Commerce

The Mississippi River near New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Mississippi: Pushed to the brink

Environment

Up and down the Mississippi River, new pressures are being put on America’s inland hydro highway, which helps deliver US goods and commodities to the rest of the world and allows trade flows to return. The strain on the river system is only becoming more acute with the impacts of climate change.

Kevin Christensen looks on as his son, Lane Christensen, sharpens an industrial drill bit. Christensen’s four-person company turned into an international exporter in a matter of months with help from the US Commercial Service.

The underfunded govt program that got drill bits from rural North Dakota to Zimbabwe

Economics
The re-created HMS Bounty, which sank in Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The sea has been the main artery of cultural transformations throughout history

New Movie Releases: “Hank: Five Years Later” and “Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve”

Netflix slows down on Wall Street despite recent success

Online video streaming company Netflix works to revolutionize television

Arts, Culture & Media

In the world of video streaming, Netflix is king. But as Amazon and Hulu amp up to be more competitive, TV critic Willa Paskin says, Netflix and its original programming are changing how people watch television and shaping what television becomes in the future.

Netflix to customers: Stop renting DVDs

The DVD-rental company Netflix has split into two companies — a strategy possibly designed to move people away from their DVD-rental business.

Will Americans watch foreign films?

Arts, Culture & Media

Technology is making it easy for Americans to see tons of films from the rest of the world. Getting them to watch, however, is a challenge.

Bartering in a sour economy

Some Massachusetts residents turn to bartering due to tight finances, and they’re getting creative with what they’re trading.

To Binge Watch…Or Not

The numbers are in! One in three Netflix subscribers watched the newly released fourth season of “Arrested Development” this past weekend, and of those who did, one in ten watched all fifteen episodes in a single day. This echoes the binge-watching that’s become commonplace with other shows, like “House of Cards,” “24,” and the granddaddy […]