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Tack on Burger King to the growing list of companies who are cutting ties with Sinar Mas, a major palm oil producer that has been accused by Greenpeace of destroying millions of acres of Indonesian rainforest and peatlands. Burger King joins Nestle, Kraft, and Unilever in ditching the company, which recently tried to varnish its reputation with a questionable self-commissioned environmental audit.

Sinar Mas's audit may have actually hurt the company--according to Greenpeace, it confirms that the company has been illegally clearing peat and operating without proper permits. And Sinar Mas's damning self-audit is partially behind Burger King's decision. The fast food giant explains in a recent announcement:

As part of our BK® Positive Steps corporate responsibility program, Burger King Corp. is committed to sourcing our products from sustainable suppliers. After completing a thorough review of the independent verification report conducted by Control Union Certification (CUC) and BSI Group, we believe the report has raised valid concerns about some of the sustainability practices of Sinar Mas' palm oil production and its impact on the rainforest. These practices are inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments.

All 176 Burger King restaurants that rely on Sinar Mas palm oil will transition to a new supplier. That's not a huge loss for a global company like Sinar Mas, but it probably won't take long for other fast food chains to follow suit. After all, no company wants to be the target of a Greenpeace campaign.

Ariel Schwartz can be reached on Twitter or by email.

MasterCard is eyeing the emerging middle classes of women in Asia and Cambodia is as good a test case as anywhere else -- and it offers a CSR branding point.

Cambodia has been attracting a fair amount of corporate and "social business" interest in local seamstresses. Socially motivated businesses like Eve Blossom's Lulan Artisans and Elizabeth Kiester's Wanderlust, both for-profit social enterprises that use the talents of marginalized seamstresses, have set up shop here. But now two larger and much more corporate players have entered the scene: MasterCard and the ultra chic Hotel de la Paix, which begs the question of why now and why the focus on women?

Answer: purchasing power.

Goldman Sachs published a report last year highlighting the growing global middle class and the increasingly leading role of women in making financial decisions. The findings are true especially in Asia, where such economies as Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are expected to grow and increase its middle class populations considerably.

Cambodia is not too far behind and MasterCard is smart to jump in now. The credit card company has been doing research on the subject of female purchasing power in Asia and based on their findings have been rolling out female empowerment programs across the region.

Over the next few months, according to the press release, "MasterCard will donate USD50 towards the reconstruction of Hôtel de la Paix’s Sewing School, for every room bill paid with a MasterCard card." The partnership is also a branding point for the hotel, as guests are taken to see community sites to get a glimpse of local Cambodian life. Essentially, MasterCard is making its name known to the very women who will shortly join the growing middle class with their own businesses and thus have more money to spend.

"I know that de la Paix has been actively involved in helping train women in sewing for quite some time, as well as being involved in social programs throughout Cambodia," Elizabeth Kiester, who relocated to Cambodia in 2008 after a successful career as Creative Director at LeSportsac and a Senior Editor at Jane magazine tells Fast Company. She set up her socially conscious, summery, clothing line in Siam Reap after moving there. She partners with marginalized female seamstresses and just launched a collection for J. Crew. "I think what they're doing is amazing, and I welcome the efforts--I would love to utilize some of their seamstresses some day!"

Little work opportunities exist for women in Cambodia, one of the world's least developed countries, and they're often found working on construction sites. "Sewing and crafting is indigenous to Cambodia, but also sewing offers women, in a country where perhaps they are not yet 'equal,' a chance to own and run their own businesses, which otherwise they may not have the opportunity," Kiester says.

The partnership between MasterCard and Hotel de la Paix may sound like straight-up corporate social responsibility, the same stuff you've heard before, but actually, it's rare to find a set of players and causes that fit so well together. The financial incentive is gravy.

While MasterCard is looking for a way into the female market and continue its CSR efforts in an emerging economy, Hotel de la Paix gets to add an angle to the hotel that doesn't make it look so out of place as a high-end hotel in a desperately poor nation (in fact, this may just fight off some heavy criticism and also encourage local stakeholder buy-in). It's not that similar types of partnerships haven't been done before, but in this case it's been done well, which takes a fair amount of pizazz and a sprinkle of innovation.

Google looked to have stolen a march on the smart Net-connected TV market when it revealed its integrated Google TV a few months back. Now we're seeing prototypes at the IFA electronics show ... and suddenly Google's offering is looking lost among the competition.

Sony's Google TV device is the one that's garnered the most press attention, and it's a great example that we can almost use to preview how Google TV will look and feel to most consumers. The TV unit itself is nothing particularly remarkable in a crowded market that's evolved so quickly its left Joe Public's head spinning: It's a full-HD (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) display, 40-inches on the diagonal, and with a pretty neutrally-designed slim black plastic chassis. But this TV isn't all about the TV itself--it's about how it works. Inside is the necessary processor, memory, and connectivity hardware to drive Google's Android-powered TV service. Also included is Chrome for browsing the Web, niceties like Google Maps, and it's even Flash compatible, in a nose-thumbing exercise aimed at Apple. The UI has been polished to make it compatible with normal TV-viewing options, so you can make a browser window transparent to let a TV show shine through your Web searches, and there's a "Quick Search Box" system which integrates searches on the Web and among your TV resources.

Sony was reportedly reluctant to let people see the units in full-on Googling action, instead demoing features like Picasa photo integration and services like YouTube.

But Google's competitor LG, which is promising a news conference tomorrow--September 4th--to announce its own Google TV efforts, also demonstrated its own rival system at IFA: Netcast. The firm has been demonstrating TVs carrying the system, which has had a serious overhaul and now rests on four design watchwords: "easy," "fun," "more," "better." As well as similar Net-connected benefits to Google's system, it comes with a smart remote control that works a little like a Wiimote, and provides a more "natural" way to interact with the TV along with added extras like a coloring book for kids. LG's TV can even stream content from the unit to other gadgets.

And since Google's TV hit the headlines, Apple's arrived on the scene, as rumored, with its own new set-top box. Though it's services are in many ways simpler than the sophisticated things offered by Google TV or NetCast, concentrating on core streaming TV and movie content and a few extra frills, the hardware is cheap, comes with that fabulous Apple cachet, and is simple enough to appeal to Grandmas everywhere. It's also running on an Apple A4-powered board, which makes us ponder if its simple UI isn't actually built on a modified iOS operating system (found inside the iPhone and iPad). And this makes us wonder if Apple won't be bringing a full-on App Store experience to the Apple TV at some point--bouncing Google TVs and LG's efforts right to the bottom of the market. The same thinking has even resulted in some industry analysts suggesting Apple's TV box is a primer technology, so Apple can test the market before building its very own hardware-integrated TV units in the coming year or two.

And now there's even news that Yahoo's partnered with a Turkish firm Vestel to bring Yahoo Connected TV to 40 more countries from early 2011. So while TVs at IFA may seem to be all about Google's technology, in the coming months it looks like Google will have to significantly up its game to stay relevant in a wholly new market for the company.

To keep up with this news, follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter.

The New Meadowlands Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets, is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built. At a cost of $1.6 billion in private funds, it's state of the art--and that means more than comfy seats and realistic looking pretzel cheese. Gearing up for its inaugural NFL season later this month, the stadium will feature a first-of-its-kind "Command Center," which will help executives and merchandisers track customers in real-time. It's also a stats junkie's dream.

Built by digital design firm Roundarch, the new system enables managers to keep by-the-second tabs on operations through a touchscreen dashboard. In what looks more like video game RollerCoaster Tycoon than an analytics tool, the Command Center monitors ticket sales, concession and merchandising information, and parking, all in real-time.

What exactly is the system capable of? Let's start with concessions and merchandise. While a game is underway, NY Jets' owner Woody Johnson will see a four-panel layout that shows a variety of metrics, from gross spending to total transactions to average amount spent per transaction. The stadium is virtually divided up by each level, and Johnson can zoom in on individual stores and concession stands to see which jerseys are selling, or which beer isn't.

The stadium is heat-mapped too, so if lines are getting to long, mobile vendors can be directed to help ease the burden.

"You might realize, hey, this part of the stadium has more sun in the fans' eyes, and is selling more hats," says Geoff Cubitt, chief technology officer of Roundarch. "We're running out of inventory there, but the other side has plenty. In real-time, you can be smarter about how to allocate."

The Command Center won't just help managers and executives, but will soon aim to improve the fan experience as well. Cisco has invested $100 million into the stadium, and one rep estimates the company's technology could provide fans with estimated wait times in the near future. The dashboard will also warn of choke points at stadium gates and concession stands, so fans can be informed of how to avoid the longest line for a burger, or the best way to exit after the game.

And even outside the stadium, metrics continue with parking. The dashboard can zoom in on individual lots to analyze flow through parking plazas. "We can see the time it takes people to go from the parking gate to the stadium," explains Cubitt. "We can see where they enter."

What's more, the Command Center can create comparisons not just between other games, but specific times. With the simple drag of the mouse on the timeline, execs can see how the first half or just the third quarter or only a few specific minutes compares to other weeks. "Think about weather conditions: How are the poncho sales going on this rainy day compared to the last?" the Roundarch CTO says. "Or if a banner is put up for something, what kind of impact does that have?"

Funded by the Jets, the system will eventually migrate to mobile devices such as the iPad and Android, where it'll help operational staff on-the-go.

But for now, owner Woody Johnson will oversee the entire stadium from his personal touchscreen.

The new test could let patients know immediately if they're infected so they don't continue to spread tuberculosis while they wait for test results.

Tuberculosis, or TB, has a new enemy in the form of a brand new diagnostic tool that reveals, within minutes, if someone is affected by the disease. Affecting large percentages of the developing world--including up to 50% of the population in some countries, such as Nepal--some say the new test will revolutionize health care.

TB test results used to involve days of testing under a microscope, but this test "requires only 15 minutes of manual labor, for taking the mucus sample, mixing it with chemicals and putting it in an inkjet-like cartridge that goes into a machine. The machine amplifies the DNA in the sample and checks for bits of bacterial genes," according to a press release.

"What is revolutionary about this test is that it can diagnose TB the first time a patient goes to the clinic. Most people who go to the doctor in developing countries leave not knowing whether or not they have TB. There’s no excuse for that anymore," Dr. Peter Small of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which helped fund the development of the new test, tells Fast Company.

Over one thousand patients participated in the trials in Peru, Azerbaijan, South Africa, and India and test results came back with 98% accuracy.

"The most commonly used TB test misses half of all cases, sending patients back into their communities where they can spread the infection. This test catches almost all of them, with the added benefit of knowing whether they have certain strains that are drug resistant. It’s portable, automated and easy-to-use with little to no training," Dr. Small says.

The United States government commissioned the study with several partners and is now seeking U.S. FDA approval, though the test is already approved and on sale in Europe.

"Now that we know the test works, it needs to be approved by the World Health Organization’s technical advisory group. The WHO has committed to making this a top priority, so I’m feeling optimistic that it will be approved within a few months," Dr. Small says.

But health care is also subject to the weaknesses of bureaucracies, and when large, often corrupt governments around the world are involved, vital life-improving tools often face extensive delays before being put to use. Let's hope that a few months is the shortest time span required before the test--offering massive life-saving potential--is delivered to doctors and hospitals in the most desperate regions of the world.

"Until we have a good TB vaccine, rapid diagnosis equals prevention," Dr. Small says. "So an effective tool like this one could help change the trajectory of the epidemic."

Samsung's new Galaxy Tablet is the answer to Apple's iPad, but it's barely competent--which is precisely how Samsung rolls. A history of merely satisfactory products proves the point.

Samsung is one of our Most Innovative Companies for good reason--their microchip and memory business is one of the best in the world, and the company is definitely on the shortlist of most dominant consumer tech companies. They sell the most TVs, are second only to Nokia in worldwide cellphone sales, and fall in the top five in just about every other corner of the industry. Yet Samsung's consumer products consistently underwhelm.

Samsung is safe. They wait to see what works and release their own pretty good, decently performing version at a fair price. But that's not the stuff of greatness. Here's what we mean.

September 2010: Samsung Galaxy Tab

Answer to: Apple iPad

The Apple iPad was a was a new breed of tablet with a new philosophy: No longer would a tablet be a convertible laptop with a touchscreen. The iPad uses a mobile processor, mobile operating system, mobile wireless card, and forgoes a physical keyboard. Samsung's takeoff is a smaller device (7-inch screen, compared to 9.7-inch), but also packs a mobile processor, mobile OS, mobile wireless card, and a thick-bordered capacitive touchscreen.

Both devices offer stiff competition to ebook readers as well, with Apple launching iBooks and Samsung embracing Borders's Kobo software.

Is the Galaxy Tab an iPad competitor? Sure. It looks pretty good, and might even be better for reading than the iPad (mostly due to size and weight reductions). But nothing in particular sets it apart--it's not breaking new ground, it's merely what you thought it'd be. It's quintessentially Samsung: a B+.

August 2010: Samsung Epic 4G

Answer to: HTC Evo 4G

Samsung's Epic 4G, one of its "Galaxy S" Android smartphones (a different Galaxy S phone is headed to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint--the Epic 4G is Sprint's), is probably the best smartphone available for Sprint right now. But it's still an example of Samsung's "good enough" mentality.

HTC's Evo 4G garnered tons of buzz and huge sales, despite the major handicap of subpar battery life that was mentioned ad nauseum in every review. The Evo 4G was the start of a new breed of phone: With a huge 4.3-inch touchscreen, advanced media capabilities, a great custom version of Android, and top-of-the-line guts (including Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor), the Evo 4G was bound to be a big seller. But it was also the very first 4G phone in America, taking advantage of speeds closer to broadband speeds at home than to the usual 3G.

Samsung's Epic 4G, which followed a few months later, was the second 4G phone in America. It too had top-of-the-line internals and a custom Android OS, and has also sold quite well. Its superior battery life and hardware keyboard make it arguably a better phone than the Evo 4G. But it's not a Big Deal. The Evo 4G was a Big Deal.

The Epic 4G doesn't go out on a limb, and doesn't inspire excitement. When we talk about the phones that have made Android the success it is today, we talk about the T-Mobile G1, the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Incredible, and the HTC Evo 4G--the phones that took Android a step further into the future. The Epic 4G will never be in that pantheon. It's a very well-made phone, but that's all it is.

June 2010: Samsung TL500

Answer to: Canon S90

The Canon S90 is a marvel of engineering, an endlessly surprising little wonder. It's Canon's line in the sand: This, says Canon, is the best point-and-shoot camera in the world, and we don't have to prove it with meaningless stats.

The S90 cost a whopping $430 upon release, offering only 10MP--a ballsy move, considering cameras like Kodak's C180 offer 10.2MP for only $80. But the S90 also packed the same high-end sensor as the larger, more expensive G11. It has been a big success. Canon took a risk and pulled it off. It abandoned the fruitless megapixel war--photogs and Canon know a 14MP camera is absolutely not guaranteed to take better photos than an 8MP camera. But the general public doesn't. Enter Samsung.

A few months after the S90, Samsung announcing the TL500. It too is an expensive ($450) point-and-shoot offering just 10MP. It's an extremely well-performing, thoughtfully-styled camera that will blow a 14MP Sony out of the water, with a few extras (like a swiveling AMOLED screen) thrown in for good measure. It's a very nice product, and it should sell quite well. But it will not be, nor was it ever intended to be, a smash hit, spoken about with awe amongst the tech nerds. The S90 already broke this ground--the TL500 simply follows along.

Fall 2009: Samsung Hummingbird Processor

Answer to: Qualcomm Snapdragon

Qualcomm's Snapdragon, a very low-energy 1GHz processor, is the muscle of choice for modern Android phones like the HTC Droid Incredible, Google Nexus One, Dell Streak, and Sony Xperia X10. It's also the mandatory minimum power behind Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone 7 line.

The Snapdragon isn't the only game in town, of course--Texas Instruments has a competing 1GHz chip found in the Motorola Droid X and Droid 2, and Nvidia's Tegra, while underused, is often linked to upcoming tablets. But the Snapdragon powered the first 1GHz Android phone, the Google Nexus One, and is the undisputed champion of the Android world.

Samsung, being a chipmaker as well as a consumer gadget maker, has their own version--a 1GHz chip based, like the Snapdragon, on the ARM A8 core. Samsung's chip is called the Hummingbird, and was announced about six month after the first Snapdragon phone (though the first Hummingbird-powered device wouldn't come out for a few months after that). The Hummingbird is what powers the Galaxy S phones, as well as the Galaxy Tab tablet. What are people saying about it? That it's "just about as good as a Snapdragon."

April 2009: Samsung P3

Answer to: Apple iPod Touch

Apple's iPhone is like the friendliest virus you could imagine, wreaking delightful havoc through Apple's catalog. Apple's first tablet? A big iPhone. The newest iPod Nano? A teeny iPhone (sort of). The iPod Touch? A phone-less iPhone.

Giving customers the ability to get the groundbreaking iOS interface, along with all those great apps, without the expense or hassle of a monthly phone bill made the iPod Touch a huge success. And with one great success comes a Samsung product in its wake.

Samsung's portable media players were always pretty good--nice design, fairly priced, excellent sound quality--but never particularly innovative. Ditto the P3, Samsung's pretty-good PMP released in April 2009. With a super-thin brushed metal design, great sound quality, extensive format support, and big touchscreen, it looked like an iPod Touch killer.

Except it wasn't. With no Wi-Fi, the P3 couldn't download apps (thus restricted to a bunch of mostly-useless widgets that came pre-packaged) and its interface wasn't as smooth or stylish as Apple's. The P3 was a totally competent portable media player--certainly more capable than the iPod Nano, say--but its lack of ambition and willingness to be merely good doomed it to the "not an iPod" bin.

These are just a few examples, meant to show an overarching theme to Samsung's products. There are a few Samsung releases that don't follow the mold: Samsung's TVs are excellent, and the company (for better or for worse) is at the forefront of 3D technology--although to be fair, only minor spec details separate Samsung's offerings from those of Sony, Panasonic, LG, Vizio, and the rest. On the other hand, the Omnia II, a Windows Mobile smartphone, and the Behold II, an earlier Android smartphone, were both complete disasters.

But for the most part, Samsung seems content to sit back, only releasing a product if there's already been a similar one that's seen significant success. The company is generally reliable, releasing reasonably styled, reasonably priced, reasonably functional products. But in a world where companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, HTC, and even Amazon are willing to step up and release groundbreaking products they believe in even though they may not succeed, Samsung's reluctance to wow us just doesn't cut it.

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in Brooklyn (no link for that one--you'll have to do the legwork yourself).

Facebook is testing a new feature that allows any user to "subscribe to" another user. What with having hundreds of friends, multiple news feeds and only so many hours in the day, you might miss out on what your ex-girlfriend is doing these days--and that will not stand!

The "subscribe to" feature gives you notifications whenever someone to whom you've subscribed takes action on Facebook, from status updates to photo uploads to wall comments. The new feature doesn't seem to extend as far as Facebook Places check-ins--Facebook says it only applies to updated statuses and new content. Here's their statement:

Yes, this feature is being tested with a small percent of users. It lets people subscribe to friends and pages to receive notifications whenever the person they’ve subscribed to updates their status or posts new content (photos, videos, links, or notes).

AllFacebook notes that while this is sort of creepy for individuals, it could be used to great (and less weird) effect with public pages (eds. note: Please stalk Fast Company on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FastCompany). Imagine following a band, and never missing when that band sends out a Facebook message with new tour dates. You could see how business and other groups would find the feature pretty useful, especially since it distills the true fans from the casual ones who join every page.

In the wake of pretty much continuous privacy scandals, it's unclear how Facebook will make this feature seem palatable. It doesn't exactly allow anything that wasn't possible before, but it makes obsession much easier. Perhaps Facebook would implement a way for users to approve subscribers?

In any case, the feature is merely being tested now, and may or may not ever be implemented for the general public. How do you all feel? Is this a valuable new tool, or a step over the line into creepiness?

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in Brooklyn (no link for that one--you'll have to do the legwork yourself).