Latest publications
Read my latest stories for The Wall Street Journal, Passcode, The Harvard Business Review, JSTOR Daily and more.
Reduce the volume of your incoming e-mail with an e-mail “vacation”
5 essential ingredients for effective e-mail management
Put the 0 in 2011: 7 days to Inbox Zero
Review: ThinkGeek TK-421 Bluetooth Keyboard for iPhone
In my gift roundup for Harvard Business Review last week, I wrote that the secret to buying gadget gifts for early adopters is "to surprise us with something so new that it hasn't yet arrived at Best Buy". The item I suggested was a keyboard case for iPhone or iPad,...
A prescription for healthy social media use from the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association has come out with guidelines for how physicians should handle social media, as reported by the association's own news site. These guidelines shed light on the way that social media challenges existing models of medical care and the...
Santa goes to Best Buy
Early adopters are the hardest folks to shop for. As an early adopter married to yet another early adopter, we struggle to find good gifts, since we own every gadget we need, and many we don't. That's why you've got to surprise us with something so new that it hasn't...
Making sense of the Wikileaks backlash
The past week has seen a series of denial-of-service attacks on services like Paypal and Amazon, which have been characterized as a hacker retaliation for how these services have treated Wikileaks. Since I wrote my dissertation on hacktivism -- politically motivated...
The 5 questions to ask about online distraction
Whether you’re worried about the Internet’s impact on your attention span, or tired of hearing about how life online is driving us to distraction, these 5 questions will help you think more deeply about online distraction.
Social media insights from recent research
The more time college students spend online, the worst they do in their first semester....but they end up with better social lives. Facebook activism doesn't detract from offline activism: people who are politically active on Facebook are actually more politically...
Star Trek for kids
Many parents focus on preparing their children for a digital future by working on their basic math skills, helping them use a computer, or even teaching them the basics of programming. These parents are fools! If there is one thing I have learned from working with...