“In short, Aaron Swartz was not the super hacker breathlessly described in the Government’s indictment and forensic reports, and his actions did not pose a real danger to JSTOR, MIT or the public. He was an intelligent young man who found a loophole that would allow him to download a lot of document

After a two-week holiday break, my VentureBeat column is back. This week: why CES still matters. Coincidentally, this morning NPR ran a similar story on Morning Edition. The reporter points out that, while big companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon don’t have booths at CES, they still s

My son asks me to time him, then bolts down the sidewalk and out of sight between two strangers. He returns at top speed, twelve long seconds later. 4 Jan 2013   the binoculars reveal distant waves crawling slowly across the horizon 5 Jan 2013   Sunlight breaks through the sky over Capitola, surroun

Jupiter shines, a pale yellow beacon, almost directly overhead. In the distance, the sound of freeway traffic, like surf.

scattered gravel along the bike path and one old champagne cork

I made a short, clickable Tapestry story out of an old poem I wrote but had never published. I hope you like it.

clear darkening sky and the sounds of the neighbor’s party — a swallow darts over the treeline My first contribution to Fiona Robyn’s mindful writing challenge. Happy new year!

Just before the holiday, my friend and former boss Jim Louderback invited me to appear on his video show, downLOADED, to talk about the week’s top tech stories. To my surprise, Redg Snodgrass — another friend, who has worked with VentureBeat off and on over the past two years — was the other guest.

“If you’re bored, you’re not paying attention” has been the motto on my blog for at least a couple of years. I’m not sure where the phrase came from, but to me it’s a statement that there is always something interesting going on, if you are simply willing to take an interest, open your eyes, […]

There is data on gun use in the U.S. Unfortunately, we don’t have good access to it, which makes informed discussion almost impossible. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms collects statistics on gun sales and where those guns wind up. They know the make, model, and details of guns used in c

People are increasingly dissatisfied with their social networks — the advertising, the lack of clear privacy protections, the intimations that anything you say can and will be used in a promotional manner at some point in the future — and some of them, this week, have even started to abandon them. K

In my column this week, I return to the subject of Microsoft — and suggest a way that the company can give its Windows Phone OS a boost. Carrier subsidies are increasingly standing in the way of innovation. “We’re drunk off the subsidy model,” IDC analyst Ramon Llamas told VentureBeat last week. The