- Recent
- Popular
- Tags (5)
- Subscribers (31)
- Calacanis on the Future of Start UpsNovember 11
-
This is my rundown of the excellent presentation at Tokyo 2.0, “The Future of Startup Companies” by Jason Calacanis, whom I had the pleasure of meeting. Below is the video (starts at 9:10).
The citations in the following are not verbatim, the numbering is not entirely correct, and it’s all a little sloppily connected, but it’s all strong on substance:
What he said
Great brands are built when the market is down; that’s when you can take market share. The down market is the time when people build things they need. People who build companies to get rich generally don’t succeed. People who don’t have any money build better companies, because they build them on passion.
The market is going down, internet usage is going up, start-up costs are going down, and people’s amount of free time is going up. In short: the downmarket is a great time for start ups.
Trust and “curation” are the future. Lots of things in 1.0 and 2.0 are built on a very bad foundation of anonymity, marketers, and shady people. The way to go is taking existing ideas and adding trust and curation to them. Digg is a great system, but the anonymity provides opportunity for improvement. There is no wisdom in crowds. There may be trends or patterns in crowds, but not wisdom… “Wisdom in crowds” was made-up b
- Webapp Death Match: Google vs. AppleNovember 10
-
With websites turning more and more into web applications, functionally as well as aesthetically, it’d be interesting to look at what makes a Web app work in terms of skinning. We start off by comparing two different approaches: HTML-skin vs. desktop-application-skin. In other words, Google versus Apple.
GMail clearly looks and feels like an HTML-website, which aesthetically takes away some of what a regular user imagines to be an application. The new .Mac environment, MobileMe, looks more like a desktop application and feels more like an application, but doesn’t follow design guidelines for websites. So which way should you go with your online application in terms of surface design? Should you be more on the “online” or more on the “application” side?
The Art of Noise
MobileMe relies on icons that don’t have any obvious meaning for important navigation and interface controls on the Web. This leaves users (particularly non-Mac-users) to guess what each icon actually does. Only the first three icons of the main navigation are familiar, and the first only because of its obviousness. Without text, one is forced to rely on mouse hovers and prayers to the ALT text god.
Compare these to the top navigation of GMail:
- The Age of Digital BaroqueNovember 10
-
Because so many of you have asked: yes, I still write. And I’m still working on the book. It’s killing me. I also write blog posts, but I don’t publish them anymore. Writing to kill dead trees has made me terribly insecure about my writing. Lately, before I click the “Publish” button, I start hearing that tune, and it goes somewhat like this: You’re so vain~ You probably think this Internet is about you~, and then I want have a smoke rather than attract another thousand page views. Now, maybe it’s not my fault. After all, blogging is over anyways, isn’t it?
Very probably so. But that’s not my point for now. What I’m talking about is this: whether you’re nice, smart, wise, silly, a guy, a girl, a dude, a chick, a man, a woman, a lady, or a gentleman, writing is not a social act. It is an embarrassingly pathetic narcissistic monkey business. Especially if you earn y
- Japanese iPhone Line-upJuly 10
-
“T.S.” came here the day before yesterday; Butch yesterday morning. Muzatani Yuki, Kurita Yuki, Nagaoka Juichi, and Ishita Takahiro came here six hours ago. All of them are waiting for SoftBank’s doors to open. By noon tomorrow they will be proud owners of the Japanese iPhone.
It was not easy to photograph them. Many are skipping work and don’t want to be caught. But the Japanese and international media is all over the place, interviewing these “iPhone otakus.” So, chances are, they’ll have some explaining to do to their bosses come Monday morning.
I Like Anything with a Battery
“T.S.,” who spoke on condition of anonymity, arrived the day before yesterday. As he explained, he loves Apple and loves “anything with a battery.” He wants to be the first with an iPhone because, he says, “that’s who I am.” He describes himself as a “gajyetto ga suki na hito” (a person who likes gadgets), and he already owns a “Jailbroken” iPhone (but unfortunately he can’t make calls with it). I asked him if he thinks the iPhone will be successful in Japan.
T.S. feels the iPhone lacks two
- Elvis and the OppositeJuly 4
-
A 14-year old video blogger named Fred somehow managed to get a fan base of almost 45 Million users. Now instead of asking how that’s possible, Seth Godin and Robert Scoble trivialize his success. Did they forget what Elvis said?
Just to be clear: Fred is no Elvis. Fred is the most annoying little nag I have ever seen. I had to force myself through one of his painful videos this morning, and I can still feel the agony. Yet I am fascinated by the mathematical possibility of his success.
45 Million users! In our business basically this means you’ve made it into Nirvana. 45 Million spectators is more than any blogger could possibly dream of. Fred beats the New York Times.
Scoble’s in a Huff
Robert Scoble is always the first to run after any new web hype; but not this time; instead of trying to understand what makes that kid so successful he tries to play it down:
“This is what happens when you try to simply be entertaining. If traffic is your goal, here’s the formula. Do something really stupid that’ll make people laugh.”
Dear Robert, how can you