John Dorney has a really excellent article over on The Irish Story today about Florence MacCarthy. if you ever wondered about the complexities of Irish 16th and 17th Century history (and if not why not? it’s a fascinating period that shows the best and worst of human nature), this is one for you.
Florence MacCarthy, the last MacCarthy Mor, 1560-1640 | The Irish Story.
Well worth reading this today from Martyn Daniels and an interesting counter point to the previously tweeted video from O’Reilly Radar. To me, this is why capitalism works, because as economies grow and develop they push standard of living higher and increase income across the board, especially as countries play to their competitive advantages. Fascinating to see it impact hugh-tech companies so rapidly.
The most interesting point is that counties such as China and India no longer want the low end assembly and service work. “China doesn’t want to be the workshop of the world anymore,” says Pietra Rivoli, a professor of international business at Georgetown University. India is already maturing as a workforce and aspirations and wages are growing fast. The question is will the West pay more or simply flow to the next cheap source of labour?
via Brave New World: Chasing Cheap Labour in a Digital World.
You know, people should read more Saffo, he opens up as many questions when he writes about disinetermediation as he does close down hopes. That said, Curtis’ post today is a sobering read:
The inescapable fact is that agents are intermediaries in a disintermediating world, and digital technology is remorseless in its dissolution of those who stand between buyer and seller. The chasm between writers and publishers, for so long occupied by literary agents, has narrowed as authors realize that they are but one touch of their Send key away from their readers.
Very nice idea from Waterstones & The Bodley Head! Clever way to take advantage of the digital form preference for shorter material and yet promote the longer form books in both print and digital, savvy!
Brilliant ideas are at the heart of the books published by Bodley Head (part of the Random House Group) – but knowing that not everyone has the time to read all 400+ pages of each of their titles they’ve created Brain Shots: ‘big idea’ books in a byte-sized format.
via Fiction, Children’s books, eBooks, Non-fiction books, textbooks and more at Waterstone’s.
Relevant to nearly everyone given how fundamentally digital is changing industries as diverse as real estate and publishing.
Blog U.: Preparing for Dying Industries – Confessions of a Community College Dean – Inside Higher Ed.
Eoin Purcell's Blog 