I have previously written about non-linearity and how it messes with our reasoning. In business non-linearity abounds. One example that has been discussed a lot is the change between going from a price of 2 cents to 1 cent compared to the change with going from 1 cent to free. Twitter wouldn’t be twitter if it had charged just 1 cent per tweet. One area where this is also true but more subtle and less well understood is product simplicity. Steve Jobs is clearly on to something very powerful b...

I have previously written about non-linearity and how it messes with our reasoning. In business non-linearity abounds. One example that has been discussed a lot is the change between going from a price of 2 cents to 1 cent compared to the change with going from 1 cent to free. Twitter wouldn’t be twitter if it had charged just 1 cent per tweet. One area where this is also true but more subtle and less well understood is product simplicity. Steve Jobs is clearly on to something very powerful b...

It doesn’t really matter whether it is Android’s growth or the FTC’s investigation, but Apple has officially rescinded some of the most onerous restrictions on developers for iOS by allowing third party tools. This is an important change from a developer perspective as it makes cross platform development easier. Not just across mobile devices, but also across the web and mobile (of course HTML5 pushes in that direction as well). Just as interesting though is the increased transparency that Ap...

It doesn’t really matter whether it is Android’s growth or the FTC’s investigation, but Apple has officially rescinded some of the most onerous restrictions on developers for iOS by allowing third party tools. This is an important change from a developer perspective as it makes cross platform development easier. Not just across mobile devices, but also across the web and mobile (of course HTML5 pushes in that direction as well). Just as interesting though is the increased transparency that Ap...

When investing in consumer services, we try to be active users of the services. That tends to provide a fair bit of insight about what is working and what is not (as long as one keeps in mind that one may not be the exact target user!). To do something similar for our more developer directed investments, I have long been meaning to build a little project using MongoDB and Twilio. But usually the extremely rare cycles that I have available for code go into fixing something on DailyLit. Over La...

When investing in consumer services, we try to be active users of the services. That tends to provide a fair bit of insight about what is working and what is not (as long as one keeps in mind that one may not be the exact target user!). To do something similar for our more developer directed investments, I have long been meaning to build a little project using MongoDB and Twilio. But usually the extremely rare cycles that I have available for code go into fixing something on DailyLit. Over La...

This morning at 8am I will participate in a discussion around the costs and benefits for small to mid-size enterprises (SMEs) from using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Here are some of my key thoughts:Total cost of ownership (TCO) studies are highly suspect. The real cost of installed software has historically been an ossification of organizational structure around fairly inflexible offerings. With SaaS we are seeing more flexibility around what can be adopted by whom and how it can change ove...

This morning at 8am I will participate in a discussion around the costs and benefits for small to mid-size enterprises (SMEs) from using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Here are some of my key thoughts:Total cost of ownership (TCO) studies are highly suspect. The real cost of installed software has historically been an ossification of organizational structure around fairly inflexible offerings. With SaaS we are seeing more flexibility around what can be adopted by whom and how it can change ove...

Craigslist has self-censored its Adult Services section in the US (instead of its usual location the word “Censored” appears and the section is no longer accessible). There has been a lot of discussion of this move already. Two pieces in particular are worth reading. Jeff Jarvis points out that one of the reasons why Craigslist is under attack (and possibly the main reason) is just how disruptive it is to existing media businesses. Danah Boyd - guest writing at the Huffington Post - provides ...

Craigslist has self-censored its Adult Services section in the US (instead of its usual location the word “Censored” appears and the section is no longer accessible). There has been a lot of discussion of this move already. Two pieces in particular are worth reading. Jeff Jarvis points out that one of the reasons why Craigslist is under attack (and possibly the main reason) is just how disruptive it is to existing media businesses. Danah Boyd - guest writing at the Huffington Post - provides ...

The Wired cover story on “The Web is Dead? A Debate” has in fact caused an intense debate of the question, taking place – of course – on the web. It may be seen as somewhat ironic that on just the following day we get two pieces of news from Google that would point in the other direction: a demo of the future of browser games and a Chrome OS tablet together with Verizon (aside: sure didn’t take long after their joint pronouncement on net neutrality). Much has been made of the potential shift ...

The Wired cover story on “The Web is Dead? A Debate” has in fact caused an intense debate of the question, taking place – of course – on the web. It may be seen as somewhat ironic that on just the following day we get two pieces of news from Google that would point in the other direction: a demo of the future of browser games and a Chrome OS tablet together with Verizon (aside: sure didn’t take long after their joint pronouncement on net neutrality). Much has been made of the potential shift ...

I love it when I come across math, science or computer writing that is really mind blowing. This can be something I already know but is presented in a different way that offers a deeper understanding. A couple of weeks ago I picked up on a lark at a bookstore at London Heathrow a gem like that: “Why does E = mc^2?” by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw. It provides a really lucid introduction to Einstein’s theory of relativity. If you have any interest at all in this and feel you don’t understand it ...

I love it when I come across math, science or computer writing that is really mind blowing. This can be something I already know but is presented in a different way that offers a deeper understanding. A couple of weeks ago I picked up on a lark at a bookstore at London Heathrow a gem like that: “Why does E = mc^2?” by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw. It provides a really lucid introduction to Einstein’s theory of relativity. If you have any interest at all in this and feel you don’t understand it ...

I am not generally scared about privacy. For instance, I have always thought that sites using cookies to remember a few things about me is a good idea and that the WSJ’s recent cookie story was mostly sensationalist. I also happily use foursquare to share my location with friends and use Twitter often several times a day. Still, when I go to a site and see the Facebook social widgets, such as on Huffingtonpost, I am a bit freaked out by it. The fact that the widget shows your actual friends m...

I am not generally scared about privacy. For instance, I have always thought that sites using cookies to remember a few things about me is a good idea and that the WSJ’s recent cookie story was mostly sensationalist. I also happily use foursquare to share my location with friends and use Twitter often several times a day. Still, when I go to a site and see the Facebook social widgets, such as on Huffingtonpost, I am a bit freaked out by it. The fact that the widget shows your actual friends m...

The Oracle-Google law suit highlights another problem with software patents. Many folks who are opposed to software patents (either entirely or at least to their current breadth) work for companies that have to play by the existing patent rules - which means filing lots of patents so that you have some bargaining chips when you inevitably get sued down the road. The net result is that inventors who work at these companies wind up on patents that are sometimes later litigated by entirely diffe...

The Oracle-Google law suit highlights another problem with software patents. Many folks who are opposed to software patents (either entirely or at least to their current breadth) work for companies that have to play by the existing patent rules - which means filing lots of patents so that you have some bargaining chips when you inevitably get sued down the road. The net result is that inventors who work at these companies wind up on patents that are sometimes later litigated by entirely diffe...

Last night I managed to fix my ReadyNAS NV+ with a replacement PSU purchased from PC Warehouse (bypassing customer support but shelling out a bit over $100). I updated the forums with the relevant links and am happy to once again have a running RAID array for backup at home. More importantly though, this incident made it amply clear that in addition to my local backup I absolutely need a cloud backup as well. Would love to get recommendations on what to use. Ideally, I would like a single pro...

Last night I managed to fix my ReadyNAS NV+ with a replacement PSU purchased from PC Warehouse (bypassing customer support but shelling out a bit over $100). I updated the forums with the relevant links and am happy to once again have a running RAID array for backup at home. More importantly though, this incident made it amply clear that in addition to my local backup I absolutely need a cloud backup as well. Would love to get recommendations on what to use. Ideally, I would like a single pro...