if you're bored, you're not paying attention
It’s the traditional time for journalists to take a look at the past year, extend the trendlines forward, and make some predictions about how the coming year will play out.
Unfortunately, journalists’ track record on that score is not so great.… Story continues … “Dylan’s Desk: Four trends to watch in the coming year”
What will be hot in consumer electronics and computing in 2015? Read VB’s full coverage of International CES 2015 to find out.
Gary Shapiro is the chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts the annual electronics extravaganza in Las Vegas called International CES.… Story continues … “What to Think, Ep. 35: Everything you need to know about CES 2015”
Update 12/29: We’ve added AdYen.
Update 12/30: We’ve added IronSource.
Update 1/6/2015: We’ve added Credit Karma.
It is really, really difficult to create a company and grow it to the point where investors believe it is worth $1 billion or more.… Story continues … “These 17 companies achieved $1B+ valuations in 2014”
“In the pots warmed the bigos; mere words cannot tell
Of its wondrous taste, colour and marvellous smell.
One can hear the words buzz, and the rhymes ebb and flow,
But its content no city digestion can know.
To appreciate the Lithuanian folksong and folk food,
You need health, [to] live on land, and be back from the wood.… Story continues … “Bigos”
Let’s get one thing clear: No gadget will fix bad policing. There is no app to cure racism.
But putting body cameras on police officers is one hell of a start. It is one of the few areas where a new technology offers a clear, unambiguous social benefit.… Story continues … “Body cameras are the first step to reducing police brutality”
“It’s extremely dangerous to follow the advice of successful people. Those successful people often don’t even know why they are successful. Luck may have been part of it. And even if they did know, how do you know their recipe for success is applicable to you?”… Story continues … “Successful people”
We know this much: Uber has a huge public relations problem on its hands.
On Monday, Buzzfeed reported comments made by a senior vice president on Uber’s team, Emil Michael, at a private dinner. Michael’s comments suggested that he felt Uber would be justified in hiring an opposition research team to dig up dirt on journalists, such as Pando Daily’s Sarah Lacy.… Story continues … “What Uber tells us about tech startups vs. journalists”
Hundreds of people, including NYC’s former mayor, plan to protest the Met’s production of “Klinghoffer.” Protests! Against an opera — an art form that, for most Americans, is completely dead.
I enjoy opera quite a bit, but I’m used to it trafficking in stories that — while offensively bloody (Lucia di Lammemoor) or shockingly amoral (Carmen) are distant enough in time and space that people just smile and listen along.… Story continues … “Opera lives”
Orchestras in the U.S. used to be 95% to 100% male.
But after instituting blind auditions, with the applicants performing their music behind a screen so they can only be heard, not seen, that ratio changed dramatically.
According to one study, the number of women in top orchestras rose from less than 5% to 25% after those orchestras implemented blind auditions starting in the 1970s and 1980s.… Story continues … “Why I’m using blind auditions to recruit journalists for VentureBeat”
The “Like” button on Facebook seems harmless enough: It’s an easy way to express your appreciation of something.
But as some people are discovering, that innocuous little like has some unintended consequences.
Wired writer Mat Honan found out what happens when you like every single thing that shows up in your Facebook feed.… Story continues … “How to make Facebook work better for you: Quit the ‘Like’”