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The 3 biggest trends at CES 2019

Jan 11, 2019 | , ,

As the world’s biggest consumer tech show wraps up, here’s what Apple, Google, and other giants who made news tell us about tech in 2019.

  • Google and Amazon continued duking it out for title of most virtual assistants listening to the most people on the most devices. It’s been a multi-year battle, once led by Amazon, quickly matched by Google, and now escalating between these two companies like a new cold war.
  • The biggest news is that Apple–fresh off devastating quarterly earnings that showed iPhone growth has tanked–is making a bigger effort to be interoperable with third-party products, and make its services accessible without using Apple devices themselves.
  • When I took a ride in Waymo’s first driverless taxi last year, I noticed something interesting: The app interface doesn’t show your route–it just shows the start point and end point. I joked to one of Waymo’s product developers that it had already designed its interface for flying cars. They laughed, but only a little. Perhaps because that’s exactly the kind of thinking that the mobility industry is doing, now that self-driving technologies are maturing and digital ride hailing has been figured out. The way we move is only going to keep changing.

Source: The 3 biggest trends at CES 2019

The Digital Commons: Tragedy or Opportunity? A Reflection on the 50th Anniversary of Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons 

Jan 9, 2019 | , , , ,

Garrett Hardin’s Science article “The Tragedy of the Commons” 50 years ago focused on a physical world where common goods are finite and rivalrous. By contrast, this paper explores the digital commons, calling for better understanding of its long-term impact and for government policies supporting benefits while mitigating costs.

Source: The Digital Commons: Tragedy or Opportunity? A Reflection on the 50th Anniversary of Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons – HBS Working Knowledge – Harvard Business School

CES 2019 is a grand distraction from what matters

Jan 8, 2019 | , ,

2018 was an unprecedented bad year for technology that has eroded consumer trust. But you won’t see any mention of that this week. Because it’s the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. It’s the time of year when gadget manufacturers everywhere line up to dazzle us with their latest takes on thin and shiny. It’s one long “This Is Fine!” cartoon, playing out in the stale cigarette-scented air of the Hilton Las Vegas–with canapés!

Privacy and security are the two things we need out of CES that we most certainly won’t get (despite Apple’s giant ad). Instead? I’ve gotten pitches for $15,000 massage chairs, delivery robots, and, as always, more TVs than I can count. It’s like the industry is telling us, kick back, binge on a show, and stuff your face until this nightmare has come to an end.

Source: CES 2019 is a grand distraction from what matters

 Is This the End of the Age of Apple? 

Jan 3, 2019 | ,

The last big innovation explosion — the proliferation of the smartphone — is clearly ending. There is no question that Apple was the center of that, with its app-centric, photo-forward and feature-laden phone that gave everyone the first platform for what was to create so many products and so much wealth. It was the debut of the iPhone in 2007 that spurred what some in tech call a “Cambrian explosion,” a reference to the era when the first complex animals appeared. There would be no Uber and Lyft without the iPhone (and later the Android version), no Tinder, no Spotify.

Source: Opinion | Is This the End of the Age of Apple? – The New York Times

Apple: time to get back to your roots and fix some stuff

Jan 2, 2019 |


2018 was a rocky year for Apple. Despite becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company this summer, it has seen disappointing sales for the latest iPhone–its main cash cow–and, worse, analysts, industry players, journalists, and users believe that the Cupertino company has stopped innovating in favor of milking its user base with marginally updated products at higher price points. It’s a dangerous game that can go south really fast.

Source: Apple: time to get back to your roots and fix some stuff

Why online retail has to drop its addiction tactics

Dec 30, 2018 | , ,

Clearly we’ve reached a saturation point with tech overload. Many of us have found ourselves falling into reward-center feedback loops, craving the dopamine hits that likes and comments give to the brain or the instant gratification of one-click shopping. We’re not exploring and learning anymore — we’re zombie scrolling, buying things we don’t want, and spending precious hours staring at pictures we don’t care about.

Source: Why online retail has to drop its addiction tactics

iOS 12 makes your old iPhone feel new

Sep 14, 2018 |

Like most Apple events, last Wednesday’s big iPhone and Apple Watch reveal was a master class in manufacturing desire. For nearly two hours, Apple executives spoke of larger and more vibrant screens, faster processors, and better cameras, all in service of making your current iPhone or Apple Watch seem like stale bread.

So it was a bit jarring when Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives, took the stage and subtly suggested that you might not need a new iPhone after all. During her five-minute presentation on Apple’s sustainability efforts, Jackson claimed that iPhones are built to last, thereby reducing the environmental impact of making new ones.“Because they last longer, you can keep using them,” Jackson said. “And keeping using them is the best thing for the planet.”

Source: iOS 12 makes your old iPhone feel new