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The best quote I didn't put in my story

Last summer, at a dinner party that led up to the Web 2.0 Conference, I was skulking around with Mitch Kapor, talking about how Facebook was suddenly "the new Google"--that is, it had all the buzz. Mitch, who of course has seen it all by now, said, "The tech industry is like a game of musical chairs. IBM ceased to be the most important company in IT when it was pushed aside by Microsoft. Now Microsoft has become like IBM—very large, but no longer definitional, as Google has taken on that role. Though Google is now dominant, Facebook aspires to overcome it." It got me thinking a lot about the nature of The Platform, and how it always changes.

I was going to use Mitch's quote to set up my feature in TIME this week. But while I was reporting out my story, I (almost literally) stumbled upon a piece of junk that I used instead. Still, Mitch's quote is a killer.

In Search of a God Shot

Technology put a man on the moon, but it has yet to enable the average Joe to make a perfect shot of espresso. Scores of websites are devoted to this topic. For my money, none is better than Coffeegeek.com which I scoured some years back to come up with my current rig: a Rancilio Silvia. I adore Miss Silvia and use her daily while my dog Sticky sits at my feet. But the machine is for people who like to fiddle--and not everyone wants to grind beans, pre-heat demitasses, tamp at just the right pressure, "temperature surf" and do all the other hoo-ha necessary to produce a perfect shot (or "God shot," as they call it on Coffeegeek). Even the lazy have a right to God shots at home, I suppose.

(Read the rest of my column here.)

Stuff I didn't have room for in the magazine: One disadvantage of the Francis Francis X7 is, you must use Illy's coffee capsules. Not that the coffee is bad—it's delicious, if you want a classic cup of Italian espresso. But it limits you.

Indeed, for the past few years, I've been using Miss Silvia to make my version of Cuban-style, cafe con leche. I buy delicious, whole beans, from a site in Miami, Java Cabana. My pick: Pilon Gourmet Espresso beans, by the case. It's cheap--only $6.60 a pound--and shipping is free. I grind the beans every morning in my Mazzer Mini burr grinder and make triple espresso shots, which I mix with a lovely combo of milk and evaporated milk. It doesn't get any better than that.