Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Breaking my personal record for Craziest Apple Store Visit
Yesterday, 10 minutes into my flight to Toronto, my MacBook Pro's screen died. completely and dramatically. So when I hit the ground in TO, the first thing I did was called the nearest Apple store to see if I could get into the Genius Bar for a short-term fix. All...
Online Security as Herd Immunity
Privacy is available, but only if a critical mass of companies make the effort to protect it.
Established Companies, Get Ready for the Collaborative Economy
This post originally appeared on The Harvard Business Review website. As more and more startups like Airbnb, Etsy and Kickstarter crowd into the space of the collaborative economy, big brands are starting to get in on the action, too. Staples sells products developed...
Announcing Work Smarter, Rule Your Email
There's no part of online life that has a bigger impact on our productivity — and our happiness! — than email. But most email productivity guides focus on getting control over email, when what we really need is more control over our lives and our work. That's why I'm...
7 ways you can learn to love reading ebooks
About a decade ago, somebody gave us our first crock pot, also known as a slow cooker. For months we feasted on the remarkably easy, delicious dishes it could produce: chicken tagines and chilis, beef briskets and vegan stews. Then I made the mistake of discussing our...
It’s monkey see, monkey do over here
And you know, you usually don't let monkeys hack firmware.
The family that hacks together….
Saturday morning at our house: the kids are programming our new Lego Mindstorms robot. I'm installing Xcode on the Mac home media server...step one in the long road to controlling our Mini with our Kinect.
How to use your Facebook restricted list
This step-by-step guide shows you how to use Facebook’s restricted list to control who can see your posts.
Don’t be scared to Facebook your kids: A response to Amy Webb
Amy Webb has written an important but frustrating post on Facebook privacy and kids on the Slate website. Writing about a friend who extensively Facebooks photos and stories about her daughter "Kate", Webb worries that Kate's parents have compromised their child's...
11 things I want to stop learning
There are some things I seem destined to learn over and over again, and gosh, I wish I could stop learning them already. For example: Unplug it before you open it. If you don't want to do it tomorrow, you won't want to do it in three months, either. Just because Apple...
The Harvard Business Review
Breaking my personal record for Craziest Apple Store Visit
Yesterday, 10 minutes into my flight to Toronto, my MacBook Pro's screen died. completely and dramatically. So when I hit the ground in TO, the first thing I did was called the nearest Apple store to see if I could get into the Genius Bar for a short-term fix. All...
Online Security as Herd Immunity
Privacy is available, but only if a critical mass of companies make the effort to protect it.
Established Companies, Get Ready for the Collaborative Economy
This post originally appeared on The Harvard Business Review website. As more and more startups like Airbnb, Etsy and Kickstarter crowd into the space of the collaborative economy, big brands are starting to get in on the action, too. Staples sells products developed...
Announcing Work Smarter, Rule Your Email
There's no part of online life that has a bigger impact on our productivity — and our happiness! — than email. But most email productivity guides focus on getting control over email, when what we really need is more control over our lives and our work. That's why I'm...
7 ways you can learn to love reading ebooks
About a decade ago, somebody gave us our first crock pot, also known as a slow cooker. For months we feasted on the remarkably easy, delicious dishes it could produce: chicken tagines and chilis, beef briskets and vegan stews. Then I made the mistake of discussing our...
It’s monkey see, monkey do over here
And you know, you usually don't let monkeys hack firmware.
The family that hacks together….
Saturday morning at our house: the kids are programming our new Lego Mindstorms robot. I'm installing Xcode on the Mac home media server...step one in the long road to controlling our Mini with our Kinect.
How to use your Facebook restricted list
This step-by-step guide shows you how to use Facebook’s restricted list to control who can see your posts.
Don’t be scared to Facebook your kids: A response to Amy Webb
Amy Webb has written an important but frustrating post on Facebook privacy and kids on the Slate website. Writing about a friend who extensively Facebooks photos and stories about her daughter "Kate", Webb worries that Kate's parents have compromised their child's...
11 things I want to stop learning
There are some things I seem destined to learn over and over again, and gosh, I wish I could stop learning them already. For example: Unplug it before you open it. If you don't want to do it tomorrow, you won't want to do it in three months, either. Just because Apple...
OneZero
14 reasons not to allow your kid to fall asleep in your bed
Trying to convince your kid to stay in her own bed? Here’s a handy list of reasons.
Hey Vancouver: It’s okay to be boring
“Work-life balance”, “relaxed lifestyle”, “not Toronto” — these are the phrases Vancouverites use to describe what makes our city different from other cities. And not coincidentally, they are all ways of saying we’re a city with a slower pace than the vast majority of major North American cities.
How to Find Online Support During Life’s Biggest Milestones
Tech expert Alexandra Samuel helps you find online support when you are going through life’s biggest milestones.
Source: How to Find Online Support During Life’s Biggest Milestones
Using Online Resources to Stay Focused on Your Goals
Tech expert Alexandra Samuel shares six new strategies for using online resources to stay focused on your goals and inspired in your life.
Source: Using Online Resources to Stay Focused on Your Goals
5 Ways the Web Can Help You Celebrate Dad
Technology expert Alexandra Samuel shares five ways the web can help you celebrate dad this Father’s Day.
Living Low-Tech – Go Online and Get Crafty
Just because you live a high-tech life doesn’t mean you can’t go low-tech with great results. Alexandra Samuel shares a few places you can go online to get crafty.
Opinion: Should you care about Pinterest? | Macworld
Like Twitter is a new media newspaper, Pinterest is a new media glossy magazine. “Pinterest is the next step in the evolution of women’s magazines,” said Alexandra Samuel, Director of the Social and Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University. Women’s magazines...
Thank Your Mom: She Taught You How To Tech
In this post for The Atlantic, I argue that worrying about kids who choose to live online is as misplaced as worrying about seniors who choose to live offline.
JSTOR DAILY
14 reasons not to allow your kid to fall asleep in your bed
Trying to convince your kid to stay in her own bed? Here’s a handy list of reasons.
Hey Vancouver: It’s okay to be boring
“Work-life balance”, “relaxed lifestyle”, “not Toronto” — these are the phrases Vancouverites use to describe what makes our city different from other cities. And not coincidentally, they are all ways of saying we’re a city with a slower pace than the vast majority of major North American cities.
How to Find Online Support During Life’s Biggest Milestones
Tech expert Alexandra Samuel helps you find online support when you are going through life’s biggest milestones.
Source: How to Find Online Support During Life’s Biggest Milestones
Using Online Resources to Stay Focused on Your Goals
Tech expert Alexandra Samuel shares six new strategies for using online resources to stay focused on your goals and inspired in your life.
Source: Using Online Resources to Stay Focused on Your Goals
5 Ways the Web Can Help You Celebrate Dad
Technology expert Alexandra Samuel shares five ways the web can help you celebrate dad this Father’s Day.
Living Low-Tech – Go Online and Get Crafty
Just because you live a high-tech life doesn’t mean you can’t go low-tech with great results. Alexandra Samuel shares a few places you can go online to get crafty.
Opinion: Should you care about Pinterest? | Macworld
Like Twitter is a new media newspaper, Pinterest is a new media glossy magazine. “Pinterest is the next step in the evolution of women’s magazines,” said Alexandra Samuel, Director of the Social and Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University. Women’s magazines...
Thank Your Mom: She Taught You How To Tech
In this post for The Atlantic, I argue that worrying about kids who choose to live online is as misplaced as worrying about seniors who choose to live offline.
THE VERGE
The hybrid worker’s guide to screen time
How do you keep screen time intentional, healthy and rewarding? It’s a question many of us ask about our screen-glazed kids, but it’s also a question we need to ask of ourselves. Phones, computers and other gadgets are easy to overuse, not simply because we are frail...
No, Coda didn’t pay for that post.
No, Coda didn’t pay me to write that last post. But a few people wrote to ask, so I want to share the incriminating truth: I wrote that ode to Coda because I’m geeky, enthusiastic and incredibly bossy. I’m geeky enough to love a really good piece of software the way...
Your virtual Swiss Army Knife: Coda
What’s the best task list tool? How should I manage my social media content calendar? What system should I use to manage my startup’s sales pipeline? How can I keep track of my kid’s homework? I give the same answer to all of these questions: Coda. Coda is a flexible,...
Weird at Work
There is nothing like daily office attendance for teaching an employee how to fit in. That’s exactly why so many employers are fretful over the impact of hybrid and remote work on workplace culture, that nebulous term for the alchemy of knowledge exchange, human...