Kudos to MIT

Today the New York Times reported that MIT. is expanding its online course offerings to include actual course credit. I hope that more universties, especially the flagship state universities, follow MIT's lead.

Sharing course materials make sense for many reasons. They're a great reference for graduates who want to keep their skills current. They're also an asset for anyone else who may not have the time or money to enroll in a four-year degree program.

Stanford's Computer Science Department is another leader. Their course materials are a fabulous resource to anyone getting started in computer programming.

Angry Birds take Manhattan

Maybe the Angry Birds will battle the Muppets for Manhattan domination?

Third time's a charm?

I don't get Klout. I signed up at the urging of an entrepreneur friend who has no less than 1,400 Facebook friends and enough in real life that she gets invited to events at Art Basel Miami.

Although the service might reward an articulate blogger, who has a interesting content and a devoted following, it might also credit someone who simply has a modest of friends and regularly posts a sufficient amount of party photos that get liked and reshared.

For instance, posting an iPhone photo of the NYC skyline as seen from the Empire State Building doubled my Klout score from 17 to 38. The photo was nothing special, but it garnered five likes and a single re-share.

I find it interesting that I've earned a badge for clocking in a full 3 visits to their site. If three qualifies me as an addict, I'm afraid where a full 10 will lead.

Best places to work--for who?

Glassdoor recently came out with its best places to work list. Like it's counterpart from Fortune, the list doesn't make any sense. How can you put consulting firms and retail chains next to each other in the same list, where people in the former typically have multiple Ivy League degrees and $150,000 starting salaries (partners get paid by the 1,000,000) and the latter may only have workers with high school diplomas that average $25,000 per year?

A more meaningful list would segregate companies by educational level or selectivity, where people could at least compare jobs that are relatively obtainable. A high school diploma is probably the only qualification for most retail jobs such as Trader Joes, REI and J. Crew. For some corporate jobs, a bachelors degree might get you in the door, such as lower-tier technology firms like Intuit or Rackspace. To get interviewed for associate (post-MBA) positions McKinsey, Bain or Goldman, you need to have at least one Ivy League school on your resume (the key exceptions are for Stanford and Northwestern).

I'm always skeptical when consulting firms are listed in the top 5. The pressure is so high that most people quit or get fired after two years. The environment is grueling, with long hours that typically involve spending weeks living out of hotels while working at client sites in the middle of nowhere. And when people leave, they don't change consulting firms, they work in industry or try their hand at startups.

Additionally, the top consulting firms do not have large headcounts: I've always wondered how they get enough responses to tip the ratings in their favor. Bain, is estimated at having 5,500 professionals according to Wikipedia. This is about 1/4th of Google and 1/10th of Dow Chemical.

A Million Little Photons

The City of New York is willing to pay up to a million dollars for organic ideas to light up Lower Manhattan.

If you need any ideas, Lyon is the perennial champion, with it's annual Festival of Light.

LOWER MANHATTAN PLACEMAKING AND LIGHTING DESIGN CONSULTANT SERVICES RFP

Hotmail! Really? Why?

Isn't Facebook the best email for Facebook users? That's why they give you a username@facebook.com address and an inbox, right?