initiative

Interbrand released a report today ranking the world's most green brands in terms of both perception and performance.

The companies on their list are not just using green initiatives as a way of creating a positive image with consumers. They are also making money from them.

Toyota ranked first, not only due to the financial success of its hybrid-electric Prius and its partnership on the all-electric Tesla. But since 1992 the auto manufacturer has also made large strides reducing energy use, water consumption, waste, and toxic emissions, according to Interbrand.

Among the 50 top green brands, Toyota is followed … Read more

Zynga, the online gaming company behind FarmVille and CityVille, plans to file documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering as early as tomorrow, CNBC is reporting.

The San Francisco company plans to raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in a filing that would value the company at between $15 billion and $20 billion, according to the CNBC report.

While the Zynga filing has been expected, it would add to an already frothy lineup of Net start-ups looking to cash in on lofty valuations for tech companies. Earlier this month, daily-deals company Groupon filed papers … Read more

Underscoring the need to stay competitive through high-tech manufacturing, President Barack Obama today announced $70 million in funding for next-generation robots that can work alongside humans everywhere from factories and hospitals to the battlefield.

"One of my jobs as commander in chief is to keep an eye on robots," Obama told a crowd at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center. "I am pleased to report that the robots you manufacture here seem peaceful."

His remarks were part of a $500 million Advanced Manufacturing Partnership effort to unite government, industry, and academia, and foster breakthrough … Read more

Pandora's high-profile initial public offering has turned into a nightmare as shares fell through the $16 pricing floor today.

The online radio company priced its IPO at $16 a share on Tuesday night. From there, Pandora rocketed north of $22 yesterday. (Shares closed at $17.42 yesterday.) That price turned out to be a sweet spot to short-sell Pandora. Shares today cratered 24 percent, closing at $13.26.

We've noted all the problems with Pandora, but the chart says it all. For Pandora's sake, let's hope it doesn't wind up in CBS News' dot-com IPO hall of shame.… Read more

Pandora is one of the Web's most popular and beloved music services, and smart investors shouldn't go anywhere near the company's stock.

Shares of the profitless radio service began trading today on the New York Stock Exchange as part of an initial public offering, the latest technology play with a questionable business model to test the public equity markets.

In early morning trading, Pandora, which trades under the ticker symbol P, was up 28 percent to $20.37 a share but then began to level off. Investors began pulling back not long after and the stock closed the day at $17.42, up 8 percent. According to Bloomberg, Pandora sold 14.7 million shares yesterday at a price of $16 a share, giving the company a valuation of $2.6 billion. Pandora isn't worth $2 billion and here's why: … Read more

Ten eastern states in a greenhouse gas reduction program have invested more than half of their carbon permit auction proceeds, or about $404 million, in energy efficiency, the group said today.

New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and seven other states on the East Coast belong to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, which aims to trim carbon dioxide output from the area's power plants 10 percent by the end of 2018.

To meet that goal, RGGI holds quarterly auctions of permits that let the plants emit carbon dioxide. Some investors also buy the credits in the cap-and-trade program, believing … Read more

The Open Software Initiative and the Free Software Foundation yesterday released a joint statement, urging the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the German Federal Cartel Office, to investigate the sale of Novell's more than 800 patents as part of its multibillion dollar sale to Attachmate in November.

In December, the OSI sent a position paper to the German Federal Cartel Office. That paper has been updated to name both software groups as the concerned parties and filed with the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Since making that filing, we have been joined by the Free … Read more

Skype still operates in China, and the Chinese government has not indicated publicly that it intends to ban the service there.

Yet a week after media sources in China and in the West erroneously reported that China had begun blocking Skype, rumors continue to surface that the software, which enables users to make phone calls via the Internet, will be banned. At a time when Twitter overflows with posts about the controversy, CNET received a tip that China's government was testing ways to block Skype and that officials would announce a ban next week.

A spokesman for Skype declined … Read more

I recently argued that everyone has a blind side. When people or organizations miss important threats or opportunities--ones that are perhaps obvious to you--it's easy to think badly of them, to assign blame. My goodness! Why ever could they not see that coming?! Idiots! But it's not simple to avoid being those idiots.

I've dealt with department managers with unimpressive budgets who truly "get it." And I've worked with international governments and captains of industry who wouldn't recognize a clue if it dressed up as Colonel Mustard and bludgeoned them with a lead pipe in the conservatory.

In my experience, truly incompetent individuals and outlandishly oafish organizations are the exception. What I usually find are intelligent, well-meaning folks who can't see what they're missing--not because they're stupid, lazy, or in any other meaningful way blameworthy--but because they're focused on other tasks and looking the other way.

Last week, I promised to share some techniques for dealing with the blind side. I wish I could say "Combine a pound of black beans, a quart of skepticism, three eggs, four product evaluations, and a dash of focus group feedback in a large mixing bowl; stir until creamy; pour into well-greased pan; and bake for an hour at 325 degrees." But it's not like that. Improving your perception and handling of things that are over the horizon, camouflaged, latent, or visible only in the "negative space" (i.e., what's missing rather than what's there)--those are skills to be learned, not recipes to be followed. Nevertheless, I've used these these techniques with excellent results:

Admit It, Move On People tend to be embarrassed by, thus defensive about, their blind spots, weaknesses, ulterior motives, errors, and failures. Ego drives us to pretend they don't exist. But when you're pretending something isn't a problem, it's hard to do much about it. So get over it. Accept that you have significant weaknesses, fears, and other assorted ugly bits--that there's an often large gap between where/what you are and where/what you want to be. Getting over shame and blame and getting your ego out of the way lets you get on with the real work. If it's not your ego in the way, help whoever's ego is in the way to get out of it.… Read more