Steven Levy

“As an open system, Android is not under the tight control of its creator, Google.”

“Internet-centric companies have already begun changing the rules with binge-watching, flexible running times, fewer commercials, and crowd-sourced content. The brainpower - and just plain power - of the most valued tech firms will change things even more.”

“It's almost impossible to totally eliminate terrible content in a huge open network.”

“This paradox of vision - the genius of youthful ignorance - is nothing new. Had Bill Gates not been in diapers in the early days of computer software, he might have understood that there could never be a market for consumer software - but the 19-year-old Gates went ahead and cofounded Microsoft.”

“In the history of U.S. elections, the fall of 2000 is notorious for the debacle that occurred in the country's attempt to elect a president that year.”

“Ideas... [are] like babies - everything about their environment [says] they shouldn't exist. But they do. You can't dwell on problems too early, or they will swamp the virtues and you will decide not to do the project.(Attributed to Mike Jones)”

“Computer technology is so built into our lives that it's part of the surround of every artist.”

“Technology writers are seldom subject to frenzied, Beatlemania-esque paroxysms of public attention. June 29, 2007, was the exception. I was in the wrong place - Apple's Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan - with the right device. The iPhone.”

“We might enjoy essays, TED talks, and even Facebook posts bemoaning our dependency on tech, but judging by our enthusiastic adoption of these services, we're all in.”

“I think that the most beautiful thing lately hasn't been in hardware or software per se but collaboration - the idea behind Napster, which uses the distributed power of the Internet as its engine.”

“We designed Google to be the kind of place where the kind of people we wanted to work here would work for free.- Urs Hölzle”

“We were promised a society of philosophers. But the Blogosphere is looking more and more like a nation of ankle-biters.”

“Even though chess isn't the toughest thing that computers will tackle for centuries, it stood as a handy symbol for human intelligence. No matter what human-like feat computers perform in the future, the Deep Blue match demands an indelible dot on all timelines of AI progress.”

“Implanting a microchip inside the brain to augment its mental powers has long been a science fiction trope.”

“The fact that biological, or 'natural' rules might help in the creation of a computer generated work of art is interesting, but even a wonderful work of art made in this fashion isn't the same as a person, with all his or her experiences and emotions involved, making art.”

“For many years, when people described how the Internet worked - whether they were talking about shopping, communicating, or starting a business there - they inevitably invoked a single metaphor. The Internet, said just about everybody, was a contemporary incarnation of the wild, wild West.”

“Fast, cheap, abundant broadband is a fantastic economic accelerator, enabling breakout businesses and kick-starting new industries.”

“Just as the cable revolution overturned broadcast, the net is destined to become the dominant mode of video, both in terms of transit and programming.”

“Twitter provides a platform that allows anyone on the planet - from a political activist in the Middle East to an intemperate golfer in the White House - to broadcast his or her thoughts.”

“Through a mix of market forces and regulation, we've brought civilization to the electronic provinces.”