competition
An intrepid researcher has mapped some of the microwave towers being used to conduct high-frequency-trading around the world. HFT requires competitors to use cu...
Category: business
The heroes we get (summer of 2014, continued)
Guardians of the Galaxy is full of clever jokes and features a disarmingly charming actor as its protagonist. It was made by extremely talented people but its g...
The Management of Feelings
soundtrack Feelings by Morris Albert art Standard Loneliness Package by Charles Yu Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Charlie Kaufman Brave New World by A...
Mad Men 2013
About 15 years ago I saw Tyler Brule, then just two years into Wallpaper, give a presentation that would forever change my understanding of art and commerce. He...
The new co-viewing. Same as the old.
Television sets often determine the layout of the furniture in communal rooms. Their position in the typical American home is a clear testament to their social ...
Cost management is for winners.
You don’t create better products by cutting costs. You cut costs after you create a better product. It may be tempting for companies with unpopular produc...
Butterfly and hurricane, tick and $2bn trading loss
A tick > Lyme disease > absent boss > riskier trades > $2bn trading loss.
Do bad companies fire more workers?
Successful companies have better employees. They are more productive and more profitable because they are better at hiring (choosing, attracting) and developing...
Panic: single working moms, unemployed single men, and high finance.
One way to explain the moral panics of our day: a society governed primarily by old, rich white men of European descent apprehends an economy driven by single, ...
why do marketers anthropomorphize cookies and candies?
perhaps, eating is inherently social – that is, we are hardwired to eat with others. how then to justify “indulging” oneself with food? perhaps, by ...
what if car dealerships were run more like Apple stores?
Nissan Leaf, Apple iPhone recently, i went to check out one of the most expensive high tech gadgets you can buy: a new car. perhaps, our experience was atypica...
Why do taco trucks promote their Facebook pages?
What RSS promised, Facebook delivered: easy to use, personalized news. There’s tremendous canny in shortening “subscribe” to “like”...
more on Mexican restaurants; planting a cactus in too small a pot
A few weeks ago I asked why Mexican restaurants are so often decorated like 19th century ranch homes when Mexico is a living, modern culture. Such decor perpetu...
should Mexican restaurants always be decorated like 19th century ranch homes?
Near our home is a newish Mexican restaurant that bills itself as a “modern Mexican delicatessen.” Like many Mexican restaurants, it is decorated as...
toxic math labs devastate nation
toxic math labs produce synthetic highs that lead to a devastating crash, expensive cleanup. math teeth: before, after
living in the age of digital singles, what of digital shorts?
Computers have transformed music production and consumption by enabling the cheap and easy manipulation of sound. Digitization took apart music culture (industr...
extending play: from lp’s to mp3’s and beyond
One of the benefits that record companies enjoyed when albums were the prevalent packaging for pop music was the upward pressure this scheme placed on song pric...