Return of the old fashioned

 A lot of old tech ideas are back in fashion thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. A few weeks back, Intel announced that — thanks to the immediate need for people to work from home, and in many case… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Why Skype lost to Zoom

The present shift to “work from home” should have a moment for Skype to shine. Instead, it is an afterthought for many of us, who have turned to Zoom (warts and all) at a time when the … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Why do social networks focus on the wrong problem?

Twitter is going to add “new labels and warning messages that will provide additional context and information on some Tweets containing disputed or misleading information related to COVID-19,… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Fast Forwarding the future of ecommerce

Photo by Charlie Marusiak on Unsplash This week, I can’t but help but notice that there might be good tidings in store for online commerce. As a wise editor once told me, “Follow the money, s… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Five stages of Zoom

With over 300 million daily participants, Zoom is clearly having a moment. And as the pandemic rolls on, our relationship with Zoom has changed quite a bit . Even my dear friend Brad “Zen” Feld is … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

OMakase Pick: Todd Snyder Menswear

You might have read that J Crew, the iconic menswear retailer and a brand that introduced many of us to great classic clothing is going bankrupt. Yeah, the virus finally delivered the last nail in … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Productivity: what is it good for?

I was having a chat with a friend yesterday who was feeling a little tired and exhausted. The root cause of this exhaustion was sitting in front of a computer screen for long periods. She mentioned… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

SuperMoon Rises

This year’s final supermoon ((What is a supermoon? )) was supposed to become full this morning at 3.45 am pacific time. But it appeared large and bright to me last night. According to Space.c… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Stuck@Om with Scott Belsky

In this episode of Stuck@Om, my friend Scott Belsky — CPO of Adobe and founder of Behance — joins me to have a conversation about the state of our world. He shares how his family is keeping safe an… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Snowstorm

Today, I was supposed to be somewhere close to Ny-Ålesund, a tiny little city on an island in the Arctic north from Svalbard. I was going to be part of a photo expedition led by my dear friend Chri… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

fOMo

fOMO is my mostly technology-focused newsletter. My goal with this newsletter is to make it easy for you to connect the dots, by offering you my own commentary, reportage and curation of what is im… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Snowstorm

Today, I was supposed to be somewhere close to Ny-Ålesund, a tiny little city on an island in the Arctic north from Svalbard. I was going to be part of a photo expedition led by my dear friend Chri… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Unseen is what fuels the imagination

It is what we don’t see (or can’t see) that fuels our imagination. As a child, I read about faraway places. I imagined New York they wrote about in the books. I dreamt of San Francisco … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

The inevitable has happened.

Photo by Jem Sahagun on Unsplash Disruptions, downturns, and recessions make the weak weaker and the strong stronger. It was true centuries ago, and it is true today. The 2001 downturn turned telec… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[Podcast] Stuck @Om with New York Times’ John Markoff

In this episode of Stuck@Om, I chat with John Markoff, a renowned technology reporter for The New York Times. John currently devotes his time to writing a biography of Stewart Brand, a writer, edit… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Spotify is really the new radio

For the past few months, whenever I experience Spotify, I come away thinking — man, Spotify has become like radio.  If you don’t pay for the premium service, it is hard to tell the difference. It i… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Wait! Rakuten bought Marie Kondo?

I was reading this profile of Marie Kondo, the “spark joy and tidy” guru from Japan in Fast Company, and learned that Rakuten, the Japanese e-commerce giant had bought a controlling interest in  Ko… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[Podcast] Stuck@Om with Toby Ord, author of The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.

This episode was recorded in early February 2020 just before the pandemic engulfed the world. We ended up talking about the lack of resilience in society. In this episode of Stuck@Om, I chat with T… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Away from keyboard

Some of the best ideas come from casual conversations. Take this chat I had with my friend Matt Mullenweg, founder and CEO of Automattic and co-creator of WordPress. We were talking about his compa… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Stuck@Om with Matt Mullenweg

In this episode of Stuck@Om, I got a chance to chat with my good friend, Matt Mullenweg. Matt is the CEO of Automattic and a founding member of WordPress. Matt usually travels extensively for work … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Reinterpretation (of self)

Reinterpretation of old images is mostly a futile exercise as all it does is exposes you to your shortcomings. Of course, if you look at it the other way, you are suddenly made aware of the progres… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[04.24.2020] SIGNALS

Here are some stories that I found interesting and will be worth reading. The first modern pandemic and the scientific advances we need to stop COVID-19: Bill Gates lays out the strategy and makes … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

The New New Working From Home Set-Up

I shared my new work from home set up a few days ago. Well, I ended up making some adjustments.  The double giant screens — iMac Pro and XDR Display are not for me — I need a single screen. The fol… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

My WFH Essentials

My dear friends at Acquire Mag are running a series on “work from home essentials.” They asked me my favorites and published the list. If you are interested in knowing my faves, visit A… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Currently Enjoying

Staying at home is a good opportunity to really savor things – you are not in a rush, and as a result, you can linger over words, images, sounds, and senses. At present, I am enjoying:  Mémoi… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Happy Earth Day

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Lao Tzu⁣ | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Start of a new photo adventure

Made with Leica SL & the Leica SL 24-90 lens. Focal Length: 24mm. Aperture f/22. ISO 50. Shutter speed 1/8th of a second. For the past few months, I have been toying with the idea of even more … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Hey HEY

Photo by  Markus Spiske  on  Unsplash  It has been a few years since I have been excited about a new application or a new service. And over the past three months, I have come across at least four f… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

This made me very sad

On an early morning walk, I walked past a big window and saw this plant starving to death, much like its neighbors who are desperate for a drink. The shutdown has many such silent victims. I don… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[PODCAST] Stuck@Om with Jason Fried

In today’s episode of Stuck@Om, I have a conversation with my friend Jason Fried, the co-founder and CEO of Basecamp. We talk about the parts of lockdown that we’ve enjoyed, as well as the ways it … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[PODCAST] Stuck@Om with Jason Fried

In today’s episode of Stuck@Om, I have a conversation with my friend Jason Fried, the co-founder and CEO of Basecamp. We talk about the parts of lockdown that we’ve enjoyed, as well as the ways it … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Upside of Constraints

The young co-founders of Paynter Jacket Company, a two-person clothing operation from the UK (whom I wrote about earlier) have a wonderful little piece on constraints and why they make you interest… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

#50

It just might be the worst kind of milestone to note — today is the 50th day of my isolation. What started on February 29 as a precaution, is now become a way of life. I have not had much contact w… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[Podcast] Stuck@Om with Paul Kedrosky

In this episode of Stuck@Om, I chat with my friend Paul Kedrosky, an investor, blogger and a deep thinker. He was very quick to recognize the potential threat and ramifications of the coronavirus a… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

#47

I am calling this one #47, because that’s how many days I have been stuck here. I am too tired today to coming up with a more clever headline for another dispatch from my home office.  Wh… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

On Panic with Friends by Howard Lindzon

A few weeks ago, my good friend Howard Lindzon (blogger, investor, and maverick) invited me to be on his Panic with Friends ((Howard Lindzon)) podcast. Howard is a skillful interviewer and as alway… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Adventures in standing in place

For the past 42 days or so, I have been working on my MacBook Pro 16 while sitting at my dining table or on the couch. I recognized from the outset that it wasn’t the most ergonomically effic… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

My Morning Speeds vs Evening Speeds

I am fortunate to live in a building that is serviced by WebPass, an SF-based, internet provider that is now owned by Google Fiber. I have been a customer for over a decade, and can’t live wi… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

My coffee of choice today

“The Great British Baking Show” hosts often talk about baked goods that are worth the calories. I think the same way about caffeine – whether it is in coffee or tea. As I mentione… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[04.13.2020] Signals

Today’s edition is about the pandemic and its impact. All but one of the articles I found that raised some good questions in my mind.   Is this the end of influencing as we know it? I suppose … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Dirty Dozen Con Jobs (Movies)

Criminal Reads shared a pretty good list of con-job movies to watch. I have seen every single one of those. And I absolutely love every single one of these, so I have no problems recommending them … | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

The Art of Stillness

Like many of you, I too sit in my little cocoon, sometimes worried and anxious about an invisible enemy. I also wonder when I will embark on my next adventure. What will that be? Where will I go fi… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Why we need to rethink how to support music (and creativity)

Anne Mueller, courtesy of Erased Tapes A recent random email turned me on to the work by Berlin-based pianist and ambient music impresario Nils Frahm. Through him, I stumbled upon Anne Muller, a ce… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

My contrarian view on Airbnb

Photo courtesy of Airbnb It is open season on Airbnb in the media these days. After all, they are one of the Silicon Valley stars most impacted by the pandemic currently sweeping the globe. With tr… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Guilty Pleasures

If you are like me, then between waves of productivity and relative calm, you are overcome with a feeling of anxiety and panic. After all, it is really weird to be locked up in your apartment, susp… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[Photo Set] Yet another walk down Embarcadero (in SF)

I am ever so grateful for the job that allows me to live this close to the water that I can go for a morning walk, and come home at peace with our collective insane reality. Yesterday, I walked out… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

[Podcast] Stuck@Om with Matt Buchanan

The current pandemic has exposed many of society’s frailties, and no other sector has been impacted more than the service industry, especially the food and restaurant ecosystem. A lot of us d… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago

Almost still waters

. Occasionally my morning walk throws up a surprise — fog masks the horizon, the ships, and the port buildings become a faint outline. Oakland fades out. And then with a little bit of contras… | Continue reading


@om.co | 4 years ago