The possibilities that come with thinking about the camera as a portal into the realm of information and services are attractive not only to Snap but also to every other big player in the tech world. Facebook, for instance, has slowly been enhancing the visual capabilities of its Messenger.

Our entire society is rooted around the idea of more, and longer has become the measure of success.

Compared to Apple, Internet companies like Google and Facebook don't have strong perspectives on the way they want the world to work.

Looking back, Google's success came from the fortuitous timing of being born at the cusp of the broadband age. But it also came about because of the new reality of the Internet: a lot of services were going to be algorithmic, and owning your own infrastructure would be a key advantage.

The funny thing is that I used to be a blogger, but it wasn't known as 'blogging' at that time. This was in the '99/2000 time frame.

I think the emotional appeal of a platform is what works. I think the old-media entities still have not figured out that part of the game plan.

My definition of media? 'Anything which owns attention.' This could be a game or, perhaps, a platform. Ironically, the media tends to associate media with publishing - digital or otherwise - which, in turn, is too narrow a way to consider not only the media but also the reality of the competitive landscape and media-focused innovation.

Its definition can be a bit murky, but to me, native advertising is a sales pitch that fits right into the flow of the information being shown. It doesn't interrupt - native ads don't pop up or dance across the screen - and its content is actually valuable to the person viewing it.

Apple continues to make ever-thinner devices with a superlative build and a luxurious feel. What the company has achieved beneath the surface is worth even more praise.

A platform is essentially a business model that thrives because of the participation and value added from third parties with only incremental effort from the owner of the platform.

Sure, Google's and Apple's ecosystems look a little different, but they are meant to do pretty much the same thing. For the two companies, innovation on mobile essentially means catching up to the other's growing list of features.

Whether it is through stock-market trading or the sale of hotel rooms, the Internet has a way of bringing deflationary forces to all businesses that were hitherto inefficient and involved many middlemen.

Living a 24-hour news life has come at a personal cost. I still wake in middle of the night to check the stream to see if something is breaking, worrying whether I missed some news.

Snapchat works because using a selfie is way easier than texting or tweeting. Stories should adapt to the medium and do so without cheapening the story.

Having followed the wireless industry long enough, I can tell you that building and supporting an application for different platforms is as tough as climbing a straight wall of rock.

People pay little attention to banner ads - in fact, everyone dislikes them - and that leads to infinitesimally small click-through rates that make marketers unhappy.

By now, we all know that our every move online can be tracked and traced, and that, ideally, services learn from and adapt to customers based on an artful deployment of that data.

Google came of age when search was inefficient and cluttered, and made it simple and easy to find what you wanted online.

The lightbulb, the most humble and illuminating of all technologies, when combined with a network connection, transforms itself from being a bulb into a wake-up alarm, a mood alteration mechanism, and in some cases, a cupid's assistant.

Before we had the Internet, we would either call or write to our friends, one at a time, and keep up with their lives. It was a slow process and took a lot of effort and time to learn about each other.

Instead of standing in the way, technology is increasingly an enabler of emotion. A message at the wrong time at dinner can turn a gourmet dish into something insipid because of the interruption.

Camera companies, like traditional phone manufacturers, dismissed the iPhone as a toy when it launched in 2007. Nokia thought that the iPhone used inferior technology; the camera makers thought that it took lousy pictures. Neither thought that they had anything to worry about.

In the touch-based mobile device era, folks need to think of ways to have a single technology stack married to the ability to create unique experiences for different devices.

Cameras can look down from on high and predict crop yields, traffic in Walmart parking lots, and travel patterns on Labor Day weekend. On the ground, they form the foundation of autonomous-driving systems.

For the longest time, computers have been associated with work. Mainframes were for the Army, government agencies, and then large companies. Workstations were for engineers and software programmers. PCs were initially for other white-collar jobs.

There's only one way to succeed: Show up, work hard, and do everything right. Regardless of who you might be or what kind of job you may have.

Avoid the spectacle of technology and instead focus on technology and science solving real problems.

Mindfulness is natural when you do not need to think about minor daily problems like making a living!

Photography has always been about capturing light.

In the simplest terms, a fast-growing company can't keep growing at the same fast rate forever. It eventually has to slow down.

Our ubiquitous mobile access has made time and location important data points in how businesses can now be built and managed.

Everybody's trying to repeat the past with the new network, with new devices and new tools. Why not make something brand-new?

Writing works when publications are writing and serving the best interest of their users; numbers are good yardstick but not a way to compensate a person.

Apps have become a preferred way of accessing information on mobile devices.

Computers in general, and software in particular, are much more difficult than other kinds of technology for most people to grok, and they overwhelm us with a sense of mystery.

I love my paper and ink, but I see the benefits of the iPad and Apple Pencil.

I want fewer interruptions in my day. I have eliminated a lot of things from my life. I'm on a declining scale of wanting things.

Internet, for all its faults, exposed me to a lot more music.

The lens through which I view the media world is pretty simple: If you are in the business of sucking up attention, then you are in the media business.

Why don't we face up to the fact that many of us in Silicon Valley are living lives that involve telling ourselves a lot of lies.

Technology is now part of the social fabric; it is what is causing dislocation. It is the cause of fear amongst all of us.

Porsche's and Apple's design philosophies are similar. Much like the 356, the original iPhone was about defining a foundation for the future.

As someone who has been wrong often, I can tell you one thing for sure: hindsight reminds you of your follies every day.

Just as two people can have similar personalities, two companies can have a remarkably similar approach to business.

Now every person edits the story they tell about themselves, carefully ensuring what the world looks at - whether it's over Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Business, much like life, is not a movie, and not everyone gets to have a storybook ending.

If you're texting a friend about dinner, Google will give you restaurant reviews and directions automatically.

When I see Kickstarter, I don't see a company. Instead, I see a social movement. I see people doing things for people.