Here are today's must-reads:
1. It’s Math:
After all, who in their right mind tries to disrupt themselves by destroying their own cash cows? It’s exactly why we’re now seeing Microsoft take their “no compromises” approach with Windows 8. It’s Microsoft trying to change but also heavily hedging their bet. My bet is that this will blow up in their faces. We’ll see.
But this is what Apple does. And again, a big part of why they win. The iPhone came along and ate into Apple’s one-time largest business, the iPod. And now the iPad is busy cannibalizing Mac sales. And the iPad mini may cannibalize some iPad sales. This would look like a nightmare scenario to just about any other company in the world. But to Apple, it looks like progress. Because that’s exactly what it is.
2. Journalism’s Summer of Sin marked by plagiarism, fabrication, obfuscation:
Fall will mark the end of journalism’s Summer of Sin, when a cavalcade of plagiarism, fabrication and unethical recycling damaged several careers and publications.
In many cases, these incidents — significant transgressions sometimes repeated with shocking frequency — were followed by silence or thin statements from the affected news organizations. (Want a full accounting of the Summer of Sin? See below.)
When the worst happens at a news organization, wagons are circled, stonewalls erected. It’s a corrosive form of hypocrisy when — in a moment of crisis — journalists do the exact things that drive them crazy.
In some cases, newsroom leaders share little or nothing about what happened, or how they’re handling the incident. Sometimes they won’t even name the people involved or acknowledge any related discipline.
Often, they simply refuse to answer questions.
3. Why Online Education Has Gained Revolutionary Momentum:
The rush to create large, free online classes has generated anxiety at universities around the country. With finances already tight and with a surge of movement toward online learning, universities are being forced to move quickly to change centuries-old models of learning. Terms like historic, seismic and revolutionary now pop up in descriptions of the challenges that higher education faces in the coming years.
Many institutions have been preparing for these changes for years, building infrastructure and expertise, experimenting and recruiting, and integrating online learning into long-term strategies. Many others, especially traditional research universities, have been caught flat-footed as education has transformed around them.
This point of dramatic -- and traumatic -- change didn't swoop in unannounced. Rather, it crept in like a series of streams meeting in a roiling confluence. Only by stepping back and looking in panoramic fashion can we truly understand how we've arrived at a point of transformation and how we might deal with it. Let's take a look.
These are some of the other things I've been tweeting about today:
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so true: "Evan Williams About Twitter’s APIs: 'We Didn’t Have That All Figured Out'" http://pjblack.me/Nrhzoy
- "Shhh… Don’t Tell Apple But iTunes Is Doomed" http://pjblack.me/NqdMI5
- paul krugman on "The iPhone Stimulus" http://pjblack.me/NrwFKF
- apple doesn't take any risks with the core user interface: "The iPhone 5 forecast: a predictable 73 degrees and sunny" http://pjblack.me/NqdosZ
- "Spotify for TV – could it finally be true?" http://pjblack.me/Q5uREu
- "Lachlan Murdoch sues Fairfax Media for defamation" http://pjblack.me/Nqc5u8 #lwb480 #kkb175
- from @fmanjoo: "iPhone 5 dock connector: The one incredibly irksome feature that will leave you cursing Apple" http://pjblack.me/Q5srWj
- "Crucial changes force delay on television sports rights debate" http://pjblack.me/Nrw1gd #lwb480 #kkb175
- "A Convention 'Bounce' for the Boss" http://pjblack.me/Q7lQuG http://open.spotify.com/track/4KGbQXQ8HKVypeKJslxQtH
- "Forget silk and aim for robes if you're a female looking ahead" http://pjblack.me/NrsleA #auslaw
- backflip by the queensland law society: "Errors need to be corrected and be seen to be corrected" http://pjblack.me/NrsfU9 #auslaw
- chris merritt in the australian: "Nicola Roxon on a roll if not a winner" http://pjblack.me/Q7iCr3 #auslaw
- one of billie holiday's most iconic songs: "The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit'" http://pjblack.me/Q57P0y
- thongs - or flip-flops - are bad for your feet: "The Agony of the Feet" http://pjblack.me/NpS0nR /via @NowIKnow
- from @crikey_news: "Ex-eds on newspaper campaigns: what are they good for?" http://pjblack.me/NpzjAL
- "Why Online Education Has Gained Revolutionary Momentum" explains @kuediting http://pjblack.me/Q47hbc #highered
- david jackson qc appointed as a judge of the supreme court of queensland http://pjblack.me/NriWDL #qldpol#auslaw
- from @poynter: "Journalism’s Summer of Sin marked by plagiarism, fabrication, obfuscation" http://pjblack.me/SaC0Tk
- from @DigitalTrends: "State of the Web: Reddit, the world's best anonymous social network" http://pjblack.me/Npd3Hd
- from @fastcocreate: "Deep Inside Amanda Palmer's Crowd-Powered, Naked Creativity Machine" http://pjblack.me/NpcYTQ
- "Is This The World's Smartest Coke Machine?" asks @rww http://pjblack.me/Q46OFW
- "Should Google be censoring videos just because they are linked to violence?" asks @mathewi http://pjblack.me/Nqcm0l
- from @poynter: "What you need to know about that anti-Islam video that contributed to U.S. embassy attacks" http://pjblack.me/NqcgFZ
- how apple has succeeded by disrupting themselves by destroying their own cash cows: “It’s Math” http://pjblack.me/Q4c3W3
- from the @NYTMag: "What the Failed Removal of UVA President Teresa Sullivan Means for Higher Education" http://pjblack.me/Q4657I #highered
Follow me on Twitter @peterjblack.
And you can get my latest links anytime on my Rebelmouse social media front page.
