At the core of Nicholas Lovell's book The Curve is a central assumption: if the costs of reproducing and distributing a product drop to as near as dammit zero, then the price of those products will inevitably drop to zero. If you have a business that's model is based on a markup percentage on … Continue reading Bookshelf: The Curve
Category: Technology
I've been itching to buy a new phone for some months now. My current phone - a Galaxy SII - has been "showing its age", by which I mean it is three versions behind the current up-to-date version of the Android system, and there are lots of new phones on the market now. I've had … Continue reading What Linux could have been
It was an early start this morning and as a result I dressed more or less in the dark to try avoid waking my wife. Unfortunately two toddlers jumping on the bed put pay to that. Dressing in the dark, however, isn't quite as simple as it used to be. Ten years ago most clothing … Continue reading What underpants can teach us about UX design
I had a great conversation yesterday with Martin Talks over a burrito at the very good Daddy Donkey in London's horrendously rebranded "Midtown" (Holborn/Clarkenwell in old money). One of our topics of conversation was the concept of entrepreneurship in large organisations, its role and appropriateness. I don't really think of myself as an entrepreneur, although to all … Continue reading Entrepreneur, Intrapreneur, Wombling free…
In a bid to keep the kids entertained last night, I dug out my 17-year old Alesis QS6 synthesizer, plugged it in and let them make a horrendous racket. As I got the thing plugged in, and excitement levels were rampant, I did for a split second wonder "Will it still work?". There were no … Continue reading Reliable over time
One of the plethora of wonderful people that I met in Bournemouth at this year's Silicon Beach event was Simon White. He's formerly of the ad world, and these days thinks of ideas and then makes them happen - I aspire to such ideals. Today he wrote an article for the magazine Imperia, and whilst … Continue reading The need for Digital
At university (distressingly some twenty-odd years ago now), I quite quickly realised that I was a qualitative, rather than quantitative, kind of guy. Oh yes, I knew how to live the student dream. To explain - I studied Sociology. And in the realm of the social sciences there is a long-standing debate about whether … Continue reading Qual not Quant
I'm speaking at the European HRO Today Forum in London this morning. You can find my slides (and notes embedded) here. You can find the full #socialCEO report here: http://bit.ly/socialCEOReport
A twitter conversation yesterday reminded me of a crazy idea that had been bouncing around in my head for a couple of months. Imagine, if you will, that on his departure from Microsoft, in a last defiant act to show how much he "loves this company", Steve Ballmer were to put all of his shares … Continue reading The John Lewis of tech
IT security is a hellishly boring subject. It's riddled with nonsensical militaristic metaphor, which ends up with most people confused, scared, and none the wiser. IT security people are, as I've argued before, possibly (and undoubtedly unwittingly) the biggest part of the security problem out there. Recent hacks - the Adobe one in particular - … Continue reading For your own safety
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