about

I am a consultant, educator and journalist focusing on the Internet and all aspects of digital technology.

I have advised schools, SMEs and not-for-profit organisations on how to exploit the collaborative and publishing opportunities offered by the Internet, and have written for numerous publications (including The Guardian and Macworld) on topics ranging from personal publishing, online communities, and other web 2.0 phenomena. And I occasionally write code.


Current assignments include writing a blog for ZDNet called The Social Web, and editor of last100.com (a blog co-published with Richard MacManus of Read/WriteWeb).

I'm also the writer and director of the documentary, In Search of the Valley: a personal journey into the psyche of Silicon Valley.

In 2002 I was made a fellow of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (nesta.org.uk), and from 2004 - 2005 I served on the board of governors for the University of East London.

The Social Web (my ZDNet blog)

Viacom vs YouTube exposes Google’s data retention policy
In the ongoing litigation between Viacom and YouTube (Google) over alleged copyright infringement, a US court has ruled that Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube. The one thing that bothers me more than the court ruling itself, however, is the fact that Google retains this amount of user data in the first place.

TipiT adds payment pledges to Twitter
While not quite the Twitter mobile payments idea I wrote about yesterday, TipiT, a payment service designed for websites that want to add a 'tip jar' feature, has already ahead and added Twitter integration.

Could Twitter become the next PayPal?
"Twitter’s not going to make their money with advertising. So how can they be a Billion Dollar Company in a year?", writes Nate Westheimer over at Silicon Alley Insider. The answer, he says, is for Twitter to get into the P2P mobile payments space.

Digg’s new “recommendation engine” could be a boon to advertisers
After what seemed like endless hints and pre-announcements, social news site Digg will finally start rolling out its "Recommendation Engine" this week.

AOL to offer “guaranteed” ad rates for Bebo and Facebook application developers
In an attempt to attract developers to its own ad platform, AOL announced today that it will “guarantee CPM revenues to developers on Facebook and Bebo’s platforms if they opt to use its Platform-A ad technology”, reports CNET’s Caroline McCarthy. If the offer sounds to good to be true, it probably is. The guaranteed rates - [...]