Weekly Links #30
Here is a weekly selection of important information bits, thoughtful opinion pieces and interesting analyses from the digital and technology world. Published every Thursday.
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- The Electric Car
Convincing points for why electric cars will take over the market faster than many expect. Tesla is the catalyst. - Deutsche Telekom wants to be like Comcast
The German telecommunications giant is one of the companies that will most likely cause supporters of an open and competitive web a lot of headache in the future. I personally think operators should be forced to remain “dumb pipes”. - Most ‘App Constellation’ apps will fail: Why big tech companies have no other choice on mobile
The big “unbundling” has only worked well for a few players, as this analysis shows. - News Sites Are Fatter and Slower Than Ever
Basically, publishers are doing everything to chase users away to the social platforms that want to host their content. - Alexa, tell me what it’s like to use the Amazon Echo
I am bullish on this device category, and this review reaffirms that. - Facebook’s Piracy Problem
From the category “things that I was not aware about but that seem totally obvious in hindsight”: Some Facebook pages rip YouTube videos, upload them to Facebook and gather millions of views. And Facebook benefits from that. - Oh when materialism was fun!
Something good to ponder: Materialism is not as much fun anymore (for those who can afford it) in a time and age in which you can get everything easily with a few clicks delivered to your door step. - I taught myself Python on the Internet and so can you
I know I should start learning to code a bit as well, but I am still looking for excuses. For total beginners, this Udacity course appears to be good, too (thanks @hackr). - Now Worth $10 Billion, Is WeWork a 2000 Redux?
I have no comment other than this is published on the Wall Street Journal, which is not directly known for bubble hysteria. - This New Wi-Fi Tech Uses Proximity To End Waiting In Long Lines
This sounds pretty exciting to me. One more technical way for mesh networks to connect smartphone users with each other without an Internet connection. - It’s 2015 — You’d Think We’d Have Figured Out How To Measure Web Traffic By Now
Good explainer why traffic metrics so often differ between different sources. - Why desktop apps are making a comeback
In my eyes it is an exaggeration to call it a “comeback”, but there are certainly a few tasks that can be accomplished smoother on a Desktop app than in the browser. - Snapchat has become a Wild West of sponsored content
On Snapchat, user content and sponsored content happily mix and merge. This somehow seems to be the future of content on the web anyway: It gets harder and harder to distinguish independent content from paid-for content. - 7 Changes to Iran’s Startup Scene Resulting from the Iran Deal
After the historical agreement of this week, this one will be something to watch closely. - Feature-phone sales fast dying in Africa
Very soon, smartphones will be the default mobile device, while feature phones will die out (or will be used for special use cases only). - In Technology, Small Fish (Almost Always) Eat Big Fish
It’s a never ending circle.
And this week on meshedsociety.com: