Keeping with my tradition of reporting personal stories of being stuck in the cogs of a malfunctioning bureaucratic machine (ie last year’s electricity outage), I give you: my typo travel disaster: My story begins with my checking in for my... more

Google got a court victory yesterday with respect to the machine-readable use of competing trademarks in contextual targeted online advertisements. I’ve been interested in this concept because the mark is never seen by the consumer (that’s the yet unresolved part... more

As a city dweller, I really haven’t been seeing much in the way of Christmas lights over the last few years. Tonight, on a bus through the suburbs, I was really surprised by the complexity of many of the displays... more

I’ve seen a couple of innovative consumer marketing tactics recently that have caught me by surprise. I don’t know if these are actually new ideas or if I just haven’t done enough Saturday shopping to notice, but these are certainly... more

I’ve been waiting all year for the new Year in Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine. It’s out in today’s Sunday Times and available on their website as well.... more

I saw the Pixies on Wednesday in Lowell, Massachusetts. I’m a huge Pixies fan, and I’d often dreamed that they would get back together for a tour. The show did not disappoint. They played plenty of songs, covering everything I... more