https://blog.louisgray.com/ A Silicon Valley early adopter tech geek blog, written by Googler Louis Gray. https://blog.louisgray.com/2019/02/the-future-of-web-q-panels-should-be.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2019/02/the-future-of-web-q-panels-should-be.html 2019-02-19T13:35:00.001-08:00 Last week, Recode's veteran tech reporter Kara Swisher visibly held an aggressive interview with Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey , who has been on something of a meandering press tour over the last few months, which has led to more questions than it's seemingly answered , as he has avoided specifics, and not taken full responsibility for many of the negative impacts the platform he created has https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/11/technology-designed-to-help-you-breathe.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/11/technology-designed-to-help-you-breathe.html 2018-11-17T16:30:00.000-08:00 Silicon Valley has been the leader in many things for decades, but rarely has the region's first place position been for something as undesirable as air quality. Following the record-setting disaster that has wiped out my one-time hometown of Paradise , Bay Area residents are choking on the resulting downwind smoke, seeking answers as to how unsafe it is, and how they can gain relief. And while I https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/11/when-hometown-you-always-knew-could.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/11/when-hometown-you-always-knew-could.html 2018-11-15T13:50:00.000-08:00 Let's talk about the Camp Fire for a second. My family moved to Paradise in 1991, as I was starting 8th grade. I lived there through high school, until heading to college. The family stayed until all kids had graduated high school - the last in 2004. (This story is adapted from a thread I initially posted on Twitter ) This was us at home in '91. While news has referred to Paradise as isolated, we https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/10/comments-as-platform-or-silencing-trolls.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/10/comments-as-platform-or-silencing-trolls.html 2018-10-20T19:30:00.000-07:00 My plea to Jack on Twitter . Web content has typically divided into three camps - those who create, those who react, and those who just watch. The lurkers, if you will. From the very earliest days of blogging, those first posts awaited the inevitable comments, and, given a clear revenue stream, you would see early participants like Fred Wilson say that "comments are how bloggers get paid." [Source https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/10/how-23-year-old-me-got-job-at-stealth.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/10/how-23-year-old-me-got-job-at-stealth.html 2018-10-17T22:45:00.000-07:00 My first two years in Silicon Valley were spent in Burlingame at a dotcom that hoped to revolutionize telecommunicatons online - with Web meetings, conference calls and even faxing from the Web. They had great services, but not enough customers, and eventually ran out of funding in early 2001, jettisoning marketing, sales and business development folks, before selling for scraps to Oracle. Being i https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/real-valley-stories-search-engine.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/real-valley-stories-search-engine.html 2018-01-30T12:00:00.001-08:00 Editor’s Note: Part 12 in an irregular series of stories from my many years in Silicon Valley. Part 11 talked about the time I got called into HR's office to meet with lawyers over industrial espionage . This time, a story involving gray hat search engine marketing in the early days of the Web. DMOZ is now closed. Believe it or not, before the world of automated spiders that crawled the entire Web https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/with-web-at-center-chromebook-options.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/with-web-at-center-chromebook-options.html 2018-01-18T22:30:00.000-08:00 This looks like an ad. But it's just a few recent Chromebooks. In 2011, on my first day at Google , I was asked to pick out a laptop. The choices were slim - a thin Apple MacBook Air or the larger MacBook Pro, a forgettable Windows equivalent, or a Linux device more suitable for engineers. While I had the company's first foray into Chromebooks, the CR-48, at home , in addition to my own personal M https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/smartphones-have-virtually-eliminated.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/smartphones-have-virtually-eliminated.html 2018-01-17T20:45:00.002-08:00 People are constantly on their phones. All day. There's a flurry of debate over whether smartphones and their apps have become too addicting . While there is no complete agreement over how often smartphone users access their phones each day, estimates put the number at anywhere from 80 to 150 times . If you're a typical human who is awake about 16 hours a day, that's five to ten accesses per hour. https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/linking-less-and-talking-more.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/linking-less-and-talking-more.html 2018-01-10T13:00:00.000-08:00 The World Wide Web was designed to primarily do three things - inform, discover and connect. A globally connected series of documents could instantly bring you to the thoughts and experiences of someone across the world. In the earliest designs of the Web, it was through hyperlinks that you would find those new voices. Links brought you new sources of data, and those downstream documents led you e https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/space-fillers-and-superstars-silicon.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/space-fillers-and-superstars-silicon.html 2018-01-09T10:15:00.000-08:00 Career Paths Are Often Circuitous Routes My career in Silicon Valley started before I'd even graduated from college. Rather than plug away at Berkeley and try to get top grades, I split my time my senior year between going to classes and commuting across the Bay Bridge to Burlingame, working for a revenue light startup during the initial dot com boom. By the end of 2018, I will have completed twen https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/a-decade-of-silos-has-throttled-open.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/a-decade-of-silos-has-throttled-open.html 2018-01-04T19:20:00.000-08:00 The 2018 Social Media Flow is Driven by Content Silos In the ten-plus years since I started this blog, one of the clearest trends on the Web has been for destination sites to want to control the user session and experience. In parallel, sites focused on aggregating content from external sites or highlighting the best of the web - serving as a filtered pass through, have struggled. Many are gone. W https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/how-google-home-in-every-room-gives-my.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/how-google-home-in-every-room-gives-my.html 2018-01-03T20:45:00.000-08:00 Some time last year, we installed five Google Home units in our house. One was placed in the master bedroom. One each went in both our kids' rooms, as well as one in the office, and one downstairs in the kitchen. Knowing that asking Google any question was just a simple request away, I was eager to see how the family would adjust to having a friendly assistant ready at any time to go fetch answers https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/why-silicon-valleys-real-estate-crisis.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/why-silicon-valleys-real-estate-crisis.html 2018-01-02T10:40:00.000-08:00 This nice home would probably go for $2 million in some Bay Area cities. That Silicon Valley housing is very expensive is no surprise to anyone who is paying attention. Fueled by a bullish tech market for the better part of a decade, with inventory dramatically constrained, each new home entering the market can be flooded with aspiring buyers who are eager to pony up millions of dollars for uninsp https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/silicon-valleys-lost-year-blends-fake.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2018/01/silicon-valleys-lost-year-blends-fake.html 2018-01-01T21:15:00.000-08:00 At the beginning of last year, as the Trump presidency sickeningly took hold, I worried his mere presence and daily volleys against what most of us thought to be good and proper, right and just, would dominate our every thought and conversation . His long shadow of darkness constantly loomed against any chance of progress and invention - taking the luster off usual excitement, demanding an unrelen https://blog.louisgray.com/2017/01/your-steady-stream-of-tech-news-will.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2017/01/your-steady-stream-of-tech-news-will.html 2017-01-30T12:15:00.000-08:00 The Web always promised to bring people together. But just as simply, it can drive people apart, as geographical barriers or partial or full anonymity empowers people to say things or behave in ways they wouldn't in a direct setting. Accelerated by the new reality of realtime streams where everyone has a megaphone and seemingly everyone is working to "go viral" and make the biggest noise leads to https://blog.louisgray.com/2017/01/trumps-looming-100b-distraction-and.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2017/01/trumps-looming-100b-distraction-and.html 2017-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:00 Each year, American businesses are confronted with estimates that upwards of $2 to $4 billion in worker productivity is lost thanks to employee office pools around March Madness, the month-long college basketball championship tournament. Conventional wisdom has it that the tens of millions of players may physically check in to the office, but mentally are somewhere else, working at half speed, sap https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/04/real-valley-stories-svp-of-hr-and-bunch.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/04/real-valley-stories-svp-of-hr-and-bunch.html 2016-04-21T17:00:00.000-07:00 Editor’s Note: Part 11 in an irregular series of stories from my many years in Silicon Valley. Part 10 talked about the time I left my job for a competitor and rescinded the offer. This time, a story involving industrial espionage, the SVP of HR and way too many lawyers. If I could show the leads from the lawyers’ lists were gone from our system, we’d be on a path to redemption. The day had starte https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/03/stepping-out-with-fitbit-blaze.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/03/stepping-out-with-fitbit-blaze.html 2016-03-11T12:45:00.000-08:00 It has been years since I wore a watch regularly. Considering I’m rarely more than an arm’s length away from any smart device, I’d weaned myself away long ago — relying instead on my phone, laptop or tablet to give the time. And in the past few years, with many different smartwatch options popping up, from Apple’s offering and an array of Android Wear watches, I’ve browsed regularly, but not yet f https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/02/we-need-smart-and-personal-streams-not.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/02/we-need-smart-and-personal-streams-not.html 2016-02-11T15:30:00.000-08:00 Once again, the tech web is aflutter about a proposed change in Twitter’s timeline — as they have finally made a choice to offer more than a simply chronological feed of updates displayed in the order they were posted. While a chronological order of tweets can be considered a hallmark definition of what Twitter is today, and truthfully, one of its most addictive features as each new Tweet rolls in https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/02/running-social-fantasy-stock-portfolio.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/02/running-social-fantasy-stock-portfolio.html 2016-02-09T10:00:00.000-08:00 It’s no secret the stock market has been more than a little bit rough this year. After years of growth and optimistic enthusiasm about Internet giants, promising biotech pioneers who aimed to change the world, and starry eyed hope for unprofitable unicorns, 2016 has seen record setting declines through January, with the average company losing double digit percentages in value, and less fortunate m https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/01/listen-different-and-learn.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2016/01/listen-different-and-learn.html 2016-01-14T16:45:00.000-08:00 For most people, new ideas and perspectives make us uncomfortable. It’s easier and less taxing to surround ourselves with people who agree with our worldview, and reinforce our way of thinking, to make us believe we are correct. We self-select our communities, both in the physical world, and the online space, and these friends or peers become an extension of our own identity. A byproduct of this s https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/10/layoffs-and-loyalty-in-liquid-valley.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/10/layoffs-and-loyalty-in-liquid-valley.html 2015-10-13T22:30:00.000-07:00 Layoffs Are Painful. Even if the X Doesn’t Land on You (Image: Dreamstime ) In seventeen years of work in Silicon Valley, I’ve only left a job by choice once — in 2011, when I made the jump from being a partner at my own consulting group to join Google . The other three times, my employer informed me my time was up, and at that my services were no longer needed, loyalty be damned. In two cases, th https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/08/having-clear-call-to-action-can-drive.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/08/having-clear-call-to-action-can-drive.html 2015-08-31T17:45:00.000-07:00 As a member of the Google Analytics team, I regularly field questions at events or on our social channels about how online and offline activity can drive results, and what metrics have value. As no two businesses are the same, it's critical to determine the status of your company and find if your activity can bring impact to results that matter, be they clicks, leads, registrations, opportunities https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/07/tech-company-shifts-position-sunnyvale.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/07/tech-company-shifts-position-sunnyvale.html 2015-07-30T11:20:00.000-07:00 In Silicon Valley, some of the most prosperous cities and most sought after zip codes to live, raise a family and send kids to school, are directly dependent on the proximity to corporate headquarters of the leading technology companies. As some of the biggest companies are running out of room in their headquarter cities, the resulting demand for continued growth is putting pressure on neighboring https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/05/siliconvalleyblinders.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/05/siliconvalleyblinders.html 2015-05-14T10:15:00.000-07:00 Just about four years ago, Eli Pariser raised some very real flags about the "filter bubble" , concerned that many of us on the Web were limiting our viewpoints by following those people and companies with whom we were most aligned. Our personal positions on politics, sports, and yes, even technology, have us in a constant state of affirmation seeking, and the desire to be part of a group of like- https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/03/friendfeeds-closure-another-painful.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/03/friendfeeds-closure-another-painful.html 2015-03-09T15:00:00.000-07:00 Amidst all the Apple watch hoopla today, FriendFeed's blog announced the long-ignored social networking pioneer was finally going to be taken out back behind Facebook's brilliant new campus and be put down for good . With the network's acquisition five years behind us in the rear view mirror, and user statistics consistently down, mothballing the once unique and vibrant community seemed only a mat https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/02/youtube-for-kids-smart-mobile-first-and.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/02/youtube-for-kids-smart-mobile-first-and.html 2015-02-23T15:45:00.000-08:00 In December, I wrote about viewing technology through the eyes of a child . As much as I think of myself as an early adopter and 'with it' net citizen, I'm equally amused and amazed at the activities my own kids rapidly learn and partake in when it comes to technology and the Web, how things and concepts once considered the future are commonplace. And their eyes, unvarnished by the way things have https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/01/adult-problems-suck-i-blame-drews.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/01/adult-problems-suck-i-blame-drews.html 2015-01-12T11:30:00.000-08:00 I quickly glossed over it during my first post of the year , when I said "Adult problems can be a real pain," but I'd be skirting around some big issues if I didn't go deeper on some very real drama that in years past would see me aggressively pounding the drum to draw attention to their pain , hoping to rally others to their cause . But as I get older, and, as a result, my friends do too, struggl https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/01/10-new-years-resolutions-for-you-for.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2015/01/10-new-years-resolutions-for-you-for.html 2015-01-01T19:30:00.000-08:00 A new year is a somewhat arbitrary point in time to mark change. But tradition has it that we do two things when the calendar turns from December to January. We look back on the previous year, either with pride over accomplishments, or dismissal of bad experiences, and we optimistically expect the best for the coming twelve months. In years past I've put forth fun predictions for the world in tech https://blog.louisgray.com/2014/12/a-successful-100k-steps-leads-to-sore.html https://blog.louisgray.com/2014/12/a-successful-100k-steps-leads-to-sore.html 2014-12-25T21:30:00.000-08:00 Monday's personal record setting Fitbit dashboard Last week, I introduced a crazy and audacious goal , of knocking out 100,000 steps (as measured by Fitbit), in the name of personal achievement and to raise money for Camp Taylor , a summer camp for children with heart disease, in honor of colleague Ken Norton 's son, Riley . And I'm beyond happy to say our adventure was a success. As chronicled on