Weekly Links #31
Here is a weekly selection of significant (yet under-reported) information bits, thoughtful opinion pieces and interesting analyses from the digital and technology world. Published every Thursday.
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- The Web’s Cruft Problem
Nice piece explaining why the people who collectively create the web increasingly hate actually using the web. - Is the media becoming a wire service?
Unlike what this question-styled headline suggests, this article contains not a question but a prediction. And it is a reasonable one - What My Landlord Learned About Me From Twitter
A reminder that the online personality that we create on social media is most likely being inspected by various types of people who we meet during the day and have business interactions with. - Amazon’s Latest Prime Perk: A Five Percent Cash-Back Credit Card
The ways that Amazon goes in order to convince consumers of a Prime membership are truly fascinating. - What really happened at Reddit?
Dave Winer makes a smart point about the main difference between monetizing communities like Reddit and social networks like Facebook and Twitter. - President Obama invites telepresence robot into White House, humans remain in control for time being
Obama must be the most tech-friendly president of any country, ever. Or he is just extremely good at presenting himself that way. Either way, I love it. - Bitcoin is the ‘Napster’ of finance — and there’ll be an iTunes
Catchy analogy. Could be true. - Casey Neistat’s Beme Is a Social App That Aims to Replace Illusions With Reality
Maybe it is a sign that I am getting older, but the approach of a new social app copying 98 % of existing apps, adding 2 % newness and then (most likely) hoping to create a billion Dollar success does not do it for me anymore. - With This Airbnb For Energy, Now You Can Buy Solar Power From Your Neighbor
Instead, it’s concepts like this that I can get excited about today. - The future of tablets is iPad-shaped – and so is the present
Apple might not sell as many iPads anymore as in the past. But the other side of the story is that other tablets are becoming increasingly similar to the iPad. So Apple has still won.
And this week on meshedsociety.com: