Magazine

Inventing New Technologies and Markets

March/April 2011

Our second annual list of the world’s most innovative technology companies highlights businesses whose work is changing industries and lives.

Read the issue

Letter from the editor

Is WikiLeaks a Good Thing?

Features

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Inventing New Technologies and Markets
Our second annual list of the world’s most innovative technology companies highlights businesses whose work is changing industries and lives.
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The New Money
Square, founded by the creator of Twitter, lets people accept credit cards with their smart phones. That innovation could transform transactions in surprising ways.
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Praying for an Energy Miracle
Every clean-tech startup these days claims to have a breakthrough that will finally make renewable and clean energy sources cheap enough to compete with fossil fuels. But are we really on the brink of a clean-energy economy?
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The Slow-Motion Internet
Google’s growth plans depend in part on whether it can make the entire Web faster.

Also in this issue
- Letters and Comments
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- World of Ideas
  Some countries generate more inventions than their economic stature might indicate.
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- Curbing Carbon
  New energy technologies need the support of sound economic policy to prevent further damage to our climate.
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- Users Rule
  Novel products that create new markets often emerge from pioneering user inventions.
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- Web Wins
  Web apps can displace all other forms of software if browser and Web technology continue to improve.
  
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- Building Batteries for Electric Cars
  A123’s new factory exploits automation and advances in nanotechnology.
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- Technology Commercialized
  Glass-free 3D gaming, smart oven, high-definition Wi-Fi, GPS-equipped ski goggles, portable foldable solar panels, and more.
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- Jonathan Rothberg
  The founder of Ion Torrent says his DNA-sequencing technology will revolutionize genomics the way the microprocessor transformed computing.
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- British Sea Power
  See the construction of one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms off the coast of England.
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- Private Spaceflight
  Companies have made impressive technical progress, but are there enough customers?
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- Transparency and Secrets
  WikiLeaks wants to undermine states and corporations by interfering with their ability to “think.” It may not survive, but its innovations will be imitated.
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- How to Stop the Snoopers
  Getting advertisers to quit tracking you may be harder than you think.
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- It’s Good to Be the Mayor
  Foursquare and other location-based social games on mobile phones can be compelling, but only when they harness the energy of countless offline games we’re already playing.
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- Arduino Uno
  How a cheap microcontroller is making it possible for anyone to design and build hardware.
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- Light Chips
  Combining optical and electrical circuits should speed supercomputers.
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- Graphene Electrodes for Hybrids
  Atom-thick sheets of carbon make high-energy capacitors.
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- Drug-Resistant Cancers
  Scientists discover how some tumors become immune to medications.
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- Digital Watches and Pet Rocks
  The long-term value of an innovation often doesn’t become apparent until it has gone through many product cycles—including buggy versions that annoy early adopters.
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