Twitter

Meta’s Moment of Reckoning

Pop some popcorn. Put some butter. Add some salt. Because opportunists (politicians) are pointing their muskets at villains (tech bros), using children’s welfare as the ammunition. In case you were wondering, I am talking about the battle between New Mexico AG and Silicon Valley’s villain in chief.

The next bout is on May 4. So mark your calendars. Why?

This week two verdicts came in quick succession. First, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for knowingly enabling child predators on Instagram and Facebook. Then, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent for designing platforms that addicted a young woman who first used YouTube at age six and Instagram at nine.

On the surface this is big win for ambulance chasers. However it could be much bigger if politicians actually have the best intentions that go beyond winning the next elections. History tells me, they

Continue reading...Continue reading Meta’s Moment of Reckoning

Technology
7 comments

07.19.2025: The Weekend Edition

There are certain sweet-smelling, sugarcoated lies current in the world which all politic men have apparently tacitly conspired together to support and perpetuate. One of these is that there is such a thing in the world as independence: independence of thought, independence of opinion, independence of action. — Mark Twain

There are two books on the fall of Condé Nast: “Empire of the Elite” by Michael M. Grynbaum, a media reporter at The New York Times. It is good, juicy with details, but it feels like a chipotle dish. However, read Graydon Carter’s “When the Going Was Good” to get a full-on San Francisco-styled burrito experience. Carter is a much better storyteller, and his details have a level of first-person authenticity. Some of these good times were enjoyed by me at Forbes, but I am glad I escaped to the freedom accorded by Silicon Valley. Both these books are a

Continue reading...Continue reading 07.19.2025: The Weekend Edition

Technology
0 comments

What kind of an engineer are you?

There are three kinds of engineers. 

A great financial engineer can turn anything into a $100 billion dollar company. And at the same time no longer be liable for any debt.  Having tasted success, a great financial engineer, of course attempts what they have done at a smaller scale, again. Of course, at a much larger scale. Let that sink in! 

Bonus Link: How to make your company be worth $100 Billion

Notes
0 comments

Mute, Block, Breathe: How to deal with (un)Social Media

Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief product officer, said something in a 2020 conversation that has stuck with me since.

“Twitter is one of those products where I can see overuse making people have a long term, problem with the product emotionally. And that’s being exacerbated in the day we’re living in now.”

You can extend this to almost all social media, which has become quite unsocial these days. I have been well aware of the rise of conflict culture for over half a decade. It has allowed me to prepare for the detrimental impact on social platforms for a while now. As result, I am better prepared to exert a modicum of control over what comes into my feeds. In addition to limiting my personal exposure to Twitter, Threads, and other social media to less than a couple of hours a week, I have created a series of rules for myself

Continue reading...Continue reading Mute, Block, Breathe: How to deal with (un)Social Media

Technology
2 comments

How I Followed the Election Results

In the past, I typically followed election news and results on television networks like CNN and websites such as The New York Times. This time, I opted for Apple News’ Election Center coverage instead. It turned out to be good choice.

This approach significantly reduced the anxiety I experienced when watching live feeds on television networks or checking platforms like Twitter or Threads. Just as MSNBC and Fox are filter bubbles, so are Threads and Twitter. As someone who is acutely aware of the perils of “filter bubbles,” I make a good effort to limit my exposure to them to a few minutes a day. I did exactly the same when following the Election Day results.

By viewing one consolidated source, Apple News, unaffiliated with mainstream publications or television channels, helped filter out excessive and unnecessary commentary surrounding the elections and results. It was effective, consistently up-to-date, and visually clear

Continue reading...Continue reading How I Followed the Election Results

Technology
0 comments

Our Unsocial Modern Times

water droplets on glass panel
Photo by Barefoot Communications on Unsplash

We live in a time of such confusion and rancor, with a culture that puts a premium on things that don’t last: money, fame, status, likes.

We chase the approval of strangers on our phones.

We build all manner of walls and fences around ourselves, and then we wonder why we feel so alone.

We don’t trust each other as much because we don’t take the time to know each other.

And in that space between us, politicians and algorithms teach us to caricature each other and troll each other and fear each other.

Barack Obama, President of the United States

Technology
0 comments

For photos collages & crops, try Series

When I was looking to crop a landscape photo into a panorama, I discovered an app called Series. It’s a collage application that divides images for posting on Threads, Instagram’s microblogging platform. You can also use it to produce photos in sizes suitable for Twitter, Instagram, or other social media sites. 

On Threads, users can create a photo carousel. However, when images are precisely divided, users can reconstruct a complete wide-angle view that fills the screen. The panoramic effect becomes apparent as users move through the photos, producing a striking effect. Users can adjust the display to remove spaces between images and view the panorama without swiping in full-screen mode. 

Series is available in two versions — free or Pro, which costs $15 annually or approximately $3 monthly. The free version offers extensive functionality, so upgrading isn’t necessary. In my view, such single-purpose apps belong in the “pay once and forget” category and don’t warrant a subscription model, but I’m willing to support an independent developer. It’s also a tool for creating high-quality images for social media sharing. It’s exclusively available on iOS and iPadOS. 

The app is straightforward and user-friendly. Everything is clear — which is expected for a mobile app today. The one issue I have with the app is that it doesn’t guide users to begin anew easily. You see the previous photo at the top of the app, even after closing and reopening it. It took several attempts before I discovered that you can tap on the photo to select a

Continue reading...Continue reading For photos collages & crops, try Series

Photography, Technology
2 comments

Influencers, Media and Relevance

In its story about the Democratic National Convention 2024 (behind a paywall), Wired pointed out that the DNC is all-in on influencers. It has created an influencer paradise at its Chicago convention, with exclusive yacht parties and creators’ lounges, while journalists struggle to find power outlets and CNN anchors wait in security lines.

“Bringing creators to our convention will multiply our reach and ensure that everyone can witness democracy in action,” said Cayana Mackey-Nance, director of digital strategy for the Democratic National Convention Committee.

It’s all about the reach and influence of specific demographics. Democrats know that youth vote is their firewall — and can have an impact much like young voters did back in 1860.

Nearly 200 influencers were given special access and amenities not available to traditional media, signaling a major shift in political communication strategy. Welcome to 2024 — and our post-social strategy.

Data shows the growing

Continue reading...Continue reading Influencers, Media and Relevance

Technology
3 comments

That Time When Twitter CEO Said Smart Things

OM: Do you think that the future of the Internet will involve machines thinking on our behalf

Ev: Yes, they’ll have to. But it’s a combination of machines and the crowd. Data collected from the crowd that is analyzed by machines. For us, at least, that’s the future. Facebook is already like that. YouTube is like that. Anything that has a lot of information has to be like that. People are obsessed with social but it’s not really “social.” It’s making better decisions because of decisions of other people. It’s algorithms based on other people to help direct your attention another way.

From the archives

I randomly ran across this interview with then-Twitter CEO Ev Williams. It made me nostalgic for days when technology company leaders said interesting things about technology, not about politics or random things, or spewed nonsense. My interview with Ev was published on the last working day of

Continue reading...Continue reading That Time When Twitter CEO Said Smart Things

Technology
0 comments