Google and Penguin: Bookending a Revolution

By Jeremy Wagstaff (my syndicated Loose Wire column.) As I write this two significant events are taking place: Google has said it will tie up with the American Booksellers Association—the U.S. trade group for independent bookstores—to sell ebooks. And there’s a conference in Bristol celebrating 75 years of the Penguin paperback. Both are milestones. And… Read More »

Using LinkedIn to Research Spies Like Us

Several of the 11 alleged Russian spies leave interesting imprints on LinkedIn, suggesting rewarding pickings for journalists. Donald Heathfield, for example, had 74 connections. His specialities sound like they could equally applied to espionage: Comprehensive management of Risks and Uncertainties, Anticipatory Leadership, Building of Future Scenarios, Development and Execution of Future Strategies, Capture of Strategic… Read More »

Why Google Needs China?

Playing with the AdMob data on iPhone and Android devices—which is a bit old now, the U.S., a much bigger iPhone/Android market than the rest of the world, reflects the worldwide distribution of iPhone vs Android devices (the blue is iPhone): The pattern seems to be mirrored elsewhere, but not evenly. In Australia, particularly, there… Read More »

Why Hotels Should Avoid Social Media

By Jeremy Wagstaff (this is a copy of my column for newspapers) If The Wall Street Journal is to be believed—and as a former contributor I’ve no reason to doubt it—the best way to get decent hotel service these days is to tweet about how bad it is. And reading the piece made me realize… Read More »

Visualizing England’s Woes

I hope I’m proved wrong in this case, but this is a visualization that does what any great visualisation should: it lets you find your own story. In my case I’m convinced that England’s football woes lie in the fact that not only do foreigners squeeze the natural wellspring of talent in the domestic game,… Read More »