Facebook gave one of the worst keynotes in a long time: there was no vision, just the adoption of Snap’s. It’s the inevitable outcome of a monopoly.
Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letter, Facebook Messenger and Payments, Facebook Instant Articles Fizzing?
Jeff Bezos’ annual letter is as illuminating as ever, particularly on how to achieve alignment in a business. Facebook demonstrates that, both positively and negatively.
The Walt Mossberg Brand
Walt Mossberg is retiring; his influence on tech is well-known, but his influence on the media is just as profound.
SpaceX Reuses a Rocket; The Music Industry: Winning and Whining; Spotify, Universal Agree to New Deal
SpaceX reused a rocket for the first time: it’s an incredible accomplishment. Then, the record labels are winning but can’t stop whining; their short-sightedness is exemplified by the newest deal with Spotify.
Twitter Loses NFL Streaming, Amazon Adds NFL Streaming, Apple and the Mac Pro
Twitter lost the NFL streaming deal to Amazon; all the reasons why the deal didn’t make sense for Twitter explain why Amazon is doing it. Then, the most interesting part of Apple’s Mac Pro news is the timeline.
Medium and Bundle Economics, Text vs Music vs Video, Another Uber Scandal
More on Medium: the company is trying to sell a bundle, but there are no bundle economics in its favor. Then, Uber has another scandal, with a familiar person at the center.
Medium Membership, Medium Content, The Medium Newspaper
Ev Williams premise that media is broken is correct. It’s broken, though, because of the business model, which means another bad business model isn’t the solution.
Blocking and Tackling, Breaking Down the BBC Interview, Medium and Going Viral
A follow-up on Google Next and the definition of “Blocking and Tackling”, then, Ben went viral, and lessons learned
Fake News and Facebook, Filter Bubbles and People, Google’s Featured Snippets Problem
Research says truly fake news isn’t much of a problem; filter bubbles are, but algorithms are less responsible than it seems. That, though, is why Google in particular has a responsibility to do better.
Disney and Differentiated Content, Snap and Hardware
Disney may have differentiated content, but they don’t necessarily have the right business model, and may not get there. Then, could Snap really end up being a hardware company?