I’ve been following the Path privacy controversy with a great deal of interest for the last week, but Crunchfund’s MG Siegler has somehow steered the conversation from Path’s mistakes to the degradation of journalism. The result: an increasingly nasty tech blogger catfight that I was going to avoid. That was, until I read this. And… Continue reading Tech Blogger Catfight! Why Bloggers Attack Bloggers
The Rise of the Smart Assistant
Almost everybody wants to have an assistant, even if people won’t freely admit it. Who doesn’t want an extra set of hands to help out with chores, scheduling, reminders, meetings, reservations, and the myriad of other tasks that we need to complete every single day? Just a few years ago, the only way you could… Continue reading The Rise of the Smart Assistant
The Right Way to Apologize
Hot mobile social networking app Path has been under fire for the last few days for saving users’ address books and contact lists on their servers in order to help them connect with their friends. Path’s intentions were innocent enough — they wanted to make sure more people discovered their friends on Path — but… Continue reading The Right Way to Apologize
Facebook’s Monster IPO: 10 Interesting Stats
Facebook has filed for IPO. It will likely be the largest IPO in Internet history. Here are some quick things I’m noticing in the company’s SEC filing: Zynga accounts for 12% of Facebook’s revenue. Facebook needs Zynga just as much as Zynga needs Facebook. Zuckerberg owns a WHOPPING 533,801,850 shares — that’s 28.2% of the… Continue reading Facebook’s Monster IPO: 10 Interesting Stats
Today Is D-Day for Facebook, and Nobody Can Stop Talking About It
Facebook will reportedly file for IPO later today, and it has the entire tech world buzzing. It will be the only thing people will talk about when Facebook finally files its papers with the SEC. Don’t believe me? Here’s just a sampling of my Twitter feed from the last 30 minutes: Officially calling it SNOW… Continue reading Today Is D-Day for Facebook, and Nobody Can Stop Talking About It
The Cal campus at sunset
Taken at Valley Life Sciences Building
Likes, Retweets, Comments & the Rise of the Validation Society
Not too long ago, my co-founder and I were deep in investor prep and product design (announcements coming soon) when we started talking about the emotional appeal and “stickiness” of our product. When you’re building a consumer-oriented product, creating an emotional connection with the user is central to success. We were fascinated by the fantastic… Continue reading Likes, Retweets, Comments & the Rise of the Validation Society
Surprise! RIM’s Stock Price Plummets
Ouch. This is what happens when you delude yourself into thinking things are fine. RIM needs an outsider, not an insider, to fix things.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time + Minecraft = Awesome [Video]
A group of people decided that they wanted to recreate Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in Minecraft. It’s called Hyrulecraft, and the results are simply spectacular. They redid everything: Hyrule, dungeons, all the little towns… everything but Gannon himself. They’re working on adding NPCs, quests and game mechanics, though. Excuse me, I’m going to… Continue reading Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time + Minecraft = Awesome [Video]
RIM Is Still Delusional About Its Bleak Future
RIM announced on Sunday that its longtime co-CEOs are stepping down. It decided to make the announcement during the Giants-49ers game, which I’m sure they knew would dominate Twitter and the news media. While the move was absolutely necessary if the company was to turn things around, its announcement gives me absolutely no confidence that… Continue reading RIM Is Still Delusional About Its Bleak Future