Articles about internet history and its impact on our culture.
-
Comparing Wayback Machine Copies of ReadWriteWeb to Old Screenshots
As I get ready to launch the serialization of my book, I discover that old Wayback Machine copies of ReadWriteWeb aren't always reliable.
-
Book Update + My Thoughts on Generative AI and Writing
An update on my Web 2.0 memoir (draft 1 finished!), plus thoughts on ChatGPT and its impact on society — especially on writers.
-
Twitter in 2007: The Open Platform That Wasn't
How do Bluesky and Mastodon compare with Twitter in 2007? Nobody quite knew what Twitter was back then, yet devs were already building on it.
-
ReadWriteWeb Turns 20
I look back on two decades of RWW, including the more than 10 years since I left! ☯️
-
The Golden Age of Microblogging, with Soup.io and Tumblr
I take a nostalgic trip back to 2007-11, when Tumblr, Soup.io, FriendFeed and other microblogging apps roamed the web. Also: are activity streams poised to make a comeback on the fediverse? 🍲
-
Foursquare Raps by the Go-Bang Mayor
I look back on a forgotten age in social media, when you checked-in to a place 100 times and took photos of your huevos rancheros 🍳 🫘 ☕
-
Flickr Before Smartphones and Instagram
What was it like using Flickr in early Web 2.0, in the age of digital cameras and before Instagram changed everything? 📸
-
BowieNet: The Inside Story of its Creation
An interview with one of the creators of David Bowie's 1998 web portal, BowieNet.