Blog

Roofing Next Sector to be Disrupted by Technology – Elon Musk announced that the company will begin making solar energy roofing that will displace the need for solar panels altogether. The move opens up a world of possibilities for the company in terms of revenue generation, including everything from selling the building materials to certification for installation (no details have been announced). The move demonstrates that all businesses need to think differently about how their businesses are impacted by technology and how many different business models are available in today’s digital world.

Read More: SolarCity is Designing a Roof Made of Solar Panels
Read More: SolarCity Is Planning to Sell Solar Roofs

Disney Building Streaming Sports Franchise Separate from ESPN – In an unusual move, Disney revealed that it is creating a streaming sports property that will compliment, but not necessarily integrate ESPN content. Disney made the strategic investment in BAM Tech, in part to enable the future growth of online streaming of sports content, but current plans do not include marquee programs, such as SportsCenter, in the future of ESPN streaming. No word on how the plan to build its own streaming business will sit with strategic partners already in the streaming game, such as Sling TV. One of the key challenges of legacy companies looking to build the future is how to handle both partnerships already in place and cannibalization of existing customers by new ventures – two things Disney will need to figure out as it proceeds into the streaming business.

Read More: Disney is Investing $1 Billion in Streaming Tech and Will Launch a Streaming Sports Network — But it Won’t Include ESPN
Read More: Disney is Making an ESPN Streaming Service Without ESPN’s Best Content

Ad Blocking is a Threat to the Dominant Revenue Model in Silicon Valley – Despite the proliferation of business models in the tech sector, advertising remains the biggest revenue source for many firms, including Google and Facebook. That’s why Facebook is taking action against ad blocking technology on its desktop platform. The potential of ad blocking to erode revenue of the largest tech firms is significant and raises questions about the value of online services and how much users are willing to pay. A world without online ads is one that is costly to the end user, should they need to pay directly for Facebook and other services.

Read More: Even Facebook Says Ad Blocking is a Problem, So It’s Going to Show Ads to People Who Use Ad Blockers
Read More: No One Can Stop Ad Blocking. Not Even Facebook
Read More: Facebook Will Start Bypassing Adblockers on Desktop Browsers

Twitter Exhales as Court Rules It’s Not Liable When Terrorists Use the Platform – In a case that could have significant implications for how technology firms approach managing legal risk, a California court dismissed a case against Twitter this week claiming it should be responsible for how its users use the service. The case was brought by the family of a contractor killed by the terror group Twitter has struggled to eliminate accounts created by ISIS, despite serious efforts and significant successes. Despite the result of this particular case, we can expect similar cases to come forward in the future.

Read More: Twitter is Not Legally Responsible for the Rise of ISIS, Rules California District Court
Read More: Judge Tosses Suit Accusing Twitter of Providing Material Support to ISIS

Featured CXOTalk Video of the Week: Episode 183: User Experience and Digital Transformation with Brian Solis, Principal Analyst, Altimeter
User experience is one of the most important and least understood aspects of digital transformation. For this episode, we talk with a leading world expert about user experience and how to engage consumers in the best way possible.

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