business
SaaS is Becoming Restaurants
On the commoditization of software and what persists when building gets cheap.
Corporate Casserole
Pondering Thanksgiving through an exceedingly corporate lens. Some of the holiday’s most important elements were brought to you by marketing and lobbying.
Lessons in Pivoting
The story of an online education platform that learned something about its own ability to survive during the pandemic.
Phar Too Ambitious
The story of Phar-Mor, the pharmacy chain that decided that just being a pharmacy chain wasn’t interesting enough and tried to beat Walmart.
Power Outage
Looking back at Apple’s transition from PowerPC to Intel CPUs, and considering why Intel now finds itself in the same position PowerPC did 15 years ago.
Taking Stock
My longtime fascination with T-Mobile CEO John Legere’s odd slow cooker social media promotion, now that he’s slow-cooked his way through a merger with Sprint.
Shear Moonlight
Deep into Queens, there's a business operating 24 hours a day that most wouldn't expect. But in the city that never sleeps, should you expect anything else?
When A Chain Breaks
What a blogger learned from a year of traveling to restaurants that used to be part of much larger chains before being forced to fend for themselves.
The Gift Of Abstraction
Pondering why the electronic gift card, which is newer than you think, took over the retail industry so quickly. Who had it first, anyway?
Trimmed For Space
As the newspaper industry contracted, so too did the furniture and the newsprint. Let's check out the first victims of the digital revolution.
The Shell Game
If you're looking to start a shell company and don't want anyone to know, it's really easy. Hey, Sheldon Adelson did it.
Everything Must Go
When a retailer fails—whether at a single location or company-wide—their first instinct is often to discount the crap nobody wanted to buy. Here's why.
The Neighbors You Love to Hate
The rise of homeowners associations is sort of like a microcosm of pettiness and slights, except way dumber.
Ted Turner's Satellite Of Love
These days, Ted Turner's media mogul status is just a footnote, but when he turned TBS into a superstation in the '70s, he remade television forever.
Don't Mess With The Michelin Man
How did a tire manufacturer create an essential restaurant guide? And what other unusual side businesses do brand-name companies have? We investigate.