Swiss Freeports Are Home for a Growing Treasury of Art

From July 2012: a look at the tax-free, treasure-crammed Switzerland warehouses known as freeports, which are “the closest thing to the Cayman Islands that the art world has to offer.”

Published: Jul 22, 2012
Length: 12 minutes (3,111 words)

Arianna Huffington’s Improbable, Insatiable Content Machine

A profile of Arianna Huffington and the rollercoaster ride The Huffington Post has gone through in the last decade.

Published: Jun 30, 2015
Length: 18 minutes (4,712 words)

The Coconut Water Wars

Why is coconut water everywhere? Because two companies battled for market share, one yoga studio and corner store at a time.

Published: Jul 26, 2014
Length: 14 minutes (3,633 words)

The Dirty Little Secrets of Search

Does the collective wisdom of the Web really say that J.C. Penney has the most essential site when it comes to dresses? And bedding? And area rugs? And dozens of other words and phrases? The New York Times asked an expert in online search, Doug Pierce of Blue Fountain Media in New York, to study this question, as well as Penney’s astoundingly strong search-term performance in recent months. What he found suggests that the digital age’s most mundane act, the Google search, often represents layer upon layer of intrigue. And the intrigue starts in the sprawling, subterranean world of “black hat” optimization, the dark art of raising the profile of a Web site with methods that Google considers tantamount to cheating.

Published: Feb 13, 2011
Length: 15 minutes (3,880 words)

Return of the Hit Man

Cradling a cosmopolitan in his plump right hand, Don Kirshner is reminiscing about his former life as a pop-music mogul and getting a little wistful. All the hits, all the bands, all the favors he did for up-and-comers. But here he sits, at the best table in this swanky restaurant, pretty much forgotten. Slighted is a better word for it, or that’s the way he feels, anyway. Yes, the maitre d’ and the waiters here know who he is. And the other retirees in the nearby plush gated community where he lives will pat him on the back and say things like, “This guy is spectacular. Spectacular!” But the rest of the world? “I’m a military secret,” he rasps in a blustery Bronx accent.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Dec 20, 2004
Length: 13 minutes (3,496 words)

In Pursuit of the Perfect Brainstorm

Though they offer different messages, idea entrepreneurs have plenty in common. Quite a few of them have published books with the word “innovation” in the title. All of them hate to be called consultants. “I like to position myself as a thought leader,” says Vijay Govindarajan, a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and co-author of “The Other Side of Innovation.” “A consultant solves problems,” Govindarajan says. “That is not my role. What I want is for companies to self-diagnose their problems and self-discover their own solutions through my thought leadership.”

Published: Dec 16, 2010
Length: 12 minutes (3,179 words)

A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web

Not only has a heap of customer complaints failed to deter DecorMyEyes, but as an all-too-cursory Google search demonstrated, the company can show up in the most coveted place on the Internet’s most powerful site. Which means the owner of DecorMyEyes might be more than just a combustible bully with a mean streak and a potty mouth. He might also be a pioneer of a new brand of anti-salesmanship — utterly noxious retail — that is facilitated by the quirks and shortcomings of Internet commerce and that tramples long-cherished traditions of customer service, like deference and charm.

Published: Nov 28, 2010
Length: 23 minutes (5,881 words)