In this month’s podcast: get your lugholes around some accents and dialects with @VoicesofEnglish, join the @OrkneyLibrary bookmobile and discover the library boldly going where no library has gone before with @archmission #AnythingButSilent https://t.co/6mCDPqBemb pic.twitter.com/waxTGsfI0E
— The British Library (@britishlibrary) August 15, 2019
Category Archives: Technology
What’s Your Moonshot? One Man’s Quest for a Billion Year Archive Stored in the Solar System — Newsweek
My work with the Arch Mission Foundation to build a backup of planet Earth was recently featured in Newsweek.


Announcing Fuzionaire Diagnostics: a True Breakthrough in Chemistry, Applied to Saving Lives

Today, we are launching Fuzionaire Diagnostics.
Technological progress often comes from incremental improvements to existing technologies, rather than major evolutionary leaps. But occasionally there is a truly fundamental advance that improves the entire foundation on which we are building. This is the type of leap we are announcing today.… Read More “Announcing Fuzionaire Diagnostics: a True Breakthrough in Chemistry, Applied to Saving Lives”
Hear my Epic Interview about AI & Philosophy with Gigaom
Sun Stone
It’s mind blowing. An object I conceived of and had made, which was in my house, that I held in my hand, and once carried in my pocket, is now orbiting the sun for millions of years, near the asteroid belt, moving faster than a bullet, in a red Tesla Roadster.… Read More “Sun Stone”
Arch Mission Foundation Announces Our Payload On SpaceX Falcon Heavy
Arch Mission Foundation Announces Our Payload On SpaceX Falcon Heavy
I am thrilled to announce the launch of the first Arch™ payload, on board the Falcon Heavy Test Launch, with SpaceX.
Read the full blog post here:
Our goal at the Arch Mission Foundation™ is to permanently archive human knowledge for thousands to billions of years.… Read More “Arch Mission Foundation Announces Our Payload On SpaceX Falcon Heavy”
What Did Blade Runner Get Wrong?
I’m quoted in this article in TheStreet.com on what predictions Blade Runner got wrong.
https://www.thestreet.com/story/14331182/2/blade-runner-future-technology.html
… Read More “What Did Blade Runner Get Wrong?”In the place of artificial intelligence, we have what Spivack calls “artificial stupidity,” which makes robots do the “stupid things” humans don’t want to do, such as vacuuming your house.

Magical, My New Startup Studio in LA, Comes Out of Stealth
Today we began to reveal a little more of what we’ve been working on in stealth mode, since last December. It’s a new science and technology startup studio, based in Los Angeles, called Magical.
You might think of Magical as a moonshot factory, except that we’re not just aiming for the moon.… Read More “Magical, My New Startup Studio in LA, Comes Out of Stealth”
Our Bots, Ourselves
I was quoted several times in this article on the future of bots and intelligent assistants, in The Atlantic.
Announcing the Arch Mission Foundation – Spreading Humanity’s Knowledge in Space
Today we are officially announcing the Arch Mission — a non-profit foundation dedicated to spreading humanity’s knowledge across the distant reaches of space and time. I first wrote about this concept in 2015. We have been working in stealth since then and now I am proud to announce the project has reached a major milestone.
Nerve Center 3.0 Announcement in the Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal covered the announcement of Bottlenose’s Nerve Center 3.0 platform today. They did a nice job capturing the big idea here.
AI, BI, and the Necessity of Automating the Analyst
It’s Time to Automate the Analyst
I have been speaking about the need for “automating the analyst” for several years. This need is prompted not only by the data deluge — the Cambrian explosion of data volume, velocity, and variety of data sources — but also by the simple reality that enterprises cannot hire the number of data scientists they need to adapt to this new environment.… Read More “AI, BI, and the Necessity of Automating the Analyst”
Bottlenose Named Gartner Cool Vendor in In-Memory Computing
I’m thrilled to say that my company, Bottlenose, has been selected by Gartner Group as a 2016 Cool Vendor in In-Memory Computing.
I’m very proud of the team and what we built here. Truly the next-generation of business intelligence, powered by AI and streaming analytics.… Read More “Bottlenose Named Gartner Cool Vendor in In-Memory Computing”
My Podcast Interview on Venture Production
I had a fun chat with Nathan Latka on his podcast, about my Venture Studio process and some of the deals I’ve produced.
How Twitter Could be 10X Bigger, 100X More Profitable, and 1000X More Awesome
Read my new article about how to evolve Twitter, on VentureBeat
… Read More “How Twitter Could be 10X Bigger, 100X More Profitable, and 1000X More Awesome”I’ve spent many years studying, writing about, building, and funding companies (such as Bottlenose, Klout, and The Daily Dot) in Twitter’s ecosystem.
Despite the media chatter, I am still bullish on Twitter – as should be any investor who understands the social network’s fundamentals and true potential.
The Rise of the Chief Analytics Officer
My new article on the growing role of the Chief Analytics Officer has gone live on GigaOm. Read it here.
How to Solve Twitter’s Engagement Problem: Add Semantics
The fundamental problem that Twitter has is engagement. If engagement can be corrected, the whole Twitter ecosystem (and their stock price) will improve.
Improving Twitter engagement comes down to fixing the core consumption experience.
First of all what’s wrong with the consumption experience?… Read More “How to Solve Twitter’s Engagement Problem: Add Semantics”
Twitter’s Future is Actually Its Past – Where Twitter Went Wrong and How to Right It
With the resignation of Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo, there has been a sudden burst in commentary on what is wrong with Twitter, and where they should focus next.
There are suggestions that Twitter should focus on live real-time events. There are suggestions that Twitter should focus on algorithms to filter content so they are more like Facebook.… Read More “Twitter’s Future is Actually Its Past – Where Twitter Went Wrong and How to Right It”
Why Twitter’s Engagement Has Fallen
I have been thinking about Twitter for many years. One of the interesting trends that many of us who share an interest in social networks have been tracking is the decline in engagement on Twitter.
Indeed this decline is not only evident from Twitter’s own metrics and reporting, but also to anyone who has been an active user of Twitter since the early days of the service.
Venturebeat Article on the Venture Production Studio Model
Interesting article in Venturebeat about the emerging Venture Production Studio model, which I wrote about in 2011 here on this blog.
2014: A Turning Point for the Semantic Web
Read my article in Semanticweb.com about the significance of 2014 in Semantic Web history.
… Read More “2014: A Turning Point for the Semantic Web”Google is moving away from hand-made ontologies — they were never a fan of them. From the early days, Google’s philosophy has been biased towards big data over manually constructed knowledge.
It’s Time for an Open Standard for Cards
Cards are fast becoming the hot new design paradigm for mobile apps, but their importance goes far beyond mobile. Cards are modular, bite-sized content containers designed for easy consumption and interaction on small screens, but they are also a new metaphor for user-interaction that is spreading across all manner of other apps and content.… Read More “It’s Time for an Open Standard for Cards”
The Next Step for Intelligent Virtual Assistants
When we talk about the future of artificial intelligence (AI), the discussion often focuses on the advancements and capabilities of the technology, or even the risks and opportunities inherent in the potential cultural implications. What we frequently overlook, however, is the future of AI as a business.… Read More “The Next Step for Intelligent Virtual Assistants”
Bottlenose Nerve Center 2.0 Released – Milestone for Real-Time Big Data Analytics
I’m happy to announce the release of Bottlenose Nerve Center 2.0 today. Analyzing 3 billion messages an hour (72 billion messages a day), and doing real-time predictive analytics on nearly 300 million data points an hour, it’s a big step in real-time big data analytics. … Read More “Bottlenose Nerve Center 2.0 Released – Milestone for Real-Time Big Data Analytics”
My Thoughts on the Future of Artificial Intelligence (Live Panel Discussion)
I had the honor of participating in a panel on the future of AI with a group of industry luminaries, led by Kevin Kelly of WIRED Magazine.
Watch the discussion here.
Bottlenose Announces Live Trend Intelligence for TV, Radio and Social
My venture, Bottlenose, has a big announcement today. We’re unveiling the first live trend intelligence system to provide analytics against real-time broadcast TV and radio (and social media). You can read more in the TechCrunch article here.
How Bitcoins Could Restructure the World
Read my article in VentureBeat about how Bitcoins may restructure our civilization, and the need for advocacy to support this transition, if it is going to happen. Here’s an excerpt:
… Read More “How Bitcoins Could Restructure the World”Bitcoin is a trend with all the ingredients necessary for changing the world.
Why Cognition-as-a-Service (CaaS) is the Next Operating System Battlefield
Read my article in Gigaom on the coming cognition-as-a-service wars. The next thing after the Semantic Web.
Did Apple Buy Topsy for Contextual Awareness?
The stunning news that Apple bought social search engine, Topsy, for more than $200M has many scratching their heads. Why would Apple want social data, and why would they pay so much for it?
There has been a lot of speculation about the reasons for this acquisition — ranging from making Siri better, to making the App Store smarter, to acquiring big data expertise to develop insights on the Apple firehose.… Read More “Did Apple Buy Topsy for Contextual Awareness?”
Can Humans Fall in Love With Bots?
I was quoted in this New Yorker article about whether relationships between humans and bots are real, along with some other AI experts. Can bots experience love? Read it and find out.
Is Twitter’s Business Model Going to Work?
Twitter’s business model appears to have shifted from being a network to being a destination. The question I address here, is whether this shift in strategy is going to work, and what the implications are.
Twitter’s Declining User Engagement: Can it be Solved?
… Read More “Is Twitter’s Business Model Going to Work?”Bottlenose Announces Free Live Visualization of Global Social Trends
Bottlenose has just launched something very very cool: A free version of it’s live visualization of trends in the Twitter firehose. Check it out at http://sonar.bottlenose.com and get your own embed for any topic. This is the future of real-time marketing.… Read More “Bottlenose Announces Free Live Visualization of Global Social Trends”
Consolidate This: Quantified Self Edition
Read my article in Gigaom on the Quantified Self market and how it is developing.
There are too many choices available for consumers when it comes to devices and apps that track your steps or daily activities. What needs to happen is consolidation across the industry and a focus on storytelling, not just activity.
The Future of Virtual Assistants
Check out my article in Forbes on the future of Virtual Assistants. What’s after SIRI and IVR?
… Read More “The Future of Virtual Assistants”All of the interesting stuff happens when data collides. A voice-based interface to a single data set is a thing of the past.
The Present IS the Future: Real-Time Marketing In the Era of the Stream – Part Two
In Part I of this article series, we looked at how the real-time Web has precipitated Nowism as a fundamental shift in how we understand and engage with information. Nowism is a cultural shift to a focus on the present, instead of the past or future.… Read More “The Present IS the Future: Real-Time Marketing In the Era of the Stream – Part Two”
The Present IS the Future: Real-Time Marketing In the Era of the Stream – Part One
Introduction
The pulse of the Net has gotten faster. It’s not a static Web of documents anymore, it’s a new real-time messaging medium we call the Stream.
The Stream is unlike any form of live media before it: It is a completely real-time, globally distributed, two-way conversation.… Read More “The Present IS the Future: Real-Time Marketing In the Era of the Stream – Part One”
Twitter is No Longer a Village
I’ve noticed a distinct change in how people use Twitter in the last year:
1. People are increasingly not using Twitter for actual two-way conversations or interactions. Instead it’s being used more for one-way “fire and forget” posting. People just post into the aether, without knowing or even caring if anyone actually reads their posts.… Read More “Twitter is No Longer a Village”
Making Sense of Streams
This is a talk I’ve been giving on how we filter the Stream at Bottlenose.
You can view the slides below, or click here to replay the webinar with my talk.
Note: I recommend the webinar if you have time, as I go into a lot more detail than is in the slides – in particular some thoughts about the Global Brain, mapping collective consciousness, and what the future of social media is really all about. … Read More “Making Sense of Streams”
Bottlenose Beat Bit.ly to the First Attention Engine – But It’s Going to Get Interesting
Bottlenose (disclosure: my startup) just launched the first attention engine this week.
But it appears that Bit.ly is launching one soon as well.
It’s going to get interesting to watch this category develop. Clearly there is new interest in building a good real-time picture of what’s happening, and what’s trending, and providing search, discovery, and insights around that.… Read More “Bottlenose Beat Bit.ly to the First Attention Engine – But It’s Going to Get Interesting”
How Bottlenose Could Improve the Media and Enable Smarter Collective Intelligence
How Bottlenose Could Improve the Media and Enable Smarter Collective Intelligence
This article is part of a series of articles about the Bottlenose Public Beta launch.
Bottlenose – The Now Engine – The Web’s Collective Consciousness Just Got Smarter
How Bottlenose Could Improve the Media and Enable Smarter Collective Intelligence (you are here)
A New Window Into the Collective Consciousness
Bottlenose offers a new window into what the world is paying attention to right now, globally and locally.… Read More “How Bottlenose Could Improve the Media and Enable Smarter Collective Intelligence”
Bottlenose – The Now Engine – The Web’s Collective Consciousness Just Got Smarter
Recently, one of Twitter’s top search engineers tweeted that Twitter was set to “change search forever.” This proclamation sparked a hearty round of speculation and excitement about what was coming down the pipe for Twitter search.
The actual announcement featured the introduction of autocomplete and the ability to search within the subset of people on Twitter that you follow — both long-anticipated features.… Read More “Bottlenose – The Now Engine – The Web’s Collective Consciousness Just Got Smarter”
A New Approach to Artificial Intelligence: Non-Computational AI
I was recently contacted by a computer scientist, Sergey Bulanov, who has been working quietly for 20 years on a new approach to artificial intelligence. It’s a pretty interesting and novel approach, and I would like to see what others think about it.… Read More “A New Approach to Artificial Intelligence: Non-Computational AI”
I Get 13,000 Messages/Day via Different Streams – Here’s the Analysis
Continuing with the theme I’ve been writing about lately, focused on the growth of the next phase of the Web, what I call “The Stream,” I’ve started to analyze the messages I get on a typical day.
First of all, through all the different channels I use, I now receive approximately 13,000 messages a day.… Read More “I Get 13,000 Messages/Day via Different Streams – Here’s the Analysis”
Keeping Up With the Stream — New Problems and Solutions
This is Part III of a series of articles on the new era of the Stream, a new phase of the Web.
In Part I, The Message is the Medium, I explored the shift in focus on the Web from documents to messages.… Read More “Keeping Up With the Stream — New Problems and Solutions”
Drowning in the Stream — New Challenges for a New Web
This is Part II of a three-part series of articles on how the Stream is changing the Web.
In Part I of this series, The Message is the Medium, I wrote about some of the shifts that are taking place as the center of online attention shifts from documents to messages.… Read More “Drowning in the Stream — New Challenges for a New Web”
The Message is the Medium – Attention is Shifting from the Web to the Stream
Shift Happens
A major shift has taken place on the Web. Web pages and Web search are no longer the center of online activity and attention. Instead, the new center of attention is messaging and streams. We have moved from the era of the Web to the era of the Stream.… Read More “The Message is the Medium – Attention is Shifting from the Web to the Stream”
StreamGlider Launches Today!
Today I’m happy to announce the launch of StreamGlider, a new tablet app (initially on iPad) that provides the first live streaming dashboard for keeping up with your interests.
TechCrunch just broke the story.
The inspiration for StreamGlider was a product that launched in the early 1990’s called Pointcast.… Read More “StreamGlider Launches Today!”
The Problem with Stream 3.0
After my former project, Twine.com, was sold, I began to turn my attention to the Next Big Challenge: How to make sense of the growing real-time Web, or what many call, “the Stream.”
I could see the writing on the wall, and it was less than 140 characters: Social media’s own success was going to be its biggest challenge.… Read More “The Problem with Stream 3.0”
Bottlenose has Launched!
Today, after almost two years of work in stealth, I am proud to announce the launch of Bottlenose.
While I have co-founded and serve on the boards of several other ventures (The Daily Dot, Live Matrix, StreamGlider, and others), Bottlenose is different from all my other projects in that I am also in a full-time day-to-day role as the CEO.… Read More “Bottlenose has Launched!”
Announcing Common Crawl
Several years ago my friend Gil Elbaz (CEO of Factual; forefather of Google AdWords) approached me with an ambitious vision – he wanted to create an open not-for-profit crawl of the Web to ensure that everyone would have equal access to a Web-scale search index to build on and experiment with.… Read More “Announcing Common Crawl”