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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Carly Simon, the singer and songwriter who has had a rocky life and a storied career, has sold her autobiography to Random House for a sum in the seven figures, according to a person familiar with the deal. Ms. Simon, the author of several children's books, is writing the memoir herself. It's... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orion has bought the first adult novel from the Blue Peter award-winning children's author... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Children’s has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Penguin US division Dutton... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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These delightful biographies of 294 authors begin with John Bunyan in the 17th century and ends with Rana Dasgupta, born in 1971.My assignment: Read almost 300 literary biographies in more than 800 pages, all of English-language authors, beginning in the 17th century and ending in the present... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This is a brilliant collection of writings on politics, social and cultural engagement and literary life.Reading for My Life Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Smith & Son academic booksellers and Oxford University Press each scooped two awards at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite consumer uncertainty in buying online, and publisher uncertainty in partnering with Amazon, ebooks sales are dominating the market. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2012-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comag Marketing Group, the national magazine distributor jointly owned by Hearst and Condé Nast, has been sold to the Jim Pattison Group. The deal signals the exit of the two publishers from the magazine distribution business and is being positioned as an effort to heal a newsstand supply chain... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of children's books rocketed 30% week-on-week as the spring half-term break resulted in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Blake is to reissue an updated version of its biography of Whitney Houston, following the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It may sound a little strange, but the SmarterComics version of this business bestseller is quite engaging. Here's your chance to read it online free of charge. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#long tail
Waterstones has brought its 3 for 2 offer back for one week, but only on children’s books... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daily Mirror is to run a We Love Reading campaign, backed by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired music star Sir Elton John's first book, Love is The Cure... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Blake has promoted four members of staff to reflect a new emphasis on digital publishing for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wordpress.com blogs just got ad-friendlier. On the heels of its acquisition of Lijit Networks, Federated Media Publishing has struck a deal to expand its ad network further, offering Wordpress.com bloggers the ability to tap into its monetization tools. The opt-in service will give Federated the... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 04/10/2011 - 10:05 Little, Brown and Sphere has bought the autobiography of Duran Duran bassist and founding member John Taylor. Little, Brown editor in chief Antonia Hodgson bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, at auction from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 08/09/2011 - 15:50 John Wiley & Sons has reported revenue growth of 5% for its first quarter fiscal year 2012 results, up to $430m (£267.5m) from $408m, on the same period last year. Revenue for its professional and trade division grew... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 07/09/2011 - 09:50 Blackwell has revamped its website in time for the new academic year, adding online recommendations from in-store staff. The academic retailer was the first bookshop to go online in 1995 and the new site is intended to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 15:00 Simon & Schuster US has signed a deal to publish the physical editions of John Locke's Donovan Creed novels in North America. In June, Locke became the first self-published author to sell more than one million ebooks... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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