Klint Finley
On HBO’s Silicon Valley, startups promise to “change the world” by tackling silly, often non-existent
problems. But this season, the show’s characters are tackling a project that really could. In their latest pivot, Richard Hendricks and the Pied Piper gang are trying to create a new internet that cuts out intermediaries like Facebook, Google, and the fictional Hooli.
If you worry about the dominance over the internet of behemoths like Amazon,
Google and Facebook, not to mention Verizon and other major telcos - and governments! - you could find this article informative and thought-provoking: well, I did. If you read right through to the end you will know the "almost here" in the headline is not borne out by the content (although these days who can tell how slowly or quickly disruptive change will come?), but the article is worth the read anyway.
Analyst and venture capitalist Mary Meeker is legendary for spotting internet trends, or maybe that should be for trawling huge amounts of data and illustrating the trends that emerge. Going through her reports takes some concentration, but in terms of knowledge and insight will put you way ahead of most or all of your dinner party
conversationalists.
If you don't feel up to viewing the 355 slides (yes, 355) in the latest "Mary Meeker Report" from Kleiner Perkins, this short article will give you 10 highlights.
The latest Internet Trends report from KPCB
(Kleiner Perkins) is out, suggesting flat internet user growth, slowing smartphone shipments, increased ad spend on mobile, with 'the dupopoly' capturing the majority of this.
The report, ‘aka The Mary Meeker report’ is often touted as a ‘must read’ by leading minds in the media
industry
You can view the full report at this link http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends and if you want to download the full deck there is a link at that site to let you
do so, free of charge.
And now for something lighter and probably more fun. I've only just now come across this new Google tool and have not yet played with it but it doesn't look too daunting and might be just the tool to jazz
up some of our blog posts and presentations.
Google wants to be the Giphy for turning boring data into awesome animated illustrations – sort of.
The search engine titan announced it has launched a handy animation tool that essentially lets you turn tedious number charts into slightly more entertaining GIF illustrations. The so-called Data GIF Maker practically allows users to set their desired parameters and effortlessly transform them into data visuals.
