January 2008
Non competes: should we really unilaterally...
Mike Feinstein has a post today about the non-compete issue. It seems that Mike believes that non-competes should ultimately go away. Hurray! But he also brings up an issue I’ve heard several times since we put our stake in the ground. Should we really unilaterally disarm in the interim? The question is: should companies and investors get rid of their non-competes right now while the law...
WatchWe were at dinner the other night. I looked over and James (age: 22 months) was sitting quietly trying to blow out the candle in the middle of the table. I thought this was pretty funny. So did my daughter Sophia who you can hear in the background. Sorry the video quality is poor. I took it with my Blackberry Pearl.
December 2007
Not sure what's up but this sucks, YottaMusic... →
“Thank you for visiting. We’re sorry to announce that Yottamusic is no longer in operation.” For those who haven’t seen the service, it’s the only reason to pay for Rhapsody. YottaMusic let you listen to the entire Rhapsody catalog (if you subscribe, of course) in a super-sleek web interface that worked on PC and Mac. More details of what it was like, in an older...
End Credits - Nada Surf I thought this song and...
Low light photography (continued)
I’ve been having a ball with my new Canon 40d. I’m trying my best to keep the flash off when indoors. I took this photography of my daughter Ellie tonight. We were at a restaurant in NYC. The room had very low lighting and candles on each table. I cranked up the ISO to 1600. And kept the aperture at f/2.8 (full EXIF data) Still noisy but I’m having fun. Lots to learn about this...
Boston Globe article on non-compete clause
Scott Kirsner’s column in todays Boston Globe talks about the non-compete clause and Matt Marx the Harvard doctoral candidate that I interviewed here. I wish Scott was able to talk to big company execs from EMC, and the like, and talk about why their employees in California have different rights than their MA employees. EMC actually just acquired this week another California company. So...
New airline rules for carrying extra laptop...
Yep, another thing we need to have in a clear plastic bag on our next flight. Laptop batteries. As of January 1st, the TSA says we need to have extra laptop or cellphone batteries in these plastic bags or they will take them. Sigh. Update: it looks like early reports were incorrect. Here’s the clarification. No worries. Whew.
Ceremony - Radiohead This song was the first...
One of my goals for 2008
One of my goals for 2008: get more sleep each night. It’s an obvious one, isn’t it? But I’m sure we are all guilty. I typically sleep about 6-6.5 hours a night. My kids and Lauren get plenty of sleep thankfully. I was reading this article called Snooze or Lose from the New York Magzine. Here’s the impact of 6 hours of sleep per night: “The University of...
Is the virtual world better than the real world?
I know that the answer is no. At least it is for me. But since Christmas morning my kids are digging the virtual world way more. Now they just play and take care of their virtual dogs on Nintendogs. And I don’t even think they have even thought about our dear old Jackson lately.
Mobile version of bijansabet.com
If you ever want to read this site on a mobile phone, just point your mobile phone’s browser to bijansabet.com/mobile It’s an optimized version of this site for mobile and it also drops the left sidebar. In fact, that is how it works for all sites powered by Tumblr. You can read all of your favorite tumblelogs on your phone by just adding “/mobile” to the address. Simple...
“Think of them as Legos for adults who are tired of having limited gadget choices...”
– Building Your Own High-Tech Bug - Bits - New York Times Blog NYTimes article and interview with Peter at Bug Labs.
I don’t really love you anymore - The...
WatchMatt Marx is a researcher and doctoral candidate at the Harvard Business School. His research on the subject of non-competes is has been cited recently in various blogs. I had Matt in my office a few weeks ago. I turned the camcorder on and we talked about his research and how non-competes impact innovation. Matt also experienced this issue first hand. In the 1990’s Matt worked at...
FlickrFan Public beta
Back in early November I wrote about Dave Winer’s FlickrFan. At the time I was part of a small group of testers/users. Last night Dave opened up the door and it’s now publicly available. I have FlickrFan on the MacMini/HDTV combo in our family room at home. I love having beautiful looking photos from Flickr (mine, my friends/family, AP photos and more) show up on our HDTV. But...
Mitt Romney's pursuit of tyrannical power,... →
Simple computer for the fridge
I was at a party yesterday and a friend of mine told me that he stumbled upon Bug Labs in his effort to find/build a simple computer to hang on his refrigerator. This friend of mine (not sure he wants to be mentioned by name) is a super smart software guy. We talked about how most software developers at some point wished they were electrical engineers so they can build actual hardware. His quest...
David's 2008 Tech Predictions
11. Bonus: Facebook launches their new ad platform, FaceFriends, that inserts ethnically ambiguous people into your photos holding products that Facebook thinks you’ll like. [reblogged via david] i love david’s 2008 predictions. Number 11 is my favorite.
My Rights Versus Yours - New Pornographers I...
Too many devices to charge
We had a great day today. Saw family & friends and ate like crazy. I don’t think I can eat anymore ever again. And we also had our share of gifts from each other and from Santa. Before the kids went to bed tonight, Sophia asked me if I can remember to charge her new digital camera and Nintendo DS. Ellie then asked me to charge her camera too. The amount of things to keep charged in our...
Everything is going to be cool this Christmas -...
“A lot of what fuels The New Marketing is quite simply, the most important word...”
– So What’s All This New Marketing Anyway - Hugh MacLeod
Right Moves - Josh Ritter Josh Ritter has been...
Watchdriving back from brunch. Ellie and sophia singing GNO. captured on my blackberry pearl2. original is here.
“Daddy, your nose looks like Shrek”
– my daughter Ellie, age 6
I Still Remember - Bloc Party Love this version. I...
Bug Labs Update
Peter and the gang over at Bug Labs are working extremely hard on a big idea. They are creating the long tail of consumer electronics or as Peter says “community electronics”. When Bug came out of stealth mode earlier this year they announced product availability by end of this year. Software and hardware was coming along great and they have been showing off working prototypes over the...
Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon I’m not a huge...
Vote for Tumblr in The Crunchies
If you love Tumblr do something about it! Vote for Tumblr as the Best Startup of 2007 in The Crunchies! Or use this more direct link to the vote page. [reblogged via marco via Marc LaFountain] I just voted. Vote for Tumblr!
Growin’ Up - Bruce Springsteen I was...
Tumblelogging isn’t micro-blogging
As both a user of popular services Tumblr and Twitter, I feel obligated to dispel the completely false assumption that both services are pretty much the same thing. read more … [reblogged via camh] Well said. Totally agree.
“Pligg to Launch a Ning for Digg Clones”
– [reblogged via davidslog]“This is the most Web 2.0 headline I’ve ever seen.” via Mashable via mayde
Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the... →
This gives me goose bumps. I hope it comes to market soon!
WatchTodays Wallstrip is awesome. It’s ther 2007 stock-sing-a-long. So good. And loved the ending. I love when Lindsay and Howard sing on camera. Reminds me of their Jack In The Box show.
Lake Michigan - Rogue Wave I heard this song for...
Lemme brag for a second
Tonight we all went over to my daughter Sophia’s ballet school. They had an open house to show us what the kids have been working on. The girls in this school love ballet. They are dedicated and work hard. Sophia is now in a group with older kids and seems to be completely comfortable with it. I was blown away. They have so much more control over their bodies now. They are focused. It was...
Startups & channel conflict
A channel conflict is when a manufacturer competes with their distribution partner. For example, Apple sells their own products directly online and through their (gorgeous) stores. At the same time, they sell their products through Amazon and other retailers. Some companies like Dell always sold direct to consumer historically. Nowadays they also sell through Best Buy. And now they have channel...
WatchChatting with David Karp from Tumblr. I want to make the Spark Capital website more interesting. I’m going to try and do a 3-4minute video interview with all of the founders/CEOs in our portfolio over the next few months. When I get them all done I’ll put them on our company website. In the meantime, I’ll also post them here as well because I love these companies & products....
Letter from Governor Patrick re non-compete issue
We received a letter back from Governor Patrick. I posted it over at the Alliance For Open Competition website.