Postcards

Power Point: See opportunity, not fear

"The future of transportation will be a blend of things like Zipcar, public transportation, and private car ownership. Not only do I not fear that, but I think it's a great opportunity for us to participate in the changing nature of car ownership."

-- Bill Ford, Ford's (F) executive chairman, in the "The Best New Idea in Business," Fortune's cover story about Zipcar. Writer Paul Keegan tells how the nine-year-old car-sharing service MORE

Time Warner Cable angst

Time Warner Cable's DVR "upgrade" is a downgrade.

If you're a customer of America's second-largest cable company, as I am, you  came home one day recently to find that the new "Navigator" DVR system has taken over your TV--and taken your TV viewing hostage.

You used to be able to watch a show live and--let's say, you dashed to the kitchen and missed that touchdown pass--rewind and watch it in repeat.

Now MORE

Power Point: Venus and Serena dig for discipline

"It's a stage. I'm a performer and I love to perform and being in front of the crowds and hearing them cheer for me."

-- Tennis star Serena Williams in today's Wall Street Journal story about her and sister Venus' renewed commitment to the game. Last year, hours after losing to a pair of little-known Chinese players in the doubles quarterfinals at the Banglaore Open in March, the sisters decided they'd MORE

You want to be a Fortune 500 CEO?

What do you name your kid if you want him to be a Fortune 500 CEO?

After reading in the New York Times about the 1,000 most popular baby names in the U.S., we wondered about this.

There were not enough Baby Baracks born last year to land that name on the most-popular list, the New York Times notes. The No. 1 name for newborn boys is Jacob--which, we discovered, not a MORE

Guest Post: The value of volunteerism

Train your People and Do Good
by Barry Salzburg, CEO, Deloitte
Recently, I was sitting with several dozen inner-city teens, talking with them about college and careers. It was a free-wheeling conversation. I was peppered with questions—including, "How can I get your job?"
I left absolutely convinced that as a result of that session, at least one kid who otherwise would have missed going to college will, in fact, be going. Let me MORE

Power Point: Senator Ted Kennedy, R.I.P.

"The Kennedy brothers must be having a wondrous reunion."

- Roy Johnson, a onetime Fortune editor, on Facebook this morning. "And sisters!" added one reader.

What an image--Ted Kennedy and his seven siblings convening in the afterlife. The great Senator, who was 77, was the last of the Kennedy brothers--oldest brother Joe died in a plane crash in WWII, and Teddy became the patriarch after Jack and Bobby were assassinated in MORE

Power Point: Beware the Google trap

"As soon as you go off the big boulevards, you go off map and you have the potential to land in a dark alley."

-- Shane Keats, a research analyst at McAfee (MFE). The cyber-security company named actress Jessica Biel as the "most dangerous celebrity in cyberspace." Twenty percent of Internet searches for terms related to "Jessica Biel" lead to a Web page, photo, video or piece of spam that contains MORE

Finding top deals: cell service and beyond

by Jessica Shambora

If 2009 has a buzz word, it's "transparency."

The consensus is that we got into this mess because a lot of people didn't know what they were signing up for: adjustable rate mortgages, arcane investment vehicles, credit cards with hidden fees. People didn't know because the products were too complicated to understand. Or they weren't transparent. Or both.

We've written about this here on Postcards: Sallie Krawcheck, ex-Citigroup (C) and MORE

Power Point: Blankfein adjusts to the rage

"I saw it as gonzo, over-the-top writing that some people might find fun to read. I was shocked that others saw it as being supporting evidence that Goldman Sachs had burned down the Reichstag, shot the Archduke Ferdinand and fired on Fort Sumter."

- Goldman Sachs (GS) chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein in "The Rage Over Goldman Sachs" in this week's Time magazine. Blankfein is talking about last month's damning story MORE

What are women's favorite brands?

Our post, "Why CEOs should do housework," drew a bunch of interesting comments, including one from Dr. LPC in Canterbury, England, who cites research showing that "couples where husbands contribute to housework are also more likely to have additional children." Dr. LPC surmises that this "must result from all that additional sex they get…"

Whatever.

That August 11 Postcard was about a new book, due out next month, called Women Want More, MORE