The Pearl – Qatar is one of the most ambitious development projects taking place in the Middle East. The video documentary examines this massive offshore residential development which offers freehold accommodation on a reclaimed island over 900 acres in size.

Below is part of a recent 60 minutes report on Qatar.

watch the full episode HERE.

Everplaces lets you capture and store places in the physical world that you want to keep track of. “We wanted to make it easy to share ‘insider tips,’” cofounder and CEO Tine Thygensen says.

How many times have you struggled to remember the name of that hole-in-the-wall with the decent beer but excellent dartboards? Or the dim sum place in New York whose location you wrote down somewhere but now can’t recall where?

Everplaces is a new app that essentially functions as a Pinterest for the real world. It lets you capture and store places in the physical world that you want to keep track of, whether that’s a swank bistro in your hometown or a boutique in Buenas Aires that always has the best cutting-edge fashions.

Coinstar, the company behind DVD-kiosk service Redbox, today announced it had acquired NCR for as much as $100 million. NCR, once the central rival to Redbox through its Blockbuster Express brand, operates roughly 10,000 movie-rental kiosks throughout the country which will now come under Redbox and Coinstar’s control. They boast more locations than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined.

The announcement comes on the heels of another company announcement earlier today that Redbox would be partnering with Verizon for a subscription-based streaming competitor to Netflix. Now, with NCR under its belt and a digital service in the works, Redbox is in a strong position to shakeup the industry, especially with its 35,400 point-of-sale kiosks already dotting the landscape. And as if today’s announcements aren’t enough, Coinstar also reported that its quarterly profit had doubled today, jumping to $31.5 million.

A 60 Minutes piece from last year looks at the life of the richest man in Russia, Mikhail Prokhorov. Very interesting story and how luck + timing can be your biggest friend.

The “All About Me” factor helps revitalize brand.

Last month, Australia went crazy over newly released cans of Coke. A local ad agency had dreamed up an entirely new way of revitalizing the 125-year-old brand, reversing its steadily declining sales and tapping into the diminishing youth market.

During the first stage of the campaign, 150 different Coca-Cola cans were released, each with a different name. Using the most popular names in Australia–Jack, William, Isabella, and Chloe–as well as the usual Johns, Steves, Marys, and Matildas, each name was written boldly on the can in the iconic Coke font. As soon as word got out, a whole lot of people headed straight for the soft drink shelves in grocery stores across the country, everyone searching for their very own branded Coke can.

The second stage involved 18 Westfield shopping centers, where you could go to have your name printed on your cans. The lines were so long, people waited for hours just to have their own name printed on the can.

Which computer maker this year introduced three new tablets, a speedy new smartphone, an edgy new global branding campaign, and the launch of an outer space science competition with Google?

If you guessed Apple, HP, or Dell, think again. It’s Lenovo, a computer giant you’ve probably never even heard. The company is focused on the enterprise market–big companies, school systems, government agencies–and China. It’s also determined to become China’s first global consumer brand. “For Those Who Do” is their tagline.

Lenovo also engineered its thinnest and fastest laptop (with a 10-second or less startup time) while producing record financial results and outgrowing the competition for the eighth straight quarter.

Apple, HP, and Dell certainly know Lenovo. Lenovo, led by CEO & Chairman Yang Yuanqing, last quarter it passed Dell to become the world’s second-largest PC-maker. Only HP sells more gear. Lenovo’s third-quarter profit of $144 million is also up 88% from a year ago.

Warren Buffett says his company bought $10.7 billion of IBM stock this year, about a 5.6% stake.

The legendary investor revealed the IBM (IBM) stock purchases during an interview on CNBC Monday. Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) will file a quarterly update on its U.S. stock portfolio Monday afternoon.

He said he recently changed his view of IBM based on what he read in the company’s annual reports. He said he should have realized years sooner that the heart of IBM’s business is providing service and equipment to information technology departments.

Buffett says he believes IBM has a sound plan for the future, and “there’s a fair amount of presumption in many places that if you’re with IBM, you stay with them,” he added.

Berkshire bought about 64 million shares since March, or about 5.6% of the company’s outstanding stock. IBM shares rose $1.39 to $188.77 in premarket trading after rising as high as $190.55 earlier.

(Reuters) – Sony Corp said it is headed for its fourth straight annual net loss, instead of a profit it forecast earlier, as Thai floods disrupted camera production, adding to losses from a soaring yen and price slides in its TVs and PCs in the United States and Europe.

The maker of Bravia TVs, Vaio computers and PlayStation game consoles changed its forecast to a loss of 90 billion yen ($1.1 billion) from a net profit of 60 billion yen earlier.

Sony is yet another addition to a lengthening list of Japanese firms that have posted poor quarterly results due to factors including the strong yen, floods in Thailand and weak demand in the United States and Europe.

The list includes Honda Motor Co, Panasonic, Nintendo Co Ltd and Nomura Holdings.

Sony blamed the deluge in Thailand for cutting 25 billion yen in expected earnings, and reduced its TV sales forecast by 9 percent to 20 million sets, the second cut this financial year.

“The Thai floods are only the latest problem for Sony, which is struggling to come up with another hit product like the Walkman,” said Fujio Ando, senior managing director at Chibagin Asset Management.

“As far as its TV business, its situation is the same as Panasonic’s — making deep cuts to stay competitive with no guarantee the restructuring will work,” he said.

Sony, which is heading for its eighth straight annual loss in its TV division, is revamping the unit, but a lack of details since the plan was announced three months ago and poor sales are keeping investors downbeat.

The company said it will aim to cut the TV unit’s operating loss, expected to be 175 billion yen this financial year, by half in the next year and return it to profit in the year ending in March 2014.

“The TV business is an essential part of Sony’s growth strategy. We, as management, feel a great sense of crisis after seven straight years of losses,” Sony Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai told a briefing.

Beyond wi-fi and a seat: Grind founders look to build a community of “free radicals” in Manhattan.

Union Square, Manhattan, there’s a new location of newly launched coworking space. The glass walls of two conference rooms are covered in corporate speak–words and phrases like “incentivized,” “loop me in,” “above my pay grade,” rendered in transparent type.

“We want to encourage people to leave their jobs,” says Grind co-founder, Ty Montague, “and we’ll give them what they need here.”

Grind launches Sept. 6 in New York’s Union Square tech hub (home base of Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare investors Union Square Ventures). The partners aim to open more locations in New York and expand to other locations, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Amsterdam.

Montague founded the venture with Co:Collective partners Rosemarie Ryan, Neil Parker and Richard Schatzberger, former real estate attorney Benjamin Dyett (Ryan’s husband), and husband and wife team of Karina Warshaw, a sustainability expert and Stuart Warshaw, a turnaround consultant. The space was built and operates in conjunction with three of Co:Collective’s collaborators: creative network Behance, digital shop Breakfast, and creative culture site Coolhunting. Chicago-based design strategists Magic + Might and VB architects also contributed to the space.

The partners’ impetus for the venture was recognition of the shift in employment trends and work culture in the U.S. and the growing likelihood that, by choice or not, a growing number of people will find themselves working outside of the traditional, full-time template, where going to work involved commuting to and sitting in a centralized corporate office and suffering through endless cupcake parties for unknown or unloved coworkers.

As you may or may not know, apart from stepping down as CEO of Apple – Steve Jobs is currently a very ill man. There are even photos on other websites showing just how ill he looks. We came across some great stories from other business people who have worked with Steve and we would rather show that, so here we go…

Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of Engineering
One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said “Caller ID unknown”. I choose to ignore…The message left was from Steve Jobs. “Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss” it said.

“So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow” said Steve. “I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject “Icon Ambulance”. The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.

Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products…In the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I’ll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

Mark Parker, president and CEO of Nike
We had worked together on a Nike-Apple collaboration called Nike+. So we took what Apple knows and Nike knows, and brought new technology to the market. Anyway, long story short, he said, “Congratulations. It’s great [that you've been named CEO]. You’re going to do a great job.” I said, “Well, do you have any advice?”

He said, “No, no, you’re great.” Then there was a pause. “Well, I do have some advice,” he said. “Nike makes some of the best products in the world–products that you lust after, absolutely beautiful stunning products. But you also make a lot of crap.”

He said, “Just get rid of the crappy stuff, and focus on the good stuff.” And then I expected a little pause and a laugh. But there was a pause, and no laugh at the end.

Allen Paltrow, student at Princeton University, via Tumblr
Growing up I was a huge apple fan-boy (fine, still am.) The first NY apple store in Soho opening was probably the coolest thing that happened to me between the ages 6 and 12. For a while I would spend almost every weekend there. Every year for halloween I was a mac, and I made a habit of shaving the Apple logo into my head to celebrate every OS launch. My neighbor Brooke mentioned that Steve Jobs, busy as he is, always reads email sent to his public address. I think I was around 12, and I sent a very enthusiastic and grammatically incorrect message including a picture of my shaved head. Apparently he forwarded it to the head of Public Relations, Katie, and I got invited to the opening of the 5th Avenue Cube. I can never thank them enough. This was probably the high point of my childhood.

Jonathan Berger, Apple intern, via Blogspot:
Steve got to about his 4th question from the audience [at an Apple Town Hall in 2000] and by this point almost every single intern had their hand up. He gestured in my direction but I could tell he was actually looking at an intern in the row right in front of me. I got a bit aggressive and barged ahead with my question anyway before the other intern could begin. Steve smiled a bit in apology to the intern I had just trampled over but let me continue. I was nervous. “Steve, many years ago you left Apple to start Next. But recently you returned to Apple. Why did you come back to Apple?”

[Jobs answered:] “When I was trying to decide whether to come back to Apple or not I struggled. I talked to a lot of people and got a lot of opinions. And then there I was, late one night, struggling with this and I called up a friend of mine at 2am. I said, ‘Should I come back, should I not?’ and the friend replied, ‘Steve, look. I don’t give a fuck about Apple. Just make up your mind,’ and hung up. And it was in that moment that I realized I truly cared about Apple.”

David Sheff, freelance journalist, via Playboy magazine’s 1987 interview:
The Interview was all but complete when I met [Steve] Jobs at a celebrity-filled birthday party for a youngster in New York City. As the evening progressed, I wandered around to discover that Jobs had gone off with the nine-year-old birthday boy to give him the gift he’d brought from California: a Macintosh computer. As I watched, he showed the boy how to sketch with the machine’s graphics program. Two other party guests wandered into the room and looked over Jobs’s shoulder. ‘Hmmm,’ said the first, Andy Warhol. ‘What is this? Look at this, Keith. This is incredible!’ The second guest, Keith Haring, the graffiti artist whose work now commands huge prices, went over. Warhol and Haring asked to take a turn at the Mac, and as I walked away, Warhol had just sat down to manipulate the mouse. ‘My God!’ he was saying, ‘I drew a circle!’ “But more revealing was the scene after the party. Well after the other guests had gone, Jobs stayed to tutor the boy on the fine points of using the Mac. Later, I asked him why he had seemed happier with the boy than with the two famous artists. His answer seemed unrehearsed to me: ‘Older people sit down and ask, “What is it?” but the boy asks, “What can I do with it?”

via @fastcompany

Visionary CEO Steve Jobs has resigned from Apple. In a letter to the board of directors, Jobs wrote, “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know.”

“Unfortunately, that day has come,” he added.

Jobs then suggested that COO Tim Cook be named his successor, although requested that he stay aboard as chairman of the board.

Whether or not his health played a role in his decision to step down is unclear, though likely. In January, Jobs took a medial leave of absence, leaving Cook in charge of day to day operations.

Jobs is largely credited with reviving Apple, taking it from a bankrupt company to the world’s most valuable company in a ilttle over a decade, with the launch of revolutionary products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Whether Apple’s string of successes will continue in a post-Jobs world has been a serious question for investors and consumers alike.

Ending his letter, Jobs concluded on a positive note.

“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it,” he said. “And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.”

Only a month on the market, and the device that HP said would give Android and Apple a run for their money is already finished. Rumors were confirmed today that HP will discontinue its TouchPad tablet as well its WebOS phones. Reports indicate the company plans to instead focus on software and services, while distancing itself from hardware–HP may spin off its personal-computer business and acquire enterprise software company Autonomy for $10 billion.

In an earnings call following the news, HP CEO Leo Apotheker attempted to explain the chaos surrounding HP’s direction. “[There] is indeed a lot of news, so let me put it in perspective,” he said. “Today is about transforming HP for the future.”

The Personal Systems Group, which oversaw the TouchPad, will now be separated from HP, and possibly sold off, so HP can sharpen its focus on cloud solutions and software.

Recognizing the challenges HP faces, Apotheker lowered the company’s outlook for next quarter. “I’m taking ownership for these decisions,” he said. Apologizing to investors, the HP CEO added, “I feel your pain.”

No doubt a tough earnings call for HP, but the harshest damage may come for company’s brand. Acquiring Palm for $1.2 billion, investing a year to build smartphones and tablets, spending millions of dollars marketing and pushing the products out, only to shut down the TouchPad after a few weeks…

“We are focusing on what needs to be fixed, and what needs to be shut down, and what needs to be separated,” Apotheker said.