I’m sure many of you either have an Alexa-powered device in your house, or at least have played around with one somewhere. So it won’t be surprising to you that Amazon has been partnering with home builders in order to incorporate Alexa into appliances and features all over new builds. It certainly makes sense for Amazon: retailers and CPG companies have known for a long time that the home is one of the most valuable top-of-funnels you can own. And to be totally honest I don’t have that much of… Read more Would you accept cheaper rent in exchange for a monthly Amazon purchasing quota? →
Hello everyone! I have some exiting news that I’ve hinted to some of you for the past few months. It is… First: I am writing a book. The book will be called Scarcity in the Software Century, and if you’ve enjoyed subscribing to Snippets or reading alexdanco.com then I think you’re going to like it. It’s my attempt to articulate a complete thought about software, the internet, that innovation economy, and how they’ve changed how we build the future – and, as the book explores, the nature of scarcity itself. Second: I… Read more I’m writing a book, and I want your help. →
Note: I wrote this post on Thursday, and then Friday night, news dropped that the US DOJ is preparing an antitrust investigation against Google. Wow-ee. So, this post may either look better and/or go out of date in real time over the next coming days! Happy reading. Which of these tech products is most deserving of antitrust scrutiny, and arguably the best candidate for forced divesture in a Big Tech Breakup? A) Apple’s App StoreB) Amazon’s Third Party MarketplaceC) Facebook’s Algorithmic FeedD) Google Chrome The more I think about it,… Read more Google Chrome, the perfect antitrust villain? →
I just spent the past week it the Bay Area, and it’s hard not to come away with an acute sense that there’s something wrong with the way that housing is working in the new economy: not just in San Francisco or on the peninsula, where it’s messed up for all kinds of local reasons, but really everywhere. This week I’m going to do some thinking out loud to see if I can make any sense out of three different threads I’ve been pulling on. This is by no means… Read more What happens if building more housing doesn’t work? →
Bitcoin is a crowd. Crowds can be understood. I’m currently reading a fascinating book called Crowds and Power by Elias Canetti, recommendation courtesy of @HipCityReg. Since Bitcoin’s having a fun week (and not just all of the is-it-real-or-fake price action – lots of real progress, today most notably from Microsoft), it seems like a great time to talk about the crowd dynamics of Bitcoin through the lens of this deep and thought-provoking text. The first page of Crowds and Power opens so coldly it gave me chills: There is nothing that man fears… Read more Crowds, Power and Bitcoin →
This tweet made me think a lot: First of all, as much as I hate this idea, I think this notion is correct. This trend has been happening for a long time, and it’s going to keep happening. I think it’s a great illustration of what really happens in “access” or “as-a-service” economies: as friction goes away, we turn away from owning assets and towards consuming services as a way of fulfilling our jobs to be done. There are good parts to this, and there are bad parts; let’s talk about… Read more Cooking As A Service →
I think this is one of my favourite all-time tweets: While I wouldn’t change a single word of the tweet itself, because it’s perfect, I’d still extend it a whole lot further: I honestly think that this is one of the best snarky metaphors for America I’ve ever seen. Let’s first start with two true statements, that at first seem to be in conflict with each other but actually aren’t at all: Billy Joel, the iconic American artist who wrote a lot of good music, is most definitely not rock and roll.… Read more Billy Joel: American Kayfabe Master →
The more we understand about the world around us, the less it seems we understand about people and the way they are. This post is an introduction to one man, named René Girard, who bucked this trend: his perception of the nature of behaviour is like a laser that goes right to the core of the human condition. We watch and learn by copying others, and the most important thing we learn from others is desire. Girard understood something important about desire; so did Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, and so do… Read more Secrets about People: A Short and Dangerous Introduction to René Girard →
