Have you noticed that even as we see the power of digitization modifying business and, in my view driving productivity gains into the consumer marketplace, we also see regulation of the worst kind creeping into the system? Lets talk about productivity gains for a minute. The power of the smart phone. New apps are coming [...]
I spent the weekend in Byron Bay with my old friend, Wayne Young, talking about movie production, new business models for content and how the digital world is changing everything… Wayne was responsible for some of the great Australian communication memes of the 70's and 80's including the “Its Time” campaign for the Labour Party [...]
Tom and I were talking today about the Hedonic Value Index that he is working on. I wondered aloud to him whether happiness and hedonism are actually alike. One of the great societal problems that we currently face, and is, I believe, a symptom of the GFC, is this confusion between consumption of things as [...]
Yep, the other day, my partner brought home a newspaper from Franklins.I asked her, of course, “Why did you buy that?”“I didn’t” she replied, “They offered it to me free because I spent more than five dollars and I only got it so we could line the pet cages.”So there you have it. SMH has [...]
We live in what most people would call a democracy. But there is a bit of fantasy associated with that description, don't you think? The government through its policy announcements is driving more and more towards a centrally controlled economy. And by the way, that is probably not a bad thing, given the [...]
I a recent address Ken Henry, the chairman of the Future Tax System Review Panel and Secretary to the Treasury, outlined the rationale for continuing tax reform. The key opportunities and challenges facing politicians and policy makers, he said, are the following: the ageing of the population, posing challenges for the financing of retirement incomes [...]
You know the problem that I see with the Greens is that it confuses grass roots with disorganized. I think it is good to have a grass roots organization where people have the ability to provide input and to let ideas bubble up from the base. But I also think that without strategy enormous amounts [...]
Errata: It's been pointed out to me that Facebook just passed the three hundred million user mark and not the four hundred million. – Which obviously indicates early signs of dementia perhaps, on my part. – Hat-tip to David Goldstein from Link. Facebook has done more for détente and political stability than any other single [...]
I came across this today (hat-tip to Drew) and felt that it was worth sharing. I apologise in advance for the last 2 minutes of corporate advertising – but of course these things do need corporate sponsorship – so, please click play and be amazed as photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from a [...]
How many times have you sat in a room with someone who tells you (when referring to some new product or invention that you start oohing or aahing about) I thought of that ten years ago….? Yes there are people who have remarkable vision and prescience about ideas, products, and technologies. Some of them like [...]