Articles 2017
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Pepsi: The Company Desperately Trying to Be Something It Isn't
Bloomberg View, April 05, 2017
The Pepsi Generation is old and gray and the company that gave birth to it just got a sharp reminder that the appeal of saccharine soda ads is dead.
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The Impact of Digital Technology on Textile Manufacturing
AATCC News, April 04, 2017
Whether for large-scale contract manufacturers or artisanal designers, new digital systems are opening new possibilities for making and using textiles. And, as with the e-textiles discussed in last month’s issue, some of the most promising early markets are for home goods and interiors. -
How to Save Twitter Two Pennies at a Time
Bloomberg Opinion, March 29, 2017
Still struggling to make its business work, the social media company should try something drastic.
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How to Save Twitter Two Pennies at a Time
Bloomberg View, March 29, 2017
Twitter Inc. is proof that a startup can change the world without developing a viable business model. So why not try something drastic? Charge for Twitter’s true value: the opportunity to tweet.
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Death of the Shoe Salesman, Finally
Bloomberg View, March 17, 2017
Another storied occupation is on its way out and the replacement is neither robots nor foreign workers. We’re witnessing the death of the shoe salesman.
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Don't Just Roll Back Fuel Standards. End Them.
Bloomberg View, March 14, 2017
Fighting over the right level for fuel-economy mandates obscures the fundamental problem, however. The CAFE standards are lousy environmental policy. Instead of targeting the real issue -- burning less gasoline -- the mandates meddle in corporate strategy, impose enormous hidden costs, and encourage drivers to hang on to their old gas guzzlers.
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E-Textiles & Interiors
AATCC News, March 07, 2017
To the typical consumer, “textiles” mean clothes. But a quick glance around the room is all it takes to realize that textiles go into much more than apparel. They’re everywhere. Now companies seeking to integrate textiles and electronics are discovering that home goods and interiors are especially promising early markets. -
Don't Let Politics Invade Your Closet or Refrigerator
Bloomberg View, February 23, 2017
We seem headed toward an economy of red brands and blue brands, red employers and blue employers, with no common ground.
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When Play Drives Progress
Review of Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, by Steven Johnson
Reason, March 2017
Steven Johnson does not buy the repression theory of progress. Nor does he accept its counterpart on the left, where technology and markets equal oppression and drudgery. A man of the center-left, he is a classic dynamist: a genuine liberal who appreciates the power of inventions and institutions that emerge from the bottom up. In Wonderland, Johnson, whose previous works include How We Got to Now (the basis for a PBS series) and Where Good Ideas Come From, explores the playful sources of innovation.
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Umbrellas: The iPhones of the Victorian Age
New technologies help create a sense of personal privacy in public.
Reason, March 2017
Before the smartphone or the hoodie, the iPod or the Walkman—even before the automobile—that technology was the umbrella. It gave its bearer space and a semblance of privacy. Like the smartphone and the music player, it also provided ample material for humorists, social critics, and arbiters of manners.