Category: internet

The Four by Scott Galloway

Four American companies have totally changed our lives.

Apple
Amazon
Google
Facebook

I use all four non-stop. Fantastic innovation.

Needless to say, there are downsides. Google no longer uses the mantra “don’t be evil”. They dropped it in 2018.

Scott Galloway has replaced Leo Laporte as my main tech guru. I just finished his book …

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google (2017)

It’s great, but you can get a good summary by reading Galloway’s article in Esquire:

Silicon Valley’s Tax-Avoiding, Job-Killing, Soul-Sucking Machine (2018)

Tunnel Bear VPN

TunnelBear by software security software giant McAfee is one of the best FREE Virtual Private Networks.

Like many others it has both free and paid versions.

I got a free month of the paid version last October because I needed it while traveling internationally.

Cancelled before the deadline. … And months later found they were still billing me though I hadn’t used the service.

After complaining online to Tunnel Bear customer support they did refund those payments. Good customer service.

I found it very confusing to cancel, by the way.

When you cancel any paid service online be sure to check you got the confirmation email.

 

World Press Freedom Day

Notoriously poor and cheap, I normally take advantage of FREE — ad supported — news on the internet.

Obviously that’s not sustainable over the long term.

For years I’ve donated to ad free Wikipedia.

For years I’ve paid for Economist.

And for the second time I’m paying for the Washington Post. They hold Trump to account better than any other site.

Today May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day. WaPo is only $25 / year today.

important film – Minority Report 2002

Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story “The Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick. …

The film’s central theme is the question of free will versus determinism.  …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Innovators by Walter Isaacson (2014)

Yet another great Isaacson book. I recommend it to one and all.

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

Isaacson begins the adventure with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter, who pioneered computer programming in the 1840s.

He explores the fascinating personalities that created our current digital revolution, such as Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Tim Berners-Lee, and Larry Page.

One of his key themes is that innovation comes from collaboration, not just the few great names we know.

He tries to provide background on how people like Turing made their breakthroughs.

It’s dense. I might just read it again in order to better follow the flow of technology.