Om Malik

Pokemon Go, which involves trying to 'catch' Pikachu or Squirtle or other creatures with your smartphone, is an inherently social experience. You need to be walking around - on the streets, in public places - to catch the Pokemon.

Facebook has gone from a nice-and-boring social network to becoming an identity layer of the web. It is where nearly a billion people are depositing the artifacts of civilization in the 21st century - photos, videos, and birthday wishes.

Social sharing of photos - landscapes, selfies, latte-foam art - can spark conversations and deeper engagements.

There are days when I look at my news feed, and it seems like a social fabric of fun - a video of the first steps of my friends' baby! My nephew's prom date! On other days, it feels like a NASCAR vehicle, plastered with news stories, promoted posts, lame Live videos, and random content.

We live in crazy times - that is true - and things have gotten crazier, but it still doesn't feel like the turn of the century.

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.

The battle between Google and Apple has shifted from devices, operating systems, and apps to a new, amorphous idea called 'contextual computing.' We have become data-spewing factories, and the only way to make sense of it all is through context.

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 a while, I have had this theory that we, as a society, are coming to the end of the mass production, industrial phase of the human race.

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.

Fog is my weakness, and every time there is low fog, I am out and about with my camera.

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