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About Me

Joseph Smarr at Calistoga RanchHi, my name is Joseph Smarr. I live in Half Moon Bay, CA and I’m currently an engineer at Google working on the Google+ project (focused on circles and sharing). Previously, I was Chief Technology Officer at Plaxo. I’ve been building web sites since 1993, when my dad eagerly brought home an alpha version of this “mosaic” software his center was working on. I grew up in Urbana, IL and went to the University Laboratory High School there. I then went to Stanford University, where I received a BS and an MS in Symbolic Systems, with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence. While there I did some research in Natural Language Processing with Chris Manning and Dan Klein. I met my wife Michelle at Stanford in July 2002 and we’ve been happily married since June 2005. In my copius free time, I enjoy playing electric guitar (rock, metal, and blues), soccer, and rollerblading. I also love food and wine. But mainly I love building technology that empowers people.

  • Anonymous

    Hello Joseph,

    First of all congratulations for all your work. Nice to see and read (about) you ! :)

    If you allow me, pls note one (little) comment regarding your professional image: I think you are a very smart and intelligent person (considering your work), but unfortunately you are also shy and sometime impolite (considering your photo), even if I don’t necessary think you do it on purpose.

    So, pls note that in your photo (published in the “About Me” section of your website) there are 2 aspects that might affect your professional image:

    1. your eyes are covered by sun glasses and
    2. you keep your hands in your pockets.

    These body language signs are treated as rude and impolite (in some geographical areas).

    1. The Eyes are “the mirror of your soul”, a very good communication channel and weapon (too). By covering your eyes you look like you might have something to hide or maybe you are too shy to show who you “really” are. Or maybe you think that the rest of the people don’t “deserve” to see your precious eyes.

    2. The Hands are an extension of your brain, powerful tools and weapons. You may salute with your hands or you can shake hands with a friend. Hands express feelings and emotions. Hands are communicating “devices”. When you keep your hands in your pockets, your viewers might think that you have something to hide or that you are not entirely honest / sincere.

    To cut it short, I suggest you change your picture with one more appropriate.

    Good luck with your work and family.

    Regards,

    p.s. sorry for my English

  • http://josephsmarr.com Joseph Smarr

    Thanks for the feedback! :) I agree I should find a better photo, and I’ll try to do that soon!

  • http://finneycanhelp.myopenid.com Mike Finney

    “…building technology that empowers people” YA! You get the Gold Star for having a Positive Attitude! Thank you. :)

  • Ryan

    As my friend xkz noted, your photo should be changed.

    There is clearly a lack of nipple in this photograph. In my part of the world, this is considered very insulting. Nipples are considered “windows to the pancreas” in my culture. If I don’t know what a mans pancreas looks like… how can I trust him? Nipples are considered powerful, milk-giving devices.

    Also, my people do not shake hands. After revealing our nipples to the person we just met, we briefly rub them together. First your right to their left and then vice-versa. Whatever you do, do not attempt to first rub your left to their right… boy, you don’t want that kind of trouble.

    So, yes. New picture. More nippleage.

    P.S. Congratulations on your success in life, Joseph. May you continue to succeed.

  • http://www.beachsoccerusa.org Gino

    Hi Joseph ..
    I've been hesitating on building a new app because I want it to be the best app I've built to date ..
    Having read your articles I'm now convinced that OPEN ID is the way to do it, specially since I'm planning on implementing many social features into this new app ..
    So since I'm building a brand new site .. any suggestions on what not to do when it comes to my site's users table so that I avoid issues with implementation with Open Id ??

    PS .. I noticed you are a soccer fan. I thought you might like an event I run here in San Diego.
    http://www.BeachSoccerUSA.org

  • http://josephsmarr.com Joseph Smarr

    Gino-check out http://www.plaxo.com/api/openid_recipe, which is a step-by-step guide on how to build OpenID support into your site, including how to structure the database. Essentially you just need a many-to-one openid->userid mapping table.

  • be

    i i comefrom viet nam.

  • http://www.tomking.com Tom King

    We need Plaxo on the iPhone and a way for Plaxo to sync with Google Calendar + Google Contacts in Google Gmail. In fact, an acquisition of Plaxo by Google would be fantastic, renaming the product “Google Contacts”!

  • Daniel

    Hi, i have some questions about OpenID-enabling a website, I don`t know if this is the right place to ask you, but well:

    In which moment do you contact the OpenID provider or how do you connect with them ?.

    I've reading your tutorial, maybe i did not understood it pretty well, english is not my first language, thanks.

  • http://www.programforthefuture.org Mei Lin Fung

    Joseph
    Marc Canter suggested you as a speaker about the Bill of Rights at the Engelbart celebration Dec 9. We would like to have you join a panel with Mike Linksvayer of Creative Commons moderated by Frode Hegland

    He wanted to do it himself, but will be away and was going to introduce us, but…I think he got busy

    Its 11-noon at Stanford Wallenberg Hall Tuesday Dec 9. www,programforthefuture.org includes free virtual participation.

    Mei Lin

  • InnovationHero

    looks like Bill Gates 2.0, smarter and comes with a far more superior aggregation vision =) this collaborate rather than compete mentality is what actually makes the world a better, more enjoyable place. RESPECT!

    Just watched your talk about AOuth, OpenID, OpenSocial, your terminology of perception about the Web challenges is outstanding!

  • http://www.salimswati.friendpages.com salimswati

    I am very pleased to see your profile

  • David

    Just read your Recipe for OpenID-Enabling. Wonderfull description of how to jump start OpenID for a web site. Thanks from Sweden!

  • http://www.wiley.com Carol Long

    Hey Joseph-I’m Carol Long, Executive Acquisitions Editor for Wiley Technology Publishing. We’re looking for someone to write an Implementing OpenID book for us and wondered if you’d be interested.

  • http://www.salimswati.friendpages.com salimswati

    Dear Smarr!
    you are really looking very smart.

  • Lisa2222

    Hi Joseph Smarr,

    I watched your video: “High-performance JavaScript: Why Everything You've Been taught is wrong. It was a great topic.
    I have a question for you about using the innerHTML vs DOM manipulation.

    I am writing a address book app something like the one in gmail, with three panels. The details of the contacts are dynamically generated by JS on the 3rd panel . I use string template and innerHTML to generate the UI, then attach event to it. I was told by someone in the company to use DOM manipulation. He said innerHTML is marginly faster and all the string templates and attach events adds up to make it slower than DOM manipulation. Plus DOM manipulation makes code easier to maintain.

    How do you think?

    Thanks

  • Mr.Mehdi Mensi

    Good,I appreciate your academic and professional vison. …It s amazing some one think, developed and dream like me…may be one day we develops same I.A technologie project…yes we can!…YES Mr President.
    Thank you from Quebec,Canada.

  • http://www.seolooker.com 英文SEO

    Oh Joseph Smarr, can’t believe that you are so versatile.
    By the way, do you have Google+ ? i don’t like twitter.

  • Jwu

    Cool! Joseph Smarr looks very smarrt!

  • Anonymous

    Does google+ really empower people, or does it just empower google?  There are a few key “features” not found in g+ the limits the amount of value I get out of it compared to competitive products..  I’ve chatted with a couple people on the team who acknowledge their absence.  It would be great to get your thoughts on the matter sometime.  If I could help you to empower people, it would be my pleasure.  Cheers – Matt Monday Matt@Karmastore.org

  • http://Zerazinni.com Gary Zera

    Mr. Smarr I’m not a software engineer but have come up with several major improvements for the GUI on Netflix. I was looking at the Developer Community info to get familiar. Do you guys get paid for improvements to the Netflix Site or is your work shareware. I’d like to offer the architecture for my improvements but need some help in the development of the code. Is netflix an open source site for developers.  I tried to contact Netflix directly but can’t get through.  I can be contacted at Zerazinni@gmail.com. 

  • Mark Auernheimer

    Joseph,

    I need to upload google contact groups to google +..  I dont twit or facebook so please look at and comment at https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/google-plus-discuss/4KPU2al38G8

    I am ready for the feature as you wrote below…

    31DI’ve spent many time to group contacts on gmail. Would it be possible to export/syncronize them in google+ circles?Yes, we really want it to be easy to create circles from your existing gmail contact groups, we just didn’t get it finished in time for launch, sorry! Also, we want to make sure users fully realize that circles have a slightly different privacy model than contact groups (e.g. the people in your circles get notified that you’ve added them, and by default they show up on your profile), so people aren’t surprised if/when they turn a group into a circle.tweet