President Obama wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday, outlining the need for increased cyber-defense, and his administration’s proposal to earmark $19 billion to overhaul government IT systems and address cyber threats. It’s about time. There were a couple of great lines: It is no secret that too often government IT is like … Continue reading The Obama Administration’s Cyber-Defense Funding Proposal
Bloomberg Business ran an article yesterday on the dilemna many residents of Israel face when ordering items online. Namely, expensive shipping fees and relatively long wait times reduce much of the incentive to order locally. Instead, the article asserts that many Israelis turn to foreign sellers – Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba chief among them – whose … Continue reading Small Country, Big Retailers, Few Options
So, House of Cards has clearly struck a nerve in the Twitter advertising world. It’s actually a little clever. Is @Frank_Underwood the man for the job? #HouseOfCardsSeason3 https://t.co/wvblf8aPKy — Monster (@Monster) February 27, 2015 Welcome back, Frank. See you in 10 hours, Twitter. #HouseOfCards #bingewatching #GoCommando pic.twitter.com/S1qzKd3Syd — Cottonelle (@cottonelle) February 27, 2015 Just knock … Continue reading Twitter Advertising Goes HoC
Netflix dropped a new House of Cards trailer on us yesterday. As expected, it features the Underwoods presumably involved in various nefarious acts, and, perhaps, facing the consequences. Based on the trailer, here’s what we know for sure: 1. As in previous seasons, House of Cards will feature motorcades of black SUVs and flashing sirens, generally … Continue reading An Ad for HoC
I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of business, especially technology, with liberal arts such as literature and philosophy. Despite the emergence – and necessity – of STEM studies, it is clear that the study of liberal arts informs everything from product design to supply chain management to marketing. Steve Jobs phrased the dynamic particularly well at the 2011 iPad 2 Introduction: There … Continue reading The Necessity of Liberal Arts
I recently completed a 16-month immersion in The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Robert Caro’s sprawling biography of our often-overlooked 36th President. Between April 2013 and August 2014, I buried myself in the 3,500 pages – and thirty-five years of research – that comprise a series of books that is not just a biography of a man, but the … Continue reading Reading Johnson
It seems as though the television landscape has become increasingly cynical, or at least as far as Washington is concerned. Idealistic shows like The West Wing have been replaced with jaded programming that seeks to paint Capitol Hill in either darker, more sinister colors – as in House of Cards – or lighter, absurd tones, like in Veep.
In the past, the city paid its mayor; Mr. Bloomberg paid to be the city’s mayor. A great piece on Bloomberg, in The New York Times. Continue reading Bloomberg
Not sure what tries my patience more – the length of the teaser, or the length of time between now and February 14th. Film noir feel? Check. HBO-ness? Check. Canceled Valentine’s Day Plans? You bet. Continue reading House…of…Cards…Returns…
Here’s our first episode of the Bondcast, where, true to our mission, we “make self-aggrandizing statements on things that we’re wholly unqualified to make statements about.” A brief breakdown of the ‘cast goes as follows:
Silicon Spatula 