The Value of Advertising on the Kindle
Amazon recently announced they would sell a new Kindle with “Special Offers”version. Kindle with “Special Offers” has the same specs as their WiFi-only Kindle but will include advertisements as the screen saver and on the home screen bar. In exchange, Amazon will only change $114. In all likelihood Kindle hardware will one day be free (or close to free) because of cross subsidization […]
Decision Curbs: How the Miracle on the Hudson will Impact You
Over the weekend I read William Langewiesche’s recent book Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudsonwhich chronicles the role electronic control systems play in avionic safety generally and US AIR flight 1549’s miraculous landing on the Hudson river specifically. A fly-by-wire approach is something we will begin to see with more frequency. In avionic application, […]
Using Events to Drive Retail Traffic
BestBuy is apparently holding iPad supply so they will presumably have enough supply on stock and in the stores for an “upcoming event.” This highlights the delicate nature of retailing today. Physical media is no longer the traffic driver it once was, but today’s traffic drivers aren’t providing the margin that retailers need so events have become the focus to drive […]
On Privacy
I’ve written about Xobni for Outlook in the past, but a recent experience illustrated the role data will play in the future and ultimate implications for privacy. When it first launched I tried freecycle and several months ago I signed-up again to see how the service had evolved and was progressing. Because I knew this […]
Making the Social Graph Linear
John Battelle writes about Color, a new social photo app. Color creates a visual (user-generated photos) public (anyone sharing photos through Color) timeline of any given location (using a proximity algorithm). (It is worth noting Dave Winer suggested the need of a “social camera” four years ago.) Battelle suggests color matters because of location (“colors has the opportunity to be the first breakout application […]
What Market Share Matters?
Both Lessien and John Gruber take on the topic of market share and I think they miss some of the nuances. Lessien applies the basic business school approach: Large market share attracted developers who built software exclusively for the dominant platform. That software, in turn, created further lock-in as users grew accustomed to the workflows and proprietary data formats […]
