International icebreaker
I am not even twelve hours into the Italy trip and it is clear that the iPhone may be the surprise social lubricant of the journey. People are unabashed about asking about it, wanting to hold it, play with it. And I am of course obliging.
The great thing is that being wowed by the iPhone has nothing to do with language. It is visual and tactile and immediate. An Italian at O’Hare and an Indian in Milan (where I am now) were flicking through my kids’ photos in no time flat. A great conversation-starter.
For what it’s worth, the phone works great over here and EDGE isn’t too bad either.
Hi, I’m John Tolva!
I'm a co-founder of Cityfi, a strategic urban consultancy.This is all my other stuff.
Here's a little bit about me and how to get in touch.
Views From The Tank
Birdsnest Coral, Seriatopora hystrix
Speaking
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Ann Arbor Mobility Summit
Ann Arbor, MI
June 6, 2019
Marginalia
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Every single thing about this appeals to me, especially that it is stopping in my family's ancestral home towns.
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NASA and pressing social movements
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This is superb.
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Connected vehicles are more important than autonomous vehicles. There, I said it.
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Nerd tools with Foursquare data.
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"Two things are now simultaneously true: Crime is at or near historic lows, and the average person can now be fed a stream of every single 911 call in the most populous city in the United States."
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Build it, then demand to live in it.
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"How much of my life do I want remembered purely by my brain?"
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Not quite vector, not quite pixels.
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Jealous.