Have you ever seen a musical performance by North Koreans? I Highly recommend taking a minute and half to check out this one.
Selected by davewiner
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Most Topular Stories
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Have you ever seen a musical performance by North Koreans? I...
Dembot6 Feb 2012 | 3:04 pm -
Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg
The Baseline Scenario2 Feb 2012 | 1:14 pmBy James Kwak I must admit that I find Facebook’s impending glory a bit awkward, as it touches on two themes I have written about previously. One is that I just don’t like Facebook. And, I confess, I don’t really understand it. I sort of understand why people like it, but I don’t really understand why it’s going to be the most valuable technology company on the planet in a few years. I don’t understand why anyone would ever click on an ad within Facebook (or why anyone would even see them, since you could just use AdBlock), since I don’t understand… -
The Shins - September new song from the shins. very happy about...
Bijan Sabet8 Feb 2012 | 6:48 amThe Shins - September new song from the shins. very happy about that. -
One of My Mistakes
inessential.com7 Feb 2012 | 2:39 pmI don’t think of my app Glassboard as a competitor of Path. Though they’re both superfically about sharing statuses, locations, pictures, and so on, they have different purposes. And Path is a beautiful app that I admire very much. Nevertheless I admit to feeling a bit of schadenfreude at first when it was discovered that Path was uploading contacts info to their servers. I’m human, in other words, and humans often react in ways beneath them — until they try a little harder. My next feeling was sympathy. I’ve made plenty of mistakes (and I’ll tell you about one in a minute), and… -
Take 3
Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog8 Feb 2012 | 5:38 pmApparently we're not finished with this story. I forgot I had written this piece about Path at the end of 2012. 11/15/10: The tech industry is a virus. "After entering my name and email address, gender and password, it asked if it can use my location. I said yes. Then I went to the People section to start looking for friends to share my pictures with. I was astonished to see a list of suggestions, all of whom are people I know. I was confused. How could they know I know all these people? I jumped to an incorrect conclusion, they were all following me. I smiled -- it's really cool that all…
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Dembot
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Have you ever seen a musical performance by North Koreans? I...
6 Feb 2012 | 3:04 pmHave you ever seen a musical performance by North Koreans? I Highly recommend taking a minute and half to check out this one. -
How Money Determines Elections
6 Jan 2012 | 10:02 amIf you look at the last five Presidential races, in each case, the candidate who spent the most money, won. Over the years, I’ve learned a few things about politics because my Dad was a major influence to the Democratic party and I payed attention to a lot of the things he was doing. He was a great man in my book and became one of the happiest people I have ever met, a workaholic entrepreneur driven by the pure passion of Democracy and opportunity for everyone. Some of his closest friends even accused him of being a Socialist. When he first got his jet, he would fly Ann Richards around… -
The Greatest Biggest Most Important Furthest Reaching Memes of 2011
8 Dec 2011 | 1:37 pmAll the world is a meme. So what are the most outstanding for 2011? The lists are already rolling in. There is a list of Best Memes (as in “best pizza”), Top News Memes (informed directly by the “Best Memes” list), Top Twitter Hashtags, Most Shared Stories on Facebook, Top Google Insights, you name it. To add to the lot, I decided to broaden the perspective beyond a US-centric outlook while narrowing my focus, for which I here present, THE GREATEST BIGGEST MOST IMPORTANT FURTHEST REACHING MEMES OF 2011. THE MOST IMPORTANT MEME OF 2011 Undoubtably, the single most important meme… -
UC Davis Officer at the Macy’s Parade
21 Nov 2011 | 6:06 amUC Davis Officer at the Macy’s Parade -
The Situation Room
21 Nov 2011 | 5:45 amThe Situation Room
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The Baseline Scenario
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Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg
2 Feb 2012 | 1:14 pmBy James Kwak I must admit that I find Facebook’s impending glory a bit awkward, as it touches on two themes I have written about previously. One is that I just don’t like Facebook. And, I confess, I don’t really understand it. I sort of understand why people like it, but I don’t really understand why it’s going to be the most valuable technology company on the planet in a few years. I don’t understand why anyone would ever click on an ad within Facebook (or why anyone would even see them, since you could just use AdBlock), since I don’t understand… -
Private Equity and “Job Creation”
2 Feb 2012 | 6:53 amBy James Kwak The phrase “job creation” always makes me a little queasy. The personal computer has probably contributed to the elimination of tens of millions of clerical jobs, yet I think most of us feel that computers are a good thing: they make people more productive, meaning more goods and services for everyone . . . and hopefully the people who lost those jobs will find work doing something else. In boom periods, like the 1990s, it seems to work, at least for most people, but I doubt that there’s any proof that productivity-increasing innovation always increases… -
What Did the SEC Really Do in 2004?
30 Jan 2012 | 10:14 amBy James Kwak Andrew Lo’s review of twenty-one financial crisis books has been getting a fair amount of attention, including a recent mention in The Economist. Simply reading twenty-one books about the financial crisis is a demonstration of stamina that exceeds mine. I should also say at this point that I have no arguments with Lo’s description of 13 Bankers. Lo’s main point, which he makes near the end of his article, is that it is important to get the facts straight. Too often people accept and repeat other people’s assertions—especially when they are published in… -
What Is Private Equity?
27 Jan 2012 | 9:57 amBy James Kwak Recently, a lot of the political debate has been about whether private equity—and by extension Mitt Romney—is good or bad. The argument on one side is that private equity firms are vultures who destroy firms to make money; on the other, that private equity is just capitalism at work, creates value, and creates jobs. A private equity firm is an asset management company. It creates investment funds that raise most of their money from outside investors (pension funds, insurance companies, rich people, etc.), and then manages those funds. As opposed to a mutual fund, however,… -
Breakthrough: Eric Schneiderman To Chair Mortgage Crisis Unit
24 Jan 2012 | 6:21 pmBy Simon Johnson As reported first in the Huffington Post, President Obama is creating “a special unit to investigate misconduct and illegalities that contributed to both the financial collapse and the mortgage crisis”. This will be chaired by Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general. For more background on why this makes sense and could represent a major policy breakthrough, please see this column: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71788.html.
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Bijan Sabet
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The Shins - September new song from the shins. very happy about...
8 Feb 2012 | 6:48 amThe Shins - September new song from the shins. very happy about that. -
"The best feature is that it works"
7 Feb 2012 | 7:49 pm“The best feature is that it works” - @kevin - via Inside Instagram: How Slowing Its Roll Put the Little Startup in the Fast Lane -
6k posts later
7 Feb 2012 | 4:24 amLast week a friend told me they were going to start a blog. They asked me the difference between Wordpress, Tumblr and a few others. This post is an attempt to explain that answer. I’ve been using Tumbr since 2007. Almost 5 years later and I’ve created over 6k posts. I’m proud to call myself an active Tumblr user. I pretty much find something to post every day. I missed day is a very rare thing. The user interface is so well designed and beautiful. It couldn’t be easier. But thing that most people find special about Tumblr is the community. I certainly do. It’s engaged,… -
Saw this as a highlighted post on my dashboard. great way to...
7 Feb 2012 | 4:10 amSaw this as a highlighted post on my dashboard. great way to start the day. rock on. via fred-wilson: Gossip - Ben Kweller - Go Fly A Kite new track from the new Ben Kweller record. available at Amazon and directly from Ben’s website too -
Outta My System by My Morning Jacket shared from exfm
6 Feb 2012 | 1:05 pmOutta My System by My Morning Jacket shared from exfm
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inessential.com
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One of My Mistakes
7 Feb 2012 | 2:39 pmI don’t think of my app Glassboard as a competitor of Path. Though they’re both superfically about sharing statuses, locations, pictures, and so on, they have different purposes. And Path is a beautiful app that I admire very much. Nevertheless I admit to feeling a bit of schadenfreude at first when it was discovered that Path was uploading contacts info to their servers. I’m human, in other words, and humans often react in ways beneath them — until they try a little harder. My next feeling was sympathy. I’ve made plenty of mistakes (and I’ll tell you about one in a minute), and… -
Path Design
30 Jan 2012 | 2:56 pmsexpigeon on Path: Path is tappy and its content reads like the content of taps. “I am in a place,” you tap. “:)”, come the replies. Buzz Andersen on sexpigeon on Path: This is the best thing I’ve read about Path, and it perfectly articulates something I’ve thought not only about Path, but also a lot of other exemplars of the fussy, post-Apple wave of “high design” in tech products. Read both, and then the Khoi Vinh article article Buzz links to. -
On Hibari’s Design
30 Jan 2012 | 2:49 pmviolasong: Because Hibari is a secondary app, I want it to fit in with the feel of the operating system as much as possible. I call Hibari “minimalist,” but it’s certainly not an instance of bare, angular, monochromatic minimalism. I’m aiming instead for a quiet, soothing, Japanese-style minimalism; one that feels natural. For my taste, an angular black & white app juxtaposed against the grays of OS X wouldn’t produce the most minimalist result. I love reading about design philoshopy. Good post. And it motivates me to check out Hibari, which I hadn’t done yet. -
360MacDev
30 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm360MacDev starts on Friday. It looks like tickets are still available and just $300. I’m doing the keynote. Other speakers include Mike Lee, Dave Wiskus, Kyle Richter, Colin Donnell, Luc Vandal, and more really smart people. Here’s the schedule. This may be the only Mac-specific conference in the world! And I totally can’t wait. Mac apps rule. You should go. -
Frictiony Sharing
30 Jan 2012 | 2:28 pmNick Bradbury: Because in the past the user only had to decide whether to share something they just read, but now they have to think about every single article before they even read it. If I read this article, then everyone will know I read it, and do I really want people to know I read it?
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Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog
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Take 3
8 Feb 2012 | 5:38 pmApparently we're not finished with this story. I forgot I had written this piece about Path at the end of 2012. 11/15/10: The tech industry is a virus. "After entering my name and email address, gender and password, it asked if it can use my location. I said yes. Then I went to the People section to start looking for friends to share my pictures with. I was astonished to see a list of suggestions, all of whom are people I know. I was confused. How could they know I know all these people? I jumped to an incorrect conclusion, they were all following me. I smiled -- it's really cool that all… -
I don't like my last post
8 Feb 2012 | 1:26 pmThis doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I don't like the post I wrote about Path. I'm not taking it back, and I don't want to explain it too much. I don't know what anyone else should or shouldn't do. Sometimes I get the idea that I do, but then I realize I don't. I don't like it when people say what I should do. And I'm a fan of the Golden Rule. I'm going to be more careful about software I install, and will look for developers to say clearly that they aren't doing anything with my address book. I will feel better about using Apple's products, which I do, if they would consider the… -
Glad I don't use Path
8 Feb 2012 | 7:30 amNo software company wants people to feel the way any iPhone user feels about Path right now. That's their problem. Path investor Mike Arrington gets it 100 percent wrong. Companies caught stealing private data from users have a serious problem, possibly one that can't be recovered from. He shouldn't put his own rep out there. His advice to Path is terrible. Instead he should be quietly working with his other investments to be sure they aren't doing the bone-headed thing Path was doing with users' data, and if they are, they should proactively clean up their act, publicly. I just took a look… -
Free lunches often have a price
7 Feb 2012 | 12:48 pmI care about the open web because it's the platform I develop on. I have good skills and development tools for the Web and Mac OS and Windows. So that's where I develop. If I have my way I'll be able to continue doing that indefinitely, but I worry about Apple and the future of the Mac. I have a feeling the same reasons I can't develop for IOS will turn out to make the Mac impossible for me to work on. Or maybe I'll have to stop updating my system at some point. For a while it seemed that Twitter was part of the platform. The API was open to anyone, and was largely unlimited. It was an open… -
What a wonderful game!
6 Feb 2012 | 6:29 amIt was an interesting but fairly ordinary game until the last few minutes, when it became one for the ages. And a reminder to anyone who thinks strategically, no matter what business they're in, that the linear route isn't always the right way to go. Especially when the stakes are very high. Slate has a great piece that summarizes the oddness of the last few minutes. I'll provide my own summary The Giants had the ball, down by two points, and were in field goal range at the two-minute warning. The Giants had one timeout remaining, the Patriots had two. Those are the variables. At some point…
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WAMU-FM: The Diane Rehm Show: Friday News Roundup Podcast
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Friday News Roundup - International
7 Feb 2012 | 7:20 amDefense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the U.S. would withdraw combat troops from Afghanistan as early as 2013; Syrian government troops opened a new front outside Damascus in their ongoing crackdown on anti-government protesters; and Nigeria's security police said they captured the alleged spokesman of the Islamist group behind a series of bombings that have killed hundreds of people. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories. -
Friday News Roundup - Domestic
7 Feb 2012 | 7:20 amRepublican presidential candidate Mitt Romney opened up a 20-point lead over Newt Gingrich in the upcoming Nevada caucus; the Obama Administration unveiled a new homeowner refinancing plan; and Senate Democrats formally introduced a "Buffett Bill" that would tax millionaires at a minimum rate of 30 percent. Naftali Bendavid of the Wall Street Journal, Jackie Calmes of The New York Times and syndicated columnist Steve Roberts join Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories. -
Friday News Roundup - International
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 pmDefense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the U.S. would withdraw combat troops from Afghanistan as early as 2013; Syrian government troops opened a new front outside Damascus in their ongoing crackdown on anti-government protesters; and Nigeria's security police said they captured the alleged spokesman of the Islamist group behind a series of bombings that have killed hundreds of people. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories. -
Friday News Roundup - Domestic
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 pmRepublican presidential candidate Mitt Romney opened up a 20-point lead over Newt Gingrich in the upcoming Nevada caucus; the Obama Administration unveiled a new homeowner refinancing plan; and Senate Democrats formally introduced a "Buffett Bill" that would tax millionaires at a minimum rate of 30 percent. Naftali Bendavid of the Wall Street Journal, Jackie Calmes of The New York Times and syndicated columnist Steve Roberts join Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories. -
News Roundup for Friday January 27, 2012 - Hour 2
27 Jan 2012 | 1:10 pmSyrian troops stormed a Damascus suburb in an ongoing government effort to crackdown on protesters; the European Union approved an oil embargo on new contracts from Iran; and Navy SEALS parachuted into Somalia on Wednesday to rescue two kidnapped aid workers. Yochi Dreazen of National Journal, Indira Lakshmanan of Bloomberg News and Mark Mardell of BBC News join Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
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Doc Searls Weblog
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Live blogging Politics of the Internet
25 Jan 2012 | 12:30 pmSo I’m at Micah Sifry’s Politics of the Internet class at the Kennedy School, and risk live-blogging it (taxing my multitasking abilities…) Some questions in the midst of dialog between Micah (@Mlsif) and the class (#pol-int)… Was there a $trillion “internet dividend” over the old phone system, and was it a cost to the old system? Did the Internet have to happen? Is the IETF‘s “rough consensus and running code” still a prevailing ethos, or methodology? Is it an accident that the rough consensus above is so similar to the #Occupy methods? -
Surf’s up! Look north
24 Jan 2012 | 2:44 pmAccording to this… … the Aurora is on. The Kp Index has hit 5, and a geomagnetic storm is on. Here’s today’s SpaceWeather on the matter. Follow the links there. Bear in mind that the aurora are curtains of light up to a thousand miles high. So if the auroral oval is pushed down over southern Canada (which these storms tend to do), it should still be visible far south across the United States. Current links: Northern Lights over the UK metofficenews.wordpress.com) An Easy Guide To Observing Aurora mbcalyn.wordpress.com) Epic Geomagnetic Storm Erupts :… -
2025 in 2012
23 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pmMarcel Bullinga is a Dutch futurist and author of Welcome to the Future Cloud. Today I got pointed on Twitter to a Q&A with Bullinga by Aaron Saenz at SingularityHub. Interesting stuff. An excerpt: SH: Welcome to the Future Cloud seems to be very supportive of intellectual property (IP) rights and digital rights managements (DRM). Are IP and DRM necessary to the development of a healthy future? MB: Yes and no. The trend is twofold. We will have ironclad ways to protect our data, our virtual sources and our identities. We will wrap our virtual belongings with what I call a Cloud Seal. A… -
PR’s problems, 20 years later
22 Jan 2012 | 8:37 pmI was near the end of my career as a PR guy when I wrote the essay below for the January 1992 issue of Upside. Since then Upside has been erased. Some bits of it still persist on the Internet Archive, but nothing before 1996. But I did save my own draft of the piece, and put it up here, back in the mid-90s, where it has remained all but invisible. So I thought it would be fun to surface it now on the blog, on the 20th anniversary of its original publication. Here goes: THE PROBLEM WITH PR Toward a world beyond press releases and bogus news By Doc Searls There is no Pulitzer Prize for… -
Can’t lose, in a way
22 Jan 2012 | 2:34 pmI grew up in New Jersey and New York, rooting for the Giants. (And, in the Namath era, the Jets too.) Then, after 20 years in North Carolina (mostly as a college basketball fan), I lived in the Bay Area for 25 years, and rooted for the 49ers there. One daughter lives in the Bay Area, and most of my wife’s huge family lives in the Bay Area, and most of them are hard-core for the Niners. We were out there a week ago and got some great hang time watching the Niners beat the Saints. However, I’ve worked and lived in New England for five and a half years now, and have been rooting for…
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Face the Nation on the Radio
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Face the Nation on the Radio: 02/05
5 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amOn "Face the Nation" ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich outlines his path to nomination and explains why he would back Romney as nominee after calling him a liar. Bob Schieffer also speaks with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and The Boston Globe's Michael Kranish, author of The Real Romney. -
Face the Nation on the Radio: 01/29
29 Jan 2012 | 11:00 amThis Sunday on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer, GOP presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks about the last debate, his chances of winning on Tuesday and what's next for his campaign. -
Face the Nation on the Radio: 01/22
22 Jan 2012 | 10:00 amThis week on Face the Nation, Republican front runner Newt Gingrich joins Bob Schieffer. The morning after the South Carolina primary, Bob Schieffer also talks to two key southern Republicans -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MI) -- about what the results will mean for the GOP moving forward. -
Face the Nation on the Radio: 01/17
17 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pmPresidential candidate Rick Santorum tells Bob Schieffer why he thinks Mitt Romney is just a part-time conservative; Also, Newt Gingrich responds to questions about negative ads against Romney, and why he believes he is the GOP candidate that can defeat President Obama; And, Remember the old adage, "Think before you speak"? Bob Schieffer offers an update for the age of social media. -
Face the Nation on the Radio: 01/08
8 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pmGeneral Martin Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta speaks with CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer on the reorganizing of the U.S. military and the application of sanctions against Iran. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona discusses the current state of Iraq and his endorsement of Mitt Romney. Also, Schieffer talk about how the internet is redefining politics.
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A VC
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Payments Day
8 Feb 2012 | 3:27 amYesterday was payments day at USV. Two pretty big things that our firm has been involved in for a while now were coincidentally announced on the same day. First, our newest portfolio company Dwolla announced the closing of a round we led on their blog. Dwolla is building a large network of engaged users via a radically lower cost payment system. How much lower? Zero for transactions below $10 and a $0.25 flat fee for transactions over $10. If you move $10,000 over the Dwolla network, you or the recipient (your choice) will be charged $0.25. That's it. Dwolla does this by avoiding credit… -
Building The Ecosystem
7 Feb 2012 | 7:35 amI've always seen the work that my colleauges and I do as more than venture capital investing. That is our main job and we need to do it very well. But we also need to work to make sure the macro environment for our investing activities remains attractive. There are two primary activities that Union Square Ventures focuses on in addition to our core venture capital activities of backing and then working closely with entrepreneurs and their teams. They are policy advocacy around protecting the freedom to innovate and efforts to build the ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurship. Longtime… -
The Management Team - Guest Post From Phil Sugar
6 Feb 2012 | 2:44 amContinuing our MBA Mondays series on The Managemet Team, we are deep into the guest post phase. This guest post comes from AVC regular Phil Sugar. I've never met Phil, but his comments here at AVC tell me that he's a very experienced entrepreneurial manager. And so I reached out to him to ask for a guest post. And he responded with this post below. There are so mant great lines in here, I'm tempted to reblog a bunch of them. Best Friends, Buddies, and Co-WorkersSince there is no way I am going to be more insightful than Matt or JLM about management process, I am going to go through three… -
Women Entrepreneurs
5 Feb 2012 | 6:05 amA few weeks ago, I spent the day at NYU ITP at the Womens Entrepreneurs Festival. This is a one day event put on by The Gotham Gal and her friend Nancy Hechinger who is on the faculty at NYU ITP. In its second year, the WE Festival features a day of panels and talks featuring women entrepreneurs. Men can attend and do, but the stage is filled with women all day long. It's a very different experience from the typical startup/tech event and I highly recommend it to anyone who is eager to see more women doing startups. My favorite panel was called Makers and featured five women who love to… -
The Teen Art Gallery
4 Feb 2012 | 4:40 amThis is the kind of thing that happens in the age of the Internet and Kickstarter. My daughter Emily told me one of her friends was involved in opening an art gallery and they are using Kickstarter to raise the funds to make it happen. In their own words, the "Teen Art Gallery is an organization run for teens by teens that features young artists, ages 12-19, in New York City galleries." If you go about 2mins into this video below, you will see that the teenagers have built an entire organization, filled with themselves, to run this business. Entrepreneurship in action! They are raising…
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NPR Programs: Fresh Air Podcast
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NPR: 02-08-2012 Fresh Air
8 Feb 2012 | 6:34 pmStories: 1) Finding 'Life, Death And Hope' In A Mumbai Slum 2) Chuck Prophet's 'Beautiful' Homage To San Francisco 3) Donald Hall: A Poet's View 'Out The Window' 4) Two Rowdy Talk Shows Showcase Vintage Humor -
NPR: 02-07-2012 Fresh Air
7 Feb 2012 | 6:38 pmStories: 1) The Risks And Rewards Of Practicing Yoga 2) Matt Wilson: Trios, Quartets And 'Don Knotts' -
Meryl Streep: The Fresh Air Interview
6 Feb 2012 | 6:33 pmStory: Meryl Streep won a Golden Globe for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. She talks about preparing for that role, her other films and how her perceptions of herself have changed over the years. -
NPR: 02-03-2012 Fresh Air
3 Feb 2012 | 6:55 pmStories: 1) Going In '50/50' On A Cancer Comedy, With Laughs 2) A Studio On The Road To 'Fame' For Soul Musicians -
NPR: 02-02-2012 Fresh Air
2 Feb 2012 | 6:54 pmStories: 1) Clean-Tech Industry Facing Lean Times After Solyndra 2) Lana Del Rey: The Self-Made Pop Star As Target 3) The Producers Behind NBC's Musical 'Smash' 4) Fired And Foreclosed: Unemployment Lit
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Etaoin Shrdlu
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@davewiner Re your comment about idealists, here's a self-portrait from a few years ago :)
23 Jan 2012 | 10:55 amPosted via email from edge & flow -
Sunday morning
15 Jan 2012 | 10:26 am♨ flavors.me/howard Posted via email from edge & flow -
Ending 2011 on an agave note
31 Dec 2011 | 6:31 pmBarb samples Tequilas before dinner at Maya Huel. ♨ flavors.me/howard Posted via email from edge & flow -
Refugio and Ester with his citizenship documents
22 Dec 2011 | 9:43 amA moment of great joy and pride for us all. The USA is better off because of this new citizen. ♨ flavors.me/howard Posted via email from edge & flow -
Moments from citizenship
21 Dec 2011 | 9:48 amAt the Sacramento ceremony for 1,770 new Americans. So emotional. So wonderful. ♨ flavors.me/howard Posted via email from edge & flow
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AllThingsD
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For iPad And Mobile Devices, a 'Port' out of the Norm
8 Feb 2012 | 6:04 pmThe pocket-size USB flash drive has become nearly ubiquitous in the PC world, for moving files among machines and for adding extra storage. But it can’t be used with most tablets because they lack standard USB ports. [ See post to watch video ] Now, there’s a special, modified, pocket flash drive that works as usual with PCs and Macs, but can transfer and stream files to popular mobile devices without standard USB ports, such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and many other Android devices. Its secret: It has built-in Wi-Fi to beam the files to and from… -
An iPhoto Slide Show on CD
8 Feb 2012 | 6:01 pmQ: How can I burn a slideshow that I made in iPhoto on my MacBook Pro onto a CD? A: You can export the slideshow as a video (a QuickTime movie in Apple parlance) and then burn that video to your CD. Here’s how: In iPhoto, after you’ve created the photo slideshow, with titles, music and so forth, click on the “Export” button at the bottom of the slideshow-creation window. Choose an option for the resolution of your movie and click “Export.” Then, choose a destination on your hard disk where you’ll temporarily store the movie. Next, insert the… -
Google: That 2.25 Percent MoMo Patent Royalty Sounds About Right to Us
8 Feb 2012 | 5:20 pmMotorola Mobility’s demand that Apple pay it patent royalties of 2.25 percent on sales of some iPhones and iPads raised a lot of eyebrows. But not at Google, which could close its acquisition of Motorola Mobility as early as next week. Evidently, Google has no trouble with that percentage at all. In a letter to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) today, Google said that should it complete its proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, it will license the company’s standard-essential patents under “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” terms… -
Groupon's Mason on Strategy, Investment and (Finally) a Way to Stop Those Pole-Dancing Offers
8 Feb 2012 | 4:56 pmGroupon’s CEO Andrew Mason is known for his sense of humor, but during the company’s first earnings call today, it was all business. Of course you knew at least a little bit would slip through. In response to an analyst who asked about the company’s ability to tailor deals to a person’s interests, Mason hinted at new products coming in the first or second quarter. In addition to being able to get deals based on multiple locations, gender and past buying behaviors, he said, users will be able to vote down deals if they don’t want to receive similar ones again. -
Justice Department Poised to Clear Google-Motorola Deal
8 Feb 2012 | 3:48 pmThe U.S. Justice Department is poised to clear Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, giving Google a powerful armory of technology patents to deploy in the smartphone wars. However, antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe remain concerned about Google’s commitment to license key Motorola patents to competitors on fair terms, those people said, and are likely to closely monitor Google’s use of the patents. The European Commission has set a deadline of Monday to decide…
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Davos Newbies
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A few truths about Davos
25 Jan 2012 | 10:05 amIt’s the time of year when everywhere I turn, I read tweets and posts about Davos1, which was a huge part of my life for ten years. I’m a long way from the mountain top these days, but I find that too many people don’t understand some basic truths about the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum.2 The Forum’s mission The Forum’s often-stated mission is “Committed to Improving the State of the World”. There were moments that a few other subversives and I used to say that it was a bit like the signs you see entering a London borough: Croydon: The… -
Google listens… if you shout loudly enough
23 Mar 2011 | 7:46 pmYesterday evening I wrote about the bizarre disappearance from Google News of my news site, Berkeleyside. What happens next is either an illustration of the power of digital democracy or an example of the value of friends with fantastic megaphones. Shortly after my post went up, a number of friends tweeted about it. Dave Winer and Felix Salmon were first off the mark. Felix’s rare use of an exclamation mark (“Berkeleyside axed from Google News!”) seems to have provoked some of his regular followers to retweet, including The New York Times’ David Carr, with over… -
Local news: we’re at Google’s mercy
22 Mar 2011 | 5:24 pmI spend the bulk of my time these days trying to figure out some of the future of journalism, with the local news site I started with two others, Berkeleyside. We’re unquestionably the leading news source for our city, and we’re widely recognized as such. The San Francisco Chronicle uses us to supply Berkeley news, we’re picked up occasionally by The New York Times, and we’re looked to by, for example, the local public radio station, for the latest on Berkeley. So it’s not surprising that we’ve also been the prime supplier of Berkeley news to Google News. -
The local view on AOL/HuffPo: we’re still where innovation is happening
8 Feb 2011 | 4:25 amIn the torrent of analysis on AOL’s acquisition of Huffington Post, relatively little attention has been given to the fate of Patch, AOL’s ambitious attempt to build a national network of local news sites. I have a dog in this fight: I’m one of the three founder-editors of Berkeleyside, the leading news site for Berkeley, California. So the growth of Patch — and its supposedly imminent expansion to Berkeley — has been something I’ve watched with keen attention. The only concrete remarks I’ve seen on the Patch part of the AOL/HuffPo deal have referred… -
Current reading: two out of three ain’t bad
16 Jan 2011 | 5:31 pmLong flights used to be a haven for my reading, but Virgin America’s inflight WiFi means I now spend the bulk of my regular SFO-JFK and back emailing, writing and catching up on feeds, rather than reading the books that are handily toted in my iPad. So I need to find other niches for my reading. I recently finished two of the books on my shelf at last report, and a third that I picked up on the recommendation of a friend. All were worthwhile, but one was exceptional. Country Driving by Peter Hessler has already had plenty of favorable notice, and it deserves all the plaudits. It has…
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Digital City Mechanics
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24 Jan 2012 | 7:56 pm
24 Jan 2012 | 7:56 pmHere’s the pitch Marc Canter gave in Kansas City recently for the Gigabit Challenge. A Microsoft guy (writing for Silicon Prairie News) thought Marc was the best! Digital City Mechanics, Gigabit Challenge Finale from Curt McMillan on Vimeo. -
PolymerOhio program
18 Oct 2011 | 9:37 pmPolymerOhio has contracted with Digital City Mechanics to develop multimedia case studies using an intern team that is trained by Digital City Mechanics. These case studies will support PolymerOhio’s Polymer Portal which provides affordable access to expensive modeling and simulation applications and training in their use. -
Connecting the dots at the CONTACT conference
18 Oct 2011 | 6:35 amI’ll be speaking at the CONTACT conference in NYC this week. My theme will be “connecting the dots.” Everyone at the conference will be well intentioned, super intelligent activists, thinkers and doers. “So what can I say – which will make a difference?” 1. We’re all still operating in silos – in our own unique worlds and networks. 2. By inter-connecting between each other, yes knowledge can be shared, but also money can be used more efficiently. Share space, help each other create web sites and viral campaigns, support each other’s… -
Digital City – Tampa
15 Oct 2011 | 7:20 amI’ve just returned from an amazing trip to Tampa and the Tampa Bay area. I presented to an overflow crowd of entrepreneurs, government officials and community leaders, I was interviewed several times and I met with the Mayor of Tampa. Things are looking great for the launch of our program down there – soon! Tampa has a rich history, plenty of diversity and immigrant population, potential investors – who wish to help out their communities – and LOTS of industry who can potentially sponsor programs and projects. These are all the ingredients necessary for a… -
Digital City project Prezi
8 Oct 2011 | 2:24 pmthe Digital City project on Prezi
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Matt Mullenweg
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LIFE.com
1 Feb 2012 | 5:48 amLIFE magazine has relaunched, powered by WordPress.com VIP. I’m a huge fan of the magazine’s history and the work of photographers like John Dominis. -
On the Evolution of Investing
24 Jan 2012 | 11:59 amToday Y Combinator announced they are adding two new partners, Garry Tan and Aaron Iba. This announcement is unique because it does not list their academic credentials, their previous investments, the boards of companies or non-profits they have sat on, how many years of experience they have, or any of the usual badges of honor investors parade in their biographies and Crunchbase profiles. Instead we get accolades of “rare individuals who can both design and program” and “best hackers among the YC alumni.” Take note of this moment. I was part of a dinner conversation… -
MPAA Threatens Politicians
22 Jan 2012 | 12:43 pmMPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Arent Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought on Techdirt. -
Hollywood and the Justice System
21 Jan 2012 | 6:44 amTwo excellent essays on how Hollywood has completely put our legal system out of whack through years of twisting our legislative process to their ends, or as Shirky put it “imagine the possibility of a longer jail term for streaming a Michael Jackson video than Jackson’s own doctor got for killing actual Michael Jackson?” Andrew Bridges on PandoDaily: Forget SOPA, Hollywood Already Had a Field Day with the Justice System. Clay Shirky on his blog: Pick up the pitchforks: David Pogue underestimates Hollywood. -
#Reinventing: Chamber of Commerce
18 Jan 2012 | 9:23 amReally great article from my friend Hunter Walk on #Reinventing the Chamber of Commerce, which is especially relevant given how the US Chamber of Commerce has been tending to side with the MPAA and RIAA rather than actual small businesses, startups, and tech communities.
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msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines
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Investigation launched over critical Afghanistan report
8 Feb 2012 | 5:20 pmThe Pentagon has launched an investigation into an independent report written by an Army lieutenant colonel for possible security violations, military officials say. -
Pentagon to open more military jobs to women
8 Feb 2012 | 4:24 pmMore military jobs will be opening up to women as the Pentagon on Thursday releases findings from a report on whether they should be assigned to combat roles, officials said. -
Video: Princess Kate solo at Freud art show
8 Feb 2012 | 4:11 pmThe Duchess of Cambridge has debuted at her first solo public engagement. It was at a major art exhibition, the Lucian Freud show at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Kate recently became a patron of the gallery. (Nightly News) -
Video: Using potluck dinners to transform lives
8 Feb 2012 | 4:05 pmMembers of the organization Dining for Women are raising money for women around the globe each time they get together for dinner. NBC’s Kristen Dahlgren reports. (Nightly News) -
Washington lawmakers pass gay-marriage bill
8 Feb 2012 | 4:00 pmWashington has moved closer to becoming the seventh state in the nation to legalize gay marriage.
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nakedjen
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Phew.
25 Jan 2012 | 10:19 amI don't think I've slept since before my birthday. I'm still celebrating. I've seen lots of really wonderful films and some films that made me cock my head sideways and wonder who on earth decided that making the film was a good idea in the first place? But then, you know, not all of us like the same flavor of ice cream. Which is why the aisles of the supermarket are filled with so very many choices. -
It takes a long time to grow young.
20 Jan 2012 | 11:36 pmEvery birthday is a privilege. -
Collateral Damage
19 Jan 2012 | 1:15 pmThere are things we say, but there are things we do not say. There are very smooth edges, but there are very rough edges. The rough edges, the ones not so smooth, the ones that feel like the familiar old scabs from forgotten relationships, or old lovers, left there as badges of honor or glory or, well, maybe not either of honor or glory but to warn against the path that you already took and do not want to venture down again. -
Everything's completely under control this end, how is it with you?
10 Jan 2012 | 1:20 pmi can't make promises to the seven year old or anyone about forever. i just can't. and i know his seven year old heart is fragile and all he wants is to believe that we all love each other and that his family will remain intact in some sort of way and not turn upside down and that when he walks through the door the same people will still be here that were here when he left. that the dogs will greet him with slobbery kisses. that even if he's grown an inch and his pants are shorter and his shoes don't fit, that everything in this house is still just as he left it. that we're all still here… -
And So This Is Christmas
25 Dec 2011 | 5:34 amWe are all celebrants in our own lives, you know. So however you choose to spend this day, I do hope you take a few moments to celebrate and love the people who matter most to you. It's why we're all here.
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FiveThirtyEight
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G.O.P. Race Has Hallmarks of Prolonged Battle
8 Feb 2012 | 12:03 amWhatever your perspective on how likely Mitt Romney was to lose the Republican nomination race prior to Tuesday evening, it should be acknowledged that he had about the worst results conceivable. -
Live Coverage: Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri
7 Feb 2012 | 5:05 pmRepublicans today are holding caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota and a primary in Missouri. We'll be bringing you data-driven analysis, historical perspective and results as they become available. -
The High Stakes in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri
7 Feb 2012 | 1:13 pmThe results will provide an important test of how robust Mitt Romney's coalition is on less than favorable terrain and could bolster the campaign of Rick Santorum. -
Political Geography: Minnesota
7 Feb 2012 | 12:52 pmMinnesota's reputation as a liberal bastion obscures the fact that the state's Republican Party is deeply conservative, and has grown more so over the last decade. -
Political Geography: Colorado
7 Feb 2012 | 11:18 amA look at the constituencies that make up the state's Republican electorate and where they live.
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GigaOM » Om Malik Archives
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Why we are buying paidContent
8 Feb 2012 | 11:00 amFirst the news: Yes, the rumors are true. We are indeed buying the assets of ContentNext Media from Guardian News & Media Limited. And no, we are not disclosing the terms of the deal, except that we are buying the entire group of properties — paidContent.org, mocoNews.net, contentSutra and paidContent:UK and that a representative of Guardian News & Media will join our board of directors as an observer. A few weeks ago when Paul Walborsky, CEO of GigaOM, came to the board and suggested that we should try and acquire paidContent, my fellow board members — Jon Callaghan (True… -
Data without context is dirt
7 Feb 2012 | 7:39 amData, I believe is like plastic. You can use it to make wonderful things. However, like plastic, it can be a great polluter and create havoc on the environment. Or as I like to say, data without context is dirt. Brad Feld captured this dark side of data in his post, Three Magic Numbers. “Recently, I’ve noticed a cambrian explosion of data among several of the companies I work with. The number of different numbers being tracked daily is massive. When you walk into their office there are screens full of graphs on the wall. Everyone in the company has access to the trends over time across a… -
7 stories to read this weekend
4 Feb 2012 | 12:00 amWhat a week! Most of the world was obsessing over the mother of all IPOs — Facebook. So no surprise, I had to include some good writing on the subject. Of course, I have already started looking beyond the social internet and got some good pointers for that. NowStreet Journal asks, what would have Facebook S-1 (and IPO) looked like had it come out in the days when tech stocks were given the small stock treatment? Also: Why Facebook is failing, Why Facebook’s growth is slowing so much and Evaluating a big network, which isn’t the same as a big product. It is time to move on… -
We are all living inside the notification hell
3 Feb 2012 | 8:01 amEmails, tweets, notifications, text and instant messages, Facebook status updates, Path moments — all these are new tools of communication when taken together are notification hell. These notifications prey on human desire for a dopamine fix. And just as we are over-caffeinated, I think the 21st century is quickly making us over-notified. (I think this is my second new phrase of the week – the first one being aspirational escape velocity) The worst part is that there is nothing we can do about it. Apparently Tweeting and checking emails is much harder addiction to give up that… -
Zynga & its Facebook Problem
2 Feb 2012 | 10:30 amZynga has been trying its very best to diversify its business — with 93 percent of its sales coming from Facebook, it doesn’t have much of choice. Ben Schachter, Internet analyst with Macquarie Securities sent a note to his clients this morning after digging through the Facebook S-1. His take — it isn’t going to be a pretty fourth quarter of 2011 for the game-maker, who is still swimming in lukewarm waters since its public offering. The Bottom Line - The initial read-through for ZNGA is potentially a negative indication for ZNGA’s 4Q revenue estimate. Assuming…
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On the Media
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The Facebook Show
2 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pmAn Austrian man who got Facebook to give him everything they had on him, a writer whose rapist friended her on Facebook, the value of a "Like." Max Richter - Berlin by Overnight Max Richter - Cascade NW by W -
Supreme Court Justices at the State of the Union Address, Internet as Human Right, and more
26 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pmThe strange tradition of Supreme Court Justices attending Presidential State of the Union Addresses, the future of warantless GPS tracking, and exploring the question of internet as a human right. -
Online Piracy, Superpacs and More
19 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pmThe amazing story of the Megaupload take down, Italy's National Order of Journalists, and a man searches in vain for data produced by his own heart. -
Telegraph Hackers, Naked Statues, and More
12 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pmA look back at a hacker from 1903, a story about Mitt Romney's dog that won't go away, and Supreme Court Justices looking at naked statues. -
Disclosing Political Ad Buys, Gambling Online and More
6 Jan 2012 | 12:29 pmThe benefit and burden of disclosing political ad buys online, new rules for internet gambling and using laugh tracks on TV.
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Paolo's Weblog
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Video, now and then.
3 Feb 2012 | 8:49 amWarning: this is one of those “amazing what you can do with technology these days” kind of post. When I was a teenager I used to hang around in a friend’s shop selling video equipment. This is where I used a video camera for the first time. It was something like this: It was the most incredible piece of technology! It had a tiny black and white monitor, and you could see the world in this little TV, in real-time. It’s probably impossible to understand today how exciting it was back then. After shooting there was editing. Not all consumer VCR could edit videos, most… -
RSS Tools from Google
31 Jan 2012 | 8:07 amThis page on Google Reader (it’s not exactly hidden, but not very easy to find either), has a number of useful tricks if you need to get RSS feeds from some services or set up watch lists on search engines. -
On the map
30 Jan 2012 | 5:52 amLooks like the google street view car passed by. Good, it will make giving directions much easier. -
A song
27 Jan 2012 | 7:33 amWhile watching a TV show the other night I heard a song and used Shazam to find out author and title (and see real-time lyrics, isn’t that feature cool?). The next day I tried to buy the song on iTunes store, but it was only available as part of an album. Which I did not want to buy. At this point I was quite ready to steal it, but then I found it on another site, Italian, and I got the mp3 there (it was cheaper too). As soon as the mp3 was downloaded, iTunes imported it and it notified iCloud of my new purchase. Seconds later the very same file that Apple didn’t want to sell to… -
Ubuntu HUD
26 Jan 2012 | 7:33 amThis is an interesting idea. I’ve been a big fan of Quicksilver for a long time, and recently I have found myself more and more going to the Search feature of the MacOS Help menu as a shortcut to other menu options. It perfectly makes sense to me. [via Brent Simmons] [HUD] It’s a way for you to express your intent and have the application respond appropriately. We think of it as “beyond interface”, it’s the “intenterface”. This concept of “intent-driven interface” has been a primary theme of our work in the Unity shell, with dash search as a first class experience…
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NYT > Paul Krugman
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Things Are Not O.K.
4 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pmThe unemployment report was genuinely good, but there’s a downside: the calls to stop focusing on job creation. -
Romney Isn’t Concerned
1 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pmMitt Romney has said that his comments about not caring about the very poor were taken out of context. But the more context you give them, the worse it gets. -
The Austerity Debacle.
29 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pmLook at Britain to see the tragic effects of a very bad idea. -
Jobs, Jobs and Cars
26 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pmGov. Mitch Daniels got so much wrong in his reply to the president’s State of the Union address. To really create jobs, it takes a cluster, not just heroes. -
Is Our Economy Healing?
22 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pmThere is a case for modest optimism.
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Platform Wars
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How Do The Payas Make Their Money?
5 Feb 2012 | 12:53 pmMicrosoft, Apple, Google? -
What Pinterest Is Doing That Facebook Isn't
31 Jan 2012 | 12:27 amPinteresting. -
The Amazon Playbook
7 Jan 2012 | 11:47 amVenkatesh Rao has a very good overview of Amazon's strategy focussing on the coherence and long-term thinking of Jeff Bezos.Interestingly he discounts Apple as a similarly strategic player, which I think undersells Jobs somewhat. (Though I also suspect this may be a rhetorical trick of Rao's to get a rise out of his readers.) Meanwhile Robert Cringely highlights the parallels, casting Bezos as the natural heir to Saint Steve. -
What Is Google+ Really About?
4 Jan 2012 | 8:17 pmVincent Wong's presentation is entertaining and plausibly right.tl;dr : Applications socialised -
Why Do Professional Programmers Use Macs?
18 Dec 2011 | 1:28 pmSomeone just asked this question on Quora. My answer ballooned somewhat :1) Historically, Macs were the preferred machines of desktop publishing and graphic designers, then web designers. As the web became an increasingly important platform (relative to "client-server" on Windows et al) individuals and companies who had started in web-design area became more prominent - think of the rise of 37 Signals and Ruby on Rails - and brought their Mac-ness with them. 2) When Apple shifted to OSX they made it a real Unix. In the late 90s, one of the attractions of Linux was that it was the only…
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Phil Windley's Technometria
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On Call TA: Distributed Event Network Federation Through Subscription
6 Feb 2012 | 9:24 amRecently I wrote about the theory behind federating distributed personal event networks through subscription. This post is about a working demonstration of event subscription in personal event networks. Scenario I have two TA for CS462. My TAs are usually in the building, but not sitting at the TA cubicle for CS462. They are happy to be "on call" and answer student questions almost any time if they don't have to sit in the cubicle away from their usual desk. They have built a KRL ruleset that allows students to text a number and request a meeting. The problem is that you have to copy the… -
An Operating System for Your Personal Cloud
3 Feb 2012 | 4:12 pmEveryone has a cloud strategy these days. Of course, when you hear about clouds, you hear questions like "Are we talking about IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS?" This assumes an enterprise-centric view of clouds that is belied by what Robert Scoble calls the game of games. Facebook, Google, and Apple are most selling clouds in various guises and see their cloud strategy as a key to their future. The problems with these "personal clouds" is that they have no operating system. An operating system is what makes your personal computer personal. Without an OS, it would be a special purpose appliance that does… -
Place-Based Networks
1 Feb 2012 | 6:25 amHere's a thought-provoking piece on place-based networks from Gideon Rosenblatt. Imagine if the Internet worked the way the real world does - and that physical places still helped build connection and community. That's the idea behind Place-Based Networks; it's mobile, social technology to help you connect with people based on your shared interest in a place. From Place-Based Networks: A New Kind of Social Network » Alchemy of Change by Gideon RosenblattReferenced Wed Feb 01 2012 07:27:40 GMT-0700 (MST) I imagine that our personal event networks could help with that. If your personal… -
Podcatchers for Smartphones
26 Jan 2012 | 8:20 pmAs you might guess, given that I'm Executive Producer of IT Conversations, I like listening to podcasts. I'm also an iPhone user. Not to put too fine a point on it: iTunes sucks rocks for listening to podcasts. The problem is mostly that iTunes has a crappy interface for subscribing to and managing podcasts. It also downloads only one episode per day, with no way to change the defaults. Moreover it will stop downloading podcasts that you haven't listened to for a while and you have to remember to go in an start it up. I started feeling like I had to "take care of iTunes" like it was a… -
My Letter to Senator Hatch in Opposition to PIPA
20 Jan 2012 | 7:42 amThe Honorable Orrin Hatch 104 Hart Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Fax: 202-224-6331 Dear Senator Hatch, I'm writing to express my opposition to the Protect IP Act (PIPA). I have a PhD in Computer Science, have taught Computer Science at BYU, started several high-tech businesses in Utah (one of which, iMall.com, sold to Excite@Home in 1999 for $450 million), was the CIO for the State of Utah under Gov. Michael Levitt, and am the Precinct Vice-Chair in Lindon 04. I'm pleased with Sen Reid's decision to postpone the vote and with your recent opposition to PIPA. However I'm still concerned…
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Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com
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Just because you can make money from something doesn’t mean you should, and other rules of the web
8 Feb 2012 | 6:23 amHere are a few things I’ve learned from 20 years of living online, developing or managing online things and using lots and lots of things others have developed. I’ve learned them by writing and by reading about those online things. I’ve learned them through personal successes and personal failures. I’ve learned them from watching others succeed and fail. I’ve learned them by using this blog to chornicle what I’ve seen flow by me since August, 2000, when it was created. I’m going to number them, but they are in no particular order. I will note at the… -
@AmazonMP3s very smart use of Twitter during Superbowl XLVI
5 Feb 2012 | 7:07 pmIf it works like it’s supposed to, this post will be an embed from Storify.com as that service makes it a snap to repost tweets in a situation like this. If you see something below (it will take a few seconds to load), it works. If you don’t see it here, click over to Storify.com/R.: [View the story "@AmazonMP3's smart use of Superbowl tweets" on Storify] -
What time is the Superbowl and thoughts on Facebook and why I blog
5 Feb 2012 | 1:56 pm[Warning: This is a long and rambling post that may or may not make a point.] Superbowl XLVI (46 for you non-Romans) starts at 6:30 p.m. eastern time on the NBC television network. The teams playing are the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. You may be wondering what the heck I’m talking about, but I’ll get to it in a moment. But first, a few thoughts about blogging. Some people who know the most about the social part of the web, the individuals who helped conceptualize and role-model what can be done when everyone is wired, networked and has a simple-to-use… -
Web companies discover a century-old corporate media tradition that’s always new
2 Feb 2012 | 3:03 pmPoultry Tribune, July, 1942 An article by Brian Stelter in today’s New York Times (temporary non-punitive URL: http://nyti.ms/xmYt1L) reports that Tumblr is hiring editors and writers to cover itself.* Quote from the executive editor Tumblr has hired: “Basically, if Tumblr were a city of 42 million (the number of Tumblr blogs that exist) I’m trying to figure out how we cover the ideas, themes and people who live in it.” According to the article, Facebook and Twitter have recently announced efforts with similar goals. In my opinion, the mother of all “reporting about… -
Rexplanation: The internet isn’t just technology. It’s a place and people.
30 Jan 2012 | 7:55 pmPartial map of the Internet based on 1/15/2005 data. [Note: This post is a Rexplanation.] In my opinion, there are two ways people understand the internet. The first way is to understand the internet as something to use. The second way is to think of the internet as something you not only use, but something people are and a place people live and work. Those who use the internet understand it with metaphors related to legacy media and channels of communication or different types of utility and tools. To them, the internet is about reading, viewing, listening, looking-up, sharing, calling,…
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Scobleizer
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Hacker News vs. Google+
5 Feb 2012 | 10:20 amI might as well have titled this “Hacker News vs Marketers.” Or “Hacker News vs Bloggers.” Or “jerks vs nice people.” But I never participate in Hacker News for a few reasons and I just was faced with these reasons again when I read the responses there to my blog post yesterday. 1. Programmers often have an attitude of “I can code, you can’t, so I am defacto better than you.” This often comes out in Hacker News comments. 2. Programmers love to bash people anonymously and then, in real life, they will come begging for PR for their companies… -
It’s too late for Dave Winer and John Battelle to save the common web
4 Feb 2012 | 5:02 pmThe date was January 3, 2008. Facebook had kicked me off for running a script to try to save the common web. See, I worked with Plaxo to run a simple script. One that would have taken my contacts out of Facebook and put them back into the common web. The script did some very simple things: 1. It grabbed all my friends names. 2. It grabbed all their phone numbers. 3. It grabbed all their email addresses. 4. It gave me a simple CSV file with all that data so I could bring them back to Google, or Microsoft, or anywhere else I wanted to put them. Facebook’s answer was predictable. They shut… -
HTML 5 pushback in San Francisco? Best mobile app designers say yes
1 Feb 2012 | 3:39 pmThe new Path? The one that won a Crunchie last night for great design? It’s not done in HTML 5. This morning I saw something new coming soon from Storify. Not done in HTML 5. This morning I visited Foodspotting, which just shipped hot new apps on iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Not done in HTML 5. More and more I’m hearing that designers and developers are ignoring HTML 5, especially for the high end of apps. Why? Well, Path’s founders told me it just isn’t possible to build a great user interface, the way they did it in HTML 5. Storify’s founder told me it… -
Why Facebook will be worth a half trillion by 2015: the mobile and open graph revenue it’s leaving on the table
1 Feb 2012 | 2:48 pmLots of people think Facebook is overvalued, at about $100 billion (it just released their S1, announcing its IPO). But in talking with developers, like I did with Foodspotting’s founder, Alexa Andrzejewski, and in reading the S1 I see that Facebook has left most of the potential revenue on the table. That makes me think that the folks crying “overvalued” are nuts. Check that interview out, Foodspotting is one of the hottest San Francisco startups, aimed at people who are looking for better places to eat. Here it is from just this morning: See, Mark Zuckerberg is sandbagging… -
2012 brings a pause in the disruption
31 Jan 2012 | 4:58 pmOK, I’ve been talking with hundreds of geeks from around the world this year at three conferences, CES, DLD, and World Economic Forum. I’m seeing a trend that is worth talking about. What is it? We’re seeing the end of one of the most disruptive ages in human history. I believe that we’re seeing a pause in the disruption. More on that a little later. Just think about all the changes humans have been asked to adopt in the past eight years. Most of us, back then, didn’t carry mobile computers in our pockets. If we did use tablets, like I did, they were expensive,…
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Seth's Blog
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How do they know you're not a flake?
8 Feb 2012 | 2:43 amBefore your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures. Do I know this person? Did someone I trust send them over? Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?) Has she won an award? Is she famous? Are there typos and is the design sloppy? Are they pestering me? Do I already follow this person online? Does music play when I visit the website? Will… -
Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea
7 Feb 2012 | 2:09 amBut it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be ignored and need to spend more money. Horizonal marketing, on the other hand, means creating a remarkable product and story and setting it up to spread from person to person. It's out of your control, because all the interactions are… -
Who is your customer?
6 Feb 2012 | 2:26 amRule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service. Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently. The question: Who is your customer? It's not obvious. Zappos is a classic customer service company, and their customer is the person who buys the shoes. Nike, on the other hand, doesn't care very much at all about the people who buy the shoes, or even the retailers. They care about the athletes (often famous) that wear the shoes, sometimes for money. They name buildings after these athletes, court them, erect… -
In search of a timid trapeze artist
5 Feb 2012 | 2:01 amGood luck with that, there aren't any. If you hesitate when leaping from rope to another, you're not going to last very long. And this is at the heart of what makes innovation work in organizations, why industries die, and how painful it is to try to maintain the status quo while also participating in a revolution. Gather up as much speed as you can, find a path and let go. You can't get to the next rope if you're still holding on to this one. -
Will energy consumption stay private?
4 Feb 2012 | 11:45 amIt's clear that the consumption of energy has external effects that impact more than just the person who is paying for it. Geopolitical, health and economic issues come to the neighbors and nearby citizens of entities that are using a lot of power. It was always straightforward to see who was burning a lot of wood or drove a huge car. It's easy to see when a company has a huge smokestake belching carbon. What happens when sensors make it easy to see how efficient a machine is, how much of a resource is being consumed and how much exhaust is being spewed? What happens when Google maps shows…
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Berkeley Blog
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Bay Area Media Merger Needs To Add One More Player
8 Feb 2012 | 5:50 pmToday, the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley announced a preliminary merger with The Bay Citizen in San Francisco, with Phil Bronstein taking over temporarily as CEO of the ersatz media operation. The force behind this merger seems to be Warren Hellman, now deceased, but while alive, a philanthropic founder and ongoing supporter of The Bay Citizen and a close friend of Bronstein. It seems to me these nonprofits can leverage the combined talents of their journalists, photographers, web architects, operators, and funders to become the dominant media provider for citizens in the San… -
What's a University? Don't Ask a Sociologist
28 Jan 2012 | 2:35 pmThe other day I went to hear the first in a series of three Clark Kerr Lectures on the role of higher education in society by UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus of Sociology Neil J. Smelser. I went because I thought I'd learn something about how the university might play a role in social change. What I learned was just the opposite: whatever happens in the rest of the world, according to Smelser, the only changes in the university as an institution include the accretion of more courses, more nonacademic functions (such as sports), and more academic conflicts over fiefdoms. I felt as if… -
He Was a HELLuva MAN
22 Dec 2011 | 5:48 pmThere are events in your life that you will never forget. The memorial put on for Warren Hellman in San Francisco's Emanu-El temple yesterday was like going to heaven with all your friends only everyone except the one we mourned was all very much alive. We stood in long lines -- one for friends and family and the other, just as long, for people who had some connection to Warren through his love of music, the outdoors, sports, education, business, and just people. Great people are like children. They never grow up. In many ways, Warren refused to grow up, even denying the authority… -
New Media Nomenclature
19 Dec 2011 | 3:43 pmI was trying to describe the machinations of new media to a friend who still reads only print. Once started, the dictionary of new media began to flow. Below is a sampling of terms, which might strike some as exaggerated and others as all too true. Thanks to Make magazine writer William Abernathy for adding his tweaks. New Media Nomenclature Confused about social media, new media, and whatever happened to your daily newspaper? Here’s a dictionary of new media terminology that might help you distinguish a Facebook friend from a Citizen Reporter. Aggregation – unpaid reprinting of original… -
Big Ideas Fest Lived Up to Its Name
8 Dec 2011 | 4:28 pmI'm not a conference-going person. In fact, I'd rather spend three days in solitary confinement at a high-risk prison (which I've never done...yet) than three days trapped in a conference with hundreds of people I don't know or necessarily want to know and listen to boring speeches. The Big Ideas Fest (www.bigideasfest.org), an education-solutions-oriented conference organized by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (www.ISKME.org), held Dec. 4-7 at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, blew my mind. It was a conference I didn't want to end, and in…
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ABC News - This Week - Podcast
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This Week - AUDIO - 2.5.12
5 Feb 2012 | 10:32 amRon Paul; Economic Look On Jobs; Roundtable -
This Week - AUDIO - 1.29.12
29 Jan 2012 | 9:53 amNew Gingrich Interview; House Speaker John Boehner; Roundtable GOP Debate; Politics and Humor -
This Week - AUDIO - 1.22.12
22 Jan 2012 | 10:07 amRick Santorum Interview; Roundtable GOP Debate; Math and Campaigns -
This Week - AUDIO - 1.15.12
15 Jan 2012 | 10:00 amPerry Interview; Colbert's Exploratory Committee; Roundtable on the Republican Presidential Race -
This Week - AUDIO - 1.8.12
8 Jan 2012 | 10:30 amHuckabee; Romney; Round table; New Hampshire; Iowa Caucus
