Fred’s blog post today is about how new and powerful HTML5 apps are emerging, giving the new Kindle Cloud Reader as an example. The Cloud Reader is also an example of something else: if you tax a system too much people will find ways to work around it. This is highly relevant to anyone running or starting a marketplace. You can’t be greedy! (Sorry, Gordon). I had written a while back – in the context of eBook pricing – how Apple’s take rate of 30% was significantly too high. The Kindle Cloud ...

Fred’s blog post today is about how new and powerful HTML5 apps are emerging, giving the new Kindle Cloud Reader as an example. The Cloud Reader is also an example of something else: if you tax a system too much people will find ways to work around it. This is highly relevant to anyone running or starting a marketplace. You can’t be greedy! (Sorry, Gordon). I had written a while back – in the context of eBook pricing – how Apple’s take rate of 30% was significantly too high. The Kindle Cloud ...

Google buying Motorola is a strong defensive move against both Microsoft and Apple on two fronts: patents and user experience. Apple is vertically integrated and Microsoft controls Nokia (without having had to buy it). Between that and having filed or acquired a lot of patents, these two pose formidable threats to Android. Buying Motorola lets Google fight both of these threats in one go. As Larry Page’s blog post makes clear, Motorola has a huge trove of mobile IP, having invented the first ...

Google buying Motorola is a strong defensive move against both Microsoft and Apple on two fronts: patents and user experience. Apple is vertically integrated and Microsoft controls Nokia (without having had to buy it). Between that and having filed or acquired a lot of patents, these two pose formidable threats to Android. Buying Motorola lets Google fight both of these threats in one go. As Larry Page’s blog post makes clear, Motorola has a huge trove of mobile IP, having invented the first ...

Facebook recently released Messenger as a separate mobile app. Google+ launched with multiple separate mobile apps (Google+, Huddle, Places). What’s going on here? We are seeing the results of limited screen real estate combined with effective notification systems and a fully logged in user on mobile. Unlike on the desktop (Microsoft) and even the browser (Google, Facebook) this means that large integrated apps or even “suites” have no advantage from a usability perspective. For instance, whe...

Facebook recently released Messenger as a separate mobile app. Google+ launched with multiple separate mobile apps (Google+, Huddle, Places). What’s going on here? We are seeing the results of limited screen real estate combined with effective notification systems and a fully logged in user on mobile. Unlike on the desktop (Microsoft) and even the browser (Google, Facebook) this means that large integrated apps or even “suites” have no advantage from a usability perspective. For instance, whe...

Standard & Poors downgrade of the US has generated much discussion, with some blasting S&P such as Robert Reich and some defending S&P such as Henry Blodget. Whatever you may think about the downgrade, I have a different proposal: let’s eliminate ratings agencies. By that I mean specifically a government sanctioned oligopoly on rating debt. Ratings agencies as they exist today are a distinct leftover from a pre-Internet era. They act as aggregators and evaluators of information which in the p...

Standard & Poors downgrade of the US has generated much discussion, with some blasting S&P such as Robert Reich and some defending S&P such as Henry Blodget. Whatever you may think about the downgrade, I have a different proposal: let’s eliminate ratings agencies. By that I mean specifically a government sanctioned oligopoly on rating debt. Ratings agencies as they exist today are a distinct leftover from a pre-Internet era. They act as aggregators and evaluators of information which in the p...

What happened in yesterday’s market underlines the deep bind we now find ourselves in. We have politically precluded new revenues and have shifted our attention to deficit reduction at a time when we would need to invest. We have already had two rounds of quantitative easing and interest rates are at record lows so there is precious little that the Fed can do. At this point a double dip recession is extremely likely with the potential of the second dip being nastier than the first one. Not su...

What happened in yesterday’s market underlines the deep bind we now find ourselves in. We have politically precluded new revenues and have shifted our attention to deficit reduction at a time when we would need to invest. We have already had two rounds of quantitative easing and interest rates are at record lows so there is precious little that the Fed can do. At this point a double dip recession is extremely likely with the potential of the second dip being nastier than the first one. Not su...

The question as to what should represent people online has has generated some mighty fine posts and comments recently. Here is a short list of people strongly supporting some form of pseudonymity or even anonymity: - Caterina Fake: Anonymity and Pseudonyms in Social Software - Andy Weissman: Everybody wants to be special here (in praise of pseudonymity) - Jyri Engeström: untitled G+ post - Chris Pool / moot: 4chan Creator Doubles Down on Web Anonymity with Canvas (via The Atlantic) - Jillian ...

The question as to what should represent people online has has generated some mighty fine posts and comments recently. Here is a short list of people strongly supporting some form of pseudonymity or even anonymity: - Caterina Fake: Anonymity and Pseudonyms in Social Software - Andy Weissman: Everybody wants to be special here (in praise of pseudonymity) - Jyri Engeström: untitled G+ post - Chris Pool / moot: 4chan Creator Doubles Down on Web Anonymity with Canvas (via The Atlantic) - Jillian ...

I was already planning to write this post today before I knew that the markets would open down sharply (Nasdaq down almost 3% as of 11:30am Eastern). While we are still well off the 52-week lows this shakiness in the markets has very real reasons: Europe has been a mess for a while and the US is rapidly becoming one. The underlying reasons are deeply structural (i.e., we are not talking small fixes) and the existing politicians – and more profoundly – political systems are increasingly seen a...

I was already planning to write this post today before I knew that the markets would open down sharply (Nasdaq down almost 3% as of 11:30am Eastern). While we are still well off the 52-week lows this shakiness in the markets has very real reasons: Europe has been a mess for a while and the US is rapidly becoming one. The underlying reasons are deeply structural (i.e., we are not talking small fixes) and the existing politicians – and more profoundly – political systems are increasingly seen a...

I wrote a bit of a rant recently about the structural changes in our economy and society that need to be addressed. What we are getting instead – not surprisingly – is a lame last minute compromise on the debt ceiling that includes absolutely no additional revenues for the government (“it’s all cuts!”). This essentially means that the Democrats and the President caved completely on their original positions (that’s simply an assessment of the outcome, whether or not you happened to agree with ...

I wrote a bit of a rant recently about the structural changes in our economy and society that need to be addressed. What we are getting instead – not surprisingly – is a lame last minute compromise on the debt ceiling that includes absolutely no additional revenues for the government (“it’s all cuts!”). This essentially means that the Democrats and the President caved completely on their original positions (that’s simply an assessment of the outcome, whether or not you happened to agree with ...

I have been struck recently by how much is being said and published by politicians and their supporters that is outright wrong. The latest attempts to rewrite slavery as a time of “family values” for African Americans is yet another example (see today’s New York Times). I am beginning to think that this has a lot to do with the complexity of the changes in the world around us. With many people confused and threatened by change the doors are opened for demagogues and false prophets. It is so m...

I have been struck recently by how much is being said and published by politicians and their supporters that is outright wrong. The latest attempts to rewrite slavery as a time of “family values” for African Americans is yet another example (see today’s New York Times). I am beginning to think that this has a lot to do with the complexity of the changes in the world around us. With many people confused and threatened by change the doors are opened for demagogues and false prophets. It is so m...

As I have been preparing for my talk in Edinburgh in August, I have been collecting examples of disruption. One that I am particularly fond of because so much has happened in the last 15 years are classified ads. Here is a brief history. Classified ads in the offline world were enormously profitable. They accounted for a significant portion of newspaper revenues and also supported some large standalone classified businesses, most notably a company called Trader that was a roll-up of paid and ...

As I have been preparing for my talk in Edinburgh in August, I have been collecting examples of disruption. One that I am particularly fond of because so much has happened in the last 15 years are classified ads. Here is a brief history. Classified ads in the offline world were enormously profitable. They accounted for a significant portion of newspaper revenues and also supported some large standalone classified businesses, most notably a company called Trader that was a roll-up of paid and ...