Writer & Tech Journalist
Richard MacManus The consumer facing Internet has always been where online innovation first happens. The Consumer Internet, as I’ll call it here, is where experiments are conducted. It’s where trends are born. Sometimes these trends move into the enterprise world (like cloud computing), sometimes they become a part of mainstream media (like blogs) and sometimes they change … Read more
I wrote this story in 2015, as part of my explorations into the future of virtual reality (my 2016 novel Presence is also about VR).
I was at a reception last week at the home of the US Ambassador to New Zealand, Mark Gilbert. The event was in celebration of innovation in New Zealand. “We share an ocean,” joked Ambassador Gilbert, as he listed some things America has in common with New Zealand. He meant the Pacific Ocean. New Zealand’s Minister … Read more
Most social media products rely on the ‘friend or follow’ model of connecting to other people. Friending usually means a two-way connection, whereas following is most often a one-way connection. Friending is inherently a strong connection, because it mimics how we operate in real life – friends socialize and share things together. But just how useful is it to have a follow connection with someone? I’m going … Read more
12 years ago to this day, I started a blog called ReadWrite/Web. It’s now called ReadWrite. Twelve years is a long time in the Internet world. Back in 2003, Facebook had just been launched from Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room, there was not yet a YouTube or Twitter, Apple’s most popular product was the iPod, and the height of mobile technology was … Read more
The virtual world Second Life launched in mid-2003 and from the start it was out of place. Its jerky and cartoonish graphics seemed to belong more to the 1990s than to the new era of social software. Nevertheless, Second Life enjoyed as much media attention in the 2000s as Web 2.0 darlings like Flickr and YouTube. Nowadays, in the … Read more
I recently started work on a novel, on the theme of Virtual Reality. I think VR is the most promising consumer technology around right now. Products like the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift, Sony’s Project Morpheus and Samsung’s Gear VR are all early stage (Oculus hasn’t even released a version 1.0 for consumers). But VR is poised … Read more
I’m pleased to announce that my book, Trackers: How Technology is helping us Monitor & Improve our Health, is now available on the Amazon Kindle Store for $7.99 and the Apple iTunes Store for $9.99. Click on one of the following links to purchase the book: Amazon Kindle Store Apple iTunes Store The ebook will also … Read more
Every December since 2004, I’ve posted a year in review of Internet technology. In 2010, I began doing a top 10 list of my favorite technology products and I’m continuing that format this year. 2014 has been a particularly interesting year for new media, with innovations in blogging, podcasting, curation and paid content. Three of my top ten are examples of new media innovation. … Read more
This morning Apple announced its much anticipated smartwatch, called Apple Watch. It will be released “early 2015,” which I’m thrilled to say is also when my book about self-tracking will be released! My book, entitled Trackers: How Technology Is Helping Us Monitor & Improve Our Health, is about how technology is fundamentally changing how we track our daily health … Read more
My first book, due out January 2015, is about the Quantified Self movement. It’s called Trackers: How Technology Is Helping Us Monitor & Improve Our Health. One of the chapters is about a doctor who encourages her patients to use self-tracking tools, such as Fitbit or MyFitnessPal. Well now there’s a self-tracking company that caters … Read more
Earlier this month I announced that my upcoming book about self-tracking had found a publisher. The book is entitled Trackers: How Technology Is Helping Us Monitor & Improve Our Health (the final title may be slightly different). My book was completed at the end of 2013 and has just started the editing process, so it’s … Read more
An update on my book writing activities. As you all know, I completed my first book, about self-tracking, at the end of 2013. Today I signed a publishing contract for that book. It’s with Bateman Publishing, one of New Zealand’s top indie publishers. Just remember that last year’s Man Booker Prize winner was published by … Read more
Just in time for the new year, I have completed the final manuscript of my book about consumer health technology. Weighing in at 72,965 words, the writing and editing is done. Now I just need to get it published! But that is a task for the first part of 2014. I’m feeling proud that I … Read more
