Rachel Sklar
We live in a world now where everything is tweeted and Instagrammed and tagged and now, God help us, Vined. Calling out grievances over Twitter has become an industry norm.
I suspect I am like most people on the Internet in that I sign up for all sorts of sites and frequently use the same passwords.
Groupon, as you probably are by now aware, is exactly what it sounds like: a daily-deal site offering group discounts. Maybe you've seen that done before, but certainly not like Groupon, which has executed with an energetic sales force and engaging copywriters, many culled from the Chicago comedy scene.
Groupon is a great concept packaged in a superb name, but the concept of group discounts is not new.
Groupon's model: Getting the group discount rate first, finding the group second. The daily deal goes out and, if a minimum number of people sign up, they can all share in the group rate. Vendor gets customers, customers get a discount, Groupon gets a cut.
If you don't know Tom Lehrer, you should - in addition to being a classical pianist, mathematician, songwriter, satirist, researcher at Los Alamos and, he claims, inventor of the Jell-O shot, he is just delightfully funny and graceful.
I'm a Canadian who can't vote, so far be it from me to speak for what Americans want. But, I am also a close observer of politics and media in this country, and the intersection of both - and how both intersect, and overlap with, each other.
The comedian can put the punchline out there, but it's the audience that receives it - and has to get it.
The best jokes resonate because they uncover ridiculousness in our daily lives, reveal the silliness - and sometimes sadness - of things we see every day.
You actually can be passionate about things like making rational decisions based on a thorough airing of the facts, a reasonable and informed debate, a respect for the Constitution that includes, um, knowing about it.
Emily Gannett is tireless. I know this because I have traded emails with her at 2 A.M. only to later wake blearily to a chipper morning missive sent south of 6 A.M. before her morning run.
Jessica Jackley has a gift for making people want to fork over their cash. To total strangers. Far, far away.
There's a tendency, when the offspring of a famous person does something notable, to define them by their more-famous parent.
'Sesame Street' is awesome - not only because they teach, edify and entertain kids but because they savvily make it possible to do so with parental engagement, because the show is loaded with references for Mom and Dad.
If anyone was going to write the definitive account of what the 2008 election meant for women, it would be Rebecca Traister.
I use iTunes for downloading music, but I always decline when prompted to update this or that new version.
Twitter is all about user experience - the fact that it is so easy, so clean, so unencumbered has won it so many users and fans, for so many different reasons.
I have to say, I worry about Twitter. Not that it will survive - they don't need my blessing for that - but that it will stay the kind of open, community-enhancing-and-enabling site that made it flourish at the outset.
While I know that Twitter is doing just fine with or without my 140-character contributions, I also know that people are fickle, and when using something becomes too annoying, they stop.
Good Lord - if I couldn't multitask, I don't know what I'd do.
My first introduction to New Orleans was from the air, flying high over the city with a view of the land - and water - below.
Flying over New Orleans on our approach, I got it. There was no view of land without water - water in the great looming form of Lake Pontchartrain, water cutting through in tributaries, water flowing beside a long stretch of highway, water just - everywhere.
I love the way they look. I love the way they feel. I love saying the word again and again: Jeggings! Jeggings! Jeggings!
Oddly, a search for 'jeggings' in my email inbox shows that my first exposure to the phenomenon came from - wait for it - Mike Allen of 'Politico,' who helpfully explained the concept on December 20, 2009.
Put simply, the doctrine of 'Fair Use' applies to content republished from copyrightable material and how much of that content is, literally, fair to use.
For video clips, you can always assume that there is a creative component since you are literally dealing with production values.
On NBC, MSNBC and Hulu, you can size and cut clips to whatever length you want. Do online clips affect the TV market? I'm guessing not really.
Stuart Blumberg is suddenly an authority on the modern - or, dare we say, post-modern - family, thanks to the critically-acclaimed debut of his new film, 'The Kids Are All Right.'
I don't mind other guys seeing movies I want to see and then writing about them. That's fine, especially when it's the New Yorker's Anthony Lane, because he knows this stuff pretty well.
Craig Newmark looks like the kind of guy who would help you move your apartment, sell your furniture, get a job, or help you find that cute girl you saw on the subway.
Myself, I really like the iPad mounted as a frame, with a happy slideshow cycling through.
'The Crumbling of America' should be required viewing for local and national government, not to mention the local and national media who should be keeping their feet to the fire on guarding against disaster.
The road system that we've come to depend on, the road system that we built our wealth on and our power on, is falling apart.
I don't feel like I have to apologize for being a technophile, ever. Technology is awesome and lets me do so much. Nor do I feel like I have to apologize for loving my work.
What does 'work' mean in this 21st, ultra-wired century, with its exploding new industries, low barriers to entry and endless possibilities? Is technology making our lives more flexible - or our days more endless?
I am attached to my Blackberry. Sometimes, when I'm holding it, my other hand goes to my pocket automatically in search of it.
I love technology, and man, is it helpful. But it also means you're always on. Always findable. Always available to 'just take five minutes' to answer an email, tweet a link for someone, check in quickly on FourSquare.
To be honest, I've been a passionate advocate for the value of tech to help us connect to people in real and emotional ways - and stick up for myself when people say, 'Sklar! Stop tweeting!'
Here's the thing: 'The Hurt Locker' was an amazing, important film. But did I enjoy it? Of course not. It was very tough to watch and, while gripping, not exactly what you'd call a happy place.
When I go a stretch without tweeting, I will occasionally get an email from my mom, checking in. I always find this amusing but also gratifying: Thanks to Twitter, I can keep in touch with my parents and let them in on what I'm doing in a way that even the regular phone calls of a doting daughter can't do.
My co-founder and great friend Glynnis MacNicol is only a chat box away and gives me the support (and tough love!) needed to remember who I am and what I'm worth. You can't be your own cheerleader all of the time. Be there to support your friends and let them support you.Collection: Powerful
Goliaths, choose your Davids wisely.Collection: Goliath
If you DON'T have diversity around your boardroom table, then what is wrong with you?Collection: Diversity
There's a lot of money to be made by taking women seriously, and letting them know you're taking them seriously.Collection: Made
Friendships that are first grounded in the shared professional ambitions - social stuff is built around that - and then you see people pulling each other up as they rise.Collection: Ambition