Sad news today that Suzanne Scotchmer has passed away. She was a professor of both economics and law at Berkeley and one of the most significant figures in applied economic theory over the past few decades. The loss from cancer came as a shock to many of us in the field. I can hardly imagine …
Google and Motorola in the Wake of Nortel
Google has announced a plan to sell Motorola to Lenovo for just under three billion dollars. Google paid more than twelve billion only two years ago, and many commentators have declared that this is Larry Page’s first big bet, and potentially his first big experiment to go sour. Even the best reporters characterize the strategy …
Continue reading "Google and Motorola in the Wake of Nortel"
It begins: evolving the blogging/journalism space
Up until recently, there were two "new economy" blogging models. The first was the independent blog (such as this one and the thousands of others that have populated our lives over the last decade). The second was the blog mixed in with traditional media. The latter started to grow with the Huffington Post to Forbes …
Continue reading "It begins: evolving the blogging/journalism space"
30 Years of Macs
The Mac is 30 years old. Apple has a great retrospective. 5 years ago, I documented all the Macs I had owned up until that point. I have added to it today for the next five years as an indulgence. Turns out there are quite a few a owned. And we won't mention the period 1999 …
Stagnation, the Machines and the Policy Recommendations
My co-blogger Erik Brynjolfsson has a new book out with Andrew McAfee entitled The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in the Time of Brilliant Technologies. I read it this week alongside Tyler Cowen's Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Great Stagnation. Given each had earlier eBooks that were counter-points that is what …
Continue reading "Stagnation, the Machines and the Policy Recommendations"
How will Google adjust Nest?
That's the question I asked myself this morning as I walked past one of my beloved Nest thermostats. When I see my Nest of a morning, I don't have to adjust anything. It is already working just as I want it to do. I can just look at it admiringly knowing that something I used …
How Much Apache?
Almost with inexorable momentum, the Internet hurls itself into new territory. Some time ago, more than two billion humans had adopted at least one Internet-enabled device in some form, and nobody doubts that another two billion will accrue soon. New webpages increasingly find ways to inform readers, as more information in a variety of formats …
Top Posts of 2013
As is often traditional with blogs, I thought I'd list the Top Posts of 2013 according to WordPress stats on the number of hits. They are: Harvard Business School Publishing crosses the 'evil' academic line With Google Reader gone, is Google Scholar next? That Star Trek economy thing Now for some jaw droppingly bad analysis …
Digitopoly 