Aspiring to be the man my dog thinks I am.​

I'm Ken Mages, the CTO and Founder of Hamilton's Reserve. I take great pride in my family; my career has been diverse, exciting, and fortunate. I have worked with senior professionals at Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel, and most notable tech firms.

 

I believe that the future of technology lies in mobile/cloud computing, and my castAway™ case is the best expression of this belief. I also believe that dogma is dangerous in all aspects of life.

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Twelve years ago, I got a dog named Paddy, a Wheaten Terrier, who changed my life in more ways than I can express. I aspire to be the person my dog thinks I am.

 

If you're interested, download some of my wallpapers here or check out my podcast with John Biggs from TechCrunch.

 

I was born and raised in Chicago, where I still live. I attended the University of Illinois from 1974 to 1978.

 

I built an app that automatically deletes spam from Gmail, moves it to trash, and deletes itself every five minutes. Sometimes, I take photos. 

 

Here are some of my favorite books, movies, and songs:

 

Books:

- The Book

- Free: The Future of a Radical Price

- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

- The PayPal Wars

- Priceless: The Case that Brought Down the Visa/MasterCard Bank Cartel

- Being Digital

 

Movies:

- Blade Runner

- Cinema Paradiso

- Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring

- Birdman

- Waking Life

 

Songs:

- Ain't No Sunshine

- Wichita Lineman

- That I Would Be Good

- Bridge Over Troubled Water

- Born To Run

 

Finally, I would like to share a quote from my late mother, Ruth Mages:

"The wealthiest man is not the one who has the most, but rather the one who needs the least."