I’m not much of a gambler in the Las Vegas or lottery sense. I loathe state-sponsored gambling, which is little more than a sleazy tax on the people who can least afford it.
But I would never suggest a ban on gambling, and I don’t object at all to the relatively harmless, person-to-person version. Even I make an occasional wager with a friend, usually over something trivial.
Why do I mention this? Once again, Internet enterpreneurs have come up with a new wrinkle on an old practice. Check out flutter.com, a clever Internet startup here in London that bills itself as the “world’s first person-to-person online betting site.”
When you make a bet you put your money in escrow, and flutter.com takes a small commission — and “opens up the traditional world of betting, removing the bookmaker and handing you the controls,” the company says.
Here’s a bet I’m willing to make. This has to terrify the incumbent gambling industry, which is in bed with governments worldwide. Entrenched gambling interests will move heaven and earth to try and shut this thing down.
The Technology Industry’s Shameful Silence
Mercury News: U.S. Firms Silent over Chinese Net Arrest. A check with more than a dozen American Internet-related businesses here failed to find a single one willing to comment publicly on the Chinese government’s efforts to restrict the free flow of information on the Internet, though their industry often cites free speech as an inevitable byproduct of information technology.
Who Actually Made the Rosetta Disk
In last Sunday’s column about the Rosetta Disk, a remarkable effort to preserve some of our history and culture, I didn’t mention the manufacturer of the media. I should have.
The maker of the disk is Norsam Technologies, which developed the technology and has been selling the product for several years. The Long Now Foundation is just one of the many customers we are working with for our Rosetta technology. I don’t want our potential/current customers to get confused after reading your article,” writes Norsam’s CEO, Jayant Neogi.