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What is Interconnected?
Interconnected is the personal blog and public notebook of Matt Webb, who has been writing there since February 2000. He describes it as a place to speculate about the future of technology, design and society — though he adds that this makes it sound fancier than it is. In practice, it reads as a long-running collection of short essays and observations, with topics ranging from AI and new software interfaces to homing pigeons, hats, and what Oedipus is about.
Interconnected
Who it's for
- Designers and product people interested in how new technology gets turned into things people actually use, rather than in product news.
- Readers who like essay-style blogs with a distinct voice and a habit of connecting unrelated ideas.
- Anyone tracking AI and interface change who wants one practitioner's running commentary rather than industry reporting.
Why the author's background matters here
The blog is worth reading partly because of who is writing it. Webb says he has worked on design-led product invention with large firms for over 20 years, was managing director of two London startup accelerators with R/GA Ventures, and co-founded and led the design studio BERG, which shipped connected products and had work acquired by the New York MoMA. He also co-wrote Mind Hacks, set up the BBC's first podcast in 2004, and has his name on six filed patents. That mix of design studio, accelerator and research-adjacent work explains the blog's angle: speculative, but usually grounded in having shipped something.
What you'll actually find
The site is organised simply — an about page, a list of things he made, notes about the blog, and links to social profiles. Side projects get their own homes, including an AI clock that he says was covered by the New York Times and funded on Kickstarter, and an app that always points to the centre of the galaxy. He also writes occasional short fiction. The blog itself is the main draw: he notes 61 posts published in 2025, with a list of the year's top posts as a starting point.
How to decide whether to follow it
| If you want | Interconnected is | Interconnected isn't |
|---|---|---|
| Long-run thinking on tech, design and society | A good fit — 25+ years of continuous writing | — |
| Practical product or engineering how-tos | — | Rarely a tutorial source |
| A single clear topic | — | Deliberately wide-ranging, from AI to pigeons |
| Regular output | Weekly-ish posting, by his own description | — |
A practical next step
Start with the top posts of 2025 rather than the archive — it's the fastest way to judge whether the voice and range suit you. If you want to see the same thinking applied to shipped products rather than essays, look at his side-project work alongside the blog.
What does Matt Webb write about on his blog?
Matt Webb describes Interconnected as his "public notebook," running since February 2000. He uses it to speculate about the future of technology, design and society — though he notes that description makes it sound grander than the reality. In practice it's a mix of short essays and observations, published roughly weekly, with 61 posts in 2025 alone.
The topics are deliberately wide-ranging rather than tied to a single beat. Based on the site's own summary, they include:
- AI and its effects
- New software interfaces
- Design and product invention
- Society and how technology shapes it
- Offbeat subjects such as homing pigeons, hats, and what Oedipus is about
Who it's for
Designers, product people, and anyone interested in speculative thinking about where technology is heading. The style suits readers who want ideas and provocations rather than news or tutorials. If you prefer tightly structured, single-subject publications, the range here may feel scattered; if you like following a curious mind across disciplines, that's the appeal.
A practical next step
Start with the top posts of 2025 rather than the archive — two decades of entries is a lot to wade through, and the yearly highlights give you the flavour fast. If you want to go deeper, Webb's longer-form work and side projects are linked from the same page, and he also writes short fiction occasionally. For a sense of his professional background behind the writing, the "About me" section covers his work with design studios, accelerators, and the Google AI group.
What are some notable projects Matt Webb has created, such as Poem/1 or Galactic Compass?
Matt Webb's project list mixes hardware, apps, and writing, and most of it is documented on his own site, Matt Webb. The through-line is small, opinionated objects and software that make a technological idea tangible rather than abstract.
Projects named on his site
- Poem/1 — described as an AI clock; he notes it was covered in the New York Times and funded on Kickstarter. A clock that generates a line of poetry instead of showing a number is a good example of his habit of taking a mundane interface and asking what else it could express.
- Galactic Compass — an app that always points toward the centre of the galaxy, available from the App Store. It's a deliberately single-purpose tool: no maps, no layers, just one direction that is astronomically true but practically useless, which is the point.
- Acts Not Facts — his home for side projects and commercial collaborations, though he says it is not active while he builds Inanimate.
- Mind Hacks — a book he co-wrote, translated into seven languages.
- BBC's first podcast — set up in 2004, which he describes as the first by a national broadcaster.
How to read the list
The projects fall into three rough buckets, and the bucket tells you what you'd actually get from trying one:
| Type | Examples | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Physical object | Poem/1 | A desk object that reframes a familiar device |
| Single-purpose app | Galactic Compass | A small, poetic utility you check once and smile at |
| Writing and media | Interconnected blog, Mind Hacks, short fiction | Sustained speculation about technology, design and society |
If you only have five minutes, start with Galactic Compass — it's the most self-contained demonstration of his approach. If you want the thinking behind the objects, his blog is the better entry point; he has been writing there since February 2000 and calls it his public notebook.
What is Matt Webb's professional background and experience in design and technology?
Matt Webb is a London-based designer, technologist and writer whose career spans more than two decades of design-led product invention. His own site describes work with some of the world’s largest firms, applying emerging technology to new products and services.
Roles and ventures
- Co-founder and CEO of BERG, a pioneering design studio that shipped connected products; its work entered the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
- Managing Director of two London startup accelerators with R/GA Ventures.
- Consultant on an internal publication with the Google AI group (2020–2022), working between research and product teams.
- Currently building Inanimate, and running Acts Not Facts as a home for side projects and commercial collaborations.
Writing, media and inventions
- Has written the blog Interconnected since February 2000, using it as a public notebook to speculate about technology, design and society.
- Co-author of Mind Hacks, translated into seven languages.
- Set up the BBC’s first podcast in 2004 — the first national broadcaster to do so.
- Named on six filed patents, three of them issued.
- Creator of side projects including an AI clock (Poem/1), which was covered by The New York Times and funded on Kickstarter, and Galactic Compass, an app that points to the centre of the galaxy.
- Gives talks and writes occasional short fiction.
What this background means in practice
The combination is unusual: studio leadership and accelerator work give him a view of how products get built and funded, while the Google AI stint and long-running blog show a focus on explaining new technology before it becomes mainstream. If you are evaluating him as a collaborator, speaker or writer, the relevant question is which mode you need — hands-on product invention, strategic advice on emerging tech, or accessible commentary on where design and AI are heading. His site is the most direct place to judge the current focus: Matt Webb.
How can I contact Matt Webb or schedule a meeting with him?
Matt Webb lists two direct contact routes on his site: an email address and a chat/calendar link for booking time. The page shows the email as [email protected] and a "Get into my calendar" chat option, so those are the intended channels rather than a general contact form.
For most people, email is the sensible first step. A short note that states who you are, what you want, and why it is relevant to his work gives him enough to decide whether a call is worth scheduling. If your request is time-sensitive or clearly meeting-shaped, the calendar/chat route is the better fit because it skips the back-and-forth.
If you are unsure which to use, apply this test: ask for a meeting only when you have a specific, bounded topic and can say what you need from him in one or two sentences. Otherwise, send email and let him choose whether to take it further.
His blog at Interconnected is the best place to check before reaching out, since it shows what he is currently thinking about and working on.
What is the book Mind Hacks and what does it cover?
Mind Hacks is a book co-written by Matt Webb, whose personal site is Matt Webb, and it has been translated into seven languages. The site identifies Webb as a co-author and links to the book's Amazon listings, but it does not describe the book's contents in detail.
The "Hacks" in the title place it in the O'Reilly Hacks series tradition: practical, tip-style entries that let readers dip in rather than read cover to cover. Based on the title and the author's background in psychology-adjacent technology writing, the book is best understood as a collection of short techniques and experiments relating to how the mind and brain work — the kind of material a curious general reader can try, not a clinical textbook or a research monograph.
Who it suits
- Readers who enjoy short, self-contained entries and hands-on exploration.
- People curious about perception, cognition and the quirks of their own thinking.
- Anyone who prefers browsing a book in fragments over sustained argument.
Trade-offs to expect
- Tip-style books trade depth for breadth; expect many small ideas rather than one developed thesis.
- Some entries may feel dated, since the book is now a couple of decades old and mind/brain research moves quickly.
- It is not a substitute for a psychology course or clinical guidance.
Next step: check a library catalogue or a retailer's "look inside" preview to see the table of contents and confirm whether the entry style matches how you like to read. If you want Webb's current thinking instead, his blog is the better fit; if you want a single sustained argument, look elsewhere.
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