Sep

30

Using data from Mint

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Great ideas in this article. Good use of the core asset of Mint, it’s user’s behavior. If they can keep the privacy thing under control, this will work.

Data Mining the Mint.com Demographic

Sep

30

MS’s efficient speach

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Here we go..

From Ballmer, who has a very hard job these days.

The New Efficiency

I tried to read the whole thing, but I couldn’t make it through. Lots of corp-speak and little substance.

Sep

30

New app builder

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Boo. This is going to destroy the app marketplace. Can you imagine how many apps are going to enter the market? How of those you think will be good?

Still, on the plus side, this creates a great opportunity for truly innovative app writers. If you can create something that brings real value to the user, you’ll become a hit.

AppBank Wants to Help You Cash In on Facebook Apps

Sep

30

CNN launches iPhone app

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I like this idea. The app isn’t overly expensive but it’s not free. So, you’ll get ‘quasi-casual’ users, but enough people that will actually care about the app to pay $2. It’s not about the amount, either. It’s about finding people who will pay for the app. It creates a small amount of commitment.

The big question for CNN should be ‘Will people continue to use this?’ I would be watching my analytics and metrics very closely.

CNN Launching Pay iPhone App; Live Streaming For $2 Plus Ads

Sep

30

Charge your laptop wireless

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This is going to spark the next big uptick in laptop purchases. Laptops that re-charge wirelessly. Simply awesome.

Dell Latitude Z Hands On: Kills Cords With Wireless Charging

Sep

30

Palm now loves Amazon

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Palm finally stopped trying to break into iTunes and figured out a good play. They should have done this a while ago.

Palm Pre’s New Strategy: Forget iTunes, Hello Wireless Amazon Downloads

Sep

30

Metered broadband

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This is silly. And backwards.

Metered Broadband Is the Future: Verizon CTO

Sep

30

Broadband speeds a lie

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Consumer Often Get Slower Internet Speeds Than Paid For: FCC

This should come as no surprise to anyone. The companies backing the broadband are constantly using packaging and pricing tricks to keep consumers. It’s the old nasty business mentality. For many people, broadband has become so essential that you’ll put up with lots of discomfort in order to keep your service.

From a micro- economic point of view, there’s no incentive for the company to make that added investment. Think about it. The company has subscription revenue from it’s existing customer base, but (for whatever reason) the throughput is lower than expected. For the broadband company to fix the throughput, they’ll need to invest in infrastructure, which is billions of dollars. However, there won’t be any new revenue, since the current throughput levels are below the advertised rate. So, that means upgrading the infrastructure will be an outgoing cost, without any return.

And what happens to stock prices when companies don’t match revenue with costs?

By the way, this problem has been solved. Korea has one of the highest broadband penetration and throughput rates in the world. How did they do it? They let the government subsidize it.

Sep

29

Posts about creative destruction as of September 29, 2009

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Schumpeter – napraticaateoriaeoutra.org
09/29/2009
É o nome da nova coluna de negócios da The Economist . Não imaginaria um nome melhor: Joseph Schumpeter was one of the few intellectuals who saw business straight. He regarded business people as unsung heroes: men and women who create new enterprises through the sheer force of their wills and imaginations, and, in so doing, are responsible for the most benign development in human history, the spread of mass affluence. “Queen Elizabeth [I] owned silk stockings,” he once observed.
The Nature of Technology – creativedestructionfund.com
09/29/2009
I finished reading W. Brian Arthur’s new book, “ The Nature of Technology ” and wanted to share a few observations he makes in his book. For those who aren’t familiar with Arthur, he is a first-rate economist and one of the pioneers of complexity theory. I met Brian in the early 1990s in Silicon Valley and then followed him to the Santa Fe Institute (SFI).  He is currently visiting professor at SFI and a visiting researcher at PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). Brian’s work is a breath of fresh air.
SMID – Sammenslutningen af medieforskere i Danmark (2009-09-29 02:59) – smid.dk
09/29/2009
The Transformation of Newspapers and Journalism Research seminar, October 29-30, 2009 Copenhagen University, Karen Blixens Vej, 2300 Copenhagen S (New KUA), room 27.0.47 The research seminar is open to other researchers, students and media professionals. Participation is free, but please register to our secretary Anne Dandanell Rønne-Nielsen: annedrn@hum.ku.dk Deadline for registration is October 23 Programme Thursday, October 29 Theme 1: The institution of journalism Martin Eide, Professor, University of Bergen: Renegotiating a Social Contract Stig Hjarvard, Professor, University of Copenhagen: The Views of the News.
MySpace Status Influx Floods Twitter – techgeist.net
09/29/2009
MySpace just recently turned on MySpace status to Twitter integration, and we are all feeling the influx. Twitter is now accepting hundreds of notes on what the MySpace crowd is up to. It seems that people have forgotten how large indeed MySpace really is. All you need to do is take a look at just the total influx tweets coming in that include with a lnk.ms link. Load the search , and watch the new results stack up. Of course, MySpace remains a giant in the room, reaching some 55 million unique individuals in the past month.
Why Skype needed to kill off its developer program – recursosvoip.com
09/28/2009
Killing Skype’s developer program was an exercise in business discipline. You prune your tree of small, weak, sickly branches so nutrients and sunlight let the whole tree flourish. Skype’s developer program (SDP) has been bloodless for years. By every measure. Growth in programmers. Number of ecosystem products. Value contributed. What devalued Skype’s developer program? 5. Musical chair management. I’ve lost count of the number of managers who’ve taken a stab at leading Skype developer relations in the last six years.
Clinton Climate Initiative on “creative destruction”: From buggy whips to the global warming imperative – climateprogress.org
09/28/2009
This is a Wonk Room repost . On the final day of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Wonk Room caught up with Ira Magaziner, the senior advisor for policy development in the Clinton White House and now the chairman of the William J. Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative. We discussed the Clinton Climate Initiative ’s approach to the challenge of global warming, including its work to advance energy efficiency projects in the world’s cities from the Empire State Building to Lagos, Nigeria.
Head of Australian Recording Industry on the New Music Business – studiomanifesto.ca
09/28/2009
By James Pew At Studio Manifesto we try to be unbiased in how we cover developments related to new music business models. As Refe puts it in his opening paragraph (reblogged below); its “the traditional recording industry on one side and the proponents of the emerging independent DIY models on the other.” Even though our position is firmly on the side of artist driven DIY models, we feel it important to listen to the message coming from the mainstream camp. In the interview below, Ed St.
Links for 9/28/09 – blog.wiseelephant.com
09/28/2009
Links for 9/28/09 Obituary: Donald G. Fisher, 81; co-founded the Gap chain (LA Times): Fisher was a real estate developer when, at 41, he and his wife launched the firm in San Francisco. LINK 7 Habits of Highly Innovative People (Think Simple Now): …creativity is more about psychology than intellect, and there are no secrets to being creative. LINK Journal Review: Revolver Bound Books (Quinn Creative): The journal itself is a mystery.
Independent As F#ck Artists Turning The Corner? – grandgood.com
09/28/2009
This indie thing might turn out to be ok for artists that can muster the creativity to figure out how to (re)connect with their fans in new ways made possible mostly by the thing that some say killed the music industry, the Intehnets. A few recent noteworthy triumphs: Immortal Technique, who in this recent interview provides some background on what it takes to become financially independent. If he can drop ten large on a not-for-profit, he must be doing something right.
Ira Magaziner On ‘Creative Destruction’: From Buggy Whips To The Global Warming Imperative – savinggas.org
09/27/2009
Editor’s note: The Wonk Room is reporting from the Clinton Global Initiative conference this week. This is our sixth post . On the final day of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Wonk Room caught up with Ira Magaziner, the senior advisor for policy development in the Clinton White House and now the chairman of the William J. Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative.
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Sep

29

Posts about venture capital as of September 29, 2009

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Private Venture Capital Facts – firstforextrading.com
09/29/2009
September 29, 2009 | By Aella Abbie In Finance | by Aella AbbieFor those of you having trouble finding funds for your business, have you ever considered private venture capital as a solution? This form of financing infuses your business with capital from a third party firm or individual. As payment, your business performance must provide good returns on their investment. Let’s examine this in closer detail.Private venture capital has been part of the trade industry for a very long time, it has been considered as an old concept.
Tuesday Morning Random Links – developmentcorporate.com
09/29/2009
Some interesting links for a quiet Tuesday morning. Survey finds venture capitalists rely heavily on ‘gut feelings’.   Pepperdine University finance professor John Paglia, director of the new Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Study, said he was startled by one finding in its recent survey of financiers StatShot: U.S. Web Users’ Time on Social Networks Has Tripled .  Nielsen reports 300% increase between August 2008 & 2009.
The infinite to-do list – venture.name
09/29/2009
(Editor’s note: Jason Cohen is founder of Smart Bear Software. He contributed this column to VentureBeat.) As a start-up owner, there’s always more you could be doing. No matter how hard you work, it always feels like you’re falling behind. Worse still: Every time you cross something off the to-do list, you add three – or ten – more things. After seven years of running my company, I can tell you this: It never gets easier. There is simply no way to get everything done.
Make-your-own-book startup FastPencil adds color to the mix – venture.name
09/29/2009
FastPencil , a startup that shepherds authors through the book-publishing process, launched a product today that will make it dead simple to create books in full color. The company, which had focused on publishing books like family heirlooms or more text-heavy novels , added a new user interface that’s more intuitive for editing visuals in a book. In FastPencil, authors upload and edit their works entirely on the web. “It’s like PowerPoint for the page,” said CEO Steve Wilson.
mSpot Launches Web-Based Mobile Movie Streaming Service – venture.name
09/29/2009
Mobile entertainment startup mSpot is launching its Mobile Movies site, which will let users stream full-length movies on their mobile phones. Movies will be available on 30 different smart phones, including the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices and via all four major U.S. carriers. To access mSpot Mobile Movies, users can go to mSpot’s mobile site on their phone, and use a credit card to rent individual movies for $4.99 each, or subscribe to a monthly membership at $9.99 (for four movies), $12.99 or $15.99 per month.
Go Green – werushdaily.com
09/29/2009
Tuesday’s Rush Limbaugh Morning Update: Dateline: 29 September 2009 Folks, those of us who pay taxes (which is an ever-shrinking number in this country) have just forked over half a billion dollars to help a small auto manufacturer bill hybrid cars in Finland. Fisker Automotive, the beneficiary of a huge taxpayer-funded loan, has a high profile backer: a Silicon Valley venture capital firm — Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB, for short).
Wize Redesigns Product Review Search Engine – venture.name
09/29/2009
Product reviews, both from users and experts, are an integral part of the shopping process. Generally, I scour the web for both negative and positive reviews, across multiple sites before purchasing ant type of gadget. Product recommendation research engine Wize has launched a redesigned version of its platform that aggregates reviews from across the web. Launched in 2006, Wize lets consumers search for reviews on electronics, home goods, video games, health products and more.
BillShrink’s new recommendation engine tells you where to stash your savings – venture.name
09/29/2009
BillShrink , a startup that advises its users on how to reduce their monthly bill payments, today launched a new savings tool that recommends the best savings and CD accounts for conserving cash. Calling itself a decision engine, the Menlo Park, Calif. company says it analyzes interest rates offered by more than 60 banks to help users choose the most lucrative combination of accounts. BillShrink has evolved a lot since its launch last spring. It started out as a service to help users find the cheapest cell phone plans to fit their needs .
Daily News—09/29 – biodieselnow.com
09/29/2009
  Isanti, Minnesota biodiesel plant getting ready to produce Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune Workers at the Ever Cat Isanti plant earlier this month were putting finishing touches on the installation. Ever Cat Fuels aims to put a dent in the amount of oil we import by turning weeds and algae, among other things, into diesel. Clayton McNeff, a scientist and iconoclastic entrepreneur, inherited the independent streak from his dad.
Guest Post: The Madness Stops Here — Don’t Pay VCs Fees – venture.name
09/29/2009
This is a guest post written by a London-based VC. For the purposes of them being able to speak plainly without jeopardizing their fund or their career, I’ve allowed them to post anonymously. Why are we doing this? Well, while the startup eco-system is long in the tooth and highly developed in the US, the European scene is still a spotty, shy teenager, sometimes making a few mistakes. And as a result startups need educating. Make no mistake, LondonVC is a genuine VC and TechCrunch Europe met them face to face.
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