Tech Review (TR 2017-12-02)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) The Internet Broke the Media & There's No Going Back,
2) Caveat Emptor BLU Smartphones, 3) Investing:
The Week,
Investing
Notes: Tax Reform, Student Debt, EU, Venture Capital,
4)ICYMI Tech News.
1) The Internet Broke the Media & There's No Going Back:
Bob Iger Says the World of TV Has Been Disrupted
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger discusses the company's new streaming apps and plans for ESPN. He speaks with Emily Chang at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Australia" Oct 3, 2017.
Why ESPN Is Laying Off More Staffers
ESPN is firing about 150 people, according to a person familiar with the matter, eliminating about 2 percent of its workforce as subscriptions decline and costs rise for the rights to air live sporting events. Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw and Cory Johnson have more on "Bloomberg Technology" Nov 29, 2017.
"Google and Facebook leave little room for competition ... What's the fix? There is none. Sorry ... The best approach is to have a coherent strategy, make money from multiple sources, minimize costs and lower expectations. And even if companies do all these things, they still may not survive. Digital media companies aren't the only ones casting about for survival strategies. Traditional media companies have a tough slog, too. And nearly every industry is learning that business models are breaking, and it's not easy to put them back together"--
Bloomberg.com.
See also:
Time Wasn't on Its Side | Bloomberg.com:
"a bittersweet day for Old Media. Time Inc., publisher of the namesake iconic magazine, is selling out as its print-advertising revenue shrinks, with little offset by its ambitious digital efforts."
2) Caveat Emptor BLU Smartphones:
Miami smartphone maker
BLUproducts.com "blew" the Android "security update" to
Life One X2 smartphones as owners
reported being "locked out" of their phones after the OTA update installed--some have reported on Facebook and elsewhere that even after trying a "hard reset" their phones were "bricked"--
BLU Products | facebook.com/BLU.Products comments: "Why are you guys still sending out this OTA update when you clearly must understand that there is something seriously wrong with it. It just locked out my wife's phone and then I start Googling and find out you have been aware of the problem for days. I wish I had done a quick check before going ahead with it. Very frustrating and disappointing Blu."
Maria: BLU, you guys could calm a lot of this uproar by acknowledging the issue on your page as a post and not within the comments. It would show that you guys are dedicated to fixing the problem by admitting the issue and assuring us of a resolution within a reasonable time frame. Whether it be a forced update to fix, working pass code or a replacement phone of equal or greater value. BLU: Hi Maria, this is not an automated response. I am a real person just like you and I can tell you that BLU is working around the clock for a solution on the issue.
3) Investing
The Week: U.S. markets posted strong weekly gains, with the Dow (
DJIA) posting its best weekly performance in nearly a year, and the
S&P 500's weekly gain of 1.5 per cent was the best weekly performance for the benchmark index in 11 weeks, all the more notable in view of the latest
drama in D.C.
Investing Notes:
What ETF Flows Are Saying About
Tax Reform
Bloomberg Intelligence's Eric Balchunas and Bloomberg's Abigail Doolittle examine the impact of the Senate tax bill on the ETF market. They speak on "Bloomberg Markets" on Dec 1, 2017. Also note Balchunas's comments at the end about possible future
bitcoin ETFs on the U.S. markets.
4) ICYMI
Tech News:
