Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the Web, is frustrated with how giants like Facebook and incompatible apps rule our online experience. His solution is Solid, and open-source project that will allow you to control your own data. Solid is a long shot — unless Apple gets behind it. Berners-Lee described his vision in a blog…
News broke this week that a writer at Sesame Street said the popular characters Bert and Ernie, two single guys who live together, are gay. The shows producers denied it. Who’s right? Here’s a dialogue between representatives of both perspectives, to help us all understand the crucial issues at stake. Of course they are: It’s…
The European Parliament has voted for a new copyright directive that changes the rules of the internet. Dozens of prominent internet pioneers and thinkers, including Web inventor Tim-Berners-Lee, issued a statement condemning the directive. The spirit of the letter is on target, but the execution is a muddle. The European Union Directive on Copyright in the…
Sir Martin Sorrell built WPP into an advertising powerhouse and then left under a cloud of allegations. Now he’s taking over a new venture called S4 Capital. It has something to do with advertising, but you’d never figure out what from the prospectus. Have a look at the cover. While it’s typical for a prospectus to…
My knowledge of bitcoin is basic. I’m no expert on extortion, either. But Google is convinced I’m an authority on Bitcoin blackmail. This has made me wonder when crowds are, in fact, smarter than individuals. On April 10, I posted about the letter I received suggesting I should pay $8,350 in Bitcoin or have my secrets…
The New York Times posted an op-ed from an unnamed “senior official” who is managing the chaos in the Trump Administration. To truly understand what’s going on here, you need to look at the writer’s motivation. ROAM is the perfect way to do that — but in this case, it only deepens the mystery. The…
David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, agreed to interview former Breitbart leader and Trump advisor Steve Bannon on stage at The New Yorker Festival. Then, on second thought, he decided not to. Changing your mind is hard; justifying it is even harder. The challenge here is that Bannon is the self-acknowledged leader of the…
Brianna Wu may be the most tech-savvy candidate running for Congress in Massachusetts this year. But would you vote for her or her opponents on Tuesday, based on this set of photos that appeared in the The Boston Globe’s guide to the primary election? The guy on the left is incumbent Stephen Lynch, campaigning. The…
Donald Trump has accused Google of bias, saying that 96% of Trump News searches result in media with a left-wing bias. His economic advisor Larry Kudlow has said the government will look into regulating sites like Google. To determine the validity of Trump’s complaint, let’s invent a new Google search called “Truegle” that would live…