Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
The German media is up in arms today because both German politicians and journalists were surveilled by the United States. Meanwhile, Germany is being sued by Reporters Without Borders this week for intercepting email communications. Over in the UK, Amnesty International released a statement yesterday after learning that their communications
Sometimes it's important to step out of your life for a while. I spent the last week in Zürich, reconnecting with my Swiss family in the area. A long time ago, I named an open source software platform after a nearby town that my family made their home
From an organizational chart of the families that controlled Zurich. We're the mill wheel with the two moons in the middle.
From a chart of the families that ran Zurich.
Public transport is integrated and works beautifully in Zurich.
Built on the remains of an abbey for aristocratic women. It has amazing stained glass by Marc Chagall but I couldn't take a picture.
The reason Facebook dominates the Internet is that while we were busy having endless discussions about open protocols, about software licenses, about feed formats and about ownership, they were busy fucking making money. David Weinberger writes in the Atlantic: In the past I would have said that so long as
I love this app.
Not pictured: the sound of birds and sea lions.
This post by Bill Mills about power and communication in open source is great: Being belittled and threatened and told to shut up as a matter of course when growing up is the experience of many; and it does not correlate to programming ability at all. It is not enough
Twitter - by far the social network that I use the most - is struggling to break 300 million monthly active users and is not hitting revenue targets. (Contrast with Facebook's 1.44 billion monthly actives.) Even investor Chris Sacca has warned that he's going to start making
Memorial Day is an American holiday that commemerates people who have lost their lives in service to the United States. It's similar to Remembrance Day in the commonwealth countries, except that it's also a long weekend that marks the start of the summer. My dad spent