Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
A year and a half ago, Gawker Media CEO Nick Denton had ample reason to be optimistic about the future of the company that he had founded more than 12 years earlier. The company’s revenue had grown from about $5.3 million in 2006 to $43.8 million in 2014. It was consistently profitable, with a 2014…
One of my obsessions these days is the question of whether there’s any such thing as a career in digital journalism. I’m still doing reporting on this question — if you have any empirical data on the subject, do let me know — but in the meantime, my working hypothesis is that the answer is…
Despite the well-documented (really obvious) gender gap in the tech sector, we’re not seeing a lot of improvement, and it’s time to take some serious action. Right now, women (who represent 57 percent of the U.S. labor force) fill just a quarter (26.5 percent) of tech jobs at the top U.S. tech firms, and earn,…
Thanatos A Vampire Tale Inspired by True Events “Today’s creepy is tomorrow’s necessity.” –Sean Parker. Just a single prick. That’s all Jane Watson needed. But in recent weeks at Stanford, the young students, delicious and full of blood, had been harder and harder to come by. At first, she had no trouble finding a fix….
The Perks Are Great. Just Don’t Ask Us What We Do. 50onRed is a fixture in Philly’s tech scene. But there’s something the leadership didn’t talk about, even with some of its own staff. The company seemed like the perfect place for Tyler. After working in the agency world, Tyler (not his real name) wanted…
Photo: iStockphoto uBeam, a high-profile startup backed by some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors, has become a tech-industry sensation because of the wireless charging technology it claims to have in its labs. Scheduled for delivery next year, uBeam promises to use ultrasound to charge a mobile phone wirelessly, as you go about your…
What is it Like to Wake Up and Have the Press Ready to Torpedo Your Business? In case you missed it, the press yesterday ran several stories questioning the viability of a wireless charging company I invested in called uBeam. Obviously my day turned out very differently than I had anticipated when I woke up,…
Mic CEO Chris Altchek. Credit: Mic AD UNIT 1 /AD UNIT 1 Like explorers on the high seas, digital media companies these days are looking left and right, high and low, for new sources of revenue. Advertising, branded content in particular, has become a huge business for companies like BuzzFeed and Vox Media, but revenue…
Begin: WordPress Article Content uBeam could be vaporware, according to a blogger claiming to be uBeam’s former VP of engineering. They accuse the startup of being unable to fulfill promises made about its technology. [Update: Reporter Lee Gomes confirmed with the author that they are former uBeam VP of Eng Paul Reynolds. More below] uBeam…
A cache of internal documents shows that despite growing revenue, Palantir has lost top-tier clients, is struggling to stem staff departures, and has recorded cash collections at just a fraction of its customer bookings. A trove of internal documents and insider interviews has pulled back the curtain on one of Silicon Valley’s most secretive and highly-valued…