December 2012

[Commentary] If photos are a core Twitter feature, then why is the company outsourcing it to someone else? I mean, it is not that the company is short of money or people — it has a billion dollars in its back pocket, it is doing about $300 million (or higher) in revenue and has about 1,300 or so employees. And if photos are not core to the Twitter experience, then why is it picking sides and fights with Instagram and others? The question is not just about photos; it is actually much bigger and goes beyond this one feature set. Sure, I can make a wild statement like “Twitter has lost its product edge” or “Twitter can’t really build anything interesting.” Or I can point out that it introduced a major product overhaul a year ago. Or the note the fact that it is conflicted between the need for revenues and the need for a long-term product vision. But that would not be getting to the root of the problem. I asked a Twitter spokesperson to describe Twitter’s core design, product and engineering capabilities — stuff they are really good at. What is Twitter’s core competency? So far, no comment. I don’t expect an answer, but I had to ask. In fact, it is a question that Twitter should ask itself. Because in doing so it will be able to confront the deeper issues that have plagued its relationship with who used to be its customers — people.

Weary lawmakers and congressional staffers are making backup vacation plans, preparing to work over the holidays. Congress has a habit of finishing up late in December, such as when the Senate passed healthcare reform on Christmas Eve in 2009. But this year is different, as many on Capitol Hill believe that Congress will still be working on a debt deal between Christmas and New Year’s.

A Republican leadership aide said, “Some version of: ‘Have you bought your plane ticket yet?’ or ‘Think you’ll spend the holidays here?’ is the new guaranteed way to start up conversation in this town.” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) made it official earlier this month when he announced that the lower chamber would remain in session until a deal is struck. While that might appease nervous investors on Wall Street, Capitol Hill staffers are left to guess when they might be able to head home for the holidays.

At least five applications have been made to take part in the mobile spectrum auction that will allow 4G services in the UK. The UK’s four mobile operators – O2, Vodafone, EE and Three – submitted applications along with an initial deposit of £100,000.

The groups are keen to acquire the lower frequency 800MHz band that can be used to broadcast fast 4G mobile services such as data-heavy video and gaming on the move. BT has also expressed initial interest, although only at the higher, and likely much cheaper, 2.6 GHz frequency that can be used to provide capacity needed to deliver faster speeds for voice and data users in local areas. Both bands are being packaged into smaller lots so that they can be acquired by multiple operators. The window for applying shut at 4pm on Dec 11.

[Commentary] Is the removal of the right to vote a crushing blow for online democracy? Hardly, because there isn’t any democratic right inherent in using Facebook, and there never has been — and you could argue that encouraging people to believe they have democratic rights when they actually don’t is the kind of approach that totalitarian states use, and is probably more dangerous in the long term than admitting that your vote doesn’t matter.

If it makes you as a Facebook user feel any better, it’s not just your vote that doesn’t count: as a result of the way that co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg controls the board of directors of the company through voting proxies and a number of other perfectly legal methods, the votes of the majority of Facebook shareholders don’t really count either. The social network has what’s called a dual-voting share structure — meaning some shares have 10 times as many votes attached to them as the regular class — and Zuckerberg controls a majority of the super-voting shares (other tech companies such as Google also use this structure). And since he also controls the board, his word is effectively law.