2023 was the year the economics of tech caught up with reality

As a precocious teen looking to improve my college application, I sat in on a business studies class. I figured taking two extra A-Levels at night school alongside those I took during the day would make me irresistible to admissions tutors. The class I watched examined if it was worth a large factory keeping its own trucks and drivers in-house rather than outsourcing them. The data showed selling the trucks and firing the workers was more expensive in the long run, and yoked the company to the whims of any third-party logistics company in the local area. Not to mention, if you don’t own a mission-critical component of your business, you’re a lot less powerful when negotiating with your suppliers. But the teacher, and the class, all agreed it was smart to sell it all because it made a bigger profit in the quarter and was cheaper for the next two years. These people had never considered if something bad would happen, and how to prepare for it. It was at this point I realized my values were out of step with the commercial orthodoxy and opted not to take the course. I mention this because I’ve always thought the people in the tech industry with all the money are probably halfway savvy about how All Of This Is Meant To Work. I’d told myself that what, to me, appeared illogical and self-defeating was because they were playing a game of six-dimensional chess on a board I was too dim to see. Unless, of course, the economics of our industry are so unmoored from reality that... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2023-12-18 15:30:52 UTC ]
News tagged with: #epic games #english language #track record #corporate parent #libraries

Other Publishing stories related to: '2023 was the year the economics of tech caught up with reality'

25 years of asking, Where's Waldo?

Popular children's book character Waldo will soon be spotted in a lot more places around the world as his 25th anniversary kicks into gear.Where's Waldo? He won't be difficult to find once the 25th anniversary kicks off for the bespectacled, and beloved, children's book character. England will... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #popular children #book character #follow suit

Newspaper Jobs Shrink 40% In 10 Years

While plenty of industries have shrunk over the last couple years, few have been hit as badly as newspaper publishing, which was already contracting before the economic downturn began. Since then, economic woes have simply reinforced the long-term tr ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #couple years #newspaper publishing #long-term tr

PA half year: Fiction ebook sales increased 188%

Sales of digital fiction books increased by 188% in value terms in the first half of the year,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

E-reader numbers 'set to rise 70%' this year

Publishers are readying themselves to respond to an explosion of e-reading devices in the UK in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #e-reading devices

Body Economic to Penguin Press

Penguin Press has snapped up a title by two professors that deals with the relationship between... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #penguin press

W&N to publish 100 years of New Statesman

Weidenfeld & Nicolson will publish a celebration of the New Statesman magazine’s 100th... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #weidenfeld nicolson

AnswerQi: Tech Info On-Demand

‘‘It’s an on-demand world,” said Glenn Nano, cofounder of startup AnswerQi. “People have unique needs and you can’t just give them off-the-shelf stuff.” Launched in May 2011, AnswerQi is a Web-based question and answer service that can provide immediate answers or detailed support for a wide... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #on-demand world #wide variety

Manchester marks fifty years of Clockwork Orange

An exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange opens... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #clockwork orange #anthony burgess

Ingram Makes Color Print-On-Demand More Economical

Ingram Content Group has announced a new “standard color” pricing model for print-on-demand technology that has reduced costs by roughly two-thirds, making color POD an economical publishing option for the first time. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #print-on-demand technology

How Jonah Lehrer was caught inventing Bob Dylan quotes

Jonah Lehrer resigned from The New Yorker after Tablet Magazine discovered Lehrer had fabricated quotes by Bob Dylan in Lehrer's latest book "Imagine: How Creativity Works." Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jonah lehrer #bob dylan #creativity works

After Great Year, Scholastic Tries For Encore

Fiscal 2012 was a good year made great by The Hunger Games,” Scholastic chairman Dick Robinson told analysts in a conference call last Thursday to discuss results in the year ended May 31, in which sales rose 14%, to $2.15 billion, and net income jumped from $39.4 million to $102.4 million. The... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #great year #hunger games #conference call #book publishing #distribution group #trade division #digital editions

Denise Mina wins Crime Novel of the Year

Glaswegian writer Denise Mina has won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #peculier crime

Brain Quest Celebrates 20 Years of Challenging Kids

For two decades, Brain Quest’s curriculum-based question-and-answer game has entertained kids – lots of them. Workman, which launched the line in 1992, reports sales of close to 37 million copies of Brain Quest editions for children at the pre-K through seventh grade levels. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |