Microsoft’s largest-ever layoffs seem like a massive change in direction by new CEO Satya Nadella, who is leading an overdue corporate makeover at the pioneering technology company. But the smaller numbers tell the real story. The largest chunk of those jobs is coming from the company’s newly acquired Nokia

Recent surveys of bank lending officers by the Federal Reserve have shown that some banks have been easing credit terms for smaller businesses since at least mid-2012. Some banks, Mr. Stibel said, are “not putting such a heavy reliance on a borrower’s performance over the last three years,” which most likely suffered during the slow recovery.

For anyone trying to make the case that we're in another tech bubble, there have been a few choice data points to highlight recently. Last week a new voice weighed in the bubble question -- sort of. In the report that accompanied the Federal Reserve Chair appearances it seemed to raise concerns that some smaller tech and biotech companies are hitting unjustified valuations.

Colleges and universities face several daunting challenges up ahead. And it looks like the world of higher education may need to shrink to survive.

The rapid escalation of energy production in shale formations across the U.S. has produced a bonanza of oil, but it has left many states scrambling to handle the natural gas that often flows in large volumes along with the crude. The issue is at its most severe in North Dakota, where the amount of gas flared in the Bakken oil field has nearly tripled since 2011, sending gas worth more than $1 billion a year into the sky.

By now you may have heard the story of Zack Brown, an Internet-savvy entrepreneur from Columbus, Ohio. So why are people supporting these peculiar pipe dreams?