Responsible Innovation

Dfinity launched Internet Computer last week, and ICP, its cryptocurrency, already has a market cap of over $30 billion. This article is not about the value of owning ICP or how or why you may or may not want to trade crypto. I'm not going to offer any financial advice here. What interests me is how strongly Dfinity's vision aligns with my essay Tales from under the Merkle Tree. In the essay, I ask you to imagine a world powered by decentralized apps (Dapps), where currencies are traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and people transact business on distributed ledgers (aka blockchains). I also suggested that the future I asked you to envision "is literally just months away." I was wrong. It's happening right now. Or is it? Continue Reading →

As she approached the entrance to the club, she gave the frame of her new prescription AR glasses a gentle squeeze. When she got to the door, it appeared to turn green, indicating recognition that she was over 21 years of age. Then, a message appeared along with a friendly voice asking for the 5 ADA cover charge. She shook her head yes. A moment later, the door opened, which indicated that the transaction had cleared. And so begins a story about life in a trustless, decentralized world − a tale from under the Merkle tree. Continue Reading →

Corporate Zoomicide is the career-limiting choice forced on WFH employees when a company really just wants everyone to be back in the office. Over the next 18 months or so, managing the ergonomic and technological changes posed by a split (on-premises/off-premises) workforce will be difficult and stressful, but adapting your corporate culture to set your hybrid workforce up for success may prove even more challenging. Continue Reading →

From a financial perspective, the pandemic has hit the creator class hard. With the usual venues for live performances and exhibitions closed, artists, musicians, singers, actors, and creators of every description have been forced to fend for themselves. But something very new, and kind of amazing, has happened over the past year. The result may be the emergence of a first-time-ever, self-sufficient, profitable creator class. Continue Reading →

We’re in the middle of a cryptocurrency bubble and an NFT (non-fungible token) craze. For context, the price of a Bitcoin (BTC) is bubbling around $56,000. The price of an Ether (ETH) is just over $1,700. That sounds bubbly, but this column is not about financial advice. I’m going to teach you, step by step, how to build a very small cryptocurrency mining operation so you can get a deeper understanding of the process. Continue Reading →

There's a reason you're getting more robocalls now: due to the pandemic, many international call centers were shut down. At the same time, the government did its best to reduce COVID-19-related phone scams. All that's over now. Robocall volume is back to pre-pandemic levels, and about 60 percent of these calls are scams or unsolicited telemarketing. Continue Reading →

Net Neutrality is a nickname for a set of rules designed to govern your access to the Internet. In the next three minutes I'm going to prove to you why Net Neutrality is important and give you enough facts to argue your own case for or against it. Continue Reading →

As the pandemic enters its second year, we're approaching an inevitable bifurcation of our society: "Presumed Safe" (those who have been vaccinated or exposed to the virus), and "Presumed Unsafe" (those who have not been vaccinated or have not been exposed to the virus). Two distinct groups that are going to test us in ways we've only read about in history books. Continue Reading →

This is the 9,109th issue of my daily newsletter and we're just about a month shy of its 25th anniversary. The fact that you are reading this means the world to me. My question is, is it valuable to you? Continue Reading →

The speed of information is directly equated to economic success. If you learn something before your competitor does and you have the tools to make the knowledge actionable, you are almost always going to profit from it. So, while it’s true that “knowledge is power,” the true power comes from the speed with which you can create information asymmetry in a transactional environment. This is the goal of our new online innovation briefings. Continue Reading →