Evan Williams and Biz Stone are probably still best known for their roles in co-founding Twitter, but what many people in the general public don’t realize is that Twitter was actually born as just a small project within a technology startup called The Obvious Corporation.
In recent months, Williams and Stone (along with Jason Goldman) have shifted a good deal of their focus back to Obvious, making it into a very unique kind of company — part incubator, part investment vehicle, part idea lab — with the simple goal of “creating products that matter.” → Read More
The handsomest man in the world, Bre Pettis, gives the second handsomest man in the world, Phil Torrone, a nice visit to the Makerbot Store in Manhattan. The store is now selling Makerbots, filament, as well as pre-made items like watches and toys.
The store is at 298 Mulberry Street. → Read More
Yes, Apple Maps redirect to Google Maps on desktop, Android and any non-iOS 6 phones when you share your location. Womp. Obviously this is happening because there’s no hub for Apple Maps on the web, but still, the absurdity of this loop is exemplary of how ill-thought out this whole Maps switch was. → Read More
I was always a smart kid. Did very well on tests all through grade school, didn’t have to do much work because the work I did do suggested to my teachers that there wasn’t an issue. Just a couple missing worksheets, he’ll do fine. When I got to middle school, I took the usual approach to things, which, for me, was always to just do them. That had worked brilliantly before, so I kept right on going.
I failed. And I don’t mean I got an A- and fretted about it like an overachiever. I fully failed math, test after test, almost ended up in remedial classes. Eventually I got it together, but years later I’ve accepted that among the things I have talent in, math is not one of them. Learning that about myself was an important step. Learning it about others is also important, but sometimes it has the distressing but necessary side effect of disillusionment.
Apple’s wretched maps app is a good opportunity for the company to learn something similar about itself, and for the world to recast its opinion of them. We’re all grown-ups here. Why don’t we relate like grown-ups to the companies we love — and hate? → Read More
You’d think that doing an iPhone 5 Fly Or Die would be a piece of cake, what with 2 million pre-orders in 24 hours, but it’s not so simple. All the complaining of boredom and slight lack of innovation out of Apple… well, it’s not too far off of the truth.
Apple took a huge risk with the original iPhone, and even with the iPod. But it turns out that those products changed their respective industries. And the iPhone, in particular, is the company’s most profitable product ever, usurping the iPod. Now, Apple is the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, and while they’ll take smaller risks with products like the iPad, there’s no reason to make a major change to their shining star. → Read More
There are very few things that will get me out of bed at 5am: a family tragedy, more than $100,000 in cash, and a new iPhone. Of course, Matt and I were there to cover the launch of the iPhone 5 live, but we weren’t the only early risers yesterday. Thousands of people, including fanboys, brands, and members of the media (not to mention Apple geniuses) were at Apple’s Fifth Ave. flagship store in NYC at the crack of dawn.
Yes, all for a phone.
→ Read More