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The Power And Weakness That Come With Being The Default

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 18:00:18 -0400

Facebook had its big coming-out party for mobile on Wednesday, and its Home launcher will soon start shipping exclusively on an HTC device. This is the social network’s first crack at being the default experience on any device. Until now, using Facebook has been a completely optional and background experience, meaning you’d have to visit its website or download one of its apps. After nine years, that approach worked rather well, to the tune of over a billion users. To get to the next level, Facebook had to start dipping its toes into uncharted territory…being the default. Creating a situation where you are the default, out-of-the-box experience certainly has many advantages. For example, HTC is putting all of its marketing power behind the HTC First, and Facebook probably didn’t have to pay a dime for any of this. The phone manufacturer is hoping that even though this isn’t a true “Facebook Phone,” that the fantasy of it being that, along with a manageable $99 price tag, will be enough to sell a slew of them. AT&T is certainly helping the cause on their site with this massive advertisement, which is of course what you see by default when you surf there: On April 12, when people start opening their new devices, they will see a Facebook screen asking them to log in. Yes, Facebook has reached default status. If for some odd reason the person with the phone doesn’t have a Facebook account, they can simply sign up for one. Sounds crazy, but there are still many people without a Facebook account and might not have had a reason to have one before. They might have never had a smartphone before either, which means that the Facebook Home experience will be their guide. The importance, and potential negatives involved, cannot be understated. The Power Of Default Talk to Microsoft about defaults. It worked quite well for its Internet Explorer browser until it got them into hot water. We’ll get to the hot water later, but Internet Explorer was a beast, because it shipped as the only browsing experience for Windows machines. Was it the best web browser out there? For a while, yes it was. Installing another browser used to be seen as something only really geeky, or adventurous, people would do. I remember tweaking my old Windows machine every chance I could get, downloading any other interface to the

The Coxeyites, the Bankers, and the Political Class

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:00:55 -0500

In 1894, a scraggly band of misfits made their way from Ohio to Washington, D.C. They had a plan to present to the political class, one that they said would bring an end to the economic depression that had been sparked by the Panic of 1893 and guarantee a future of endless prosperity for all. Their plan was for the politicians and the government to print unlimited amounts of money. Surely, that would solve everything! [...]

The Coxeyites, the Bankers, and the Political Class appeared in the Daily Reckoning. Subscribe to The Daily Reckoning by visiting signup for an Agora Financial newsletter.

U.S. Hits Borrowing Limit, Moves to Avoid Default

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:00:00 -0500

DailyFinance.com: WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. government is running up against its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit and is taking steps to avoid default. Reaching the limit Monday sets up another dispute between the White House and Congress over taxes and spending in ... Read more

Benzinga Market Primer, Thursday, December 27

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 07:23:57 -0500

Futures Flat on Debt Ceiling Fears

U.S. equity futures were flat in early trading Thursday following a letter from Treasury Secretary Geithner to leaders stating that the debt ceiling would be breached on December 31 unless the Fiscal Cliff were to be avoided and the ceiling raised. Geithner has stated that

Borrowers Beware: 401(k) Loans Hold a Hidden Risk

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:00:00 -0400

DailyFinance.com: The difficult economy of the past few years has led many people to take desperate measures with their money. Unfortunately, some of the things people have had to do to make ends meet in the short term are creating financial problems for them in the ... Read more

Borrowers Beware: 401(k) Loans Hold a Hidden Risk

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:00:00 -0400

Get Ready, America: The Debt Ceiling Debate Is Back

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:40:00 -0400

DailyFinance.com: The U.S. is again closing in on its national debt limit, and if a recent statement by Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner is any indication, another fight with the Obama administration over the issue of raising it might be brewing. Another ... Read more

The (continuing) institutional revolution

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:12:24 -0400

I just read a fascinating book by Douglas W. Allen,

OMFG! Change! Media freaks out!

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:11:48 -0400

I got a call today from ABC.com’s Joanna Stern about Google’s Goggles. She’s very nice. But I had a fit when she started by asking me about all that could go wrong with the new technology. That is your angle? I screeched? OMFG. Why must that be the starting point for media? Technology bad. Technology [...]

Mapping new opportunities in technology and news

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:11:07 -0400

At CUNY’s Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, we believe technology provides many still-untapped opportunities for news. So we commissioned Dr. Nicholas Diakopoulos to research and map that territory. He came back with a very good and readable paper and with an exercise/game to help media folks find that opportunity. We’re offering that game to journalism [...]

The importance of JOBS

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:54:55 -0400

The JOBS bill being signed by President Obama today is critical to the emergence and growth of the next generation of industries as ecosystems. Those ecosystems are made up of three layers: Platforms (Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Facebook, Kickstarter, Federal Express, Foxconn), which make it possible for entrepreneurial ventures to be built at lower cost with [...]

Lies

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 11:00:09 -0400

You need not take a journalist’s oath to tell the truth. You need only be born to a mother such as mine, who told me and my sister often–very often–that “there’s nothing worse than a liar.” It worked on us. My sister became a minister and I became a journalist. Mike Daisey became a storyteller, [...]

Weekend Wrap Up: Apple hits $600 and the S&P500 index closes over 1,400. What’s next?

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 10:31:09 -0400

Hello fellow traders everywhere, Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 3/16/12. Last week was a strong move for the equity markets and gold slipped to ten week lows. Despite rumors of releasi...

Weekly Traders Homework: Positive Jobs Report Gives Bullish Sentiment (w/ Economic Calendar and Stock Radar)

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:40:59 -0400

Non-farm payrolls came in and job growth is still taking place. Market players are not concerned that it is very light growth, the direction is the key part they are bullish about. I have been waiting for the data to come out and while I was skeptical leading into it, the headline numbers (which if [...]

MarketClub’s Weekend Update

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:42:11 -0500

Hello fellow traders everywhere, Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 3/09/12. Last week was a choppy week for the equity markets and the official Greek default could be a whole new problem ...

Whither capitalism?

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:38:36 -0500

I’ve been arguing for sometime that technology leads to efficiency over growth and that that will have profound impact on society we can only begin to grasp. Michel Bauwens now furthers the argument, asking whether capitalism can continue. I don’t think I’ll go that far yet. But his arguments are fascinating. Where there is no [...]

This coming week is going to be very interesting

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 13:34:41 -0500

Hello fellow traders everywhere, Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 3/02/12. This week, we look at nine major Sectors of the markets and highlight the biggest winners and losers for the we...

Gutenberg the Geek, reviewed

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:30:01 -0500

Some kind folks have reviewed my Kindle Single Gutenberg the Geek. Snippets: Craig Newmark: Gutenberg was a geek (I prefer “nerd”, being one) whose work invented our current day, much like our work together on the Internet is defining the future. Jeff does a great job with the story of Gutenberg, correcting misconceptions including my own, [...]

Rewired youth?

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:49:15 -0500

Pew and Elon University surveyed a bunch of blatherers, including me, about the impact of the internet on youth, asking us to respond to a number of contrary scenarios about the year 2020. Lots of interesting responses here. I saved mine. Snippets: * Survey on rewired youth: In 2020 the brains of multitasking teens and young [...]

Gutenberg the Geek: A Kindle Single

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:09:42 -0500

I’ve just published Gutenberg the Geek, arguing that the inventor of printing was our first geek, the original technology entrepreneur. I find wonderful parallels in the challenges and opportunities he faced and those that face Silicon Valley (or entrepreneurial journalism) startups today. So I retell his story from an entrepreneurial perspective, examining how he overcame [...]

Leave our net alone*

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:00:12 -0500

The internet’s not broken. So then why are there so many attempts to regulate it? Under the guises of piracy, privacy, pornography, predators, indecency, and security, not to mention censorship, tyranny, and civilization, governments from the U.S. to France to Germany to China to Iran to Canada — as well as the European Union and the [...]

New This Week: Biggest Weekly Winners & Losers By Sector

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:34:59 -0500

New This Week: Biggest Weekly Winners & Losers By Sector Hello fellow traders everywhere, Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 2/24/12. New this week, we look at nine major Sectors of th...

Piracy v. do not track

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:12:32 -0500

Consider the similarities between piracy and do not track. They’re greater than you think, for both reduce value for content creators. And both are excuses for internet regulation. In piracy, a content company sets business rules: You must pay for my product; if you take it without paying for it, you are robbing me of value. [...]

A letter to 2040

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:37:36 -0500

Zeit Online is having some of us write letters to a child just born, to be read in the year 2040. After reviewing David Weinberger’s Too Big to Know, they asked me to write about wisdom. I wrote about media. It being a letter to a German child, I of course wrote about Gutenberg, too. [...]

Profitable news

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:01:23 -0500

One of the most controversial things I have said (you’re welcome for that straight line) is that I insist my entrepreneurial journalism students at CUNY build only for-profit businesses. When I said that at a recent symposium for teachers of entrepreneurial journalism, I thought some of the gasping participants would tar-and-feather me. I’m not against [...]

Are media in the content business?

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:24:50 -0500

The Guardian launches its new Media Network my essay asking whether we in media are really in the content business. Here’s the first half (in the rest, I catalog the methods I think are worth exploring to rethink our role…. I’ll be expanding on that later). * * * What if we in media are not [...]

Economist debate on sharing: closing

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:44:12 -0500

You are free to live in a cave of your making, Andrew, and you can be assured that I shall neither drag nor entice you out of it. But it is difficult to believe that you would be content in that dark, quiet, and lonely space, considering how you do seem to adore the spotlight [...]

Economist debate on sharing: Round II

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:32:44 -0500

Here’s the second of three rounds in the Economist debate on the benefits of sharing. This is my response to Andrew Keen’s opener. * * * Being public, I shall rely on the public to respond for me: In a discussion on Google+, Google News creator Krishna Bharat writes: “The thrust of Keen’s argument seems to be that [...]

Weekly Traders Homework: The First Sign Of Weakness In 2012 (w/ Economic Calendar & Stock Radar)

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:52:14 -0500

Last week was the first week of 2012 that the markets closed lower than they started. The modest move lower did little to remedy the majority of extended stocks. For most of the week, any weakness was quickly bought by anxious dip-buyers and only until Friday did we actually receive true weakness. However, even that [...]

Clint Eastwood saves the day :-)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:13:22 -0500

Clint Eastwood saves the day Hello fellow traders everywhere, Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 2/10/12. ————- Greece rattles the equity markets yet again Gold sli...

Privacy and speech

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:40:18 -0500

Two notable decisions in Europe reflect the tension between privacy and free speech. The European Court of Human Rights came down on the side of press freedom — thus speech — when it ruled in favor of media reporting on public figures. And a Dutch court ruled that journalists had a right to interview a Nazi [...]

euro zone update- markets yet to discount the discounts

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:13:52 -0500

The issues I’ve been discussing over the last year or two while now crystallizing, remain highly problematic. The idea of Greek default transformed from being a Greek punishment to a gift, with the pending question: ‘If Greece doesn’t have to pay, why do I?’- threatening a far more disruptive outcome that is yet to be [...]

The temporary, pop-up corporation

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:48:41 -0500

A stat I heard repeated all over Davos: that the average lifespan of a Fortune 500 company is now 15 years, according to Cisco’s John Chambers. Trying to confirm that figure, I found others saying the number is less than 50. Whatever. It’s far from forever. So what if corporations more and more become short-lived [...]

Economist debate on sharing

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:28:14 -0500

The Economist has just launched a debate between me and Andrew Keen — and you — on the proposition that society benefits when we share information online.” Here is my opening statement; follow the link for Andrew’s and the discussion: * * * We are sharing for good reason—not because we are insane, exhibitionistic, or drunk. We [...]

Sin or sense?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:04:49 -0500

Oh, no, the “original sin” meme of newspapers not charging for content is rising again. Sigh. Dick Tofel, general manager of Pro Publica and former assistant publisher and assistant managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is a very smart and reasonable man and he has written a smart and reasonable Kindle Single (enabling him [...]

NASDAQ closes at its best levels in over a decade … should you trust this move?

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:50:04 -0500

NASDAQ closes at its best levels in over a decade … should you trust this move? Hello fellow traders everywhere, Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 2/03/12. ————-...

Facebook goes public: Zuckerberg in Public Parts & WWGD?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:12:27 -0500

Relevant to the expected Facebook IPO announcement, here are excerpts from my interview with Mark Zuckerberg for Public Parts. * * * “I’m in the first generation of people who really grew up with the internet,” Zuckerberg tells me. “Google came out when I was in middle school. Then there was Amazon and Wikipedia and iTunes [...]

Good Reasons to Love Those Darn Student Loans

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:30:00 -0500

DailyFinance.com: With student loan default rates rising due to persistently high unemployment rates, it's easy to vilify the seemingly endless monthly payments that follow graduation. But take a closer look, and you'll find that the news about student loans is more ... Read more

20 Signs That Europe Is Plunging Into A Full-Blown Economic Depression

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:43:15 -0500

An economic nightmare is descending on Europe. With each passing month, the economic numbers across Europe get even worse. At this point it is becoming extremely difficult for anyone to deny that Europe is plunging into a full-blown economic depression. In fact, some parts of Europe are already there. In Spain the overall unemployment rate [...]

Are you onboard with this BULL MARKET IN STOCKS?

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:17:05 -0500

Hello fellow traders everywhere, Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 1/27/12. ————- But first … * FaceBook’s IPO … this coming week! * The Dollar takes...

Efficiency over growth (and jobs)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:29:30 -0500

The hook to very song sung at Davos is “jobs, jobs, jobs.” The machers on stages here operate under an article of faith that growth can come back, that they can stimulate it, that that will create jobs, and then that all will be well. What if that’s not the case? I am coming to [...]

Davos, disrupted

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:53:04 -0500

I’m among the disrupted of Davos. Outside, there’s an #OccupyDavos encampment in igloos (really). Down the road, someone will be giving out an award to the worst company of the world. But the disruption is no longer outside. That’s what I sensed in past years; that’s what they wanted to believe here. Now the disruption [...]

Public Parts on Reding’s four pillars

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:34:05 -0500

Since European Commission VP Viviane Reding’s proposal for internet regulation — under her four pillars — are the topic of discussion this week at DLD in Munich and in Europe, here is what I wrote about them in Public Parts: * * * I fear the unintended consequences that may come from regulation. Take, for example, European [...]

#DLD12: Viviane Reding on privacy

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:00:35 -0500

I’m at the DLD conference in Munich. Haven’t live-blogged in ages. But the European Commission vice-president Viviane Reding is speaking and I disagreed with her rather a lot in Public Parts, arguing that her four pillars for internet governance — privacy by default, demanding European standards for storage of data, the right to be forgotten, [...]

Where Gutenberg worked

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:08:18 -0500

I took a detour on a trip to Europe so I could visit Mainz and the Gutenberg Museum, having become obsessed with the great man and his magnificent disruption as both an inventor and an entrepreneur. It was awe-inspiring to stand before the first known page of his printing (a snippet from the Sibylline prophesy, [...]

We are the lobbyists

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:00:38 -0500

The internet has helped untold publics to form. Yesterday, the internet became a public. Or rather, millions of people who care about internet freedom used the net to organize and defend it against efforts to control and harm it. The SOPA-PIPA blackout got attention in media that previously all but ignored the issue, whether out [...]

Network knowledge

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:49:53 -0500

I’m a bit late in blogging about and urging you to read David Weinberger’s new book, Too Big to Know. That’s because I couldn’t find my oft-underlined, much-dogeared galley, which I soaked in as soon as I got it. David is an intellectual hero of mine. He is a coauthor of the seminal work of [...]

Murdoch doesn’t understand links

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:58:50 -0500

[View the story "Murdoch doesn't understand links...." on Storify]

Shifting the discussion to principles

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:12:22 -0500

The good news about the White House’s response to an anti-SOPA petition is that it raised the discussion to the level of principles, arguing against “disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet.” That is where it needs to be. The bad news, as Tim O’Reilly eloquently explores, is that the White House makes a gross [...]

Journalism via jokes

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:12:43 -0500

Tonight I redeemed the greatest Christmas present from my son, Jake: tickets to see The Daily Show taping with him. It was fun and funny. But even better, it inspired me as a journalist. I left the studio determined to teach a course in journalism via jokes. (I’d call it Truth Through Humor, but that [...]