Search results for: “Accidental Empires”
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Bookshelf
Why is there a page called Bookshelf? I’ve read a good number of books, but only a subset remain on my bookshelf. For instance, I love graphic novels, but I pass them on to friends. They entertain, but in general they don’t stay on the bookshelf. When I say bookshelf that’s probably inaccurate for a…
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The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone by Brian Merchant
I bought The One Device when it came out in July and have gone back and forth reading it. I’d read books on Silicon Valley before; the Apple eulogy Insanely Great by Steven Levy which told of the graft and hard work that went into the original Macintosh or Where Wizards Stay Up Late by…
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Tumblr + more news
Tumblr ‘Nobody at Yahoo understood Tumblr’: Why Marissa Mayer’s big bet on Tumblr never panned out – this all sounded eerily familiar. I was at Yahoo! when it put together really interesting pieces of web 2.0 and social services. The piece on Tumblr was so reminiscent of Flickr, del.icio.us experience in many respects. Flickr was…
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Alan Kay on AI + more
Alan Kay Computing pioneer Alan Kay on AI, Apple and future – FactorDaily – interesting take on current approaches to AI by computer pioneer Alan Kay. I first came across Alan Kay in Bob Cringely’s book Accidental Empires. The fact that you can read this page in a browser window is partly down to Alan Kay.…
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Gawker-Peter Thiel in context
Why do a post about the Gawker-Peter Thiel court case? Because the Gawker-Peter Thiel court case marks a step change in Silicon Valley culture and will likely change media practices in new media companies. What is the Gawker-Peter Thiel court case? Silicon Valley veteran financier Peter Thiel was behind the financing of a court case…
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Susan Kare + more things
Susan Kare Things that made my day this week included mac pioneer Susan Kare, Luxxury, Greg Wilson and JG Ballard: Great interview with Susan Kare. Susan Kare is famous for her icon designs that appeared in the first nine versions of the MacOS. Even now veteran Mac users will have a reaction to the ‘Dogcow’…
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The changing culture of Silicon Valley
I have have been thinking about how platform changes are marking a changing culture in Silicon Valley. This changing culture will play not only into innovation but workplace practices. 1990s When I was in college I interviewed for a few placements, one was with Hewlett-Packard in Germany. They wanted a marketing student to look after…
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Turnaround plan at Yahoo! + more
Yahoo CEO Set to Refresh Turnaround Plan – WSJ – the turnaround plan sounds like desperate cost cutting. Yahoo! leadership have burned through a lot of runway and not made the best use of the company’s media assets. Mayer’s turnaround plan looked very much like Ross Levinsohn’s turnaround plan. The Levinsohn turnaround plan was in turn…
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The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner
The Idea Factory reaches back to an age that is now alien to most of us. At one time the most complex devices that people generally had in their homes were a sewing machine, a piano or a mechanical clock or watch. Yet we now view clothes (particularly those from H&M and Primark) as disposable objects,…