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a blog about technology

My New Video ProjectJune 26

So here’s one of the main reasons I haven’t been blogging lately - the release of the next episode of “A Startup A Week”!   ASAW is an online reality show where we challenge a team of developers to build a startup in just one week.  For episode two, we’re trying something a little different by bringing together “A Startup A Week” with an event called “Incubation Week”.  Instead of working with just one team, Incubation Week brings together multiple teams of entrepreneurs for a caffeine-fueled week of coding, all leading up to a final presentation in front of a panel of experienced angel investors. 

For this video, I flew out to Boston to check out the initial Incubation Week event.  We definitely had a great time, check out the video to see if the teams were able to complete their apps in time for their presentations to the investors.

Are Amazon Web Services Doomed to Fail?June 4

Rough Type had an interesting post on how Amazon’s web service platform evolved from their own need to build infrastructure for the Amazon online store.  Nicholas argues that Amazon is in a good position to succeed in this first phase of the fledgling utility computing space.  I’m a huge fan of AWS, and I absolutely agree with him on this point.  However, I’d argue that while Amazon web services have a solid first-mover advantage in this valuable space, I’m not sure that Amazon will win in the long run.  Why?  Because at it’s core, Amazon is an e-commerce company, not a platform company. 

Who cares more about gaining web API share on the web, Amazon or Google?  Who cares more about gaining database share on the web, Amazon or Oracle?  Who cares more about gaining server share on the web, Amazon or Sun?  Who cares more about gaining developer mind share on the web, Amazon or Microsoft?

While web services are a great high-margin business for now, as these other large companies build out their could computing strategies, the competition will drive margins lower and lower.  What’s more, these existing platform companies can afford to offer these services at or below cost, in exchange for a greater share in their respective categories.  As these services become commoditized and the price drops lower and lower, at what point does Amazon’s web service str

Three Killer "Pants-Based Computing" ApplicationsJune 3

Erica at The Unofficial Apple Weblog introduced me to my new favorite phrase: pants-based computing.  Come one, which would you rather carry around?  A mobile phone (think Zack Morris) or a pants-based computing device? 

Anyway, the point of the article is that the combination of a GPS-enabled iPhone along with a seamless way to download 3rd party apps (AppStore), a new development trend is about to begin:

The iPhone is a platform that lives in your pocket. So you can pull it out, check your options and make some decisions without all the overhead associated with laptop use. It’s this fundamental difference in the way we use the iPhone with “pants-based computing,” with a device that travels with us and knows where we are, that powers this paradigm shift. We’re sitting at the edge of a location-based computing revolution, and the iPhone is pulling us there. From our pockets.

So in honor of the forthcoming revolution and in homage to my previous blogging contributions, here are some ideas for three killer PBC apps.

          1. Stadiu.ms - A Temporary Social Network for Stadiums 

For people who are all gathered toge

Facebook Does Not Heart DevelopersJune 3

Mark Hendrickson just posted about a seemingly minor but incredibly important aspect of the new Facebook developer platform.  From TechCrunch:

Starting July 15 (and perhaps coinciding with the rollout of Facebook’s new site design), users will no longer see an installation screen (see below) when they access an application for the first time. Rather, they will see a new “login” screen that simply asks them whether they want to permit the application access to their information. This simply grants the application temporary access to your data so it can operate, without establishing any real footprint on your Facebook experience.

All I can say is wow.  With all of the recent changes to reduce the spamminess of Facebook apps, it’s been harder and harder for independent developers to get access to the same viral “magic formula” that launched so many of the early apps and created the gold rush mentality around the platform.  Now, not only are they greatly reducing yet another viral channel for app developers, they are also grandfathering in existing applications, which means the big guys will keep getting bigger, and the little guys are at a serious disadvantage. 

As someone who works on the breadth developer strategy at Microsoft, I know firsthand the importance of creating a healthy developer

My New Start PageJune 2

www.goosh.org

OK, so despite the fact I work for Microsoft, I couldn’t help but get way excited about this site.  Props to Mashable for posting this.  Now, if only someone could make a livesh.org…