by Erik Kain on February 6, 2012
I asked readers on various social networks whether they’d watched the Superbowl online Sunday. This year I caught the game the old fashioned way – on a big screen TV at a family Superbowl party – so I didn’t get the chance to check out the online version. Doesn’t sound like I missed much. The [...]
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by Erik Kain on December 22, 2011
[Updated] In 1926, Henry Ford, one of the most powerful capitalists of his day, announced that workers in Company factories would begin a 40-hour-per-week, Monday through Friday work week. Better yet, they would work these decreased hours with no pay cut. “We have,” he said, “decided upon and at once put into effect through all [...]
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by Erik Kain on November 26, 2011
Police action against Occupy protesters has been over the top, but that doesn’t mean that the government and economic elites are coordinating the crackdown. Much to the dismay of those of us who value civil liberties and the right to peaceful dissent, the nascent Occupy movement has been met with violence at numerous protests around the [...]
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by Erik Kain on November 16, 2011
I’ve been taking a critical stance toward the enthusiasm exhibited at , but I want to take a moment to point out that for all my skepticism, we really do need risk-takers and entrepreneurs if we want to overcome the obstacles of the future. Resource depletion, global hunger, oppressive regimes, mediocre education outcomes, and skyrocketing [...]
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by Erik Kain on November 13, 2011
Panelists at Techonomy make their case for optimism and their enthusiasm is contagious, but human and institutional nature should make skeptics of us all. Capitalism and technology have lifted more people out of abject poverty than anything else in the history of human civilization. And technology is changing the world more rapidly now than ever [...]
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by Erik Kain on November 13, 2011
I’m in lovely – and rainy – Tucson, AZ for this year’s Techonomy conference. Techonomy is an annual gathering of tech entrepreneurs, business leaders, and various other leading lights in the tech world. “It’s not a conference about tech,” the Techonomy website reads. “It’s a conference about how tech is changing everything else.” This year’s [...]
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by Erik Kain on November 2, 2011
So Google finally went and killed off the social features in Google Reader. They also gave it a face lift, apparently in an attempt to make it look more like the new Gmail and Google Plus. Aesthetic uniformity across products makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, the new Google Reader look is ugly. Really ugly. Too much [...]
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by Erik Kain on September 19, 2011
Netflix has broken the old rule “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Why has successful internet company radically changed its business model? If I owned Netflix stock I would be angry this morning. Since I’m just a Netflix customer I’m simply baffled. For those of you just catching up, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sent [...]
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