My Favourite Tipples from a competitive tech researcher
Jinfo Blog

By Scott Brown

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Scott Brown, cybrarian at Oracle, Inc. and owner of Social Information Group. He shares a few of his favourite online sources, both from the high-tech and competitive realm as well as the the sphere of Brexit and "obsessions".

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Lately, in the midst of conducting my usual work in the tech realm, I've also been reflecting on my own information intake. So my offering of Tipples is a mix of some competitive and technical sources, along with some sources that provide me a healthy spectrum of interesting information.

• LinkedIn: Even though LinkedIn has steadily taken away useful features for researchers over the past few years, it continues to be an invaluable resource for company information. I use it to find niche market competitors, better understand job titles and organisational structures, and track hiring patterns, among other things. 

• Avention/OneSource: Recently reviewed by Jinfo, OneSource has been a known and relatively reliable source for company information for decades. While the tool still provides a wealth of company information and the ability to build company lists in different ways, I have been intrigued with some of the filters they've recently provided to identify companies. The methodology can be a little opaque, but I appreciate being able to gain a little more visibility into companies, for example, that are using certain technology products and vendors, or that are offering cloud services. 

• The Register: The Register is not afraid to be snarky, have an opinion, or expose the sometimes dark underbelly of the tech world - which is part of the reason why I enjoy it so much. The Register will uncover issues and competitive information that is simply difficult to find in such detail from other published sources. 

• Financial Times Brexit coverage: The Financial Times has done an excellent job lately of providing timely and valuable topic feeds and special reports on everything from Responsible Business to Disruption & Technology to Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Their coverage of the EU Referendum vote - and the subsequent uncertainty resulting from that vote - has been remarkable. The FT is closely tracking the ongoing effects on business and the markets in the UK, the EU, and across the globe.

• Quartz: Quartz (along with another favourite, Aeon) provides some of the most intriguing stories and coverage that come into my email inbox. Quartz's Daily Brief email is a mainstay of mine, because it covers the top global news of the day in a very readable format. It also provides a daily "Obsession", as well as "Matters of debate" and/or "Surprising discoveries" - inevitably something at least slightly mind-bending and worth reading. The Daily Brief also always signs off with "Our best wishes for a productive day". Worth reading every day - if just to get best wishes for a productive day.

An article in Jinfo which I found particularly interesting:

• Jinfo's Competitive intelligence topic category provides fantastic coverage. The recent "Q&A with Avention - An Update on DataVision" is a great example. I really like this piece because it keeps me up-to-date on new features I can leverage. It also provides a fresh perspective to better understand my clients (in this case, using Avention from a marketing standpoint).

Contribute Your "My Favourite Tipples"

Would you like to share your "My Favourite Tipples" with the Jinfo audience? For contributor guidelines email catherine.dhanjal@jinfo.com or visit the Publish with Jinfo page.

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