Topic: Business
Daniel Solove doesn't use the familiar metaphor of "Big Brother" when
he discusses privacy; rather he uses Kafka's play "The Trial." He
says we're not as much in danger of having our privacy violated by
someone with evil intent as we are of having our lives turned upside
down from the interactions of unapproachable and faceless
corporations and bureaucracies. [Technometria with Phil Windley;
audio from IT Conversations]
Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with journalist Stephen Yafa about a crop that has been with us for over 5,000 years: cotton. It's also a crop which continues to significantly impact the environment. Moira also speaks with Stephen about his new book "Big Cotton -- How a Humble Fiber Created Fortunes, Wrecked Civilizations, and Put America on the Map." [Tech Nation audio on IT Conversations]
The free and open source software movement is moving, rapidly. If you want to hear where the big guns of the industry want to take it, you can do no better than listening to Jonathan Schwartz, President and COO of Sun Microsystems talk on this in his keynote at the OSBC. He talks about the changing landscape of FOSS, the obstacles its facing and what the industry should be doing to promote The Age of Participation. [Open Source Business Conference audio from IT Conversations]
What decisions can managers take to increase their probability of successfully building innovation-driven growth businesses? Many are convinced that it is impossible to predict with confidence whether an innovation will succeed, so they feel they need to place a number of bets with the hope that some will be winners. Others believe that the best way to create new growth businesses is to meticulously search for detailed quantitative data to identify opportunities and develop a rigorous plan to attack those opportunities. But many times conclusive data is only available after the game has already been won. Professor Christensen has another way. He suggests using theory. Every action a manager takes, every plan a manager makes is based on some belief of cause and effect.
How do you take advantage of the new Web 2.0 landscape to build your business? How can you make your customers your evangelists -- or better yet, how can you let your customers build your business altogether? What are the roles of new communication tools like blogs, RSS, and social networks? A panel of innovators in the blogging, photography, and retail businesses point the way. [Web 2.0 audio on IT Conversations]
In this keynote address from the Software 2004 conference, Geoffrey Moore considers what might happen to the software industry over the next decade. He looks particularly at what the big, established players might or should do, and how that will affect them and the smaller companies as well. [Software 2004 audio from IT Conversations]
Dr. Moira Gunn interviews James Stewart, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of "Den of Thieves." His latest endeavors have been a look inside the wonderful world of "Corporate Disney." [Tech Nation audio on IT Conversations]
Bill Gurley, General Partner, Benchmark Capital, says that massively multi-player online roleplaying games (MMORPGs) are an "insanely profitable business." Hear about a game in China that has 9 million active users, and how players are so fanatical in Korea, that the police have had to investigate the theft of in-world characters. Bill says MMORPGs are a business opportunity far beyond EverQuest. [Web 2.0 audio from IT Conversations]
In this keynote address from the Software 2004 conference, venture capitalist Ray Lane (Kleiner, Perkins) takes a high-level and long-term view of the software industry. What's next? Is there a new economy after all? What about the claims that IT doesn't matter and that innovation is dead? Perhaps this is a rare period of normalcy. [Software 2004 audio from IT Conversations]
Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with professor Oded Shenkar, Ford Motor Company Chair, Global Business Management, Ohio State University, and the author of, "The Chinese Century -- The Rising Chinese Economy and its Impact on the Global Economy, The Balance of Power and Your Job." They discuss the rise of China, the lessons of history -- as well as what's happening today -- to find out just why he calls this "The Chinese Century." [Tech Nation audio on IT Conversations]
