Here’s my most recent column: Cloud computing, technology delivered over the Internet, has become a hot area in the last few years. The technology marketplace moves at breakneck speeds, but it is still shocking when innovation almost completely wipes out squabbles like those over open source (OS) vs. proprietary software. “In a cloud world, source [...]

continue reading.....

Here’s the first part of my column on the recent Congressional investigation into the genomcs industry: The genomics industry, which provides reports about disease risk, ancestry, and drug reactions based on one’s DNA, came under fire last week as a Congressional Committee held hearings and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an unscientific “study” of [...]

continue reading.....

Here’s my most recent column on DIY bio: Personal computing altered the world forever, and now the digitization of biology is poised to bring about sweeping change. Craig Venter’s recent announcement of the first synthetic genome was a huge milestone, but many outside of Silicon Valley remain unaware of the “do-it-yourself biology” movement (DIY bio). [...]

continue reading.....

The Personalized Medicine World Conference in Silicon Valley last week showcased huge opportunities for new advances in medicine and personalized health. What remained unclear was who will take the lead, what techniques or products will win, and whether the medical establishment will go along or stand in the way. Folks in Silicon Valley are used [...]

continue reading.....

At the third annual U.S.-China Internet Industry Forum last week, top government and technology leaders gathered to discuss business and policy topics of mutual interest, such as online child protection and intellectual property issues. The United States and China are the world’s two largest Internet communities, so the conversation has broad implications for the Net [...]

continue reading.....

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Here’s a preview of my column on health tech we can be grateful to have: “There have been striking advances in healthcare, thanks to technology, that have nothing to do with the controversial “reform” efforts under way in Washington. Among the life-improving — even potentially life-saving — gifts of recent years: [...]

continue reading.....

For those interested in longevity, July was a good news month. Recently published research in the journal Science shows that caloric restriction helps monkeys live longer and healthier, while a parallel study demonstrated the possibility that a drug could mimic this process. Here is my column arguing that, while good news abounds, the downside is [...]

continue reading.....

This month, the Federal Communications Commission begins drafting a national broadband plan as part of the 2009 stimulus package. This is not the first government attempt at broadband ubiquity, so the FCC can learn from past failures. The commissioners have less than eight months to “ensure that all people of the United States have access [...]

continue reading.....

America’s winemakers have won a victory for online wine sales in Kansas, but the legislative battle demonstrates the challenges that e-commerce, a key force for economic recovery, still faces from outdated thinking and entrenched political institutions. Signed into law in April, 2009, Kansas Senate Bill 212 allows direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine shipments over the Web for [...]

continue reading.....

Voters are still reeling from tax day in a tough recession, and taking to the streets in protest, but state governments and their allies aren’t listening. In fact, they are gearing up to squeeze more money out of the nation’s workers. Their target is online shopping, and if the pro-tax coalition gets its way, embattled [...]

continue reading.....

I’m currently working on the environmental chapter of my book, which is reflected here in my bi-weekly column. It’s amazing how much potential is waiting to be released on the clean(er) energy front. Here are the first few lines from my piece: “Earth Day is fast approaching, yet despite the awareness this day brings, most [...]

continue reading.....

This week, a federal judge blocked a prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against three teenage girls in northeastern Pennsylvania over risque cell phone pictures they took of themselves. This respite from the bizarre “sexting” scandal allows time for a national dialogue on an issue that goes deeper than simple changes in technology. “Sexting” is [...]

continue reading.....

In an effort to tackle New York’s nearly US$15 billion budget deficit, Governor David Paterson has proposed taxing downloads of software, music and other content, including pornography. This proposal comes at a time when the economy is in freefall and the so-called “stimulus” package is going to cost taxpayers much more than they expect. Gov. [...]

continue reading.....

When Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States last week, he promised that his administration would “restore science to its rightful place.” Whether reality will fit the rhetoric remains to be seen, and there are reasons to be both optimistic and a little wary. In his inaugural speech, the [...]

continue reading.....

Here’s an excerpt from my column at TNW today: Currently, 60 percent of Facebook’s teen users have implemented privacy controls, compared with only 25 percent to 30 percent of adult users. This is an interesting statistic, given the common assumption that members of the younger generation don’t care who sees their data. It is probably [...]

continue reading.....

This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a report accusing Kevin Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, of being deceptive and opaque in his management of the agency’s affairs. That a politician would pull such moves is no surprise, but the report should send a strong signal to the incoming Obama [...]

continue reading.....

Japanese consumers are known to be ardent gadget lovers, but that doesn’t mean that technology development is thriving in Japan. In fact, the country has been surprisingly inhospitable to entrepreneurs, as I recently discovered when I traveled to Tokyo for the Silicon Valley Connect trip. That could change, though — especially if smart people from [...]

continue reading.....

It’s been called the “rapture of the nerds,” but such derision didn’t stop an estimated 500 enthusiasts from showing up to the Singularity Institute’s conference in San Jose, Calif., last weekend to discuss the possibility of artificial intelligence overtaking that of humans. That’s the concept of technological singularity, popularized by author and inventor Ray Kurzweil. [...]

continue reading.....

Chipmaker Intel said this week that despite its record US$10.2 billion in revenue for the third quarter, the company is worried that the global economic crisis will affect future performance. Despite such a general malaise across the industry, however, there is some very good news on the tech front. Buried under the cloud of economic [...]

continue reading.....

A new magazine called H+ has launched and I have an article in its first edition (“Science Fiction Gets Funding”). It’s edited by cyberculture icon RU Sirius and is published by Humanity Plus (aka the World Transhumanist Association). Here’s some media coverage of the launch: Boing Boing, Kurzweil.net.

continue reading.....