Undergrads Shuffle List of Dream Employers

Students graduating from college today are feeling the sting of a tough economy: Only 19.7% of those who have sent out a résumé have a job, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges & Employers. Even worse: Less than 60% of undergraduates have bothered to look for employment.

That’s grim news, as any college student (or parent of one) preparing to enter the workforce can attest. But that doesn’t mean students can’t dream—or that there aren’t opportunities out there—as witnessed by the record number of undergraduates who responded to Universum USA’s annual survey on ideal employers. read more

Best Views of the Inauguration

CNN’s THE MOMENT – stitched with Microsoft’s Photosynth, an impressive tool for stitching together dozens of photos to allow a place or event to be viewed from multiple angles.

The only hard part is it really takes 75 photos or more to get the optimal experience. That’s a lot of work for one photographer. But, with big events, one can also rely on crowdsourcing. Which is what CNN has done with the inaugural, asking viewers to send in their photos of Barack Obama’s swearing in. read more

How To Reward A Million Dollar Idea

Two years ago, Noah Weiss, a young programmer who spent the summer working here at Fog Creek Software, came to me with a business idea. Noah, who was still in college, had noticed that a lot of smaller tech-related blogs were running classified ads for job listings. He suggested that we do the same thing on my company’s blog, Joel on Software. The site is read by thousands of programmers a month — the ones who are so good at programming they have spare time at work to read the self-absorbed drivel I publish there. read more

Obama’s big idea: Digital health records

President-elect wants to computerize the nation’s health care records in five years. But the plan comes with a hefty price tag, and specialized labor is scarce.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — President-elect Barack Obama, as part of the effort to revive the economy, has proposed a massive effort to modernize health care by making all health records standardized and electronic.

Here’s the audacious plan: Computerize all health records within five years. The quality of health care for all Americans gets a big boost, and costs decline.

Sounds good. But it won’t be easy. read more

How Seth McFarlane Turned Family Guy Into $2 Billion

Family Guy = $2 Billion.

It’s not hard to find someone who delights in attacking the show Family Guy. Which isn’t a criticism, per se. Much of the animated sitcom’s purpose seems to be to stoke the opposition, to offend the easily offended. But that’s not the only reason it annoys people. There is a school of thought that says the show is hackish — crudely drawn and derivative of its cartoon forebears. Members of this school would include, most prominently, Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the fathers of South Park, which is probably the only show on television that rivals Family Guy for objectionable content per half hour. South Park has devoted entire episodes to attacking Family Guy, portraying the show’s writers as manatees who push “idea balls” with random jokes down tubes to generate plotlines. Kricfalusi has said, “You can draw Family Guy when you’re 10 years old.” read more

How To Pitch And Partner With Google

Chris Sacca is one of Google’s Principals for New Business Development. Here he blogs about how to get noticed, if you are interested in working with Google, Inc.

I am on the front line of inbound business proposals. I would gather I see 40-50 per day. The launch of Google Talk has probably added another 15-20 per day.

So, as I sit with trepidation considering how many emails I have flagged for follow-up in my inbox on this Sunday afternoon, I thought I would take a minute to type out some hints that will make it easier on both of us and increase the likelihood that your company and mine will get some business done. These are in random order and I might expand the list as time goes on. As always, your comments are welcome. Anything I missed? (Keep in mind, this is my personal blog and nothing herein is approved by my employer.) read more

Google’s Super Satellite GeoEye One Captures Its First Images

This bird’s-eye view of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania was the first image ever seen by the GeoEye-1, the world’s highest-resolution commercial satellite sponsored by Google, when it opened its camera door earlier this week.

The 4,300-pound satellite collected the image at noon EDT on Oct. 7 while moving from the north pole to the south pole in a 423-mile-high orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second. The spacecraft can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 centimeters — close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye’s vice president of communications and marketing. read more

The Celestial Super Highway

Microsoft and Google are competing on a new level: outer space. With the development of Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope and Google Sky, the two technology giants find a new platform for dominancy. It’s truely out of this world. read more

Can CUIL compete with GOOGLE?

Pronounced “cool”, the launch of new search engine Cuil.com is the next in a line of many who have tried to slay the Google beast. Cuil does have some serious competitive advantages, like 120 billion indexed pages (about 3x that of any other search engine). Designed by ex-Googlers Anna Patterson, her husband Tom Costollo, and two engineers Russell Power and Louis Monier, the team thinks they finally have Google beat. read more