Jun 13, 2011

For the first time, at least since I was in diapers, we have a new mayor in Chicago.  It’s too soon to tell exactly what this will mean for the Second City, but Emanuel’s efforts so far in improving transparency and drafting a written, publicly posted report on his transition plan looks promising. Rahm’s seventy-one page plan covers his ideas for...

Jun 2, 2011

Political transparency? In Chicago, Illinois? Transparency is a buzzword in the political world these days, though it’s not something we allow ourselves to truly believe will come out of this historically corrupt metropolis.  It might even confuse us – we’ll still be looking for the kickbacks and patronage hiring behind even the most honest of...

May 24, 2011

In the connected world we live in, many of us wouldn’t think of even trying out a new restaurant before checking around on the web and among friends to see who’s been there. Ditto for traveling – and isn’t it more fun when you can involve your friends? Now gtrot,  short for globetrotting, (www.gtrot.com) makes it easy to share travel plans, collect...

May 19, 2011

Who among us is not occasionally faced with the problem of how to spend the next few hours, the afternoon, the day? This being Chicago, something is happening pretty much at every moment, but until now there was no one to tell you what, only where. Enter Tabblr, the brainchild of co-creators CEO George Tung and Designer Milos Golubovic, who earlier came on the...

Apr 28, 2011

Adrissha Wimberly and Charisse Conanan are the cofounders of Chicago startup Smarteys.com and want to change the way young people think about money. “Young people are sharing their information like never before,” said COO Wimberly. “When you take into account that student loan debt is starting to outpace credit card debt, its clear that we have the right...