Mar
11
Hamel on Apple
Filed Under innovation, leadership, startup, technology | Leave a Comment
Two articles from one of the world’s leading business strategists, Gary Hamel:
Mar
2
Innovation from Twitter
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I believe that open APIs are the foundation for the next generation of web services. We’ll see great innovations from clever programmer who understand how to manipulate the APIs, create new things, and handle enormous amounts of data.
Link: Enabling A Rush of Innovation
Oct
1
More on broadband around the world
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This will be a discussion topic over the next few days.
Web Survey Finds Speed Is Quickest Overseas
Sep
30
MS’s efficient speach
Filed Under economics, leadership, technology | Leave a Comment
Here we go..
From Ballmer, who has a very hard job these days.
I tried to read the whole thing, but I couldn’t make it through. Lots of corp-speak and little substance.
Sep
30
Metered broadband
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This is silly. And backwards.
Metered Broadband Is the Future: Verizon CTO
Sep
23
Apple, Pre, and USB
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Palm gets the shaft from the USB organization.
USB-IF Sides With Apple, Spanks Palm in iTunes Sync Spat
This was an interesting move from Palm. Standards are a trickly beast. It seems a little odd to attack through the Standards body, but I guess if you have no other options. Oh, wait, you do. Create something innovative that people want. Don’t sue your competitors.
Sep
23
Chrome plugin
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This is a brilliant use of plug-ins. It turns IE into Chrome.
Google Has A Solution For Internet Explorer: Turn It Into Chrome
The relevation here isn’t that IE is going to look like Chrome, but that the overall work effort for Google has been reduced. New services and other initiatives from Google won’t need to run on IE at the outset, so code releases and updates will be quicker. If there’s a problem with IE, just install a notice that ask users to upgrade to Chrome or install the plugin.
Here’s the kill shot – At some point in the future, the entire bouquet of Google services could stop supporting IE altogether (or at least support a minimum number of features), which would create a flood of converts to Chrome from IE. Now, I doubt they would do something as drastic as that, but it’s an interesting scenerio.
Here’s something more likely – The Google clan will start creating cool, innovative and advanced features to their services that will take advantage of the Chrome code base.
You want to use the advanced features? Use Chrome. Don’t want the extras? Then use whatever.
Cool.
Sep
21
MOT latest phone
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How the Cliq May Make Handset Makers Uncomfortable
Motorola’s new phone is the latest device to jump on the social networking bandwagon. On the plus side, they are giving special attention to the UI. Good move. On the other hand, it’s MOT, so they’ll find a way to make a mess of it. (Kidding.)
Overall, the phone description seems lacking anything really valuable to a consumer. I would expect lackluster sales.
The end of the article raises an interesting question – Is a phone company really an Interent company?
Of course the idea behind this question is that phone users will also use the web in addition to the phone. So a phone company should also be providing web services to it’s consumers.
Is that reasonable? I have my ideas.
Any naysayers?
Sep
10
Hulu and premium content
Filed Under innovation, leadership | 1 Comment
Hulu is apparently considering using cable company content in it’s service. I agree Hulu needs a new revenue model to supplement advertising revenue. Let me say this up front, I’m a big fan of Hulu with one caveat. For some reason, they took The Big Lebowski down from their movie offering. Dudes, don’t diss The Dude.
That being said, I disagree with several of the author’s comments.
First, the cable companies aren’t losing customers because of Hulu. They’re losing because they’ve treated customers like twits for too long . The price increases and poor service have been pain points for years. The bundling of media and ISP capabilities created lock-in that most customers resent. As wireless tech and other connectivity alternatives pop up, people finally have other ways to get on the web. So, bye-bye lock-in. And bye-bye Comcast.
Second, the idea that Time Warner or Comcast could build something like Hulu is laughable. Yes, media companies own Hulu, but as far as I can tell, they’ve kept the independent management team actually independent, rather than a bunch of talking puppets. (Of course, I may be wrong, but I don’t have any insider knowledge.)
The Hulu team seems to place significant stock in the user interface and navigation of the site. Both of these items are too often overlooked, but both bring tremendous value to online viewers. And the dev teams seem to be spending time building new add-on capabilities. See Hulu Labs for more. The big media companies lack the foresight to understand the importance of the UI. If anything ever makes it through Legal, you’ll have lots of paperwork, but a horrible viewing experience.
So, right now, my money’s on Hulu keeping it’s position. At least until The Dude finds out his movie was taken down.
Sep
8
New blood in the VC industry
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Here’s something that doesn’t happen often in the VC industry: they hire new,fresh talent. Good for Mayfield Fund.
Link: Mayfield Fund Hires a Young V.C. for Her Fresh Eye
