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The Biggest Ponzi Scheme of Them All
January 06 2009
Since Bernie Madoff has put Ponzi schemes back onto the front pages, it's worth considering whether we are all complicit in the biggest Ponzi scheme of them all, the idea that the global economy can grow indefinitely. I grew up on the idea that humanity would grow out into space,… read moreThe Biggest Ponzi Scheme of Them All
January 06 2009
Since Bernie Madoff has put Ponzi schemes back onto the front pages, it's worth considering whether we are all complicit in the biggest Ponzi scheme of them all, the idea that the global economy can grow indefinitely. I grew up on the idea that humanity would grow out into space,… read moreThinking About Wendell Berry's "In Distrust of Movements"
December 30 2008
I'm just reading a Wendell Berry essay from 2000, entitled In Distrust of Movements, reprinted on a blog with the inspired name The Irresistible Fleet of Bicycles. I was going to just tweet the link, but realized that more people need to read this, and I ought to quote more… read moreGoogle, WalMart, and MyBarackObama.com: The Power of the Real Time Enterprise
December 29 2008
What do Google, WalMart, and MyBarackObama.com have in common, besides their extraordinary success? They are organizations that are infused with IT in such a way that it leads to a qualitative change in their entire business. I get frustrated when I see people highlighting use of social media--blogging, wikis, twitter,… read moreThinking About Wendell Berry's "In Distrust of Movements"
December 28 2008
I'm just reading a Wendell Berry essay from 2000, entitled In Distrust of Movements, reprinted on a blog with the inspired name The Irresistible Fleet of Bicycles. I was going to just tweet the link, but realized that more people need to read this, and I ought to quote more… read moreGoogle, WalMart, and MyBarackObama.com: The Power of the Real Time Enterprise
December 27 2008
What do Google, WalMart, and MyBarackObama.com have in common, besides their extraordinary success? They are organizations that are infused with IT in such a way that it leads to a qualitative change in their entire business. I get frustrated when I see people highlighting use of social media--blogging, wikis, twitter,… read moreDecember 27 2008
Laurel Ruma (@laurelatoreilly) just did a quick census of the number of O'Reilly employees on twitter. She came up with 74 twitter accounts out of about 300 employees worldwide, plus five people who were controlling departmental or project-based O'Reilly twitter accounts like the following: Official O'Reilly account: @oreillymedia: The top… read moreDecember 27 2008
Laurel Ruma (@laurelatoreilly) just did a quick census of the number of O'Reilly employees on twitter. She came up with 74 twitter accounts out of about 300 employees worldwide, plus five people who were controlling departmental or project-based O'Reilly twitter accounts like the following: Official O'Reilly account: @oreillymedia: The top… read moreWaking Up from the 'Nightmare on Tech Street'
December 23 2008
Reading Om Malik's Nightmare on Tech Street piece, I wonder if we're actually just waking up from the nightmare. Yes, the abrupt collapse of demand for consumer electronics and their ilk will hurt tech companies--I'm bracing my own for the slowdown--but the icy bath that brings down a killing fever… read moreWaking Up from the 'Nightmare on Tech Street'
December 22 2008
Reading Om Malik's Nightmare on Tech Street piece, I wonder if we're actually just waking up from the nightmare. Yes, the abrupt collapse of demand for consumer electronics and their ilk will hurt tech companies--I'm bracing my own for the slowdown--but the icy bath that brings down a killing fever… read moreHard Work and Practice in Programming
December 20 2008
At the Program For the Future event commemorating the 40th anniversary of Doug Englebart's "mother of all demos" in 1968, I was privileged to hear an inspired rant by Alan Kay about the unwillingness of people to work hard to learn new skills. I'm quoting from memory, so the lines… read moreRegister's Googlewashing Story Overblown
December 15 2008
I'm disappointed by the pile-on of people rising to Andrew Orlowski's classic bit of yellow journalism (or trolling, as it's more often referred to today), Google Cranks Up the Consensus Engine. If so many other people weren't taking it seriously, I'd just ignore it. (I just picked this story up… read moreO'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures Invests in Amee
December 13 2008
I'm pleased to announce that on Wednesday, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, our VC affiliate, closed an investment in UK-based Amee, which bills itself as "the world's energy meter." Here's their description of what they do: AMEE’s aim is to map, measure and track all the energy data on Earth. This includes… read moreNovember 29 2008
If you care what I think, you know that Twitter is just about the best way to learn what I'm paying attention to. I pass along tidbits of O'Reilly news, interesting reading from mailing lists and blogs I follow, and of course, tidbits from the twitterers I'm following. These are… read morePut change.gov Under Revision Control!
November 28 2008
Last week, the New York Times wrote about Changes at change.gov: The policy section of the transition site was removed without notice just days after Change.gov went live shortly after the election. At the time a spokesman for the Obama-Biden transition effort said they were “re-tooling” it. There was an… read moreAlso find Tim on:
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