The strange thing about death is that most of us cope by talking about ourselves. So it was on Twitter last night as word spread of the passing of New York Times media columnist David Carr; a nearly unending stream of expressions of grief mixed with personal anecdotes of a figure so clearly beloved. I […]
Links
Critiquing Disruption Theory
Much of the Internet has been abuzz about The Disruption Machine, an essay by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker that seeks to refute Clayton Christensen’s Theory of Disruptive Innovation. From the article: Most big ideas have loud critics. Not disruption. Disruptive innovation as the explanation for how change happens has been subject to little […]
Daily Update: Apple’s New iPad Ads, Intel’s Missed Opportunity, Rap Genius Fires Co-Founder
Note: I made a mistake while publishing this and sent it to the main Stratechery feed. Since people are sharing this from their feed readers, I’ve decided to make it free for everyone. Consider it a preview of what Daily Update’s are like: if you like it, I hope you will consider signing up Good […]
How Google Can Steal Facebook’s Candy
I wrote a piece on Bloomberg View about Facebook’s vulnerability when it comes to their chief money-maker: app-install ads. Facebook runs the risk of becoming the second option for the sorts of advertisers that are currently its best customers. Facebook has made several acquisitions that will help them gain more insight into in-app behavior, most […]
Dropbox’s Acquisitions Fit Their Apple Strategy
Dropbox made another set of acquisitions today, picking up Loom and Hackpad. Loom is similar to Carousel, Dropbox’s new photo app, while Hackpad is a collaborative document tool. From Recode: In addition to a massive hiring spurt and fundraising stockpile, Dropbox has been quietly acquiring startups that make productivity and media apps so their teams […]
Does Jeff Bezos Read Asymco?
Horace Dediu has an absolutely essential post on the taxonomy of innovation: The definition of innovation is easy to find but it’s one thing to read the definition and another to understand its meaning. Rather than defining it again, I propose using a simple taxonomy of related activities that put it in context. Novelty: Something […]
Alibaba buys Autonavi
I plan on writing more fully about Alibaba in the coming weeks, especially as they approach their IPO, but this bit of news about them buying Autonavi strikes me as being particularly telling: Ecommerce titan Alibaba took a 28 percent stake in Autonavi (NASDAQ:AMAP) nearly a year ago. And then in February this year the […]
Microsoft Pursuing Original Content for Xbox
Another follow-up to my piece on TV, this time having to do with Microsoft. From Bloomberg: Microsoft Corp. is going Hollywood with a cast including comedians Sarah Silverman and Seth Green, aspiring World Cup players and eerily human robots. All are involved in shows that Microsoft’s new Xbox television studio plans to roll out globally […]
The Technology Behind Android TV
Here is an interesting follow-up to my piece yesterday about the various tech giants’ Black Box Strategy. From GigaOM, on The Technology Behind Android TV: To understand Google’s new take on smart TVs, it’s worth considering how consumers experience apps on smart TVs and connected devices today. On most devices, app makers have autonomy (for […]
Is the Irreplaceable Excel in Trouble?
An analyst at R.W. Baird has a report out claiming that Tableau is a threat to replace Excel: Shares of data visualization software maker Tableau (DATA) are up $2.74, or 3.6%, at $78.82, after R.W. Baird’s Steven Ashley raised his rating on the shares to Outperform from Neutral, with a $95 price target, writing that […]