We’re going to be redesigning the blog over the next few weeks to make it more user friendly and to bring in some new blogging features to dialog on the book topics and more. If there are any blogs that you personally enjoy, and that you think we should consider as we work on our own redesign, I hope you will post the links or send us an email. You might also tell me what about the site it is that you particularly like.
Click on the comments link to share your thoughts.
– Bob
Here are my responses to previous weeks’ comments:
Jonathan Boyd (Week 35): Thank you for pointing out to me the other implications of convergence that I overlooked, especially in the SCADA arena. I surmise you are working in this area. On the matter of the utilities using information to adjust rates based on usage, I’m not as concerned as you are. The public utilities commissions (PUC) in the various states oversee the rate structures and I suspect they would keep the utilities from gouging their customers. Regarding federal government versus private sector data mining, I don’t know which is more worrisome.
Barbara McClurken (Week 34): Let me respectfully point out to you that the editor at The Economist is not Malin Burnham, but John Micklethwait. In his talk, he said that he thought the solution to the U.S. trade deficit problem was going to be more free trade. However, there are opposing political forces of a protectionist nature in many countries that may make this more difficult. Free trade seems to be in many instances a one-sided approach. U.S. domestic markets are open to foreign products, but many foreign markets are not open to U.S. products.
William Weeks (Week 30): Thank you for recounting your publishing exploits in my blog. I have some advice for you regarding hiring a publicist for your children’s book. Be sure you hire someone who specializes in publicizing children’s books, not just a generalist.