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Cool URLs Mean Something
Earlier this month, MTV News abruptly pulled their site off the web without warning, eliminating a virtual archive of pop culture news stories that date back to 1997. This move coincided with a series of similar decisions from MTV’s parent company Paramount, including a similar move on CMT, and the swift removal of 25 years… Continue reading
Remembering Molly, one of the greats
I just learned that Molly Holzschlag has passed. She was a tireless advocate for the principles of the open web. She fought for them for decades, and she never stopped fighting for them. She was an uproarious champion of the web and she always, always, always led from her heart. When I started this crazy… Continue reading
The Dot-com surge
As the dot-com hype began to rise, entrepreneurs and ordinary investors got swept up in the fervor. Continue reading
From the valley to the alley
The Flatiron building is one of the most instantly recognizable buildings in New York City. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, its unique triangular design sets it apart from other high-rises and skyscrapers. Its architecture is a blend of pragmatic design and deliberate distinctiveness. Throughout the years, the Flatiron building has stood as… Continue reading
Dot-Com Part 1: Burning up
Chapter 11: Dot-Com is live! Part 1 at least. I’m going to be sending out this chapter over the next couple of months in a few parts. But to start us off here’s a look at Amazon, and the paradigm shift it signaled for the web towards the end of the 1990’s. On March 20, 2000 Barron’s featured… Continue reading
AJAX without the X: The History of JSON
The history of JSON is the history of the people that created it, and what they set out to do with the software they wrote. Continue reading
“Playboy’s body with the New Yorker’s brain”
On the early web, some content pioneers experimented with interactive, community-fed, literate smut. Continue reading
It’s Time to Pay the Meter
News used to be behind a paywall, or not. But then a publication figured out how to do both. Continue reading
Spiderwoman, Wise-Women: Listservs to connect
Way before social media, listservs acted as a glue that held the web community together. Continue reading
Gowalla, Foursquare and the (very) brief history of the Location Wars
When the iPhone was released, two apps rushed to market in a battle over geolocation that would come to be briefly known as the “location wars” Continue reading
The Long Tail of Uselessness
When Paul Phillips the web is at its best when its being useless he did the only thing he could think of. He built his own useless site to catalog it. Continue reading
21st Century Community
In 1999, the word “community” took on a new meaning on the web. One that would have a lasting impact for years to come. Continue reading
