Yesterday, Chris Dixon wrote a succinct post outlining the decline of the mobile web, which raised some very good questions.

The openness of the Internet is incredible — something I think many people take for granted. It has created a (developed) world today of unlimited access to information and communication, a world that I don’t think was fully imaginable when the world wide web was first created.

But as the dominant computing platform shifts from PCs to mobile devices, the dominant interaction model is becoming native, platform-specific apps. These create a more closed system — the opposite of what the web has enabled — with Apple and Google (currently) as giant gatekeepers.

Most will agree that native apps provide a better computing experience than the mobile web. But finding/installing new apps is not as seamless as typing in a URL or a 4-word keyword search on Google, not to...

The first Barnes & Noble retail location was built in New York City in 1917. Today, there’s approximately 700 stores nationwide. But those stores – and, more broadly, the B&N business model – is facing immense pressure from technology – from digital publishing and online distribution, and the price and convenience that 1s and 0s provide.

Sensing this threat, B&N introduced the Nook in 2009. B&N didn’t want to lose its grip on book sales to digital products (via distribution and/or content), so it invested heavily in the device. Store real estate was even repurposed to include large, in-your-face, showroom-like installations. But, despite some initial success, sales are now plummeting. People still feel very strongly about physical books and bookstores (see the comments section).

“The feeling of a print book, with its rough paper and thick spine, is an absorbing and pleasurable...

It’s far too early in the edtech game to crown a champion. But there is one team, that according to 50,000 years of science, appears poised to succeed. That team is Thinkful. Below is an explanation of what they’ve got going for them.

While technology continues to power an increasingly greater percentage of the world we live in – a trend that is likely to continue indefinitely – technology doesn’t create itself. People are the ones responsible for that. And people, of course, aren’t born with the knowledge necessary to build complex machines, software, etc. They learn those skills through education. In short: Technology powers the world, people power technology, and education (em)powers people.

To supply the sizable demand for people who can build the infrastructure, systems and products that will both power and (ideally) improve our world, there’s a growing number of companies (as...