On December 13, the New York Times reported that selling MetroCard swipes isn’t larceny, “and it overturned the 2009 conviction of a New Jersey man who, having served a day in jail for the crime, had fought his case all the way to the State Court of Appeals.” Subway officials had long treated the sale …
Apple's international pricing
A few years ago I had the idea of using iTunes song prices to form an index to illustrate whether currencies were under- or over-valued. The iTunes index indicated significant over valuation of currencies relative to the US dollar in a way that was not correlated with the Economist's Big Mac index. While this may …
Higher education at lower prices
MIT is expanding and enhancing its offerings of free online courses. Anyone with access to the Internet can take the courses and earn a certificate demonstrating mastery of the subject. Students will have a chance interact with each other electronically and most of the grading will either be done via an app or by students …
Technical change can be awkward
Hat tip: Andrew McAfee
Internet hysteria index
<sarcasm alert> Tired of the self-referential and self-important? Then do not attend a conference on communications policy in Washington D.C. (or watch the latest debate among the Republican candidates for president). What is the next best anecdote to that tone? A bit of humor to punctuate the bubble, of course!<End of alert> Need some humor …
Morning Joe discusses Race Against the Machine
This morning, I discussed Race Against the Machine with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and rest of MSNBC's Morning Joe gang at 30 Rock. Here's the video. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640
Richard Rosenbloom, in memory
Richard Rosenbloom passed away on October 26th. He was a gentle soul, a wonderful person, and a insightful scholar. He will be missed. I will miss him. I had the great fortune to meet him several times. The first of these meetings occurred when I was a student. Those first meetings were informal because his …
Steve Jobs Tells Three Stories about his Life
Thanks, Steve, for all you've done for the world. You lived a life true to your ideals.
Lunchtime videos: anticipating the future
A common theme in innovation is how much uncertainty there is about innovations that will be achieved in the future and, in particular, about their value. The classic reference is this piece by Nathan Rosenberg that documents many cases where people got it wrong. The flip-side are situations where the future was well anticipated. For …
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Lunch Break: Robot ball controlled from your iPhone
Here's an interesting way for the digital and physical worlds to interact: Sphero is a robot ball controlled from your smart phone. I could make a connection to the unexpected power of combinatorial innovation in the digital economy, but the truth is, it's just kind of fun to watch on my lunch break. Enjoy!
Digitopoly 