On the pair of entrepreneurs behind a Wal-Mart of weed in Oakland. The duo is talking IPO. “Everybody I was meeting was a little bit older, more a part of the hippie generation,” says one. “I was like, ‘I bet there’s so much room for innovation and new ideas.’”

Obama’s presidency may well be defined by whether or not he can curb unemployment. Step One: find a decent idea.

How the dream of the Euro became a nightmare.

On the political climate in Arizona.

On the (disputed) origins of the Huffington Post.

On the gap between how the world sees Goldman Sachs and how Goldman Sachs sees itself.

An archaeology of debt.

The profile that led to the Massey Energy CEO’s resignation.

A tech neophyte looks for answers in Silicon Valley, “the last place in America where people are this optimistic.”

Nick Denton is rebooting his entire Gawker empire—and his vision is drawn more from TV than blogs.

What happened to the minds behind Napster, Gnutella, WinAmp, and BitTorrent after their creations irrevocably changed business and culture.

Its editors still live in different cities, still work different careers, and still treat Boing Boing as a (lucrative) hobby.

DecorMyEyes is a online eyewear store with an unusual business plan; the owner harasses and intimidates customers who complain in order to get negative reviews posted across the web, in turn making his website more visible to Google searchers.

How Cantor Fitzgerald is bringing the principles of day trading to sports betting in Vegas.

A history of entrepreneurship in New York City, starting with shipping magnate Jeremiah Thompson’s big gamble in the 1820s: scheduled departures.

James Frey is starting a publishing company, paying young writers (very poorly) to reverse engineer a Twilight-esque hit.

The bizarre tale of how the hiring of a reality TV contestant to greet high-end customers led to the firing of a successful CEO. Plus: a follow-up article.

On Ayn Rand becoming a cult hero to Wall Street insiders and others items that make Matt Taibbi angry.

A single-page version of Shalhoup’s reporting on the Black Mafia Family, one of the largest cocaine empires in American history.

An early attempt to explain the world-changing power of computer software—and the minds of young programmers like Bill Gates—to a mass audience. “Software,” the article begins, “is the magic carpet to the future.”

When it comes to representing pharmaceutical companies, a doctor’s medical record is far less important than his or her ability to sell.

The world’s population is rapidly getting older. How China and other countries stocked with young workers are taking advantage.

Diapers.com has a stripped-down business model, a massive warehouse staffed by robots, and a legitimate chance to outsell Amazon.

Not only is the penny useless, it costs the U.S. Treasury $50 million per year. So why is it still around?

In an elaborate FBI sting to expose corruption, four agents pose as futures traders in Chicago. The plan works–if you don’t count the hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars the agents lost in the process.