One of the greatest -- and most influential -- feuds in the history of American Business seemingly ended a couple weeks ago when chipmakers Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices reached a settlement on anti-trust claims made by AMD against its bigger competitor. This was only the latest move in a battle that has gone on now for more than twenty years . . .and began with a simple courtesy between an industry pioneer and a favorite subordinate. Fortunes were spent on the fight, careers wasted . . .and the world was changed in the process, not least because the endless presence of AMD was the one thing that kept Intel honest -- and propelled forward the digital revolution. Now, with AMD an apparent winner, but also dying as a company, this Great Feud may at last be at end -- and the world will be worse for it.
Not With a Bang, But a Whimper
An Autumn Cornucopia
What do old WWII films, Apple vs. Microsoft and the Republic of Armenia have in common? In the last couple weeks, all have reminded us that if there is one constant in the world of high technology, it is that there are no constants: winners can suddenly look like losers, losers can become winners,and what we've grown accustomed to can suddenly take on new life again. Three brief commentaries by Edgelings.com editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone
The Coolest (or Creepiest) Thing on Facebook
Facebook may have finally done it: found a way to take its look-at-me culture one step too far. It's called "Photo Tagger" from Face.com, and its an impressive little photo recognition app that, in use, will absolutely freak you out if you are Facebook user. You'll see what we mean when you read the story and watch the video from NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.
No Size Fits All
A new book by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone and Silicon Valley marketing guru Tom Hayes offers a novel and compelling view of what the emerging global marketplace will REALLY look like. Neither 'flat', nor 'bumpy', the authors predict that it will, in fact, be both: a dizzying combination of the chaos of a global market square combined with the hermetic private world of a million small groups. Here's a quick summary of the key themes of the book.
Sanity Comes to Sarbanes
In a fit of sanity this week, the House Financial Services committee voted to amend Sarbanes-Oxley, the regulation -- passed in the aftermath of the dot.com bust and Enron -- that was designed to stop corporate corruption . . .but instead crushed U.S. entrepreneurship for the rest of the decade. Without S-Ox, as it is called, the economy still would have crashed -- but we'd also be climbing out of it a whole lot more quickly. This week's vote was a good start, but it should be only the beginning. Commentary by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone.
Silicon Valley Music Start-Up Blows Up Bay Area
After spending years as a tiny on-line CD trading service, Silicon Valley's LaLa Media decided to position itself right at the intersection between a music industry that has finally decided to accept the new business model demanded by music sharing, and a growing number of new hardware and Web 2.0 platforms that want to offer that shared music. The result is something odd bedfellows -- not least tiny Lala, whose entire staff fits into a tiny Palo Alto loft, and such giants as Google and Facebook. Commentary and video by NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.