James K. Galbraith — out on the uneven playing field of American wealth and power — is pointing out the 30-year drift of tax policy and political power, all of it made possible by the decontrol of campaign spending and the big-money capture of both major parties. Galbraith is an economic eminence in his own right by now at the University of Texas and on the left wing of the Democratic party, and the author most recently of Inequality and Instability. Jamie Galbraith is also of course the son of the late Sun God of mid-century liberalism, the witty scourge of “private affluence and public squalor” as of innocent old 1958! Papa John Kenneth Galbraith‘s evergreen warning about The Affluent Society arrived in the post-Sputnik ... Continue reading →
It must be hard to be a developer that has to support thousands of different devices, with screen sizes ranging from tiny to enormous, running multiple OS versions on all sorts of hardware. That's why I'm glad I'm not a web developer. By comparison, Android's "fragmentation" problem is miniscule. It's overstated in the tech press because it generates traffic. I'll grant you that it's harder to support Android than it is iOS - there are obviously a lot more types of Android devices than there are iOS devices - but after a year of writing Android software, I've very rarely run into trouble due to fragmentation. And when I have, it usually hasn't been a big deal. In no particular order, here are some of ... Continue reading →
American Express and Zynga are rolling out a rewards program today that will allow players to earn virtual currency when they spend money in the real world. For FarmVille fans willing to jump through a number of hoops, including signing up for a Zynga-branded prepaid card from American Express, they will earn in-game currency, similarly to how consumers earn free airline miles for every dollar spent on an airline-issued credit card. The rewards program will first roll out in Zynga’s FarmVille game and then will expand to CityVille, CastleVille and other titles over time. The partnership is smart for American Express since it is working hard to promote Serve, its alternative payment service that is targeting a wider demographic that goes beyond its core business ... Continue reading →
Facebook is not only on course to go bust, but will take the rest of the ad-supported Web with it. Given its vast cash reserves and the glacial pace of business reckonings, that will sound hyperbolic. But that doesn't mean it isn't true. At the heart of the Internet business is one of the great business fallacies of our time: that the Web, with all its targeting abilities, can be a more efficient, and hence more profitable, advertising medium than traditional media. Facebook, with its 800 million users, valuation of around $100 billion, and the bulk of its business in traditional display advertising, is now at the heart of the heart of the fallacy. The daily and stubborn reality for everybody building businesses on the ... Continue reading →
Last August, Google (GOOG) Chief Executive Officer Larry Page fulfilled a pledge made to one of his senior executives, a square-jawed former attorney named Dennis Woodside. Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook had been trying to poach Woodside to make him Apple’s head of sales, but Google had convinced Woodside to stay, in part by promising him greater responsibility at the search company, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Now it was time to make good. Woodside says he was speaking with board member Ram Shriram when Page asked him to run Motorola Mobility, the company Google had just acquired for $12.5 billion. “He said, ‘I know you’ve been looking for a ... Continue reading →
A new recording of Beethoven’s piano sonatas released on Tuesday stands out for a few reasons. First, the young Korean pianist HJ Lim, who burst onto the classical music scene in 2009, has begun her recording career with a complete set of piano sonatas that most performers only approach later in their careers. (It’s not entirely complete, but almost; see my review of the set.) Second, this pianist takes a unique approach to Beethoven’s music, with tempi that are much faster than usual. But perhaps the bigger news is the price: for a limited time, EMI is selling this 8-CD Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas set exclusively on the iTunes Store for the bargain price of only $10. With the same set due to be released ... Continue reading →
