Disconnecting Parties

Disconnecting Parties
Author: W. Brooke Tunstall
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Total Pages: 250
Release: 1985
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780070654341

The Rise and Fall of American Growth

The Rise and Fall of American Growth
Author: Robert J. Gordon
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 785
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1400888956

How America's high standard of living came to be and why future growth is under threat In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel, and television transformed households and workplaces. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated, and demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated. Gordon contends that the nation's productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government, and that we must find new solutions. A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.

The Idea Factory

The Idea Factory
Author: Jon Gertner
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2012-03-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1101561084

The definitive history of America’s greatest incubator of innovation and the birthplace of some of the 20th century’s most influential technologies “Filled with colorful characters and inspiring lessons . . . The Idea Factory explores one of the most critical issues of our time: What causes innovation?” —Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review “Compelling . . . Gertner's book offers fascinating evidence for those seeking to understand how a society should best invest its research resources.” —The Wall Street Journal From its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T-was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, it's hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasn't been touched by Bell Labs. In The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth century's most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of American history. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men-Mervin Kelly, Bill Shockley, Claude Shannon, John Pierce, and Bill Baker-who spent their careers at Bell Labs. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, Bell Labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and solutions to technological innovation. Here, after all, was where the foundational ideas on the management of innovation were born.

The Master Switch

The Master Switch
Author: Tim Wu
Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0857892126

Winner of the 2011 Business Book of the Year Award The Internet Age: on the face of it, an era of unprecedented freedom in both communication and culture. Yet in the past, each major new medium, from telephone to satellite television, has crested on a wave of similar idealistic optimism, before succumbing to the inevitable undertow of industrial consolidation. Every once free and open technology has, in time, become centralized and closed; as corporate power has taken control of the 'master switch.' Today a similar struggle looms over the Internet, and as it increasingly supersedes all other media the stakes have never been higher. Part industrial exposé, part examination of freedom of expression, The Master Switch reveals a crucial drama - full of indelible characters - as it has played out over decades in the shadows of global communication.

University of Chicago Law Review: Volume 78, Number 4 - Fall 2011

University of Chicago Law Review: Volume 78, Number 4 - Fall 2011
Author: University of Chicago Law Review
Publisher: Quid Pro Books
Total Pages: 607
Release: 2012-04-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1610279360

A leading law review now offers a quality eBook edition. The fourth and final issue of 2011 (Volume 78) features articles and essays from internationally recognized legal scholars and governmental leaders, including Cass Sunstein (on empirically informed regulation), Jonathan Bressler (on jury nullification and Reconstruction), Daniel Schwarcz (on standardized insurance policies), and Bertral Ross II (writing against constitutional mainstreaming in stautory interpretation). In addition, the issue includes a review essay on the book The Master Switch, as well as student Comments on such subjects as same-sex divorce, religious practices by prisoners, falsely claiming Medal of Honor status, and enhancement in federal sentencing. The issue is presented in modern eBook formatting and features active Tables of Contents; linked footnotes and URLs; and legible graphs and tables.

Regulating Infrastructure

Regulating Infrastructure
Author: José A. Gómez-Ibáñez
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2006-09-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780674037809

In the 1980s and '90s many countries turned to the private sector to provide infrastructure and utilities, such as gas, telephones, and highways--with the idea that market-based incentives would control costs and improve the quality of essential services. But subsequent debacles including the collapse of California's wholesale electricity market and the bankruptcy of Britain's largest railroad company have raised troubling questions about privatization. This book addresses one of the most vexing of these: how can government fairly and effectively regulate "natural monopolies"--those infrastructure and utility services whose technologies make competition impractical? Rather than sticking to economics, José Gómez-Ibáñez draws on history, politics, and a wealth of examples to provide a road map for various approaches to regulation. He makes a strong case for favoring market-oriented and contractual approaches--including private contracts between infrastructure providers and customers as well as concession contracts with the government acting as an intermediary--over those that grant government regulators substantial discretion. Contracts can provide stronger protection for infrastructure customers and suppliers--and greater opportunities to tailor services to their mutual advantage. In some cases, however, the requirements of the firms and their customers are too unpredictable for contracts to work, and alternative schemes may be needed.

Digital Universe

Digital Universe
Author: Peter B. Seel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2022-03-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1119630878

An illuminating examination of the benefits and drawbacks of global, digital communication In this newly revised Second Edition of Digital Universe: The Global Telecommunication Revolution, journalism and digital telecommunication expert Peter B. Seel delivers a fascinating and insightful exploration of digital communication technologies and their substantial effects on contemporary life. This book traces the evolution of digital information and communication tools used around the world, from undersea telegraph cables to the newest mobile phones. Digital Universe introduces readers to important inventors, scientists, artists, and thinkers in its discussions of the history and socio-cultural effects of technology adoption. It offers an accessible tour of the global digital universe and provides new perspectives and critical observations on mediated human communication. The book also includes: A thorough introduction to digital communication, the internet, and the origins of the world wide web Comprehensive explorations of telecommunication and media convergence, including the profound effects of the adoption of wired and wireless technologies worldwide Practical discussions of internet control, cyberculture, and dystopian views -- including online censorship, the loss of personal privacy, surveillance capitalism, increasing data hacks, and cyberwarfare The book introduces an original concept, the Tao of Technology, that encourages readers to adopt an enhanced worldview of informed ambivalence toward the diffusion of new telecommunication technologies A new chapter on artificial intelligence (A.I.) explores its application in global telecommunication and examines the biases introduced by its creators In-depth examinations of new technologies, including alternative digital realities such as virtual and augmented realties, and their potential effects on the future of digital communication Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students in journalism, technical communication, speech communication, technology history, sociology, anthropology, computer information systems, and education; it provides the latest data on innovations in telecommunication. The second edition of Digital Universe: The Global Telecommunication Revolution will be an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the evolution of the internet, new telecommunication technologies, communication privacy and surveillance, the rise of social media, and the consequences of the diffusion of information and communication technologies.

End of the Line

End of the Line
Author: Leslie Cauley
Publisher: Free Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008-07-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781439123096

For more than a century, the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. was a towering fixture in the American business landscape. At the forefront of the global communications revolution, AT&T led the way in the development of the telephone, wireless communication, and the Internet. But at the end of the twentieth century, with one man floundering at the helm, the corporate giant collapsed. It was the end of an era. Veteran telecom journalist Leslie Cauley pursued the story for over a decade and witnessed the entire debacle. At The Wall Street Journal and at USA Today, she has earned a reputation for aggressive investigation of the numerous industry shake-ups -- none more dramatic than AT&T's headlong plunge as it misguidedly attempted to become a broadband leader. Cauley gained access to current and former AT&T executives, boardmembers, and other insiders. Filled with new and controversial material and peopled by a cast of characters worthy of a Shakespearean drama, this is the first book to chronicle this riveting tale. Up through the late 1990s, AT&T -- tough, innovative, resourceful -- seemed infallible. For industry insiders and for the general public, it loomed as an emblem of American business prowess and, even more, of the American Dream fulfilled. End of the Line is an unprecedented account of the ruin of an icon and one of the shattering corporate events of our time.

Network Nation

Network Nation
Author: Richard R. John
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 532
Release: 2010-05-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780674024298

Making a neighborhood of a nation -- Professor Morse's lightning -- Antimonopoly -- The new postalic dispensation -- Rich man's mail -- The talking telegraph -- Telephomania -- Second nature -- Gray wolves -- Universal service -- One great medium?

Cutting the Cord

Cutting the Cord
Author: Martin Cooper
Publisher: Rosetta Books
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2021-01-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0795353022

One of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Inventors in History shares an insider’s story of the cellphone, how it changed the world—and a view of where it’s headed. While at Motorola in the 1970s, wireless communications pioneer Martin Cooper invented the first handheld mobile phone. But the cellphone as we know it today almost didn’t happen. Now, in Cutting the Cord, Cooper takes readers inside the stunning breakthroughs, devastating failures, and political battles in the quest to revolutionize—and control—how people communicate. It’s a dramatic tale involving brilliant engineers, government regulators, lobbyists, police, quartz crystals, and a horse. Industry skirmishes sparked a political war in Washington to prevent a monopolistic company from dominating telecommunications. The drama culminated in the first-ever public call made on a handheld, portable telephone—by Cooper himself. The story of the cell phone has much to teach about innovation, strategy, and management. But the story of wireless communications is far from finished. This book also relates Cooper’s vision of the future. From the way we work and the way children learn to the ways we approach medicine and healthcare, advances in the cellphone will continue to reshape our world for the better.