The team at Twilio has done an amazing job making telephony accessible to developers. Making and accepting calls, as well as sending and receiving texts is now as easy as a couple of lines of code. The simplicity of Twilio’s API is such that most developers are literally up and running within minutes. At the same time because of the ingenious REST API which makes calls and messages addressable, there is no limit to the complexity of the applications that can be created using Twilio. Now Twili...

If anybody still has any illusions about the current state of dysfunction of the patent system in the US, please make sure they listen to or read This American Life’s investigation of Intellectual Ventures (IV). IV was founded and is headed up by Nathan Myhrvold who made a fortune as the CTO of Microsoft (as an aside: I don’t really know what Myhrvold did in that role - if someone knows would be great to update the Wikipedia page). IV has taken the patent troll approach to a whole new level o...

The team at Twilio has done an amazing job making telephony accessible to developers. Making and accepting calls, as well as sending and receiving texts is now as easy as a couple of lines of code. The simplicity of Twilio’s API is such that most developers are literally up and running within minutes. At the same time because of the ingenious REST API which makes calls and messages addressable, there is no limit to the complexity of the applications that can be created using Twilio. Now Twili...

If anybody still has any illusions about the current state of dysfunction of the patent system in the US, please make sure they listen to or read This American Life’s investigation of Intellectual Ventures (IV). IV was founded and is headed up by Nathan Myhrvold who made a fortune as the CTO of Microsoft (as an aside: I don’t really know what Myhrvold did in that role - if someone knows would be great to update the Wikipedia page). IV has taken the patent troll approach to a whole new level o...

A while back I announced on this blog that we were planning to move back to the city. I am happy to report that we have made a lot of progress on that and are now in contract to buy a place not far from the USV offices. When I mentioned this to a friend yesterday, he asked an interesting question: but how will you have time to think? My friend who lives in the city finds that the pace of life in New York makes it hard for him to take the time to think. There is always another event to go to, ...

A while back I announced on this blog that we were planning to move back to the city. I am happy to report that we have made a lot of progress on that and are now in contract to buy a place not far from the USV offices. When I mentioned this to a friend yesterday, he asked an interesting question: but how will you have time to think? My friend who lives in the city finds that the pace of life in New York makes it hard for him to take the time to think. There is always another event to go to, ...

The debt showdown in Washington is supremely frustrating as it illustrates the complete inability of our current political system to deal with the structural changes that we are facing. At present course and speed things will get a lot worse before we can hope for them to get better. Trying to fix the budget without fixing the underlying problems in the economy and society is the proverbial attempt to prevent the sinking of the Titanic by rearranging the deck chairs. Here are several areas in...

The debt showdown in Washington is supremely frustrating as it illustrates the complete inability of our current political system to deal with the structural changes that we are facing. At present course and speed things will get a lot worse before we can hope for them to get better. Trying to fix the budget without fixing the underlying problems in the economy and society is the proverbial attempt to prevent the sinking of the Titanic by rearranging the deck chairs. Here are several areas in...

Last night Susan and I watched “Catfish,” a movie from last year about a case of a fabricated online identity. The movie starts with a young man who is engaged in an online correspondence with what he believes to be a young girl who appears to be a painting prodigy. He also chats with the girl’s mother and carries on several increasingly steamy exchanges with her older sister. [Spoiler Alert!] Eventually, a variety of inconsistencies surface and he becomes suspicious. Together with his brothe...

Last night Susan and I watched “Catfish,” a movie from last year about a case of a fabricated online identity. The movie starts with a young man who is engaged in an online correspondence with what he believes to be a young girl who appears to be a painting prodigy. He also chats with the girl’s mother and carries on several increasingly steamy exchanges with her older sister. [Spoiler Alert!] Eventually, a variety of inconsistencies surface and he becomes suspicious. Together with his brothe...

I am very excited to be preparing for a talk at the Turing Festival in Edinburgh (last week of August). The subject, not surprisingly, will be “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet - how the Internet will transform business, government and society." I love that Vint Cerf used "You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” as his 5 word acceptance speech for the Webby Awards. To me it perfectly captures where we are with the Internet today and could be the unofficial motto for Union Square Ventures. Part of what I am doi...

I am very excited to be preparing for a talk at the Turing Festival in Edinburgh (last week of August). The subject, not surprisingly, will be “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet - how the Internet will transform business, government and society." I love that Vint Cerf used "You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” as his 5 word acceptance speech for the Webby Awards. To me it perfectly captures where we are with the Internet today and could be the unofficial motto for Union Square Ventures. Part of what I am doi...

Last year when there was a big debate about carry taxation, I came out in support of taxing carry as income (even though that will clearly mean a much higher tax bill for me personally). With the budget battle in Washington reaching ever new heights this issue is coming back in full force. I missed Nic Kristof’s column on this last week. I am completely in agreement until he gets to the point about taxing founders:One important proposal has to do with founder’s stock, the shares people own in...

Last year when there was a big debate about carry taxation, I came out in support of taxing carry as income (even though that will clearly mean a much higher tax bill for me personally). With the budget battle in Washington reaching ever new heights this issue is coming back in full force. I missed Nic Kristof’s column on this last week. I am completely in agreement until he gets to the point about taxing founders:One important proposal has to do with founder’s stock, the shares people own in...

The iPhone was a break through design with its single home button. It is so easy to use that the web is full of videos of toddlers and the occasional dog and cat successfully using an iPhone or iPad. Android on the other hand has four buttons: back, menu, home and search. Coming from a Blackberry I personally like that set up. But that comes with three caveats: First, button behavior across Android apps needs to become more consistent. This is actually already happening compared to the early ...

The iPhone was a break through design with its single home button. It is so easy to use that the web is full of videos of toddlers and the occasional dog and cat successfully using an iPhone or iPad. Android on the other hand has four buttons: back, menu, home and search. Coming from a Blackberry I personally like that set up. But that comes with three caveats: First, button behavior across Android apps needs to become more consistent. This is actually already happening compared to the early ...

Whether or not you like Google+ one thing is clear: Google is all in on this one. Unlike Wave or Buzz which were halfhearted launches at best, Google+ is being woven deeply into everything Google does, including of course search, maps and Android. This is an all out assault with all of Google’s resources applied to it and anyone who dismisses it does so at their own peril and is ignoring an important historical precedent. Google’s efforts here are reminiscent of Microsoft’s push into the appl...

Whether or not you like Google+ one thing is clear: Google is all in on this one. Unlike Wave or Buzz which were halfhearted launches at best, Google+ is being woven deeply into everything Google does, including of course search, maps and Android. This is an all out assault with all of Google’s resources applied to it and anyone who dismisses it does so at their own peril and is ignoring an important historical precedent. Google’s efforts here are reminiscent of Microsoft’s push into the appl...

I used to think that (mobile) phone numbers might play an important role in identity as they are quite stable for people. For instance, I have had my current number since 1999. But now I am wondering whether phone numbers will become meaningless entirely. I receive very few calls that I did not ask for on my mobile - most calls instead are pre-arranged via email. For any pre-arranged call, I could eventually use some form of IP telephony that will be namespace based (e.g., I already often do ...

I used to think that (mobile) phone numbers might play an important role in identity as they are quite stable for people. For instance, I have had my current number since 1999. But now I am wondering whether phone numbers will become meaningless entirely. I receive very few calls that I did not ask for on my mobile - most calls instead are pre-arranged via email. For any pre-arranged call, I could eventually use some form of IP telephony that will be namespace based (e.g., I already often do ...