Changing the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators
Areas of Expertise:
- Web 2.0
- open source
- emerging technologies
Biography
Books
Blog
Why Dell.com (was) More Enterprise 2.0 Than Dell IdeaStorm
September 29 2008
In my keynote last week at Web 2.0 Expo New York, I made the comment that, cool as Dell Ideastorm is, the fundamental supply-chain approach behind dell.com is actually a better example of how Web 2.0 applies to the enterprise. I also made the provocative assertion that WalMart is a… read moreIs Google Spreading Itself Too Thin?
September 24 2008
I just read an article entitled Is Google Spreading Itself Too Thin? over at ReadWriteWeb. It repeats the endless canard that Google hasn't built another business yet to rival its initial search franchise. How dumb is that? No one has built another business on the web to equal Google's initial… read moreSeptember 22 2008
My talk last week at Web 2.0 Expo in New York was entitled "Web Meets World." I covered this theme from two directions: The idea that in the future, Web 2.0 "collective intelligence" applications will be driven by sensors rather than people typing on keyboards. What's more, this idea is… read moreSeptember 08 2008
I recently encountered the following zinger on twitter: @jayrosen_nyu: Scoble is like a guest at a hotel for one, where a huge staff is trying to anticipate his every need. And he's angry. Shades of noted wits from the past! As when Dorothy Parker, asked to use the word horticulture… read moreMicrosoft Missing the Boat on Mobile?
September 05 2008
Yesterday's Microsoft Watch had an incisive article about Microsoft's failure to compete in the mobile phone marketplace. Echoing my own assertions that Microsoft's obsessive focus on competition with Google in search is a massive distraction, while open mobile is Google's most strategic initiative, Joe Wilcox notes: Microsoft must change its… read moreSocial Networking for Books: One Ring, or Loosely Joined?
August 27 2008
I have to confess that one of the social networking tools I find most valuable is Goodreads. (It's a close second to Twitter, and way ahead of Facebook, Friendfeed, or Dopplr.) Unlike twitter, where I follow hundreds of people (possible because of twitter's minimalism) and am followed by thousands, on… read moreA Graphic Designer Puts Print on Demand Through Its Paces
August 23 2008
A report on the UnderConsideration blog outlines a fascinating experiment called Dear Lulu. From the blog coverage: This past July, fourteen students attended a two-day workshop at Germany's Hochschule Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences with Prof. Frank Philippin and London-based designer James Goggin. The brief, as explained by Goggin: "My… read moreIs Linking to Yourself the Future of the Web?
August 18 2008
Last year, Bill Janeway really got my attention (pdf) when he noted that "over time, Wall Street 'firms began to trade against their clients for their own account, such that now, the direct investment activities of a firm like Goldman Sachs dwarf their activities on behalf of outside customers.'" As… read moreLessons on Blogging from Jon Stewart
August 18 2008
Why the NY Times profile of Jon Stewart holds lessons for bloggers and journalists about the future (and heart) of their medium. read moreWhy We're Failing in Math and Science
August 15 2008
Norman Mailer's brilliant novel Why Are We in Vietnam? doesn't talk explicitly about the Vietnam war; it tells a story about American culture and the American psyche, thereby producing a devastating critique of the war with the title and last line alone. In a similar way, it may be easier… read moreAl Gore Joins Web 2.0 Summit Lineup
August 07 2008
As I wrote last month in What Good is Collective Intelligence if it Doesn't Make Us Smarter?, at this year's Web 2.0 Summit, we're focusing on how what we've learned from the web over the past decade can be applied to solve the world's hard problems. That's why I'm really… read moreOpen Source and Cloud Computing
August 06 2008
I've been worried for some years that the open source movement might fall prey to the problem that Kim Stanley Robinson so incisively captured in Green Mars: "History is a wave that moves through time slightly faster than we do." Innovators are left behind, as the world they've changed picks… read moreSuggestions for Web 2.0 Summit Charity Auction?
August 06 2008
At this year's Web 2.0 Summit, we're holding a charity auction as part of our "web meets world" focus. From the press release: The Web 2.0 Summit team will solicit donations, and donation ideas, from individuals and companies within the community and then choose the 10 most promising and unique… read moreOpen Source and Cloud Computing
July 31 2008
I've been worried for some years that the open source movement might fall prey to the problem that Kim Stanley Robinson so incisively captured in Green Mars: "History is a wave that moves through time slightly faster than we do." Innovators are left behind, as the world they've changed picks… read moreSuggestions for Web 2.0 Summit Charity Auction?
July 30 2008
At this year's Web 2.0 Summit, we're holding a charity auction as part of our "web meets world" focus. From the press release: The Web 2.0 Summit team will solicit donations, and donation ideas, from individuals and companies within the community and then choose the 10 most promising and unique… read more








