With the last two years being particularly crazy for me personally and professionally, I’ve decided to try to disconnect through the holidays. That is difficult to do in our always-on culture, so it takes some effort. Let me define what I mean by “disconnecting.” I’m attempting to completely detach from e-mail, Twitter, tech news, and [...]
Revisited – The Long Tail of Linking
In September 2006, I wrote a post called The Long Tail of Linking. Here are several excerpts: The problem, however, is that in many ways when it comes to linking, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. If an unknown blogger is first to break a story but has no traffic or [...]
Dear Everyone, Good Luck on Windows
In the old days, there was an evil company called Microsoft. Everyone was mad at them because they owned an operating system and set of applications that absoutely dominated the market. Microsoft was a bad, bad, evil company but many people continued to use some number of their products. Through the years, other tech companies [...]
Understanding Motivations and Defining Success
I think there are many times in the lives of those who live online — bloggers, consultants, web people, geeks, etc. — where it is easy to simply lose focus. That’s true in many professions but perhaps more so in a world where everything is measured, it is imperative to “keep up,” and each day [...]
Is Free a Choice? Anderson, Godin, and Gladwell Debate
Yesterday, Seth Godin countered Malcom Gladwell’s review of Chris Anderson’s Free. Say that three times fast. In it, Godin writes that Gladwell is wrong about his perspective of Free: The first argument that makes no sense is, “should we want free to be the future?” Who cares if we want it? It is. The second [...]
Encarta Didn’t Fail – the Web Did
When I first started using Microsoft Encarta back in the 1990s, it was absolutely cutting edge. Of course, Encarta did not live on the Web at that point and was installed locally on our home computer. It was around 2003 or so that I started finding other Encarta-like sources that existed online. In particular, Wikipedia [...]
Back to the Future of the Internet
Hopefully, I’ll one day tell my grandchildren about how the Internet once did not exist. “When I was a boy, there was no such thing as Google. I used to write my homework on paper. It took several hours for photographs to be developed…if you were lucky. … I’m serious. You once had to go [...]
The Necessity of Facebook?
The point technology passes from a choice to necessity is not clear but there is a point. Cell phones were once a choice, an option, but try locating a pay phone and having coins the moment they are needed. Computers were once a choice but try attending college without one. Air travel was once a [...]
Amazon iPhone Kindle App Increases Kindle Interest
With the launch of the much hinted Kindle iPhone app, many analysts and observers somehow believe that this app might cannibalize Kindle sales. But Kindle for iPhone does no such thing. There is a two pronged strategy behind the iPhone version of the Kindle: 1) Strengthen Kindle Loyalty Kindle owners are thrilled with the iPhone [...]
What You Can’t Live Without in 2009 – Your Data
The digerati have begun detailing their yearly lists of Web and digital products they “can’t live without.” The sad truth is that we really can’t live without these items in our lives. We no longer know people’s phone numbers, rely on e-mail as our memory, and have countless silos of data around the Web that [...]
9 Digital Resolutions to Stop for 2009
I don’t know if these resolutions are specific for 2009. Nonetheless, I’m submitting them to the larger “blogosphere,” early technology adopters, teenagers, and anyone that heavily relies on or includes digital technology in their daily lives: 1. Stop texting / playing with your cell phone when you are with out with friends or family, eating [...]
Changing Change.gov
Change.gov has already been changing. Less than a week after its official launch, which occurred on November 6th, 2008, the site transitioned from an aggressive agenda setting Web presence to a milder placeholder of news updates. Now, it once again includes the Obama-Biden agenda items. What will it look like once President-elect Obama is sworn [...]
The Petabyte Age – Will You Survive?
As someone who works in the online marketing space, I understand that my job is primarily one of math. In fact, one of the most significant differences between the interactive medium of the Internet and traditional offline channels comes down to the massive volume of data produced by people browsing the web. Succeeding in online [...]
No Better Off Being on
Looking out my hotel room window tonight, I saw an apartment building across the way with a telling sight: countless rows of glowing televisions. Even in the city that never sleeps, the preferred nightly activity is plopping down in front of the T.V. The same view, decades ago, would have been very different. I wonder [...]
The Web’s Impact on Family History
There is a high likelihood that if you are reading this article, you have already seriously impacted your family history. That’s because mostly digitally savvy people read this blog. You probably have accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, and an onslaught of other websites and web services. All of which leave a huge digital trail [...]
The Dumbest Generation – Me Likes the Internets
Generation Y, Generation DotNet, and the Millenials are terms used to describe the post Gen X demographic. These “digital natives” have grown up with technologies like the Internet at their fingertips. They have lived in a society that has pampered them since their diapers days. Yet with all the technology, attention, and money spent on [...]
Being a Renaissance Man in the Digital Age
The Renaissance movement was a time of cultural rebirth, transforming the arts, literature, science, and much more. The period is notable for works like Michelangelo’s renown Sistine Chapel and creating a climate ripe for Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, which inaugurated what is today known as the Protestant Reformation. In recent times, the Digital Age, has [...]
Does Social Media Make You Dumb? That’s the Wrong Question
Does “social media,” the collection of user-generated content provided through blogs, wikis, podcasts, and the like, make you dumb? It’s a theme that’s been explored by a number of bloggers, spurred by a study of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. At first glance, the answer to the question, if it’s worth addressing at all, [...]
Is Everything Miscellaneous?
If you have ever visited a museum, the first thing you’d likely look for is a map. The map provides you with a guide for where to find objects of a similar theme. If you went to the National Museum of American Museum of Natural History in New York City, you would notice that parts [...]
Ding. Buzz. Chime. – Interrupting Digital Distraction
“Hello, my name is Bob and I check my e-mail while on the toilet.” That’s a line from a piece I wrote about the digital urgency problem. It seems my editor liked the line enough to also entitle the article with it. What is the digital urgency problem? It’s the problem that has caused the interruption filled lives so many [...]
Managing Digital Identity
Note: I wrote this post before Scoble, Steve Rubel, and others began a discussion on this exact topic. As it turns out, it seems people have been thinking about these ideas too, so I’m publishing these thoughts in advance of my originally planned date. Do your professional colleagues know your home address? Do they have [...]
Unplug.ME
I’ve written about being unplugged and offline in the past. I feel the need to re-iterate and expound briefly on these thoughts because “in the moment sharing” (i.e., Twitter) did not exist and social networks had not yet reached the attention they now receive. In a world of absolute connectivity — mobile cell phones, 24-7 cable news, and instant [...]
The Cult of the Amateur – Read It
Andrew Keen, the author of The Cult of the Amateur, is often labeled a polemic, a contrarian whose sole aim is controversy. Indeed, the subtitle of his book “How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture” is a bit over the top; much of his book reads like a diatribe. I’ve expressed my disagreement with Keen before but you [...]
Virtual Reality and Virtual Goods – Boon or Bane?
Our world is becoming increasingly digital. From media and advertising to dating and music, the 1′s and 0′s of digital technology have touched nearly every aspect of our culture. Up to this point, the digital medium often ties back to the physical world. A hopeless romantic, in the non-metaphorical sense, might use an online dating service [...]
Fred on the Web (or not)
If you are keeping tabs on the 2008 Presidential campaign, you probably know about the hoopla over the Fred Thompson pre-announcement of his entering the race. I’ve been thinking a lot about SEM as it relates to these campaigns and actually had an article published yesterday at The American Thinker called: Fred on the Web (or [...]
YouTube ’08
“This week, there was a tragedy in Kansas, 10,000 people died.” – Barack Obama, courtesy of YouTube The Obama campaign actually does quite a nice job on their YouTube page – but I’m sure Barack wishes he can have that one back. Online video sharing is going to have a tremendous impact on the 2008 presidential [...]
Goldilocks 2.0
I have a piece up at TCS Daily entitled Goldilocks 2.0. I think the Editor described it best in the tease: Goldilocks 2.0 Ken Yarmosh on Web 2.0, its fans, its critics, and why everyone is a little bit wrong and a little bit right. I wrote this commentary because I saw somewhat more of a [...]
De-Generation Net?
I have a piece posted on the American Thinker – I originally entitled it De-Generation Net? but the Editor changed it to Here Comes Gen Net. An excerpt follows below: Unlike Gen Xers, today’s generation definitely has something to define itself by: the Internet. “Generation Net” or Gen Net lives online. They have clever away [...]
Net Neutrality is More than Meets the Eye
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I’ve been tracking the whole Net Neutrality discussion (here and here). Well, after some considerable thought and research, I’ve finally come to my conclusion on the subject. Unlike those on both sides of the issue, I don’t see it as cut-and-dry, ‘for’ or ‘against’ network neutrality. [...]
Untangling the Web: Man Plus Machine
I’ve got a piece up over at TCS Daily entitled Untangling the Web: Man Plus Machine. Outside of my work at the Corante Web Hub, it’s my first splash into more established writing: Just as before, the expertise of humans and the automation of technology are being used to try to sort through the noise [...]
More Net Neutrality – Getting the Facts Down
The Net Neutrality debate keeps getting crazier and crazier. My previous post about it should give you an idea why, as it was entitled Net Neutrality – It’ll Make Your Head Hurt. Hands Off the Internet is an anti-Net Neutrality group supported by the likes of the telcos. I just wrote about them at the [...]
Authorities Monitoring Online Social Networking Sites
I’ve got to admit, I am becoming a real fan of USA Today. I think it started during my trip to the Olympics, where it was typically the only U.S. English language paper available. They have been doing some great reporting on the tech scene in particular. Yesterday, they had three separate articles speaking to [...]
Idealogues Tend to Agree on the impact of The Army of Davids – Part 2
Read Part 1 of my write-up on the debate I attended 3/6/06, entitled An Army of Davids or Triumph of Goliath? Joe Trippi – like many people – likes the printing press metaphor when thinking about the power of the Internet. But he articulated the idea that the Internet isn’t just about distributing information, it [...]
Idealogues Tend to Agree on the impact of The Army of Davids – Part 1
The panel was first introduced by Nick Schulz, the Editor-in-Chief of TCS Daily (which co-sponsored the event with Reason Magazine). I had the pleasure of talking at length with Nick post event about various Internet issues as they relate to society. I gave him my card and hope to stay in touch with him going [...]
NSA Wiretaps, MySpace, and Virtual Surveillance
Earlier this week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced questioning from the Senate Judiciary Committee, in regards to legitimacy of the Bush Administration’s NSA wiretapping surveillance program. Mr. Gonzales wrote an editorial, published Monday morning in the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Editorial entitled America Expects Surveillance. Mr. Gonzales’ case as stated in this editorial and also [...]
The Smokescreen of Google.cn
In a political climate of exceptional partisanship, conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats, have found common ground in the strangest of places – the Internet. Last week, U.S. Internet search leader Google launched a new search service in Communist China under the domain Google.cn. With it, the same company that recently denied the U.S. government [...]
The Frustrations of a Disconnected Digital Life
Help! I’m a stickler for organization and orderliness. That’s why my online (and more generally my tech) life is propelling me to a digital breakdown. The craziness of my laptop’s desktop at the end of the day, e-mail to read and respond to, RSS aggregator to manage, online groups, articles to read, bookmarks to delete, [...]
Network Neutrality – It’ll Make Your Head Hurt
“How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm After they’ve seen Paree” – song from World War I Era Network neutrality is a phrase that has been the subject of much debate – and the discussion about it reaches far beyond the recent conversations of the blogoshpere. Previously unbeknownst to me, I came across [...]
Anonymity, Identity, and the Internet
When it comes to the recent amendment, regarding a change to make anonymity and online annoyance a federal crime, I’m not sure why there is such a the big fuss. My position, as articulated at the Corante Web Hub and in my comments throughout the blogosphere is that the change merely extends similar policy to [...]
Pajamas Media and the Value of Blogs
David Cohn of Wired News poses a very relative question, Will Pajamas Media Wake up Blogs? I would argue that blogs are already awake or at least they’ve awoken and just haven’t gotten out of bed. From the most recent numbers that I pointed to in yesterday’s interview, there are a relatively small number of [...]
A Growing Technology Divide
According to a recent Pew survey, 91% of Americans are either unsure of or have never heard of the phrase “RSS feed”. It is a pretty amazing stat, considering the growing success surrounding this technology. Most major news and information sites now have RSS feeds. Microsoft is including RSS support in its next version of [...]
The New Internet Examined
And the winner is: blogs. Merriam-Webster recently announced that “blog” was the 2004 Word of the Year, as based on yielding the highest number of user queries. But the word “blog” is only part of what is now often being described as the “New Internet”. Loosely defined, the New Internet consists of blogs, RSS, and [...]
