The Jig Is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future - Alexis Madrigal - Technology
After five years pursuing the social-local-mobile dream, we need a fresh paradigm for technology startups. Finnish teenagers performing digital ennui in 1996 2006. Reuters. We're there. "The third generation of data and voice communications -- the convergence of mobile phones and the Internet, high-speed wireless data access, intelligent networks, and pervasive computing -- will shape how we work, shop, pay bills, flirt, keep appointments, conduct wars, keep up with our children, and write poetry in the next century." That's Steve Silberman reporting for Wired in 1999, which was 13 years ago, if you're keeping count. I can take a photo of a check and deposit it in my bank account, then turn around and find a new book through a Twitter link and buy it, all while being surveilled by a drone in Afghanistan and keeping track of how many steps I've walked. The question is, as it has always been: now what? Decades ago, the answer was, "Build the Internet." That paradigm has run its course.
Sriram Krishnan Unsolicited advice for Marissa Mayer
That was one of many messages I got from current and ex-Yahoos on yesterday's news. Having recently exited a short stint at Yahoo as an engineering manager and having had hundreds of conversations with employees on what needs to change at the company, I've seen both the best and the worst of the company. The press has many suggestions for big strategic moves that Marissa should be doing. Here's a list of smaller tactical ones she could do. Marc Andreessen thinks you need to fire over 10K people.
Fleur Pellerin annonce la mise à mort de la neutralité du net
Les rencontres de Pétrarque, une série de tables rondes et d’émissions de radio co-organisées par France Culture et Le Monde, ont été l’occasion de deux sorties tragi-comiques de la part de notre ministre à l’Économie numérique : l’un sur l’armement numérique, sur lequel nous reviendrons, et l’autre sur la Net neutrality, qui a fait hurler Twitter vendredi dernier. La scène se passe après plus d’une heure et demie de débats sur les rapports entre Internet et démocraties, quelques minutes avant que Fleur Pellerin et sa cour ne quittent l’assemblée pour repartir précipitamment pour Paris. Un petit moment de stress pour les animateurs (qui réalisent à la fois une table ronde en public ET une émission de radio en devenir, ce qui est loin d’être évident à gérer). Et là, c’est le drame. Dafuq i just see?! Comment interpréter cet argumentaire totalement aberrant posé pour s’opposer à la Net neutrality ? Ça tombe bien, j’enseigne à Science Po (prenez ça comme un full disclosure). Donc. Tax tax tax
App Cubby Blog - The Sparrow Problem
We’ve all read stories about and been enthralled by the idea of App Store millionaires. As the story goes… individual app developers are making money hand over fist in the App Store! And if you can just come up with a great app idea, you’ll be a millionaire in no time! That may seem a bit hyperbolic, but that is honestly the way the public perceives success in the App Store. This mentality might seem a bit naive to those of us in the tech industry, but I’ll admit — as embarrassing as it is — that even with all my experience in the App Store, I still hope to someday have a runaway hit app that makes a million dollars and relieves some of the financial stress of hacking it out day by day as an indie developer in the App Store. After 4 years in the racket, this is my best advice for making millions in the App Store: build a game, a gimmick, or an app that has some sort of revenue outside a one-time purchase. Unless Google buys your company. Sparrow did everything right. Flop? david
Why the Impossible Happens More Often
[Translations: Japanese] I’ve had to persuade myself to believe in the impossible more often. In the past several decades I’ve encountered a series of ideas that I was conditioned to think were impossibilities, but which turned out to be good practical ideas. For instance, I had my doubts about the online flea market called eBay when it first came out. Pay money to a stranger selling a car you have not seen? I thought the idea of an encyclopedia that anyone could change at any time to be a non-starter, a hopeless romantic idea with no chance of working. Twenty years ago if I had been paid to convince an audience of reasonable, educated people that in 20 years time we’d have street and satellite maps for the entire world on our personal hand held phone devices — for free — and with street views for many cities — I would not be able to do it. These supposed impossibilities keep happening with increased frequency. In a word: emergence. The Noosphere Sculpture by Yves Jeason
