tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188169352011-12-09T18:02:57.573-08:00dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1143527031288963922006-03-27T22:06:00.000-08:002006-03-27T22:23:51.326-08:00

Back in November, in My First Post, I said that I started this blog because, being newly self-employed, I expected to have "... enough that I felt free to say, and enough time to say it." I also expected "... to cover a fairly eclectic (i.e. scattered) set of topics for a while, until I either find a niche or fade away." Looking back, I did cover an eclectic set of topics, and I did fade away

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1136239166841022692006-01-02T14:57:00.000-08:002006-01-02T14:57:29.056-08:00

Imagine a company whose business is buying and selling widgets. The company gets type-A widgets from its suppliers and resells them to its customers. Add one small wrinkle on the supply side – the company acquires many of its type-A widgets by barter. It manufactures personalized type-I widgets as trade goods, and asks its suppliers to pay type-A widgets for type-I widgets.So far, there’s

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1134521348897909632005-12-25T16:34:00.000-08:002005-12-25T16:35:10.800-08:00

In Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle trilogy (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World), there are a number of scenes portraying meetings of the Royal Society of Science in its early days. (They're too long to include here - see pp. 183-186 of Quicksilver, or just search for "Royal Society Meeting", for an example.) I was struck by the eclectic no-boundaries mix of topics, the “

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1135369034530446872005-12-24T08:04:00.000-08:002005-12-24T08:04:46.200-08:00

The “long tail” is an idea that’s been getting a lot of buzz in the tech blogosphere over the last few quarters, often by the same people discussing (or dismissing) “Web 2.0”. However, based on a very informal survey I’ve done over the last few weeks, it hasn’t yet spread to the mainstream. I think it’s a powerful idea.This post is an attempt to introduce the idea of the long tail to more

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1134154823625673832005-12-09T11:00:00.000-08:002005-12-09T11:00:23.650-08:00

One thing to add to my recent post about Disneyland technology - their fireworks. Not only did they do the usual great show with synchronized sound, light, and fire; they also included a few shapes I'd never seen before. My previous "how did they do that" highwater mark was the smiley face - a circle, two eyes, and a mouth in three different colors. This time, I also saw:a wireframe cube (kind

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1133567314667051582005-12-04T23:10:00.000-08:002005-12-04T23:11:10.250-08:00

We just got back from three days at Disneyland. In addition to having a great time in the physical world (California Screamin's 0 to 55 in 4 seconds is just plain fun, even if it is tame by today's standards), I also enjoyed some glimpses into the magic kingdom of technology.No deep thoughts this time - just some interesting trends and gadgets:AstroBlasters: The newest ride at the park is Buzz

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1132498491100655662005-12-01T15:15:00.000-08:002005-12-01T15:21:20.196-08:00

I attended the Riya launch party at Michael Arrington's house Friday night before Thanksgiving. The party/launch felt like a great success, and the semi-public alpha is now underway. But ... there's something I just don't get ... why do people want Riya? It's very cool technology - automatically parsing tons of photos to extract and recognize faces and text is impressive. And the user experience

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1132269545026772162005-11-18T01:30:00.000-08:002005-11-18T13:27:51.816-08:00

I attended an MIT/Stanford VLAB event called A Brave New (Virtual) World: Commerce and Community in Virtual Societies on Tuesday night. It was fascinating -- something's going on that I wasn't aware of, still don't fully understand, but think probably matters. I'm not sure yet if it's a Major Trend or a fun fad; either way it's interesting.My executive summary: the boundaries between the physical

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1132046654734170222005-11-15T02:34:00.000-08:002005-11-15T02:34:50.610-08:00

I attended the first meeting of the SDForum Collaboration SIG last night. The meeting was mostly a panel discussion, with a little bit of audience Q&A. The panelists were:JK: Joe Kraus of JotSpotDH: Dave Hornik of August CapitalBG: Bill Glazier of Redwood Ventures and TimeBridgeDC: David Coleman of Collaborative StrategiesSP: Sam Pullara of Gauntlet SystemsSee below for highlights of the

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1132002030246321082005-11-14T23:33:00.000-08:002005-11-14T23:33:30.843-08:00

A couple of readers pointed out that I've sent mixed signals about how low information friction will (or should) become. Combining my last two posts, I believe that the accidental costs will continue to plummet towards zero, the essential costs will continue to decrease slowly, and therefore the total cost drop will continue to be disruptive and transformative. That feels qualitatively right,

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1131808959795758132005-11-12T22:08:00.000-08:002005-11-13T14:25:00.823-08:00

Ff = Fp μfFriction, in physics, is the force that makes it hard to slide one object against another (e.g. to drag a wooden bookshelf across a carpet). It depends both on how tightly the two objects are pressed together (e.g. it’s easier when you unload some books) and on what the two objects are made of (e.g. it’s easier to drag it across a hardwood floor). That what’s the formula above says –

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1131758968798495342005-11-11T17:15:00.000-08:002005-11-11T17:42:06.846-08:00

Brooks wrote his classic The Mythical Man Month 30 years ago (in 1975). His “No Silver Bullets” essay, written in 1986 and included in the current edition of the book, explains both why software development productivity had increased dramatically since the original book, and why it wasn’t likely to increase as dramatically in the future. His central idea is useful as we think about how the Web

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1131724823669574782005-11-11T08:15:00.000-08:002005-11-11T08:41:47.780-08:00

We always tend to overestimate the immediate consequences of a revolution, but underestimate the long-term consequences.    - Dr Francis Collins (and many others)In other words, big change is always slower and deeper than we first think. The Web is a big change, and we're now, 10 years post Netscape IPO, and 5 years post NASDAQ crash, just starting to see some of its real impact. My favorite

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18816935.post-1131584075347185392005-11-09T16:54:00.000-08:002005-11-09T16:54:35.353-08:00

This is my first blog post. I've been thinking of blogging for a while, but never had enough that I felt free to say, and enough time to say it, for it to make sense. Now that I'm self-employed again (for the first time in 10 years), I have both. So here I am. I expect to cover a fairly eclectic (i.e. scattered) set of topics for a while, until I either find a niche or fade away. Welcome to

dGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216712142688531118noreply@blogger.com1