We are spending a lot of time thinking about how identity will play itself out on the Internet. We are constantly running into the limitations of the existing arrangements even when companies from our portfolio are trying to collaborate. While there is definitely movement afoot with Facebook, Google and others extending their authentication to third parties and possibly moving the OpenID standard along (see previous posts on this). But there is also another candidate for identity at least in ...

We are spending a lot of time thinking about how identity will play itself out on the Internet. We are constantly running into the limitations of the existing arrangements even when companies from our portfolio are trying to collaborate. While there is definitely movement afoot with Facebook, Google and others extending their authentication to third parties and possibly moving the OpenID standard along (see previous posts on this). But there is also another candidate for identity at least in ...

Bijan has a post relating his recent overnight hospital stay to some of the big issues with healthcare today. Bijan rightly complains about how hospitals are a black hole for patient data. The stimulus package (PDF) contains a section 9202 titled “Investment in Health Information Technology” which states:The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall invest in the infrastructure necessary to allow for and promote the electronic exchange and use of health information for each individual in t...

Bijan has a post relating his recent overnight hospital stay to some of the big issues with healthcare today. Bijan rightly complains about how hospitals are a black hole for patient data. The stimulus package (PDF) contains a section 9202 titled “Investment in Health Information Technology” which states:The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall invest in the infrastructure necessary to allow for and promote the electronic exchange and use of health information for each individual in t...

Just as I was bout to start this post, I saw Marco’s Entry “On Database Joins” where he quotes a tweet by @codinghorror on joins being super expensive and explains how Tumblr avoids them. Tech folks at our portfolio companies have probably all heard me say that “joins are evil” because they will make it really difficult for your service or site to scale past a certain level. Of course, once you start to program without joins, you pretty quickly demote your database engine to perform object (o...

Just as I was bout to start this post, I saw Marco’s Entry “On Database Joins” where he quotes a tweet by @codinghorror on joins being super expensive and explains how Tumblr avoids them. Tech folks at our portfolio companies have probably all heard me say that “joins are evil” because they will make it really difficult for your service or site to scale past a certain level. Of course, once you start to program without joins, you pretty quickly demote your database engine to perform object (o...

The current approach to the banking bailout is distinctly WOBW – worst of both worlds. Somehow nationalization has been deemed not an option. So we keep running bankrupt banks as private enterprises governed by existing equity holders with all the wrong incentives (worst of private). That in turn necessitates having to regulate operational details such as compensation and lending practices with crude across the board measures such as $500K salary cap (worst of public). The only way to get inc...

The current approach to the banking bailout is distinctly WOBW – worst of both worlds. Somehow nationalization has been deemed not an option. So we keep running bankrupt banks as private enterprises governed by existing equity holders with all the wrong incentives (worst of private). That in turn necessitates having to regulate operational details such as compensation and lending practices with crude across the board measures such as $500K salary cap (worst of public). The only way to get inc...

At the DLD panel on education – which was moderated well by Simon Levine from Accel – there was an interesting discussion about the role of teachers and motivation in learning. On one side was Shai Reshef, an education entrepreneur, who is preparing to launch a free online “University of the People." On the other was Alexander Olek, who has helped create a successful school program in Germany that is similar to the KIPP program in the US in that it emphasizes in school learning (longer days, ...

At the DLD panel on education – which was moderated well by Simon Levine from Accel – there was an interesting discussion about the role of teachers and motivation in learning. On one side was Shai Reshef, an education entrepreneur, who is preparing to launch a free online “University of the People." On the other was Alexander Olek, who has helped create a successful school program in Germany that is similar to the KIPP program in the US in that it emphasizes in school learning (longer days, ...

Yesterday’s piece by Claire Cain Miller in the NYT titled Angels Flee From Tech Start-Ups prompted many blog responses, including one by Roger which also got picked up by Bijan. Here is what it Roger wrote on his blogAre fewer companies getting funded by angels? Of course. Should all the companies that had previously been funded by angels, many of them dabblers, gotten funded? Definitely not. So is value creation in the early-stage space really being inhibited by a dearth of angel investment?...

Yesterday’s piece by Claire Cain Miller in the NYT titled Angels Flee From Tech Start-Ups prompted many blog responses, including one by Roger which also got picked up by Bijan. Here is what it Roger wrote on his blogAre fewer companies getting funded by angels? Of course. Should all the companies that had previously been funded by angels, many of them dabblers, gotten funded? Definitely not. So is value creation in the early-stage space really being inhibited by a dearth of angel investment?...

I am having a great time at DLD, but can someone please tell conference organizers around the world to put an end to Schwag bags? It is ironic that at a time when almost every conference has at least some track or session on sustainability, organizers still wind up creating and distributing thousands of bags filled with stuff which goes close to 100 percent into the garbage bin. DLD, for instance, included a glossy book with speaker pictures and bios. Huh? I thought it was the *Digital* Lifes...

I am having a great time at DLD, but can someone please tell conference organizers around the world to put an end to Schwag bags? It is ironic that at a time when almost every conference has at least some track or session on sustainability, organizers still wind up creating and distributing thousands of bags filled with stuff which goes close to 100 percent into the garbage bin. DLD, for instance, included a glossy book with speaker pictures and bios. Huh? I thought it was the *Digital* Lifes...

Outlook and Excel (Windows) in “Coherence” with Mac Apps thanks to Parallels - sweet!

Outlook and Excel (Windows) in “Coherence” with Mac Apps thanks to Parallels - sweet!

I had a great time at DLD overall. I met entrepreneurs working on interesting startups, I talked to angel and seed investors who are (co-)operating across European borders, and I listened to an interesting panel on education and a great presentation by Daniel Ariely. My take on the conference: The good: Location in the center of Munich, which is a fun city. Great and diverse group of people from many different backgrounds and nationalities. All the ancillaries were flawless from wireless to f...

I had a great time at DLD overall. I met entrepreneurs working on interesting startups, I talked to angel and seed investors who are (co-)operating across European borders, and I listened to an interesting panel on education and a great presentation by Daniel Ariely. My take on the conference: The good: Location in the center of Munich, which is a fun city. Great and diverse group of people from many different backgrounds and nationalities. All the ancillaries were flawless from wireless to f...

It’s been about a week since I made the big switch from a Windows laptop to a MacBook. Here is a quick update for all of you who are still holdouts. If you need Exchange integration (like I do), I can highly recommend Parallels 4.0. As the screenshot shows, Parallel’s “Coherence” mode lets Windows apps appear like native apps in the dock. It is also possible to associate file extensions in Finder with Windows apps, allowing me to launch Excel by double-clicking a .xls file. The clipboard work...

It’s been about a week since I made the big switch from a Windows laptop to a MacBook. Here is a quick update for all of you who are still holdouts. If you need Exchange integration (like I do), I can highly recommend Parallels 4.0. As the screenshot shows, Parallel’s “Coherence” mode lets Windows apps appear like native apps in the dock. It is also possible to associate file extensions in Finder with Windows apps, allowing me to launch Excel by double-clicking a .xls file. The clipboard work...