At present, the “Google essentials” app is a no-frills list of links hidden in an HP PC’s Program Files folder that is strangely not ‘essential’ (no Search, no Chrome, no Gemini or AI, no YouTube, and none of the communications suite beyond Gmail) nor functional (it shows links to web pages, each with a one-line description of the product, for a subset of Google Workspace apps that you already know about, plus Photos, Android Quick Share & Messages, and Play Games).

These are the materials I read/listened/watched this (and previous) week(s) to get a better understanding of the climate tech ecosystem and opportunities: Volts podcast re: movie/TV’s climate change representation, new EPA power plant standards, and the energy transition’s 5 supervillains and 5 superhereos Everybody in the Pool podcast re: tracking progress toward net zero by […]

These are the materials I read/listened/watched this (and previous) week(s) to get a better understanding of the climate tech ecosystem and opportunities: Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet book (finished!) Volts podcast re: transferrable tax credits, EPA carbon reduction, and distributed energy resources […]

These are the materials I read/listened/watched this (and previous) week(s) to get a better understanding of the climate tech ecosystem and opportunities: Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet book (25% through) Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future book Speed & […]

(Mountain View) — After twelve years at Google (ranging from small business services to unifying consumer identity experiences and privacy consents to aligning the product design toolchain), Micah Laaker announced his career transition to explore climate tech through the Climate Vine fellowship cohort. “Coming from families that were focused on sustainable living on family farms […]

Several weeks back, NPR ran a story dubbed “Wal-Mart Plans Ambitious Expansion Into Medical Care,” outlining how Wal-Mart planned to open medical clinics throughout its chain of stores. The story was later updated to suggest Wal-Mart did not indeed have such machinations. However, the idea has some interesting points worth considering, especially if you replace […]

Last year, I announced Shopdeck, an email receipt-filtering app I’d demo’d with Zach Graves at iPadDevCamp. My gut told me there was something valuable in a product like this, but after several chats with possible investors, it didn’t appear I would be able to raise enough to develop the idea for a competitive run. Graphicly […]

When Google rolled out Google+ a couple weeks ago, being the fanboy that I am (according to others), I quickly set up my profile. And then, being the self-promoter that I am (according to myself), I began trying to optimize my site content for sharing within the service. Having spent time earlier this year on […]

I recently signed up for TurningArt, a ‘Netflix for fine art,’ if you will. (Basic premise: subscribe to get new artwork of your choosing via a queue every 3 months in a provided frame, and each artwork ‘rental’ earns you credits to purchase any of the pieces at a discount.) Great concept, and I was […]

Last year I was contacted by Ivan Szekely of the OSA Archivum (Open Society Archives at Central European University) about translating into Hungarian the ACLU Pizza Surveillance short film I designed several years ago. Their effort was to “present privacy and informational self-determination as a value in the information society.” After linking him up with […]

For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure to rock either of ngmoco:)’s great iPhone/iPad game titles, We Rule and We Farm, this post will make little sense. If, however, you are a fan of the “Farmville in medieval times” and the “Farmville in, well, Farmville times” game titles that are all the rage with the […]

Activity streams (whether Facebook’s news feed, Twitter’s tweet stream, Yahoo!’s Updates, LinkedIn’s network activity, MySpace’s Stream or those using the activitystrea.ms format) are all the rage around the Web now. In each instance, users publish directly (via entering your comment into a Sharing dialog box) or indirectly (by the system generating content based on an […]

This Friday, on June 11th, at roughly 8pm CST, I’m turning 35. That’s 35 years of high-quality content livin’ that I’m proud to have sponsored, but the clock’s ticking. So I’m turning to you, who’ve tuned in for some portion of that time, free of charge, to help with the only pledge drive I’ve run. […]

Back in 2008 just after the iPhone had received its first major OS revision, I posited that Apple would update its Apple TV to use iPhone OS apps. Nothing of the sort has happened… yet. But now, with Google TV having just been announced at Google I/O (where its Android platform powers the Apps, the […]

I was a bit saddened tonight when I heard that Gary Coleman passed away today. Like most Americans my age, I’ve had my fair share of laughs at Gary’s expense over the years. But, unlike most, I actually got to spend an evening with Gary at the close of the century, and it was quite […]