The likelihood of my switching to an iPhone is rising rapidly. Earlier this year I switched from a Pearl to an 8900 (both on T-Mobile). At first, I was very happy with the 8900, especially the wifi calling capability that T-Mobile offers is super handy as I have no cell coverage in my house. Also, tethering my laptop was easy and I use it frequently. But the browser is simply atrocious. I am not keeping track precisely, but it feels like at least 20% and possibly 30% of links that I click on ...

The likelihood of my switching to an iPhone is rising rapidly. Earlier this year I switched from a Pearl to an 8900 (both on T-Mobile). At first, I was very happy with the 8900, especially the wifi calling capability that T-Mobile offers is super handy as I have no cell coverage in my house. Also, tethering my laptop was easy and I use it frequently. But the browser is simply atrocious. I am not keeping track precisely, but it feels like at least 20% and possibly 30% of links that I click on ...

Middleware seems like a dinosaur concept from enterprise client-server computing. On the web, everything is open and anybody can connect to a service, so who would need Middleware? Damn it, the whole Internet is Middleware! Not so fast. Let’s revisit some of the enterprise issues that Middleware helps to address: scalability and flexibility. The root of these tend to be the N*M problem and the bottleneck problem. If you have N servers and M clients that all need to talk to each other you wind...

Middleware seems like a dinosaur concept from enterprise client-server computing. On the web, everything is open and anybody can connect to a service, so who would need Middleware? Damn it, the whole Internet is Middleware! Not so fast. Let’s revisit some of the enterprise issues that Middleware helps to address: scalability and flexibility. The root of these tend to be the N*M problem and the bottleneck problem. If you have N servers and M clients that all need to talk to each other you wind...

It is an interesting juxtaposition to have GM file for bankruptcy the same day that Microsoft launches its new search engine bing. It would be difficult to find a clearer illustration of how the shift from atoms to bits is transforming industries. It is not just the recession that is causing a smaller demand for cars – the demand will never be the same. Using the net, we can share cars more efficiently. Video conferencing reduces the need to drive for business. And streaming video (search for...

It is an interesting juxtaposition to have GM file for bankruptcy the same day that Microsoft launches its new search engine bing. It would be difficult to find a clearer illustration of how the shift from atoms to bits is transforming industries. It is not just the recession that is causing a smaller demand for cars – the demand will never be the same. Using the net, we can share cars more efficiently. Video conferencing reduces the need to drive for business. And streaming video (search for...

The frontpage of Techmeme is simply stunning at the moment. So many important things happening:Google announcing an attempt to completely remake communication and joint document prodcution with Wave. See “Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave” on the Google blog. Microsoft is trying to get back into the search game with Bing. It definitely looks like an attempt at a differentiated offering as can be seen in the video promoting it (although launching via a video seems a bit lame). Hulu, whi...

The frontpage of Techmeme is simply stunning at the moment. So many important things happening:Google announcing an attempt to completely remake communication and joint document prodcution with Wave. See “Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave” on the Google blog. Microsoft is trying to get back into the search game with Bing. It definitely looks like an attempt at a differentiated offering as can be seen in the video promoting it (although launching via a video seems a bit lame). Hulu, whi...

Today we announced our investment in Heyzap. Jude and Immad are building some fabulous widgets, feeds and APIs to let folks put games everywhere. For instance, you can now find a few games in the right side bar of this blog. With Heyzap it took less than 5 minutes to pick the games and embed them. I started with some skiing games – my way of “staying in shape” during the summer time. Especially focused on avoiding trees. For additional coverage see Fred’s post, Techcrunch and Venturebeat.

Today we announced our investment in Heyzap. Jude and Immad are building some fabulous widgets, feeds and APIs to let folks put games everywhere. For instance, you can now find a few games in the right side bar of this blog. With Heyzap it took less than 5 minutes to pick the games and embed them. I started with some skiing games – my way of “staying in shape” during the summer time. Especially focused on avoiding trees. For additional coverage see Fred’s post, Techcrunch and Venturebeat.

On my West Coast trip last week I had wifi on my American Airlines flights both to and from SF. According to an article in the New York Times, by the end of 2009 the service will be available on 1,000 planes domestically and the target is 2,000 planes by end of 2010. I was struck by a few things:The article made no mention that a previous attempt to equip planes with wifi had failed with Boeing shutting down its Connexion division in 2006. At the time I was really surprised because it seemed ...

On my West Coast trip last week I had wifi on my American Airlines flights both to and from SF. According to an article in the New York Times, by the end of 2009 the service will be available on 1,000 planes domestically and the target is 2,000 planes by end of 2010. I was struck by a few things:The article made no mention that a previous attempt to equip planes with wifi had failed with Boeing shutting down its Connexion division in 2006. At the time I was really surprised because it seemed ...

Most of my friends who actively invest in public equities have been arguing that the current rally in the stock market is unsustainable. So have many professionals. Which makes me wonder who is doing all the buying as the indexes keep on shooting up. I am curious how the current trading volumes compare to historic volumes (something that is easy to research) and would love to know whether there is an identifiable group (hedge funds? overseas buyers? individual investors?) that is a net buyer ...

Most of my friends who actively invest in public equities have been arguing that the current rally in the stock market is unsustainable. So have many professionals. Which makes me wonder who is doing all the buying as the indexes keep on shooting up. I am curious how the current trading volumes compare to historic volumes (something that is easy to research) and would love to know whether there is an identifiable group (hedge funds? overseas buyers? individual investors?) that is a net buyer ...

We have met with a number of companies in the online ad market recently. Every time I ask the entrepreneurs to chart how what they offer fits in with the networks, exchanges, data providers, ad servers, optimizers, agencies, etc. Inevitably, every one draws themselves in the center with the other players revolving around them. Also inevitably, the picture gets complicated rather quickly. Then this morning, I had a conversation with a friend who is on the publisher side. She was telling me abo...

We have met with a number of companies in the online ad market recently. Every time I ask the entrepreneurs to chart how what they offer fits in with the networks, exchanges, data providers, ad servers, optimizers, agencies, etc. Inevitably, every one draws themselves in the center with the other players revolving around them. Also inevitably, the picture gets complicated rather quickly. Then this morning, I had a conversation with a friend who is on the publisher side. She was telling me abo...

One of the great things about running any online business is the amount of data that it throws off. In fact, this is now true for pretty much any business, as processes such as supply chain, CRM, etc are all running through systems that collect tons of data. But I am also finding that it is far too easy to get lost in the data:It is easy for discussions to get stuck in the data weeds, for instance, obsessing why a certain conversion rate went up or down relative to the previous month.With eno...

One of the great things about running any online business is the amount of data that it throws off. In fact, this is now true for pretty much any business, as processes such as supply chain, CRM, etc are all running through systems that collect tons of data. But I am also finding that it is far too easy to get lost in the data:It is easy for discussions to get stuck in the data weeds, for instance, obsessing why a certain conversion rate went up or down relative to the previous month.With eno...

In writing and talking about WolframAlpha yesterday, it occurred to me how much I like being able to get stuff done without clicking around. That’s especially important when clicking around is slow (because of latency and processor speed) and clumsy (because of tiny screen), such as is the case on phones. In other words, I want to go back to the beginning with a command line. The Unix command line is of course all powerful for those who really know how to use it, but requires a lot of learnin...

In writing and talking about WolframAlpha yesterday, it occurred to me how much I like being able to get stuff done without clicking around. That’s especially important when clicking around is slow (because of latency and processor speed) and clumsy (because of tiny screen), such as is the case on phones. In other words, I want to go back to the beginning with a command line. The Unix command line is of course all powerful for those who really know how to use it, but requires a lot of learnin...