Category: Tech

Breaking up Big Tech

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Such a great video – check it out first:

I think a lot of what he says is terribly true and I wonder if most of the world’s governments have simply bowed down to Big Tech assuming that it will always do the right thing for everyone. Sure – these companies are doing amazing things but some of their success feels like it is coming at the cost of meaningful things.

I don’t have the answers but I think government and the people must remain vigilant and not always assume Big Tech has all the answers or always means well.

This is also why I feel conflicted about bitcoin or crypto – on the surface the ideas are amazing but at the same time it is for the moment creating another way to generate wealth that is concentrated mostly with the tech elite and creating a sense of moving away from central management of capital. This could be good or it could be bad, all depends on how you see it or benefit from it.

I think this post is slightly sensationalist but does make some meaningful points :: https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-a-use-case-for-blockchain-ee98c180100

All in all I am pro-tech and crypto is here to stay but the world still feels like it continues to bifurcate into the have’s and have not’s and I am sure that is a bad thing.

 

Venture capital investment hits all-time record – Axios

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

So winter never really came to startup land but I think VC’s care more about fundamentals, especially in SEA region, are more sensitive to valuations and I think due to the bigger companies getting bigger rounds – there is less seed money available in some instances.

I am really excited about 2018, the SEA region and what SeedPlus will bring to the party!

Venture capital investment hits all-time record – Axios

Ray Dalio on Masters in Business

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2017-12-07/ray-dalio-on-failure-meaningful-work-and-relationships

Ray has been doing the podcast circuit with the book being out but this was one of my favorite ones.

I don’t love Forbes but this article captures some of the salient points I am trying to grok and put into my work practice.

First is to have an “idea meritocracy” that spans across meaningful work and meaningful relationships.

I like this – may the best idea win and of course we all want rewarding work with good people.

I also like his framework for putting this into place with serious meeting rigour and a culture that supports radical transparency and radical candor. (This is why I am super excited that the next book up is Radical Candor by Kim Scott.)

Within these concepts there are rules for open disagreement, discourse for challenging ideas (not the people) and some protocol for making sure that when a decision is made – everyone falls in line to support it, regardless of where you personally stand on the issue.

I need to get the book and dig in.

Also excited to try and implement better goal and learning this year with another notebook..

How far will Disney push it?

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

So Disney is buying part of Fox :: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fox-m-a-walt-disney/disney-deal-set-to-value-fox-at-more-than-75-billion-source-idUSKBN1E7348

Will be interesting to see how they play the OTT game from here on out – they have Fox doing their own online stuff, Disney is planning to build Disney online and with this deal they now control Hulu as well.

I don’t see the point in keeping them all going and I personally would prefer the killer Netflix competitor but would they use Hulu or go all in on a Disney only OTT play?

Also listen to this podcast with The Prof :: https://overcast.fm/+BcN1HLmuU – where The Prof talks about Disney going nuclear and making sure their content is only on their OTT property and somehow doing a Disney prime for content and access to Disney offline – the Theme Parks.

Recurring revenue FTW!