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Watch the Brightest Moon Since 1993 Tonight

Published on December 12, 2008

 

Remember 1993? Clinton succeeded George Bush Senior as the next US President, The Buffalo Bills became the first NFL team to lose the Super Bowl three times in a row and the moon was bright and I mean BRIGHT! Well today and today only, the moon will be the closest it has been since 1993 and star gazers from around the world will be eyes to the sky. If you’re out and about, probably stumbling around in a drunken stuper may I suggest you stare up instead of down at the cracked pavement. You may just find some inspiration … or just get knocked to the ground by a bunch of people passing by. Either way, its going to be one hell of a spectacle.

 
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Capitalism isn’t dead. How things have changed starting yesterday.

Published on December 12, 2008

Some things won’t change because they remain untouchable; Cheers to all you entrepreneurs that have personal capital to invest into your companies (Ratio 1:1 million).  But unsuspected larger bodies of ‘power’ will lose because of simple things like cash and margins.  What ‘Nifty-50’ will take the dive this time?   In the 1970’s we saw indestructible companies that couldn’t possibly be defeated, lose in a quick, cut-throat race to the end. And then in the 1990’s the internet-bubble burst into the scene with its ‘Get large or Get lost’ aphorism.  Back then you could raise a substantially large amount of money without ever having made a profit.  And then the dot-com bubble burst, March 10, 2000 to be exact.  The dot-com bubble crash cleared approximately $5 trillion in market value of technology companies between March 2000 and October 2002.  Ouch!  And this is somewhat in relation to the current economic crisis.  So what will happen this time?  According to Richard Foster, coauthor of Creative Destruction, new regulations will be placed to help avoid the problem again.  Not an easy task. 

 

So how has capitalism changed, starting yesterday?   Three hints:  Ownership, regulation, and public borrowing and spending.  What do you think?

 
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Who Said Books Had to be Written on Paper???

Published on December 11, 2008

I must have drank some seriously potent iPhone Kool-aid while I was in San Fran for the Web 2.0 Summit. Ever since I have been back all I can even think, dream or talk about is the huge potential behind the iPhone. The problem is that some people, in some cases even Apple, do not seem to be fully appreciating the scope of what is possible here. 

The most recent example of a company failing to see the full potential behind this new platform is Penguin Publishing. I received an email from a colleague at the start of the week letting me know about a new application that Penguin released. It’s part of a broad sweeping initiative by the publisher to embrace the new social web, so kudos to them for finally jumping on the band wagon. However their iPhone application simply does the following, and I quote, “It makes the features of the Web site—the blog, book previews, podcasts, news and Penguin-specific book-finding tools—available on the iPhone.” Wow, awesome, but am I missing something here? What about the potential of literally selling people books to read on the iPhone through the application? They now have a direct channel to a medium that users can easily read their books on, why not skip over all the book re-sellers and simply sell the digital format of these books through their app? I dont get it! I am not saying that they should stop using book stores to sell their products, but the iPhone is a highly effective tool for reading books, why not go straight to the source? 

I recently downloaded Stanza (an e-book reader application for the iPhone) and blasted through Animal Farm in 3 days flat. The reading experience on the iPhone is an absolute pleasure. I actually enjoyed reading using my phone over and above reading a traditional paper back (I may just be a seriously early adopter though). The best part about it is that I never have to lug around another book with me. All I have to do is go to Stanza’s book store, download a new book and its with me everywhere I go. If the iPhone really is to become a new medium for content, why would Penguin develop an application that does not include an ebook reader so you can simply download their new releases and old classics directly into your phone while your on the go?

The other element of this whole debacle that eludes me is why Apple has not made an e-book reader part of their own native application bundle. They have an internet browser, a music and video player, a camera, but no book reader. If this is really going to become the new media device of the future, they certainly should include the most trusted form of content … text! And whats more is they have the perfect distribution channel to be selling e-books through; iTunes! They already sell audio books, why not sell ebooks also to be read directly through an application on their phone just like MP3′s. Hell they can even include DRM for all I care, to get the publishers on the board. 

There is a lot of potential here in the field of text based content on the iPhone that a lot of people seem to be looking over in favour of more flashy features. I love all the potential behind some of these new innovative features but In my opinion (please keep in mind the line I stated off with, that I definitely drank some potent iPhone kool-aid) the iPhone has the potential to destroy Amazon’s Kindle business and in turn the future of Amazon’s e-book sales. Who wants to lug around an extra device or another book when you already have everything you need in your pocket? Not me, thats for sure.

 
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Yahoo’s Secret Layoff Double Speak Revealed

Published on December 11, 2008

So I found this link yesterday thanks to twitter and couldn’t help sharing it with all of you out there. The only reason we all have a copy of this right now is because Yahoo has been firing people like mad. Given the inter-connectedness now of tech communities around the world, it has been very easy to pick up on some rather confidential documentation that has been swirling around as people get layed off. A great example of this documentation is Yahoo’s firing policy. This is one for the books. Take a look at the link below:

Yahoo’s Secret Layoff Double Speak Revealed: Valleywag

Yahoo isn’t firing people en masse — it’s “getting fit.” That noisome euphemism for today’s layoffs of 1,500 people must have hissed forth from the brain of some overpaid management consultant. Likewise for pages upon pages of instructions on how to sack employees — which Valleywag has obtained.

 
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Y Combinator is Dead

Published on December 11, 2008

Here is a really interesting post I found today about what this author calls the so called ‘death’ of the Y-Combinator model. For those of you that do not know what Y-combinator is, it’s a start up incubator that basically takes good ideas with strong passionate teams, gives them a bit of money to build a prototype so they can then go out and raise a real round. However, this author thinks that this model is no longer valid and gives some rather … interesting suggestions. Read more at the link below

Y-Combinator is Dead: James Siminoff

Sadly, and I truly mean that, I believe that the Y Combinator model is dead.  The idea that you can put something out there on the cheap, get traction and then raise a quick “real” round no longer seems to be valid.  While there will always be exceptions to this rule, from what I can see the market for these companies to the VC’s is mostly dead.

 
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Who Said Books Had to be Written on Paper???

Published on December 11, 2008

I must have drank some seriously potent iPhone Kool-aid while I was in San Fran for the Web 2.0 Summit. Ever since I have been back all I can even think, dream or talk about is the huge potential behind the iPhone. The problem is that some people, in some cases even Apple, do not seem to be fully appreciating the scope of what is possible here. 

The most recent example of a company failing to see the full potential behind this new platform is Penguin Publishing. I received an email from a colleague at the start of the week letting me know about a new application that Penguin released. It’s part of a broad sweeping initiative by the publisher to embrace the new social web, so kudos to them for finally jumping on the band wagon. However their iPhone application simply does the following, and I quote, “It makes the features of the Web site—the blog, book previews, podcasts, news and Penguin-specific book-finding tools—available on the iPhone.” Wow, awesome, but am I missing something here? What about the potential of literally selling people books to read on the iPhone through the application? They now have a direct channel to a medium that users can easily read their books on, why not skip over all the book re-sellers and simply sell the digital format of these books through their app? I dont get it! I am not saying that they should stop using book stores to sell their products, but the iPhone is a highly effective tool for reading books, why not go straight to the source? 

I recently downloaded Stanza (an e-book reader application for the iPhone) and blasted through Animal Farm in 3 days flat. The reading experience on the iPhone is an absolute pleasure. I actually enjoyed reading using my phone over and above reading a traditional paper back (I may just be a seriously early adopter though). The best part about it is that I never have to lug around another book with me. All I have to do is go to Stanza’s book store, download a new book and its with me everywhere I go. If the iPhone really is to become a new medium for content, why would Penguin develop an application that does not include an ebook reader so you can simply download their new releases and old classics directly into your phone while your on the go?

The other element of this whole debacle that eludes me is why Apple has not made an e-book reader part of their own native application bundle. They have an internet browser, a music and video player, a camera, but no book reader. If this is really going to become the new media device of the future, they certainly should include the most trusted form of content … text! And whats more is they have the perfect distribution channel to be selling e-books through; iTunes! They already sell audio books, why not sell ebooks also to be read directly through an application on their phone just like MP3′s. Hell they can even include DRM for all I care, to get the publishers on the board. 

There is a lot of potential here in the field of text based content on the iPhone that a lot of people seem to be looking over in favour of more flashy features. I love all the potential behind some of these new innovative features but In my opinion (please keep in mind the line I stated off with, that I definitely drank some potent iPhone kool-aid) the iPhone has the potential to destroy Amazon’s Kindle business and in turn the future of Amazon’s e-book sales. Who wants to lug around an extra device or another book when you already have everything you need in your pocket? Not me, thats for sure.

 
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Dan Woods from O’Reilly Media Truly is a Digital Driver

Published on December 8, 2008

Dan Woods, who is the Associate Publisher for O’Reilly’s Media Makers Division was just recently interviewed by the Magazine Publishers Association. O’Reilly is one of those forward thinking publishing houses who really understands the digital space and is not afraid to take risks here and there for the sake of innovation. 

Dan talks about how Make and Craft magazines were among the first available on the iPhone editions via Texterity which is an iPhone based Magazine distribution service. Dan states that, “We like trying different things. About 80 percent of our total circulation signups come through all the online marketing that we do.”

With print publications fighting to stay relevant amongst a mass of declining circulation numbers, it is fantastic to see someone actually increasing circulation by embracing the digital world. Read the full interview below:

Dan Wood, Associate Publisher, O’Reilly Media: Magazine Publishers Association, Digital Driver Edition

Q. Looking ahead, what would you say are your top priorities?

A. Our next big thing is how to get our events localized and bring our brands to local communities in, say, Seattle oith that already. Online traffic is strong for our store, Maker Shed where we sell kits and projects. Traffic really builds there in the November-December holiday season. For the last three months, traffic has been up an average of 45 percent versus the previous year. A few weeks ago, the store moved to its own dedicated server to handle more traffic.r Austin.  And our ability to integrate e-commerce and retail with magazines. We’ve had enormous success w

 
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Bringing Sexy “DC” Back

Published on December 4, 2008

Interesting article I read from EcoGeek via Greentech Media… http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2346/.  I never knew that computers and LEDs ran on DC power…  hybrid AC/DC buildings might be the way of the future for consumer cost savings and overall sustainability. 

Brief overview of DC Electricity http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/dc.htm

 
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And we really wonder why we are in a financial crisis!?

Published on November 25, 2008

Can someone please help me logically justify the rate of return on “investing” $12 billion a month on the war in Iraq? Is that really what the oil reserve in Iraq is valued at?  I assume more if you include inflation over the past 5 years.  WTF.

For more insane statitics from US Senate and Congressional Services please read this article http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm

On a related topic; GM, Ford, Chrysler are on the brink of collapse and along with it millions of jobs resulting in the ripple effect.  I know Micheal Moore can be a bit out of this world at times but he brings up a valid point in his appearance on Larry King Live .  I think he couldn’t be more correct in comparing Roosevelt’s WWII era policy to Obama and our financial crisis. The need to overhaul the auto industry into a mass transit, light rail and hybrid manufacturing powerhouse is really the only solution (status quo is obviously not cutting it).  This will be a real chance for the US and so be it the world to take our next step in financial and political evolution a.k.a the Synergism Hypothesis. Could this be the end of capitalism?

 
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The Driving Plane

Published on November 18, 2008

I love ideas which turn accepted orthodoxies on their heads. In this case, the science, fiction, and science fiction perspective on the future of transportation has long been the flying car. Imagine being stuck in traffic and then blasting over the jam, touching down and taxiing right into your driveway. Cool, but I’ve never seen a car fly, and I’m sure most aviation agencies don’t want a bunch of yahoo drivers inaugurating the term air-rage.

What I have seen is that airplanes can drive. Take-off, touch-down. Pretty simple. So simple that a company called Terrafugia has begun developing a plane that could be considered street legal, geared towards the pilot community (which makes sense, since I assume that most pilots also have a driver’s license).

Popular mechancs has done a whole spread on them: http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2008-10/flying-car-gets-real.

 
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