Fred’s MBA Mondays series has been really terrific and has inspired me to start a Tech Tuesdays series, which will launch next Tuesday. The subtitle for Tech Tuesdays could be: Everything you always wanted to know about computers but were afraid to ask. The series will essentially assume no prior knowledge of computers other than as an enduser. The goal for the series is to provide enough understanding to carry on a meaningful conversation with engineers without needing a translator (and with...

Fred’s MBA Mondays series has been really terrific and has inspired me to start a Tech Tuesdays series, which will launch next Tuesday. The subtitle for Tech Tuesdays could be: Everything you always wanted to know about computers but were afraid to ask. The series will essentially assume no prior knowledge of computers other than as an enduser. The goal for the series is to provide enough understanding to carry on a meaningful conversation with engineers without needing a translator (and with...

I have tried out quite a few social news readers and they all suffer from pretty much the same flaw: they give me more of the same. I will already have seen most of the stories that they present in either Twitter or Tumblr or Techmeme. What I really need is a reader that gives me the opposing view. For instance, when I see a tweet about the “pied piper” version of the Brooklyn Bridge arrests from this weekend, I would love to also see a tweet about the NYT blog posts that presents two police ...

I have tried out quite a few social news readers and they all suffer from pretty much the same flaw: they give me more of the same. I will already have seen most of the stories that they present in either Twitter or Tumblr or Techmeme. What I really need is a reader that gives me the opposing view. For instance, when I see a tweet about the “pied piper” version of the Brooklyn Bridge arrests from this weekend, I would love to also see a tweet about the NYT blog posts that presents two police ...

The NYT covered a company called cater2.me the other day under the headline “The Middleman is Thriving on the Internet.” Throughout the article the author refers to the company as an example of middlemen, including in the following:The middlemen have put the chefs front and center with their clients. “We never white label a product,” says Mr. Lorton [co-founder].While this is clearly terrific coverage for cater2.me (I don’t know the company or the founders) I dislike the characterization as “...

The NYT covered a company called cater2.me the other day under the headline “The Middleman is Thriving on the Internet.” Throughout the article the author refers to the company as an example of middlemen, including in the following:The middlemen have put the chefs front and center with their clients. “We never white label a product,” says Mr. Lorton [co-founder].While this is clearly terrific coverage for cater2.me (I don’t know the company or the founders) I dislike the characterization as “...

I am supportive of the #occupywallstreet protest as an exercise of First Amendment rights. I too am frustrated with a financial and economic system that has made the rich richer, has hollowed out the middle class and has ever more American families living in poverty. I am, however, skeptical about the protests’ long term impact. While the protests may draw more media attention to the problematic role of very large banks, they are unlikely to contribute meaningfully to change given overall ins...

I am supportive of the #occupywallstreet protest as an exercise of First Amendment rights. I too am frustrated with a financial and economic system that has made the rich richer, has hollowed out the middle class and has ever more American families living in poverty. I am, however, skeptical about the protests’ long term impact. While the protests may draw more media attention to the problematic role of very large banks, they are unlikely to contribute meaningfully to change given overall ins...

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. We are having the Union Square Ventures portfolio summit where for one day founders and/or CEOs of our portfolio companies come together. It is an amazing opportunity for everyone involved to learn from each other and hopefully establish relationships that will continue to bear fruit during the year. It is also a great reminder that by now we have 37 active portfolio companies which brings me to the subject of this post: disclosure. I had recently...

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. We are having the Union Square Ventures portfolio summit where for one day founders and/or CEOs of our portfolio companies come together. It is an amazing opportunity for everyone involved to learn from each other and hopefully establish relationships that will continue to bear fruit during the year. It is also a great reminder that by now we have 37 active portfolio companies which brings me to the subject of this post: disclosure. I had recently...

Following f8, there has been a new explosion of discussion around Facebook’s voracious data gathering. For instance, Facebook keeps cookies on your machine even when you are logged out which allows them at least in principle to track your visits to sites with Facebook social plugins. Add to that the Ticker, which is really just Beacon redux with better timing and some semblance of an opt-in, and you have a ton of data on your activities on the web flowing to Facebook. Since I have been bother...

Following f8, there has been a new explosion of discussion around Facebook’s voracious data gathering. For instance, Facebook keeps cookies on your machine even when you are logged out which allows them at least in principle to track your visits to sites with Facebook social plugins. Add to that the Ticker, which is really just Beacon redux with better timing and some semblance of an opt-in, and you have a ton of data on your activities on the web flowing to Facebook. Since I have been bother...

Mark Birch has a great post today about using LinkedIn correctly when asking for introductions. Very timely as I was planning to write about introductions today and now need to write only a fraction because Mark covers everything else (he links to some prior posts which are also worth reading). And now for my two small additions that may be specific to me but probably will work fairly well for others also. First, I only make opt-in introductions. So if you contact me about an introduction, pl...

Mark Birch has a great post today about using LinkedIn correctly when asking for introductions. Very timely as I was planning to write about introductions today and now need to write only a fraction because Mark covers everything else (he links to some prior posts which are also worth reading). And now for my two small additions that may be specific to me but probably will work fairly well for others also. First, I only make opt-in introductions. So if you contact me about an introduction, pl...

Couldn’t resist an attention grabbing headline here after spending yesterday morning with my daughter on the kind of homework that just completely takes the fun out of learning. In geography her class is learning about latitude and longitude. As homework they got a work sheet that made them look up about 15 cities in the US based on Lat/Long and write down the Lat/Long for another 15 based on a map in their social studies book (a ridiculously heavy tome by Pearson). It was an incredibly dull ...

Couldn’t resist an attention grabbing headline here after spending yesterday morning with my daughter on the kind of homework that just completely takes the fun out of learning. In geography her class is learning about latitude and longitude. As homework they got a work sheet that made them look up about 15 cities in the US based on Lat/Long and write down the Lat/Long for another 15 based on a map in their social studies book (a ridiculously heavy tome by Pearson). It was an incredibly dull ...

Google’s announcement of the initial availability of Google Wallet was interesting but not because of any immediate impact. Initially, this will be the equivalent of a large field trial as it will be available only on Nexus S phones and only on Sprint. Much of the coverage has focused on using Wallet to pay merchants in the real world (e.g. in a Cab or at Macy’s), but Google Wallet has far reaching implications for apps and in-app transactions. If Google Wallet offers APIs that can be accesse...

Google’s announcement of the initial availability of Google Wallet was interesting but not because of any immediate impact. Initially, this will be the equivalent of a large field trial as it will be available only on Nexus S phones and only on Sprint. Much of the coverage has focused on using Wallet to pay merchants in the real world (e.g. in a Cab or at Macy’s), but Google Wallet has far reaching implications for apps and in-app transactions. If Google Wallet offers APIs that can be accesse...

While on family vacation in Scotland at the end of August, I read James Gleick’s “The Information.” If you have limited reading time and are looking for something practical or applied this is not for you. But if you have an interest in some of the foundations of not just computer science, but also physics and really all of life, “The Information” provides an excellent overview. I would also recommend the book to people who already have a a fairly in-depth knowledge but enjoy getting more hist...

While on family vacation in Scotland at the end of August, I read James Gleick’s “The Information.” If you have limited reading time and are looking for something practical or applied this is not for you. But if you have an interest in some of the foundations of not just computer science, but also physics and really all of life, “The Information” provides an excellent overview. I would also recommend the book to people who already have a a fairly in-depth knowledge but enjoy getting more hist...