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Google's One-Time 'Chief Technology Advocate' on Making Facebook Likable
Over the years I’ve often turned to my friend Michael Jones for guidance about the cultural and social effects of…
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Labor Day Software Update: Tinderbox, Scrivener
Over the eons, starting with a word processing program called The Electric Pencil back in the late 1970s, I’ve mentioned…
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Gawker, Hating the Media, Free Trade, and F-35: Today's Trips Down Memory Lane
Here are some items from the archive that bear on the moment’s news: Gawker and the future of…
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The Air Traffic Ballet
During our travels Deb has often mentioned our interest in, and nearly-all-times admiration for, the Air Traffic Controllers with whom…
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The Maker Movement: If Hamilton Were Around, He Would Be a Fan
The previous two installments in this series, “The Tools Revolution” and “Agility,” of course concentrated on…
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The Maker Revolution: What It Has Changed, and What It Hasn't — Yet
After these two articles on why the Maker Movement matters — “Part 1, the Tools Revolution” and “Part…
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The Sad Decline of Craftsmanship Among Spammers, an Ongoing Series
Sigh, kids these days. Nothing says convincing SEO expertise like — well, like every little touch here: …
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FirstBuild Why the Maker Movement Matters: Part 1, the Tools Revolution
Just like the internet before it, the Maker Movement is revolutionizing manufacturing, with implications for startups and jobs.
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Solar-Power Plane Crosses the Pacific, and Other News From the Skies
As a break from political drear, a festival of news from the skies. 1) Good news: Solar Impulse…
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Could There Ever be an ‘American Alibaba’? Jack Ma’s Biographer Explains What It Would Take
A few days ago I posted a first round of questions-and-answers with Duncan Clark, a longtime analyst of and participant…
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How to Understand Alibaba, ‘The House That Jack Ma Built’
During the years my wife Deb and I lived in China, we became friends with Duncan Clark, an investment banker…
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Aviation Videos Presented Simply Because They Are Interesting
The first one is a concept video from Aero Glass, a company working on an “augmented reality” way to display…
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Who Invented the Parachute That Has Been Saving Small-Plane Pilots?
On Sunday night I showed a picture and linked to Air Traffic Control tapes of the latest “parachute save” involving…
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Orbital View: All the Ships at Sea
Just because it's interesting and beautiful, take a look at this visualization of shipping traffic around the world. It’s…
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A Trippy Look at Data Organization
Over the years, including in a number of posts collected on this Thread page, I’ve talked about some of the…
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More on Twitter's Tin Ear
Yesterday I mentioned my adventure in Tweeting what I thought was an obviously sarcastic post (that I was boosting the…
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Why Twitter Doesn't Work with Sarcasm, Chap. 823
Here’s an illustration of something I understood in principle but have been reminded of in specific. In the…
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Tech Tips for the New Year: CloudMagic, Workflowy, ‘Low Light’ Filter on iPad
Tips on three things I have found useful and wanted to pass along. 1. Le roi est mort…
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Google Photos: Did Microsoft Get There First?
In two earlier dispatches, here and here, I suggested that you give Google Photos a try if you hadn’t…
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Tech Update: Magic That Works, Magic That Doesn't
Two quick updates on themes I’ve mentioned over the years. Hit: Google Photos. You may well already…
