Posts tagged “technology critique”

I dig into what's genuinely impressive about crypto (distributed trust, abuse prevention, true cloud computing) and what's deeply problematic: boundary interactions, governance concentration, transaction cost tradeoffs, and unclear incentives. My conclusion: crypto may only be useful for financial engineering, and that's probably fine, just smaller than the hype suggests.

Mobile carriers are terrified of becoming commoditized data pipes, so they're fighting it with walled gardens, exclusive devices, and insane data pricing. The inevitable disruption will be a wi-fi VoIP phone sold outright, no contract, launching in dense urban markets. Free calls, great hardware, aligned incentives. Until then, your phone sucks.