Adam L. Penenberg
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We don't need new voting machines. We need a new voting system.
When New York City replaced its 40-year-old pull lever voting machines with a sparkly $50 million system of optical scanners for the primary election two years ago, it did not go smoothly. A rash of the DS200 ballot scanners, manufactured by Elections Systems and Software, an Omaha, Nebraska company, malfunctioned, and those manning the polls were dazed and confused by new procedures to accommodate the new technology. This led to chaos at many polling precincts and, in grand New York style, heated arguments between voters and poll workers. Michael R. Bloomberg, the City’s technocratic mayor who, as founder of the news agency that bears his name is no stranger to deploying complex machinery on a mass scale, called the glitches “a royal screw up.” New Yorkers, he said, “deserve better than this.”
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
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Branding in the time of catastrophe
Mitt Romney isn't the only one to carry on with a campaign while trying not to appear like he's taking advantage of the recent catastrophe. So are businesses like American Apparel, Gap, Urban Outfitters, Groupon, Uber, and others. And like Mitt, whose canned goods drive at an erstwhile Ohio campaign event was met with derision, some of these companies have earned the public's scorn, while others have received accolades. The lesson? For a business operating at a time of crisis, the soft sell is good; the hard sell, bad.
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
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A technical co-founder? In New York fuggedaboutit!
Not long ago, I pitched a multimedia product I had conceived to a well-heeled New York-based entrepreneur who was an investor in several startups. I got about 30 seconds into my spiel before he interrupted. He started telling me about my product, my business, my industry even before he had the slightest idea what I was talking about.
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
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The Return of Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen is a 21st century Buckaroo Bonzai who has invented all sorts of fantastical devices — from the heart stent to a wheelchair that can climb stairs to the Segway scooter. To say he’s brilliant is perhaps understating things. After all, his name is on hundreds of patents. But he’s also, what’s the word? Oh, yes. Eccentric. A “60 Minutes” segment once showed him commuting to work from his private island piloting one of his own helicopters and blasting the soundtrack of “Star Wars” loud enough to drown out the copter’s rotors.
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
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We've heard this cyber-Pearl Harbor schtick before
When I read defense secretary Leon Panetta's recent comments warning of a potential "cyber-Pearl Harbor," I experienced, to plagiarize Yogi Berra, déjà vu all over again.
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
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Entrepreneurs Should Stay in School
Last night, as part of New York University Startup Week, I moderated a public discussion between early seed investors Charlie O'Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and Dave Tisch, an angel investor through the BoxGroup and co-founder of TechStars NYC. The event was sponsored by [email protected], and the topic was “Hacking the Future.” The idea was to apply the hacker mentality to startup investment, although in all honesty that was merely a jumping off point.
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
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Car Sourcing: BMW Teams with Local Motors
Some months ago I was on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona, riding in the front of an off-road monster of a car called a Rally Fighter, when the driver asked if I wanted to go airborne.
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
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Apple Didn’t Lose Its Way With iPhone 5 Maps
Line outside Apple Store, Soho, New York City.
By
Adam L. Penenberg
, written on From the News desk
