Digital Alchemist

Corporations and the oligarchs who control them are no longer under the control of democracy. How badly will they beat the people who cling to their self-description as middle class and their dreams of something better for their children before something changes? And why should we think we have some better idea about how to organize things, when our intellectual elites have nothing to contribute?

The Rise of the Corporate State (via azspot)

(via utnereader)

Every dollar spent at a locally owned business generates two-to-four times the economic development impacts as a dollar spent on an equivalent non-local business.

Forbes piece on the amazing power of spending locally.  (via poptech)

An estimated 5 million Americans are already using wearable devices to sync their lives to the cloud, and their ranks are growing rapidly. Like Paulus, they are sending vast amounts of information—collectively referred to as Big Data—to the servers of salivating Silicon Valley executives. In just the first half of last year, venture-capital firms invested $700 million in businesses developing new wearable and embedded devices. According to a study by the consulting giant McKinsey, Big Data could be worth $300 billion annually to the health-care industry alone. But its value to sports-apparel companies, health-food purveyors, and even mattress-makers is also apparent. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, 283 vendors showed up to promote digital health products—over 100 more than the number of companies hawking games. One British mobile-research firm estimates that by 2017, 70 million people will be buying wearable devices annually and slapping them on their wrists (and chests, ankles, and necks). And while there is no valuation yet for, say, what Paulus’ heart rate is worth per beat, there’s reason to think that users of tracking apps and sensor-laden devices are giving the milk away free.

Who Really Owns Your Personal Data?: Critical Eye : Details (via infoneer-pulse)

(via journo-geekery)