If you’re reading this from a cubicle, you probably won’t be in 2 years. If you’re reading from a laptop, you likely won’t be doing that either. Space and the tools we use in the space will be drastically transformed in the coming years. I’m not a psychic; this is strictly based on data, trends,…
My father recently won second place in an essay contest about the American Dream. The contest was sponsored by the Asian supermarket Hmart, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. It just so happens that my parents are also celebrating their 30 year anniversary of living in the United States. In 1982, they emigrated from…
I’ve visited three incredible startups in the first 48 hours since being back in New York. Some initial takeaways: LearnVest – their first live event at the Metropolitan Pavilion on Tuesday night brought hundreds of women to learn about finances and how to live our “richest” lives. Founder Alexa von Tobel founded the NY-based company after realizing that…
I first heard about Alice Lee last month through Twitter. Amid a flurry of 140-character statements, the headline about a Wharton student skipping class and deserving a job at Instagram caught my eye. Instagram? Skipping class? My mouse honed in. I arrived at Dear Instagram – With Love, Alice, a website with pretty cursive typeface floating daintily…
Everyone is jumping on the storytelling bandwagon. I say that not in condescension, but in gladness. Before KONY 2012 went viral and was touted as a new media sensation, storytelling was already recognized as a crucial vehicle for awareness. Done well, it made all the difference between Hollywood classics versus duds, election winners versus losers,…
“Nothing of me is original. I am a combined effort of everybody I’ve ever known.” -Chuck Palahniuk Though this tramps rudely on my artfully formed identity, it does remove some of the pressure. I am a skilled shopaholic only because my middle school friends would berate people who left the mall empty-handed. (Thus, my impressive…
Idealism at its best, but it’s always important to set missions and goals. 1. I believe the next generation is charged with a challenge: to coalesce gracefully with a rapidly evolving world, 2. I believe the current status quo in institutional education does not equip us with relevant tools to meet this challenge, nor does…
Some of you may be familiar with Foursquare, the fast growing location-based mobile application that encourages people to explore local businesses and check-in for points, potential discounts etc. Like many, I was initially a bit hesitant with the check-in service because I couldn’t quite understand its value. Two years ago, I asked an early Foursquare adopter…
How did we ever find good restaurants and services before the Internet? I remember the days when observations like “Mrs. Smith told me that her friend’s son’s girlfriend’s mother’s ex-husband recently opened an Italian restaurant that’s pretty decent” were considered highly useful. Based on these sole recommendations, off we’d go to the pizzeria- such adventurers-…
Read more Lesson #3: Beyond the transaction, connecting is key.
Imagine a world lifestream. David Gerlenter, professor at Yale, otherwise known as oracle, predicts that in the future all of the world’s data will be consumed through a ‘lifestream’. A particular goal is to create a lifestream which aggregates the most popular social network streams, and includes email and stuff like that. It will generate…
The Social Files 