Musings and things that amuse us

This blog is our place to talk about the things we love about technology, media and the Web; our musings and things that amuse us.

About MadLid

No, Lid is not mad, and it’s not exactly a portmanteau word either.  Instead it is the combination of the initials of Martyn’s full name, with the first three letters of Lidija’s name.  Along with our two little people – Jonah and Jamie – we are Aussies living in Silicon Valley.

Mad – Brief background

Went to Melbourne University to do maths, but found computing much more interesting (let me play Rogue and Hack). Graduated in 1985 and got my first job programming PDP-11’s. Started programming on the Windows platform [can't remember the year] when Windows 2.1 was released and have been bigoted ever since.

Worked for Microsoft for a while (in Australia), did my own consulting for a while, got offered a job at Verity (now Autonomy) in Silicon Valley in 2005, and now have the blogging bug.

Lid – Brief background

Studied at the Victorian College of the Arts for a Bachelor of Music, but realized in my final year I didn’t have the skills [read patience] to teach. I left my classical training and my piano accordion and moved into media, producing videos, television commercials and eventually television shows.  In the early 90’s, I fell in love with the Internet, and soon after that the Web, and in ‘95, I wrote my first pilot, .neteffect, a series about the Internet, which was sold to Beyond International later the same year.  In 1997, I produced Online, Australia’s first television series about all things Internet for the Nine Network.

I have continued freelancing for newspapers, television, radio, and the Web; continued learning, and in 2006 completed coursework in graduate journalism at Harvard University.  There is a little more about me here.

About BlogWell

Ethics Statement/Disclosure

We are not paid directly or indirectly for the information we provide on this blog, and any biases are our own personal bent.

We own shares in Microsoft, and also hold options in Blinkx (don’t hold your breath).

If you want to throw any Google shares our way, we won’t say no

Note: We often get asked whether we have business affiliations with WordPress or Automattic; the answer is no, we just like what they’re trying to do, and the way Matt thinks.