A long, long time ago, in an office not far away, I did some work on the "Productivity Paradox". Recently, the issue has resurfaced in a new way, especially via a new e-book by Tyler Cowen called "The Great Stagnation". Annie Lowrey in Slate discusses Tyler's thesis and quotes me on one counter argument: But revenue is not …
Antitrust and Apple's iPad Subscription Pricing
Consider the following situation. You are a producer of a certain fashion item (maybe, designer jeans). A clothing retailer opens up a store on the highly trafficked, High Street. They would like to stock your jeans but they insist on a low wholesale price even though they will price at full retail to consumers. You …
Continue reading "Antitrust and Apple's iPad Subscription Pricing"
The Present and Future of Digital Publishing
Here is what we know about publishing. It is going digital, and that means traditional publishers have to switch their complementors — the term we use to describe firms that do essential things but are not strictly suppliers. Traditional publishers' complementors were printers and distributors. Their new complementors will be whoever can get their digital editions to …
Continue reading "The Present and Future of Digital Publishing"
Technology Review Interview about IT and Innovation
Despite the vast amounts of computing and communication power in corporate hands, companies are at the early stages of using IT to revamp business practices, become more efficient, and drive the next wave of national productivity growth. That's the intro the an interview that David Talbot, Technology Review's chief correspondent, did with Erik Brynjolfsson last week. The first …
Continue reading "Technology Review Interview about IT and Innovation"
The Consequences of Hiybbprqag’ing
Like so many who watch developments in the tech world, I have been absorbed in the last few days on the ‘Bing Sting’ and precisely what it means. The debate is quite passionate. Following the initial story from SearchEngineLand by Danny Sullivan that documented Google’s identification of how Bing’s search rankings were related to its own, Microsoft responded but …
Driving can't be frictionless, but can shopping for gas?
Pull into a parking lot, open the right [mobile] app and you may be able to save a dollar or two on your next fill-up. Over the course of a year, you might even save enough money for a decent meal out. That's from an article by Bob Tedeschi in the New York Times on an emerging …
Continue reading "Driving can't be frictionless, but can shopping for gas?"
Digitopoly 