Last week, Google released its Chrome Browser for iOS. A few weeks earlier it had update its main search app for iOS. Both are extremely good. The Chrome Browser does something important, it synchronises data and also open tabs across devices. That means that when I am on my iPad I can now see what …
Can analytics on reader behavior improve publishing?
The other day, the Wall Street Journal reported on the various ways eBook providers were gathering information on reader behavior. This is not really a surprise but as I have noted before, the notion that publishers may learn more about what readers want has generated undue alarm in some circles. This latest discussion is on …
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Facebook Credits and the Perils of Research on Digitisation
I never thought very much about Facebook Credits until an MBA project team decided to explore them more fully last year. The team tried hard but I really could not understand why Facebook wanted people to buy credits when they made purchases (of, say, virtual sheep) on Facebook. They explained that you could now earn …
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Why don't scammers say they are from somewhere else?
I must admit that sometimes when I'm going through the junk mail filter, I like to look at the narratives of scammers to see how creative they are being. However, it is so sad that they are so obvious. And there is very little variation in the narrative. It just seems that there are an …
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Where is Amazon's Kindle market power coming from?
There is much discussion of late regarding Amazon's market power in the eBook space. It is probably over 60 percent in the US but I had trouble finding a current, reliable number. The fear is not so much that but how difficult it is for competitors to build traction. There are two main barriers here. …
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A few posts on children, Facebook and learning apps
Over at Forbes.com recently I have written a few posts that will likely be of interest to readers here. "Can Apps Transform Learning into Games?" Forbes.com, 13th June 2012. "If World Leaders can Misplace Children, What about the Rest of Us?" Forbes.com, 11th June 2012. "Is There Evidence that Free Ranging on Facebook is Bad for Tweens?" Forbes.com, …
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What does the average surfer know about Creative Commons?
What do you know about Creative Commons, the legal frameworks that support many web-based activities, such as Wikipedia, Flickr, or YouTube? You probably do not know too much, if you are like most people. Most users do not know the legal details behind the web – and that is a fact, as you will see …
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Joining the scholarly publishing club
The entrenched market power of existing scholarly publishers haven't stopped innovators from trying to enter with new models. Probably the best known is the Public Library of Science that charges authors between $1350 and $2900 to publish papers depending on the journal. After that, the paper is open access. Elsevier offer the same option but …
Amazon's monopsony power
There has been much focus on the retail prices of eBooks following the DOJ's investigation into publishers and Apple. Countering that has been an undercurrent of discontent regarding Amazon's monopoly power as a distributor. While it is legitimate to worry about such things, it was a complicated and dynamic situation and so it was tough …
What jobs has Apple created?
It turns out Apple has an answer to this question: 514,000 in the US. 304,000 of those are either jobs at Apple or at companies that supply them. Another 210,000 are iOS app economy jobs but let's face it, those aren't likely to be full time. So what are we to make of this? The …
Digitopoly 