September 2009
Starting Findory: Acqusition talks →
[I wrote a draft of this post nearly two years ago as part of my Starting Findory series, but did not publish it at the time; it seemed inappropriate given my position at Microsoft and the…
Googley philanthropy →
I’m getting ready for a talk this week at Philanthropy New York about giving and What Would Google Do? So I’d like your help on brainstorming what Googley philanthropy looks like. How would a…
Small c: The lab report →
My surgeon called with the results of the pathology report on my prostate cancer. “It’s all good news,” he said. The cancer was contained to the prostate and had not spread to the lymph nodes. “As…
The X Prizes for news (and media) →
A conversation with our Knight Foundation friends at Aspen inspired me to think through what an X Prize for news could accomplish. Then this week’s report in the New York Times about the awarding…
Sidewiki: What Google should do →
I spent yesterday marking the dangers around Sidewiki. Today, I’ll say what I think Google should do with it: close the toolbar app, open it up to the entire conversation, and turn it purely into an…
The most important Theoretical Computer Science... →
Some consider the P = NP problem to be the most important Theoretical Computer Science problem. It asks whether all problems whose solution can be verified quickly, can also be solved…
Small c update: The hosectomy →
It has been a week and a half since my prostate surgery and I’m doing great. I’m walking a couple miles a day (can’t run for a few weeks but even when I do run it’s not running), eating normally,…
Google Sidewiki: Danger →
Google just introduced Sidewiki, which enables anyone to comment on a page using Google’s toolbar.
I see danger.
Google is trying to take interactivity away from the source and centralize it….
Tinkering with the news →
This morning, Glam.com – the model of the new network model of media – extended its Twitter aggregator, Tinker.com, into news at Tinker.com/news. It’s very simple and that’s what makes it…
Links for 2009 09 22 →
Social Media Policies from 80+ Organizations
(tags: sonet, web2.0, social, media, twit)
Suspicion XKCD →
One of my biggest fear in electronic communication (email mainly and not for dating, eh) is “Am i not interacting electronically with a bot, am I?”. Creating bots able to appear human (…
Links for 2009 09 21 →
Dell Says It Has Earned $3 Million From Twitter - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
Wondering if this is true, if this is the entire story and, if yes, why Dell is giving up this info to its…
Wave and news →
When Google Wave was announced, I got all jittery-happy about the possibilities it presented for news. Now, from a Belgian site, via a German site, I find a video interview with Wave’s project…
Did we ever pay for content? →
In an essay that, on first blush, ranks near to Clay Shirky’s seminal thinking-the-unthinkable think piece, Paul Graham argues that we never paid for content:
In fact consumers never really…
Researchers’ Night at Fondazione Bruno Kessler →
Experiments, demonstrations, performances, meetings, exhibitions, guided tours, open workshops and a party to learn all about the world of science.
On September 25, 2009 Trento will be…
Is journalism an industry? →
Journalism is a business – that is how it is going to sustain itself; that is a key precept of the New Business Models for News Project. But is it still an industry dominated by companies and…
Book review: Search User Interfaces →
UC Berkeley Professor Marti Hearst has a great new book out, “Search User Interfaces”. The book is a survey of recent work in search, but with an unusual focus on the importance of interface…
Links for 2009 09 16 →
MySpace Has Built Its Own Recommendation Engine, And They’re Open-Sourcing It
(tags: sonet, recommender, recommendations, myspace, opensource, twit)
The small c and the big robot →
Few of you should care but for those who do, here’s a chronicle of my experience in robotic surgery for prostate cancer. I post it here mainly for the ongoing Google value to those who follow me…
Relational databases: are they obsolete? →
Michael Stonebraker is predicting that the dominance of the generic relational database is coming to an end. Having recently founded several database companies, he has a vested interested in…
The hard truth about research grants →
You must do many silly things to get a large research grant:
You must know precisely what you will do for the next five years. Yet, in my experience, good researchers only have a vague idea of…
Small c →
My prostate surgery went fine. I’ve been tweeting it. Will blog more when I get a full keyboard at home, later today, I hope.
Experiments and performance at Google and... →
Despite frequently appearing together at conferences, it is fairly rare to see public debate on technology and technique between people from Google and Microsoft. A recent talk on A/B testing at …
How things change: Cheaters are Innovators →
If you seek approval above all else, you are unlikely to innovate outside the rigid bounds of the current system:
You do not convince existing journals to give more respect to this new field you…
NewBizNews: The podcast →
The latest edition of the Guardian MediaTalkUSA podcast, which I present, features the work of CUNY’s New Business Models for News Project and discussion with two folks who know hyperlocal: Deb…
NewBizNews in the Guardian →
In addition to the podcast (below), the New Business Models for News Project is the subject of my column in the Guardian’s media section. Here’s the full text:
There is a future for news – a…
Google U →
Zephyr Teachout has a good column in tomorrow’s Washington Post predicting the disaggregated university. It’s very much in harmony with what I wrote in What Would Google Do? – that complete…
Where do the best mathematicians come from? →
Americans think that the best scientists come from their best universities. To learn more, consider where the influential mathematicians actually come from:
got their degree in the USA
33%
…
Google AdWords now personalized →
It has been a long time coming, but Google finally started personalizing their AdWords search advertising to the past behavior of searchers:
When determining which ads to show on a Google search…
Google to the rescue? →
Yesterday I tweeted about Google’s offer to bring its checkout to enable micropayments for newspapers: “A cynical act, I’d say: a tool no one uses used to coopt foes on a useless quest.” In…
Rapid releases and rethinking software engineering →
I have a new post up at blog@CACM, “Frequent releases change software engineering”, on why software companies should consider deploying software much more frequently than they usually do. Here is…
Small c: drugstore embarrassments →
As I prepare to go under the robot on Monday, I’ve found that the process includes drugstore embarrassments. They’ve only just begun.
It starts with Viagra. As I’ve explained, a man’s plumbing…
A poor craftsman blames others’ tools →
Compare these two columns about Twitter: one by Mike DeArmond, a sports hack in Kansas City, and one by Roger Cohen in The New York Times. They are each frustrated that Twitter doesn’t fit into…
Google bigotry →
Google has an image problem – not a PR problem (that is, not with the public) but a press problem (with whining old media people). Google is trying hard – too hard, perhaps – not to argue with the…
Changing your perspective: horizontal, vertical... →
Data has natural layouts:
text is written from the first to the last word,
database tables are written one row at a time,
Google presents results one document at a time,
the early recommender…
NewBizNews on the BBC →
Peter Day, one of the best radio interviewers I know and the very best in business coverage, talks about media mayhem this week and I got a chance to discuss the New Business Models for News Project…
Toward author-centric science →
Too many research papers in Computer Science are nonsense: they convey no worthy message. Yet, they pass a Turing test of sort: at a glance, they are indistinguishable from interesting research…
Links for 2009 09 01 →
Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text | Wired Science | Wired.com
(tags: wikipedia, wikitrust, trust, alvaro, wiki, reputation, wired, sonet, twit)
Membership has its meaning →
In newspapers’ game of revenue roulette, there’s a lot of talk lately about their trying to create membership plans. The New York Times and the Guardian, to name two, reportedly have visions of tote…
Internet bigotry – again →
I was growling at my iPhone on the train this morning as I read a prominently promoted New York Times story about the rumored Chelsea Clinton wedding that didn’t happen. Sixth graph:
The…
Attributes of good research →
Paul Graham gives a list of attributes characterizing start-ups. It strikes me that many of these attributes could describe research projects as well:
Good research projects fail. If there is…
Why I am not publishing in PLoS One, yet →
PLoS One is a new peer-reviewed journal (2006) with many interesting features:
The board includes many respected Computer Scientists: Ananth Grama, Johan Bollen, Josh C. Bongard, Robert…
What crisis? →
At the Aspen Institute FOCAS event, where we presented our CUNY New Business Models for News, there came to be an unspoken debate – that is, an idea thrown out but never really engaged – about…