January 2010
19 posts
7 tags
What Do AAPL and AMZN Have, that GOOG, Twitter and...
Each has more than 100 Million credit cards on file to enable 1-click purchases of content, apps, and virtual goods. When I compare doing anything involving payment on other platforms the experience is cumbersome to the point of being useless. My 10-year old son had no trouble hijacking my Kindle, finding the store and getting a book for himself. And that’s on the Kindle! On his iPod...
iPad: First Overhyped, Now Underestimated
Yesterday’s “reveal” of the iPad was predictably anti-climactic. With the hype that had built up, anything short of a mind-reading, teleporting device had to be a bit of a letdown. But we are now likely to enter the phase of underestimating the iPad. People are already obsessing about such flaws as the omission of a camera. Or the lack of support for Flash. Or the absence of...
2 tags
More Great News for NYC's Startup Ecosystem: NYC...
Congrats to Owen Davis and everyone else involved for launching NYC SeedStart 2010. I have long argued that there is no such thing as too much seed capital and SeedStart is a terrific addition. It is amazing that until now New York City did not have such a program, given the success of YCombinator, TechStars, Dreamit, Launchbox, SeedCamp, FBFund Rev and others. I am also thrilled to see that...
DLD10
Heading to the Munich airport after 2 days at DLD - a thoroughly enjoyable and productive conference. Here is my report from last year: http://continuations.com/post/73536016/dld - I was happy to see that the biggest nuisance from last year had been addressed: there was now a wall between the lobby and the main presentation area. I spent even more time than before in the lobby meeting people -...
Minimizing Jet Lag (for Trips to Europe)
With family (parents) in Germany, two investments in London, and conferences (eg DLD) and vacations, I wind up flying to Europe at least half a dozen times a year. Here is the system I have come up with for minimizing jet lag (without the help of pharma!): 1. Take a late flight - ideally 7pm or later 2. Eat dinner at airport before boarding 3. Right after boarding, set watch forward to European...
3 tags
Staying Fit
Bryce has had some great posts about his analytical (and tech supported) approach to fitness. I used to find staying in shape to be quite the challenge — I would start the day with great plans of going to the gym or exercising and then wind up scheduling another meeting or answering emails instead.
The solution that Susan and I have settled on is to go out every morning as soon as there is...
4 tags
An Ongoing Lack of Imagination in Pricing (of...
Yesterday brought two announcements and one rumor that all relate to the pricing of digital content: the New York Times announced that it plans to add a paywall in 2011, Amazon announced that it will offer authors a 70% royalty rate, and book publishers are apparently trying to convince Apple to act as a distributor with prices set by the publishers. All three of these are interesting and...
3 tags
Some Real Estate Tips for Startups
Now that the cost of servers and bandwidth has plummeted, office space tends to be the biggest expense following payroll for a lot of web startups. Here are some quick tips on what to do.
When you are just getting going, simple get some desks, ideally at a friend’s startup. New York City also has some great deals in the NYU Poly incubators. Whatever you do, it should be month-by-month...
4 tags
Nexus One Needs Simpler Default UX
I have been carrying around a Nexus One for a couple of weeks (in addition to my somewhat nervous feeling Blackberry). There is a ton to like about the Nexus. It works fantastically well with all of Google’s services. The setup is a cinch — just sign in with your Google account and let the phone and the cloud do the rest. The screen looks great and transitions between apps are...
2 tags
Lean Startup and Network Effects (Patience, My...
I am a huge fan of the Lean Startup philosophy (and Eric Ries / Steve Blank who have done so much to evangelize it). Recently, i have been thinking a lot about the relationship between this approach and network effects. For most web services, network effects are the key (only?) sustainable competitive advantage. But for every hyper growth network effects story (Twitter, Zynga, etc), I am...
5 tags
Don't Compete, Leapfrog (iPod)
Recently, someone (I believe it was Nicholas Carlson) said to me: “what most people forget about the iPhone is that it is also a very capable iPod.” This was said in the context of a discussion of how successful Android will be this year. Now this is an interesting alternative view to Bill Gurley’s assertion that the head-on comparison is wrong because Android aims at the much...
4 tags
Google and China (Wishing for more US Credibility)
I have worried on and off on this blog about the growing reach of Google. But yesterday I was thrilled to see Google take a determined stance on the issue of censorship and — by implication human rights — in China. I very much hope that the team there has the fortitude to stick to its plan, even if that means a rough road ahead for one of the world’s largest markets. Now lets...
3 tags
Software Patents Need To Go
My partner Brad put up a great post on the USV blog yesterday, arguing for an independent invention defense against software patents. A while back, I had proposed an alternative, a change in how litigation works. In that post, I wrote that:
Some folks have suggested doing away with software patents altogether as a way of addressing this problem. That strikes me as too dramatic a solution as I...
3 tags
Fighting Over The Digital Pie
The demand for books, music, news, TV, phone calls is constrained by the time that people have. In a mature market (e.g., the US) that time is growing at best at the rate of population growth (low single digits), but in reality is likely to be shrinking as other online activities (e.g., social networking) take up time. The supply for all of the above, however, is increasing by one or more orders...
2 tags
Promoting Scratch! (Imagine-Program-Share)
I am going to my kids’ school this morning to meet with the head of the computer lab, the principal and the district’s main computer person to talk about Scratch (that is assuming it stops snowing!). The school is beginning to take first steps in teaching Scratch and I want to convince them to step up the pace. I firmly believe that learning how to make computers/robots do things...
2 tags
Slates - My Personal Requirements
Even if Apple were to announce something entirely different on Jan 27 (just love the idea of the biggest headfake yet) it is clear that 2010 will be the year of slates, with Ballmer showing off HP’s upcoming Windows 7-based slate. So much has been written that I won’t even try to link to any of it. I have read a bunch but it’s impossible to have read it all and so the following...
3 tags
Next Decade for NYC Tech Startups
Tonight I will be on Brian Lehrer’s TV show, together with Chris Dixon and Henry Blodget, to talk about what’s in store for NYC tech startups over the next decade. At least that is the putative topic, although I would not be surprised if the conversation goes elsewhere. Here are some points I am planning to make:
It has never been easier to hire top tech talent for NYC startups. ...
4 tags
Avatar - Crossing the Uncanny Valley
UPDATE: As the comment by vruz correctly points out, I am wrong in my use of the term uncanny valley, exactly because the creatures depicted in Avatar are not human. Still believe that we are seeing the beginning of something new and important!
On Sunday, I finally got around to seeing Avatar in 3D (not yet IMAX, which was sold out). I was excited to find that it is in fact the 3D and computer...
2 tags
2010 (?)
Well, it’s the 4th of January, 2010 and I have so far written and crossed out 2009 at least half a dozen times. My brain is apparently reluctant to accept that it is 2010. After all, in a few minutes I will be braving the cold on the way to a (probably frozen) Metro North train, instead of firing up my jet pack or better yet beaming myself into the office. On the other hand, I did see...