The major downside to Metaverse concepts is that there are no constraints or barriers to entry. Any sufficiently large corporation or startup can conjure one up, and the shiny new one could steal uses from the incumbents. There needs to be a reason for people to stay, like they (mostly)…

Google has around $130 billion in cash reserves. It isn’t giving it to shareholders. It isn’t acquiring much. And it has started cutting costs (lower salaries and lesser support for ad customers). What is Alphabet planning to do with all that cash? This is definitely a join-the-dots exercise, because on…

Google is a massive corporation with 135,000 employees (excluding contractors), so how on Earth could it be running on auto pilot? I want to focus on only one product, Google Ads, without which Google would not exist. In 2011 it accounted for 96% of Google’s revenue, and 83% today. It…

Many of us can now (in theory) work from anywhere we choose, because we just need our laptop and an internet connection. That means we can work in our own backyard, or from the best beaches in the world — being outside makes it feel like not working at all! …

Based on history, existing behemoths tend not to win brand new segments. They move too slowly and too safely. So let’s start with my vision of what is required, and then see where each is at. BTW, the key here is advertising and the expectation that one augmented reality system…

If the current trends continue unchecked, society and lives are at risk from bad actors online. We have a president who says “fake news” on a daily basis, and people have killed themselves because of the impact anonymous online comments can have. Problem #1 — Privacy People love being anonymous online. We know this…

I don’t recommend that any small businesses should even consider suing Google, and I’m not a legal expert of any kind. But these are potential issues that could lead to class actions if they got enough publicity… Location Settings When you make ads in Google Ads, you choose a location where you…

East vs West: The Cold War on Steroids — Two Walled Worlds There is a future that I don’t think anyone has thought of, or at least few people are discussing — our planet split into two worlds that have nothing to do with each other. Essentially East and West. …

There are a number of default settings in Google Ads (previously known as AdWords) that benefit Google primarily, and typically cost advertisers money. Fixing these would be a problem for Google, because it would bring up the questions of why wasn’t this fixed earlier, and should we start a class…