Ed Reif 2.0: The Startup - Seeking Change and New Experiences
Stockholm was my port of call during the summers of 2009 and 2010, but my connection with the city goes back further. I spent three months there in 1996, navigating the usual obstacles: fatigue, ambiguity, and the danger of being too enthusiastic. Along the way, I picked up some Finnish jokes, like this one: “The Finnish man loved his wife so much, he almost told her.”
Discovering Digital Inspiration
Serendipity led me to an English bookstore where I found one of the most influential books of my life: Nicholas Negroponte’s Being Digital. This treatise on the shift from atoms to bits was a primer on how interaction, entertainment, and information would converge. Ironically, the book’s digital version never goes out of print, proving its thesis in real time.
Boom! The concepts of “napsterization” (cutting out the middleman), “tivoization” (time-shifting on-demand entertainment), and the 24-hour news cycle were reshaping the world. Negroponte, the visionary behind it all, predicted, “Computing is not about computers anymore. It is about living.” His idea of a “Daily Me”—a personalized digital newspaper—became the inspiration for this very blog, where “everyone is my neighbor.” Hence, the title: Hotel @nyware.
Personal Growth Through Technology
Being Digital wasn’t just a book; it was a glimpse into a decentralized future that was already here but unevenly distributed. My personal “wired awakening” came in 1998 when I began teaching visual literacy. I used the internet to engage students, shifting focus from “space” (the printed page) to “time” (web-based timelines and interactive media). This experience cemented my belief that good education is also good entertainment.
“Nobody remains quite what they are when they recognize themselves.”
Opportunities Beyond the Classroom
The flexibility of teaching—June, July, and August—freed me to explore new gigs. I consulted for Creative Planet, learning about production tools for the movie industry and the early joys of free downloads via Napster and Limewire. I also got my SAG card as a film and TV extra, playing roles like an attorney in a horror movie. The ability to shoot, edit, and send dailies remotely using Macs and FTP sites amazed me. It was a digital revolution in action.
Sweden’s Impact on My Digital Journey
In 1996, my “analog eyes” couldn’t fully grasp the digital revolution. Sweden wasn’t solving my digital “problems,” but it was subsidizing them. I accessed free ISDN internet at Stockholm University’s library and relied on their “user-friendly” PCs. A random student even helped me set up my first email account—Hotmail, which I still use today. Tack så mycket, Stockholm!
Reflections on Doing Nothing
Sweden taught me the power of stillness. Doing nothing, often seen as subversive in American culture, became my greatest tool for reflection and growth. The days passed more slowly, and the language barriers made me more accessible to others. People stepped in to help, reminding me that connection thrives in the unfamiliar.
“The time I enjoyed wasting in Sweden wasn’t wasted time. I made great friends, read a book that changed my worldview, and got my first email account. I got wired!”
A Footnote to Hotmail
In 1997, I visited Hotmail’s office in Silicon Valley. To my surprise, it wasn’t a grand tech campus but a strip mall filled with stacks of microcomputers. This tiny operation was the birthplace of my virtual address, which I still “reside” at today. Two years later, Microsoft bought Hotmail for $400 million—a testament to the power of bits over atoms.
Today, I value my data far more than the physical devices that store it. This shift from the tangible to the digital aligns perfectly with Negroponte’s vision, proving that the future he predicted is now our reality.
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