Year: 2014
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Christmas Eve 2014
Thompson Avenue was its usual carnival of lights this year as the neighborhood lit itself up and residents prepared to greet the thousands of people that came to walk our street, see the lighting displays, and of course visit with Santa. Each December, all of the dudes on the block volunteer to play Santa Claus…
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Shift Media 2014
Quick notes from yesterday’s Bold Italic Shift Digital Media Conference which was held at The Chapel in the Mission district of San Francisco yesterday. The venue and format were perfect. $85 for a half day session of talks in an intimate nightclub off of Valencia Street. Tickets were sold out and the attendees came from…
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Short Term vs. Long Term Metrics
Silicon Valley has replaced Wall Street as the preferred destination of fresh graduates. The pursuit of short term wealth on Wall Street in the 80s is replaced with other short term data points which, when pursued with a singular focus, can skew one’s moral compass. “If Google’s primary weapons are relevancy and speed, then Uber’s…
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The Umbrella Man
On this day, JFK conspiracy day, it’s important remember that sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, that an umbrella is just an umbrella. The truth is indeed stranger than any fiction.
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Contextual Dissonance
Contextual Dissonance – When clearly commercial content is offered during a time when I’m not in commercial mode, it just feels off. John Battelle nails that feeling you get when you notice a brand trying a bit too hard to insert themselves into a conversation. To advertise at scale on the web brands resort to…
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Comanche, the new kid in town
In the world of sailing, the big boats are the Super Maxi class ocean-going racers. Netscape billionaire Jim Clark has commissioned Comanche, a 100 foot vessel that only a nautical architect with unlimited resources could dream up. Built in Maine for a cool $1.4 billion, it is currently on a ship enroute to Australia where…
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The Sharing Economy
Joi Ito gave a brief preamble to a gathering at Digital Garage in San Francisco today, Unlocking the Power of Japanese Content in Worldwide Markets. He spoke about the history of remix culture and differences between Japanese and Western commercial attitudes towards fan fiction and derivative works. Historically, the act of reproducing someone’s work required…
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Old School Mac Evangelist
My friend Michael Guinn has been running a concierge Mac support and repair service in Santa Barbara and just celebrated 8 years of business. As an Apple Certified Consultant, he makes, “Apple Certified House Calls and Repairs.” His newsletters are folksy and remind me of the old TidBITS updates from the early 90’s. Mick is an…
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Apple Watch on cover of Vogue
MacRumors posts that Chinese model Liu Wen will feature the Apple Watch on the cover of next month’s Vogue magazine (wearing the gold Edition model of course). It is telling that Apple picked China to be the first country to feature the Apple Watch in a commercial fashion publication and, after the pop-up appearance at the…