Writing.
Essays since 2006, plus a few things first published at USV. Occasional by design. The podcast lives on its own page.
- Iteration
This weekend, I built some shelves in my closet. It was pretty simple affair — some pre-finished shelving boards, wooden corbels, and a rod for hanging things. What’s funny is that the supplies for all this have been sitting on the floor in my office for about eight weeks now. Every time my wife ask...
- Wanted: The Self-Hiding Alarm Clock
This morning while cleaning up my office, I came across an old sketchbook from one of my design classes in college, circa ~1999. In it was a gem of a product idea (if I do say so myself). Without further adieu, here it is: The Self-Hiding Alarm Clock: So, who’s with me to set up… Continue reading
- Hello, Brieza!
Two weeks ago, we were joined by the newest member of the fam: Brieza. Brieza weighed in at a respectable 8 lbs 9 oz and has been busy sleeping away her days since. So far, having 2 kids hasn’t been as overwhelming as some people suggested it might be, but I’m sure we’re just still… Continue readi...
- The Enterprise End-Run
This post has been a long time coming. It’s the idea that keeps coming back; the slow hunch that’s been brewing and brewing for months. For some reason, it’s taken me forever to actually write it out. So here I finally go. Last Friday night, I had the pleasure of judging a round of the… Continue ...
- The Wheels on the Bus…
As of 11am this morning, buses in Brooklyn are telling the internet where they are. And I’m proud to say that our work is behind it. For the past several months, we’ve been working with the MTA on this one-line pilot, to demonstrate that it’s possible to achieve a workable bus tracking solution usi...
- Big Data
Next week, I’m heading to Santa Clara for a few days of “big data” at the O’Reilly Strata Conference. I’m really looking forward to it, and expect to have my mind blown several times over. I’m on the program committee for the conference, though I joined late and missed the chance to review proposa...
- This is kind of a cop out, but…
As part of my goals for 2011, I’m trying to blog more regularly — once a week, right here, to be precise. As I mentioned, I don’t quite have the rhythm down yet. This is evidenced by the fact that I’m sitting in bed at 11:30pm on Sunday night writing this half-assed post, just so… Continue reading
- Hey there, 2011
I love the new year. It’s a so nice to have a time where a) pretty much everyone takes a break for a few weeks and b) you get to magically clean the slate and start fresh. Rest, and a new start. Awesome. For the past few years, I’ve been writing down my goals for… Continue reading
- CityScience
Earlier this year, my friend and former colleague Thor Snilsberg started a new nonprofit organization called CityScience to improve the quality and relevance of science education for urban students. In their words: CityScience is committed to raising the quality of science education and supporting ...
- Wanted: An Open Commonplace Book
I’ve been reading Steven Johnson‘s new book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. It’s an enjoyable read, in large part because of Steven’s ability to draw connections across seemingly unrelated subject areas to tell a unified story. I’m only about halfway through, but in...
- Wanted: Strategic Networking Tool
I’d like to make an addition to my internet wish list for 2011: a Strategic Networking Tool. Here’s what I mean: Online networks of all kinds are very good at telling you who you’re already connected with. Who your friends are, who your professional contacts are, etc. This is great, but it’s all ...
- Ritual and Tradition
Last week, I mentioned an article called The Making of the Corporate Athlete (originally published in 2001 in the Harvard Business Review). If you haven’t read it, you should — it’s a short read. Long story short: successful athletes take a “whole body” approach to optimizing their performance, an...
- Speaking from the Heart
Last month, I attended the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council’s annual unconference. My favorite session, by far, was Bill Warner‘s “Building a Startup from the Heart”. I found Bill’s approach to be inspiring, and immediately went home to incorporate his ideas into some OpenPlans materials...
- The DIY Empire
Last night, I attended an event at Harvard about the Knight News Challenge, put on by Hacks/Hackers Boston and the Knight Foundation. The room was full of people who are interested in applying for the News Challenge grant program. I was there to talk about our Knight project, OpenBlock, specifical...
- Time to Get Singing
I opened my talk at last week’s Times Open event with this little video plugging Phone Idol. It got a few laughs, which was the point, but unfortunately no new songs sung just yet. Derek Gottfrid from NYT made the great suggestion that I print up some stickers and put them up in… Continue reading
- Writing to your future self
I love seeing people write to their future selves. Here’s a note I came across in my very own inbox today, no doubt jotted down on my iPhone while I was half-drunk at a party. Drake. Neon Indian Groove shark – friends playlist Darius. Radius radius Brother “Radius radius” is my favorite part. I...
- Required Reading
At OpenPlans, we’ve hired two new Project/Product managers within the last month. I couldn’t be happier with the hires, and they are already doing great work. Jeff Maki is handling our work with public transit agencies (like the OpenTripPlanner and our shiny new real-time bus tracking project with ...
- Tumbling on
Most of the action is happening on my Tumblog these days. For some reason I can’t stop posting there, and I can’t start here… Continue reading
- Tool Time
We are starting up several projects right now at OpenPlans. As a first step, we are setting up project management infrastructure for each. You would think that being a 10-year-old software and media company, we’d have rock-solid, time tested, perfectly smoothed out techniques for managing our projec...