Inside Bitcoins – 2
A friend and I were having breakfast the other morning at Funky Pelican at the Flagler Beach Pier. I was reflecting on the similarities between the evolution of Bitcoin and the World Wide Web (WWW) as I had posted in Inside Bitcoins. Our discussion made me think of other similarities between the early days of the web and […]
Inside Bitcoins
Electronic money is not a new idea. The Electronic Fund Transfer Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Jimmy Carter 35 years ago (1978). Other forms of electronic money include payment processors, direct deposit, and digital currencies such as Bitcoin. What distinguishes Bitcoin from other electronic money is that it is a cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are a […]
Protecting the Status Quo
CD and record companies did not like it when Napster et al started distributing MP3 digital music files because it threatened the status quo and the companies’ business model. Book publishers did not like it when Amazon started selling books for $9.99 because the new digital books threaten the status quo and the publisher’s business […]
IBM’s Crystal Ball
Every year, IBM researchers take a look to the future and publish their top five predictions for what we will see five years from now. Take a look at IBM – Smarter Planet – The IBM 5 in 5 for their latest. The site has a well-done 90 second video to summarize what each of the five […]
Game Changers
The New York Times reported that massive open online courses (MOOCs) are not dead (see After Setbacks, Online Courses Are Rethought). Although not the most positive article, it made the important point that MOOCs are evolving. I stick by my view that MOOCs are Web-1994. In that year, I gave a speech in Paris at an International Data […]
