Concepts

Media

  • Peter Thiel, Comic Book Hero

    What Gawker did to Peter Thiel is inexcusable, but Thiel’s response is threatening to the industry that made him rich in the first place.


  • Defending Facebook, Amazon Video Direct

    The actual details of the Facebook Trending News scandal probably don’t warrant the outrage; what is more interesting is how Facebook found itself in hot water. Then, Amazon Video Direct is very interesting, but not because it’s going to be a YouTube competitor anytime soon.


  • The Real Problem With Facebook and the News

    Facebook is receiving a lot of criticism for allegedly interfering with conservative topics when it comes to “Trending News”. In fact, though, the polarization reinforced by an engagement-driven feed is a much bigger concern.


  • Prince, Bowie, and Beyoncé; Google’s Margin Squeeze; Microsoft’s Miss

    Prince and David Bowie both understood the Internet, but took drastically different approaches. Then, Google’s business is fine, but it has almost certainly peaked, and the company could learn something from Microsoft about managing expectations.


  • The Problem with Facebook’s Ten-Year Plan, Is BuzzFeed Struggling?

    Facebook’s (in my opinion) misguided attempt to own both public and private social was not the only thing that concerned me about the F8 keynote; I am also skeptical of the 10-year plan. Then, BuzzFeed may have some concerning numbers, but I think there is a good reason: the company is changing its business model.


  • Twitter to Stream NFL Thursday Night Games, About That Gmail April Fool’s Joke

    First, a deep dive into Twitter’s deal with the NFL and why it’s not about the money. Then, why Gmail’s failed April Fool’s joke was so outrageous and worrying.


  • Tesla Skepticism and Superchargers, Medium for Publishers

    Just because Tesla is achieving an Apple-like brand doesn’t mean they will have Apple’s success: the hard part starts now. Plus, why SuperChargers are a big deal. Then, Medium for Publishers is Medium’s play to own the long tail of publishing, and it’s very exciting in what it enables.


  • Blendle Launches in the U.S., An Interview with Alexander Klöpping, Apple Pay Coming to Websites

    A bit of follow-up on why the SE might not succeed in India, and then an exploration of Blendle, the new micropayments platform for news that launched yesterday, along with an interview with co-founder Alexander Klöpping. Plus, Apple Pay for websites.


  • Voters Decide Follow-up, Slack Raising Money, Quitting Slack

    Follow up on my article about Aggregation Theory and politics, and then a discussion of the import of Slack’s latest fundraising and why “Quitting Slack” stories aren’t representative.


  • The Voters Decide

    An apolitical analysis of what is happening in U.S. politics through the lens of Aggregation Theory