Shit Silicon Valley Says
Kate Imbach & Tom Conrad at the folks behind this awesome video which captures the reason why I am always trying to escape this crazy place 
Work vs. Labor and the Pace of Creativity
“There is no technology, no time-saving device that can alter the rhythms of creative labor. When the worth of labor is expressed in terms of exchange value, therefore, creativity is automatically devalued every time there is an advance in the technology of work.” Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World [via]
The more you talk, the less you say
P.T. Barnum once famously said that there is no bad publicity. Of course, if you are, say a guy who is going bankrupt, or marrying and divorcing blondes or hosting an outrageous reality television show where you are firing people, like say Donald Trump, you probably like the idea of bad publicity. But if you are an entrepreneur running a technology company, let me tell you, there can definitely too much publicity. Infact, overexposure in media is actually bad for you. Let me elaborate.
In my long tenure as a technology writer, I have seen many patterns. The worst of them, from a startup perspective, is overexposure. During the dot-com mania of the 1990s, there were a few people who were constantly in the press — Naveen Jain (Infospace) and Jeff Dachis (Razorfish), to take just two examples. (See 60 minutes: DotCom Kids) They were always available for a quick “quip.”
Most of these quips were pretty worthless. The more these experts talked to the media, the less they had to say. After a few months of seeing their quotes, I had developed a certain kind of blindness to these entrepreneurs and what they had to say. I mean, if you read something again and again in half-a-dozen magazines and a handful of online publications, you kind of stop paying attention. Today’s technology media landscape is worse – there are just too many publications, both new and old, all looking for comments.
I totally understand that startups need attention. In order to get it, they hire media relations professionals who try and get their comments into every possible story, regardless of its impact on the overall strategy of the company. That’s their job. In fact they get paid by the media mentions! But it is the wrong approach — and extremely short-term thinking.
Why? Talk too often, and the media will soon think: He has nothing new to say — didn’t I hear him talk about this recently? Too much media exposure means that the focus of media attention starts to shift from the product (and the company) to the person, and that is never a good thing.
Now look at Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook. She doesn’t make a statement every day and doesn’t comment on everything. Whenever she speaks to the media, it is about Facebook’s operations, revenues, goals and company’s strategy. It is a good strategy to emulate. Say you are Brian Chesky (of AirBnB), it makes perfect sense for you to talk about the emergence of people-to-people economy and positioning AirBnB from that context. It makes AirBnB seem part of a much bigger movement. Staying focused on the bigger picture and your product is what it means to be “on message” without being boring or obvious.
So unless you are the equivalent of Donald Trump, keep in mind, too much publicity is bad for you.
Now That’s a $4.2 Million Dollar Car
In 2009, I saw TV presenter James May wax eloquent about the Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing on British motoring show Top Gear. He said that it was a super car long before there were super cars. Sort of like the 2G iPhone before everything else. (Okay that’s just stretching the truth too far.) Anyway I was fascinated by that clip, and that is why I was drawn to this piece of news on the AutoBlog.
Standard 300SL Gullwing prices can exceed a million dollars, but this particular example was expected to sell for anywhere between $2,500,000 and $3,000,000. These alloy 300SL Gullwings come up for sale infrequently, though, which is perhaps why the final bid of $4.2 million was so high. With auction fees, the final selling price of the 300SL was an incredible $4.62 million, a new record for this car.
Now that’s an iPad stand I really like
Meet Magnus, an iPad stand from Ten One Design. It is just beautiful. It uses the magnetic capabilities of the iPad 2. It is minimalistic. It perfectly matches my Macbook Air-Apple Cinema Display combo more than Apple’s own iPad stand. And it costs $50. via
Steven Soderbergh on Dynamic Movie Ticket pricing
Then let me take the opportunity to say that the lack of experimentation regarding ticket pricing is another thing that’s killing the business. This is nuts. There’s got to be some experimentation with this. There’s no analogous situation in any other business to theaters not experimenting with ticket pricing. Why I should be paying as much money for a movie in week four as opening day, I don’t understand.” (via BoxOffice. hat tip, Brian Dear)
Understanding, Context & Knowledge
“Understanding comes from context, and context comes from knowing stuff. Facts become most meaningful when, thanks to the miracle of memory, we weave them together in our minds into something much greater: personal knowledge and, if we’re lucky, wisdom.” Nicholas Carr
Nice way to unclutter your desk
Lexon’s Mini Totem is a great way to unclutter your desk — a desk clock, a USB hub, tape and more. via Acquire Mag
How would you define Mission Impossible 4?
I would say going crosstown in a super car in Bombay (Mumbai) at rush hour does qualify for the sobriquet – mission impossible!
Macbook Air & Me: Four Years Later
Four years ago when I was recovering from my medical setback, one of the medical doctors at the wonderful UCSF started waxing poetic about the Macbook Air and how he couldn’t wait to buy one. Me too, I said. We bonded over the Air. I couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital because I wanted to get better and buy the Air!
It took a bit of getting used to but once I did, I never looked back. Macbook Air – thin and light – became the new symbol of my uncluttered and a simpler approach to life. In March 2008, I wrote:
I realized that the machine and post-recovery me have a lot in common. I have to be very careful as to how I use my mental and physical resources, for there is a high risk of relapse. Similarly, the Macbook Air comes with miniscule amount of storage space, so one needs to be careful about how to use it. The machine’s battery power limitations remind me of how much time I have to devote to work on a daily basis.
It has been hard to use the Macbook Air as my primary computer, just as it’s been hard to change all those pesky “little things.” Indeed, the Macbook Air is an acquired taste. It’s also an apt reflection of an effective “simplification through elimination” strategy.
Just like me, in the beginning the original Macbook Air was a bit underpowered and had not enough juice. It couldn’t really multitask well. Four years later, things are quite different. I have regained my strength — not all of it — and some of my weight.
The new Air is now my only computer. I have owned every single Macbook Air that has come out and despite its limitations of power (just like my own), I have loved it. I have adapted to it and it has adapted to me. I will keep buying the new ones — for it always reminds me to keep focus on what’s important.
On the Internet, you can blend your own scotch whiskey!
One of the greatest things about the Internet is that it allows anyone with a quirky idea to rev-it-up and go global with it. Like this one I stumbled upon. Like this Scottish-company that allows you to blend your own scotch whiskey and put your name on a bottle. Whiskyblender makes it dead simple. It is not that complicated though a tad pricey. Here is a link to the blending lab. I know three guys in Silicon Valley who are going to dig this — Kevin Systrom(Instagram), Kevin Rose (Digg) & MG Siegler. Also, if you live in UK, check out Alchemist Dreams – a custom, liqueurs company.
People are Social
What makes up social companies like Facebook and Twitter is we the people — not the software, the hardware and the data centers they own. It is not the money but the people who make a place vibrant, exciting and livable.”
Rant vs Reason
It has been long standing belief of mine, that rants, as powerful as they are, are more powerful as well-reasoned arguments. Sometimes forget that and need a reminder. Just read this guest post from Brad Feld (a VC with Foundry Group) over on GigaOM opposing SOPA and you will come to appreciate reason.
World Bank Cuts 2012 Economic Projections
This from a World Bank press release:
Developing countries should prepare for further downside risks, as Euro Area debt problems and weakening growth in several big emerging economies are dimming global growth prospects, says the World Bank in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2012.
The Bank has lowered its growth forecast for 2012 to 5.4 percent for developing countries and 1.4 percent for high-income countries (-0.3 percent for the Euro Area), down from its June estimates of 6.2 and 2.7 percent (1.9 percent for the Euro Area), respectively. Global growth is now projected at 2.5 and 3.11 percent for 2012 and 2013, respectively.
This doesn’t bode well and I wonder if technology is going to remain immune to this slowdown. Thoughts?
Pink Floyd, TIme & the Social Networks
I woke up too early this morning and ended up listening to Time from Pink Floyd’s most awesome album, Dark Side of The Moon. The lyrics reminded me of all the time we spend on social networks, without realizing why, how and what for.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the wayTired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behing you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gunAnd you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
And racing around to come up behing you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to deathEvery year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
He time is gone the song is over thought I’d something more to say.