Month: January 2009

Uncategorized
by bijansabet


http://bijan.tumblr.com/post/70677436/audio_player_iframe/bijan/m9xs08q3Hir32qo2ywJsGU9e?audio_file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tumblr.com%2Faudio_file%2Fbijan%2F70677436%2Fm9xs08q3Hir32qo2ywJsGU9e

Where Did You Sleep Last Night – Nirvana

I took the red eye last night from SF back to Boston. And I didn’t sleep at all. So I’m working from home today. Found this song by going to the hype machine and searching for songs with the word “sleep”. 

Uncategorized

Early Adopters

by bijansabet

Last month I wrote a post called Positive Early Adopters.

At the time, I tried to clarify or illustrate the difference between positive early adopters and negative early adopters. There is nothing better than an active, passionate community of early adopters. In many ways they are more important than anything and more important than spending time thinking about “going mainstream”.

The (positive) early adopters are the pathway. They show the way.

Last week Gillian Regan from The New York Observer reached out to me. She said she was doing a story about early adopters and saw my post. We talked a bunch of the importance of early adopters. Some of that chat made her column It’s Geek to You, but Not to Them: Meet the Early Adopters which came out today. I’m glad she used my Tumblr example and FriendFeed example for the story. 

I think it’s sometimes easy for us early adopters to get pegged as small and not mainstream. 

But I think that is changing. In a positive way.

(photo via Flickr)

Uncategorized

The Chairman

by bijansabet

I read Bono’s op-ed column Notes from the Chairman from the New York Times on Sunday.

And I read it again today.

It’s very interesting. Bono begins with a story about ringing in the new year in an Irish pub while listening to Frank Sinatra and the current state of Ireland economy.

Describing the secene in the pub Bono writes:

Interesting mood. The new Irish money has been gambled and lost; the Celtic Tiger’s tail is between its legs as builders and bankers laugh uneasy and hard at the last year, and swallow uneasy and hard at the new. There’s a voice on the speakers that wakes everyone out of the moment: it’s Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.” His ode to defiance is four decades old this year and everyone sings along for a lifetime of reasons. I am struck by the one quality his voice lacks: Sentimentality.

You gotta read the entire piece but Bono brings it home at the end 

To what end? Duality, complexity. I was lucky to duet with a man who understood duality, who had the talent to hear two opposing ideas in a single song, and the wisdom to know which side to reveal at which moment.

This is our moment. What do we hear?

That is a powerful idea. I love the contrast about sentimentality and duality. So many things come to mind. 

And man, I wish I could write like that.

Uncategorized
by bijansabet


http://bijan.tumblr.com/post/69948071/audio_player_iframe/bijan/m9xs08q3HimmigfmYb168upR?audio_file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tumblr.com%2Faudio_file%2Fbijan%2F69948071%2Fm9xs08q3HimmigfmYb168upR

Rollercoaster – M.Ward

Two songs by M.Ward two days in a row. And from the same record nonetheless. There should be a rule against that. But if there was such a rule, I’m sure there would be an exception for M. Ward. Just saying.

Uncategorized

A well-lived life is not a tour of gas stations

by bijansabet

Tim O’Reilly has a great post today clarifying his point about working on stuff that matters.

This was my favorite part:.

“I want to remind you that financial success is not the only goal or the only measure of success. It’s easy to get caught up in the heady buzz of making money. You should regard money as fuel for what you really want to do, not as a goal in and of itself. Money is like gas in the car – you need to pay attention or you’ll end up on the side of the road – but a well-lived life is not a tour of gas stations!”.

(Wrote this post on my blackberry and markdown. Pls forgive typos and poor grammar)