Commentary

Today, Palo Alto-based start-up Five Across introduced a new instant messenger system, called InterComm. At first blush, another IM system may seem redundant, silly and unnecessary. After all, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo already capture the vast majority of consumer IM users. What can a newcomer...

MADISON—It's PGA Championship Week in Wisconsin, which means the golfing world will beat a path to one of the state's most spectacular doorsteps, the 7,514-yard Whistling Straits course in Kohler. With lake-hugging holes named “Grand Strand,” “Cliff Hanger” and “Voyageur,” it's an inspiring place for...

Nobody will ever admit to buying technology for technology’s sake. And yet a visiting space alien that is watching most companies acquire and deploy technology could be forgiven for believing that’s what most of us are doing. We put almost all our energy into specifying,...

Recently I read a provocative editorial in the New York Times by Giuliano Hazan, a cooking instructor and author, entitled, "You Are How You Eat". In it, he draws an intriguing contrast between how Italians view food and the eating rituals they follow versus Americans....

MADISON – Without technology innovators, would regulators have anything to do? Four events in the past week or so are a reminder that for every breakthrough in fields such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, another regulatory hurdle pops up to slow the sprint toward progress....

I confess: I'm a right-brain guy in a left-brain world. Images and visions are more real to me than abstractions, I see the future more easily than things that are right in front of my face....