Environment

For months, rumors and speculation have circulated that Motorola was planning a gamechanging 'X phone'aimed at clawing back share in a smartphone market where Apple and Samsung take all of the profit. Now the manufacturer has announced that its next flagship device, the Moto X, will be produced at a manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, according to CBS News.

Here’s a radical idea: Instead of providing services or training to the world’s poorest, how about giving them cash instead?

GiveDirectly, a U.S.-based nonprofit operating in Kenya, is doing just that, and it’s won the support of the likes ofFacebook cofounder Chris Hughes andGoogle . Last Thursday night in San Francisco, Hughes and a posse of venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs including General Catalyst partner Hemant Taneja and Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, hosted about 150 people for wine, conversation and an introduction toGiveDirectly.

The unexpectedly large number of American workers who piled into the Social Security Administration's disability program during the recession and its aftermath threatens to cost the economy tens of billions a year in lost wages and diminished tax revenues.

Signs of the problem surfaced Friday, in a dismal jobs report that showed U.S. labor force participation rates falling last month to the lowest levels since 1979, the wrong direction for an economy that instead needs new legions of working men and women to drive growth and sustain a baby boomer generation headed to retirement.

By guest blogger Mia Henderson who also blogs at www.texaselectricityproviders.com 

Despite solar manufacturers’ struggles with bankruptcies and an oversupply problem this year, 2012 actually witnessed a dramatic growth in the world’s use of solar power. In particular the amount of solar panels installed on rooftops in the U.S. soared in recent quarters, helped by new financing models by companies like SolarCity and rock-bottom silicon prices — the main ingredient in solar panels.

In these 5 charts, we track the growth of solar power:

A WhiteHouse.gov petition calling on Obama to introduce a gun control bill has become the site's most popular ever

Only hours after news broke of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, thousands took to the White House website, calling on the Obama administration to lead on gun control by introducing a bill to Congress.
The goal of this petition is to force the Obama Administration to produce legislation that limits access to guns. While a national dialogue is critical, laws are the only means in which we can reduce the number of people murdered in gun related deaths.

Guest blogger Emma Collins is editor of the Top MBA Programs of 2012 from MBAOnline.com, here she talks about some of the most innovative ways in which education technology entrepreneurs are bettering the world. Value News Network has talked a lot about how the Internet is changing education, and this article is a continuation of many of those conversations.
 

The Twinkie, it turns out, was introduced way back in 1930. In our memories, however, the iconic snack will forever be identified with the 1950s, when Hostess popularized the brand by sponsoring “The Howdy Doody Show.” And the demise of Hostess has unleashed a wave of baby boomer nostalgia for a seemingly more innocent time.

Hundreds of former Tamil Tigers, the defeated Sri Lankan rebel army, are moving into a peaceful trade, swapping a history of bombs and guns for bras and football shirts.

As part of our process, we perform a rigorous discounted cash-flow methodology that dives into the true intrinsic worth of companies. In Apple's (AAPL) case, we think the firm is worth $818 per share. In three years, we think the firm will boast an intrinsic value north of $1,000 per share.