VisiCalc of today + more news

6 minutes estimated reading time

VisiCalc

The Internet of Things is looking for its VisiCalc – Beep Networks Blog – VisCalc was a spreadsheet and the first useful application for personal computers, people bought them to take into work because of VisiCalc – VisiCalc what my university lecturer would have called a ‘killer application’. VisiCalc was the app that drove the initial adoption of personal computers, when it was developed for the Apple II computer. VisiCalc was eventually seen off by Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel

Business

Tech Talent: How the UK lost six potential titans – BBC News – interesting to see ARM Holdings included in this, not the kind of narrative that they would like around their brand

Rush of Chinese Investment in Europe’s High-Tech Firms Is Raising Eyebrows – NYTimes.com – and sketchy business dealings

The Wall Street Veteran Who’s Helping Google Get Disciplined | Fortune – the person wielding the knife at Alphabet. Making Alphabet just like any other large corporate isn’t something I’d boast about

KKR growth equity fund – Business Insider – going after Silicon Valley opportunities, probably a sign that phenomenal growth is over

Consumer behaviour

Half of America isn’t downloading smartphone apps anymore, but some demographics are still avidly downloading away — Quartz – which begs a question, is a smartphone a smartphone if it’s used like a feature phone? What does this then mean to upgrade cycles etc?

Saudi Millennials Don’t Use Their Phones Like We Do | Backchannel – what socials apps people preferred (Skype, Instagram and Path are popular; Facebook and BBM are fading out)

The tide of globalisation is turning — FT.com – Globalisation’s future depends on better management. Will that happen? Alas, I am not optimistic. (paywall)

Technology is taking jobs away from men—and reviving a pre-industrial version of masculinity — Quartz – the training debacle is the crucial piece in this and its a hard nut to crack

Design

Fyber Forma | Tyvek® Clothing & Bags – really interesting Taiwan based design house doing interesting things with Tyvek

More people care about movies and shows than immersive 3-D games | MIT Technology Review – passive consumption trumps interactivity, does this mean that VR threatens big TVs? Makes sense give the kind of housing challenges many of us face

FMCG

WSJ City – Unilever Is in Talks to Acquire Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. – Unilever is in talks to acquire Honest Co., the consumer-products retailer – green / organic products aimed at new parents

Primed for pumpkinpalooza? Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte is back | The Seattle Times – and after Pumpkin Spice Latte comes eggnog latte :-)

Gadgets

Two Xiaomi handset explosions in five days in mainland China | HKEJ Insight – it could be third party chargers or a battery problem, but its not going to help

With the iPhone 7, Apple Changed the Camera Industry Forever – The New Yorker – I don’t think that this is true. Agreed that point-and-shoot cameras continue to be threatened by smartphones. The issue lies in higher end cameras, Apple and the like are pushing the limits of compact lens. Secondly, as large as the pixels are on their sensors, they’re still small compared to a full frame camera. Finally there is the tactile experience of holding a camera. The smartphone is likely to become the gateway drug to proper photography

Ideas

Prepare for a Big Road Trip With The “OSMEAC” Military Convoy Technique – really nice model for briefing teams

Korea

Controversial Chinese teaser for film on Korean war revives debate on China’s role in the deadly conflict | South China Morning Post – just wow

On Hanjin – Flexport – Because Hanjin was a member of the CKYHE Alliance, a vessel-sharing agreement that also includes Cosco, K Line, Evergreen, and Yang Ming, it will be far more complicated for those companies and their creditors to figure out exactly which cargo should be held, and who owes whom for what

Luxury

Coach’s Millennial Magnet | Fashion Show Review, Ready-to-Wear Spring 2017 | BoF – repackaging Americana

Marketing

China’s influencers are the world’s most effective marketing platforms, says Ivy Wong – Mumbrella Asia – that’s a big claim to make

Media

WashPost Makes History: First Paper to Call for Prosecution of Its Own Source (After Accepting Pulitzer) – hypocrites (paywall) and Don’t just pardon Edward Snowden; give the man a medal | TechCrunch

Africa’s Naspers Takes Aim at Craigslist | WSJ – interesting move by Naspers

The rise and fall of Mode Media – Digiday – is this the end of blog ad networks and the rise of social network advertising over everything else?

How showbiz stars and pretty boys came to the rescue of China’s version of Twitter | South China Morning Post – bread and circuses – interesting skew towards female users though

Online

Europe’s top court has made merely linking to stolen material on the web a crime | Quartz – Websites that link to pirated material could be in trouble for copyright infringement, the European Union’s top court has ruled. The European Court of Justice notes in a controversial ruling (pdf)

Retailing

UK supermarket chain takes on Amazon Lockers | TelecomTV – interesting move by Morrisons and you Argos doing pick up at store for eBay

Security

The cypherpunk revolution | Christian Science Monitor – great history on the impact of public key encryption

French PM: More terror attacks coming, 15,000 under surveillance | Ars Technica UK – The newly-revealed total of 15,000 being monitored by the authorities is even larger than the previously-estimated figure of 11,000, which the Washington Post suggested would need 220,000 officers in order to provide full surveillance. By contrast, the US newspaper believed that there were around 3,000 people being watched in the UK. Although considerably smaller than the number in France, this would still require half of the police officers in England and Wales in order to monitor them properly.

Report: New Feinstein-Burr encryption effort in works | TheHill – trying to legislate weaker cryptography for consumers, not the smartest move; but that won’t stop them

Software

I, Cringely What Carrie Underwood’s success teaches us about IBM’s Watson failure – I, Cringely– really interesting debate on IBM, check out the comment section

Web of no web

Survey reveals why Japanese players quit Pokémon GO, and it’s likely not for the reason you think | RocketNews24 – battery issues underscores the issues with much modern technology

Android Wear hopefuls call timeout on smartwatches – CNET – I suspect that the problem is that the devices had a high price point for low utility. Huawei’s devices in particular were ridiculously spendy

Larry Ellison demos a chat bot with a joke about his salary – Business Insider – chat bots as programming interface

More on where 2.0 here.

Wireless

EU’s digital market rules land vowing free Wi-Fi, 5G tech, and copyright overhaul | Ars Technica UK – free Wi-Fi in every town, village, and city in the European Union, in the next four years