This is pretty funny.
Inc 19
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Most Topular Stories
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Video Of The Week: SNL's Take On Google Glass
A VC18 May 2013 | 5:22 am -
Fun Friday: Morning Joe
A VC17 May 2013 | 4:48 amIt feels like its been a while since we did a fun friday around here. So here goes. How do you like your morning cup of coffee? I go with the Cortado, ideally in a shot glass. Here's one from Kava, the coffee shop near my home in the far west village. So how do you take your morning cup? Photos please. -
Put yourself in uncomfortable situations
Penelope Trunk Blog16 May 2013 | 7:22 pmOne of the biggest changes in the workforce in the new millennium is that we have to be information synthesizers instead of information producers. All information is available online. So we can’t add value by memorizing it. We have to add value by reframing it. I call this synthesizing. IBM conducted a survey of CEOs to find out what they thought were the most important leadership skills of the near future. And in the top five was boundary spanning, which is networking ideas and collaborating in order to synthesize information in new ways. Side note: I have a theory that this is… -
LINK: Ryan on Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio
Signal vs. Noise16 May 2013 | 11:55 amRyan on Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio I talked about software design and seeing through the customer’s eyes for 30 minutes on Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio. In my favorite part we thoroughly debunked personas and talked about how situations, not attributes drive behavior. Hosts Bob and Chris are collaborators of Clay Christensen and they strongly influenced my thinking over the past year. It was a blast to chat on the show. -
Help The Mavs Design Our Next Uniform !
blog maverick13 May 2013 | 12:08 pmThe Mavs are going to re-do our uniforms for the 2015-16 season… if we get a unique and original design. What’s the best way to come up with creative ideas ? You ask for them. So we are going to crowd source the design and colors of our uniforms. You know what an NBA uniform looks like. You know what the Mavs colors are for today and the past. We want some new ideas that stay true to our logo and at least close to our current color schemes. Show us what you got ! How do you participate ? You post your ideas/pictures/graphics/videos/photos directly on this blog. Yes we want…
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Penelope Trunk Blog
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Put yourself in uncomfortable situations
16 May 2013 | 7:22 pmOne of the biggest changes in the workforce in the new millennium is that we have to be information synthesizers instead of information producers. All information is available online. So we can’t add value by memorizing it. We have to add value by reframing it. I call this synthesizing. IBM conducted a survey of CEOs to find out what they thought were the most important leadership skills of the near future. And in the top five was boundary spanning, which is networking ideas and collaborating in order to synthesize information in new ways. Side note: I have a theory that this is… -
How to know if you’re in a good job
13 May 2013 | 7:36 amOne of the things I had to do as an adult was learn to see what makes a good job. Some people intuitively know how to find a job that feels good. Most of us spend the first half of our lives trying to learn what feels right and the second half of our lives trying to get it. Maybe this post can speed up that process for some of you. The bottom line of a good job is that it makes you feel like you have unlimited energy for your work because it’s so fulfilling. Psychologists would say the job matches your personality type. Mihaly Csikszentmihali would say it puts you in the state of flow. -
Before you aim for someone’s job, look at the price they paid to get there
9 May 2013 | 1:35 pmWhenever I write about grad school, someone writes in the comments about how I’m just bitter that I didn’t get a degree. But what I’m really bitter about is that no one wanted to have sex with me. Some famous poet was a visiting professor, hitting on every grad student but me. And Leslie Epstein was there, who is not only king of the Jews but the father of Theo Epstein, a big name in baseball. Leslie said I’m the best sex writer he’s ever read. So why wasn’t he asking me for sex? Probably because I’m the master of bad sex. There is no anal penetration… -
Why Jason Collins matters for your career
2 May 2013 | 12:06 pmJason Collins is a professional basketball player who just announced that he’s gay. It’s rare enough for a professional athlete to be openly gay that President Obama called him up to offer support, and former President Clinton tweeted his support, adding that he’s known Jason Collins since he was friends with Chelsea Clinton at Stanford. Collins is a 12-year NBA veteran who has played for the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards and chose to come out in the new edition of Sports Illustrated . He says, “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And… -
The demo reel for my reality TV show (and how to turn a failure into a success)
30 Apr 2013 | 10:22 amFor those of you who don’t remember, a film crew came for three days to make a demo reel for a reality show based on my family. Here is the problem: we are too normal. I’m not kidding. That’s what the TV people ultimately concluded. But I take being too normal for reality TV as new-millennium Good Housekeeping seal of approval. The other thing the TV people said was that listening to my coaching sessions was magical. Really. They said that. So I’m writing it for you again: magical. They filmed at our house for three days, which means they heard my side of a dozen…
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Signal vs. Noise
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LINK: Ryan on Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio
16 May 2013 | 11:55 amRyan on Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio I talked about software design and seeing through the customer’s eyes for 30 minutes on Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio. In my favorite part we thoroughly debunked personas and talked about how situations, not attributes drive behavior. Hosts Bob and Chris are collaborators of Clay Christensen and they strongly influenced my thinking over the past year. It was a blast to chat on the show. -
Don’t have the right gear? Make it.
13 May 2013 | 2:04 pmI’ve been working on some video tests with the iPhone and I needed to mount it on tripod for some steadier shots. Some folks in the office had good things to say about the Glif from Studio Neat, but the only one we had lying around didn’t fit my phone and sat kinda goofy on our tripod plate. So, I did something I wouldn’t have imagined possible a few years ago. I printed a new one. We got a 3D printer in the office a few months ago. So far it’s been used to make little statues, paperclips, even some chain mail. So I went about designing a new baseplate for our tripod. -
LINK: The 37signals Report Card
8 May 2013 | 6:30 amThe 37signals Report Card We’ve long believed in the value of transparency at 37signals. It’s why we write about how we work and why we provide real-time information about our customer happiness and uptime. We like being held to a high standard, and we think there’s no one better to do so than our customers. Today we’re taking another step towards greater transparency with the launch of the 37signals Report Card. This report card, which we’ll update monthly (April 2013 is available now; subscribe to be emailed the report each month), provides a high level… -
VIDEO: “If you wanna meet with me… come…
5 May 2013 | 12:28 pm“If you wanna meet with me… come to the garden… with your shovel… so we can plant some shit.” -Ron Finley -
Wanted: 25 special customers.
2 May 2013 | 8:21 amWe’re working on a entirely new product, and I’m looking to meet some potential customers. We can meet in person, over the phone, or via Skype, etc. The tool is for the small business owner who runs a company of between 25 and 75 people. You used to be smaller, but now you’re bigger. And you experienced some personal growing pains along the way. When you were smaller, you used to know everyone a bit better. When you were smaller you used to be in the loop a bit more. When you were smaller you used to have a better feel for what everyone was thinking and feeling. When you…
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blog maverick
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Help The Mavs Design Our Next Uniform !
13 May 2013 | 12:08 pmThe Mavs are going to re-do our uniforms for the 2015-16 season… if we get a unique and original design. What’s the best way to come up with creative ideas ? You ask for them. So we are going to crowd source the design and colors of our uniforms. You know what an NBA uniform looks like. You know what the Mavs colors are for today and the past. We want some new ideas that stay true to our logo and at least close to our current color schemes. Show us what you got ! How do you participate ? You post your ideas/pictures/graphics/videos/photos directly on this blog. Yes we want… -
The Dumbest Words In New Media
10 May 2013 | 2:13 pmHow many times have we heard someone talk about the future of media and they immediately use their child as an example of what we all will experience in the future. “My daughter will only use a touch screen.” ” My son doesn’t know the difference between the tv and his itouch. He just wants video where and when he wants it.” “My child is addicted to netflix” “My child is…. fill in the blank with a reason why we all should believe the future is what an infant/pre-teen/tween is experiencing and enjoys. I can’t help but laugh at the… -
Want Your Newborn to be an Athletic Superstar ?
7 May 2013 | 6:46 amWell I have no idea how to make sure he or she gets there. But what I do know that is if you have any such aspiration for your soon to be bundle of joy, then there is one thing you must do: You must save the cord blood from your child’s birth. At the Dallas Mavericks we have been diving into any and all advances in medical science that can give us a competitive edge. (The new advanced metrics that will impact the game). I’m not talking performance enhancing drugs, I’m talking proactive analysis and advanced recovery methodologies. One that is obvious is the use of Stem… -
The Real Problem with the Twitter HackCrash
2 May 2013 | 9:36 amIn case you missed it, the @AP twitter account was hacked , which resulted in a tweet that sent markets spiraling down only to recover a few minutes later once it was revealed that the tweet was a fake. Here is more info. Why did the market head lower so quickly ? This is from Paste Magazine “The events last Tuesday were likely caused by the news-reacting algorithms that are designed to electronically read and interpret machine-readable news,” said in an emailed response by Irene Aldridge, a hedge fund consultant on algorithms and author of High-Frequency Trading: A Practical Guide… -
Sometimes I truly do get GREAT advice from NBA fans
3 Apr 2013 | 12:14 pmI pity Your IGNORANCE all that Money and U still don’t have a CLUE – Brittney Griner born 10/18/1990 Inbox x Gary to Mark.Cuban HOPE YOU READ THIS CUBES , BECAUSE I AM MAKING A POINT -> Brittney Griner born 10/18/1990(1+0+1+8+1+9+9+0=29 2+9=11 KEEP READING Your Buddy DAN GILBERT was to Ignorant to listen in 2007 , and it cost him LEBRON and a TITLE . http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201202/gary-grinberg-numerology-jeremy-lin-tim-tebow-nba-cleveland-cavaliers Sports Numerology When it comes to Sports , the scouts and G.M. are Paying attention to every Number But the Most…
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Matt Mullenweg
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Houston: Modern American Boomtown
18 May 2013 | 6:18 amThe Wall Street Journal interviews Annise Parker on Houston and calls it “The Modern American Boomtown”. I think Houston is the most under-appreciated city in North America, as anyone who’s hung out with me for more than a few hours has heard me preach. -
The Physical Graph
17 May 2013 | 2:31 pmWired has a great cover story on Audrey portfolio company SmartThings: In the Programmable World, All Our Objects Will Act as One. -
Saudi Arabia Surveillance
14 May 2013 | 10:42 pmA Saudi Arabia Telecom pitched Moxie Marlinspike on how to intercept Twitter, WhatsApp, Viber… -
Four Little Numbers
26 Apr 2013 | 2:19 pmFour Little Numbers, Joen Asmussen talks about working on this year’s new default theme for WordPress, which also just launched on WordPress.com. -
Jawbone UP vs Basis
22 Apr 2013 | 10:05 amI’ve always been into personal analytics. From Wakemate to the Nike Fuelband I’ve tried pretty much every device that’s come on the market to help you become more self-aware of your activities, and hopefully improve them as well. Lately I’ve settled on two that I think are really high quality: the Jawbone UP and the Basis watch. I would recommend either above the Nike Fuelband or Fitbit, but let me share some brief thoughts about my experiences with each: The UP is beautiful — it’s easy to wear with pretty much any outfit, even with formal wear I find I…
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Altimeter Group
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Google better organizes our world –and sells us back the experience
15 May 2013 | 2:28 pmThis post originally appeared on my Altimeter analyst Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategy Blog By Chris Silva and Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analysts at Altimeter Group Last year’s over hyped skydiving was replaced by down to earth by grounded product enhancements. We’re live from the Google IO conference in SF with 6,000 developers, press, and media in San [...] -
New Research: Organize for Content
25 Apr 2013 | 9:00 amMore than a handful of brands publish more content now than a major media property such as Time Magazine did 25 years ago. Despite the overwhelming and ever-increasing trend toward content marketing, and the need to continually feed an ever-increasing portfolio of content channels and formats, most organizations haven’t yet addressed content on either a [...] -
Four Disruption Themes for Business
18 Apr 2013 | 10:44 amBy Altimeter’s Research Team Analysts: Susan Etlinger, Charlene Li, Rebecca Lieb, Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Silva, Brian Solis; Consulting: Ed Terpening, Alan Webber: Researchers: Jon Cifuentes, Jessica Groopman, Andrew Jones, Jaimy Szymanski, Christine Tran Over 30 Technologies Have Emerged, at a Faster Pace than Companies Can Digest. If you think social was disruptive, it was really just the beginning. Altimeter’s [...] -
The Phone Doesn’t Matter In #FacebookPhone
4 Apr 2013 | 2:48 pmThis post was also cross-posted at my blog makemobilework.com. We all gathered amidst the rain and clouds at Facebook HQ, 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA to see what would be unveiled. A new flagship Android phone, tailored toward Facebook users? A new branch of the Android OS? A groundbreaking partnership? Turns out it’s an application – [...] -
SXSW Interactive: Exploring the Perhiphery
25 Mar 2013 | 12:56 pmSXSW Interactive—or what I like to call it, “Geek Mardi Gras”—is over, and the dust is settling. Although there was no real central theme at this year’s SXSW Interactive conference, there were very interesting themes on the periphery of digital. It’s great that the conference curators are exploring the outside boundaries of “Interactive”. It’s just [...]
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Howard Lindzon
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$1 Billion is Not Cool….$1.1 Billion is…and The Moustache is Back
17 May 2013 | 6:40 pmSo YHOO buys Tumblr. Wow. Mazel Tov to the investors. Not that you are counting, but I am…that makes three $1 billion companies in 2007 and 2008 I passed on as an angel…ZNGA, Twitter and now Tumblr. Actually I asked David after this interview if I could invest $50,000 in his angel round and he quickly said no: I just ran into David by chance in San Francisco and we had a nice chat. I assumed he was there for the Google IO conference. I should have just asked him for a loan. My quick thoughts because I have been asked are that this is a great deal for YHOO and obviously a fantastic… -
Overvalued, Overvalued, Overvalued…NOT the Location, Location Location of Markets
16 May 2013 | 8:28 amIn April 2007, I Wallstripped Salesforce.com. It’s in my top 5 fave shows we made. Every time I hear the stock mentioned, I think about making the show and the run the stock has had since. It’s a quick watch with many lessons: One of the most used words outside of actual tickers the last 3 years on Stocktwits is ‘Overvalued’. It somehow makes investors and traders feel good about their positions or lack thereof as the markets romp in the United States. I cringe when I hear it used when talking stocks. LIQUID securities that you can fling around for a few shekels… -
Stocktwits Welcomes Premium Ditto Trade Profiles…Deeper and Lighter Social Investing
13 May 2013 | 2:16 pmI get into the meat of this new partnership below, but on a personal level, as someone who loves the social web, trend investing, the mobile web and social leverage it is cool to see more innovation in social investing. With today’s Stocktwits/DittoTrade rollout, I can invest quickly with/alongside lead traders/investors (as many as I like), follow along in real-time on my smartphone and get statements just like any brokerage account. I have invested in many hedge funds and managed accounts over the years and will continue to do so, but now I can invest with lead investors/traders who… -
Meaty Trends – Trust, Security and Bitcoins
8 May 2013 | 7:26 amIf you have never seen a perfect long-term trend set up for a new set of markets, I give you yesterday’s Union Square Ventures investment in Coinbase. On one end of the trend…Union Square has a good track record of investing in things that are too early to understand for most, but become mainstream. They invest many millions of dollars in platforms and ideas that have traction, but many hurdles on their way to mainstream. On the other end of the trend is Warren Buffeet. Warren can be late. He can buy troubled companies or great companies late in their growth cycle like IBM. At the… -
The ‘Eclectic Opportunist’…and My Tesla Investment/Trade
7 May 2013 | 4:17 pmThis morning I sold the rest of my Tesla (TSLA) above $61. I am now Tesla free. I am ‘Jonesing’ for Tesla to fall quickly to $50 again so I may revisit owning it. I have Tesla fever…. But I digress. This post is about more than Tesla the stock or the company. I am tired of all the old ways of profiling people financially. It’s boring… I fill out new account Statements probably once a quarter it seems for various brokerages or banks and the questions are all the same. I am not a ‘Novice’ or a ‘Pro’. I am not ‘Intermediate’. God…
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Calacanis.com
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Yahoo + Tumblr = Big Win, But Zuck + Tumblr = Bigger Win
18 May 2013 | 3:29 pmYahoo is going to buy Tumblr for $1B on Monday according to reports. I will explain to you why the media is freaking out, why big companies need to make more bets like this, why Yahoo is the perfect home and why Zuckerberg should offer $2B. Media… Freak Out! Over 20 years in the industry I’ve learned that when something gets bought for $1B or more, people tend to freak out. People can comprehend millions of dollars, because we all know folks who have a million or more dollars (or homes worth that). When you start talking about 100s or 1,000s of millions, people get emotional and some… -
Majestic English bulldog
12 Feb 2013 | 12:23 pm -
Launch Festival 2013: March 4-6th (Hackathon 2-4th)
17 Jan 2013 | 5:20 pmQuick updates on the LAUNCH Festival can be found here: http://festival.launch.co/ The bigger points: 1. 5,000 folks coming, 2,000 seats in the main room = largest conference in tech!!! 2. Scholarships available for founders, builder, developers and designers. 3. Live crowdfunding for the first time in history! 4. First round of judges… so blessed to get this level of support. 5. Our first Hackathon has $50k in prizes — the most ever! Thanks to my amazing group of partners including The Social+Capital Partnership, Bing, MailChimp, WSGR, Sequoia Capital, Google, CRV, Zelkova,… -
World Series of Poker Main Event 2012
3 Jul 2012 | 4:26 pmI’m going to play day 1C (Monday) of the World Series of Poker Main Event. If you’re interested in buying “equity” in me I’m selling straight equity (1% = $100), with 10% of any winnings coming off the top for charity. So if you bought 1% for $100, and I won $1M you would get $10k – 10% for charity…. so $9k. If you’re interested email wsop@calacanis.com. I’ll be doing updates from http://www.twitter.com/jason -
The Age of Excellence
1 Jul 2012 | 1:23 pmThe Age of Excellence "Handgun Rating" Two months ago I wrote a piece calle The Age of Excellence over at LAUNCH.co (the website/blog associated with the LAUNCH Festival/TechCrunch50 conference I’ve been running for the past five years or so). If you haven’t read it you can do so here: http://www.launch.co/blog/the-age-of-excellence.html/ I’m working on two follow up pieces: Enforcing Excellence (or ‘Techniques for Reaching Excellence’) The Age of Efficacy If you have any thoughts on this go ahead and email me jason AT calacanis.com
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The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
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The Magic of DonorsChoose — Join Me and Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian for Dinner
13 May 2013 | 9:58 amDonorsChoose.org is the first charity named to Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World. I dislike most non-profits because — good intentions aside — they get little or no results. DonorsChoose, on the other hand, is incredibly effective. In this month’s Vanity Fair, Melinda Gates describes them as “Kickstarter for classrooms.” Here’s her short article, which includes a photo spread by Annie Leibovitz. I make a guest appearance, which was a dream come true. Here’s why I’m on their advisory board: To me, poor education is… -
How To Gain 20 Pounds In 28 Days: The Extreme Muscle Building Secrets of UFC Fighters
11 May 2013 | 12:15 pmThe following is Part 2 of a two-part guest post from Nate Green, who works with John Berardi, PhD, Georges St-Pierre’s nutritional coach. Part 1 detailed how top UFC fighters rapidly lose weight before weigh-ins for competitive advantage. Now, in Part 2, Nate shares how he gained 20 pounds in 28 days, using techniques an elite fighter such as Georges St-Pierre (GSP) might utilize to move up a weight class. This is a very, very comprehensive post. If you’ve ever wondered how to quickly gain muscle — or how a GSP versus Anderson Silva super-fight could happen —… -
How To Lose 20-30 Pounds In 5 Days: The Extreme Weight Cutting and Rehydration Secrets of UFC Fighters
6 May 2013 | 1:28 pmThe following is a guest post by Nate Green, who works with Dr. John Berardi, nutritional advisor to athletes like UFC champion Georges St. Pierre (GSP). This is the first of two blog posts entailing extreme physical experiments. Absolutely no performance enhancing drugs of any kind were used. Part 1 — this post — details exactly how top fighters like Georges St. Pierre rapidly lose 20-30 pounds for “weigh-ins.” To refine the method, Nate performed this on himself, losing 20 pounds in 5 days. The unique part: Dr. Berardi and team measured key variables throughout the… -
A Few Thoughts on Content Creation, Monetization, and Strategy
2 May 2013 | 6:41 pm(Photo credit: Shewatchedthesky) This is short post on content creation and monetization. Below is an e-mail I received from a friend of a friend. My answers to him are inline after “TIM”, and I’ve elaborated on a few. The e-mail itself is also a great example of a thoughtful approach to a busy person (me). I bolded one key phrase. For those who want to explore further, here are two related posts: How to Build a High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself Tim Ferriss Scam! Practical Tactics for Dealing with Haters Now, let’s read that e-mail… The Email: Questions… -
Jedi Mind Tricks: How to Get Loved Ones to Lose Weight
1 May 2013 | 12:14 pmDarya Pino Rose, PhD, and her dad, who transformed himself after years of resistance. “Families are like fudge: mostly sweet with a few nuts.” - Anonymous “Language is a means of getting an idea from my brain into yours without surgery.” - Mark Amidon Losing fat yourself is one thing. Readers of this blog have lost 100-200 pounds without too much trouble. Getting your mom or dad to take you seriously? To stop eating white bread or drinking 64-ounce sodas? That can seem impossible. Loved ones — whether family, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, or…
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Seth's Blog
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Learning by analogy
19 May 2013 | 2:36 amThe story of Hansel and Gretel is not actually about Hansel or Gretel. You are surrounded by examples and lessons and case studies that clearly aren't exactly about your project. There's never been a book written precisely about the situation you are facing right now, either. Perhaps one day they will publish, "Marketing Low-Cost Coaching Services to Small Businesses Specializing in Graphic Design in the Upper Peninsula for Dummies" but don't hold your breath. Marketing, like all forms of art, requires us to learn to see. To see what's working and to transplant it,… -
It's Thomas Midgley day
18 May 2013 | 2:00 amToday would be his 124th birthday. A fine occasion to think about the effects of industrialization, and what happens when short-term profit-taking meets marketing. Midgley is responsible for millions of deaths. Not directly, of course, but by, "just doing his job," and then pushing hard to market ideas he knew weren't true—so he and his bosses could turn a profit. His first mistake began when he figured out that adding lead to gasoline appeared to make cars perform better. At the time, two things were widely known by chemists: 1. Adding grain alcohol to gasoline dramatically… -
Every day is an investment
17 May 2013 | 2:07 amYou're not lucky to have this job, they're lucky to have you. Every day, you invest a little bit of yourself into your work, and one of the biggest choices available to you is where you'll be making that investment. That project that you're working on, or that boss you report to... worth it? Investing in the wrong place for a week or a month won't kill you. But spending ten years contributing to something that you don't care about, or working with someone who doesn't care about you... you can do better. -
The river guide and the rapids
16 May 2013 | 2:11 amIt's probably not an accident that rapid (as in rapid change) shares a root with rapids (as in Lava Falls in the Grand Canyon). The river guide, piloting his wooden dory, has but one strategy. Get the boat to the end of the river, safely. And he has countless tactics, an understanding of how water and rocks work, and, if you're lucky, experience on this particular river. The thing is, the captain changes his tactics constantly. He never whines. He doesn't stop the boat and say, "wait, no fair, yesterday this rock wasn't like this!" No, the practice of being great… -
Applications open for a short summer internship
15 May 2013 | 10:53 amI'm offering a short-term paid internship this summer. You'll be in my office, working with me and a tightly knit group to develop a brand new idea. Here are some details, the links to apply are at the end. Please feel free to forward to those that might be interested. The first intern project happened more than eight years ago, and we built changethis.com, which, in the capable hands of 800ceoread, just published its 100th issue. This project has lauched and amplified dozens of bestsellers and even more important, truly valuable ideas to millions of people. Team members included…
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A VC
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Video Of The Week: SNL's Take On Google Glass
18 May 2013 | 5:22 amThis is pretty funny. -
Fun Friday: Morning Joe
17 May 2013 | 4:48 amIt feels like its been a while since we did a fun friday around here. So here goes. How do you like your morning cup of coffee? I go with the Cortado, ideally in a shot glass. Here's one from Kava, the coffee shop near my home in the far west village. So how do you take your morning cup? Photos please. -
S4 Running Stock Android
16 May 2013 | 3:33 amGoogle announced so many things yesterday that it makes my head spin. Goodness all around in Google land. But there is one thing that really caught my eye. Google will start selling a Galaxy S4 running "stock android" in the Play store on June 26th. When folks ask me what Android phone to buy, I am always torn between the S4 which I believe to be the best Android handset in the market right now and the Nexus 4 which runs stock android but has no LTE support (the phone I currently use). Now, or at least in a month or so, I will have a good answer. Get the S4 running stock android. If you can… -
A Day Late And A Dollar Short
15 May 2013 | 3:33 amSo RIM has decided that it is time to make Blackberry Messenger (BBM) cross platform. They announced yesterday that by this summer BBM will be available on iOS and Android. The time to do this was in 2008/2009 when BBM was huge and everyone was on it. The core users were beginning to leave for iOS and eventually Android and if RIM would have let them take BBM with them, they would now own the biggest cross platform messenger out there. BBM is great and everyone knew how to use it and was comfortable with it. But RIM execs waited four years to make this move. When BBM hits iOS and Android this… -
Losing The Team
14 May 2013 | 3:49 amBoards can be pretty patient. They can put up with a lot of failings, particularly in the early days of a startup when the product isn't where it needs to be. But one thing a Board cannot tolerate is when a CEO loses the confidence of the team. I feel that I must say this because I know that many folks in our portfolio read AVC. This is not a post about any specific company or any CEO or any team. This is just a statement of fact that I wanted to put out there because I was thinking about it. If I think about the times I have had to remove a CEO, by far the most common reason was the loss of…
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O'Reilly Radar - Insight, analysis, and research about emerging technologies
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Software and the physical world
17 May 2013 | 8:50 amIn this episode of the Radar podcast series, Jon Bruner and I are joined by Mike Loukides as we muse more on software and the physical world. No coffee shop clatter in the background this time around as we were forced by geography and time to talk on the phone, but I still managed to have a good cup from my favorite local cafe in my hand. In the course of our conversation, we discovered that Mike drinks tea, so this may be his last appearance. Our discussion ranges from the declining cost of 3D printing to ham radio antenna design. Along the way, we touch on the ease with which data… -
Three organizations pressing for change in society’s approach to computing
16 May 2013 | 7:00 amTaking advantage of a recent trip to Washington, DC, I had the privilege of visiting three non-profit organizations who are leaders in the application of computers to changing society. First, I attended the annual meeting of the Association for Computing Machinery’s US Public Policy Council (USACM). Several members of the council then visited the Open Technology Institute (OTI), which is a section of New America Foundation (NAF). Finally, I caught the end of the first general-attendance meeting of the Open Source Initiative (OSI). In different ways, these organizations are all putting… -
Four short links: 16 May 2013
16 May 2013 | 4:00 amAustralian Filter Scope Creep — The Federal Government has confirmed its financial regulator has started requiring Australian Internet service providers to block websites suspected of providing fraudulent financial opportunities, in a move which appears to also open the door for other government agencies to unilaterally block sites they deem questionable in their own portfolios. Embedding Actions in Gmail — after years of benign neglect, it’s good to see Gmail worked on again. We’ve said for years that email’s a fertile ground for doing stuff better, and Google… -
Four short links: 15 May 2013
15 May 2013 | 4:00 amFacial Recognition in Google Glass (Mashable) — this makes Glass umpty more attractive to me. It was created in a hackathon for doctors to use with patients, but I need it wired into my eyeballs. How to Price Your Hardware Project — At the end of the day you are picking a price that enables you to stay in business. As @meganauman says, “Profit is not something to add at the end, it is something to plan for in the beginning.” Hardware Pricing (Matt Webb) — When products connect to the cloud, the cost structure changes once again. On the one hand, there are ongoing network… -
Four short links: 14 May 2013
14 May 2013 | 3:00 amBehind the Banner — visualization of what happens in the 150ms when the cabal of data vultures decide which ad to show you. They pass around your data as enthusiastically as a pipe at a Grateful Dead concert, and you’ve just as much chance of getting it back. (via John Battelle) pwnpad — Nexus 7 with Android and Ubuntu, high-gain USB bluetooth, ethernet adapter, and a gorgeous suite of security tools. (via Kyle Young) Terra — a simple, statically-typed, compiled language with manual memory management [...] designed from the beginning to interoperate with Lua. Terra…
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TechCrunch
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David Karp's Dilemma
18 May 2013 | 10:48 pmAs the Tumblr/Yahoo deal continues to be negotiated by press, and the world gears up for whatever is being announced Monday morning, Tumblr founder David Karp is probably having a very interesting weekend. It’s likely, in between multiple discussions with his board members and Marissa Mayer, that he’ll take a break, like a walk or something, to gather his thoughts. On this walk (or jog or glass of wine at a bar), he will likely mull over two main outcomes. He could take Yahoo’s money, whether it be the $1.1 billion that the board is trying to approve giving him, or the more… -
Backed Or Whacked: Reading And Writing Through Crowdfunding
18 May 2013 | 10:30 pmEditor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive. Each column looks at crowdfunded products that have either met or missed their funding goals. Follow him on Twitter @rossrubin. An ancient and once-sacred bond between author and audience, reading and writing have become but two more tasks along with a multitude of other things that we do on a host of digital devices — watcing videos, listening to music, playing games, and really anything except using Facebook Home. Still, there are some for whom the intimate act of interface between pen and… -
Mark Suster Talks Founder CEOs, The Acqui-Hire Frenzy, And Much More [TCTV]
18 May 2013 | 9:05 pmMark Suster of Los Angeles’ GRP Partners is known for his unique insights on the tech and digital media worlds, having famously had success on “both sides of the table” as a repeat entrepreneur turned investor over nearly two decades in the industry. And he hit headlines several times this past week, with his viewpoints on acqui-hires (he says they’re often very bad) and founders stepping down from the CEO role such as what happened with GRP portfolio startup Awe.sm (he says sometimes, it’s the best thing that can happen.) So when we heard that Suster was in San… -
Confronting The Reality Of US Broadband Performance
18 May 2013 | 9:00 pmEditor’s note: Richard Bennett is a Senior Fellow with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and co-author of ITIF’s 2013 report, “The Whole Picture: Where America’s Broadband Networks Really Stand.” Follow him on Twitter @iPolicy. We’ve all heard the story: America’s broadband networks are second-rate. We pay exorbitant prices for shoddy service because broadband providers print money and hold innovation in a death grip. While America languishes, our competitors in Europe and Asia are racing ahead to a user-generated content utopia. The only way… -
The Future Of Mobile-Social Could Spell The End For Social Networks
18 May 2013 | 7:16 pmEditor’s note: Keith Teare is the founder of just.me and a partner at Archimedes Labs. He is also the co-founder of TechCrunch. Follow him on Twitter @kteare. Because of Google I/O, this was a momentous week for those of us who are watching the rapid transition that is taking place from desktop computing to mobile, and particularly for those focused on mobile-social as I am because of my job at just.me. Here is my take on what we just witnessed. Standalone Hangouts. Google announced at its I/O event that Hangouts was to be launched as a separate app from Google Plus, taking personal…
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Dave Winer
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Scripting News: Google is the new MSM.
17 May 2013 | 8:50 amLast night watching the NBA on TNT, new commercials for the YouTube comedy fest. The production was distinctly not YouTube. It was professional in every way. Nothing amateur about it. Google is now MSM. All that talk about Burning Man is sleight of hand. That guy has as much in common with you and me as Rupert Murdoch does. It's not just Google, Twitter is also MSM. Facebook? Eh. Their presence on TV is mostly in URLs at the bottom of other peoples' ads. Their commercials are amateurish, awful imitations of other tech company commercials. Not to say they're the only ones with awful… -
Scripting News: Why Dave Wynn uses Fargo.
16 May 2013 | 9:01 am -
Scripting News: What's new (or broken) with the Twitter API?
15 May 2013 | 6:39 amMy linkblogging tool, Radio2, has a connection with Twitter. You can establish a link between your feed and Twitter so that every item in your feed is also posted to Twitter. Here's a screen shot. To create the connection you click on the blue bird. That starts an OAuth conversation where the user gives Radio2 permission to post to his or her Twitter account. I've been hearing, peripherally, that some part of the old Twitter API is about to be turned off, or maybe has already been turned off. I can't pay full attention because it's a small feature, used by just a few people, and I have my… -
Scripting News: We need a curator for the Apple river.
11 May 2013 | 4:16 pmI did a house-cleaning on my river server on May 9. At that time some of the rivers stopped updating. Mostly the ones that no longer have tabs in the user interface because either I personally didn't have enough interest in the subject and not many other people were reading them. I didn't feel like paying for machine resources if only one or two people were reading the flow, or if there were only one or two new items a week. One of the rivers that I turned off is the Apple river. I use a Mac, several in fact. And I have an iPad and an iPod. I am a long-time Apple shareholder. I am an Apple… -
Scripting News: Should the Community Feed be an RSS feed in addition to being an OPML feed?
10 May 2013 | 8:41 pmThis question came up in the Community Feed, which you can read in Fargo, by choosing the Community Feed command from the Docs menu. Or you can read it in the Small Picture Reader if you don't use Fargo. I wrote my answer there, but thought it would be interesting to also post it here. No I didn't use the fancy Blogging 2.0 protocol I described in an earlier post. Soooon! Well of course it would be nice to have everything, if there were no cost. It would take time to write the code and keep it running. It would be worth doing if there would be a lot of people using it. But right now the…
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craigconnects
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Bringing High-Speed Broadband to Vocational Schools in Palestine
16 May 2013 | 7:55 amIn 2011 Inveneo and Coolnet, with funding from craigconnects, began Palestine's Technical Vocational Educational Training (TVET) program. Connected to aging infrastructure with extreme network congestion, the schools were functionally cut off from the Internet, with one principal needing to disconnect the entire school and wait 15 minutes just to send email. The solution was a network designed by Inveneo and built using local resources, which in 2013 began delivering broadband at roughly 1,000 times the previous speeds. Palestine Nablus Students Inveneo's focus on design, local… -
Annie Leibovitz, DonorsChoose, and Myself walked into a school…
14 May 2013 | 8:35 amHey folks, I went to NYC a few months back for a Vanity Fair photo shoot with DonorsChoose.org staff, board members, and advisers. All photos were taken by Annie Leibovitz. The photo shoot took place at P.S. 33 in NYC. Featured are DonorsChoose.org board members and advisers Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek; Livia Stone and Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder; Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit; Charles Best, founder and C.E.O. of DonorsChoose.org; Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report; Desirée Rogers, C.E.O. of Johnson Publishing; Anil Dash, blogger and founding partner… -
If it wasn't for comedy…
9 May 2013 | 12:13 pmIf it wasn't for comedy, I'd have no personality at all. I just found this video of me and the First Lady. I think it had to do with the "craigslist for good" concept. This was in Washington, DC at an allforgood.org event, which has since subsumed into the Points of Light, where I'm an advisor. At this event, Michelle Obama launched the National and Community Service Program. A sense of humor helps you realize that things like status and prestige are illusions. -
Help me give back to military families via DonorsChoose.org
7 May 2013 | 10:47 amOkay, teachers in a lot of schools never get a break, and that's often true in schools that serve military families. Remember that the families of active service troops also serve when troops are deployed. A really good way to give teachers and military families a break is via DonorsChoose.org. They're a great example of how we all use the Net to help each other out, by pooling a few dollars to give people a break. DonorsChoose is something I can understand. It's like microfinance applied to classroom projects; we all can contribute a little to fund a classroom projects. -
Easter Seals Advocacy Awards Honors Gary Sinise, Tom Brokaw and CITI for Work with Veterans
26 Apr 2013 | 10:03 amThe Easter Seals Advocacy Awards for the Washington, DC; Maryland, and Virginia areas honoring Tom Brokaw, Gary Sinise, and CITI for their work helping veterans, were awarded in Washington, DC on April 16, 2013. In addition to Sinise and Brokaw, in attendance were Phil Panzarella, Chairman of the Board, Easter Seals (DC, MD, VA); Lisa Reeves, President and CEO of Easter Seals (DC, MD, VA); Executive Vice President and Head, Global Affairs of CITI Candi Wolff; combat veteran, wounded heroine and congresswoman Tammy Duckworth; 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral (retired)…
