Phil Butler Unplugged

Microsoft and Me.dium have teamed up to showcase the new IE8 Beta and a special application of Me.dium technology at Mix 08. Microsoft hand selected Me.dium to develop and IE friendly application just a week before the launch, and my Me.dium friends beat the deadline with an application designed to highlight IE8’s new functionality. Specifically, [...]

An era ends as Fidel Castro steps down as President of Cuba. Castro has been in ill health for some time, but the world was fairly shocked when news of his resignation emerged. Castro came to power back in 1959 with the revolutionary overthrow of Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. Castro resigned just a few days prior [...]

Sometimes the most pleasant surprises come from people we think of as sharks, loudmouths or at least hard boiled. Jason Calacanis has taken a good deal of heat over some of his statements (including from me) of late. Calacanis is a high profile individual who’s latest project Mahalo, has seen both positive and negative [...]

I can’t help but feel that China must be seeming rather surreal to many of her citizens these days. With the upcoming Olympics around the corner, rampant industrialization replete with huge human and environmental costs and nearly constant news of human rights issues - one has to feel for the people there. Are human rights [...]

For over a year I have been in “hate“with MySpace. Then along came Facebook, and I was immediately in “like“with it. Then a cool, dark reality set in. Even the best laid out developments are prone to run out of gas. I think this happens after the initial “spurt“ of creativity and newness wears off, [...]