I wrote a book: Read Write Own I believe blockchains and the software movement around them – typically called crypto or web3 – provide the only plausible path to sustaining the original vision of the internet as an open platform that incentivizes creativity and entrepreneurship. I’ve been investing behind this thesis for years, and advocating for it through writing and speaking and by talking to business leaders, journalists, and policymakers both here and around the world. Through all that, it became clear that we need a comprehensive book that clearly explains new technologies like blockchai ..read more

In his classic 2008 essay “1000 True Fans,” Kevin Kelly predicted that the internet would transform the economics of creative activities: To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans. A true fan is defined as a fan that will buy anything you produce. These diehard fans will drive 200 miles to see you sing; they will buy the ..read more

New technologies enable activities that fall into one of two categories: 1) doing things you could already do but can now do better because they are faster, cheaper, easier, higher quality, etc. 2) doing brand new things that you simply couldn’t do before. Early in the development of new technologies, the first category tends to get more attention, but it’s the second that ends up having more impact on the world. Doing old things better tends to get more attention early on because it’s easier to imagine what to build. Early films were shot like plays — they were effectively plays with a better ..read more

In his classic 2008 essay “1000 True Fans,” Kevin Kelly predicted that the internet would transform the economics of creative activities: To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans. A true fan is defined as a fan that will buy anything you produce. These diehard fans will drive 200 miles to see you sing; they will buy the ..read more

By taking a screenshot, you can “export” from any app on any device. You can “import” screenshots back into any app that imports photos (most apps). For these reasons, screenshots act like a universal file type on mobile. As @artypapers says: tweetstorm [https://twitter.com/artypapers/status/664846647797481472](https://twitter.com/artypapers/status/664846647797481472) Screenshots let you circumvent restrictions like file format incompatibilities, service non-interoperability, character limits, etc Much higher engagement when text is inline You can easily edit screenshots using simple to ..read more

Blockchains are computers that can make commitments. Traditional computers are ultimately controlled by people, either directly in the case of personal computers or indirectly through organizations. Blockchains invert this power relationship, putting the code in charge. A game theoretic mechanism — a so-called consensus mechanism — makes blockchains resilient to modifications to their underlying physical components, effectively making them resilient to human intervention. As a result, a properly designed blockchain provides strong guarantees that the code it runs will continue to operate as de ..read more

New technologies enable activities that fall into one of two categories: 1) doing things you could already do but can now do better because they are faster, cheaper, easier, higher quality, etc. 2) doing brand new things that you simply couldn’t do before. Early in the development of new technologies, the first category tends to get more attention, but it’s the second that ends up having more impact on the world. Doing old things better tends to get more attention early on because it’s easier to imagine what to build. Early films were shot like plays — they were effectively plays with a better ..read more

There are broadly two adoption paths for new computing technologies: inside-out and outside-in. Inside-out technologies are pioneered by established institutions and later proliferate outward to the mainstream. Apple (followed by Google and others) pioneered the modern touchscreen smartphone, university and corporate research labs pioneered machine learning, and big tech companies like Amazon pioneered cloud computing. Outside-in technologies, by contrast, start out on the fringes and only later move inward to established institutions. Open-source software started out as a niche anti-copyright ..read more

Blockchains are computers that can make commitments. Traditional computers are ultimately controlled by people, either directly in the case of personal computers or indirectly through organizations. Blockchains invert this power relationship, putting the code in charge. A game theoretic mechanism — a so-called consensus mechanism — makes blockchains resilient to modifications to their underlying physical components, effectively making them resilient to human intervention. As a result, a properly designed blockchain provides strong guarantees that the code it runs will continue to operate as de ..read more

During a media tour in 2007 in which Steve Jobs showed the device to reporters, there was one instance in which a journalist criticized the iPhone’s touch-screen keyboard. “It doesn’t work,” the reporter said. Jobs stopped for a moment and tilted his head. The reporter said he or she kept making typos and the keys were too small for his or her thumbs. Jobs smiled and then replied: “Your thumbs will learn.” When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, it mystified its competitors, because it wasn’t built for the world as it existed. Wireless networks were too slow. Smartphone users only knew how t ..read more