The following article was written by Noel Harrison at noelharrison.net
This December I was reading one of Taylor Clarks books. The title of this book is Starbucked. Its sub title is a double tall tale of caffeine, commerce and culture. If you have not yet worked out what this is about - its about Starbucks - the global coffee giant.
I think that it is important to understand  exactly how large Starbucks is to fully understand the power that Starbucks has over consumers and competitors. In 1987, Howard Shultz bought Starbucks. At …

Steve Jobs’ medical leave from Apple is likely to be permanent, analysts say.
In a letter to Apple staff on Wednesday, Jobs said he was taking a five-month medical leave because his health issues are “more complex than I originally thought.”
In the note, Jobs promised to return to Apple in the summer, which many are hoping is true.
“Apple won’t be the same w/o his creative leadership,” tweeted Heredes. “Praying for your health, Steve.”
But Jobs’ letter contradicts a statement the CEO published just last week, in which he said he was “undergoing …

The first signs of life of a business model for Twitter are finally showing.
The company has hired Kevin Thau away from Buzzwire, where he served as Vice President of Sales & Business Development, to become the company’s first business development director, as the updated position in Thau’s LinkedIn profile attests. In the blog post announcing the hire, the startup says Thau is actually becoming the Director of Mobile Business Development, but later in the post actively working on their mobile business strategy is listed as an ‘also’, next to “assessing …

A voyage to fabled Timbuktu in a flying car may sound like a magical childhood fantasy.
But this week a British adventurer will set off from London on an incredible journey through Europe and Africa in a souped-up sand buggy, travelling by road - and air.
With the help of a parachute and a giant fan-motor, Neil Laughton plans to soar over the Pyrenees near Andorra, before taking to the skies again to hop across the 14-km (nine-mile) Straits of Gibraltar.
The ex-SAS officer then aims to fly over the Atlas Mountains in …

With only 514 days left to go before the 2010 Soccer World Cup begins, people are beginning to take more interest in whether or not the country will be ready.
According to Brian Bruce, Murray and Roberts (JSE:MUR) CEO, all the projects are going well.
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“My guess is that all the stadia are well on track to be completed as per their requirements,” he says.
He adds there are a lot of other, peripheral projects, particularly on the road transport side, that are well on their way.
The Gautrain project, however, might face a …