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Napster to YouTube:
The beleaguered music
industry in a digital age

Posted by on August 16, 2017 at 3:52 pm

I have written before about the “arms race” between banks and hackers. But there are other arms races between other industries and, instead of hackers, everyday consumers. The current squabble between YouTube and the music industry provides a good example. A Rolling Stone article reports that YouTube has … become a source of frustration for […]

Splitcoin

Posted by on August 9, 2017 at 1:42 pm

IN A DEVELOPMENT reminiscent of New Coke and Coca-Cola Classic (or, if you prefer, of a bisected hydra), Bitcoin split in two on August 1. As the industry puts it, Bitcoin reached a “hard fork,” dividing itself into “classic” (my word, not theirs) Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. No one was surprised. The metaphorical fork had […]

Here’s something that
China, Mexico, and Egypt
have in common

Posted by on August 4, 2017 at 4:10 pm

“Get ready,” Forbes advises China, Egypt, and Mexico. Contributor Madhvi Mavadiya writes that it won’t be long before “… access to financial services will be simplified and made more available to the unbanked and underbanked in these three regions.” This important development is thanks largely to the efforts of the World Bank Group, the Bill […]

Dawn of the artificially intelligent banker

Posted by on July 31, 2017 at 1:54 pm

With every Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana upgrade, conversations about AI—artificial intelligence—inevitably arise. Also inevitably, out roll the usual questions from definitions to ethics, usually set against the backdrop of a dystopian future. But in the here and now, the growth and status of AI-like applications portend no small developments for the financial services […]

Do you really want
We’re sneaky®
as part of your brand?
Thoughts on direct voicemail messaging

Posted by on July 10, 2017 at 3:21 pm

CERTAIN MARKETING tactics, legal though they may be, can be troublesome. Today’s ambivalence du jour concerns direct voicemail messaging.  As its name implies, direct voicemail messaging sends a prerecorded message straight to voicemail. Since phones do not ring and charges for minutes do not rack up, Do Not Call laws don’t apply.  Companies that provide […]