Tom Foremski
Latest from Tom Foremski
Markets Fall: What Will Happen to the Silicon Valley Recovery?
Turmoil in global financial markets and economies is never good for Silicon Valley despite the fact that the regional economy has its own boom and boost cycles that operate on a different timetable. Currently, Silicon Valley has been booming, recapturing the trend that was in place in the second half of 2008 before the financial ...
WIMM Labs: An Internet of 1-Inch Screens
Today WIMM Labs launched a modular device that shrinks a PC behind a tiny color display screen with wireless connectivity and full day battery power. The company hopes it will become a platform for a broad range of applications, ranging from wrist watches to golf-swing monitors. It contains an accelerometer, magnetometer, WiFi, Bluetooth and is waterproof. ...
Social Media is not Corporate Media
There’s a gold rush going on as legions of self-proclaimed experts are working with corporations to help them monetize the potential riches in exploiting social media. I look at the links and articles that social media “experts” are sharing all day long on Twitter, Facebook, etc, and it all boils down to this type of ...
Google’s Closure of Labs Signals Big Change, and Good News for Startups
A new CEO always brings a broom with them, and Larry Page’s return to the job at Google includes a major sweep of management and company priorities. One of the casualties is Google Labs, a fairly large collection of small apps and other services, mostly used to enhance current Google services, such as GMail, but ...
Altimeter Group Is Growing Like A Weed
I have a soft spot for the Altimeter Group, a pioneering band of consultants founded by the impressive Charlene Li, with a mission to educate corporate America about the value of listening and engaging with customers. It’s tough work. Wednesday evening we heard Susan Etlinger, Industry Analyst at Altimeter, speak about her latest research and ...
Jumio’s Payments Breakthrough Challenges PayPal, Square, And Others
Jumio’s breakthrough “NetSwipe” payment processing technology that transforms any webcam into a credit card terminal, has the potential to threaten PayPal and emerging payment startups such as Square. With NetSwipe customers simply show their card to the video camera on their smart phones, laptops, desktops, or anything with an Internet connected camera. It takes just ...
The Tamagotchi Nature of Social Networks
A significant part of my day is spent maintaining my profiles on my social networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and now Google+. Some of my time spent in these networks is genuinely useful but a lot of it is spent in housekeeping chores, I’m constantly peppered with tasks: approve these friends, like these pages, it’s Joe ...
The Media Mass Age, and the New Media Mess Age
You may have noticed that the media loves to cover the media — it’s a narcissism that is not unique to the profession but certainly more visible because of its ready means of expression. It’s partly media’s fascination with itself, that there is a lot of media this week about Marshall McLuhan: the philosopher prince ...
MoneyTree Report: Forget the Bubble, The Rise in VC Investments is Unsustainable
The latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data provided by Thomson Reuters: -Q2 2011 VC investments jump 19% to $7.5 billion in 966 deals. Year ago: $6.3 billion in 814 deals – Latest quarter is highest total since Q2 2008. These high levels are not ...
The Massive Mystery in Google’s Finances and Why this is Bad for Publishers
Google [$GOOG] reported stellar 2011 Q2 earnings but Google’s partner sites, which used to account for half of its revenues, showed a massive lag in growth. The partner sites are part of Google’s AdSense network and include large media companies such as The New York Times. Google’s own sites, such as search, gmail, etc showed ...