Clearview AI is billed as a story about facial recognition, but the most important questions it raises is about scraping. And, by doing so, it reveals how many trade-offs we have yet to confront.
Visa, Plaid, Networks, and Jobs
The history of credit cards helps explain why Plaid is valuable to Visa, and how Visa can make it significantly better.
CES Concepts, Verizon Drops Bundles, Technology and TV
CES is boring, because no one knows what is next. Then, Verizon is dropping Internet and TV bundles, which is a rational response to the changing nature of pay-TV. It also shows how much tech disruption is still to come.
The End of the Beginning Follow-Up, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, Venture versus Productive Capital
Examining The End of the Beginning through the lens of Carlota Perez’s Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, and what that means for venture capital.
The End of the Beginning
The beginning of technology was about the shift from batched computing in one place to continuous computing everywhere. That era of paradigm changes may be over, which means the real changes are only beginning.
Tech and Liberty
The First Amendment is not about a law, but rather a culture — specifically a culture of liberty. It is essential to tech, and in this context, Facebook is mostly right about political ads (but can still do better).
The Internet and the Third Estate
Mark Zuckerberg suggested that social media is a “Fifth Estate”; in fact, social media is a means by which the Third Estate — commoners — can seize political power. Here history matters.
What Is a Tech Company?
The question of “What is a tech company” comes down to how much software and its unique characteristics affects the company’s core business.
[FREE] Jony Ive Leaves Apple, Ive’s Legacy, The Post-Ive Apple
Jony Ive is leaving Apple: how it happened, Ive’s legacy, and what it means for Apple going forward.
Disney and the Future of TV
TV is moving from a world where distribution dictates business models to one where business models need to fit the jobs consumers want done. That is the best way to understand Disney’s latest announcement.