Most of us have seen or heard about hip tech companies installing huge flat-screen TVs and foosball tables in their offices. But what about a sliding board? Or a "cat from outer space" display? Yes, a pair of well-known digital darlings have done just that. These eye-catching offices reflect two of the following designs that Glassdoor.com has recognized in a recent posting about top "cool office spaces." While some of these designs may come across as frivolous, there's a serious organizational benefit at play here: Research shows that happy employees are proven to be better performers, leading to a notable competitive advantage for their companies. They are also less likely to leave a job, and are more likely to make better decisions and demonstrate superior interpersonal behaviors, according to ScienceDaily.com. And, given that we're talking about innovative technology enterprises here, you can bet that leadership at these offices are happy to go over the top in terms of coming up with creative office design.

Over the last few years, big data has emerged on enterprise radar screens. Everyone from President Obama to major corporations and government agencies are looking for ways to put the concept to work effectively. But somewhere between the buzz and achieving real-world results is the somewhat overwhelming task of transforming countless bits and bytes into actionable information. Humans now produce upward of 1,800 exabytes of data annually, and that figure is accelerating. This massive stream of unstructured data, along with conventional databases, presents enormous and mounting challenges for business and IT executives. A new MeriTalk report sponsored by NetApp, "Big Data, Big Brains," delves into this topic and offers a variety of insights and opinions from visionary big data leaders. Together, they discuss how government and private sector organizations can confront emerging big data challenges and opportunities. Here are 10 notable ideas that could help your organization frame an effective big data strategy.

"What's better than working for a tech company? Working for a happy tech company!" So says CareerBliss.com, which has come out with this top 10 list of technology businesses in America with the most contented employees. Across the board, organizations that made the cut are praised for their compensation, benefits and overall culture. Employee satisfaction ratings were also driven by factors such as career advancement and the quality of innovation-focused opportunities, as well as how the company fares in terms of competitive advantage. To find out why having a happy workforce matters, check out recent research from Gallup: Departments that fall within the top half of their organization in terms of employee engagement nearly double their odds of success. Those in the top quarter of engagement experience 37 percent less absenteeism, 25 percent less turnover and 21 percent higher productivity than their counterparts in the lowest quarter. CareerBliss also includes average-salary information, along with each organization's overall "BlissScore" (on a scale of 1 to 5), both compiled from user reviews. CareerBliss is an online job posting/company review/professional advice site.

The firm developed a sustainability vision that focuses on decreasing its carbon footprint and helping employees adopt greener practices, including ride sharing.

The spring is always the beginning of another baseball season. Arguably more than any other sport, baseball involves strategies and execution that readily translate into insightful workplace lessons. Each team member, for example, must understand his role and constantly seek improvement within his skill set. On the field, all players have to work in a very unified manner: They know what the current situation is and how to respond to events in a coordinated, seamless way. Achieving a winning play requires great anticipation and foresight, with the ability to think two, three or more moves ahead of the competition. With this in mind, consider these nine lessons learned from Dave Kerpen, chairman of Likeable Media, a social media and marketing firm. Kerpen is a diehard baseball fan who has been to 45 Major League Baseball stadiums, and is also the co-author of Likeable Business: Why Today's Consumers Demand More and How Leaders Can Deliver (McGraw-Hill/available now).  Face it: Whether it's in baseball or at work, striking out stinks. But if you follow this guide, you'll make the most out of your opportunities "at the plate."