Increasingly, corporate executives who don't speak Japanese are coming into Japan. Unlike their predecessors, they expect their employees to be able to communicate in English.

Twitter is growing up, expanding into other countries, and recognizing that the Internet is contrary to what people hoped; the government does reach into the Internet.

Professional camera crews are rarely there when a bomb goes off or a rocket lands. They usually show up afterwards.

If China can't even given LinkedIn enough breathing room to operate in China, that would be a very unfortunate signal for a government to send its professionals about its priorities.

I read so many things because a colleague or a friend will post something, and I'll be able to learn a tremendous amount only because they drew attention to it. So I try to do that for others, and that's the great thing about social media. It's not always a narcissistic cesspool or waste of time.

A lot of what people are calling 'artificial intelligence' is really data analytics - in other words, business as usual. If the hype leaves you asking 'What is A.I., really?,' don't worry, you're not alone.

In my contemporary stories, I write about today's quilters, inventive techniques they use, and how technology has influenced their art. Novels set in the past let me have fun researching patterns that were popular and fabrics and tools available to quilters through history.

The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing.