Happy to have been there
That’s what many thought when they first saw the poster for Hassle House, in Durham, North Carolina, back in ’76 or so. As soon as any of the posters went up, they disappeared, becoming instant collectors’ items. At the time, all I wanted was to hire the cartoonist who did it, so he could...
No 2 SOPA
Today I’m in solidarity with Web publishers everywhere joining the fight against new laws that are bad for business — and everything else — on the Internet. I made my case in If you hate big government, fight SOPA. A vigorous dialog followed in the comments under that. Here’s the opening paragraph: Nobody who opposes...
What could be more social than a real marketplace?
When we say “social” these days, we mostly mean the sites and services of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and other commercial entities. Not talking on the phone or in person. Not meeting at a café. Not blogging, or emailing or even texting. Those things are all retro and passé. Worse, they’re not what marketers get...
Update on Personal Event Networks: The Evented API Spec
As a follow-on to my post about Personal Event Networks last week, Phil Windley and Sam Curren have published the Evented API Specification. Phil’s blog post about it gives a good summary, but if you’re a developer just go straight to … Continue reading →
Many years of now
“When I’m Sixty-Four” is 44 years old. I was 20 when it came out, in the summer of 1967, one among thirteen perfect tracks on The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. For all the years since, I’ve thought the song began, “When I get older, losing my head…” But yesterday, on the eve of actually...
Free ways
The first time I heard the term “Sepulveda pass,” I thought it was a medical procedure. I mean, I was still new to The Coast, and sepulveda sounded like one of those oddball body parts, like uvula or something. (Not speaking of which, I no longer have an uvula. No idea why. It used to...
IIW: Investors Invitational Workshop
We’re doing something different at next week’s IIW: inviting investors. So here’s a pitch that should resonate with investors — especially in Silicon Valley, where IIW happens (appropriately, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View)… Here’s a chance to check in on development work on a huge new disruptive market play: empowering customers as...
The Emerging JSON-Based Identity Protocol Suite
My submission to the W3C Workshop on Identity in the Browser discusses The Emerging JSON-Based Identity Protocol Suite. The abstract is: A new set of open identity protocols is emerging that utilizes JSON data representations and simple REST-based communication patterns. These protocols and data formats are intentionally designed to be easy to use in browsers...
Join me at the Internet Identity Workshop
Come be part of moving Internet identity forward! The early bird discount is available through Friday, March 25th. And as always, Microsoft will be sponsoring a workshop dinner. See you at IIW!
Earthquake turns TV networks into print
An 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan yesterday, and a tsunami is spreading, right now, across the Pacific ocean. Thus we have much news that is best consumed live and uncooked. Here’s mine, right now: Not many of us carry radios in our pockets any more. Small portable TVs became passé decades ago. Smartphones, tablets and...
Accidental Lessons: Reflections on the Challenger Tragedy
[This piece was written for Triangle Business (in Raleigh, North Carolina ) and published twenty-five years ago, on February 10, 1986. Since it might be worth re-visiting some of the points I made, as well as the event itself, I decided to dust off the piece and put up here. Except for a few spelling...
