Apple understands it. Amazon understands it. But nearly every other gadget manufacturer is missing the point: It’s not about the specs any more. It’s about the ability of devices to deliver a seamless, integrated, easy-to-use experience that combines plenty of desirable content and useful services,

Silicon Valley has a race problem. You don’t need a Twitter fight to tell you that. And, while it’s great that CNN has made waves with previews of its upcoming show on the subject, you don’t need cable TV to tell you that, either. (For two smart views on the controversy, read Hank Williams and […]

In my latest column for VentureBeat, I try to make some sense of the Occupy movement and its relevance to Silicon Valley. I was wondering why the protestors weren’t targeting local icons of wealth and power, like VC firms, Google, Oracle and Apple. The more I thought about it, the more I realized th

When I arrived at work this morning, helicopters were hovering over the financial district, where I work. I checked Twitter and found out that protestors were outside a bank headquarters nearby, so I grabbed the office camera and walked over there to check it out. After playing photojournalist and i

In Star Trek IV, Scotty picks up a computer mouse and speaks into it, trying to get the machine’s attention. “Computer! Computer!” When nothing happens, someone tells him to use the keyboard. “How quaint,” is his bemused response. You might feel the same way in 10 years, if someone hands you a compu

Steve Jobs, the cofounder and former chief executive of Apple, has died. He was 56. Jobs was a visionary leader who, more than any other single person, reshaped the face of consumer technology. He was often quoted as saying “we’re here to put a dent in the universe.” He did exactly that. From his ea

Software is eating the world, storied venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently wrote — and from his perspective, it certainly looks like it. But that’s only part of the picture. It’s true that the fastest-growing companies in a variety of markets are driven by their deep understanding of software

Apple fans who expected an iPhone 5 today were disappointed. Instead, all Apple unveiled was a phone that’s 2 times faster, with 7 times faster graphics rendering. It’s got a battery that’s good for a full day of talking, almost, and more than 3 solid days of listening to music. The camera is substa

The arrival of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, a $199 tablet, in a market dominated by $500 models looks like an obvious case of price disruption. Not so fast, says Horace Dediu, an analyst at Asymco: Amazon’s margins are too thin to allow it to compete on the tablet’s core technology. It’s an interesting cou

A small Detroit-based company has plans to reinvent the way restaurants, cafes and stores take money from customers. Own is aiming to make a point-of-sale (POS) system that doesn’t just reinvent the cash register, it turns it into a node on a web-connected information system. Its solution combines t

Amazon’s announcement of the Kindle Fire today threw down the gauntlet for both tablets and e-book readers. At just $199, it’s not much more expensive than previous e-readers, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than competing tablets. In fact, you might be asking yourself: Why would I want a drab, mon

Each week, I’m writing a column on business and technology called Dylan’s Desk. Subscribe here, and you can read my columns a whole day before they appear on the VentureBeat website. —– Like a backroom brawler, Apple’s iPad has taken on one tablet challenger after another, and kicked the ass of ever