A recent book and FT op-ed opine on a novel solution to America’s inability to respond to knowns and predictable attacks by Russians and jihadis: Hire pirates or, more exactly, employ privateers in the way England’s Queen Elizabeth I did in the 16h century. Back then, the ocean was the world’s Internet, and across it Read more…
The EU wants Google’s smartphone platform opened up to competitors, but the action isn’t just about business…it’s about political and social authority. Google is a rival to the very notion of nation-states, only it’s smarter and more efficiently relentless than any civil government; like a country would do, it sorts people into Read more…
John Schnatter’s nasty public battle for control of the company he founded may be unresolved, but its lesson on reputation is both printed and bound. In case you haven’t been following the soap opera, Schnatter used a racially-charged word during a training session on how not to use racially-charged words, Read more…
A live band’s recreation of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album a few nights ago made me sad. Turns out I experienced an affliction called nostalgia, which was first diagnosed in the mid-17th Century to describe the feelings of melancholy among Swiss mercenaries far from home. It can more broadly involve wistful recollections of Read more…
The advocates for freedom of online expression are supporting the very entities that want to control it. Members of the European Parlaiment have voted to continue debating the merits of laws intended to force content aggregators to pay for snippets pulled from news sites (Article 11), and to protect artists’ copyright by Read more…
With Nestlé facing pressure to break up the company and a CPG market that is no longer obediently accepting of its practices, its CEO is committed to buying and promoting the value of its brands. It could disrupt them instead. Here’s why: Brands ain’t what they used to be. To say Read more…
Next time you check into a Marriott hotel, Alexa may join you to mine your questions and behaviors for its data bank. You should be able to charge Marriott for your visit. Of course, you’ll pay instead, as the experience will be sold to you as an opportunity to make your stay Read more…
There’s growing concern about “kill-zones” that exist around huge technology companies, making it impossible for startup challengers to survive. Online search, social media, mobile and e-commerce, and business software are just some of the industries in which new ideas are likely to get crushed (or bought and then crushed, or at Read more…
Participation in “alternative work arrangements” has declined slightly over the past decade or so, leading the New York Times to declare that the hype about it has been overblown. The Times story is based on the US government’s first assessment of gig employment, which was a qualitative survey, so the numbers are dependent on what questions were Read more…
When Bayer closes its huge takeover deal later this week, Monsanto will cease to exist. But the issues that dogged it may not. Monsanto became the poster child for opposition to genetically modified organisms, or “GMOs.” It’s a complicated issue, since famers have been grafting plants together for thousands of years; broccoli is Read more…