Interesting Reads

Some interesting articles of note from last week's BusinessWeek magazine:

MBA Applicants Are MIA -- Tuitions for business schools are on the rise, the job market is again healthy and, is there really value in getting an MBA? Or, to qualify that -- is there really any value in getting an MBA without work experience? I'm of the firm belief that an MBA is lost on those without experience -- which would include a few good failures along the way. It's not the death knell for MBA schools, but it sure is to be a good kick in the pants.

AIG: Get Ready for Starr Wars -- in case you haven't been following the news, it goes something like this. Former AIG CEO & Chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg ran a great company. It made profits while its competitors were at a lost trying to catch up. It also sold insurance that wasn't really insurance, and made a killing. Now NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is out guns blazing and is set to get his man. Ooops. Greenspan it seems was smart. He created a private company called Starr International Co. (or SICO for short), which he helms, named other AIG executives as executives and directors of SICO, managed to transfer 12% of AIG shares to SICO. He's now giving Spitzer the finger. I'm betting Spitzer wins. Evil never triumphs.

The Church's Challenges -- this piece was written before Cardinal Poo-poo-Pants got promoted to the Grand Ecumenical Pointy-Hat-Wearing Poopie-One (GEPhWaPO). It tries to make the point of why the catholic church needs to change to be relevant. Oops. I think we all know what the GEPhWaPO is about. Scratch change. Scratch relevancy -- especially in the established enclaves of the developed nations. But lo -- here comes some 3rd world primitives, ready to defend the wacko faith from change. I can envision the day when the ass-backwards down trodden decide to lash out at the world for the injustices visited upon them centuries ago instead moving on. Fundamentalist catholic terrorists strike! Hey, maybe GEPhWaPO does know what to do. Here comes the crusades! (I'm rambling, just read the damn article.)

Parents Go Crazy for Cramming -- the Japanese could once pat themselves on the back for getting higher marks in math and science than North Americans. Not anymore. They've been dropping when compared to the world [PDF, 5.67MB]. Their kids must have that lazy sickness that North American kids have. The Japanese aren't about to take the low score sitting down -- they're cramming.

How Ampex Squeezes Out Cash -- you've probably never heard of Ampex, but right now it's milking cash from Sony, Sanyo, and Eastman Kodak. Ampex owns the patent on how digital images are displayed on just about every electronic device out there. Sounds like another case of "patent trolling."

Combat Over Collaboration -- Microsoft and IBM are duking it out for the workplace collaboration market. IBM has the better technology and experience. So what? Microsoft is going to win. IBM had OS/2, and it was better than Windows. IBM dropped the ball. IBM had Lotus 123 and an entire Office Suite. They dropped the ball. IBM has Notes/Domino and are dropping that ball. Disagree if you wish, but it's true.

The Coming Chip Revolution -- is there nothing carbon nanotubes can't do? Apparently not. Nano-processing is coming.