Conversations about technology, culture, and the future.
Internet & Platforms
Web platforms, open internet, network effects, identity, and data
- Increasing trust, safety and security using a Regulation 2.0 approachDec 18, 2014
This is the latest post in a series on Regulation 2.0 that I’m developing into a white paper for the Program on Municipal Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Yesterday, the Boston Globe reported that an Uber driver kidnapped and raped a passenger. First, my heart go out to the p...
- Web platforms as regulatory systemsDec 16, 2014
This is part 3 in a series of posts I’m developing into a white paper on “Regulation 2.0” for the Program on Municipal Innovation Harvard Kennedy School of Government. For many tech industry readers of this blog, these ideas may seem obvious, but they are not intended for you! They are meant to he...
- Technological revolutions and the search for trustDec 15, 2014
For the past several years, I have been an advisor to the Data-Smart City Solutions initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. This is a group tasked with helping cities consider how to govern in new ways using the volumes of new data that are now available. An adjacent group at HKS i...
- The magic of making hard things easyDec 12, 2014
I wrote earlier this week about how life is, generally, hard. There’s no question about that. One of my favorite things about the Internet, and probably the most exciting thing about working in venture capital, is being around people who are working to re-architect the world to make hard things eas...
- Anti-workflow appsDec 9, 2014
“Workflow” apps hold so much promise. Whether it’s a CRM, project management tool, to-do list, or some other tool, the promise in each case is to clean up our messy lives and help us be more organized and effective. The problem, though, is that getting people to adopt a workflow is really really ha...
- Crowdsourcing patent examinationsDec 3, 2014
Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon at a US Patent & Trademark Office roundtable discussion on using crowdsourcing to improve the patent examination process. Thanks to Chris Wong for looping me in and helping to organize the event. If you’re interested, you can watch the whole video here. I wa...
- Half, not half-assedNov 22, 2014
My favorite book on product development and startups is Getting Real, published in 2006 by the folks at 37signals (now Basecamp). If you haven’t read it (it’s freely available online), it’s essentially a precursor to The Lean Startup (2011). Back when I was leading a team and running product and Op...
- I agree with Ted Cruz: let’s supercharge the Internet marketplaceNov 13, 2014
There has been a lot of debate about how to protect Internet Freedom. Today, Senator Ted Cruz has an op-ed in the Washington Post on the subject, which starts out with an eloquent and spot-on assessment of what we are trying to protect: Never before has it been so easy to take an idea and… Continue ...
- This is what an Internet Candidate looks likeOct 23, 2014
I just donated to Christina Gagnier‘s campaign for congress. I’ve gotten to know Christina recently, and I really hope she’s able to pull through this race and make it. We need smart people in DC who understand technology, tech issues, and tech policy. She is without a doubt one of those people. S...
- Every once in a while I’m reminded of how awesome the Internet isAug 29, 2014
I woke up this morning, early, to an email from my mother-in-law pointing me to this: It’s the story of a 9-year-old boy who built an arcade out of cardboard boxes in his dad’s used auto parts shop. Kids at school teased him about it, and he had zero customers, but he had built something… Continue r...
- Dropbox and personal dataAug 26, 2014
More and more, recently, I’ve been noticing web services that use Dropbox for storing user data. For example,1Password, OneName and Diaro. With all the talk about user control of data, data liberation, privacy, etc — I actually feel like this is is a super nice approach, at least for some use cases...
- Joi’s 9 principles of open innovationJun 26, 2014
I spent the day Tuesday at the Civic Media conference, put on annually by the MIT Center for Civic Media and the Knight Foundation. In addition to being a gathering of a fabulous community of civic hackers and builders, it’s also where Knight announces the winners of the NewsChallenge grant contest...
- The FCC open internet voteMay 16, 2014
Yesterday, the FCC met to vote on its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the Open Internet. As was generally expected, the commission voted, along partisan lines, to move forward with their plan for Open Internet rules — a plan that, as currently designed, would allow for fast lanes and slow l...
- FCC’s response to the VC open internet letterMay 12, 2014
Over the weekend, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler sent a response to the letter that over 100 VCs and angel investors submitted last week. In the letter, we stressed the importance of an open internet as a foundation for the stunning levels of investment and innovation we’ve seen in the internet applicati...
- Defending the open internetMay 8, 2014
Over the past few weeks, the future of the open internet has come into sharp focus, as the FCC’s 2010 open internet rules were struck down in court, and then plans for new rules from the FCC came into public view. Amidst fears that the internet is f**ked, debate has raged about what this all… Conti...
- I don’t know how to shop anymoreFeb 25, 2014
The sole is starting to peel of from my snow boots, so I’m in the market for some shoe goo or Gorilla Glue. I’d really like to get it today because the flapping sole is getting annoying. As I was thinking about this just now, I realized that I don’t know how to shop anymore.… Continue reading