When we think of Golden Ages it is looking back and realising that things were better during some period of time; we just never realised it at the time. But we are currently living in a Golden Age of Television. It is better than at any point in its history. And what is more, we …
Free content and net neutrality
One of the unintended consequences of the push towards net neutrality has been that it appears to preclude deals that allow some content to be provided freely. Such deals have been done for, say, Wikipedia but the latest issue has arisen with regard to Facebook's internet.org. India's Telecom Regulatory Authority has ordered Reliance Communications -- …
Of Homo Economicus and Superintelligence
Last week I had the pleasure of being a commentator on Nick Bostrom's talk at the star studded Machine Learning and the Market for Intelligence conference held at the University of Toronto. Bostrom is the author of Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies and was the subject of a massive New Yorker profile the other week. Both …
How the Internet Became Commercial: YouTube and Podcast.
If you prefer to watch or listen to material, we have a video and podcast for you. Here is a talk at Google's facilities in Boston, shown on YouTube. Here is a podcast, hosted by Andre Fradkin, at MIT. Please enjoy!
Integrity and body cameras
An interesting opinion by Sarah Lustbader in the New York Times today. She argues that police body cameras are just a first step towards accountability but the camera data has to reside in a trusted third party to be of real use. But as currently implemented, body camera programs in the United States too often …
Is Uber disruptive?
It is almost strange to be asking the question. Ask any cab driver and they will equate Uber to any disruptive child you care to present. But, of course, it is precisely because the term 'disruption' has multiple connotations that this question can be asked. Indeed, for Clay Christensen, Michael Raynor and Rory McDonald in …
MOD-t: A cheap 3D printer that's easy to use
Just over a year ago, I shelled out $149 for a Indigogo project called the MOD-t. Why? Well some of my friends had shelled out over $2,000 for MakerBot 3D printers but everytime I looked into those it seemed like they spent more hours on call to tech support than printing. Given how slow those …
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Twenty Years of the Commercial Internet (Part 2)
How did the deployment and uptake of the Internet bring about growth in the US economy? That is a fundamental economic question that still resonates today, because many of these events yielded lessons that we can take to the present. The topic is hard to address because many participants experienced these events in different ways. …
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The Internet of Things, Dangers, Trust and the Blockchain
There is has been a bit of discussion this week regarding The Blockchain. This is the real innovation that powers Bitcoin but one that many see may be a way of generating trust and permissions. Here is a great summary in The Economist. This can be dry stuff -- you know, hard to motivate. But …
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Getting our Name on a Billboard
I’m an avid reader of Billboard Magazine. I find the reporting well informed and the writing lively, on top of the fact that the subject matter – the music industry – fascinates me. So it was with some concern that I read a recent Billboard article claiming that my recent study with Luis Aguiar, “Streaming …
Digitopoly 