t expected to reveal any Kindle surprises, plenty of other companies already have. The Alex dual-screener, for example, is a disruptive device that could become a real competitor in the e-reader market. We first heard about the Alex thanks to a controversy…

iMinds offers 8-minute audio books that deliver bursts of knowledge on an array of topics through their iPods and other MP3 devices. MindTracks are designed to be a well-rounded subject overview of a general knowledge topic. iMinds researched and found that adult attention spans lapse approximately every eight minutes. This was an optimal length of time to get a…

This is a guest post by Kris De Decker. Readers will remember that Kris was the author of the Oil Drum post Wind Powered Factories . A longer version of this post on trolley canal boats was published in low tech magazine . For many centuries, canal boats were propelled by men, horses or mules on the towpath beside…

Exxon’s 40% Failure Rate, Hungarian Flop, Lead to XTO Takeover (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp. seeks more than added reserves with its takeover of XTO Energy Inc. The biggest U.S. oil company also intends to prevent a repeat of exploration flops such as a Hungarian well that struck more water than gas. Last month’s agreement to buy Fort Worth,…

I t’s been a while since I’ve written a link post, but here’s one with some great articles from around the web. Dogs of the Dow 2010 @ Canadian Money Forum Cloth Diapers vs. Disposable Diapers @ Cash Money Life Performance of Currency-Neutral S&P 500 Index Funds @ Canadian Capitalist Creating a Financial Snapshot @ Five Cent Nickel Bias…

How do you pump yourself up, or stay motivated to meet your toughest challenges? Growth entrepreneur Jim Estill talks to himself – repeating certain “simple mantras” that give him the energy and will to succeed. According to this article from last November that I just read on his blog , Jim repeats several key power statements when the stress…

My column in this week’s Financial Post looks at executive coaching: what can it do for you? The starting point was a coach I met in Vancouver, Mary Ellen Sanajko of Condu it Coaching , who was running a draw at the SOHO Cnnference a tradeshow offering one lucky winner a month of free coaching. I asked her to…

There are many things I like about my job (even when I’m not writing about Lady GaGa and naked iPhone apps ). Getting bombarded with email press releases, especially when they contain gargantuan file attachments with titles like “FULL_POWERPOINT_DEMO,” is not one of them. Not because they’re usually confusing and poorly targeted–that’s a separate blog post (or 12)–but because,…

Today’s What to Say If You Hate to Sell tip strikes a bit of a serious note about what REALLY gets in our way as we grow a successful business. Let me know what you think. . . I mention the “upcoming” call in the video. November 18 has already passed but you can still get the audio recording…

Reading John’s recent posts on customer satisfaction and, having given the matter a deal of thought recently , I thought it would be constructive to summarise some simple initiatives that Business Owners can take to improve the level of satisfaction they achieve for their customers. Organisation Consider customers and their needs as you design your organisation. If your business…