October 2009
Ocean of Noise - Arcade Fire
Magical.
Thinking about App Stores
These days there are no shortage of App Stores. iTunes, Android, Blackberry, Palm, OneForty, Boxee and there are many more still and many more coming.
My favorite app store model is the open one like Android and Boxee. You can install an app from their app store or from the open web.
Having said that, the app store model provides important value. For the users, the app store provides...
1 tag
Ask Me - The Decemberists
My song this cover...
2 tags
Here's my Suggested User List
I’ve been using the new Twitter List functionality over the past month and I’m already addicted. I’ve created a few lists for my benefit including some super close friends which I made private and a bunch of other lists that are public. It’s a simple way to filter my stream.
Now that more users have access to Twitter List, I took some time and created a new one called...
“The Droid’s biggest flaw, however, is in its hardware design: The keyboard...”
– Motorola Droid Phone Review - PC World
I’m still going to give the Droid a test run but I was hoping the keyboard was going to rock.
1 tag
The Fake Headlines - The New Pornographers
Such a...
4 tags
Some thoughts after a day at 140conf
Yesterday I attended Jeff Pulver’s 140conf in Los Angeles.
(btw that’s me, ron conway and howard lindzon)
I ran into a bunch of friends and familiar faces. It was also plenty of fun meeting a number of new entrepreneurs.
Frankly, I didn’t know what to expect from the conference. But I have to say, I was really impressed. Jeff Pulver has organized a fantastic event and...
1 tag
Wasted & Ready - Ben Kweller
Took the red eye...
1 tag
Thinking about time shifting and live, real time...
The very first time I used a DVR I was hooked. The DVR was more than just a glorified VCR. It was something completely new and refreshing. Beyond season events or one click recording, I could actually pause live tv. Or I could go back 30 seconds. Or I could record a show and then start watching the show 25 minutes later so I could catch up in real time by skipping all of the ads.
Absolutely...
2 tags
Sukie In The Graveyard - Belle and Sebastian
A...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-10-25) →
Ben Kweller (88)
The National (50)
Bon Iver (31)
Arctic Monkeys (31)
Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar (20)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
1 tag
Aviary
This morning Aviary announced a new round of funding from our firm, Spark Capital, along with Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO and existing angels.
Aviary’s mission is to make creation accessible to artists of all genres from graphic design to audio editing. They have built a free, online suite of rich tools.
Here’s a recent review of Aviary from the show G4.
My colleague Mo...
1 tag
California Zephyr - Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar
...
Why does cable television cost more than...
Our family pays about $50/month for FIOS broadband service. We get 20/5 Mbps. It’s a beautiful thing and is only going to get faster.
We pay about $140/month for television which includes 3 HD DVRs.
What’s wrong with that picture?
Yes, CableTV is almost 3x the price
But there are other big differences.
-Hardware. cabletv has a closed set top box. The internet allows me to...
“We did a thing where we had two weeks to build something and demo. Build it, try...”
– Biz Stone talking about the early days of Twitter - Startup School
1 tag
Rudie Can’t Fail - The Clash
There is only...
2 tags
The future of branded advertising
Much has been said about the issues facing publishers and advertisers particularly when it comes to branded advertising.
My head always hurts when I hear people say that at least with television, brands can safely advertise their brands.
Yes, television has been a success story when it comes to branded advertising. The dollars are big. Forget big, they are enormous.
But I’m convinced that...
“If you’re not going to take risks and you don’t think the future is...”
– Tim Armstrong, AOL’s CEO
Clampdown - The National
This is one of my...
WatchGreat video of Evan Williams talking about past mistakes, focus and what they look for when interviewing candidates at Twitter.
Skeletons - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (acoustic)
I love...
Thoughts about "the winner takes it all"
It’s only Thursday but I’ve already heard the expression “the winner takes it all” at least five times this week.
The concept is where the winner of a market dominates the entire market. Think ebay for auctions, amazon for online shopping, google for search, facebook for social networks etc.
Often advocates of the “winner takes it all” theory also tend to...
Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys
This is the...
via david-noel:
The Shins - Gone For Good
...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-10-18) →
Ben Gibbard (74)
U2 (32)
The Rural Alberta Advantage (29)
Eels (28)
The Rolling Stones (27)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
2 tags
The difference between social flow and broadcast
Earlier today Steven Johnson and John Borthwick were on CNBC talking about the real time web.
At one point in the discussion the CNBC guys ask how can users handle this constant flow of data. They were wondering if all of this real time data was beyond what users can handle or manage.
Steven and John gave great answers but I thought it was funny question because at the same time the CNBC screen...
Dance Little Liar - Arctic Monkeys
Here’s...
1 tag
Maybe it's time to bring back the forklift
In startup and venturespeak sometimes we use the word “forklift” which means a startup that builds a product that requires customers to rip out their current solution completely to use a new product.
It’s commonly referenced in networking, telecom and enterprise software. Want a new billing system? Well, that means you need to forklift the old one out of there.
For the most...
1 tag
Cornerstone - Arctic Monkeys
I love this acoustic...
“What’s the old movie line from ‘Annie Hall’? Relationships are like sharks; they...”
– Microsoft’s Future, Beyond Windows 7 and the PC - NYTimes.com
I have a lot of respect for Microsoft. They are trying big new things. Some of them hit (Xbox) and some don’t. But they are making big bets.
1 tag
User Interface Obsession.
I was thinking the other day about user interfaces on non-PC devices.
For the most part they are all stuck in some frozen point in time. Or worse, they became more complicated with time.
Consider this list which serves as a tiny sample:
-consumer landline telephone
-microwave
-automobile
-payment systems/banking
-digital SLRs
-home audio/video equipment (TVs, set top box, remote control)
...
1 tag
One Fast Move Or I’m Gone - Ben Gibbard...
2 tags
The Park - Bon Iver
Beautiful cover. Original by...
1 tag
Paying attention to anti-VC opinions, part II
Last week I wrote a post suggesting that all of us venture capitalists should pay attention to the anti-VC opinions out there.
While I am proud of my work, our firm and many of the outstanding VCs we co-invest with, I realize there is plenty of anti-VC opinions out there. We owe it to ourselves, our customers (entrepreneurs) and shareholders (LPs) to pay attention to the discussion.
And there is...
If It’s True - Yo La Tengo
I’ve been...
Email bankruptcy
I’m declaring email bankruptcy. This is now my inbox. Inbox zero.
And while I have been very good about responding to emails from my family, my partners, our portfolio company founders, our LPs and close friends, I just haven’t been great about everything else. And that doesn’t feel very good at all. In fact it completely bums me out.
So now I have a plan. It starts with...
“My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic...”
– Be lucky - it’s an easy skill to learn - Telegraph
1 tag
Playing Foursquare: a few feature requests
I’m a fan of Foursquare. I’ve been using the service since July and I’m completely hooked.
As a user, I’ve been thinking about a few features I’d love to see in the product at some point. So I thought I would jot them down here.
1 - History.
A few months ago, I stumbled upon the Flour Bakery in the South End. I checked in at the time on Foursquare. Yesterday, Mo...
Too good. I had to reblog this one. Thx Fred.
...
I Woke Up With This Song In My Head This Morning -...
1 tag
The family tree is missing medical history
My wife and I have recently become quite interested in putting together our family tree. It’s such a diverse family with various backgrounds and cultures. And a large family at that.
We signed up with Geni and with a bit of nudging and effort from various family members we now have a tree that spans over 380 people and growing.
We are getting a ton of details that we wouldn’t have...
Start with the ending
When there’s no pretending, then the truth is safe to say, Start with the ending, get it out of the way - David Wilcox
When I was in undergrad people would often ask me what I wanted to be when I grow up.
Then after college people would ask what was my 5 year plan or my 10 year plan.
I had no idea. I was really living in the moment.
And nowadays, in my personal life and in my work life,...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-10-11) →
The Rolling Stones (32)
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (29)
The Flaming Lips (28)
Mike Doughty (26)
Anthem In (24)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
Unless Its Kicks - Okkervil River (demo version)
...
1 tag
Plantronics Discovery 975 review
Let me say right up front: I really don’t like headsets. Actually I don’t really like talking on the phone at all but for my job its part of the deal.
My car has bluetooth built in and the iPhones can pair up nicely with the hands-free system. It’s a breeze.
But I’m traveling a lot to the west coast and the law of the land is that drivers must have a hands free system. I...