Studying the internet’s impact on music offers lessons for all other industries. As Will Page, the former chief economist at Spotify, points out, “Music was the first to suffer, and the first to recover, from the forces of deep technological disruption, making it something we can all learn from.”

Two years before Spotify was founded, Chris Anderson came up with a theory to explain how the internet is changing how people consume music and how that theory will ultimately apply to many other products and services.

Before the commercial internet, economic activity revolved around mass-marketing of mass-manufactured goods. It was much cheaper to produce and market large quantities of the same thing. Anderson predicted The internet would change this equation. Digital channels make it possible to send a unique message or show a personalized page for every individual consumer. And they make it possible to store and distribute an infinite number of digital goods (songs, videos) for almost no cost.

The fledgling online music industry offered a case in point. A typical offline music store could only stock around 40,000 songs, while an online service like Rhapsody offered about 500,000. To be profitable, offline stores sell large quantities of a relatively small number of “hit” albums. But online streaming services could sell small amounts of many different songs and still make money.

As Anderson put it:

“Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream.”

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In the very first scene of HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” Big Head complains, “Money [is] flying all over Silicon Valley, but none of it ever seems to hit us.”

Well, Big Head, it might be time for a move to Ann Arbor, Raleigh, or Atlanta.

America’s VC landscape is shifting. Literally.

According to a new Crunchbase report, ~$161.5B of venture capital flowed into US companies in 2020.

What’s not surprising: California, Massachusetts, and New York made up 73.1% of that total, with California alone grabbing 52.2%.

Here’s what might surprise you: 14 states — including Colorado, Minnesota, and Washington — saw at least $1.5B in VC funding in 2020. Only 6 attracted that much in 2016.

With tech talent increasing and spreading across the country, secondary markets are getting hot (we previously covered VC funding in the midwest).

Especially for wolverines, tar heels, and peaches

VC growth in Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia is on fire. Between 2016 and 2020:

• Michigan saw venture funding spike ~886% to $3.1B
• North Carolina saw it jump ~410% to $4.1B
• Georgia’s grew 142%+ to $2B

Some VCs are specifically focusing on entrepreneurial regions that don’t already have a TV show about them, like Panoramic with its new $300m fund.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google plans to spend several billion dollars to build a quantum computer by 2029 that can perform large-scale business and scientific calculations without errors, said Hartmut Neven, a distinguished scientist at Google who oversees the company’s Quantum AI program. The company recently opened an expanded California-based campus focused on the effort, he said.

“We are at this inflection point,” said Dr. Neven, who has been researching quantum computing at Google since 2006. “We now have the important components in hand that make us confident. We know how to execute the road map.”

The Washington Post recently showcased Apple and Amazon’s quiet construction of 2 large-scale wireless networks. The kicker? These networks work independent of WiFi and cell towers. Instead, they use consumer products like Echo speakers and iPhones.

The 2 networks, Apple’s Find My and Amazon Sidewalk, create a “mesh network” where nodes (devices) send small bits of information to each other.

Start with Apple’s Find My network…

Here’s how it works:

1. Opted-in Apple devices pulse encrypted, low energy Bluetooth signals.
2. Nearby devices pick up those signals and pass them down the line to a networked device.

The signals only go one-way and use 1/100th of the energy of a cell transmission. It’s the network AirTags rely on to locate lost tags (with disturbing accuracy).

Amazon Sidewalk > Find My

Sidewalk uses the same Bluetooth magic as Find My, but the devices aren’t iPhones in pockets; they’re stationary Ring cameras, lights, and Echo speakers.

A key difference between Sidewalk and Find My is that Sidewalk can handle two-way communication. But it’s not much — Amazon caps the amount of data it will send via Sidewalk at 500MBs per month.

Why do it?

The 2 networks do not communicate with one another, but both are moves by 2 (mostly) popular companies to use their appeal to build massive mesh networks.

The value of massive mesh networks is up for debate, but it lays the foundation for capable internet-connected ecosystems — think Amazon package trackers that talk to Ring cameras on their way to your doorstep.

Both Big Tech frenemies have been building these networks for some time. Apple’s Find My network was first released in 2011; Amazon says the Sidewalk network is compatible with Echo devices dating back to 2018…

… which gets you wondering, what are they packing into products today  that we’ve yet to find out about?     READ MORE

There are many uses for biometric security measures, using scanners that recognize a person’s fingerprints, thumbprints, and iris, for example. Hand-held wands and full body scanners are quite commonplace in airports, and other locations where security is important for detecting and mitigating risk. Most of us accept the need for this technology, even though it may seem somewhat invasive. We live in a world where threats are more common, and most people are willing to give up an ounce of privacy to gain a pound of security. Biometric scanning technology has advanced a great deal in recent years, but can scanning technology do more than detect risk or provide secure access to a facility?  Amazon thinks it can.

In 2019 Amazon developed a patented scanning technology that takes biometrics in another direction, where your palm…Click to read full article.