By Andy Marken

The hacking "industry" has come a long way since 1972 when Woz and Jobs would make blue boxes similar to Draper's "Cap'n Crunch" boxes and sell them to folks who wanted to make free phone calls anywhere in the world.

By Andy Marken

Netflix' Reed Hastings has warped reality ... TV isn't dead.

It's in the middle of a gut-wrenching change to keep pace with consumer expectations and the dizzying array of options that are emerging that they are up against.

There are shiploads of big, bad, sharp, smart 4K UHD TV sets.

And there's the cheap route to not-so-smart TV ... the dongles.

By Andy Marken

Businesses are running so fast today trying to catch the next great thing, they've lost sight of the reason they're in business ... the customer.

By Andy Marken

The NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and United Airlines computer glitches couldn't have happened at a worse and better time.

The incidents weren't caused by hackers but did highlight that software is cobbled together code with pieces from here, there, you name it. Bad code gets passed along without causing a problem ... until it does.

By Andy Marken

Drive down 101 in Silicon Valley, or any industrial park on the planet, and you can almost see the skeletons of once thriving businesses that all had one thing in common ... they were innovative.

Most were so enthralled with their innovation they couldn't get out of their own way.

By Andy Marken
You may not realize it, but there's a correlation between the Me Gen's fascination with zombies, the rapid growth of smartphones/tablets, the rejection of having a computer at every desk and finally, the future of business/employment.
You can put some of the blame on the Gen Me (Boomer) folks, but they just started the ball rolling.

By Andy Marken

In today's virtual organizations, work is increasingly being done by teams made up of people from different departments and in many instances, with people who are outside their companies.

The challenge is to gain the cooperation of individuals you have no control over.

To effectively lead these collaborative teams, you must rely on personal persuasion rather than the power of your position.

By Andy Marken

I love good science fiction because there is always a glimpse of a thought, an idea that ultimately becomes something tangible in our world.
But Elon Musk's (Tesla, SpaceX) and Stephen Hawking's warning about perfecting AI (artificial intelligence) could lead us to create a demon we can't control made me wonder if it isn't already too late.
We're already struggling to understand and manage AI

By Andy Marken

You've probably read about the best places to work and wish you worked there.

You've also read some of those people really aren't happy to go to work this morning.
They can't both be right.

By Andy Marken
You didn't have to be a Jedi at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) to know there was a giant tear in the M&E (media and entertainment) industry this year.
Industry generals and soldiers were running everywhere trying to figure out how they could get their stuff on the IP (Internet protocol) OTT (over the top) space ship.

By Andy Marken

There was a time when a couple of late teen/early millenniums would get together, max out their credit cards, borrow from their parents and anyone who would listen to them, work (and sometimes sleep) in a garage and emerge with the next great idea.

By Andy Marken

The Internet has to be one of the best 10 wonders of the world.
Think about it ... you can reach out to and communicate with anyone, any time, from anywhere.
You can watch stuff any time and increasingly, on any device.
Now that it's faster and more reliable (your performance may vary), it's awesome!
The second best thing is email.