Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Discovery, Chaos, and Wealth from the Compass to the InternetBeginning with the development of the compass, Ruling the Waves examines a series of technological revolutions that promised, in their time, to transform the world's politics and business. With Debora Spar's gifted storytelling, each chapter reads like an adventure tale as she recounts the histories of the printing press and maps; of the telegraph, radio, and satellite television; of software, encryption, and the advent of digital music. At each of these junctures Spar suggests that invention led to both a wave of commerce and of chaos. Entrepreneurs such as Samuel Morse and Rupert Murdoch carved new markets from the emerging technology and proclaimed that the old rules no longer applied. And for a while, they were right. But eventually--and inevitably--even cowboys need rules: rules of property, rules of coordination, rules of competition. The erstwhile pioneers thus turn to government, lobbying for order and setting the stage for the next wave of discovery. A fascinating history of business, Ruling the Waves is also an original, thought-provoking analysis of the parallels between past innovations and inventions and our own tumultuous times. |
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Page 153
... percent for Westinghouse , 10.3 percent for AT & T , and 4.1 percent for United Fruit . GE retained 30.1 per- cent of RCA's stock , leaving just 34.9 percent in outside hands . 38 36The total number of overlapping patents was even ...
... percent for Westinghouse , 10.3 percent for AT & T , and 4.1 percent for United Fruit . GE retained 30.1 per- cent of RCA's stock , leaving just 34.9 percent in outside hands . 38 36The total number of overlapping patents was even ...
Page 242
... percent of Britain's households were receiving digital television and the government was already discussing whether ... percent digital penetration among house- hold viewers in 2000. Italy had 6 percent and the Netherlands 9 percent ...
... percent of Britain's households were receiving digital television and the government was already discussing whether ... percent digital penetration among house- hold viewers in 2000. Italy had 6 percent and the Netherlands 9 percent ...
Page 335
... percent for CDs and 20 percent for cassettes - arguing that the packaging shouldn't be counted as part of the product's " real " cost . Then , they also deduct any albums that they give away for free , arguing once again that these ...
... percent for CDs and 20 percent for cassettes - arguing that the packaging shouldn't be counted as part of the product's " real " cost . Then , they also deduct any albums that they give away for free , arguing once again that these ...
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American anarchy antitrust argued artists Atlantic became began Bill Gates Britain's broadcast browser BSkyB cable century channels Chuck D Clipper Chip commercial communication competition created cryptography cyberspace cypherpunks digital television early Electric emerging encryption established Europe European eventually example formal Gates History innovation Internet ITVs labels launched license lines London Marconi Marconi Company ment messages Microsoft monopoly Morse Murdoch Napster Navy Netscape Office once ONdigital online music operating Partenia patent personal computer pioneers piracy pirates political private firms problem profits programming property rights Quoted radio industry record regulation RIAA rules sailed Sarnoff satellite television SDMI ships signals simply Sky's standards stations technical technological frontier tele Telegraph Company telegraph industry tion trade transmission U.S. government United University Press users waves Western Union wire wireless York