Kurt Ko

What do 3D printing technologies, social lending platforms and co-working spaces have in common? It is tempting to answer that they are all part of the new sharing economy – a playground of possibilities including open source and peer-to-peer endeavors in a new creative commons. Yet if history repeats (or at least rhymes), the democratizing effects of these developments may be overrated. What they do share for certain, though, is a impressive and praise-worthy shift toward increased efficiency and (consequently) resource sustainability. Read the rest of this entry »

So you are visiting San Diego, but where should you stay? No, not: which hotel … but which neighborhood? And which other neighborhoods do you want to visit on your trip? At one extreme, we have global, national, regional and city maps that show us a static picture of bland geographical basics. At the other end of the spectrum, we have local neighborhood, street and block maps featuring confusing pointillist specifics. What do these have in common?

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Yelp!, FourSquare and TripAdvisor are great for regular consumers and travelers, but what about those of us looking for coffee shops based on other criteria, like: the loudness of music, the availability of seating and plugins and the general vibe for sitting and working? Eschewing coworking spaces on this trip, Mike and I spent most of our productive time in coffee shops both close to and far from our home base in downtown San Diego. Here are some thoughts for anyone interested in following suit, covering 12 locations across 7 popular neighborhoods: Read the rest of this entry »

My editorial inbox would drive me insane were I not able to derive some humor from its contents. If you are looking to pitch your [insert concept, product, project, video or cat pictures here] to someone managing an online magazine, newspaper or blog, please consider these the best ways to be ignored and/or summarily deleted. Read the rest of this entry »

I applied for and received a visa to travel in China for two weeks, part of the time with family and guides and some on my own as well. Major stops are highlighted below, but alas, notably absent is Shanghai, which I would still very much like to visit in the future. Though it is not a surprise, based on past travel experience: it was not the landmark destinations that make the trip memorable, but surprises found in alleys, on escalators and in other less-traditional locations. Read the rest of this entry »

It all started with GoDaddy, Dreamhost and WordPress – one domain reservation, one hosting company, one content management system installation, and two friends who graciously humored my desire to do something with them. Read the rest of this entry »

Two cities could hardly be more different – a historic town filled with decaying architectural wonders (overtly at an all-time low) and another booming and spreading (though eerily suburban outside of the downtown area). But what Detroit lacks in density it makes up for in potential – and Denver feels almost fake or temporary, surrounded by a sprawl of cabin-styled, wood-framed mini-resorts that serve as suburbs. Read the rest of this entry »

So how did you find this article? For that matter, how do you find anything online? In the case of this particular piece, it was probably a long and winding path – there are few roads to take folks here. But in other situations, perhaps you used a search engine, got a recommendation from a friend or followed a link on a site to which you subscribe (or which, at least, you regularly visit in some form). Now the question is: how is someone going to find your article? There are many roads you can take – the trick is not to carve a fresh path, but reverse engineer an existing one.
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There is no reason to either (a) be an employee and (b) be your own employer when (c) you can do both. While this is not always possible (particularly in high-powered, tech startup jobs that require 70-hour weeks) it is an option more often than many folks think. There is also the hybrid route of becoming a contractor or part-time worker, though even at 40 hours a week, well, there is a lot of time left for other things.
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The Long Tail (as both a book and a concept) has defined and described so much change in recent history, but some of its most fascinating phenomena are just now bearing fruit. The original paradigmatic champions of the long tail online – eBay, Amazon and so on – are slowly losing steam, becoming less user-friendly and otherwise relatively uninteresting. Meanwhile, some of the most engaging (and still-evolving) representatives of an even smaller slice of the tail are shaping up to be amazing not only for connecting consumers to products but for providing funding to entrepreneurs.
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