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How Much Money Does Silicon Valley Make from Stolen Video?

1 week ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

A few months ago, I uploaded a short video of my son Thomas playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations on social media. My wife filmed him (for just 48 seconds) without his knowledge. Thomas is a bit camera shy, and plays music for his own enjoyment, not an audience. So he doesn’t perform in public, and has never shared any of his music online. But we got his permission before putting this on Facebook. I assumed that I had received all the necessary clearances.
Why Is the Washington Post Talking to Substack?

1 week ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Below I share updates on nine recent articles. There’s plenty to chew on here. But let’s start with news on the home front. On May 30, I boldly declared that “Substack Has Changed in the Last 30 Days.” And I made a prediction. I said that big media companies will imitate Substack, and it might even get hard to tell them apart.
Brian Wilson Is My Brick

2 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

I keep a brick on display in my home. Visitors are puzzled to see it, especially because it holds a place of honor. The brick sits among the milestone markers of my vocation—and enjoys a central position above my college degrees. I cherish that brick. It comes from the demolished building 19 of Hawthorne High School in Hawthorne, California. That’s my high school. And it’s Brian Wilson’s high school too. He wrote about our school in a song.
An Ugly New Marketing Strategy Is Driving Me Nuts (and You Too)

2 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

The rules of marketing never change. That’s what they told me in business school. If you could peer inside the meetings at head office, you would see a never-ending loop of Glengarry Glen Ross. Always be closing. Those are the A-B-Cs of business. But that’s not true anymore. In recent days, a new marketing strategy has emerged. I’ve never seen it before. And I wish it would go away. You probably do too. It’s a new way of advertising. It’s a new way of marketing. It’s a new motivational tool.
The Rise and Fall of Sly Stone

2 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

I’m always sad to hear about the passing of a music legend. But the death today of Sly Stone hits especially hard. Like many of his fans, I kept expecting Stone to make a heroic comeback. He had so much talent, so much creativity. With a little bit of grace and luck, he might have risen back to the top. Because that’s where he belonged. But that wasn’t his destiny. Stone lived to the ripe age of 82—a miracle, given the wear and tear on his body and psyche.
The Ten Warning Signs

2 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Would you believe me if I told you that the biggest news story of our century is happening right now—but is never mentioned in the press? That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But that is often the case when a bold new worldview appears. How long did it take before the Renaissance got mentioned in the town square? When did newspapers start covering the Enlightenment? Or the collapse in mercantilism? Or the rise of globalism? Or the birth of Christianity or Islam or some other earthshaking creed?
Where in the World Is the World's Fair?

3 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

What do you think about the new World’s Fair? What’s that you’re saying? You haven’t heard about it? Well, I’ll cut you some slack. I hadn’t either, until I made a point of finding out what happened to the World’s Fair. Not long ago, these were huge events. More than 50 million people attended the 1964 New York World’s Fair, which covered 646 acres with expositions, performances, food, and activities from 80 nations and 350 companies. It wasn’t just a theme park.
Tens of Thousands of AI Users Now Believe ChatGPT Is God

3 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

A growing number of tech users now believe that AI is God. They think they are accessing “the secrets of the universe through ChatGPT,” warned journalist Mike Lee last month. Do you think this is a tiny fringe of lunatics? No, not in the least. Just five days ago, the moderator of a pro-AI Reddit announced that they are now banning these fanatics—more than a hundred have already been blocked. They didn’t have a choice.
Beauty Is Stone Cold in the Arts, but Hot as a Consumer Product

3 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

If I do a search for beauty online, where does Google send me? Does it bring me to Michelangelo? Will it serve up the Taj Mahal or the Parthenon? Does it showcase a painting by Van Gogh or a nocturne by Chopin? Nope. None of the above. If I’m on a quest for beauty, Google will send me to a hair stylist or maybe a dermatologist. Those folks own beauty nowadays—not the artists. And certainly not the critics.
Substack Has Changed in the Last 30 Days

4 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Everything happens so quickly at Substack. And in just the last few days, something big has changed. By my measure, we’ve suddenly reached stage four in the evolution of this platform. And I expect we will quickly get to level five (more on that below). But first let’s look at how we got here. In the first stage, people ignored us. That was easy enough—Substack was small and out on the very fringes of the media world. When I told people I published a Substack, I got blank stares.