Category: My musings

Why Are Google Glass Users Such Assholes?

Childish. Petty. Disrespectful.

These were the only words I could muster after reading about how a group of Glass users destroyed the Yelp rating of a local NYC restaurant, all because they asked one person to take off her Google Glass in their restaurant.

I’ve been asked to take off Glass before, and I’ve obliged without issue. After all, it’s their restaurant and their rules. If a restaurant asks me to put my cell phone away, I will. If somebody asks me to take off my shoes in their home, I respect their wishes. But Katy Kasmai didn’t take being asked to remove Glass so well. She refused to eat there because she couldn’t put the computer off her face. Instead she posted to Google+ and, for some reason, her Google+ followers and other Glass users decided to vote down the restaurant on Yelp, OpenTable and Google/Zagat.

(Correction: From what I could find, Katy never rallied or asked her followers to downvote the restaurant. Google Glass users did that all on her own.)

Oculus Rift: Facebook’s $2 Billion Attempt to Seize Its Destiny From Apple and Google

Can’t say I saw this one coming. Facebook, on the heels of its $19 billion blockbuster acquisition of WhatsApp, has dropped another $2 billion (plus a potential $300 million in earn-outs) for Oculus VR, the company that makes Rift. If you haven’t tried the Rift, it’s extraordinary. The first time I played with it, I… Continue reading Oculus Rift: Facebook’s $2 Billion Attempt to Seize Its Destiny From Apple and Google

The Floodgates Have Opened

The floodgates have just burst open, not just in the world of technology, but in the entire free market. In the very way we view capitalism. I am, of course, talking about Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp for $16 billion ($19 billion when you count the restricted stock units). It is the largest acquisition of a… Continue reading The Floodgates Have Opened

Announcing “Captivology”, My Book on the Science of Attention (HarperCollins/2015)

Dear friends, family, colleagues, and supporters,

I’m thrilled to announce my first non-fiction book, working title “Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention“, due in early 2015 from HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins.

I hope you will sign up for updates on Captivology through my book’s website. You can follow @Captivology on Twitter or like Captivology on Facebook. You can also follow @BenParr for regular updates. And finally, here’s a link for sharing this announcement.

BenParr.com Gets a Makeover, Thanks to RebelMouse

BenParr.com has become dynamic and social, thanks to RebelMouse. A year or two ago, I created almost ALL of my content via blogging. I wrote 2,400+ articles on Mashable, and I was blogging pretty often on BenParr.com. Things have changed, though. Much of the content I would normally blog about appears instead on Facebook, Twitter,… Continue reading BenParr.com Gets a Makeover, Thanks to RebelMouse

Spamming My Friends With Facebook Ads Is the Wrong Way to Get My Attention

Facebook targeted ad fail, right @benparr? twitter.com/toddjolmstead/… — Todd Olmstead (@toddjolmstead) May 21, 2012 Being a former @Mashable editor is weird. cc @benparr yfrog.com/kk28138309p — Samuel Axon (@SamuelAxon) May 22, 2012 Thanks for spamming my Facebook friends with this ad, MyDreamDorm. Please don’t do it again.