Free Patents
Why is IBM, which earns more than $1 billion a year from licensing and selling its intellectual property, deciding to share some its patents for free? Simple economics. It believes there is more profit in collaboration and open source on its ideas rather than jealously guarding its patents with a team of lawyers. ... posted on Apr 13 2005, 1,364 reads

PeopleSoft Puts People First
Dave Duffield wants former PeopleSoft employees laid off after the company was taken over by Oracle to get more than pink slips. He wants to give them $10,000 checks. The company co-founder launched his latest philanthropic venture Friday -- a fund to help struggling laid-off workers from PeopleSoft pay unexpected medical bills, relocate to another part of the country, or simply make ends meet. ... posted on Apr 07 2005, 1,392 reads

Corporate Tricksters
On December 3, Dow Chemical "spokesman" Jude Finisterra appeared on the BBC to make an astonishing announcement: His company, now parent to Union Carbide, would mark the 20th anniversary of the lethal gas leak in Bhopal, India, which killed 20,000 and injured 120,000, by paying out $12 billion to the survivors—"simply because it is the right thing to do." Unbelievable? Sure it was. Within a few ... posted on Mar 04 2005, 1,499 reads

A Path with Art
In 1963, Bill Strickland was a 16-year old kid struggling to survive in a decaying Pittsburgh neighborhood until one afternoon he peered into an open classroom door and saw something he'd never saw before, a mound of clay being worked into a vessel by a man absorbed in his work. That teacher mentored Strickland, and put him on a path that lead him not only to college and out of poverty, but also t... posted on Feb 26 2005, 1,343 reads

Giving Gives
Mitch Joel, 33, has a philosophy that has guided how he runs his life and his business. “There are people who can give and those who must receive,” he says. “I’m damn grateful that I’m one of the people who can give.” Joel, a partner in Twist Image, a Montreal marketing and communications firm, spends about one-third of his workday giving his time and efforts to the community. “My bu... posted on Feb 05 2005, 1,309 reads

Antiprenuer
Imagine a chain of restaurants serving only locally-sourced food. Or an artist-controlled radio network. Or a consumer co-op for organic clothing. No sweatshops. No ads. Just sustainable, accountable companies. Antiprenuer is a project to challenge the giant corporations by harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit of activists. Instead of protests and boycotts, they want to "start putting our creat... posted on Jan 21 2005, 1,768 reads

Cashing-in Million Dollars
While most folks their age look forward to winding down, a married pair of Chicago chemists decided to cash-in their million dollars of retirement to change the world -- at least Africa, to start with. In reaction to money-motivated pharmaceutical giants and the U.S. refusing to join the United Nations in making AIDS drugs globally available, Paul Lartey and Alexandra Graham have launched a plan ... posted on Jan 08 2005, 1,441 reads

World on Fire
Sarah McLachlan asked what her video budget could buy, and found the answer in the Third World. Instead of spending $150,000 on a music video production for her chart topping single, 'World on Fire', Sarah and a few volunteers put it together for $15 (cost of a mini DV tape) and donated rest of the money to 11 charities in developing countries!... posted on Oct 14 2004, 1,289 reads

Pay What You Like
At this five-star restaurant, you won't be billed anything for your food. Pay what you like, their slogan reads. It sound unbelievable but there's a fully volunteer-run, high-end restaurant in Malaysia -- Annalakshmi -- where they trust that everyone will pay their fair share. Not only did this seemingly outrageous model sustain itself, they went on to open several, similar high-end restaurants... posted on Oct 01 2004, 1,563 reads

New Kind of Alms-Giving
For a group of beggars, there's a new kind of alms-giving: a phone call. Grameen Bank, famous for pioneering micro-credit programs in Bangladesh, has introduced a new idea to empower the poor. It plans to arm beggars with mobile phones so they can sell a roving service for cash. Dipal Barua added, "We won't ask them to stop begging immediately but would encourage them to ask people they stretch... posted on Sep 17 2004, 1,458 reads