The cookie turned 20 just the other day. More than a tasty morsel of technology, two decades of experimentation have created considerable value around its use. The cookie originated with the ninth employee of Netscape, Lou Montulli. Fresh out of college in June 1994, Montulli sought to embed a user’s history in a browser’s functions. …
Monkey selfies and copyright
OK, as it is Friday afternoon, it is time to examine the monkey in the room: who owns copyright when some narcissistic non-human takes a selfie with a human's camera? According to legal opinion, the answer is: not the human. What that means, is that as only humans can own copyright -- well, and there …
Piracy Undermining Content Creation: Loch Ness Monster or Black Swan?
Theory and common sense dictate that piracy should threaten new product creation. If it costs money to bring new works to market, then a reduction in revenue – all else constant - should render some projects uneconomic. So compelling is this theory that the content industries share it with lawmakers at every opportunity. Robert Solow …
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The ownership of the machines
CGP Grey makes great explanatory videos. They are very thoughtful and noticeably PowerPoint generated but this time he branched out into a massive 15 minute documentary styled affair. The video is “no humans need apply” and it deals with topics near to my co-blogger Erik Brynjolfsson’s heart. The story in the video is that if …
The Two Amazons: The Disruptor and the Architect
Over the last month, I outlined four broad entrepreneurial strategies that start-up ventures could choose between. The idea was that they had to focus on just one because (a) they had limited resources and (b) that the four choices were, in fact, substitutes. But Amazon has become a puzzle in this more recently and I …
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2014 Next 36 Best Ventures
Today was Venture Day for the Next 36. This is a program that takes 36 of Canada’s finest undergraduate would-be entrepreneurs, puts them into teams, gives them starting capital and legal resources and teaches them business while they explore setting up their ventures. Today we got to take stock of where they had come …
Competition amongst cryptocurrencies and exchanges
In one of the first of its kind, Neil Gandal and Hanna Halaburda have released a new Bank of Canada working paper exploring the relationships between exchange rates between the USD and various cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin). Here is the abstract with their findings: We analyze how network effects affect competition in the nascent cryptocurrency market. …
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My letter to Hachette's CEO
Amazon asked authors and readers to write to Hachette's CEO regarding this debate. Here is mine: Dear Mr Pietsch I am writing to you at the request of Amazon but, in fact, it is to plea with you to ask them some important, but as yet unasked, questions. This …
'Wait and See' as the appropriate response to disruption
This week a couple of outlets provided coverage of my forthcoming Management Science paper with Matt Marx and David Hsu. Techcrunch: Taking a Wait and See Approach with Disruptive Innovations Knowledge@Wharton: Why Disruptive Innovation can Help Market Leaders Put simply, the overwhelming response from the Christensen-led school of disruptive theory is that incumbents are doomed …
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Digitopoly 