My top-ten entries in 2015
I like to keep tabs on which of my entries are the most popular among my readers. Thirteen years on, my reasons for writing are the same as it always was: it’s an incentive to keep up to date with what’s going on in the world and to find material to use in my classes.
According to Google Analytics, these are the 10 most popular of my entries for 2015 in Spain (a couple of them weren’t put into English) with a link to the original article for anybody who wants to reread it.
10. Time for some real politics
A recent entry that is little more than a resume of my column in Spain’s newest newspaper, El Español (in Spanish), about Spain’s general elections on December 20. My take on the outcome, which upset the traditional two-party balance of power in Spain, was that voters were sending a clear message that they have had enough of rule based on absolute majorities and that the time has come for the parties to accept that they are going to have to negotiate their way through office. That said, two weeks after the polls, everything seems to suggest that the two main parties haven’t gotten the message, and that given their failure to reach a compromise, we could soon have to vote again.
9. Volkswagen’s masterclass in business ethics
The first piece I wrote about the Volkswagen scandal. I was fortunate to have woken particularly early the day the story broke and immediately realized its significance, which meant that my piece was one of the first to appear in Spanish.
Little has changed since: this is absolute failure of ethics highlights the need for changes in the way businesses are run, starting obviously with VW itself, along with other corporations that seemingly didn’t see too much wrong with the German carmaker’s behavior, probably because they have pulled similar stunts themselves, or at least contemplated it. A carmaker cannot be allowed to get away with lying on this scale just to give it a competitive advantage in the market. Sooner or later, a number of people at VW are going to have to face trial and a possible prison sentence.
8. A tax on sunshine
I wrote this on the day that the Spanish government passed legislation penalizing self-consumption electricity producers. In the event, the move has proved highly unpopular with both consumers and the electricity utilities, as well as striking a blow at any attempt to move toward a more sustainable energy model. Solar power remains Spain’s great lost opportunity, and the failure of successive government to commit to renewables can only be explained in the context of institutionalized corruption. We can only hope that the market will be able to correct the disaster that Spain’s inept politicians have produced in the energy sector.
7. When a computer comes free with a magazine
Written to celebrate the launch of the PiZero, the $7 computer created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a potentially world-changing initiative produced right here in Europe, in the United Kingdom to be precise, which has shown its commitment to preparing upcoming generations for the digital economy. The project is the brainchild of Eben Upton, a visionary who has shown himself able time and again to set up low-cost initiatives like this using limited resources. I firmly believe that we will start to feel the repercussions of this in the coming months.
6. Apple does it again
This proved a controversial article, particularly in light of what some people are calling the Apple Watch fiasco (how many companies would like to have a failure such as this!). Not only has the watch sold by the crate load, but it has also shown how Apple, once again, is able to commandeer a highly competitive niche segment. The Apple Watch is simply the mark one version, just as the first iPods and iPhones, which now look as though they belong to another century, were.
I was given one as a present, and after wearing it, I have to say I agree with the critics: it doesn’t work as well as it could, and its value proposal could be better. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that we will all be wearing smartwatches in the not too distant future, and it won’t be thanks to the pioneers or the late arrivals, but to Apple, which as usual, effectively reinvented the device. Anybody who thinks Apple has run its course is very much mistaken.
5. The long, slow death of Spain’s print media
Spain’s press decided to ignore the Falciani case, again showing its utter cowardice in addressing issues that might embarrass the rich and powerful in this country. The behavior of Spain’s media was a decisive factor in deciding to join El Español, which seems to be the only newspaper left that refuses to do what it is told by the Popular Party government that has ruled Spain for the last four years (not that the previous administration had much more respect for freedom of the press).
4. Madrid City Hall gets its message over
Some of my readers were surprised by this entry (in Spanish), which they interpreted as a gesture of support for the coalition that currently runs Madrid City Hall. I was puzzled as to why so many people seemed to object to the capital’s administration setting up a website to inform voters and residents about its policies and initiatives. If only the two main parties were interested enough in what the electorate thought to do the same.
3. Is Popcorn Time really the entertainment industry’s latest nemesis?
Popcorn Time has proved to be a highly popular initiative, highlighting the entertainment industry’s failure, 15 years on from Napster, to offer the public the films and music it wants, when it wants and in the format it wants. Instead, the film companies and record labels prefer to kill the messenger, hounding the streaming service through the courts. Needless to say, the fact that unauthorized downloading has diminished precisely in those countries where content is readily available at a reasonable price, has been overwhelmingly ignored.
2. If you thought this ad was a bad idea…
A couple of weeks after the VW scandal broke, I returned to the topic, prompting an avalanche of comments on my website, sparking a fascinating discussion. My point: if there is still anybody out there in a position of managerial responsibility who hasn’t grasped the seriousness of the case; then please stand down, because you are a menace to society. Let me repeat: the decisions taken by VW are inexcusable and I can only hope that we don’t see a repeat of what happened, although for some reason I have my doubts…
- Getting the message over
The entry that proved the most popular in 2015 (in Spanish) was not about technology, which is what I mainly write about, but this piece about the municipal elections in Spain, held in May, which saw voters turn away from the two main parties. I included a graph that not only showed the vote across the parties, but included abstentions, spoiled votes and protest votes, which made up a significant proportion of ballots.
I guess it should come as no surprise that one of my most popular entries in Spain would be about politics. In the event, as I pointed out in the piece, the May elections were simply a dress rehearsal for what happened in December, with voters abandoning the traditional parties en masse.
Thank you very much for reading the blog, and I hope to continue sharing my thoughts throughout 2016.
(En español, aquí)
