As with the printing press and the dotcom boom, initial frenzy and speculation obscures the lasting legacy of new technologies“Innovation,” wrote the economist William Janeway in his seminal book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy, “begins with discovery and culminates in speculation.” That just about sums up 2023. The discovery was AI (as represented by ChatGPT), and the speculative bubble is what we have now, in which huge public corporations launch products that are known to “hallucinate” (yes, that’s now a technical term relating to large language models), and spend money like it’s going out of fashion on the kit needed to make even bigger ones. As I write, I see a report that next year Microsoft plans to buy 150,000 Nvidia chips – at $30,000 (£24,000) a pop. It’s a kind of madness. But when looked at it through the Janeway lens, ’twas ever thus.“The innovations that have repeatedly transformed the architecture of the market economy,” he writes, “from canals to the internet, have required massive investments to construct networks whose value in use could not be imagined at the outset of deployment.” Or, to put it more crudely, what we retrospectively regard as examples of technological progress have mostly come about through outbreaks of irrational exuberance that involved colossal waste, bankrupted investors and caused social turmoil. Bubbles, in other words. In recent times, think of the dotcom boom of the late 1990s. Or in earlier times, of the US railway... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-12-30 16:00:37 UTC ]
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John Murray Publishers is to launch a new list this year, focussing on “fresh and distinctive writing” and books that “provoke and entertain”. JM Originals will publish its first two titles in July, and is today opening a competition to the public to launch the covers for the books. The list... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The myth of the Long Tail for ebooks may be fading away as the digital book market grows, and it is operated by few mega e-retailers, argues Marcello Vena. The post Revisiting the Long Tail Theory as Applied to Ebooks appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With the public promiscuously hopping from one format to another, reports of the e-reader’s death look distinctly prematureWe have barely stumbled into 2015 and already some commentators are calling time on the ebook. The analysis was provoked by Waterstones’ managing director, James Daunt, who... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The sudden death has been announced of Irish bookseller John McNamee, president of the European Booksellers Federation from 2005 to 2014. McNamee is understood to have suffered a heart attack at the weekend. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the three-week shopping season that began Thanksgiving week, Jeff Kinney's newest installment in the Wimpy Kid series has sold more than 535,000 print copies at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Heinemann has acquired a “significant” collection of erotic letters from a young woman to her lover dating from the 1920s. Selina Walker, publisher at Century and Arrow, bought UK and Commonwealth (excluding Australia New Zealand) rights to the collection, edited by Jean Yves Berthault... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Laura Venning joining The Reading Agency in the newly created role of impact research manager. Venning will lead on developing a framework to help the charity assess the impact of reading for pleasure and reading for information, in a post funded by the Peter Sowerby Foundation. Venning comes... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Literacy Trust’s headline-grabbing claim is little more than highly coordinated lobbying based on flimsy evidenceWhen the National Literacy Trust announces that tablet computers help disadvantaged children to read, liberal-minded book lovers like me sit up and listen.The NLT... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Schlimm, author of 'The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour' (Sourcebooks, 9781402296321), will appear on 'Watch What Happens: Live' on Monday, December 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mapping company Lovell Johns has been bought out by its management, with plans to develop its publishing business, Maps International. David Stephens and Liz Murray, the management team at the company, bought it out from Times Media Group, one of South Africa's largest newspaper and magazine... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette Book Group (HBG) and Amazon have reached a new agreement on ebook and print sales in the US following a very public battle for public opinion. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon and Hachette Book Group USA have reached a new, multi-year agreement for ebook and print sales in the U.S. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One of publishing's nastiest, most high-profile conflicts, the monthslong standoff between Amazon.com and Hachette Book Group, is ending. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon and Hachette have resolved a contentious contract battle that caught readers and authors in the crossfire for months. Neither company is talking specifics, but the New York Times reports that Hachette will get the ability to set its own ebook prices. At the same time, Amazon will offer... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Nosy Crow has published a picture book based on the John Lewis Christmas advertisement for the third time. Monty’s Christmas is a rhyming hardback picture book that tells the story of the advert, in which a young boy finds his a soulmate for his penguin. The advert... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An industry panel on Amazon and its business tactics elicited a range of often contradictory responses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marvel has its first superhero movie starring a woman up front. You will not believe what she had to do to get here.It's a big day for diversity in comic book adaptations: Marvel Studios announced that that African asskicker Black Panther would get his own film in 2017 and Ms. Marvel would get... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As her legendary East Village restaurant, Prune, turns 15, chef Gabrielle Hamilton is stepping into new territory with the release her first-ever cookbook, 'Prune,' on November 3. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Murphy started at St. Martin's as a publicity associate, rising to v-p, director of publicity. In May, he was named v-p, publishing strategy. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling author John Grisham apologized Thursday for comments he made about what he viewed as overly punitive sentences for those who view child pornography. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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