In our book, First Globals: Understanding, Managing, and Unleashing the Potential of Our Millennial Generation, Joan Snyder Kuhl and I present a number of prescriptions for welcoming Millennials into the workforce. One of my favorites involves the creation of a First Globals Technology Corps, a practical and cost-efficient way of utilizing the special skills of this mobile and techno-savvy age cohort, while at the same time, allowing them to make a real difference in the world.

The use of social media is exploding in Brazil. It's the third largest market for Facebook; fifth largest for Twitter. The controversial women-only app Lulu recently launched here and quickly became the top downloaded app in the country, making Brazil Lulu's biggest market. "I think it is cool because it's a social network for what all women throughout history have always done," says 20-year-old Marcela, as she taps away at the Lulu app on her iPhone.

The year-in-review posts are coming fast and furious from the world's leading technology companies. Instagram is the latest to post their statistics. And it has the best social network factlet of the year: the most-Instagrammed place in the world is a mall in Bangkok. New York makes three appearances, including the one for the High Line. Southern California also appears three times for Disneyland and two sporting venues.

The pair of Bitcoin hearings held this week by Senate committees could have been a disaster for the Bitcoin community. After all, Bitcoin first came to mainstream attention in 2011 when Gawker reported on Silk Road, an anonymous online marketplace that allowed users to purchase a wide variety of illegal drugs with Bitcoin. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) denounced the site and suggested that Bitcoin was "an online form of money laundering."

If you have a compelling start-up idea, the Chilean government will give you $40,000 to move there and build it. The Chilean embassy in your country will grant you a one-year visa within days. When you arrive in Chile, you’ll have free offices, fast Wi-Fi, unlimited coffee and croissants, and a community of intrepid friends. Not surprisingly, the Chilean program has received thousands of applications from entrepreneurs worldwide.

For the past six months, I've been reporting on a documentary, "Where Were You: The Day JFK Died," marking the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination. Simultaneously I've been keeping a close watch on the coverage of the political gridlock, food fight, meltdown—pick your phrase—in Washington between President Obama and his political adversaries.

Public diplomacy is about communicating—including lessons learned. So here are a few lessons I have learned from serving in high level positions in government: 1. The first is about idealism vs. realism—how to blend them. You come into government very idealistic and you go home very realistic. But the truth is that the first and last lesson I keep learning is about BLENDING BOTH—meaning that you have to blend ideals and aspirations with what is doable.

India has 4G wireless service in a handful of cities, Afghanistan has 3G nationwide, Bangladesh is rolling out a nationwide 3G network, and even Nepal has 3G in major cities. That leaves Pakistan as the only country in South Asia without a high-speed mobile network. The country’s notoriously activist supreme court is trying to force the government into holding the spectrum auction needed to launch 3G services in early 2014—but the country’s equally notorious bureaucracy looks likely to delay things.