Author: JD Rucker

It’s like clockwork. When anyone gets a payday, there are those who will express dissatisfaction with one thing or another that they’re doing to cheat the system, hurt the little guy, or kill innocent animals. Clockwork. Disclosure: I am an unpaid and (very) occasional contributor for Business Insider. Even if I were not, I would still defend them against the horde. First and foremost, everyone is right. Business Insider has made a killing by taking advantage of a system that is designed to reward content aggregation more than hard-hitting journalism. In the world of journalism, it’s an unfair…

There are certain qualities that a leader of a company can bring to the table. Leadership and decision making are often (but not always) crucial. Understanding of a product and the market they’re in is essential. And then there’s headlines… When Léo Apotheker was asked by HP to step down today to make room for Whitman as President and CEO, few outside of the tech industry could recognize (or pronounce) his name, let alone his face. He didn’t create buzz. He wasn’t in the headlines. Meg Whitman has been and will be. At the end of the day, that’s one of the most important aspects of leading a large company….

The trends are heading in different directions. As devices become more mobile-data capable and applications push towards a mobile internet, service providers are shrinking, throttling, and increasing the prices of data plans. In  three minutes, AT&T and Verizon user UrgoClips encapsulates the frustration of the nation. Call it #firstworldproblems, but it’s still frustrating to many to have access to these wonderful new toys but to not have the service infrastructure to truly take advantage of them affordably. Listen to this video editorial and ask yourself if you’re “mad as hell…

The negativity towards Netflix started a couple of months ago when they raised the prices on their services by separating them out, doing so in a way that most consider rude and careless, but that’s not the most idiotic aspect of what they’re doing. They are taking the largest revenue stream they have in their company and splitting it out into a separate company is something that very few (if any) flourishing businesses ever do (or even consider). As odd as it sounds that they took amazing branding and name recognition and threw half of it out the window is pretty dumb, but it’s not the most idiotic thing…

In 2007, I did a seminar about data collection. I told a room of people that Google is not in the search business. They’re in the information business. As such, their goal is to be the knowledge base for the whole world. They want to spread into nearly every vertical. With enough data, it will make sense for us to let them. Back then, it was a cute theory. Today, it’s starting to turn into a relatively-easily made prediction that didn’t require a crystal ball or half a brain to see. When Google made their strongest move into local by changing Google Places, they truly started to declare their desire for…

We’ve always known in the social media age that babies can be instant hits on YouTube. Now, thanks to Bruce and Esther Huffman from McMinnville, Oregon, we know that the other end of the age spectrum can be just as adorable. While playing around with their new computer in their retirement community, the couple were trying to figure out how to do screen captures. They could see the video of themselves but did not realize until the end that they were recording it. Their granddaughter found and posted the video to YouTube with their blessing, ABC picked it up and made millions of people laugh. The self-proclaimed…

It’s the most exciting release by Microsoft in years. Windows 8 is actually making the Apple-loving blogosphere open their eyes and cheer out loud. Will it be successful? Will it come out too late? In the coming months we will see how this pans out, but for the first time in a long time, Microsoft is hot. You can see the entire keynote on BuildWindows, but here are the highlights. Below it is some of the feedback coming around the web. Windows 8 Makes Microsoft A Tablet Contender Against Android, Apple Windows 8 Running on ARM: 10 Reasons This Partnership Matters Windows 8 to offer built-in malware protection…

There are certain things that are made to be impossible in this world. One of them is breaking into Fort Knox. The security measures are so extreme, they’re almost comical. Nobody other than a large army could get beyond the first measures (and there are several beyond those). From 4-foot thick granite outer walls to 27-inch thick steel and concrete vaults, the fortress could withstand an atomic bomb. Everything has a backup, and most of the backups have a backup. Getting in is simply impossible. This infographic by our friends at CreditSesame shows just how tight the vault is. They also explore…

Last month, reports started circulating that Apple had lost another iPhone prototype in a bar. This time, it was an iPhone 5, the highly-anticipated next smartphone in the iPhone line. Comedian Conan O’Brien and his team put together a skit about Apple’s “response” to the person or people who currently have possession of the device. It is done very well in proper Apple video advertising style, only with the necessary injections of O’Brien humor. …

It proved that it could beat the best Jeopardy! champions in the world at their own game. Now, IBM’s Watson will try to help doctors make better medical decisions for their patients. WellPoint, Inc. and IBM announced an agreement today to develop and launch Watson-based medical solutions. It will be the first commercial applications of the IBM Watson technology. The program, which is scheduled to roll out next year, will begin by assisting nurses who manage complex patient cases. It will help the insurer to review treatment requests from medical providers. Stage two will put the technology…