I have read “In the Beginning was the Command Line”, oddly enough but it's been more than a decade. Another one I should hit again. /me adds to pile.

I've read Cryptonomicon twice, and it is wonderful. There are some bits in which go a bit OTT on the maths, but I just skipped those. The characters are incredible, and the part of the story that deal with the jungle / prison camps in WW2 are very stark and brutal. It's definitely my favourite Neal Stephenson book. I've read Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Interface and Cobweb… BUT – have you read his essay “In the Beginning was the Command Line”? That's right up your street, considering what you blog about here. But really – Cryptonomicon is definitely one to read.

Happy reading Jake…

I agree that ads are terribly simplistic. Even ads I remember, because they were funny or interesting, don't lead to purchases very often. Why do companies waste so much money on them? My guess is they can't accurately track the success/failure rate, and they can't get the data they need to raise it.

That will change as companies like Next Jump get access to it and produce good algorithms. I actually don't have a problem with ads *if* they are worth something to me. That's the key for me. I'm going to consume anyway.

I have read “In the Beginning was the Command Line”, oddly enough but it's been more than a decade. Another one I should hit again. /me adds to pile.

I've read Cryptonomicon twice, and it is wonderful. There are some bits in which go a bit OTT on the maths, but I just skipped those. The characters are incredible, and the part of the story that deal with the jungle / prison camps in WW2 are very stark and brutal. It's definitely my favourite Neal Stephenson book. I've read Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Interface and Cobweb… BUT – have you read his essay “In the Beginning was the Command Line”? That's right up your street, considering what you blog about here. But really – Cryptonomicon is definitely one to read.

Happy reading Jake…

I agree that ads are terribly simplistic. Even ads I remember, because they were funny or interesting, don't lead to purchases very often. Why do companies waste so much money on them? My guess is they can't accurately track the success/failure rate, and they can't get the data they need to raise it.

That will change as companies like Next Jump get access to it and produce good algorithms. I actually don't have a problem with ads *if* they are worth something to me. That's the key for me. I'm going to consume anyway.

I read a book years ago called Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, which had a pretty grim vision of the future world of advertising – something to do with getting inside your retinas. Maybe online ads are easier to ignore than print or tv ads. I'm not sure why any of them work – they just seem so simplistic. Buy this car, and your life will be marvellous. Buy this toilet cleaner, and you can have a beautiful house +and+ a picture perfect wife/husband/child/dog.

Perhaps I'm so turned off them because they remind me of the insane consumer culture we live in, where it's all about having to buy the latest model of whatever thing it may be, to help make money for some faceless corporation.

But they must work with some people, otherwise they wouldn't be everywhere. Maybe we're a bad target audience, since we ignore them all!