02 | February | 2011 | Advocate's Studio

I could NOT resist an infographic comparing the lives of the brains behind two of my favorite designer / retailers. Check out the comparisons between Ikea’s Ingvar Kamprad and Apple’s Steve Jobs. It really is a fascinating read. My corporate office is 10 minutes from both an Apple Store and an Ikea store. Swedish meatballs and lingonberries for lunch! My home office is littered with Apple and Ikea spoils. I am typing this post on my Apple Macbook Pro while sitting on an Erland chair. Can you say “product placement?” Even with the subtle anti-Jobs sentiment reflected in the facts and timelines, it is till Very Cool Indeed:

Hat tip to The Next Web and 9gag for the fun.

What do you do when you want to find out everything you can about a particular company, business, or professional? Well, you can search Google for the business and then visit each site individually and cull the pertinent information. Chances are there will be hits at the top of the results list from Crunchbase, LinkedIn, and Quora.

But … what if you could visit a business web page, click a button, and instantly pull up information from all three of these top business information sources? Well, you can if you use Google Chrome as your browser. Brand new extension Polaris Insights will enable the magic. The CrunchBase column includes funding information, the LinkedIn column includes your connections within the company, and the Quora column lists some of the Q&A conversations about the company.

Polaris Insights is Chrome only for now, but a Firefox extension appears to be in the works. Great tool for business research and blogging!