Daily Archives: June 2, 2008

The US economy — the real story

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Several years ago I went to a dinner in London hosted by Mark Anderson, the CEO of Strategic News Service and one of the smartest, most perceptive people I know. At the dinner he talked about the coming crisis that would be generated by the US sub-prime market. I was embarrassed because I had no idea what he was talking about — I had never heard the phrase ‘sub-prime’ until that moment. So when the crisis eventually arrived, Mark rose even further in my estimation.

He’s just released a short video giving his views on what’s really going on now in the US economy.

Free content and business models

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Lovely essay by Mike Masnick about how people wilfully or accidentally misunderstand the significance of open content…

I’ve been noticing an interesting trend lately. While more folks aren’t totally averse to the idea that they need to somehow embrace “free,” they’re mishandling what they do with “free” and then going on to complain how “free” doesn’t work. The basic problem is this: they hear about the importance of “free” and so they give something away for free. But they don’t have a business model around the free content. They don’t understand the economic forces at work. They just give stuff away and pray… and then whine when nothing happens. As we’ve pointed out before, no one says that “free” by itself pays the bills. You need to have a more complete strategy than that — and it involves a lot more than “give it away and pray.” It’s good that they’re at least trying, but if they don’t understand the real issues and fail at the experiments, they suddenly come back and claim that “free” isn’t the answer, and suddenly rule out all business models involving free. And that is a real recipe for failure….

Worth reading in full.

Thanks to Charlie Leadbeater for the original link.

The Yes! show

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Yesterday’s Observer column…

Philip Toynbee famously observed that if you dropped an atom bomb on Twickenham during the Varsity match, the prospects for fascism in Britain would be set back by two generations. An analogous thought struck me watching coverage of the D6 ‘All Things Digital’ conference last week. A neutron bomb would have wiped out the entire high commands of the US technology and media industries – while usefully leaving the premises intact.

D6 was this year’s version of the annual media-tech gabfest organised by Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal’s veteran technology commentator, and his partner in sentimentality, Kara Swisher. The event took place at the Four Seasons Aviara Resort just outside San Diego, where attendees enjoy ‘casual elegance in a breathtaking location accented by wildlife and wildflowers’ for a conference fee just a tad short of the GNP of Rwanda.

Mossberg and Swisher engulf their guests in bonhomie and respectful obeisance…

We’re back!

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An electrical fire at our hosting service in Texas put Memex (and Statusq) offline for the weekend. Normal service now resumed. Many thanks to those who emailed their concerns. Much appreciated.