Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- An Excerpt From “Killing the Competition: How the New Monopolies Are Destroying Open Markets” – Harpers. "Economies of scale mean that a few big players can dominate an industry. When they get too big, they can dictate pricing, control standards, and generally become uncompetitive — which is why monopolies are regulated. In the rise of new monopolies, author Barry C. Lynn sees nothing less than the potential downfall of a democracy." (Alistair for Hugh).
- A brilliant answer to copyright. "There are some songs you can’t use without paying hefty royalties. Here’s a creative alternative. I won’t spoil it for you, but the next time someone ages a year, consider playing this — royalty free! — instead. In addition to being funny, it does raise a really good point about the legal issues around claiming something that’s effectively in the public domain." (Alistair for Mitch).
- Error Rates of Hand-Counted Voting Systems – Bruce Schneier. "This article, about error-rates of hand-counted voting systems (apparently 2%?), is worth it for the thoughtful comment section. I love finding blog posts on obsucre topics, and remembering what’s so great about the Internet." (Hugh for Alistair).
- The ‘Undue Weight’ of Truth on Wikipedia – The Chronicle. "Many years ago I had a discussion about Wikipedia with a friend of mine who’s a bit of a political activist, and our conclusion was that Wikipedia is in many ways a very conservative source of information. It relies on ‘trusted sources’ (citation needed) as the arbiter of what should/should not get to stay on a Wikipedia entry. This makes it very difficult for new facts, or facts which challenge accepted wisdom, to make it through Wikipedia’s (self-appointed) editorial guardians. Timothy Messer-Kruse, a historian, writes of his failed (so far) experience trying to right a long-enshrined historical mistake – only to run into the problem that: ‘if all the history books say it is so, then it is so on Wikipedia.’ Even if the books are wrong, and you’ve got the documentation to prove it." (Hugh for Mitch).
- Steve Jobs rare footage conducting a presentation in 1980. "You would think that for a technology company to remain relevant, it would constantly have to change and morph. Not true. In this interview – from 1980, Steve Jobs talks about the vision for Apple. Much of what he said (over 30 years ago!!!) still rings true to this day. Part of the beauty and charm of this video comes in the Q&A session – where Jobs waxes poetic about the potential for computers. In some strange and interesting way, what he says is still happening right here, right now. From now on, when people call Jobs a visionary, I am going to refer them to this YouTube clip." (Mitch for Alistair).
- Rules For the Social Era – Harvard Business Review. "When it comes to Social Media, I feel like we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what’s happening. My good friend, Nilofer Merchant (and I have to thank Tara Hunt for the intro to Nilofer a few years back), is currently writing a series for the Harvard Business Review on what corporations need to do in this Social Era. Nilofer is truly on to something. This isn’t about media or technology… it’s about a new way of being (gotta that term, ‘The Social Era’!). Her initial argument is sure to raise some eyebrows because the biggest corporations going forward are not going to be based on size, but rather speed. From ‘800-pound gorillas to 800 gazelles.’ I could not have said it better, myself (but I wish I did!)." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.