Jason Pontin's guest appearances

Jason Pontin

The Kindle Chronicles

Robert Wright's Nonzero

IT Visionaries

Market Edge with Larry Weber

Chris Brogan

Alex Mashinsky

Chris Bailey

Nicholson Baker

Robert Dugoni

Cynthia Bourgeault

Ann Handley

Seth Godin

Jim Jones

John Gray

Jeff Bezos

Scott Clark

Charlene Li

Michael Anderle

Lisa Unger

OwlTail

As a journalist during the dot-com boom and throughout more than a decade as the Editor In Chief of the MIT Technology Review, Jason Pontin has seen technology of all kinds emerge from its earliest stages to become the world-shifting technology we and use today. After watching that evolution happen for so long, Jason decided he wanted in on the action. Today. He is a Senior Advisor for Flagship Pioneering, where he is focused on how technology can be used to make a larger impact on the world. On this episode, he talks about some of the projects and companies he’s involved with, and he explains why he believes A.I. and deep learning will be huge forces in shaping the world moving forward.  Key Takeaways:    Certain technologies — like A.I. and gene editing — will have a greater impact than we currently understand   Using computers and A.I. to do things that humans can’t will, hopefully, lead to more breakthroughs   New technology can lead to new and better jobs, but it takes time    ---  IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform

As a journalist during the dot-com boom and throughout more than a decade as the Editor In Chief of the <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MIT Technology Review</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonpontin/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jason Pontin</a> has seen technology of all kinds emerge from its earliest stages to become the world-shifting technology we and use today. After watching that evolution happen for so long, Jason decided he wanted in on the action. Today. He is a Senior Advisor for <a href="https://www.flagshippioneering.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Flagship Pioneering</a>, where he is focused on how technology can be used to make a larger impact on the world. On this episode, he talks about some of the projects and companies he’s involved with, and he explains why he believes A.I. and deep learning will be huge forces in shaping the world moving forward.  Key Takeaways: <ul> <li>Certain technologies — like A.I. and gene editing — will have a greater impact than we currently understand</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Using computers and A.I. to do things that humans can’t will, hopefully, lead to more breakthroughs</li> </ul> <ul> <li>New technology can lead to new and better jobs, but it takes time</li> </ul> --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/products/platform/overview/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">salesforce.com/platform</a>

Writing About and Helping Create World-Shifting Technology with Jason Pontin

News: Thanks to listener Linda Hopkins, we learn from Amazon that Kindle samples are NOT designed to timeout.Tech Tip: How to put [20,000] 2,000 classics on your Kindle using MobileReference (thanks to Nick for suggesting this one) - 1.    Connect your Kindle to your computer with USB cable.2.    In your computer’s web browser, go to MobileReference3.    In the main area of the web site, not the column on the left, scroll down to the section titled “Fiction Books.” 4.    In the last subcategory of that section, titled “Collection:”, click on “Classic Books Collection. Over 2,000 complete works. Only $19.99.”5.    For use on the Kindle, it doesn’t seem to matter which platform you choose; I’ve just tested the “Desktop/Notebook/Tablet PC” platform, and that worked fine.  So in the row for “Desktop/Notebook/Tablet PC” platform, go over one column to the “Trial Version” column and click “Download Now.”6.    You will be asked to enter your email address, so do that and then click on the green “Download Application” button.7.    On the next screen, click on the live link which says “Click here to download: Best-Selling Classic Books Collection. Over 2000 complete works. FREE biographies and works in trial”8.    From here, what you see will depend on whether you are using a PC or Mac, but the essentials are the same as with any other download from the Internet that you do on your computer.  For the Mac, I see a dialog box saying, “You have chosen to open classicstrial103.zip” which is a zipped file containing numerous separate items.  I click on “OK” to open it with Stuffit Expander.  However your computer works, your goal is to be able to find a folder on your hard drive titled “ClassicsTrial”.  Mine shows up in a Downloads folder.9.    Open a window that shows you the “ClassicsTrial” folder you just downloaded, and then open that folder so you can see all the items in it, beginning with “AlexandreDumasDEMO.prc” and ending with “WilliamShakespeareDEMO.prc.”10.    Open another window that shows the Kindle icon, which you should see because your Kindle is attached to the computer by the USB cable.11.    Doubleclick the Kindle icon, so you can see five folders, including the one labeled “Documents.” 12.    Drag the “ClassicsTrial” folder into the “Documents” folder of your Kindle.   I just tried this on my MacBook Air, and it worked fine – I assume the same process will work on a PC, but if you run into trouble you might try selecting all the individual books in the “ClassicsTrial” folder and dragging them in one big bunch into the “Documents” folder. 13.    Once you have the “ClassicsTrial” contents in the Documents folder of your Kindle, safely eject the Kindle icon and then unplug the USB cable.14.    Checking on your Home screen, you’ll now see about three added pages of demo versions of classic books.  15.    I’m pretty sure that once you sample some of the demo books, you’ll want to spend the $19.99 to purchase the actual collection.  I’m going to do that now but make sure they go to my SD card, to keep my main Kindle.16.    The purchase process via Handango is routine, and you don’t have to wait for a registration code.  The folder is called “ClassicsFull” . It’s about 115 megabytes in size, so even with my speedy Comcast connection (31 megabits per second when I was doing the download last weekend) – it took a while for it all to load to my computer, and then another few minutes for it to load from the computer to the Kindle.17.    I’ve got a 1 GigaByte SD card in my Kindle. After adding 2,000 classics I’ve got  838 MB left, or room for another 16,000 classics on a storage device that cost me less than $20.18.    One thing I don’t like is that all these new titles appear in my Home pages on the Kindle, even though I put them on the SD card.  At least they are gathered by author, so you click on an author to see all the titles he or she wrote. 19.    All in all this is a great resource, and I want to thank Nick for suggesting that I follow the process for this week’s Tech Tip.Interview: Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher of MIT's Technology Review, a rising star in the Kindle Store.Quote: "The Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekhov.Comments: Bob Boyken, Jim Brooks, Gail Scott, Julie Booth and Will D.

News: Thanks to listener Linda Hopkins, we learn from Amazon that Kindle samples are NOT designed to timeout.Tech Tip: How to put [20,000] 2,000 classics on your Kindle using <a href="http://mobilereference.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MobileReference</a> (thanks to Nick for suggesting this one) - 1.    Connect your Kindle to your computer with USB cable.2.    In your computer’s web browser, go to <a href="http://mobilereference.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MobileReference</a>3.    In the main area of the web site, not the column on the left, scroll down to the section titled “Fiction Books.” 4.    In the last subcategory of that section, titled “Collection:”, click on “Classic Books Collection. Over 2,000 complete works. Only $19.99.”5.    For use on the Kindle, it doesn’t seem to matter which platform you choose; I’ve just tested the “Desktop/Notebook/Tablet PC” platform, and that worked fine.  So in the row for “Desktop/Notebook/Tablet PC” platform, go over one column to the “Trial Version” column and click “Download Now.”6.    You will be asked to enter your email address, so do that and then click on the green “Download Application” button.7.    On the next screen, click on the live link which says “Click here to download: Best-Selling Classic Books Collection. Over 2000 complete works. FREE biographies and works in trial”8.    From here, what you see will depend on whether you are using a PC or Mac, but the essentials are the same as with any other download from the Internet that you do on your computer.  For the Mac, I see a dialog box saying, “You have chosen to open classicstrial103.zip” which is a zipped file containing numerous separate items.  I click on “OK” to open it with Stuffit Expander.  However your computer works, your goal is to be able to find a folder on your hard drive titled “ClassicsTrial”.  Mine shows up in a Downloads folder.9.    Open a window that shows you the “ClassicsTrial” folder you just downloaded, and then open that folder so you can see all the items in it, beginning with “AlexandreDumasDEMO.prc” and ending with “WilliamShakespeareDEMO.prc.”10.    Open another window that shows the Kindle icon, which you should see because your Kindle is attached to the computer by the USB cable.11.    Doubleclick the Kindle icon, so you can see five folders, including the one labeled “Documents.” 12.    Drag the “ClassicsTrial” folder into the “Documents” folder of your Kindle.   I just tried this on my MacBook Air, and it worked fine – I assume the same process will work on a PC, but if you run into trouble you might try selecting all the individual books in the “ClassicsTrial” folder and dragging them in one big bunch into the “Documents” folder. 13.    Once you have the “ClassicsTrial” contents in the Documents folder of your Kindle, safely eject the Kindle icon and then unplug the USB cable.14.    Checking on your Home screen, you’ll now see about three added pages of demo versions of classic books.  15.    I’m pretty sure that once you sample some of the demo books, you’ll want to spend the $19.99 to purchase the actual collection.  I’m going to do that now but make sure they go to my SD card, to keep my main Kindle.16.    The purchase process via Handango is routine, and you don’t have to wait for a registration code.  The folder is called “ClassicsFull” . It’s about 115 megabytes in size, so even with my speedy Comcast connection (31 megabits per second when I was doing the download last weekend) – it took a while for it all to load to my computer, and then another few minutes for it to load from the computer to the Kindle.17.    I’ve got a 1 GigaByte SD card in my Kindle. After adding 2,000 classics I’ve got  838 MB left, or room for another 16,000 classics on a storage device that cost me less than $20.18.    One thing I don’t like is that all these new titles appear in my Home pages on the Kindle, even though I put them on the SD card.  At least they are gathered by author, so you click on an author to see all the titles he or she wrote. 19.    All in all this is a great resource, and I want to thank Nick for suggesting that I follow the process for this week’s Tech Tip.Interview: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Pontin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jason Pontin</a>, editor-in-chief and publisher of MIT's <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Technology Review</a>, a rising <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Technology-Review-Magazine/dp/B001AHPAX4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;s=digital-text&amp;qid=1226635279&amp;sr=1-4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">star</a> in the Kindle Store.Quote: "The Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekhov.Comments: Bob Boyken, Jim Brooks, Gail Scott, Julie Booth and Will D.

17 Jason Pontin

Larry discusses the future of publishing on the web with the Editor in Chief of the MIT Magazine of Innovation called Technology Review,  Jason Pontin, about his work with the New York Times and the magazine itself.

Publishing on the Web with Jason Pontin