MediaFuse

14/03/2019

14/03/2019

Consider the metamorphosis of self-publishing. For decades it was dismissed as the desperate refuge of authors rejected by publishing houses, wannabes who paid a fee to a musty vanity press that would dutifully typeset their words and transform them into a few boxes of books that the “writers” could hand out to their friends. Today, thanks to ebooks and Amazon, self-publishing is a global phenomenon—an independent route intentionally chosen by more and more authors—that has spawned not only mega-bestsellers like Fifty Shades of Grey, but also hits in other realms, such as the movie version of The Martian. Ebook self-publishing has become a $1 billion industry.

A burgeoning ecosystem of supporting services has sprung up to serve independent authors. There are companies that handle one step—or all of them—along the way: editing, marketing, design, distribution, and publicity. Increasingly, an array of digital operations has popped up to execute the oxymoronic process of publishing a self-published book. There are now digital publishers, “hybrid” publishers, “assisted self-publishers,” and even literary agencies acting as publishers. Call it the Kindle effect. Amazon opened the floodgates in 2007, the same year it released its first e-reader, when it launched Kindle Direct Publishing, allowing anyone to upload, publish, and sell his own ebook for free. | The Kindle Effect

28/02/2019

The device could be lifesaving: If you were rushed unconscious to a hospital with no identification, doctors would instantly be able to scan your blood type, medical history, and organ-donor status.

Biohackers say inserting small microchips, called biochips, into their bodies removes friction and increases security.

06/02/2019

LG Signature OLED Rollable TV

10/05/2018

If you’re going to make a phone, you’ve to get a lot of things right. You need an all-day battery life, a big crisp screen, thoughtful software, lots of apps, a great camera, and so much more. And here’s the best part: Even if you do all that, you’re still just like every other phone. Making a phone that does everything well just lumps you into the middle of the pack.

10/05/2018

South Korea is home to the fastest internet on the planet. And it’s gotten even quicker. The country’s internet provider, SK Broadband, has rolled out internet running at 2.5 gigabits per second in the country, ZDNet reported Thursday. The company will also make internet running at 5 and 10 Gbps available in the later half of this year, it added. The feat was accomplished using gigabit passive optical network (or GPON) technology which allows the internet to run as fast as 52.5 Gbps with one cable (or core) and host 128 subscribers.

15/12/2017

iMac Pro

15/12/2017

China’s success is fueling a virtuous cycle of innovative activity. The country’s two largest Internet companies, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, lead the world in e-commerce, mobile payments, social media, and online gaming. They and other Chinese tech giants are investing aggressively in new businesses, helping to transform China into a massive market for venture capital investments. Those ventures in turn, are nourished by China’s huge and growing market and its unique ecosystem of suppliers, logistics specialists, and manufacturers. The result: China has spawned a new generation of homegrown entrepreneurs who are creating world class products, developing their own technologies, and rolling out new business models on a scale and with a speed the global economy has never seen. [Excerpt]

04/12/2017

Need more storage for your phone? Try SanDisk’s 400GB MicroSD card. At $250, it’s the largest microSD card to date from the company, and was launched to keep up with the ever-growing storage needs for the consumer market.

02/12/2017

In the 23 years since he founded Amazon, Jeff Bezos has become the whirling dervish of corporate titans, a maestro of a voracious conglomerate with enough side hustles to impress the most ambitious entrepreneur. His widely admired but tough-to-imitate approach is now a mantra for both MBAs and would-be disrupters: Build scale by lowering prices, and defer profits until later. Meanwhile, the rise of online computing provider Amazon Web Services which is both a market leader and highly profitable has given Bezos an unexpected win. Next up is international expansion, where ferocious competition lies in wait.

Fortune Magazine