Wow. Just read a great essay on Edge called “DIGITAL MAOISM: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism” by computer scientist Jaron Lanier. The essay is a massive broadside against the trend towards collective editing and decision-making that is taking hold online (the Wisdom of Crowds trend). Lanier takes aim at the use of collectivism in venues as diverse as Wikipedia (and all Wikis really),...
Continue ReadingI recently visited the website of Berkshire Hathaway, which is the holding company controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett that ultimately employs 190,000 people. I was looking for video clips of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual board meeting, which are famous for Buffett’s pronouncements on a variety of economic subjects. It became clear pretty quickly that Berkshire Hathaway doesn’t do multimedia....
Continue ReadingFolks who read papers like the Washington Post online are familar with the Who’s Blogging feature powered by the blog search engine Technorati. Basically, Who’s Blogging allows you to view a list of blog entries linking to the Post story you are reading. You can see an example of this in action on pretty much any Post story....
Continue ReadingI’m a big fan of Firefox. At first my infatuation was all about the tabbed browsing and increased security, but at this point the biggest draw for me is the extensions. Internet Explorer users don’t really get the whole extension thing, so I figured I’d list out some of the more useful ones I have installed to show what the fuss is about....
Continue ReadingI’m fairly obsessed with technology and the web in general. But I really don’t get the MySpace phenomenon. Sure, I get it conceptually. But I don’t get it personally. I’m probably just too old. Through blogging, I’ve established some new and rewarding professional connections and have had some old friends reconnect with me through Google searches....
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