Books

Industry analysts at Altimeter, Chris Silva and Jeremiah Owyang, did a welcome overview post of the technology that mattered at SXSW this year. Welcome because nearly every other SXSW post I saw was about the parties and corporate concerts…although I have been extremely guilty of that too at past SXSWs! I didn’t miss going to … Read more

This week I decided to make a change in my diet. In order to measure how my body reacts to the new diet, I’m logging the food I eat – at least for the next week in the adjustment period. There are no shortage of apps and websites that enable you to log your food. … Read more

It’s been over a month since my last ‘Writer’s Log’ entry. Partly that’s because I’ve been experimenting with other methods to keep my social media profile active. Also I began a private book journal this year. Perhaps that pushed the public one to the background. However, a friend reminded me this week that it’s been … Read more

In the recent Dominion Post newspaper profile of me, I told the interviewer that I wished I’d known my increased risk of getting diabetes type 1 *before* I got it five years ago. DNA testing service 23andMe launched at the end of 2007, about a month after I discovered my diabetic fate. So if it … Read more

“In a way, self-tracking helps me feel like I’m in control, especially during particularly stressful times.” Super Generic Girl Currently I use the Fitbit to track my activity during the day. I just did a 15 minute walk on my treadmill, after lunch, and logged about 1,800 steps towards my daily goal of 8,000. Like … Read more

I just sent off my first group of email pitches to literary agents. This is a whole new process for me, although of course I have plenty of experience with The Pitch. It’s just that I’ve been the one pitched to over the past ten years. During my time as a tech blogger, I received thousands of … Read more

Interesting article today in Medgadget about IBM’s super-computer Watson, which last year famously defeated the human champions of TV quiz show Jeopardy!. This year, IBM has been testing Watson out in the medical field. This is one of the ways it hopes to make money from the technology. IBM has partnered with the Cleveland Clinic … Read more

Up till now in my Writer’s Log, I’ve focused on the process of writing a book. But my intention is also to use these updates to discuss the topics I’ll be covering in my book. One of those topics is the Quantified Self movement. Quantified Self refers to the practice of measuring data about your … Read more

A visual ‘Writer’s Log’ tonight, because this image says it all for me today. From 10am through to 12pm, I had just one software program on my computer screen: Byword. It’s a classy, minimalist, word processing app for Mac (I think it was +Jon Mitchell who turned me onto it, earlier this year). At 10am, I put … Read more

Coming from the blogging world, one of the adjustments I’ve had to make is moving from a daily news mindset to one that is focused on a specific topic. I should add though that I’ve never been much of a news hound. I was fortunate to hire people at ReadWriteWeb who were much better at … Read more

Yesterday I talked about why I did a DNA test at 23andMe, a personal genomics company. Today I’ll discuss some of my results. 23andMe provides what’s called a “genotyping” service. It’s not a full sequence of your entire genome (i.e. your genetic makeup, coded by DNA/RNA), but a mapping of the main areas of interest. … Read more

I just finished listening in to a genomics briefing run by the Science Media Centre here in New Zealand. I also participated a bit at the end, as someone who has done a personal DNA test, in my case at 23andme. I had been asked to say a few words about why I did the … Read more

I’ve been talking a lot about Tom Wolfe recently. But I’m not quite the same kind of writer as him. Tom Wolfe is the master of literary nonfiction and one of my literary heroes. His main theme is – and always has been – status. It’s how he analyses and explains humanity, through the lens … Read more

Day 2 of my social media log (my somelog? The weblog of this era!). Yesterday I got more good research under my belt, plus I iterated on my book outline. I have the main topic and themes set and I have solid ideas on storyline and main characters. I should note that I’m easing my … Read more

It hasn’t yet been a month since I left ReadWriteWeb to begin writing a book. As expected, it’s taking some time to adjust. I haven’t opened Skype in at least a week – it used to be the main form of daily communication with my RWW colleagues. I miss it in a way, but I’m … Read more