Category: Digital Transformation

  • Cheating at Wordle

    In which I confess to a weak moment that also has some interesting implications, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. Bless me, Reader, for I have sinned. La Profesora and I aren’t competitive when the stakes are real, but this mutual support does not apply to vicious games of Gin Rummy or to…

  • The End of Filter Failure?

    How soon will technology start working for users rather than big tech companies when it comes to information overload? Last time, I shared a microfiction (1,000 words or less), a short science fiction story called “Fleeing the Emerald City,” about Calvin, a man who uses advanced filtering technology to lose weight but doesn’t much enjoy…

  • Fleeing the Emerald City, a Microfiction

    What happens when you sign up for a hi-tech digital behavior modification program to get healthy, but you don’t much enjoy the experience? I’ve been experimenting with microfictions, short SF stories (1,000 words or less) that help me explore and illustrate aspects of how our lives might evolve within digital transformation. Here, then, is another microfiction.…

  • Wendy’s, Google, and Instagram

    Three times the media missed important context in the last week. I read a lot of High Quality News and avoid the Low Quality variety (see the helpful way that Ad Fontes Media defines these categories). Even topflight news can be so focused on short term events that they forget to ask context questions, by which I…

  • Walmart, Vizio, Amazon, and Experience Stacks

    This week, WSJ reported that the grocery giant is in talks to acquire a TV manufacturer: why is this a good idea, and how does it help Walmart compete with Amazon? (Issue #106) Attentive readers will remember my earlier explorations of Experience Stacks, which are the idiosyncratic collection of prior experiences somebody brings to bear on…

  • TV Is Doing Just Fine… For Now

    A new op-ed about the possible end of “peak TV” misses the real story.  Film historian and critic Peter Biskind’s op-ed in The New York Times hangs black crepe, mourning the end of peak TV. The funeral came at last week’s Emmy Awards, with an open casket where viewers could see the cast of Succession. Biskind’s piece went…

  • 20 Years of Innovation!

    This week, I share a new infographic tracking two decades of transformational companies and products. Plus, “13 Ways of Looking at Las Vegas.” (Issue #101) I had a ball leading StoryTech tours of the show floor at CES in Las Vegas last week. This year’s distinct theme was AI. My favorite exhibit was Timekettle from China: it’s one of…

  • Dueling Intelligences

    How realistic is the idea that flesh and blood actors will soon find themselves performing alongside long-dead movie stars? Image created by DALL-E. Last time, I shared a microfiction (1,000 words or less), a short science fiction story called “The Only Living Boy,” about an actor, Tom, who is the only flesh and blood performer…

  • Truth in a Filtered World

    We already live in a polarized society, so what happens when technology makes our filters even stronger? Image created with ChatGPT4. Last time, I shared a microfiction (1,000 words or less), a short science fiction story called “Filtered,” about a man, Phil, who found his wife Cynthia’s pet name for him so irritating that he…

  • Filtered, a Microfiction

    If you never had to deal with your partner’s annoying verbal tics because your AI could just edit them out, would you do it? Image created with ChatGPT. Hearing his wife Cynthia say the word “Sweetie” tightened the corners of Phil’s mouth into a sour grimace. He hated it, and it was Cynthia’s chief way…