Subscriber Content
Michael Wolf
http://about.me/wolf
Attention app developers: Take our survey!
Develop apps for smartphones, tablets or TVs? Take our survey: we’d like to hear more about what you’re working on, what screens and platforms you develop for, how you monetize your work, as well as what categories of apps. Read more »
Analyzing Kickstarter: What succeeds, by how much and how often
When it comes to crowdfunding platforms, the biggest (or at least most well known) kid on the block is Kickstarter. In this post, we present data on the breakdown of projects as well as which ones do better than others. Read more »
Introducing GigaOM Books
Here at GigaOM, we’ve followed the tectonic shifts happening in publishing pretty closely. And sometimes, when something presents a really disruptive opportunity, we dive in ourselves. Today, we’re announcing our latest project, GigaOM Books. Read more »
Have thoughts on Pinterest? Take our survey and win $50 Amazon card
Pinterest is the breakout story this year in the social Web space. Take our survey and tell us what you think about the new social curation site. Read more »
The comic strip in the age of iPad: A talk with Stephan Pastis
As newspapers struggle for survival, comic strip artists find themselves looking to other mediums to reach audiences. I sit down to talk with Stephan Pastis, creator of the massively popular Pearls Before Swine strip about his new app and the future of the comic strip. Read more »
Portrait of (and podcast with) an artist entrepreneur: Marc Maron
Marc Maron’s popular WTF podcast is more than an entertaining listen; it shows how the artist-entrepreneur can harness the power of Internet distribution and community. In this audio interview, Maron talks about the lessons he has learned and where he fits into the media landscape. Read more »
Meet Jo Maitland
Last year was a great year for GigaOM Pro, and 2012 promises to be even better. Jo Maitland recently joined our team as a Research Director for Enterprise, and she will help us produce more research in the enterprise IT and cloud computing spaces. Read more »
Why 2012 will be year of the artist-entrepreneur
While 2011 was a big year for political unrest, another uprising was afoot in the world of content creators and artists. Everywhere you look, artists are taking more control over their own economic well being, partly because the Internet has enabled them to do so. Read more »
Could technology like that in Siri help us detect political BS?
Researchers are looking at ways to use new technologies like natural language processing to help assess the accuracy of what politicians say. Could this be the beginning of a wave in technology-assisted truth barometers? Read more »
E-book market forecast to hit $5.2B as the book industry burns
I’ve never seen an industry change faster than digital publishing, where the sudden love of e-books created a “backdraft” that set the entire value chain aflame. These three large-scale shifts will result in a U.S. e-book marketplace that exceeds $5 billion by 2016. Read more »
4 ways technology will impact politics in 2012
photo: Image courtesy of Flickr user Lower Columbia College
Another election year is nearly upon us, and if the past is any lesson, new uses of technology will impact the outcome in many new and unpredictable ways. Read more »
Could e-books be a game-changer for 2012 Presidential candidates?
In today’s crowded media marketplace, presidential candidates (and their media consultants) have an almost mind-boggling number of mediums in which to get a message across. From TV to talk radio to the printed word and all the permutations in between, there’s no doubt that a mastery […] Read more »
Why Google should buy Barnes & Noble
Many are saying that the Kindle Fire is an example of a company finally getting an Android tablet right. But the Nook was the first tablet that was priced cheaply with a curated approach to content, and that content-first approach could big a big asset to Google. Read more »
Survey: Weigh in on the impact of Solyndra’s bankruptcy
This week Solyndra announced plans to file for bankruptcy and said it will lay off 1,100 employees. How will the event impact the larger cleantech industry, greentech startup funding and the solar sector as a whole? We ask you to weigh in. Read more »
Tell us how you think Apple could change in the post-Jobs era
At GigaOM, we have some of the savviest Apple (and tech-industry) watchers around. With the news of Steve Jobs’ retirement, we thought we’d ask for your thoughts about how things might change at Apple in the future. So take 2 minutes and fill out our survey. Read more »
Take our survey on tech startup investing (and win a gift card!)
With the stock market gyrating, as many companies shutting down as starting up and big IPOs possibly going on hold, we want to know what you think about startup investment. Answer our brief survey, and you’ll be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card. Read more »
Dear Google: The future of the living room is integrated
When it comes to Google TV, you have to wonder if Google went too big too soon. And while the company wasn’t wrong to try and own the TV interface, here are some lessons it should take into account as it fine tunes its platform. Read more »
Tell us what you think about Airbnb and similar services
The recent news around Airbnb has focused a lot of attention on “collaborative consumption” — a growing movement that utilizes the web to share, lend and barter products and services. Share your thoughts on the potential — and potential pitfalls — of this space in our survey. Read more »
Take our poll & share your views on AirBnB, other web-sharing startups
There’s been an explosion of interest in web-sharing services, a growing movement of lending and bartering services that create economical and sustainable consumption methods. Take a few minutes to tell us how you feel about this movement in our new survey, and maybe even win prizes. Read more »
Nintendo will lead innovation again; just not with the 3DS
Is the 3DS the device to lead Nintendo into another decade of growth and profitability? Probably not. With the gaming industry focusing more and more on tablets, smartphones and touchscreens, the company will almost certainly have to rethink its slightly antiquated business model to remain relevant. Read more »
GigaOM welcomes David Card
With any startup, fast growth requires investment, starting first and foremost with good people. With that in mind, I’d like to welcome the newest member of the GigaOM Pro family, David Card, who will serve as the research director of GigaOM Pro Read more »
Should Microsoft introduce a disc-less 360?
Microsoft just released its Q2 results, and it’s clear the 360 has gone from being a drag on financials to contributing in a positive way. But one surefire way to expand the market further is by making the 360 available at the $99 price point. Read more »
Should Netflix have dropped prices on streaming-only plans?
If Netflix really wanted to convert people to stand-alone streaming and not piss them off, it should have dropped the price of streaming in conjunction with its latest announcement. The existing stand-alone streaming price, which debuted last November, was $7.99, and a simple $1 price drop to that […] Read more »
Why smart TV OEMs should pay consumers to “plug in”
If TV OEMS are going to embrace smart TVs, they need a business model that fits this new paradigm. Up-front, one-burst revenue models are being replaced by longer-term, services-oriented relationships. The key to success in this new world is ensuring that new smart-TV owners are connected and […] Read more »
Have thoughts on Google+? Take our survey and win a $50 gift card!
This week Google launched their new social offering, Google+, and we’d like to hear your views on it. While many of you haven’t gotten your invites yet, we still think it’s worth asking — invite or not — what you think Google’s chances are. Read more »
Pottermore: Future of publishing or Club Penguin for Potter fans?
Last week, Harry Potter author JK Rowling announced Poettermore, an ambitious new online property that will be the exclusive retailer for Potter e-books, Pottermore will no doubt do a mean business as an e-book storefront — and ruffle the feathers of traditional publishers in the process. Read more »
Turntable.fm and SoundCloud ushering in new era of social music
As Turntable.fm has shown, a new era of social music may be upon us, one that is less about scaling wide, but more about going deep. The third era of social music is about immersion as sites add more immediacy and intimacy to the experience. Read more »
Meet Facebook, the Web’s Social Entertainment Operating System
When Cisco all but confirmed it had shut down an ambitiously named Entertainment Operating System, I suspect some folks at Facebook may have chuckled to themselves. After all, Facebook may have designs on becoming for real what the Cisco product was only in name. Read more »
Amazon Makes Move to Join Book Publishing Big Leagues
In just the past few weeks, Amazon has launched two new book imprints, hired the former CEO of Time Warner books to launch more, making clear their intentions to grow publishing’s Big Six by one. Can the publishing industry withstand the Amazon onslaught? Read more »
Amazon: The Book Industry “In a Box”?
While most thought the biggest news out of Amazon’s e-book business this week was the revelation that e-books now eclipse print books, it was the launch of the company’s second genre imprint in the span of two weeks (and fifth imprint overall) that’s the bigger deal. Read more »
Could Skype Be Microsoft’s Smart TV Trojan Horse?
Microsoft’s mixed history in the digital living room has many thinking the company could botch its deal with Skype where smart TVs are concerned. But leveraging Skype’s social capabilities and integrating the service with key Microsoft products might just prove otherwise. Read more »
Could “Cloud” Become a Dirty Word for Consumers?
With all the bad news about recent outages of Amazon Web Services and Sony’s Playstation Network, cloud-based services and the cloud industry needs to more proactively educate users to protect the “cloud” brand. Read more »
So What Should Cisco Really Have Done With Flip?
This week, Cisco restructured its consumer business, which included, shockingly, killing off its Flip video camera. Whether or not it was the best choice in the long run is up for debate, as clearly there were other possible strategies f0r Flip that Cisco could have picked. Read more »
Forget Netflix. E-book Publishers Need a Hulu
For all its growth, the e-book market has been stillborn in one major way: methods in which to monetize. But recent news that a Spanish company called 24Symbols went into beta on a an e-book service shows that digital publishing could finally be evolving. Read more »
Why Amazon Is the New Digital Media Alpha Dog
By moving first among the large digital media goliaths with its new cloud streaming music service, Amazon has essentially established itself as an alpha dog. This is a pattern that shows how aggressive Amazon can be, establishing itself before competitors or spurned partners react. Read more »
Why Netflix’s House of Cards Deal Is All About Audience Aggregation
Many were surprised to learn this week that Netflix is wading into the expensive waters of original content. However, in an era of rising distribution costs, Netflix is simply doing what it needs to do to survive by offering original content. Read more »
Cord Cutting Will Go Mainstream When It’s More Like Pay TV
The secret to making cord cutting mass market is for over-the-top video to become a little more like pay TV, but without the high price. With these week’s news, it looks like we may be inching closer to that reality. Read more »
Free GigaOM Pro Webcast: The Post-PC Enterprise
With smartphones outselling PCs and 1 in 4 mobile workers choosing a tablet as their mobile device of choice, many believe the post-PC enterprise is upon us. We’ll examine the implications of these changes on the enterprise in our free webcast on Wednesday, March 16. Read more »
Is 2011 The Year of Powerline Networking?
It’s a pretty easy argument to make that Wi-Fi has been the single most important technology in the connected-home marketplace for the past decade, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the most optimal option for connecting the home. Here’s what else is out there. Read more »
