Table of Contents:VOL. 166, NO. 2 - July 23, 2012
Cover story
Brainstorm Tech: The death of cash
Tech giants -- and startups like Square -- want you to use your phone to pay for everything from gum to train rides. Here's how they plan to achieve cash-free nirvana. By Miguel HelftFeatures
Megaupload and the twilight of copyright
Kim Dotcom's business facilitated more online piracy than the mind can conceive. Yet it might have been legal. How did we get here? Is there any way out? By Roger Parloff Global 500
Das auto giant
How Volkswagen shucked off its provincial ways and became a global powerhouse. By Alex Taylor III No borders, no boundaries
The Global 500 had record profits and revenue in 2011. Where on earth will the growth come from next? By Richard McGill Murphy The list
The world's largest corporations First
By the numbers
Bike sharing is coming to New York City. By Anne VanderMey The briefing
Resurrecting Tupac, the rising yogurt culture, entitled France, and more. Closer look
Reinventing Spain's economy: How the nation could fix its productivity problem. By Pankaj Ghemawat and Stijn Vanormelingen Executive dream team
Marketers are teaming up with the CIO. It's the beginning of a beautiful relationship. By Jessi Hempel The chartist
Mapping the Internet. By Andrew Blum; Graphics by Nicolas Rapp Education
Speak up, students: A Harvard professor rethinks how we teach. By David A. Kaplan Your next job
Virtual-workforce manager. By Alex Konrad Venture
How I got started
StubHub founder Jeff Fluhr was looking for businesses that were "ripe for change." Scalpers were just the ticket. Edited by Dinah Eng Fastest-growing companies
Behind Discovery Communications' global TV empire. By Richard McGill Murphy David vs. Goliath
Who's afraid of Mr. Softee? One of the world's largest clothing chains? A day-care center giant? Not these three entrepreneurs. By Elaine Pofeldt Pursuits
The anti-tour
The hotel-and-sightseeing vacation is so 2007. These days travel is all about one-of-a-kind experiences -- and bragging rights. By Kate Flaim Invest
Buying into a housing comeback
Stocks of homebuilding companies still have room to run. By Scott Cendrowski Anatomy of a trade
Fund manager John Osterweis: Subscribing to Viacom's future. By Ryan Derousseau Energy
Google's zero-carbon quest
By Brian Dumaine Opinion
Allan Sloan
The five myths of the great financial meltdown: Round 2. Nina Easton
Millionaire taxes hurt the masses, from Newark to Paris. Sheila Bair
To avoid the risk of a bank run, European leaders must act fast.