The company’s latest move is symptomatic of a continued inability to protect and inform the users on its platform — In his book Envisioning Real Utopias, the American sociologist Erik Olin Wright laid the foundations for a reconstruction of the core values for socio-economic progress. One of Wright’s central themes throughout the book is that capitalism can impose limitations on democracy, countering Milton Friedman’s claim that capitalism is a “necessary…

The film has generated controversy due to its lead actor and Disney’s crediting of CCP government agencies — If social media mentions alone were a predictor of box office success, Disney’s live-action Mulan would take the top spot — particularly in a time when many movie theaters across the world are shut down due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But that’s not what happened. After the film hit…

On freedom of expression, tolerance, and accountability — Last week, the publication of an open letter in Harper’s Magazine caused a bit of a stir. In it, the authors contended that, while there has been a necessary reckoning on racial and social justice, it has arrived in concert with the intensification of moral attitudes and ideological conformity. The…

Last week, Spotify signed a massive deal with Joe Rogan. The move to exclusive podcasting is concerning, and has wide-ranging implications, both for privacy and openness. — Earlier this month, Ben Thompson of Stratechery announced the launch of Dithering, a new podcast co-hosted with John Gruber, founder of Daring Fireball. The podcast operates on a subscription basis, costing $5/month or $50/year (less for existing Stratechery subscribers). In his article explaining the launch, Thompson highlighted that just because…

The planemaker’s handling of disasters reveals a failure in leadership and a culture of concealment — On March 10th, 2019, a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines took off from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi. Many passengers on the flight, which included medics, academics, volunteers, and peacekeepers, were heading to Kenya to attend a session hosted by the UN Environment Assembly on finding innovative…

Thoughts on the benefits of blogging, migrating articles, and how to share different types of content — Over the past few months, I have been writing articles on Medium with some degree of regularity. The simplicity is appealing. Writers earn money through its Partner Program, and the platform offers exposure to a wide array of topics and publications (shoutout to The Startup, OneZero, GEN, and Elemental). In…

A competitive package signals a deeper shift in Disney’s direct-to-consumer services and the online streaming subscription model at large — Last week, The Verge reported that Disney’s upcoming bundle service, which includes Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, will have a monthly subscription price of $12.99. The price point, made public by CEO Bob Iger during Disney’s investors call, is comparable to competitive services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, and cheaper than…

Company culture and cloud-based services are fueling the next wave of Microsoft’s growth — In mid-July, Microsoft reported in its FY19 Q4 earnings that its cloud services revenue was largely driven by 64% revenue growth for Azure, the company’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution. Although Azure’s growth fell over the fiscal year from 76% in Q1, the cloud services offering cemented Microsoft as…

Local and state officials are increasingly taking steps to regulate the new technology. Federal agencies are unlikely to follow — In May, San Francisco became the first city to ban the use of facial recognition software by law enforcement and other agencies in an 8-to-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors. The bill’s sponsor, Aaron Peskin, argued that city lawmakers should be responsible for regulating new technologies “precisely because they…