Category Archives: Technology and innovation

SoftBank-Funded Silicon Valley Unicorn Katerra, Which Was to “Transform” the Construction Industry, Collapses

Katerra, one of the rare unicorns with a real or at least plausible business, fell to Covid. Lawsuits will fly.

When Is a Co-Op Not a Co-Op? When Vested Interests in California Want to Keep Platform Workers From Having Power

California Assembly Bill 1319 is a convoluted scheme to create so-called co-ops designed to keep gig workers disempowered.

Amid a Pandemic, a Health Care Algorithm Shows Promise and Peril

A private health data service/vendor has developed a triage algo in a rapid and non-transparent manner. Why aren’t more doctors concerned?

Jared Holst: Getting Kinky for the Sake of Data

Apple is now promising to give users more control over who gets their data. But will they make it more seductive to give it away?

The Corporate Food Takeover

Corporate ownership in many sectors of food production has risen and is set to increase further. Another rentier program well underway.

The Ugly Truth About Renewable Power

Questions about how to make intermittent renewable energy production work for users conditioned to always-here power.

Privacy Champions Urge Passage of ‘Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale’ Act

Anti-Big-Tech sentiment has hit the point where it’s not crazy to hope for some recovery of digital privacy.

The Case for WikiSearch, a Wikipedia Search Engine

The Wikipedia search project has been deceitful, duplicitous, and downright dumb. But Google needs a competitor. Maybe it’s not a bad option.

UNCTAD’s Richard Kozul-Wright on the Post-COVID World Economy: Out of the Frying Pan… Into the Fire?

Kozul-Wright warns that for a sustainable Covid-19 recovery, it is key to abandon policies that concentrate economic power and wealth

Wikipedia’s Deep Ties to Big Tech

Contrary to its image as a cash-strapped, open public service, Wikipedia tries to hide that it is a wealthy NGO with close ties to big tech.

Sick Unicorns: America’s Broken Start-Up System

Unicorn startups are even more unprofitable than those that did not achieve unicorn status.

Patent System Often Stifles the Innovation It Was Designed to Encourage

Why the US patent regime is broken and what could be done to fix it.

The Free Press versus Facebook and Google

Are Facebook and Google the new ‘public square’? Or are they publishers swiping content from others?