Posts tagged tech
Irony: I can’t load a story from my Facebook news feed which is about how Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram is doomed because none of Facebook’s apps work.
Ben Lang of Wibiya and Sivan Cohen of Conduit have come up with this graphic that neatly sums up the readerships of some of the world’s most popular tech blogs. (via Typical Readers of Top Tech Blogs Revealed! - The Next Web)
There is an article today about Google laying down internet infrastructure.
This above all is likely Google’s smartest move yet. While the internet feels open and that it belongs to the software side of the platform (those who create websites, apps, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) it’s actually owned by carriers. That means it’s not really really open. Only those who own infrastructure are really in the driver’s seat.
Google takes a position by creating its own infrastructure, which it can then do whatever it wants with. Of course, in order for it to do a lot of things it will likely need to have relationships with the carriers (or build a lot of internet infrastructure itself). It gets a little more complicated than this but it’s move above is likely a good thing.
Meanwhile, while Facebook might own more users than Google+, Google between all of its products is in the better position, especially now that it has an infrastructure play. That doesn’t mean Facebook can’t partner with a carrier, like Microsoft has, but it’ll all depend on where/what/when Facebook anticipates its future and what position it takes.
Really cool.
Things that actually exist: an iPad for communists.
The RedPad was built especially for Communist Party members and enthusiasts. It will compete against foreign brands while catering to the tech needs of the country’s bureaucrats and government workers. … An online survey conducted by China’s 91wenwen.net found that people believe the tablet would be a “symbol of privilege,” as translated on CNET.
Crowd-Funding Brings Unease
Congress is considering exemptions to decades-old securities regulations as a way to throw open the doors to entrepreneurs who want to legally sell equity stakes in their start-ups over the Internet.
But some, such as Jared Hardy, co-founder of a North Dakota beer start-up, aren’t waiting for Congress to act.
Mr. Hardy is among a small but growing number of small-business pioneers already cracking open those doors, by raising capital through the online social-networking process known as “equity-based crowd-funding.” …
At least 100 supporters of a so-called “start-up exemption” to allow equity crowd-funding by sites such as ProFounder are planning to rally on the sidewalks near SEC headquarters in Washington on Thursday.
Big Data Can Change the Way Business Operates
The top marketing executive at a sizable US retailer recently found herself perplexed by the sales reports she was getting. A major competitor was steadily gaining market share across a range of profitable segments. Despite a counterpunch that combined online promotions with merchandizing improvements, her company kept losing ground.
When the executive convened a group of senior leaders to dig into the competitor’s practices, they found that the challenge ran deeper than they had imagined. The competitor had made massive investments in its ability to collect, integrate, and analyze data from each store and every sales unit and had used this ability to run myriad real-world experiments. At the same time, it had linked this information to suppliers’ databases, making it possible to adjust prices in real time, to reorder hot-selling items automatically, and to shift items from store to store easily. By constantly testing, bundling, synthesizing, and making information instantly available across the organization—from the store floor to the CFO’s office—the rival company had become a different, far nimbler type of business.
Forbes: “I will no longer have an editorial role at TechCrunch,” Arrington said. Then, in the same breath, said he will stay on as writer, maintain the title “founding editor,” and continue to report to Arianna Huffington– despite all the glaring conflicts of interest involved.
To Rachel Sterne, who was named in January to be New York’s first chief digital officer, The Daily Pothole epitomizes a new era for city government. Ms. Sterne, 27, who unveiled the blog in February, has been handed the task of reinventing how the city engages with its residents, primarily through social media like Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare and Twitter.
More than six months into her job, Ms. Sterne, a former digital consultant who started an international news site at 22, has found that many people inside and outside city government are still puzzled by her position.
“This role is not just about a Twitter account,” she said in a recent interview, though she does have one, @rachelsterne, with roughly 21,000 followers. “It’s about evolving government. It’s about doing a better and better job of serving New Yorkers. (via New York’s Chief Digital Officer Seeks to Connect the City and the Public - NYTimes.com)
This tweet really, really bothered me. I mean, I get it, it’s a tweet and it’s supposed to grab attention in only so many characters. But coming from a UK mainstream publication? Well, the UK already tried this “get rich quick” thing in Africa already. It was called colonialism. And it didn’t end well.
And do we really need more narratives that promote Africa as a land to “get rich quick”, as opposed to a place where development should take place at the pace established by locals and with priorities and goals set by them? Wired is a bastion of the worst of techno-capitalism. Does Africa need more resource depletion coming from technology related business (i.e. mining for metals used in computers, just to use a glaring example)?
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A blog about progressive politics, domestic policy, global affairs, conservation, and the like, with other interests thrown in occasionally for good measure.
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