Democratizing Product Development: Amazon, Google and Facebook
A trend in modern successful websites is the democratization of information and decision making. The so-called wisdom of the crowds is at the heart of what makes a web 2.0 company successful. I’m...
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Do We Live in a Simulation? Implications for Morality and the Beauty of Physics.
There’s been a lot of fuss lately about Nick Bostrom’s ideas that we live in a simulation as a result of an article in the New York Times. Here I’ll provide some analysis of Bostrom’s bold claim,...
View ArticleSolving RSS Infoglut through Social Filtering
This morning Scoble linked to a leaked video out of google describing some new features to be added to Google Reader. I don’t like re-reporting other-people’s news here, but I can’t leave this one sit...
View ArticleWhy build your app in Facebook?
Almost every information service can be made more valuable by the addition of social networking metadata. So if you’re thinking about launching a new information service you currently have three...
View ArticleWhy Google Gears matters in an always-connected broadband world
An obvious trend in this industry is towards more pervasive internet access with bandwidth steadily increasing. The build-outs of WiMax networks, 3G cellular networks and metropolitan WiFi efforts...
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Why Desktop Computers Matter as Laptops Speed Up
I just got a new MacBook Pro of my very own which is undoubtedly the fastest computer I’ve ever owned. I hear a lot of people saying things like "I don’t think I’ll ever get another desktop computer...
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Risk vs. Reward: Expectation Value of Utility
I’m going to try applying some economic theory to a classic career decision. Imagine that you must choose between two possible jobs, let’s call them "Big Company" and "Startup." Big Company will pay...
View ArticleMergers: When they can work and why they usually don’t
When thinking about the recent Microsoft, Facebook deal, I couldn’t help but talk about mergers generally. So are some general thoughts about what makes mergers work or not. Research consistently...
View ArticleMicrosoft buys tiny stake in Facebook: Game on!
After months of rumors about companies trying to buy Facebook, yesterday a deal was announced. In a sense the deal is quite small because Facebook sold just a 1.6% equity stake to Microsoft. But by...
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Diesel car options in the US: there aren’t many
My 14-year old Subaru is on its way out, and since I’m commuting to Kirkland almost every day I really need a new car. Primary criteria for me are safety and fuel economy / ecological impact. Safety...
View ArticleApple’s subscription music service
Many times I’ve been asked about the possibility of Apple offering a subscription music service for iPods and iTunes. Here I’ll lay out why I think this will happen, what the timeline is for it, how...
View ArticleEvolutionary Stages of Communism: Revolution, Politics, Corruption
Revolutionaries are idealists. They have to be. They risk their lives to fight for what they believe in. Lenin, Mao, Castro — they all truly and deeply believed that they were fighting for a better...
View ArticleThe Microhoo! deal is all about network effects
Although most corporate mergers fail (often due to mis-aligned incentives on the part of the deal-makers) there is a solid economic foundation for the proposed Microsoft + Yahoo! merger. Most of their...
View ArticleIntellectual Property in the Music Industry
[I wrote this for my excellent class on Open Innovation. With mere weeks to go until I finish my MBA, I haven't found much time to write original stuff for this blog, so I'm recycling a bit.] The...
View ArticleWhy Amazon Kindle might succeed where others have failed
Amazon has a history of facilitating disruptive change. First by selling books online, they demonstrated the advantages of a well-run online store. Then with music, movies and just about everything...
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Externalities of the Columbian Hostage Rescue
This last week there was a lot of news coverage of a "daring hostage rescue in Columbia." Fifteen people were freed from the FARC. Many had been held captive for years, including politician Ingrid...
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Why Evolution Runs Backwards in the Refrigerator
Evolution-like processes exist in many places beyond genetic adaptation of biological species. We see similar processes in a great many aspects of modern life, generally running many orders of...
View ArticleIs Apple using scarcity to hide iPhone quality problems?
Here I propose an alternative explanation for iPhone scarcity: the difficulty in obtaining a new iPhone keeps people from complaining about problems with it. I will explore this sophisticated...
View ArticleApple moves downmarket: iPhone as a services platform
Coincident with the launch of the iPhone 3G hardware, Apple has started a couple of new online services: MobileMe and the iPhone App Store. In some ways these are natural extensions of existing...
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Creative Commons Licenses on Books
A few weeks ago Lawrence Lessig showed up The Colbert Report to plug his new book, Remix. The interview itself is quite funny. Lessig talks a bit about how traditional copyright laws don’t make sense...
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