Samuel J. Palmisano, who is departing as I.B.M.’s chief executive, devised four questions that pushed his huge company to stay a step ahead of its rivals.

Wordnik, the online dictionary, brings some of the Web’s vox populi to the definition of words. It shows “what’s out there right now,” one of its founders says.

The prices of financial assets, which in normal conditions move in unpredictable directions, are increasingly surging up or down in lockstep.

The S.&P. 500 was statistically unchanged for the year, while the Dow was up 5.5 percent. Major European and Asian indexes declined by double-digit percentages.

In 2011, European governments badly underestimated the debt crisis and the United States nearly defaulted and had its credit rating cut.

Verizon Wireless bowed to consumer anger on Friday, reversing a day-old plan to impose a bill-paying fee that would have applied to only some customers.

Some New Yorkers have expressed frustration in trying to persuade officers to take crime reports.

John C. Liu, the New York City comptroller, who is under investigation, has lifted an $800 cap on contributions, allowing him to seek larger amounts of money from a smaller group of people.

The smells and sights of Yeung Sun Live Poultry disturbed some in its gentrifying stretch of Brooklyn waterfront, but locals’ reactions are mixed now that a freak accident may shutter it.

The president will show that he has taken unilateral actions on the economy in the face of the legislative stalemate with Republicans.