A New Jersey-born author, journalist, and blogger, he is best known for his 2012 book, The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge. He is also the co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto.
He was the primary announcer on the Duke University radio station, WDBS, during the 1970s. In the mid-1990s, he joined the editing staff of Linux Journal.
He is also an avid photographer whose photos were featured on NBC.
He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and he graduated from Guilford College in 1969. He and his family later had homes in Boston, Massachusetts and Santa Barbara, California.
He admired Mike Wallace.