To many, the absolute collapse of the magazine industry in 2009 may seem stunning. What is stunning to me is that the industry didn’t see it coming and take steps to avert this collapse. Once again, another industry can only see a year ahead and thinks that a down year – 2008 – would be […]
[Note: This is a column reprinted from the current “Shift Age Newsletter” as it is very timely and has already received a lot of positive comment. If you are not yet a subscriber of the newsletter, please go here and click on FREE subscription] Those of you who have either read “The Shift Age” or […]
We have all lived through a lifetime of technology changing the media and content landscape. Satellites allowed cable television and later satellite television to erode and then eviscerate the traditional broadcast network business model. Then the analog to digital transition eliminated the physicality of the product in the music industry. Then the universal, immediate and […]
It was just reported that, as expected, there are now more Internet users in China than in the U.S. As of last month there were 253 million Internet users in China as compared to 220 million in the U.S. What is striking is that in just the last year, the number of new users in […]
The tag line of this blog is “A Future Look at Today”. It is not a political blog, nor is this a political column. I have assiduously kept politics out of this space leaving partisan conversations about campaign issues to others. There is a lot of heat around partisan politics and such heat can prevent […]
Regular readers of this column may have noticed that in the past two months I have gone to a once a week posting. That has in part been due to weeks of non-stop travel, speaking engagements and book signings. I now find myself being able to sit at my writing table for a whole week. […]
Growing up as part of the baby boom generation, a distinct memory is the air raid siren tests. Every Tuesday, if I recall correctly, at 10a there was the test of the air raid siren blaring across the entire city of Chicago. This was to prepare us for the possibility of a nuclear attack from […]
This is the second year for Evolution Shift to present you with a general forecast and somewhat more specific predictions for 2008. The forecast for 2007 is here for those wanting to check out the accuracy of what was predicted for last year. In addition I made some transitional 2007/2008 predictions last week, tying up […]
Amazon’s introduction of the Kindle electronic book reader feels momentous. It is the first time that the long anticipated, much debated future of the ‘ebook’ feels ready to begin in a meaningful way. During the past ten years there has been great debate about the ebook. Generally speaking there have been three points of view […]
The electronic media is a wonderful invention. The forty year old vision of Marshall McLuhan of a global village where the electronic media connects us all and becomes an extension of our brains is now truly a reality. The power to educate, connect and inspire are all inherently available on radio, television and the internet. […]