Techonomics

Author: Guy KawasakiBook: Wise GuyGuy's TwitterGuy's Ted-X TalkCanva  By Jason Middleton This week's introduction is of the 'where do I start' variety. Silicon Valley staple. Agile and accomplished consultant and corporate evangelist.  Legacy employee of Steve Jobs' Macintosh project. Person of values, morals and so very many entertaining stories from his life.  Guy Kawasaki has been a fixture of the tech world since joining Apple's Macintosh team in the 1980s. He is currently the chief evangelist of Canva, the Australian “unicorn,” and a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz. His bestselling books, including The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, and Enchantment, have established him as an expert in innovation, entrepreneurship, venture capital, and marketing.  But his new book is a radical departure from the other fourteen that he’s written. WISE GUY is told in a series of vignettes, it details Guy’s wide range of experiences and the lessons he’s learned from them.  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.

Smart Voice Expert: Jason SnookCapTechCapTech Smart Voice Research By Jason Middleton Smart speakers in the home are, officially, a thing. Before you roll your eyes, not all tech hardware is a guaranteed success. If you think that you can text me from your Amazon Fire phone. What I mean is, the numbers are in - and that means the marketing will get sharper and more purposeful when companies plan and implement their brand strategies.  This week we have Jason Snook as our guest. He has a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from Virginia Tech. He is a leader in the Customer Experience (CX) Practice Area at CapTech.  Mr Snook has more than 17 years of UX/CX experience, helping companies design systems that are easier and more effective for customers and employees.

Over the past year, smart speaker ownership has increased by 20%, with 50% of consumers now reporting to own a smart speaker.

23 percent of consumers polled took advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday to purchase a smart speaker for themselves while about one in six consumers - 16% - purchased one as a gift.

Of consumers that bought one as a gift (not for themselves), 89% owned a smart speaker already. Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.

EU Ambassador to the United States David O'SullivanO'Sullivan's TwitterNew Economic Impact Study of EU/US By Jason Middleton What was once a relatively placid part of the global economy is now a roiling cauldron of contention and unilateral gamesmanship: international trade.  Whether it's the United States versus China, or the US versus the European Union, or the Trans Pacific Partnership or the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU with Brexit, globalization is under fire.  Let's turn to the US and EU. A partnership that's lasted and prospered for 60 years. For this discussion, we're hosting EU's ambassador to the United States, David O'Sullivan. The trade parternship is constructed on a solid foundation of common values, including a commitment to the rule of law, the democratic process, free enterprise, respect for human rights, and alleviating poverty.  A new study sponsored by the European Union demonstrates the depth and breadth of the economic relationship between the EU and the U.S. While the EU invests more money in the United States than any other market, many Americans do not fully understand this relationship.  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.

Author: David MorganBook: Monty Python Speaks: The Complete Oral History, Revised and Updated Edition By Jason Middleton This week we're getting a little outside of this show's brief. Again. There's no real tech angle, unless you count the crude animations mentioned.  And there's no real economic effect, although when a creative AND enterprise project has been going for 50 years, that's something of note in itself. 

It's ... Monty Python's Flying Circus' 50th anniversary. Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, Monty Python’s Flying Circus introduced something completely different: a new brand of surrealistic, stream-of-consciousness comedy that pushed the traditional boundaries of format, style, and content.   David Morgan, author of 'MONTY PYTHON SPEAKS: THE COMPLETE ORAL HISTORY REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION.' The book is a collection of interviews with Monty Python’s founding members, actors, producers, and other collaborators to produce a no-holds-barred look at the Pythons’ legendary sketches and films, including Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Spamalot), and The Meaning of Life.  David Morgan's day job is as senior producer for CBSNews.com, and for CBS’ Emmy Award–winning newsmagazine 'Sunday Morning.'  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.

PBS Kids DigitalVP Sara DeWittSara's TED Talk By Jason Middleton A friend of mine once advised that the best gift-giving pattern for a significant other was to alternate between jewelry and consumer electronics. I've stuck to it ever since.  BUT, what to do when it's a child? Kids are drawn to tech for the same reasons we are - they're flashy screens that can be very effective tools, even if they are presently designed to keep us addicted and engaged. As kids start the New Year, many may have received tech devices as new or hand-me-down holiday gifts.  Studies show that high-quality digital content can help boost children’s learning, and that parental engagement in that learning plays a critical role in giving kids a strong academic start. This week we welcome Sara DeWitt, a vice president at PBS KIds Digital. Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.

Author: Jane FinkleBook: 'The Introverts' Complete Career Guide' By Jason Middleton Introverts face unique challenges in the workplace: while they tend to be keen observers, good listeners and have intense focus, they think before they speak.  And in some corporate cultures that can leave an introvert feeling like road kill during a raucous meeting with extroverts.  And in our present work culture that leans towards extroversion--speaking up and taking action, introverts often feel left out. But there are ways to get noticed.  This week we welcome Jane Finkle. Her new book is titled "THE INTROVERT’S COMPLETE CAREER GUIDE From Landing a Job, to Surviving, Thriving, and Moving On Up." Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.

Roger McNamee bio'Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe'McNamee's essay in Time magazineMusic bed: MoonaliceTwitter: Moonalice By Jason Middleton This week, a Silicon Valley veteran investor - an insider - a near-legend in the venture capital world has published a memoir, that also serves as a warning about a company he helped thrive: Facebook.  Roger McNamee has decades of VC experience. And he sees today's mega tech companies as a very real threat to the very fabric of our society. The book is titled Zucked and I encourage anyone who dialed up this podcast or listened to the broadcast to read it. Library, book store, friend ... I sincerely do not think Roger cares, because the message means so much to him.  The book provides context as to what's really wrong - a context we lacked just two years ago.  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.

Company: Virtual Force Inc.Head of Product: Waleed Nasir By Jason Middleton Usually it's the role of a startup to disrupt whatever industry their idea can disrupt. But with a proper set of tools - and direction and idea - an incumbent business can beat would-be disruptors to the punch.  We hear about blockchain technology changing the way business is done - from internal efficiencies to new markets. So let's drill into one company that helps build products in We have built products in areas like Healthtech, fintech, AI, Blockchain and Marketing Tech.  Virtual Force is a Technology Advisory, Innovation, Design and Engineering platform that builds next generation software products for enterprises and founders. Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody. --30--

Fark.comFounder: Drew Curtis' TED Talk'Curtis for (Ky.) Auditor'Music bed: Eskmo By Jason Middleton I almost don't know where to start scripting for this week's show. The nut graf is that it's the 20th anniversary of a foundational, institutional, hilarious and much-needed website known as Fark dot com.  If you don't know it by name, you know it by source. It's old-school like craigslit dot com. Fark is a curation site - edited by humans - that finds the best of the web every day.  The beauty is, the links get better headlines than any original news editor could put on them. They also get tags or labels, like BREAKING or DUMBASS or PHOTOSHOP or FLORIDA.  Example from Fark as I write this:  Man has 'brilliant' idea, marries three different women, gets them all apartments in the same neighborhood. Gets arrested for polygamy of course, but says he will stay with the one who forgives him when he gets out That got a DUMBASS tag (but only because it didn't happen in Florida). Fark is a seminal website because it keeps things real. And its founder, Drew Curtis, is a web veteran with a conscience and a firm grip on what's wrong with the current state of tech companies and platforms.

'From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future' (available Feb. 26)Tom Wheeler, FCCTom Wheeler, BrookingsTom Wheeler, Harvard By Jason Middleton The challenges of the 21st century echo the challenges created by previous network revolutions. That's the hot take from Tom Wheeler, former chair at the FCC under President Obama, and he's now a fellow at the Brookings Institution and visiting lecturer at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Mr Wheeler is also father of net neutrality regulations - those same regulations that the Trump administration is actively trying to dismantle. Mr Wheeler's new book is 'From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future,' available Feb. 26, 2017. The pillars of his new book address Privacy, Marketplace competition, News and Information and Internet Capitalism vs. Industrial Capitalism. As to the Guttenberg mention, here's a great quote Tom unearthed; “They shamefully print, at negligible cost, material which may, alas, inflame impressionable youths” -- that's from a 16th century Venetian scribe complaining about “the brothel of the printing press.”  Which could be a quote from just about anyone who has stumbled on some fake news on the internet. Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody. --30--