It’s All in the Details

May 14, 2013/ Amy Etheridge

I recently made a purchase from a company called Origami Owl. The common observer might say that this company sells necklaces. In reality, it is a personal shopping experience that I have yet to find a comparison to. To begin, you go to their website that literally takes you step by step through the design process of creating your custom piece of jewelry. This is done in a way that makes navigation easy, selection fun and keeps you engaged from step to step.

Work With Me, People: Interviewing For A Job

May 06, 2013/ Ed Brett

In the past year I’ve conducted 30-plus interviews for “professional” positions reporting to me, positions requiring both technical skills and strong experience. After about the 10th interview I started making notes regarding what I’d seen, little things that I would have liked to have fed back to the candidates after the interview if I had a chance. What follows are some of the personal, admittedly idiosyncratic advice I’ve collected but, alas, not distributed. Until now.

Be Your Own Journalist

April 28, 2013/ Sarah Snell Cooke

In elementary school, everyone learns the five biggies when it comes to asking and answering questions: who, what when, where and why. As a journalist, they're reinforced again and again. To reiterate it's important to get all of the facts by asking who, what, when, where, and why.

Faith

April 22, 2013/ Matt Davis

Faith is the belief in something without the support of proof. Confirmation bias is the tendency to filter information to retain only what conforms to one's preferences, hypotheses, or viewpoints, and to reject all information that does not. Absolute truth is something that is inarguably fact.

Nurturing Second Nature

April 02, 2013/ Brent Dixon

I share studio space with a wine importer. She leads workshops on tasting and appreciation for her distributors. The workshops are designed to help them use taste, touch, sight, and smell to experience the meaning of things they've read on the back of wine labels. A funny thing happens to people after going through this sensory education. Once they experience what words like "bouquet" or "astringent" mean, or experience a wine that is "buttery" or has "hints of oriental spices and chocolate," their palate changes.

Beer for Profit, Food for Thought

March 27, 2013/ Jimmy Marks

When I was little, my dad used to sing to me all the time. When I got old enough to sing along, he taught me easy songs that were fun to sing. Roger Miller's "King of the Road" was always a good one. So was George Jones' "The Race is On." But the one that's hung out in my brain the longest is a little ditty by Tom T. Hall called "I Like Beer." I'd advise you to teach it to your kids. Watch what happens when they sing it at social functions or during "take your kid to work day."

$10,000 CO-OP THINK Prize 13

March 18, 2013/ Bill Prichard

With a $10,000 grand prize presented by MasterCard at stake, three finalists have been named for the CO-OP THINK Prize 13. CU Water Cooler had previously reported the competition details to you back in September.

SXSW: Day 4 Recap

March 12, 2013/ Tim McAlpine

Gene Blishen, Matt Davis and I went out separate ways today after an incredible time at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin. In this final instalment we touch on the highlights of the day and the over-arching themes and takeaways. Thanks for watching our updates. If you get the chance, I highly recommend attending in 2014 or sending a key employee or two. It is a mind-expanding conference like no other.

SXSW: Day 3 Recap

March 11, 2013/ Tim McAlpine

I'm back for our day 3 recap with Matt Davis and Gene Blishen in Austin, Texas at SXSW Interactive. Today was another mind-bending roller coaster with inspirational and informational talks Tina Roth Eisenberg, Amit Singhal, Guy Kawasaki, Nate Silver, Rachel Maddow among others. We kept our recap to less than 15 minutes today!

SXSW: Day 2 Recap

March 10, 2013/ Tim McAlpine

As I mentioned yesterday, Matt Davis, Gene Blishen and I are attending the 20th annual SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. Day 2 was just as mind-expanding as the first day. We kept primarily to the big hall where there were conversations with Yuri Milner, Elon Musk and Al Gore. The video wrap up is pretty long today with a unintentional dead battery pause in the middle. We'll keep things a little shorter for day 3. Enjoy!