DISQUS

Definitely a fun innovation, and a neat way to pass the time. Hopefully generations of kids won't be flunked out of school because they were watching their live friendfeed / facebook / myspace stream.

The "Coming Digital Presidency" is an article I wrote about the use of social networks and web tools in governing: http://mathoda.com/archives/189

Kit, I've actually left my private law practice to set up an investment management firm. More on that later...

You may find my essay on the implications of Internet technology on government of great interest, The Coming Digital Presidency: http://digitalpresidency.com

Disintermediation is a myth, in the "get rid of the middleman" way people usually mean it: http://mathoda.com/archives/195

Unless you favor the tax, you are being coerced with both a high and low tax. Seems to me we are all made to do things we don't totally want to do in life, but the question of how much of our life is effected by coercion is a very important one. Example: if I don't let you speak freely on 20% vs 80% of the topics you discuss, in both cases there is coercion/limitation, but you are restricted with respect to more resources in one case than the other. Depending on utility you get out of the 60% difference in the coercions, you may feel powerfully harmed or not by the difference.

Great question! I'd estimate less than 0.1%, but I've posted a more thorough reply at http://mathoda.com/archives/205

The creator of Gmail and cofounder of Friendfeed explains the power of Facebook: http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2008/04/facebook-knows-who-you-are-and-thats.html

The airline industry over its history has been a net loser of money. That hasn't stopped it from being very useful for the rest of us. Of course if it's really unprofitable no one may provide this type of service.

The NY Times has an interesting story on the effect of mobile communications on the under developed world's poor: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13an...

According to Compete (http://blog.compete.com/2008/04/10/presidential...), Barack Obama beats Hillary Clinton 2 to 1 in Web traffic, 4 to 1 in Wikipedia article readers, and 10 to 1 in time viewers spend watching their videos on YouTube.

For the argument that Facebook really isn't that special, I highly recommend the blog post at http://mattmaroon.com/?p=345

As music is sold more and more in mp3 format without copyright protection schemes (thanks Amazon.com!), pre-selling a device with unlimited music could be a way for Apple to keep customers locked into their device ...

You may find my post, "The coming Digital Presidency", of interest: http://mathoda.com/archives/189

Dear Anonymous,

It's a fact Google simply wouldn't hire most of the people at a Walmart skill level. I don't disagree that Google gives the people it hires a very high level of pay and perks (including 20% time to work on self directed projects), but that doesn't mean they give any perks or pay to people that Walmart will hire and give pay and benefits to.

In pointing out that Google is very profitable my intent was not to say it is evil for making a profit, but to point out the criticisms of Walmart relating to its dominance, market share, mind share, profit per employee, etc., pale in comparison to that of Google.

With respect to your point about Walmart treating its employees badly, my point is that Google treats those same people worse (not offering them a job, pay, or perks). I actually think it is fantastic that someone figured out a way to utilize workers at a low level of skill profitably.

I do think it is terrible that such workers aren't given more opportunities to obtain higher levels of skill, which I hope my essay makes clear.

Yes, Prof. Goolsbee is still Mr. Obama's economic advisor.

You may find my post, The Coming Digital Presidency, about how social network technology will transform not just getting elected, but governing, of interest:

http://mathoda.com/archives/189

They helped you connect to things you can trust. Google: websites you trust. Ebay: buyers/sellers you should trust. Facebook: connect better to the people you already trust.

Obama has the standard Democratic point of view on global climate change, namely that it is a danger and serious measures need to be taken with respect to it.

You can find out more about his perspective here: http://presidentialprofiles2008.org/Obama/tab1....

I would add that Gregory Mankiw, a very smart Harvard economics professor, and an advisor to Mitt Romney, spoke highly of Obama's understanding of the benefits and costs of different methods of environmental regulations on his blog: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2008/01/pigou-cl...

The article says the professor has a microphone but doesn't mention a video camera. Seems like it's audio and text only. Pre-youtube. Pre-EduFire. Definitely 2002ish.

She has to rely on a university to provide her the online teaching infrastructure and brand to reach the customers. She can't reach them directly.

I've been contemplating something similar. What software do you put on your Mac Mini? Do you sync laptop itunes library with a server itunes library?

Interesting reading. You may want to check out my post on Apple's Apple TV, comparing it to the strategies of Sony and Toshiba's next generation DVD players.

You can find my post at:

http://www.mathoda.com/archives/168

You may find my post about the Apple TV (and other internet connected devices) competing against high definition dvd players interesting.

http://www.mathoda.com/archives/168

Great to know. Apple has done a great job improving their operating system, whereas with Vista Microsoft to a large extent made improvements that aren't very visible to the end user. Maybe with the coming of multi-touch devices the competition between Microsoft, Apple, and Linux will get even better.