“I reluctantly signed up for a journalism major, thinking I needed a fall-back way to make money should my career as a novelist fail to take off. As I started to try on journalism, including doing internships and working at the campus paper, I found I actually liked it. So I started to want to be a journalist.” ThinkingWayWantShouldTryingFallFoundCareersFailingNeededPaperMajorsIncludingJournalismMaking MoneyJournalistNovelistsCampusFall BackInternships Author:Kevin Maney
“Every purchasing decision involves a trade-off between what I call fidelity and convenience. Fidelity is the total experience of something - how great the experience is. Convenience is how easy it is to get something. A live concert is a high fidelity way to experience music; an MP3 file is a high convenience way to experience music. Depending on the situation, one or the other is probably pretty appealing. What's not appealing is something that offers neither.” WayEasyDecisionSituationOffersTradeConcertsFilesConvenienceFidelityPurchasingTrade OffsMp3Live ConcertsHigh Fidelity Author:Kevin Maney
“High fidelity is a rich experience, and you'll put up with terrible convenience to get it - maybe it's high cost, waiting in line, jumping through hoops. High convenience is the opposite - it's a commodity, but it's cheap and easy and ubiquitous. A great exclusive boutique shop is high fidelity; Wal-Mart is high convenience. Both are hard to establish in their own way. The thing to remember about sustaining either is that you can't sit still. Some other entity will always find a way to challenge your fidelity position or your convenience position.” WayStillsHardRememberEasyWaitingChallengesLinesRichPositionTerribleCostOppositesShopsEntityCommodityJumpingExclusiveConvenienceFidelitySustainingWaiting In LineHigh Fidelity Author:Kevin Maney
“Artificial intelligence uses a complex set of rules - algorithms - to get to a conclusion. A computer has to calculate its way through all those rules, and that takes a lot of processing. So AI works best when a small computer is using it on a small problem - your car's anti-lock brakes are based on AI. Or you need to use a giant computer on a big problem - like IBM using a room-size machine to compete against humans on Jeopardy in 2011.” WayNeedsHumansUseProblemBigsRoomsCarComputerMachinesComplexesSizeConclusionGiantsArtificial IntelligenceArtificialLocksBig ProblemsProcessingAlgorithmsBrakeJeopardyIbmSmall Problems Author:Kevin Maney
“Eventually, we need to have computers that work differently from the way they do today and have for the past 60-plus years. We're capturing and generating increasingly massive amounts of data, but we can't make computers that keep up with it. One of the most promising solutions is to make computers that work more the way brains work.” WayNeedsYearsTodayPastBrainAmountComputerSolutionsDataMassivePlus Author:Kevin Maney
“From about ninth grade on, I knew I was a writer at heart. I had fantasies of being a great novelist, but I thought that seemed like an iffy way to try to make a living. So I tried journalism while in college, and really liked it. But even in journalism, I've always pursued ways to be somewhat literary, whether writing a column or writing books.” WayWritingTryingHeartBookFantasyCollegeJournalismNovelistsGradesPursuedColumnsWriting A BookNinth Grade Author:Kevin Maney
“If you want to stand out, find a way to be either high fidelity or high convenience in whatever you do. If you're halfway in between on both measures, you're not going to make people feel very excited about you.” PeopleIfsWayWantFeelsExcitedStanding OutHalfwayConvenienceFidelityHigh Fidelity Author:Kevin Maney