There’s just one thing about Santiago Swallow that you won’t easily find online: I made him up. Everything above is true. He really does have a Twitter feed with tens of thousands of followers, he really does have a Wikipedia biography, and he really does have an official web site. But he has never been to TED or South By South West and is not writing a book. I—or rather he—flat out lied about that…”

Gerd adds: great story indeed. April 18, 2013 at 07:14AM

Digitisation in manufacturing will have a disruptive effect every bit as big as in other industries that have gone digital, such as office equipment, telecoms, photography, music, publishing and films. And the effects will not be confined to large manufacturers; indeed, they will need to watch out because much of what is coming will empower small and medium-sized firms and individual entrepreneurs. Launching novel products will become easier and cheaper February 07, 2013 at 10:21PM

Banks have often pursued what Fred Reichheld calls “bad profits”. Retail banks still depend on “nuisance fees” for one-third of their earnings.[2] Banks have used algorithms that process the largest checks first each day, so that depositors will be hit with more insufficient funds notices.[3] Banks created instruments which were based on junky assets, then sold them to clients, and bet against their own clients by betting on their failure. When the big banks got into trouble in 2008 with their gambling known as proprietary trading, the government was obliged to bail them out to prevent a global financial catastrophe: after the big banks had been rescued with public funds (TARP), executive compensation in the sector was widely perceived as “lavish”. The big banks have a great deal to do with banking’s bad reputation. When we think of banks, we tend to think of Citibank [C], Bank of America [BAC], JPMorgan Chase [JPM] or Wells Fargo [WFC]. Indeed, the top five banks do own around three-quarters of the market. January 31, 2013 at 05:46PM

there are now four technology companies that truly matter to people: Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. None of them are at CES.
Gerd adds: the victory of ‘experience’ over ‘stuff’ ? January 07, 2013 at 11:22PM

Lots of companies know about you,” Athey said. “But knowing what you want to buy now — that contextual information is so much more powerful.” It’s why search ads sell better than display ads. The problem? “If only one company has that data, we can’t actually expect the benefits of that data to benefit the ecosystem.” November 17, 2012 at 05:34PM

“Google is no longer organizing the world’s public information; that’s doing an increasingly fine job of organizing itself. Google is keeping the world’s secrets”

Good piece — made me think
Is this a Faustian bargain ?? November 14, 2012 at 06:49AM

Popular chocolate brand Lacta, for example, partnered with Orkut on Fazendinha, Brazil’s answer to Facebook’s Farmville game (the name literally translates as “little farm”). When players plant a cacao seed on their virtual farm, the seed grows into a tree that produces MiniBis, Lacta’s new chocolate snack. October 31, 2012 at 07:29PM

the writing is already on the wall: Service businesses that don’t use social features to lower barriers and increase efficiency will likely not survive long.
Gerd adds: but it’s not either / or, it’s both! October 30, 2012 at 02:19PM