Brian Gongol
Visa and MasterCard want you to get a next-generation credit card
Instead of magnetic strips, they want your cards to use the EMV chip
Newsweek is trying to return to print
And they're trying to make a splash by claiming to have discovered the creator of Bitcoin. In the long run, does Bitcoin really matter? No.
Time to change smoke-detector batteries
And the ones in carbon-monoxide monitors, too
Omaha may have a coming glut of office space
They might have the equivalent of 15 years of overcapacity to fill, if all the talked-about projects come to fruition
Iowa DHS victimized by 2,000-name data breach
Show notes: Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - March 9, 2014
Listen live at 9:00 pm Central
America's electoral system means we form our coalitions before the general election
In many other representative democracies -- especially those with proportional-vote systems and weak executives -- they wait to form governing coalitions until after the general election, in which it's every party for itself. Our first-past-the-post approach and strong executive branch naturally wedge us into a two-party system -- so we get factions within two mainstream parties, rather than lots of highly-differentiated parties that form temporary governing coalitions. Is it better for America's Republican Party to have primary fights between "Tea Party" types and "Main Street" types than to face a chaotic German-style vote in which direct votes and proportional votes are mixed, with 34 individual parties in the chase? We just form our coalitions earlier than our more parliamentary counterparts.
What might make Google worry about smartphones
In general, Google will have to make an incredible number of right decisions over the next ten to fifteen years if it wants to match any of the success of its first decade and a half. That's going to be a really, really tall order...and the chances of them making it without major pain aren't great.
Experian may have let loose an incredible amount of consumer data to a crook
A word about 80s awareness
(Video) Kevin Bacon shows up with an important public-service announcement
"We left the keys in it..."
(Video)
Omaha Hilton shows the risks of municipally-funded private-sector projects
The city financed the hotel to help spur convention business...but now it's in danger of losing money
"Sometimes being a fast-follower is better than being a leader"
Analyst commenting on how Lexus may have stolen some of Acura's thunder
Why we have (and need) safe-haven laws
A woman is looking for the mother who left her as a newborn in the bathroom of a Pennsylvania Burger King. It is absolutely essential that people know that every state has a safe-haven law allowing mothers to relinquish their infants unharmed, no questions asked. The window of time available and the acceptable locations vary by state, but the fact that protection is universal should be known...universally.
The solar system, to scale
Plus some amusing commentary in the spaces between the planets
HPV-related cancers have increased in Iowa in recent decades
All the more reason to treasure the HPV vaccine as a real advance
Speed-reading for everyone
Some technology developers think they've cracked the code to speed-reading for everyone, without training, using a method of identifying the place where the eye should land on a word for maximum comprehension. Quite interesting. Possibly promising. The name ("Spritz") may leave a bit to be desired.
The trouble with special tax breaks
What troubles Google about smartphones
Too many people using games and apps and not browsing the Internet (and using Google to search it)
Accounting jargon watch: "COROA"
"Cash operating return on assets"
Where is the real Mason-Dixon line?
Measles outbreak in New York City: Blame the anti-vaccinators
It's happening in Manhattan and the Bronx, and some people have been hopitalized as a result. Two of the cases were in people whose parents chose not to vaccinate them. Contagious diseases like this can be transmitted most easily to the vulnerable -- like people who are already sick and in the doctor's office for other reasons. There is really no legitimate dispute about the costs versus the benefits of vaccination. It is unconscionable that people use excuses based upon completely rejected claims of side effects to justify the decision to put their own children and others at high risk of harm. People who don't understand the importance of herd immunity do not have the right to put others at risk based upon their ignorance.
The cost of tax breaks
Coralville gave a big tax break to Von Maur to get the retailer to build a store there. This year, the store is getting more than 50% off its tax bill.
Who's got offshore profits banked up
Why small businesses may not always be open
We still have a strong strain of proprietor-capitalism in America, and that means a lot of people devote countless hours to their small businesses -- hours that never really get counted or noticed by others.
Sponges may be the key to explaining jump from no-animal Earth to animal-populated Earth
Their ability to live on very little oxygen may signal the bridge
Movie-trailer voice icon Hal Douglas has died
Without question, one of the best voices of all time
Amazon delivers a big test in demand elasticity
By hiking the price of Amazon Prime from $79 a year to $99 a year -- and doing it with a week's notice -- they're really going to test whether consumers care a lot about that $20. Bold move. But Amazon isn't a very profitable company -- they lost money in 2012, and shares currently sell for more than 600 times last year's profits per share. Remember: A sky-high stock price can be totally disconnected from profits. Perhaps this is an effort to jolt some profit-making into the bottom line.
We've been underestimating the risk of a giant earthquake in northern California
Business planning for the long term
A BBC report observes that the lack of quarterly reporting by Chinese companies may free their managers to concentrate on the long term. But the decision whether to build ultra-long-term business plans isn't really shackled by whether the SEC requires the filing of paperwork on a regular basis.
Violent flare-up in Venezuela is a reminder we've ignored Latin America for too long
Northwestern seeks to raise $3.75 billion
In part for a lakefront football practice facility "likely to exceed $220 million"
Is online education actually still being stigmatized?
If so, then we're idiots. Obsessing over how an education is physically delivered is like caring whether your milk comes in a carton or a jug. It simply doesn't matter.
The world's power companies are considering 1200 new coal-fired electric plants
China crackdown on social messaging
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have
California starts work on driverless-car regulations
Smart move; they're coming soon, and governments rarely act quickly
What holds back South Africa
It's one of many nations that could find itself hurt when the Federal Reserve backs off on an easy-money policy. The important thing for all of these vulnerable nation is to get good at things other than pure extraction economies (like diamonds, oil, gold, or other things that come out of the ground). Skilled work forces producing goods and services -- and getting better at doing those things all the time -- mark the path to durable economic growth.
Vaccinate your children. Celebrities can be idiots.
How science puts (believable) curly hair on computer-animated characters
Costs and benefits of running background checks on employees' social media accounts
"Seinfeld" when nothing really does happen
Show notes: WHO Radio Wise Guys for March 15, 2014