3 min read · 19 October 2011
3 min read · 18 October 2011
6 min read · 14 October 2011
Steve Jobs’ death last Wednesday has spurred an astonishing outpouring of emotion. Beyond the countless makeshift memorials to him, a coming authorized biography of Jobs now sits atop Amazon’s best-seller list. More than 8,500 tributes to the Apple co-founder have been published by major media companies alone. Even the unsurprising details of Jobs’ death certificate became headline news when released to the public earlier this week. Yet the question of why we’re so preoccupied with Jobs' passing is as complicated as was Jobs himself. Certainly, timing is a factor. At 56, Jobs died at the height of his powers, with his company now among the most valuable in the world. “Like Marilyn Monroe or Kurt Cobain, we’ll never see
4 min read · 13 October 2011
To remain successful, companies have to be ruthless about killing their own ideas. The smartest ones kill off their bad innovations quickly, as happened today, when Netflix’s affable CEO Reed Hastings admitted that the company’s plans to separate its DVD rental service from its online streaming unit would make life unnecessarily “difficult” for its loyal customers. The decision came three months after Netflix announced that it was creating a separate payment plan for DVDs and streamed movies, and less than three weeks after Hastings appeared in what may be the world’s cheapest-looking corporate video to offer his sincere apologies for mishandling Netflix's confusing news -- before informing users that he had more of it. Specifically, he said, beyond two payment plans, Netflix would be breaking itself into two companies: Netflix for streaming video, and brand-new Qwikster for DVD rentals. Whether the zaniness will hurt Netflix in the long term remains to be seen, but at least we gained a very funny "Saturday Night Live" sketch from it. Check it out, along with seven other, terrible, short-lived ideas.
4 min read · 11 October 2011
6 min read · 07 October 2011
4 min read · 06 October 2011
3 min read · 06 October 2011
3 min read · 05 October 2011
2 min read · 04 October 2011
