December 2009
26 posts
Gruber on Google
Google senior vice president Jonathan Rosenberg published a long memo “about the meaning of ‘open’ as it relates to the Internet, Google, and [Google’s] users.”
It’s the biggest pile of horseshit I’ve ever seen from Google.
Basically, he’s spewed 4,000 words to say that “open” is always good and always wins, Google is always open, therefore Google is always good and will always win. And please...
Noam Scheiber on how MBA’s has shaped our current situation
How did we get to this point? In some sense, it’s the result of broad historical and economic forces. Up until World War I, the archetypal manufacturing CEO was production oriented—usually an engineer or inventor of some kind. Even as late as the 1930s, business school curriculums focused mostly on production. Khurana notes that...
Reverse Lake Wobegon Effect
thegongshow:
cdixon:
Bill Gates walks into a bar, suddenly the average wealth of people in the bar goes from thousands to millions. And also now everyone in the bar except Bill has below average wealth. Similarly, contributors to user generated websites like Wikipedia are almost all below average. There are a few people who contribute a ton, and a whole lot of people who contribute very...
“Petrichor (pronounced /ˈpɛtrɨkər/; from Greek petros “stone” + ichor...”
– The smell of rain.
(via)
“…here’s possibly the most interesting thing about him: He considers the fact...”
– Sarah Lacy on Wences Casares (via fascinated)
““I’m like an old lady in a chair, catching up on podcasts, watching old...”
– That hobby looks like a lot of work - Good article on the life of Etsy sellers.
Data driven e-commerce: powered by Next Jump
Next Jump analyzes that data to draw inferences about what a person would be likely to buy, and at what price. Its network also includes 28,000 retailers who can specify the characteristics of customers — age, location, income, for example — that they are most interested in luring with certain products.
Next Jump’s software then tailors offerings to small segments of potential customers, down...
“Uniqlo is basically a Pantone-hued commodity, making it a perfect fit for both...”
– Uniqlo: A feel good commodity
“The discovery of Argleton is part of the same reassertion of the local, the...”
– Joe Moran on the mysterious city of Argleton in Google Maps
“So while you might be spending loads of time understanding the what’s and...”
– Ed Cotton on the Brian Eno article and why “uncool” is a dead word.
The economics of piracy
“Let the anti-piracy navies continue their search for us. We have no worries because our motto for the job is ‘do or die’.”
Piracy investor Sahra Ibrahim, a 22-year-old divorcee, was lined up with others waiting for her cut of a ransom pay-out after one of the gangs freed a Spanish tuna fishing vessel.
“I am waiting for my share after I contributed a...
“So let’s talk traffic. We’ve got people who love this goddamn phone so much that...”
– The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : A not-so-brief chat with Randall Stephenson of AT&T
Fake Steve Jobs on fire with this post.
(via bijan)
Thank God!
newsweek:
According to Summers, we’re entering the Golden Age of the Sex Scandal. His evidence:
The evidence in the new generation of sex scandals has been compiled by the protagonists themselves, in the form of text messages, voice mails, IMs, e-mails, and cell-phone pictures that one party, usually the less powerful one, has squirreled away. Digital communications are tough to avoid or...
“The mile is such a cherished commodity that airlines have even bolstered their...”
– - Any currency goes. Interesting story on Frequent flyer miles addiction.
(via @janchip)
“For every 100 copies of a physical book we sell, where we have the Kindle...”
– Jeff Bezos (via marco)
“As companies change from hierarchies to networks, we have to meet up with new...”
– JP Rangaswami at Supernova
(Via @kevinmarks)