March 2009
Amazon Kaves on Kindle →
It’s a sad day for use rights folk, as Amazon caves to the authors’ group that had insisted that having a computer “read” their work out loud was a protected use (“copy”) that they could prevent. …
February 2009
The Times & CUNY (and others) go hyperlocal →
The New York Times is about to announce that it is starting a hyperlocal product called The Local working with our students at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism. PaidContent has the story…
WWGD? on OtM →
I’m honored and delighted to have been interviewed by Brooke Gladstone for On the Media about What Would Google Do? Have a listen:
Too little… →
It’s with profound amusement that I read Newsday will attempt to “end the distribution of free web content.” (Next, Cablevision will try to charge us for its deeply boring News12 that no one…
Are solo authors less cited? →
Sylvie Noël submits to us the following fallacy—which appears in the editorial of a peer-reviewed journal. The editor-in-chief makes the following observation:
(…) only a small fraction of the…
Don’t meet. Work. →
So now the American society of Newspapers Editors has canceled its annual meeting, joining the Magazine Publishers of America, joining the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors…
Strands Business Solutions is Busy and on the... →
We’ve been busy at Strands Business Solutions, working with some really great partners.
We have some insightful and interesting content about our technology, as well as some case studies…
Students using podcasting and skipping class… do... →
According to a recent study, students do better if they skip class and listen to the podcasts. The article has been discussed in the New Scientist and the New York Times, but here is a direct…
Me and my Kindle →
I was wrong about the Kindle. When I unboxed it two nights ago, I excitedly bought my own book to feel all cyber and tweeted about it. But the book wouldn’t show up. “Opening,” it said forever. Two…
Skype FTW? →
Very nice article at Read/Write Web about eBay and its business model. The theme of the article is that eBay as an auction site is going to continue to face tough competition, which it may or may…
Time travel: Google to Chronicle →
When I visited the Bay Area last week, I first went to Google and the next day, for old time’s sake, I met a long-ago colleague in the historic John’s Grill in San Francisco and then revisited the…
Canadian government is cutting science funding… in... →
This article summarizes the results of the current funding cuts in research. It almost feels like Bush moved up North. Dozens of millions are being cut. My previous employer, the National…
How to fund research properly →
Research is an industry. Unlike other industries, it is often almost entirely bound to government funding. Because research takes a long time to bear fruit, people (not equipment) should be the…
Take a class with Profs. Rosenblum and Jarvis →
I’ll be assisting Michael Rosenblum in teaching a one-day seminar at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism on March 28 (10a-3p) on joining the video revolution in news and media. If you’ve never…
WWGD? - The scientific solution to the world’s... →
“They are doubling down on the technocratic approach,” Siva Vaidhyanathan, who’s writing The Googleization of Everything, said in today’s NY Times responding to news that Google.org will…
Philly’s second prize →
It’s a damned shame - but not a surprise - that the company that publishes the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News just filed for bankruptcy, joining Tribune, Journal Register, and more surely to…
If you could only write one more research paper… →
Many years ago, I read the following piece of wisdom:
If you had only one year left to live, what would you do differently?
What are you waiting for to make these changes, now?
Let me propose a…
The inside-out agency →
PR magnate Richard Edelman takes me to task for arguing in What Would Google Do? that PR people, like lawyers, can’t be Googlified. After saying nice things about the book, he adds: “But it is…
Guardian column: Whack-a-mole with micropayments →
My Guardian column this week on newspapers trying (again) to imagine a world in which they can force people to pay online. (I’m told that the print version has some dropped lines; this is my…
Google.TV →
I had fun this week taping an episode of Press:Here, a Silicon Valley show on the NBC station in San Jose, talking with host Scott McGrew, Forbes’ Elizabeth Cororan, and reporter of many hats…
Google en Espanol →
Ah, the web. A wonderful volunteer translated What Would Google Do? - The PowerPoint into Spanish. I’ll note, sadly, that the book itself hasn’t been sold into Spanish yet (damnit). But here’s the…
Google Air? →
As I sit in SFO waiting to go to EWR, I’m seeing that Continental is taking a few good steps down the road to Googlification or at least transparency. When I check on the flight status, I can now…
Circling the wagons →
Jon Fine reports in Business Week that the Associated Press is contemplating charging for content, quoting AP head Tom Curley saying, “Everybody knows [the business] has got to shift to some sort…
A portfolio instead of a diploma →
Teacher Mark Pullen wrote on his blog great thoughts on students leaving school with portfolios instead of just diplomas. The next day, he was reading What Would Google Do? and found that we agreed…
What Would Google Ship? →
I’m gratified to see people applying the ideas in What Would Google Do? to other industries and jobs. Here’s a blog that asks about WWGD and supply-chain management.
If Google was in charge of…
What would Google say? →
I spent the day yesterday at Google and environs—my first visit to Olympus—and came away with one word: smart. I guess I missed that rule in the book: HIre smart people, act smart, be smart. It’s…
Solving new and difficult theory problems… without... →
Sometimes you decide that you need a specific theoretical result. For example, you may need a closed form formula for a given quantity. Yet, you barely know how to begin.
Maybe, you end up looping…
Eating my own dogfood →
I’ve said before that there’s nobody better at analyzing the plight of newspapers than Alan Mutter. But Alan and I disagree about one thing: the likelihood that newspapers will be able to charge…
Jeff Dean keynote at WSDM 2009 →
Google Fellow Jeff Dean gave an excellent keynote talk at the recent WSDM 2009 conference that had tidbits on Google I had not heard before. Particularly impressive is Google’s attention to detail…
Jeff Dean keynote at WSDM 2009 →
Google Fellow Jeff Dean gave an excellent keynote talk at the recent WSDM 2009 conference that had tidbits on Google I had not heard before. Particularly impressive is Google’s attention to detail…
Last Post →
This is my last post to the Duke Listens! blog. I’ve been posting to this blog for nearly 5 year starting with my first post on May 3, 2004. At that time, I was still working on speech…
Blogging is part of my day job →
I decided to copy Daniel Tunkelang’s idea and maintain a list of some people who read my blog. This is not meant to be an ego-boosting or name-dropping project. My goal is to prove that …
Fewer journalists? No, more →
Applications are up for the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where I teach. But it’s a new school, so that might stand to reason. But they’re also up at least one other and much older J-school…
Hacking education →
Educators - like musicians, journalists, carmakers, and bankers before them - won’t know what hit them. But as sure as change is overtaking every other sector of society, it will overtake education…
The best job in the world →
Tuesday is my last day at Sun. After 9 years, I’ve decided to move on to the next thing. During these last 9 year I’ve worked on some really fun projects and worked with some really smart, creative…
Craig ‘n’ me →
I just found out that Craig Newmark will lead the discussion at my book event this Thursday in San Francisco at Booksmith, 644 Haight St., at 730p. So don’t come for me. Come for Craig!
The night…
Minister of digital engagement →
Tom Watson, the blogging and tweeting Member of Parliament, passes along, via Twitter, a job posting for a director of digital engagement in the U.K. government. Specs include:
• Develop a…
The local ad opportunity (and the danger of losing... →
The promise of local ad support for news will come only if a new population of very small businesses can be served in new and effective ways - before Google beats everybody else to it. That’s…
TV’s next →
Young Broadcasting, once - but no longer - a forward-thinking TV company, just filed for bankruptcy under the crushing $13-billion debt load. This follows the bankruptcy of cable company…
30 Days of WWGD: What Google does to brands →
Mike Masnick at TechDirt (via @mattcutts) is spot-on as he dissects Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thompson’s complaint on that sad Charlie Rose Flintstones show that Google devalues…
What I have learned about life from war games →
Like most dads who have professional careers, I have little time for games. Nevertheless, I spend some time playing war games. Here are some I like:
Civilization: Call to Power was one of my…
30 Days of WWGD? - Google shops →
TechCrunch giggles wondering what the new Microsoft store will be like: “Will it be wall-to-wall Vista boxes? Will you have to sign a license agreement to get in? Will they avoid the color “BSOD…
What’s a telegraph? →
The power went out at my daughter’s middle school yesterday just as she was in the computer lab. What to do? The teacher pulled out and dusted off a technology crossword puzzle for them to do. She…
Music gone viral? →
Check out my review of the new music app for Twitter - Twisten.fm over at MusicMachinery.com
Music Recommendation and the Long Tail →
Oscar’s Thesis - ready to read, check out the details on MusicMachinery.com
Here’s what Google would do →
The irony is just too obvious: Google buys a paper factory in and replaces its machines (like the one above) with a data center.
Note, too, the irony - or at least symmetry - of this happening…
My chapter in “Computing with Social Trust” →
The book “Computing with Social Trust” is out. In it you can find a chapter by Paolo Avesani and myself about my PhD work on Trust in Recommender Systems. You can download my chapter or buy…
My chapter in “Computing with Social Trust” →
The book “Computing with Social Trust” is out. In it you can find a chapter by Paolo Avesani and myself about my PhD work on Trust in Recommender Systems. You can download my chapter or buy…
Links for 2009 02 11 →
Emily Chang - eHub: Getting Things Done with Twitter
Amazing list of creative use of Twitter (for payments, for events, for reading lists, for travel plans, …)
(tags: twit, twitter,
My chapter in “Computing with Social Trust” →
The book “Computing with Social Trust” is out. In it you can find a chapter by Paolo Avesani and myself about my PhD work on Trust in Recommender Systems. You can download my chapter or buy…