What about a tax on the sale of personal information, including the use of personal information for ad placement? To be clear, I’m not talking about a tax on collecting information or on using the information collected. I’m talking a tax on two-types of commercial transactions; selling information about individuals to third parties, or indirectly selling information to third … Continue reading Taxing Personal Data
Among the hardest things I have done in my life is to quit smoking. It has been over a decade since I last touched a cigarette, but I live with the effects of a 25-year habit, dealing with illnesses and issues that lead directly back to damage done by smoking. Perhaps that is why I … Continue reading The Consumerism Curse
Sports media is often about big stars, big tournaments, and big moments. And the big media often ignores those who toil in anonymity. And perhaps that is why I get great joy in seeing someone who plays a game for the love of the game and then get recognized for it. I absolutely loved reading the story of a G. Periyaswamy, a part-time welder/weaver from a village in Southern India, who lit up the Tamil Nadu T20 cricket league on fire with his fast bowling (pitching for my American friends) and never-say-die spirit. He was half-blinded by smallpox as a child. He was stricken with typhoid. He had knee problems. And his family didn’t have money. And yet here he is – knocking on the door of the big time. Yes, that is why we love sports, because it is about beating the long odds. [ESPN Cricinfo]
A bizarre tale of a tech bro, doomsday bunker and a dead body. It is one of the strangest stories you will read — and no, it is not fiction. [Washingtonian] The daily habits of a latter day dictator. No, not the one from North Korea. We’re talking about Vladimir Putin here. [Newsweek] The curious … Continue reading What to read this weekend
Snapchat announced that in 2018 an average of 3 billion snaps were sent every day. A single snap produces 0.1g of CO2 meaning that in just 24 hours Snapchat generates the carbon equivalent of 1 car driving for 54 years. This is, of course, microscopic in comparison to carbon emissions generated by the aviation industry or agriculture – but it’s not nothing. Joe Hearty, R/GA London Experience Design Director argues that we have underestimated the impact of digital on climate change and it is only going to increase. Check.
“Firms such as Huawei, Tencent, ZTE, Alibaba, and Baidu have no meaningful ability to tell the Chinese Communist Party “no” if officials decide to ask for their assistance,” said Christopher Ashley Ford, assistant secretary in the State Department’s bureau of international security and nonproliferation. His speech is another shot across the bow in the US-China trade war. What I am surprised is that there is no mention of DJI, which just might be the biggest eye in the sky for China. The Information has the analysis, but the speech transcript removes all ambiguity about how US is thinking about Chinese technology.
Remember the original Square Card Reader that would plug into iPhone’s headphone jack? This is how it worked and what has happened to it since.
Sir Jony Ive might be leaving Apple, but he can’t get over his creation, the Apple Watch. Here are three photos of him showing the watch to others at the Apple Event earlier this week. Also, I recommend reading this wonderful interview of Ive by Ben Clymer, founder of watch and luxury lifestyle publisher, Hodinkee. … Continue reading The Jony Triptych
My partner at True Ventures, Adam D’Augelli shares True’s journey into what is generically known as “computational biology” and “health 2.0.” And like everything else, it starts with the founders and our founder network guiding us to the future. This should give you an insight into how we at True think about opportunities and founders. our firm.
“It just ushered in something we take for granted now, which is online gaming, online communities, games as a service, games that you can’t finish because the content keeps coming,” says Peter Moore, former president and COO of Sega of America, “It was groundbreaking, but I think we broke the ground for somebody else.” Sega’s Dreamcast was a trailblazer and it died mere 16 months after it was released into the world. This is its story.
