“Thanks to steam power, chronometers, and standardized weights and measures, it became possible to know more about what other people were doing and to expect more of them.  Previously the world had run on trust, bribery, and subtle forms of blackmail. Henceforth there would be performance reviews.”

Read the entire article at the New Yorker: Culture Desk: iPhones vs. the Police.

Jason Mendelson, Ryan McIntyre and Brad Feld, from left, are three of the founders of the Foundry Group. Kevin Moloney for The New York Times

The New York Times ran two articles about the Boulder tech scene recently:

Boulder has reached this beautiful sweet spot, where it has many advantages of a university town — tech and talent and openness — but without many of the costs and traffic and congestion that may disadvantage incumbent centers of innovation.

from Boulder, Colo., a Magnet for High-Tech Start-Ups – NYTimes.com.

And,

Like students who choose to go to college in a small town to avoid the distractions of big-city life, the venture capitalists at Foundry Group have shunned Silicon Valley or New York for Boulder.

from To Nurture Start-Ups, Back-to-Basics Venture Capital – NYTimes.com