It was a busy weekend in tech coverage, despite the holiday. Among other things, four Xconomists were in the news, making headlines, announcing key moves, or as part of national articles—three of them in the New York Times. Here is a quick pointer:
–Stephen Wolfram was the focus of a New York Times article about what looking at your e-mail history over 20 years might reveal. Wolfram, a Boston Xconomist, is his own first subject: looking at two decades-plus of e-mail to try and glean insights into work habits and what led to his most creative periods. “I thought I should use myself as a guinea pig, and see what could be done,” he told the Times. You can find more of his insights, as well as some detailed graphs of what he uncovered on his blog in a post called, “The Personal Analytics of My Life.”
—San Diego Xconomist Larry Smarr was mentioned in the same article for his efforts pioneering the “Quantified Self.” Smarr wears sensors that collect all sorts of data on his sleep habits and bodily functions as a way to monitor his health and get ahead of potential issues: he has helped spark a growing movement in the field. He did a detailed interview with Xconomy San Diego editor Bruce Bigelow on the subject.
—Brad Hargreaves, co-founder of popular startup space General Assembly and a New York Xconomist , announced recently that GA will open a Boston facility soon. I first heard about the move in this tweet on Saturday by Fred Destin of Atlas Venture, but haven’t seen the news reported elsewhere: “Wow. Boston now has BostonStartupSchool (#learntodo),@Intelligent_ly and now general assemb.ly (@ga) is coming to town, big time.”
—San Francisco Xconomist Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, was the subject of a Q&A in the New York Times on Saturday. He was interviewed chiefly about his open management style and company culture, in which no employee has a phone or an office, and vacation time is unlimited.
Hargreaves and Libin will be plenary speakers at this year’s XSITE. We hope you can be there. You can find the full list of speakers to date, as well as registration information, here.
