Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
There are motherf&!#ing blogs on the motherf&!#ing plane!
About an hour ago I tweeted the following: Desperately trying to think of a tweet that makes it clear I'm tweeting from the plane, w/out making it sound like that's the point. The responses to this tweet were so fantastic that I just have to round them up:...
Mac users, meet your menu bar
Can you recognize the signs of SMBB? Selective Menu Bar Blindness affects millions of Mac users, but has yet to be widely recognized as a chronic and debilitating condition. Patient X -- let's call her "Shmalexandra" -- was treated for a classic presentation of the...
Silence the voice of your inner blogging critic
On especially bad days this is what the voice in my head says: [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/9856414" params="show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff7700" width="100%" height="81" ] But here's the good news: there's nothing like hearing your...
15 resources to accelerate your social media learning
I just got back from a fantastic day at the 20th annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference at Harvard Business School. What an incredible event! If the students who organized it weren't going to be busy running the world's next generation of startups, non-profits...
How Apple could offer “digital valet” service
I spend a lot of time tweaking my systems. And by a lot, I mean....a lot. Between my Macbook Pro, iPhone, iPad and our two home media servers, I figure that I'm upgrading something every week. Then there's my online system: the widgets I install on my WordPress blog,...
Breaking up affordably
What can you learn from Sprint's fantastic new ad for its mobile billing package? Check it out: Now, the lessons: Do not break up via electronic media. Nobody is interested in hearing about the technical considerations behind a personal, social or business decision...
3 tech alternatives to the lost-and-found
Yesterday Little Sweetie returned home without her retainer. This is the moment we have been dreading for the four months since she got it. While interrogating her about possible locations for said orthodontic appliance, I couldn't help digressing into a conversation...
Learning to live with your lover’s virtual past
William Quincy Belle has a hysterically funny take on Shape's annual sex survey, which (among other things) looks at the impact of technology on our sex lives. Here's my favorite part of his blog post: 72 percent of women admitted in the survey to looking through a...
Ideas for the future of e-books
I enjoyed watching this video by blogger and digg founder Kevin Rose about his wishlist for e-book features. I found Kevin's video via a terrific round-up on social e-books at jjprojects
Listen to an ode to online love
One day in October I was driving home and listening to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga sing Telephone. I love them both but Telephone has a special place in my heart, especially I am sick and tired of my phone ringing Sometimes I feel like I live in Grand Central Station...
The Harvard Business Review
There are motherf&!#ing blogs on the motherf&!#ing plane!
About an hour ago I tweeted the following: Desperately trying to think of a tweet that makes it clear I'm tweeting from the plane, w/out making it sound like that's the point. The responses to this tweet were so fantastic that I just have to round them up:...
Mac users, meet your menu bar
Can you recognize the signs of SMBB? Selective Menu Bar Blindness affects millions of Mac users, but has yet to be widely recognized as a chronic and debilitating condition. Patient X -- let's call her "Shmalexandra" -- was treated for a classic presentation of the...
Silence the voice of your inner blogging critic
On especially bad days this is what the voice in my head says: [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/9856414" params="show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff7700" width="100%" height="81" ] But here's the good news: there's nothing like hearing your...
15 resources to accelerate your social media learning
I just got back from a fantastic day at the 20th annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference at Harvard Business School. What an incredible event! If the students who organized it weren't going to be busy running the world's next generation of startups, non-profits...
How Apple could offer “digital valet” service
I spend a lot of time tweaking my systems. And by a lot, I mean....a lot. Between my Macbook Pro, iPhone, iPad and our two home media servers, I figure that I'm upgrading something every week. Then there's my online system: the widgets I install on my WordPress blog,...
Breaking up affordably
What can you learn from Sprint's fantastic new ad for its mobile billing package? Check it out: Now, the lessons: Do not break up via electronic media. Nobody is interested in hearing about the technical considerations behind a personal, social or business decision...
3 tech alternatives to the lost-and-found
Yesterday Little Sweetie returned home without her retainer. This is the moment we have been dreading for the four months since she got it. While interrogating her about possible locations for said orthodontic appliance, I couldn't help digressing into a conversation...
Learning to live with your lover’s virtual past
William Quincy Belle has a hysterically funny take on Shape's annual sex survey, which (among other things) looks at the impact of technology on our sex lives. Here's my favorite part of his blog post: 72 percent of women admitted in the survey to looking through a...
Ideas for the future of e-books
I enjoyed watching this video by blogger and digg founder Kevin Rose about his wishlist for e-book features. I found Kevin's video via a terrific round-up on social e-books at jjprojects
Listen to an ode to online love
One day in October I was driving home and listening to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga sing Telephone. I love them both but Telephone has a special place in my heart, especially I am sick and tired of my phone ringing Sometimes I feel like I live in Grand Central Station...
OneZero
11 best practices for managing your social network memberships
Between the Wordpress.com hack, the Honda Canada hack and the Playstation hack, I feel like my favorite online identities have been seriously compromised. Nor am I the only one: the recent attack on PBS servers has also created potential identity risks for PBS...
10 ways Microsoft Kinect will change our world in the next decade
Six months after our Kinect arrived in our lives, it's mostly unused. But that doesn't mean it's any less transformative than I'd hoped...just in different ways than I predicted. In our household the Kinect's shining moment came on New Year's Eve, when our first...
Social media for small organizations: Why size matters
10 ways you can tap the value of the Delicious community
A social bookmarking service that draws value from both its user and developer communities, Delicious makes it easy to keep track of your favorite web sites. Here are 10 ways you can tap into the unique value of the Delicious.
Lady Gaga and the transcendent narcissism of social media
Lady Gaga’s on- and offline relationship to her fans is a case study in the power and perils of social media narcissism.
11 social media tools that put entrepreneurs on the right strategic path
My latest post for the Harvard Business Review was inspired by a trip I made to Romania earlier this spring. I visited Bucharest and Cluj as part of the School for Startups, a highly successful UK-based entrepreneurship program created by Doug Richard. S4S is running...
Making art from a lifetime of data
This weekend Little Sweetie asked whether she can have my computer when I die. I had to explain that she is unlikely to want it: by the time I die, my current computer will be useless. "But how about this," I suggested instead. "When I die, you can have whatever...
Klexi is the cheap and easy way to transfer video to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch
If you're heading out of town or to the gym with your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, and you want to load it with videos for the road, you've got a couple of options for filling it up with those yummy, legitimately downloaded .avi and .mkv files (which I'm absolutely,...
JSTOR DAILY
11 best practices for managing your social network memberships
Between the Wordpress.com hack, the Honda Canada hack and the Playstation hack, I feel like my favorite online identities have been seriously compromised. Nor am I the only one: the recent attack on PBS servers has also created potential identity risks for PBS...
10 ways Microsoft Kinect will change our world in the next decade
Six months after our Kinect arrived in our lives, it's mostly unused. But that doesn't mean it's any less transformative than I'd hoped...just in different ways than I predicted. In our household the Kinect's shining moment came on New Year's Eve, when our first...
Social media for small organizations: Why size matters
10 ways you can tap the value of the Delicious community
A social bookmarking service that draws value from both its user and developer communities, Delicious makes it easy to keep track of your favorite web sites. Here are 10 ways you can tap into the unique value of the Delicious.
Lady Gaga and the transcendent narcissism of social media
Lady Gaga’s on- and offline relationship to her fans is a case study in the power and perils of social media narcissism.
11 social media tools that put entrepreneurs on the right strategic path
My latest post for the Harvard Business Review was inspired by a trip I made to Romania earlier this spring. I visited Bucharest and Cluj as part of the School for Startups, a highly successful UK-based entrepreneurship program created by Doug Richard. S4S is running...
Making art from a lifetime of data
This weekend Little Sweetie asked whether she can have my computer when I die. I had to explain that she is unlikely to want it: by the time I die, my current computer will be useless. "But how about this," I suggested instead. "When I die, you can have whatever...
Klexi is the cheap and easy way to transfer video to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch
If you're heading out of town or to the gym with your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, and you want to load it with videos for the road, you've got a couple of options for filling it up with those yummy, legitimately downloaded .avi and .mkv files (which I'm absolutely,...
THE VERGE
Love in flames: finding the joy in hostile comments
"I don't know why you care about the shit that a bunch of total strangers say about you on the Internet." This was my mom's delightfully candid and potentially comforting response to this week's comment eruption on my Harvard Business Review post. My mom is quite an...
Saying goodbye to pen and paper
My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review has provoked a strong reaction to the idea of saying goodbye to the paper notebook. Here's my own take on the experience of giving up on paper and pen. 4.00 22.95 Alexandra Samuel Those 25 characters, comprising a tip, a...
13 New Year’s resolutions for a better life online
As you start the new year with the best intentions for your personal, professional and emotional development, don't forget to put your tech life on the list. Here are 13 resolutions to choose from, depending on your own tech challenges and commitments; you'll know...
Please help me launch my new Harvard Business ebook, Work Smarter with Evernote
On December 18th, Harvard Business Review Press will release my first ebook: Work Smarter with Evernote. This short guide shows how Evernote can help you become more focused and effective on the job—and get ahead in your career. I'd like to ask for your help: please...