Welcome, new readers from CNET

If you're visiting from CNET's Green Tech section, welcome!
This is SmartPlanet, CNET's sister site about global business innovation. We write about futuristic technology, brilliant ideas by the world's top thinkers, and the business strategies that bring them to every corner of the globe.
(We've been mentioned on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Gizmodo, Treehugger, ZDNet, Grist, Popular Science...and oh yeah, CNET.)
This site covers a lot of ground: we have blogs about energy, design, cities, science, healthcare, transportation and technology. We even have a network of foreign correspondents, and we've also got three top-notch columnists who are respected experts in their fields.
We publish short posts and long posts, reported features and personal essays, reviews and news. We like to mix it up, keep it interesting and always delight.
Oh, and one more thing: we've got a tremendously smart community of readers -- the number of advanced degrees and executive titles hiding behind those handles is staggering -- who read and comment on the site every day. If what we're writing isn't enough to bring you back, their daily insights certainly are.
So:
Three simple ways to get started on SmartPlanet:
- Become a member, so you can join the conversation
- Sign up for a newsletter, so you don't miss the action each day
- Like us on Facebook, because we post some pretty cool stuff there
Five stories you should probably read right now:
- Tom Hancock's amazing tale of a water-starved Beijing, China
- Reena Jana's insightful Q&A with architect Hitoshi Abe, discussing the Japanese earthquake and tsunami
- Lieu Thi Pham's wonderful profile of an Australian designer who wants to rethink social spaces
- Christina Sherwood's neat talk with the scientific advisor to popular TV show 'Breaking Bad'
- ...and some guy's story about how speech recognition will change the world. (Oh right, that's me.)
If you're a Twitter user, we're right there with you. And if you're an RSS feed hound, we've got those, too.
But most of all, if you have a question -- or just want to say hello -- you can always e-mail us here.
Thanks for reading!
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com