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Immigration Ridiculousness
I just got this e-mail from Fresh Direct, my online grocery delivery service:
- The government spent money to go after people who came to this country to work boxing my food in a warehouse.
- Now those people will be unemployed.
- The warehouse will be short staffed and so I'll get worse quality service.
- Delivery fees will likely have to go up in the future because, without "illegal" workers, the labor pool is smaller and therefore wages need to go up.
Why do we even have any rules on who's allowed to work anyway? How is it possible that we aren't better off as a society with free movement of labor? If the best qualified or hardest working people get the best positions, isn't that a good thing?
Just out of curiousity, I checked out Presidential Candidate immigration policies. Seems like they all have some kind of bone to pick, but that Obama has the most liberal one, including amnesty for existing workers.
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December 30, 2007 in Politics | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Take note: I don't
My college notebooks are pretty consistant... pages and pages of a lesson title across the top of the page, and then... nothing. All blank. Page after page. No notes.
In fact, I rarely ever take notes. If I'm on an informational phonecall doing research, that's one thing, but for most meetings, don't expect to see a pen and paper in my hand. It's just not the most effective way for me to retain knowledge.
Does that mean I don't care what you have to say? Hardly! It means I'm really listening intently, and completely focused on not just recording what you're talking about, but actually trying to understand it... seeing the forest, not just counting trees. I'm trying to build a system of understanding in my head that not only helps me put the facts you're giving me into context, but will help me filter and interpret new facts that will be sure to come down the pipeline going forward--all based on what I'm learning from you.
And that's the most important thing for me. We suffer from information overload. I don't need more information... I need context and filters. I need you to help me build a method and system for understanding what I need to understand... not more lists. Because if I record your list, I'm sure to get another list from someone else, and see a list online, and before I know it, I have a list of everything--a universal set. That won't do be any good.
I used to laugh when teachers would put up new math problems in class and call on someone in class to answer. Those students would immediately go flipping through their notes. Sorry, this isn't a problem you've seen before. This is something entirely new that you're expected to answer given what you've LEARNED.
You're not synthesizing! You don't have this particular problem in your notes. You're expected to actually think about it, and for many people, that doesn't happen through notetaking, but they're all taught to do that. Take notes. That's the way we all learn, right?
A lot of times, if I've been talking to someone and they're taking notes, I stop them. The kinds of things you often take notes about can be looked up, while actual understanding isn't easily recalled. This is especially the case in a hyperconnected, hyperpublished world, where all my brain needs to remember is that you mentioned a "search guy at New York Times" and it will take me two seconds to look up his information on LinkedIn and remember the name.
If you didn't see the forest the first time, you're hardly going to be able to piece together the whole thing from the three trees you took notes on... and that's usually what notes wind up being: A piecemeal, incomplete account of information completely without context. Often times, this information often becomes self reinforcing and you can get led down a wrong path from it. For example, if you're an entrepreneur and we're having a conversation about fundraising, I might rattle off a few of the kinds of angels I know that might invest in your company given what little I know about it, but maybe I don't really know enough. You write these names down and then follow up by asking me for introductions to these people. My assumption is that you've done your homework and figured out whether these folks are a good fit for your business. Your assumption, however, was that I fully understood the nature of your business and suggested the best three angels for you.
On the other hand, if there was some consistency in why I was naming particular angels, and you understood enough of that to ask a question like, "Are you naming those guys because they're all in NYC or they're all likely to do deals in the music space, because I don't plan on keeping the company here" then we can narrow down exactly who might be a good fit. If you're just sitting there recording everything I say, you might miss that.
Of course, everyone learns and listens differently. Alex is a notetaker. He's got a nice leatherbound book where he furiously records notes, thoughts, lists, etc. That works for him. Brad works the same way and he's extremely organized about it. I often wondered if it was about creating a physical reference to go back to or helping to commit important facts to memory--or whether it was something completely different... some kind of internal blog of thoughts born from the meeting itself. Fred, however, I've never seen take a pad to a meeting. He learns by interacting, by poking holes, poking bears... He's a tinkerer. He'll never remember the three companies you said you were in contract with, but he'll think more about why those companies are a good fit for you. The next time you talk to him, he'll name you six companies you should try to do deals with--the three companies you already gave him and the three that are next highest on your list that you never ever mentioned.
Also, when I meet someone for the first time, to me, it's about relationship building, not one way downloading. People aren't information stores to be downloaded. In my mind, and for the way I work, they're applications to be interacted with. I'd rather build a relationship with you where I understand your interests, your market, your ideas--what you bring to the table-- nd you learn the same about me, see how passionate I am, etc... just two people talking shop and getting to know each other. It's all about leaving markers for me. I'll mark in my head what kinds of information I can rely on you for later, but not necessarily the details of what information that was, because I want to make it a great conversation so that we want to chat again.
To be honest, if this is a one shot deal and I have to quickly get from you what I can because you don't have the interest in continuing this, I'm really not interested. There are so many people out there with great experience that I believe you can get a lot further by focusing on the ones that like you, believe in you, and share your vision.
At the end of the day, we all have different styles and different methods of dealing with information that work for us. It's a bad move to interpret someone else's style in the context of your own and make assumptions about what it means. I don't have a notepad. I'm not good with notes. I find them distracting, they never really get processed and organized--they're not going to do either of us any good, so trust me, you don't want me taking them. I'll do the extra research immediately after a meeting to recreate a good portion of the lists you mentioned by connecting, tagging, discovering, etc. in exchange for being able to see the bigger picture behind what you were talking about. If you can do both, great.
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December 30, 2007 in It's My Life | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-28
December 28, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
What I want out of 2008 - Politics
I'm going to write a series of posts on what I'm hoping 2008 will bring in different topic areas, and I'll start with politics. After all, when you say "2008", the first thing people think of is the presidential election.
Just once, I want to vote in an election with a candidate I can really get behind--someone with a proven track record of accomplishment and moreover, the ability to bring people together. Right now, I watch the political debates and I just feel bad about where this country is going and who's taking us there.
We're too busy talking about immigration and the military and we're ignoring issues like education and healthcare. We're debating whether or not immigrants should get drivers licenses and we've going a generation of kids in our schools that are falling woefully behind their peers in other countries. Why? Because candidates pander to bitesized issues people can have kneejerk reactions to. Solving the education problem in this country is too hard--its a complex issue, and so is healthcare. Most of the current candidates don't have comprehensive healthcare plans... why bother? Most of us wouldn't understand the economic or coverage impacts anyway. But we do understand big walls between us and Mexico. Is there really anyone out there whose life would be significantly improved by a big wall? No, but we can sure have an opinion about it. That's what we're going to wind up voting for... big walls and licenses.
And why the f are we still on the electoral college? That's got to go away. My votes don't even count directly. Some democracy.
Did anyone notice Bush just vetoed an Iraq spending bill? Um... wait.. if he doesn't support this thing anymore, what are we still doing there?
I'm still waiting for Mike Bloomberg to run, but the longer this goes, the more I feel like I'm going to get left at the alter. We need someone out there who is willing to rise above the infighting around getting nominated by our two parties...someone who just speaks their mind. I want someone who speaks about finding real solutions and has real priorities that make sense.
I'm usually pretty optimistic about life, but we're running out of years where we can continue with "America as usual". We're a land of entitlement now. I see it in the kids I teach. Few of them know what real work means--what it's like to really challenge themselves, because they never had to. We have a generation of kids that is having stuff handed to them and they think the real world is going to be like that. It's also the same kids that are getting our best educations available. Full support, no hunger.
In fact, we're doing a pretty nice job of coddling these days. Can't pay your mortgage? It's ok... we'll keep your rates low... lower than the rates of financially responsible people who signed up for fixed rate mortgages on houses they could afford.
Someone call you a bad name? Don't worry... we'll get them fired. You don't have to stand up for yourself. Screw free speech, because bad words hurt.
We're nitpicking about what words which people can say, and meanwhile we're choking our planet to death. We're the last industrialized nation not to sign the Kyoto Treaty. I have to be honest.. I don't even know what's in the Kyoto Treaty, but I do know it's an effort to treat the environment better and every single other country thinks its a good idea. It would be one thing if there was some competing treaty and then I'd have to compare the two side by side, but since we don't seem to have any answers of our own, it seems pretty ignorant to just stand here with our arms crossed and be the last holdout. More screwy priorities.
People in this country need to realize that we're all on the same side... to learn to accept differences of opinion and work together in spite of them. Pro-life? Pro-choice? Gay marriage? If we don't learn how to work together, we can forget about being a competitive, productive partner in the world economy and political scene. I'd like a candidate that understands that, and brings people together to accomplish real advancement--putting structures in place that will help us over the long term, not win monthly popularity votes. It's not Hilary Clinton. It's not Rudy Giuliani. Barak? I dunno... Mitt? Meh. Ron Paul? Eek.
Somebody... show me something... anything. I'm tired of America as usual.
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December 28, 2007 in Politics | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
I'm not a fan of her either, but this is probably a bit much...
December 25, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-24
December 24, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Ozzy/Rob Zombie Concert
Saturday night I went to go see Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie at the Garden. It was a pretty good show and certainly the most animated I've ever seen Ozzy. Clearly there are some invisible cattle prods going on there.
Seeing Ozzy wasn't so much about the performance as it was just being able to get to see him, so I'm giving him a lot of leeway on the quality there. Whatever energy he lacked, the crowd certainly made up for.
Rob Zombie, however, was an animal. Here's a clip of one of my favorite songs, "Dragula":
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December 24, 2007 in Music | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Actually tried to buy some indie music today (Kilsy)... Sucky process, but I still bought.
I caught this band Kilsy on TV last night... so I checked out their site this morning. Admittedly, I don't know too much about indie music, so must of the stuff I listen to, if purchased, would like the pockets of music publishers, not the band. That's why I'd rather actually go to show to be supportive instead. But that wasn't the case here, so I decided to buy some tracks. Headed over to their MySpace page first:
Yeah, um, not so much.
Ok, how about this PayPlay thing?
No, thanks. I don't want to register or join anything... I just want to buy music.
Hmm... I wonder if they have a last.fm page.
That led me to Amazon, where the album was actually cheaper.. a 1-click buy... until....
Jeezus... No wonder they've only got 103 total plays on Last.fm. Folks, you gotta make your stuff easier to get. Are you even making any money from online album sales?? Seems it would be easier to just give the stuff away and play more and bigger venues.
I wound up downloading the Amazon thing, but I don't trust it. I think its watching me.
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December 23, 2007 in Music | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Teach your kid to throw a sinker and keep all their pitches low in the zone
Joe Sheehan from Baseball Analysts writes this great piece about keeping the ball on the ground. He notes two things:
"...What was a little surprising to me is how the groundball percentage of every pitch decreases at almost the same rate with increasing height."
And that sinkers have a "...huge advantage... in generating grounders compared to any other pitch. "
Best part about a sinker? It won't wreck a young arm, because you don't twist your wrist. Here's how Jake Westbrook does it.
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December 23, 2007 in Baseball and Other Sports | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Path 101 picks up some more angels and a new board member
Who invested? Who joined the board? Find out here.
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December 21, 2007 in Path 101 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Remember our TheLadders.com plant?
Thanks Marc!
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December 20, 2007 in Random Stuff | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Steve Jobs is a dick.
There, I said it.
Apple just "came to an agreement" with Nick from the ThinkSecret blog--you know, the one that a 13 year old started in 1998 about Apple product rumors. He wound up getting one too many rumors (truths) out before Apple was ready to make it public, so they sued him. They settled... meaning that Apple will drop the suit and Nick will shut the site down.
Remember... this is a guy who liked Apple so much he started a website dedicated to the company.
They shut him down... a college student.
What is it going to take from this company for people to stop drinking the Apple kool-aid? Seriously, folks, its just another company. Let's take an inventory:
iPod... They charge people a license to make products for it... like those iPod home stereo things. Plus, they insist on selling drm music. "Don't blame us, blame the record companies." Yeah, because I'm sure the record companies wouldn't budge if the company that has a near monopoly on online music distribution decided they wouldn't sell DRM music anymore. Oh, and you can't replace the battery on your own without voiding the warranty... and video Ipod screens... yeah.. do I need to go on?
iPhone... One carrier gets an exclusive deal. People build apps for it and then Apple crushes the apps in an upgrade. Screen? Cracks. Battery. Can't replace it.
Safari... The browser caching problem means that it will display the version of your site that it sees fit, not as it sits on your server.
I own an iPod and that's the only Apple product I use. I had no urge to own an iPhone. Hey, Windows products may suck, but at least Microsoft doesn't tease me and make me think they're my friend. By the way, how many of you know someone (maybe you) whose iPhone has cracked already. I think I'll buy a Zune or something next time.
Hell, they don't even buy anyone. Google may be the borg and Microsoft may be evil, but at least they spend a few bucks from the coffers filling the pockets of entrepreneurs once in a while.
Yeah... Apple makes beautiful things... that break... and that hurt you when they violate you with them.
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December 20, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Are you following the Path 101 blog?
Because if you are, you saw the first drafts of the look and feel of our real front end design.
And some ideas around our logo.
And, if that doesn't entertain you enough, the world's most boring web TV: Our live webcam.
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December 19, 2007 in Path 101 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Looking for a CTO? Can't find one? Here's why...
Over the last couple of weeks, I've had the same conversation with three different startups. They were all started by businesspeople and they were frustrated over the fact that they couldn't find a great tech person to build their dream into a reality.
So I asked them if they were willing to actually make it a partnership and give them an equal share of the business.
They all balked. Didn't even hesitate. No way.
Well, if I was a tech guy capable of building your application, then I wouldn't work with you either. Good luck, buddy.
One of the reasons people work at startups to begin with is because they feel like their work will be a lot more rewarding versus working in a big company. If their work isn't highly valued by the people that start the business, then what's the point of even working for a startup? No one's going to join a business team as the CTO for a 5% stake in the company or if your first thought is, "I don't want to give that much away."
I've never had that thought, when it comes to making offers to people, of "That's too much to give away." (My angels have talked me down to reasonable numbers, not to worry...) But, I'm always thinking, for the right person, that this person makes my business worth that much more... so why wouldn't I give away more equity? If anything, it's the financing rounds you need to be careful about giving up equity on, not people costs (within reason).
The right CTO can make all the difference. It's not just getting the site built... it's making sure the site scales appropriately, and in a cost effective way, too. A partner is going to care about not overbuying hardware, because his or her stake is tied to how much cash is left in the bank. They're going to spend the late nights solving some untraceable bug and not charge you by the hour for it. A contract lead developer? Meh.
And best of all, they're not going to walk away right when you need them the most... at least, not if they're properly incentivized. I can't tell you how many times I've heard of nightmare scenarios of contract developers that not only flake out, but maliciously break code or leave startups in a jam. It's fine to do some outsourcing, but if you don't have a founding partner who can build, I think you're up a creek.
And if you don't realize that it takes more than just a business idea and a little cash to make a successful business, I'd have no interest in coming to work for you if I was a CTO or even just a great developer.
If you find the person who can not only build your idea, be committed to it for the long haul, and that you can get along with, give 'em an equal share (with proper vesting, of course... 1 year cliff...). Trust me that you'll thank me later.
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December 19, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-17
December 17, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
The technical aspects of the Path 101 build (or, "Yeah... um... what Alex said")
"Our architecture is also based on a reliable template - lightweight caching reverse proxys in front, proxying to the heavier app servers, which in turn are driven by the databases. We will aim for a shared-nothing architecture - decouple everything, push the state out to the client, compress, minify, and cache the static content, eventually pushing it out to a CDN."Painting the bike shed - machine text
And people thought I was snarky... wait until you read his...
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December 17, 2007 in Path 101, Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Cheap Love
I made a last minute trip up to Boston to go see Mere (@ptrain) because we hadn't seen each other in a while. We weren't planning on seeing each other after Christmas and we were both insanely busy, but I made time to go up anyway.
So, when she brought up the fact that I wasn't doing some of the little things, like asking her how her day was enough or wishing her good luck on her finals, I was kind of thrown. In typical male fashion, my first response was, "But I drove all the way up here!" and "But you don't even care about your grades...you're not going to law school...you don't need the ranking!"
I totally didn't get it... not until I compared it to my own experience with our angels, who are pretty good at this kind of thing. A week or two ago, Pete and Josh just "checked in" to see how we were... not to pressure us, but just to see if there was anything they could do for us and just to catch up. When the Silicon Alley list came out, I got a note from Fred saying that he was more excited that I got on it than being on it himself.
Little emails...they just take two seconds to write, but sometimes they feel just as important as any money we got from these folks, introduction they could make, or strategy they could advise on.
When you're in any kind of relationship, be it dating or an investment, its easy to mark time with big events--board meetings, anniversaries, vacations, launches... but what does the relationship feed on in between? Neither startup life, or, in my case, long distance relationship life, is easy. Sometimes you need a little quick fix to keep you going... cheap love.
I'm generally no good at cheap love in relationships. It feels too easy... a text message, a rote "How was your day?" I'm a big things kinda guy, but now I get it. You just want a ping every now and then just to let you know that the other person is still out there, still thinking about you, and still excited to be part of this relationship.
Send your significant other or angel investment some cheap love today!
December 17, 2007 in Random Stuff | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-16
December 16, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
How about combining AdReady and Clickable into a small biz online marketing tools juggernaut?
AdReady just got funding from Bain and Khosla Ventures for "do it yourself" display advertising on websites.
They have "...developed an online library of about 600 prefabricated display ads in categories such as real estate, education and travel. Customers choose an ad, customize it and then -- with AdReady's help -- launch it into the ad networks from Google and Yahoo's Right Media."
Clickable "makes creating and managing search advertising simple and effective." They can recommend keywords and ad copy for you and manage all your search campaigns in one place.
Hmm... imagine a place where small businesses could go to create and manage ALL their online campaigns, both search and display. These two things are very different from each other, so to combine two companies that have expertise in each area seems like a natural fit.
So many companies would love to go to search engine marketing shops, but don't have enough traffic to make it worth the time of those shops. And forget display... I don't think anyone's really helping small businesses with display advertising. There's a huge, untapped market for both of these services and since they serve the same customers--customers who want to sign into one place to manage their online campaigns--I think it would benefit everyone to see them work together.
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December 16, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Snow in Beantown
Boston got 7 inches of snow this morning, but it was light and fluffy when it first fell. I was able to clean my car out pretty quickly with just a broom. I had a little help from a Harvard facilities plow as well.
Supposedly, its going to turn to rain, so I should be able to get home ok tonight.
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December 16, 2007 in It's My Life | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-15
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Full news coverage and opinions on the 2008 presidential election. Find photos, audio, video, and related sites about the 2008 election on Yahoo! News.
December 15, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-14
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In the information economy, communication skills and curiosity about the world is as crucial as an interest in science, says Bill Gates.
December 14, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
nextNY Holiday Party Monday night after ITP Show
At first, we weren't sure if we were going to do a holiday party, because there were so many going on, but we had so much fun last year and it was such a great turnout that we decided to do one again. The best part is that it coinsides with the ITP Winter Show, and so you can go to that, and then meet us for drinks at Apple Bar right around the corner.
Here's the RSVP list... you can show up anyway, but its always nice to let others know you're coming.
Monday, December 17th. 7PM - 10PM
Apple Restaurant and Bom Bar:
http://www.applerestaurant.com/
located at
17 Waverly Pl. Between Green and Mercer
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December 14, 2007 in nextNY, Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Difference between steroids and breast implants?
- Both make a person look fake
- Both provide a physical advantage in the entertainment industry
- Both are tied to serious medical side effects
- Both are influencing younger and younger kids to have unhealthy self-images and seek out enhancement
- Both don't really fool anyone
And please, no jokes about stiff penalties.
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December 13, 2007 in Random Stuff | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Recipe for Eliminating Microsoft Exchange and Outlook from your E-mail, Calendar, and Contacts, but still sync over the air to a Windows Mobile phone
So, here's my dilemma:
Given:
- I use Gmail for my personal mail.
- I use Gmail apps for my Path 101 domain for corporate mail.
- I'm very particular about my address book. I have 2000+ contacts and I try to keep them to people I actually want to remember, not just anyone I've ever e-mailed.
- I need a calendar on my phone.
- I have a Windows Mobile 6 based phone.
- I'd like use GCal for my calendar, because I get calendar invites to these Google addresses
- Also, I share calendars with @ptrain, so we can see what weekends I'm coming up to Boston, figure out when to call each other (even though we're not big phone people), plan dinners with other couples, etc. This is easily done in the GCal interface.
- I want over the air syncing.
- Sitting in a browser all day with your calendar and e-mail open, if you're using Firefox or Flock, is a good way to fist the memory hole and make the leak even bigger.
- Outlook is big, bloated, and slow. It eats memory and is unwieldy to keep flipping back and forth to.
- Google contacts suck. It takes everyone you've ever e-mailed and records them.
- Google doesn't normally play nice with mobile phones for syncing calendar and contacts anyway.
So, first thing I did was to download Thunderbird, at the advice of Gina Trapani, who is just awesome. Now that Gmail supports IMAP, Thunderbird makes for a really lightweight and easy to use desktop e-mail client.
However, that's all it is, until you start adding extensions. I added a couple key ones.
First, I added Lightning. Lightning is a Thunderbird extension that adds calendaring functionality to your application. If you're using gmail calendars, you're going to also need the Provider extension. This allows bidirectional access to Google Calendar.
What's neat is that you can get more than just access to your own calendar. You can add any calendar you can see in GCal... just by going to File>New>Calendar>On the network and providing the address of the Ical URL. (in GCal, My Calendars>pick the calendar>Calendar Settings) and add it. Here's a tip... if you subscribe to a calendar someone shares with you, it will ask you for their e-mail and password. Just use whatever e-mail and password you use to login to the account that can see this calendar. You don't need theirs specifically.
Ok, so now I've ported my e-mail and calendar into a lightweight desktop client. Still much work to do. How do I get my contacts from Exchange to Thunderbird.
Here's where you might have a bitter taste in your mouth... but I say you need to bite the bullet.
Enter Plaxo.
Plaxo has a Thunderbird toolbar that works quite well for syncing contacts. So put your contacts on Plaxo, sync them with the Outlook Toolbar, and sync them right into Thunderbird. Plaxo 3.0 makes connecting all the dots on the back end really easy.
Now my desktop experience is complete... E-mail, calendar, and contacts... but what about syncing? I'm still syncing to my hosted Exchange account for mobile calendar and contacts.
On paper, Plaxo Premium is supposed to help with both of these things. They just realized a Windows Mobile app for syncing exactly these two things. The trouble is, there's a missing link that makes only one of them work.
Let's start with what does work. Unlink the ActiveSync connections to your calendar and contacts on your phone. That will erase all those contacts and cal entries, so I'm assuming you still have them on the desktop somewhere. What does work is Contacts. This has always been Plaxo's strong suit... keeping all your contacts in one place... and now you can plug directly into your Plaxo contact database using their WM6 app. Sah-weet... worked on the first try.
But syncing to my Plaxo calendar... wait... that could work, but my Plaxo calendar is no longer synced to anything else. If I'm disconnecting my hosted Exchange, and the Thunderbird toolbar is only for contacts, how do I make sure Plaxo always has my latest calendar.
Well, they do have a Sync point for connecting to Google Calendar listed, but the damn thing just doesn't work. So, the Thunderbird toolbar won't sync your calendar to Plaxo, and Plaxo won't sync to your underlying GCal.
So, I went out and got a second application for the phone--GooSync, and paid for that one, too. GooSync promises to sync your Calendar and Contacts to Google, but I only keep my calendar on Google, because as I said before, Google contacts sucks. So, I turn off Plaxo's calendar sync, and I turn off GooSync's contacts sync. I let Goosync just sync directly to my Google Calender. So this way, thanks to Provider, I can change things on my desktop, have it write directly to Gcal, and then have Gcal always syncing to the phone with GooSync.
Results:
- Lightweight calendar and e-mail app
- Viewable and writable shared calendars
- Over the air syncing for e-mail, contacts, and calendaring for Windows Mobile 6
- No Exchange or desktop Outlook
I'm going to hold on to that hosted exchange account for a few weeks just in case, but then I can just toss it.
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December 13, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Hilarious take on who the steroid abusers are going to be from Litty
YO BRO IT’S ME LITTY » Blog Archive » The Steroid Name Game
My faves:
Pudge
He slimmed down, to the tune of 30lbs, during one off-season. Someone switched from peaches and cream for breakfast to just peaches.
Glenallen Hill
He didn’t swing. He flexed his chest and the bat moved.
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December 12, 2007 in Baseball and Other Sports | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
What is your world view?
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| What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You scored as Cultural Creative Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.
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December 12, 2007 in It's My Life | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Twitter Signal to Noise? Overwhelmed by Facebook? Try keeping your social apps to just your real friends
Scott Karp isn't using Twitter anymore. That's the biggest story on Techmeme right now.... and now I'm perpetuating the problem by linking to it. I'm sorry.
Scott's a smart guy and I've been reading Publishing 2.0 for a while now, but when I see all Web 2.0 pundits jumping into a social app way after other people, opening it up to the world, and then point out all the issues with it, it makes me think of a conversation I used to have when I was 5...
"Sssssssstttttooooooooooop!! Gimmmeee it baaack! You're gonna break it!!! Gimme!!"
You know the drill. You hand one of your favorite toys to a family member who proceeds to completely mishandle it. Ugh!
If you're connected to people on Twitter and you have high signal to noise, perhaps you should just disconnect to the noisy people.
A simple suggestion to Scott from John Zeratsky:
"It seems like people have lost sight of the simplest Twitter use-case: Follow a bunch of your friends so you know what they’re up to.
That’s what I do, and I love it. Then again, I only have about a dozen friends 
"
Why, Scott? Why fill your phone with meaningless fluff about kayaking, Fordham, softball, and my lunch habits? There are like 6 people on the face of the earth who should care about such things and they've all met me.
It's the same with Facebook, like when Jason declared Facebook bankruptcy. I'm sorry, but who has 2800 friggin' Facebook friends?
Seriously guys, just put the social apps down before you hurt yourselves. If you can't learn how to play nice with them, then maybe you need to take a little timeout.
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December 12, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Finally cashed in on my birthday steak
Four months later, I finally get my Del Frisco's birthday steak, courtesy of my friend Brian.
December 12, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Ladders Shwag: Wheatgrass in a can
I'll let you know if the seeds... Um... Do their job. :/
December 11, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-10
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Marc Orchant's last twitter message... reaching out to support someone else trying to quit smoking.
December 10, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
A better, more responsive blog, powered by Disqus
I just started using the Disqus e-mail response feature. This way, I can respond to your blog comments just by responding to the notification through e-mail. When I get notified that you comment, I can instantly, with one e-mail, post my own comment without even going to the blog.
That means that you're so much more likely to get timely responses from me in the comments! I can also delete comment spam by just responding with "delete". Sah-weet!
So comment away and expect this to be much more of a discussion.
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December 9, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Tech Open House, OpenAlley, NYCamp... whatever you want to call it: An idea to promote NYC Tech to outsiders
I had a little exchange the other day via Twitter with Todd Earwood. Todd's a part of the Louisville blogger mafia, which includes Rob May, Matt Winn, and Ashley Cecil. I told them that they need to all make it up to the city one of these days.
At the same time, I just saw that Frank Gruber is planning a trip out here soon as well. Tara and Chris make somewhat regular appearances in the Big Apple as well.
MBA students from MIT Sloan also made a recent trip to see some NYC companies... Path 101 hosted a group to show them what we were up to.
A lot of times, these trips involve a notification of blog friends at the last minute, maybe a Dopplr post, but certainly not a well coordinated red carpet.
What if we got all these occasional tech visitors to all come visit the city in one single week? We could have a big NYC Open House for the tech community. We could coordinate meetings, hold open houses at big and small companies alike. We could get the NYC gov't involved, get group hotel rates, maybe hold it around a conference. Plus, we could do something social, like all get Mets tix. (They play SF in July!)
When would be a good time for this? Who can we get involved? Who would come?
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December 9, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Rant of the Day: Fridays with Falls
DailyIdea is a cool video blog run by some friends in Louisville. One of their staff, Jason Falls, had a run-in with mall security and let 'em have it on their site.
Best quote:
"Interpersonal communications lies at the keystone of the consumer experience. If applicants for jobs that interface with the public don't have that, don't hire them!
If you're interviewing someone for a low level job, here's a test. Ask them this question:
"How are you?"
If they respond, "I'm fine, and you?" they're hired.
If they lapse into some saga about their ex-girlfriend, car trouble, or mild case of shingles, cut 'em loose.
"How are you?" is rhetorical. No one cares how you are. We just wanna know you're not a mouth breathing sociopath who's going to scare off our customers."
Here's the whole video:
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December 9, 2007 in Random Stuff | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Second Life CEO Rosedale answering questions on the Freakonomics Blog
My question: Why not make SL a console game?
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December 7, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Sunrise on 68th Street Between 3rd and 4th
This is where I park the car on Thursday/Friday days of alternate side.
December 7, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Edgeio To Shut Down - The $5 million lesson that Mike Arrington learned
"...it is unwise for a company to spend a lot of money building out infrastructure before a product proves itself."Edgeio To Shut Down - In The DeadPool
Hmm... You'd think that reviewing all those tech companies a day would have made that more obvious.
Let me take this moment to shamelessly plug the deep discounts offered by the Sun Startup Essentials Program, who helped Path 101 out with our hardware needs. They understand that cash is king and they're interested in working with promising companies to enable them to thrive, not just burn a lot of cash upfront "according to plan".
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December 7, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Working from the Fordham library today
December 6, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-05
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This may come in handy when we go to schools...
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Gmail's IMAP support roll-out this week had nerds all atwitter about the possibility of synchronized email access across devices computers
December 5, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-04
December 4, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
#71 on the 2007 Silicon Alley 100! Sah-weet.
To be honest, it's just an honor to be nominated, but I won't lie... It's pretty friggin' cool to be on Silicon Alley Insider's list of 100 "most influential folks in New York digital business".
And you know what else I'm really glad about? That I'm so far down. Clearly, the list is going to be a big learning exercise for a lot of the young Web 2.0 crowd who thinks that haven't a blog means having influence. Get to know these people folks... they're the men and women behind the curtain... the names you've never heard of. They don't all show up at Meetups and they don't all blog, but they eat millions of dollars for breakfast.
My thoughts:
Biggest omission: Jeremy Philips. At 33, Jeremy is the "driving force" behind News Corp's reported interest in LinkedIn. He's the EVP in the Office of the Chairman of News Corp. Not even on the list. Are you serious?? That's a big miss, guys. Jason Rapp, by comparison, is #74 and he holds just about the same title that Phillips used to have as head of all internet acquisitions.
Should have been higher: The Connected Ventures Team. Their ability to consistently create properties that appeal to a youth audience, from CollegeHumor, BustedTees, to Vimeo is something that makes them all extremely valuable to big media companies. Clearly, IAC isn't valuing that enough, as the boys are dropping like flies from that wacky looking building on the west side, but I'm sure someone else will. Look for these guys to have very long and productive careers in digital media. They deserve to be more than just one notch ahead of me.
Correction: Path 101 is not "a social network/job site for college grads". Here's the description from our site:
"Path 101 is a NYC-based startup company focused on career discovery on the web. The site helps everyone from college students to professionals in late-career transition figure out their next career steps using innovative analysis of publicly available resumes and profiles, community powered advice, and personality assessments. Job candidates can figure out what "people like me" are doing with their careers and the site aims to be the first stop for career research--a "pre-Monster.com".
Anyway... in general, I think it's a really good job of capturing a lot of various different types of influencers.
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December 4, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Does Jamba know we Twit?: 10 ways marketers should take advantage of Twitter (lol!)
Do you know what Twitter is yet?
It's the reason more and more of the blogs you read have been referring to people as @innonate and @robmay.
Twitter is a social network based on one simple concept: What are you doing? It takes the concept of a Facebook or AIM status message and yanks it from those closed networks and applies it as an open platform. You can send Twitter messages from GTalk, the web, various clients built on an API, or, most importantly, by SMS on your phone.
While not a mainstream tool yet, it's become a very popular service among key blogging influencers.
One interesting feature is Tracking. Tracking allows you to get any mention of a term sent straight to your phone. So, if you are a Twitter user and you send "track snot" to 40404, every time the word "snot" appears in a Twitter message, it will get sent to you.
Being an avid fan of Jamba Juice, I track "jamba".
I figured I'd get a sporadic mention here and there, but, as it turns out, Twitterers are avid Jamba Juicers and I regularly get posts.
(MONEKE): Jamba juice here i come
(lunaraine): i've introduced 2 new fruits into my life. lemon, meet blueberry and banana. we'll all get along just fine. i could go for Jamba Juice now.
(surfingfarmboy): Currently drinking a "Lime Sublime" smoothie at Mix Juice on Hollywood Rd. in Central Kong Kong. Mix Juice is a precise copy of Jamba.
(michryan): flag football is next, after Peet's and Jamba Juice. it's a branded family day.
When people talk about buzz marketing, tracking conversations, as you can see, Twitter is where it's at.
People ask about the business model... I have no doubt there's a serious business model in here providing tools and services to brands to enable them to help track these conversations, over and above the "track" feature. Who's talking about your brand? What other things do they talk about? Who are they? But before that happens, brands need to get serious about Twitter.
I'm quite sure Jamba Juice has no idea what's going on here, or if they have, they certainly missed this exchange:
(emilychang): 6 days ago i twittered i was jamba juicing.
today i got a $20 gift card in the mail from jamba juice to emily "twittered about jamba" chang!
(emilychang): turns out the jamba juice gifter wasn't a twitter-savvy company, but a nice gift from @ceonyc. haha Yeah... so I was the gifter.
You have to know the backstory. Quite a while ago, Emily and I got in a little blogger tiff, due to my slightly overaggressive poking of the bear. It totally blew up in my face. So, when I saw Emily's first Twitter message, I immediately thought this might be a good opportunity to bury the hatchet. I went to the site and got her a gift card. When I saw she thought it was from someone at Jamba Juice, I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Clearly, she gave the company too much credit for being Web 2.0 savvy. I mean, they don't even have a blog.
So what should they do? How can other brands and marketers use Twitter? Here are some suggestions, brought to you with the help of I Can Has Cheezburger.
Listen first. "Track" your brand, if nothing else. It's really great information. Unfortunately, you can only send tracks to your phone at the moment, but I'm sure that will change.
Listen more. "Follow" the key influencers and the people that are talking about your brand to here their stories, what other brands they use, what their lives are like, etc.- Create a Twitter account for your brand. It's easier than a blog. Can't find a person who can write two paragraphs a week that legal and PR approve of? How about just 140 characters or less at a time? You could get that approved daily without a lot of fuss, I'm sure. You can even send links through it... tips, news stories, links to a corporate blog if you have one.
Free stuff. A bunch of people sent around that "Buy one, get one free" coupon from Jamba that went around a month or two ago. That's how I found out about it...via Twitter tracking. Send links to coupons via Twitter... especially ones that can be redeemed with just a phone.
- Point of advertising follow up. You put your website on all your outdoor and transit ads, but how many times are people actually in front of a computer when they see it. Yet, they probably have their phone on them. Just tell them "Send 'follow jamba' to 40404" to get updates about Jamba Juice via Twitter. 40404 is an easy short code to remember, and instead of just being a one way communication tool, you're signing them up for a platform that enables them to be a connector and word of mouth marketer as well.
- Twit of the day. Encourage people to talk more about your product by holding "Twit of the day" contests that mention your brand.
Executive twittering. Twitter makes your staff seem more connected and real, and provides transparency. When they Twitter about their day, it gives outsiders insight into how decisions at the company are made. Its all the benefits of blogging, only with a much lower overhead. Doesn't even require a computer!- Mobile information. Use the Twitter API to build in an information tool via Twitter. Tell me where all the nearest Jamba Juices are when I send @jamba location 10010. Flavor of the week? @jamba weekly?
- Sponsor a Twitter display. Conferences are great places to allow people to interact live with a big TV display. Twitter allows people to send messages that can be displayed in prominent locations... like a conference backchannel. Connect a few big TVs up to a box, give people instructions, and slap your logo next to it, and you're now the sponsor of the communication hub, and again, enabling all your audience to go forth and spread the word.
- Track the competition. What are people saying about the other guy? Here's an opportunity to make the Folger's switch. "Bob normally drinks Folgers, but today, we've switched his regular coffee with Bright-eyed and blueberry. Let's follow his twits and see what happens.
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Tags: jambajuice, twitter
December 4, 2007 in MeVertising, Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Trading Cash Compensation for Options in a Startup: A Formulaic Approach
Sean told me about this approach to compensating employees at an early stage startup and I'd be interested in some feedback:
You take what you normally would pay someone and for every dollar that they don't take in cash, you give them two dollars of equity.
So, if a developer normally gets paid $100k, and he agrees to work for your startup for $60k, then you have to give up $80k worth of options.
It's really the first time I've ever someone put something logical like that on paper. Has anyone seen this before?
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December 3, 2007 in Venture Capital & Technology | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Subway Thumbing
I'm wearing a big red and black SkySports winter coat because my old coat is still at Oddcast...left there one day that warmed up enough for me not to need a coat on the way home I guess. I haven't had the time to go over there and pick it up. Hopefully I will tomorrow. Still, this coat is the best shwag I ever got... It came from my friend Allison who works at Showtime. Thanks, Babe. You know, bald guys are really susceptable to weather. I hate to admit it, but I get pretty cold in the winter now.
I hate waiting on this platform. 59th Street in Brooklyn...it's cold and everyone's pissed because they're like 20 min into their commute from Bay Ridge and they've made it all of two or three stops. I have Christmas gift I can actually think of wanting this year...a good electric toothbrush...one with a water pic. I love the idea of a water pic.... I'm a flosser, but it just seems so archaic. I need more technology in my mouth. I wouldn't mind bike pedal clips, too.
Train's here. Time to look around me to see if anyone looks like they want to push me in front of it. I do a lot of little things like that to prepare for random acts of violence. When I walk home alone late at night, I also hold my keys in my hand with my biggest key wedged in between my fingers sticking out. So, don't ever sneak up on me late at night, because I'm quite likely to stab you in the throat with the ignition key from my Mustang. What a way to go, huh? I also sit in the back of planes if I can, so I have a fighting chance in a crash. The last row is the safest because you have a shot of that tail breaking off and throwing you from the burning wreckage. Yes, this is something I think about when buying a plane ticket.
I just noticed in a banner ad today that ATT is selling the double sliding phone that Helio had, only with WM6. Pretty slick. Who says people don't notice ads.
I think I should be able to keep a running list of the ads I've seen to go back to them later and give them a thumbs up or down like hot or not.
I'm going to hit the heavy bag in the gym again this morning. I've been getting into that lately and it's a lot of fun.
I miss softball. I think I need to hit the batting cages this week. I'd hit everyday if I could. The Mets used to have this commercial with Lenny Harris as he was chasing the career pinch hits record. He'd carry around a bat all day just saying, "I hope I get to pinch hit today."
I heard my high school girlfriend is getting married. I haven't talked to her in years. It would be fun to just grab coffee one of these days and laugh about how young we were....man, twelve years ago. I watched a video of my first communion over the weekend. Twenty-one years ago...jeez. I had such a crush on my second grade teacher that I invited her to my party...and she came! There she was, twenty-seven year old Laura Cimmino (in case she ever Googles herself), at a party with my family, neighbors, and a bunch of seven and eight year olds. She's a year younger there than I am now. Wow... Mrs. Cimmino is like 48 now. Oh, that's hard to believe. OK, on that note, I'm out of here.
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December 3, 2007 in Random Stuff | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
This building on 23rd is a lot bigger than I thought they were making it.
This building on 23rd is a lot bigger than I thought they were making it., originally uploaded by ceonyc.
December 3, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
New light over the kitchen sink.
December 3, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Chocolate Rain: A plant from the beginning or unbelievable stroke of luck for Dr. Pepper?
Back in April, Zay Monday posted this "Chocolate Rain" video:
Over 11 million views and a summer of virality later, he's put out another take--this time, a "Cherry Chocolate Rain" video sponsored by Dr. Pepper, who just released a flavor of that name:
So... wait a sec... how did this happen?? Am I to believe that Dr. Pepper had this product in the works, and just by sheer dumb luck, found this guy writing about chocolate that happened to go viral and then convinced him to add "cherry" to the beginning and make a video?
What would their ad campaign be if this guy never existed?
How long was this product in the works? Any chance it was actually inspired by the video itself?
Or... any chance that the original video was a plant, six months in advance, making this the greatest viral advertising campaign stunt ever?
Imagine 6 flavors are being considered... they plant 6 ridiculous videos from 6 different people... and decide that whoever, if anyone" takes off, that's the flavor they're going to put into production, and use the popularity of the first video to push the second.
It's possible, no?
I'd love to see the inside scoop here.
It's hard for me to bet that the Dr. Pepper folks would have been so clever to plant the original so far in advance, but if I don't believe that, then the existence of Zay Monday is the greatest luck a brand ever had.
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December 3, 2007 in MeVertising | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
Snow!
December 2, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
links for 2007-12-01
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Some really fascinating stats
December 1, 2007 | Remember this post with del.icio.us| E-mail this post to a friend
