Big Think

Adobe's Jennifer Taylor Discusses Flash 10

Adobe's Director of Flash Content and Distribution Jennifer Taylor discusses Flash 10 and the history of Flash. … Watch

March 5, 2009   |  In Media & Internet

Jurriaan Kamp, Editor of Ode Magazine, Discusses the Role of Media

Jurriaan Kamp is the editor of Ode Magazine, which targets an audience of "intelligent optimists." He discusses the role of media in society and the role of Ode. … Watch

February 27, 2009   |  In Media & Internet

Syd Finkelstein: BofA's Acquisition of Merill Lynch One of the Worst Acquisitions in History

Sydney Finkelstein, Professor of Management at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, explains in this segment why Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis bought Merill Lynch. Finkelstein is the author of "Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes" and "Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happening to You." "Here was Merill Lynch, an opportunity to get really one of the crown jewels of Wall Street. And it's fascinating to think about this, because what Ken Lewis did, is in the course of one weekend, with minimal due diligence, actually make the deal. This from somebody who had a track record of being extremely good at making acquisitions," he says. "And so you go and you buy the company--there's no way they could have figured out all of the toxic assets that were actually there." You can buy Finkelstein's book "Think Again" here: http://www.amazon.com/Think-Again-Leaders-Decisions-Happeining/dp/1422126129/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233952894&sr=1-2 … Watch

February 6, 2009   |  In Business & Economics

In the Downturn, Find the Inefficiencies and Create New Businesses, Mukesh Chatter

Mukesh Chatter is an engineer and serial entrepreneur, known for building the router company Nextabit and selling to Lucent in 1999 for $900 million. He says the current economic downturn is an opportunity for innovators to find the inefficiencies in business and create new opportunities. Flush with excess in the boom times, this is the right time to dis-intermediate, he told me this morning. Last year, Chatter and Ray Statta, Chairman of Analog Devices founded MoneyAisle, a reverse auction, Web-based application for consumer finance products. The Boston-area company is finding the inefficiencies in the market for certificates of deposits by running reverse auctions where 120 banks are asked to compete on individual consumer requests. In January, some 70,000 visitors went to the MoneyAisle site and spent $45 million on CD purchases. Mary Pilon of Wall Street Journal reports on MoneyAisle today and offers her experience on the site. For an extended video interview with Mukesh, check out this one with Robert Scoble. Here is the launch story in Xconomy. The company was profiled last year in MIT's Technology Review. … Watch

February 6, 2009   |  In Business & Economics

Chet Rhodes on The Wall Street Journal's Video Journalism Strategy

Chet Rhodes, Deputy Managing Editor of Multimedia for The Wall Street Journal, discusses the paper's video journalism strategy, which includes video training for print reporters. … Watch

November 6, 2008   |  In Media & Internet