Links and Thoughts 11: 20 May 2014
The music embed today is mildly NSFW (both for content, and because you might emulate the actor’s actions). Good Morning.
Avicii vs Nicky Romero – I Could Be The One
Each post is dated (because everything needs a best-before freshness date) but there is a reason I decided to number these as well; I knew in advance that I’d want or need a day off every now and then, even from the blog.
…and also: instead of rounding up three-to-five links just to make a quota, sometimes it’s better to skip a day. Not everything deserves a link, and we all know there are plenty of places to find content on the internet. On to the links:
Dum Dum Dada Dum Dum Dada Dum Dum:
The Ultimate Chart Tracking What Happens To Each Game Of Thrones House : Fishfinger via io9
Daaaa Daaa dadada Daaaaa Da dadada Daaaaa Da, dadada dum:
The Clone Wars Is Essential Star Wars. I Was A Fool To Ignore Them. : Ain’t It Cool News
You won’t recognize the theme so I won’t do it a third time: [go listen; James Horner, good stuff]
Looking Back at Krull : Den of Geek
Did they factor in user hand size as a variable?:
Phablet Use Distinct From Smartphones, Tablets : Re|Code
Business:
A lot of digital ink is being lavished on the AT&T/DirecTV and YouTube/Twitch [potential] deals — each in their own right is bigger than Apple buying Beats Audio. …Since I feel coverage out there is more than sufficient, I won’t bother to link to any one specific article or analysis. (I trust that if you’re interested, you’ve seen what I’ve seen on those fronts.) What landed yesterday morning are rumors that Twitter was looking into buying SoundCloud — and rumors are the most we can say about the deal at this point.
Tech companies get snatched up all the time — in fact, for many start-ups, getting bought out by one of the Bigs is the goal and raison d’être. When a venture capitalist asks a slouchtrepreneur about his (or her, but usually his) ‘exit strategy’, the VC wants to hear Facebook-Instagram-Billion-Dollar-Style, not about an eventual IPO and a decade or two of hard work.
And while the likes of Apple and Google can afford tens of millions (pocket change) just to buy the talent and tank the product, Amazon is much more focused in their acquisitions, Facebook will buy any small competitor that gets popular, and Microsoft is… clueless? is clueless too strong a word?
I have a longer draft in the works on how the Big 5 [Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft] are squaring off for a battle royale —
Yes, I know when we talk about Tech, we are referring to a whole lot more than just those five — but could you honestly include Sony and Yahoo in such a list? How about eBay? How about *Samsung*? It’s not just the pieces on the board, but how you play them — and which boards you play on, because the game is multi-dimensional.
And that’s all before we start talking about China.
So it’s a big… thing. I’ve been working on that draft for a while.
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And building on the business news — Today’s Book Recommendation is The Age of the Platform by Phil Simon. It was published in October of 2011 (so it missed even the Facebook/Instagram deal two years ago, by about 6 months) but for those of you still working with a 90s-era-MBA mindset—or worse—Simon’s book is going to be worth your time. (Plus, unlike a lot of dot-com-bubble, new-economy ‘tech’ books, this one is more about What Has Worked, and not about speculation or utopian-internet dreams)
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Diary entry for 20 May:
I follow the world of business as an outside observer (as much as any consumer can be ‘outside’ of something that affects our daily lives) and occasionally, some of my ideas on business are going to be too “out there” and Blue Sky for anyone to take seriously.
Sometimes, though, the outside perspective is exactly what you need, especially if you’re looking at present events and don’t have the benefit of historical hindsight. What might be called a Tocquevillien Observer, if I’m allowed to coin that term. Sure, you need to be able to read a P&L statement and know the difference between net & gross — and corporate annual reports can contain a wealth of information, if you can stay awake long enough to read through one. But increasingly, the real story of business is not in the financials, but in the communities: user bases, subscribers, audience — not what the application does but more importantly, who is using it. Every company is a media company, every company is a tech company, and what we need are not MBAs but degrees in psychology, sociology — and English, damn it, because in the end—no matter what you’re selling—if you can’t get the customer to buy into your story you have nothing. The favorite brands are the ones that tell a story, and help us tell a story about ourselves. That right there is engagement, and customer investment, and repeat business — for email, photos, phones, and sharing as much as for cars, booze, bread, music, books, deodorant, or household appliances.
Don’t believe me? Ask someone about their Vitamix.
So maybe what we need in business reporting are more multidisciplinarians and outsiders, and fewer publications like Forbes, Business Insider, Seeking Alpha, and Motley Fool. Some tech-oriented websites seem to be getting it right, but few enough support longform journalism (I see a lot of summaries, and link posts). Maybe Rolling Stone could add a couple more pages for business coverage.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll chip away a little more on that draft. —M.
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