Just a reminder that some of the more interesting business books of the last few years are available to members of the Stanford community on our Popular Books shelf in the Bass Center  (to the right, as you walk in). A list of some current titles on display:  The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World, by Michael Spence; lol … OMG! What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying, by Matt Ivester; The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry), by Siva Vaidhyanathan, and Great by Choice, by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen.  Start planning your summer reading … now!

Did you ever want to know how many offshore wind farms there are in the world? Or wanted to know how many deals where announced by energy companies? Look no further than the database Alternative Energy eTrack found on our GSB Library Business Databases A-Z list.

Great article in the May issue of Fast Company on the importance of Steve Job’s “wilderness years,” the 11 year period between when he left and returned to Apple.  Journalist Brent Schlender had hundreds of conversations with Jobs – during those years and after — and makes a convincing argument that without these pivotal years he would never have been able to achieve all that he achieved in the next phase of his life.  The fact that all accompanying illustrations were drawn on an iPad helps “illustrate” just how much Jobs did achieve… and if you read it on an iPad, you can download an app to hear tapes of some of the conversations on which the article is based.

Nielsen’s blog, nielsenwire, has some useful free content dealing with consumers and media primarily. For premium content  from the nielsen.com site you need to be a client and pay for content.  If you need rich media data, they are the people to see.

On May 14  from Noon to 1:00 a panel event on the history of venture capital education at Stanford will take place in Cemex Auditorium.  The GSB community is cordially invited to attend.  Prof Chuck Holloway will moderate a panel with VC legends John Glynn, Franklin ‘Pitch’ Johnson and Peter Wendell as they discuss their teaching experiences here at the GSB. This event is sponsored by the Oral History Program in the GSB Library.

The GSB Library now offers Librarian Office Hours @ Schwab every Mon. & Wed. 9-10am with MBA liaison, Emily Alschbach. Visit her at SRC East Bldg-E129 and get help with:

• class, group or job research
• student club event prep
• training & workshops on financial resources

And… eat a morning snack (mini donuts included!)

Additionally, you can also now book a 1 on 1 research consultation/training appointment. Check the available slots on Emily’s appointment calendar before they fill up!

Read an interesting article in The Guardian about how the tablets are gaining market share on PCs which is not surprising. The author goes on to say that they don’t believe the PC will die off like the dinosaurs because “in general new technologies don’t kill off old ones, they just slow them down”. We’ll wait and see.

It’s often said that professors live in ivory towers, so it was refreshing to see an opposing view in the New York Times this week— from a Nobel laureate in Economics, no less.  Paul Krugman argued Tuesday that Ben Bernanke put forth better ideas as a professor than he does as the fed chair.  Read the article and decide for yourself.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal Asia notes that Apple’s meteoric stock rise has driven index-wide upturns in both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 – and suggests that their downturn this week could have a similarly widespread detrimental effect.  According to one analyst, the S&P 500 fell .05% Monday, but would have risen .14% if Apple’s fall had not been factored in.  Still, Apple has pulled out of slumps before, and many are confident they will bounce back.  How do ya like them apples?

To follow up on my post Are you looking at me?, Google  announced last week that the “augmented-reality glasses” are going to be tested out and around by Google employees. The future is now!