From the category archives:

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Peter Sunde on Flattr

by Jerry Brito on August 16, 2010 • View Comments

Episode 31: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Peter Sunde, co-founder of BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay and creator of Flattr, a new online social micropayments system, discusses Flattr. Sunde explains the Flattr concept, how it differs from previous micropayment platforms, and why it’s more meaningful than the Facebook “like” button. He also briefly discusses progress of the Pirate Bay case.

Microgifts and superdistribution

by Tate Watkins on August 9, 2010 • View Comments

Will Flattr exist in 5 years? It’s solved many micropayment problems but begs the question, “What problem does it solve?” Many, like Shirky and Tim Lee, have long argued that micropayments are a solution in search of a problem — we already award content-creators with fame by paying them with our eyeballs. Will microgifts find a problem to solve?

Perry Chen on Kickstarter

by Jerry Brito on July 26, 2010 • View Comments

Episode 28: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Perry Chen, co-founder and CEO of Kickstarter, an online platform for funding creative projects, discusses the enterprise. Chen talks about the inspiration behind Kickstarter and its business model, how project creators convince backers (not investors) to fund them, funding success rates, and the most interesting projects funded so far.

Apparently not obvious: neutrality neuters innovation

by Tate Watkins on July 21, 2010 • View Comments

Neutrality neuters innovation. The playing field is level, it’s just that Google’s algorithm keeps smacking the Jabulani into the upper 90s while the competition can’t stop kicking it out of bounds when trying to make a simple square pass, all while the New York Times whines about not knowing how Google is kicking the ball.

New (Wireless) Centrifuge Technology

by Jerry Ellig on July 20, 2010 • View Comments

Two Rice University students turn a pretty useless kitchen appliance into a machine that could save lives.

Eric Frank on Flat World Knowledge

by Jerry Brito on July 5, 2010 • View Comments

Episode 26: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Eric Frank, Co-Founder and President of Flat World Knowledge, the leading publisher of commercial, openly licensed college textbooks, discusses the company and its business model, which he compares to that of Red Hat. In the podcast Frank addresses moral hazards of the traditional college textbook publishing model, the company’s genesis, products and services it offers, how it makes money, and why it appeals to students, professors, and authors.