In today's NYT, David Brooks points out that "prestige has shifted from the producer of art to the aggregator and the appraiser. Inventors, artists and writers come and go, but buzz is forever.  Maximum status goes to the Gladwellian heroes who occupy the convergence points of the Internet infosystem -- Web sites like Pitchfork for music, Gizmodo for gadgets, Bookforum for ideas,

One of the threads in our conversation with the City about digital access is how to use SMS (text messaging) to help connect people to resources.

Personally, I see text messaging as a big trend.  But I may have a slanted view of the world: I have a 12-year-old.  :-)

Now, the news today is that New York City's "Crime Stoppers" bureau has set up a system to accept police tips using text messaging

If you want to see something amazing, check out the new Google tool called Insights.

Here's an example: a comparison of searchs in the US on Joomla vs. Drupal, 2004 to present:

http://google.com/insights/search/#cat=&q=joomla%2Cdrupal&geo=US&date=&clp=&cmpt=q

 In the line graph, you can see Joomla overtaking Drupal . . . .

What's even more fascinating: toggle between "subregion" and "city" and

We had a great session on security, led by Tom Canavan, at Joomla!EXPO in May.  It was a real eye-opener.  One of the things Tom talked about was Russian syndicates that take over networks and control thousands of individual PCs without their owners' knowledge.  Today the New York Times is reporting that one of these syndicates has been cracked wide open.

Security is a hugely important topic for

The news this a.m. is that the world's journalists have shown up in Beijing to discover that they have only limited Internet access.

2008 is going to be a great Olympics - athletics-wise - but I predict it will be remembered for the way Beijing had the chance to show the world that China is in the big leagues, and instead blew it by being 50 years behind the times in terms of communications and

With the continuing stream of news about Facebook, I decided it was time to get with the program and join.  But first there was something I had to do . . . 

"J.T.," I said to my college-age son, "for -- ahem -- professional reasons -- I think it's time for me to get on Facebook.  I don't want you to feel uncomfortable . . . ."

"Oh, don't worry about it! That's fine . . . ," he said.  

(That went

One of the coolest things happening at the Chicago Public Library is a program where dedicated staff members help the public use the Internet at branches around the city.   They're called "cybernavigators" !  They give all kinds of assistance, ranging from simply giving a helping hand in searching the net to extended one-on-one training sessions in computer use (the latter by appointment).

To see

Anyone who has any doubts about where Chicago is headed, just check out http://ctabustracker.com  -- it shows how long until the bus arrives at your stop . . . and you can even see a map with the location of all the buses near you on your route.  (Even cooler on Blackberry.) ((And don't even talk to me about iPhone.))

It's enough to make a person with ditch their car and start using mass transit!

Did anybody notice that on practically the same day Anheiser Busch got bought out by InBev and St. Louis lost a major corporate citizen, Chicago announced the HQ of Miller Coors will move here?

True story:  years ago, when I was just out of college and on a business trip to visit Brown Shoe Company in St. Louis,  we were all out to lunch in some joint, and as the waitress went around the table