Alexa is my music concierge of choice. I just tell her what to play and she does. How did Apple squander first mover advantage? It was there earliest, with Siri, but I never use it, it’s too inaccurate, but Alexa gets it right almost all of the time. That could be perception. But what is […]

Snapchat is banking on it. For the past fifteen years we’ve heard that kids don’t care about selling out, that tying up with corporations is a badge of honor. But Evan Spiegel thinks different. Turns out Snapchat’s value may not be dependent upon a technological breakthrough, but a philosophical one. Snapchat is anti-influencer, anti-celebrity and […]

We go where our friends are. Spotify pushed the envelope, created the new paradigm, Apple broadcast that streaming music was safe and everybody else… Can forget about it. You’d think the press would say no-go. Say something critical about Pandora. But reporters’ powers of analysis are nonexistent, they just repeat the press release. And even […]

I drove the Mars rover! Used to be you wanted to be on the lot. Back when movies drove the culture and Hollywood was still dreamland, back before the means of production were at our fingertips and Silicon Valley pushed the envelope and usurped L.A.’s power. Kind of sad if you think about it. All […]