Adverse Consequences of the Internet
Jaron Lanier warns of them, in a story by Ron Rosenbaum. he [Lanier] singled out one standout aspect of the new web culture—the acceptance, the welcoming of anonymous commenters on websites—as a danger...
View ArticleSeeing Broadband Like a State
A commenter on my post on Why Large corporations? asks Any thoughts on subscription tv and/or broadband service? There are obviously economies of scale for the providers. But, how does that impact...
View ArticleThe Wireless Last Mile
According to the Washington Post, the FCC seems finally to be coming around to the idea that the spectrum ought to be used for digital communication. In 2002, I wrote about the issue for TCS Daily and...
View ArticlePatents in Reality
Petra Moser writes, Historical evidence suggests that in countries with patent laws, the majority of innovations occur outside of the patent system. Countries without patent laws have produced as many...
View ArticleAsymmetrical Surveillance
Bruce Schneier writes, welcome to a world where all of this, and everything else that you do or is done on a computer, is saved, correlated, studied, passed around from company to company without your...
View ArticleTechnology, Privacy, and Freedom
Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen say, By indexing our biometric signatures, some governments will try to track our every move and word, both physically and digitally. That’s why we need to fight hard not...
View ArticleWhat I’m Reading
1. The New Digital Age, by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen. Before I read it, I had modest expectations. Afterward, I regretted buying it. 2. The End of Power, by Moses Naim. So far, this is a candidate...
View ArticleNothing is ever Democratized
So says Nick Pinkston. Did inkjet printers democratize printing? Does Amazon have a bunch of HPs printing off their books? No way – they have very specialized machines doing this, and the same is true...
View ArticleThe Newspaper Business
The newspaper business is going to die within the next twenty years. Newspaper publishing will continue, but only as a philanthropic venture. That was me, writing in 2002. “We’re in a post-profit era...
View ArticleAre $20 Bills Getting Picked Up?
Don Peck writes, I spoke with managers at a lot of companies who are using advanced analytics to reevaluate and reshape their hiring, and nearly all of them told me that their research is leading them...
View ArticlePersonal-Brand Journalism
The Washington Post (hardly a disinterested spectator) looks at the phenomenon, focusing on Andrew Sullivan. It’s not clear that Sullivan’s relatively slow start as his own boss says much about the...
View ArticleInternet Bubble 2.0 Watch
Ryun Chittum writes, Is the news going to become a $5 trillion industry? No. That would be one-third of the US economy. Could the news become a $500 billion industry? No. All advertising spending in...
View ArticleDid Jeff Bezos Join the Club?
Mathew Ingram reports, Much of the media world has been waiting with bated breath since Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million last year, eager to see some sign of the Amazon founder...
View ArticleQuestion in the Comments
On this post. “Perhaps the [record company] who makes a risky bet on a raw [artist], and who take the time and effort to train her, should be entitled to a small portion of her lifetime earnings as she...
View ArticleUber $17 Billion?
The Seattle Times reports, The funding positions the company at the front of a pack of Internet startups, at a valuation of about $17 billion, up from $3.5 billion in a financing last year. Back in...
View ArticleNiall Ferguson on Networks and Hierarchies
He writes, European history in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries was characterized by a succession of network-driven waves of innovation: the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the...
View ArticleA Solution to Biomedical Research Incentives?
I write, In pharmaceuticals, the challenges with using the patent system are increasing. As Huber has pointed out, the nature of molecular medicine is changing. The system of rigid, blind clinical...
View ArticleSelf-publishing and e-books
Hugh Howey writes, Publishers can foster that change by further lowering the prices of their e-books. The record margins they’re currently earning are certainly seductive, but taking advantage of...
View ArticleSpectrum Price Discrimination Using Zero-rated Apps
The Washington Post reports, Apps and Web sites that don’t count against the users’ data plan are popping up both in the United States and abroad, often under names like Wikipedia Zero or Facebook...
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