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I have this brand new, unopened digital audio optical switch. If you want it just let me know and I'll ship it to you free. First one to comment here or you can email me directly.
It's part of my new years resolution to get rid of stuff I don't need :)
My friend Dean from WebTV was the cofounder of Slim Devices which was recently acquired by Logitech. Besides making great software and hardware, Slim decided early to make their server software open source. As a result lots of developers and even competitors started using theirsoftware. A recent example is the Netvibes+Slimserver mashup. Its awesome and a great idea that would never happen if conventional wisdom prevailed at Slim. Fortunately they tossed out conventional wisdom day 1.
More CE companies should follow the Slim Devices model.
Open, sesame CE guys.
Sonos. I love my Sonos but I want to write apps for it. I want a search engine on Sonos. I'd really love Last.fm integration. And I want YottaMusic to control my Rhapsody playlists that are accessed by Sonos. To do the latter now I have to set up all Rhapsody playlists for Sonos on Lauren's dell laptop. Sad but true.
Apple iPhone & iPod. Who knows if the iPhone will actually be closed over time but it would be tragic if it was closed. Even Microsoft knows better as anyone can develop 3rd party apps for WindowsMobile. I'd also like to write apps that could integrate gps with the nike ipod so I could mash it up with google maps and track where I've been hiking or biking.
Comcast HDPVR Can you imagine how many sweet apps could be created if Comcast turned on networking or even the firewire port on their HD PVR.
We need open consumer electronics. The CE space needs to be turned inside out. We need to be able to mash up hardware and software. Services and apps will be created that we haven't even thought of yet. Dave Winer has a denon receiver with a web server on board. Cool.
Just a sign of things to come.
I've been using a tumi bag for years to carry my laptop, journal, ipod and misc items for awhile. The Tumi feels like I'm carrying a clunky dufflebag these days. It's overkill for me.
So I'm looking for something better. It's gotta be cooler looking (shouldn't be hard). And it has to be easier to carry and lighter (more important). And needs to be high quality (I'm tough on these things).
I'm leaning towards the Incase Sling. Any other ideas?
Update: Josh sent me an email today. He sent me a link to great bags on his blog. I'll have to check them out.
Last week when I was in California I had a meeting at Google and saw the Googleplex in Mountain View. It brought back a bunch of memories that I'm just processing now.
For folks that have never lived in Silicon Valley or just moved there recently you might not be familiar with the significance of this building. It used to belong to SGI.
When Microsoft bought WebTV we moved from Palo Alto to Mountain View across the street from SGI's newest building. SGI built this building when they were the darling of Silicon Valley. It was gorgeous. (In fact we sneaked into the building on occasion because the cafeteria was amazing.) By the time we moved across the street the writing was on the wall for SGI and the building became the latest victim of the curse. The curse that haunts companies when they decide to build a huge campus - and once they do their business goes downhill. Sun and Borland probably started this curse. Maybe there were others before.
Google has been renting the SGI building since '03. But last summer they officially purchased the building from SGI. Would they fall victim to the curse? It's only been 8 months since they took ownership but it's pretty cool to see a young company fend off the curse and kick butt.
I'm still cheering for Google.
I installed Parallels and Windows on my MacBook several months ago. I thought it would be cool to have Windows available just in case I needed to access something unavailable on a Mac.
This post sums up my experience running Windows on a Mac.
The idea is appealing but in reality I've never had the need to fire up Parallels since I installed it except to show friends that I got it working.
Girls had their 2nd lesson today and by lunch they took their first chair lift ride with the instructor. So I grabbed my skis and we all skied the afternoon at Nashoba Valley Ski. Lots of sunshine, snow and smiles.
It's going to be really fun when James gets a little older so the whole family can enjoy it together.
My irish/italian wife was itching to hear live irish music. So last night we went to The Burren in Davis Square, ordered a few pints ofGuinness and enjoyed some irish music. Lively crowd, happy music. It was really fun.
Afterwards we had a late dinner at a place next door called Martsa on Elm. The food was just okay (probably wouldn't recommend it) but 20 minutes into our meal Lauren noticed that we were the oldest people in the restaurant. Sobering.
What do you get when you combine photos + food + blog aggregation. Tastespotting. This is a super idea.
People love great photos of food. On flickr there is actually a food porn group. And aggregating blogs for this category is smart.
I'd like to see flickr integration to make it easier to contribute. Or even better would be a feedburner feedflare link to Tastespotting.
These guys have been around for several years and are very big in Australia. I just heard them for the first time in SF this week. They came on the radio as I was cruising up 280 from Los Altos to the city Wed night.
Breath of fresh air. I bet these guys would be a blast to see live. They remind me of a band I saw a few times in the early 90s called Chucklehead.
Rhapsody has their first EP online. You can get the next two from amazon.
Here is Hello
from the The Cat Empire EP. Turn it up.
I took the red eye back from SF last night and arrived in Boston this morning. I did get an upgrade to first class but I didn't have the perfect red eye that my friend Howard experienced recently. Went to the office and made it thru with a lot of diet dr pepper. I feel yucky.
Maybe I should try the ambien next time. Or maybe I should just avoid these red eyes. I think that's a bettter idea for me :)
Nice to be home. Although its 7 degrees outside.
I continue my fascination with robot toys. I saw some great stuff yesterday.
Separately I saw my good friend Andy Rubin yesterday as well. He's at google these days working on something amazing but his (serious) hobby is robots. He showed me some killer things including his latest creation, an autonomous helicopter. He built the hw and sw. Check out the video here (high res video takes awhile to load).
If you are a scifi fan you have to check out the tv series Battlestar Galatica. It's a remake and blows away the original. If you aren't familiar with the show than here's the basic storyline.
Lauren doesn't watch this stuff so I end up buying a few episodes from iTunes whenever I travel. I just finished season 2 on the flight to california this week. The show is just getting better and better.
Fred Seibert is a co-founder at Next New Networks (one of our recent investments). One of their creations is Channel Frederator. It is a weekly blog & cartoon podcast. I agree with TechCrunch and recommend subscribing to the feed. I love watching these shorts on my ipod video.
This cartoon won the "It's So Cute It Hurts" award at the first annual Frederator Awards event tonight. Great stuff.
I'm in SF today & tomorrow. It's gorgeous here today.
I have about 20 minutes before my mtg starts and I'm so bummed that I left my camera on the kitchen counter this morning. But this photo of south park I grabbed from flickr will give you an idea.
Okay that is obviously wishful thinking.
But today several large corporations including GE, Dupont and others have sided with environmental groups pushing for mandatory federal emissions controls. I know there is a cynical interpretation here but I'm going to take this as a positive.
Memorable quote from the todays Mercury News:
``Action is not only justified, it's critical -- greenhouse-gas emissions are rising at an unprecedented rate,'' said Peter Darbee, CEO of San Francisco-based PG&E, which provides energy to 5 percent of the U.S. market.
GW is still against federal controls. Make your voice heard.
A friend of mine IM'd me a few nights ago saying that he never sees me on his MyBlogLog reader roll on his blog. Wanted to know if I stopped enjoying his blog.
In reality it's the opposite. I read his blog almost every day or at least 3 times per week. But I check out his blog with my RSS reader (NetNewsWire addict). So I don't show up in his reader roll and I want to. I want to be an active part of his community.
I was emailing with Eric at MBL about this. The first step is to probably partner with companies that manage RSS feeds for MBL users. Down the road I'm sure will see even more ways to make blogs more interactive.
In the meantime, I'll just comment more on various blogs that I read.
I lost my bluetooth headset on my trip last week. I bought it in 2005. There a bunch of new models that are smaller and seem to offer improvements. I'm thinking about getting the Motorola H700.
Would love to hear any recommendations before I make my next purchase. Many thanks in advance.
The View is a very cool band out of Scotland. Tearing it up on myspace now. Great sound and high energy. They are playing in Boston at the end of March. Hopefully I'll be able to make it.
Superstar Tradesman is a track from the upcoming debut album. Enjoy.
Nice piece from the NYT on Veoh today.
(disclaimer: we are investors in Veoh).
While James was hanging out in the lodge, Sophia and Ellie took their first ski lessons today. We took them to a little place less than an hour from our house.
We couldn't get them off the mountain. They loved skiing. It was such a thrill watching them get better throughout the day. Sophia already gets a lot of the basic technique and keeps her weight nicely forward. Ellie is our daredevil. Slow is not an option for her.
Here's a video of her before lunch.
Well the blackberry might be pretty ugly compared to the iPhone but my 8703e (can you believe they come up with such names) dropped twice today. The second time it dropped on a tile floor and didn't even get a scratch.
I'm not sure what would have happened if it was an iPhone with a 3" touchscreen.
The blackberry is built like a tank
I was in Denver today for a board mtg. Lauren called me mid-morning and told me that a 15 year old boy was stabbed in our local high school by a fellow student. He died. I don't know the family of the victim but I feel sad and sick for them. I was thinking about it all day. Absolutely tragic.
I need to think about what I'm going to tell my kids in tomorrow.
Here is full the story if you are interested.
Between this news and this new product it looks like MySpace has finally jumped the shark.
People are going to bail instead of maintaining one uber profile on myspace. They are already doing it.
I think setting up your own blog will be the most popular way to manage your profile over time. You should own your profile and not be artificially tethered to one network or another. Vertical social networks (last.fm, linkedin, dogster, etc) become even more important. Widgets will get better and tie in your social networks to your blog and identity.
Not the other way around.
My friend Stu asked me about a HD-DVD player yesterday. I thought that HD-DVD was winning by a landslide but it looks like Blue-ray has really caught up (this website pulls amazon data).
I've seen both formats and the video is stunning. I'm really looking forward to the end of this format war so we can all hopefully buy a hi-def dvd player this holiday season for $199.
The widely anticipated Netflix internet service launched today. It's called "Watch Now"
I can't try the new service yet because it only supports WindowsXP. But I wonder how "Watch Now" is going to change my viewing habits if at all.
Right now we PVR most of the "professionally" produced stuff we watch. I bring netflix dvd's with me when I travel or I download tv shows from iTunes. If the content isn't available on netflix or itunes I go to old faithful. I have a Mac connected to our big screen but it's mostly for home videos, photos and user gen stuff online. I rarely watch tv shows on the various networks websites because the user experience isn't there yet.
I don't understand why it's streaming only and I really don't understand the idea of setting limits of an hour of streaming for every dollar you pay a month. Seems complicated. Certainly doesn't jive with the company that brought us the simple idea of Netflix 1.0.
But I'm glad Netflix did this. It's more fuel to the roaring fire of online video.
With all of the noise/news coming out of MacWorld and CES I somehow missed this important FCC decision.
I never thought this would actually happen.
Conditional access systems, historically integrated into the set top box, seems to be really opening up.
Last week the FCC denied additional blanket waivers on the subject and hopefully we'll see better consumer choice on the hardware and software that connect to the cable network inside our homes. TiVo Series 3 and Moxi are just the tip of the iceberg now.
While MSO's have been fighting this for a long time I think this is going to benefit everyone including MSO's. In the United States, cable is really the best network. New business models will evolve with an open device. It's opportunity for everyone.
Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. He would have been 78 today.
Celebrating a man of peace.
We Shall Overcome (live) cover by Bruce Springsteen
I've been a loyal Apple consumer for a long time. Even in the ugly System9 days I was there. And that wasn't easy.
Lots of folks are gushing about Apple's new iPhone. And I'm excited about it too. But I'm not getting version 1.0 of this thing. These reasons don't bother me much. The virtual keyboard worries me a bit but either that will work for me or not.
The biggest show stopper for me is speed. The first version only supports EDGE. Yes, I know it has WiFi too but I need connectivity everywhere and that's what I have with my EVDO blackberry. I don't want to downshift. I'm sure they will upgrade the iPhone with HSDPA at some point.
And when they do I'll be there.
Last year my friend Tim's new company, Zing, shipped the Stiletto.
This week @ CES they won tons of praise and awards for their upcoming product. SanDisk (the #2 portable mp3 manufacturer in the US) will distribute the product. It's called the SansaConnect powered by Zing. It's very beautiful. Small, great UI, WiFi done right (vs done wrong) and some more features that I probably shouldn't disclose. I got a chance to play with this product a few months ago and it's fantastic.
Kudos to Tim and the team at Zing. This product is going to be a winner.
Two weeks later and I'm removing Snap Preview from this blog.
Sorry for the inconvenience. It bothered me too.
I'm excited about a few upcoming shows that we're going to in boston. They don't take place until early march but last.fm gave me a heads up now which is great.
Ben Kweller is playing at the Avalon on March 6th. I picked up this album last year and been listening to him ever since. It's going to be great to see him live.
Then on March 10th Lauren and I are going to see David Wilcox at Club Passim in Cambridge. I recently rediscovered how much I love his music. His live shows simply blow away his recorded stuff. The last time I saw him was at Bimbo's in '93 or '94.
It should be two great shows.
Both Dems and Republicans are calling W's plan for more troops dangerous.
It's not only dangerous. It's tragic. It's also opposite of the Iraq Study Group's recommendation. Regarding troop increases they said:
“adding more American troops could conceivably worsen those aspects of the security problem that are fed by the view that the United States presence is intended to be a long-term ‘occupation."
We gotta get out of there now.
I have mixed feelings about startups and patents.
I see many startups that believe their patents (or even patent applications) will be the primary reasons for their success.
I also see startups that don't pay any attention to patents whatsoever.
I think if you are a tech-based startup the answer lies in the middle. You can't rely on patents too much. It can be expensive to pursue patents. And it's very even more expensive to protect your patents. Suing startups (or worse big companies) to protect your IP is a daunting idea so don't count on that. Business execution is much more critical.
However even though the patent system is a mess it can be very strategic to find a great patent lawyer and patent key areas of your innovation. That goes for trademarks too. Done right it will help build more value and defensibility in your company
I wonder how the recent supreme court decision will impact the software world and startups. What do you think?
Wow, things must be awkward at Sony. NYT reports that Wii is outselling PS3 in Japan even though they came to market 3 weeks later. As of Jan 7, the Wii has outsold PS3 2:1.
My friend Nabeel was right. Nintendo changed the game. They created a new category. And now the numbers show they are winning broadly as well.
I love when the small guy delivers.
Honda has been working on this for awhile but today at CES they showed off the latest version of ASIMO. This thing is going to help people one day. I just know it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is iRobot's latest product called iRobot Create(tm). $130 and you get to program, build and create your own robot. Cool.
Apple iPhone. I was wrong when I made this prediction.
But this is one of those times that I'm glad to be wrong :-)
I'm sure many of you have already seen this since the news is now official. MyBlogLog has been acquired by Yahoo.
Congratulations to Eric, Scott and Todd. I have enjoyed getting to know you guys better and I'm happy for you. You have built something very cool & special with MBL and look forward to more great stuff coming out of MBL west coast.
Great interview with Kimbal and Robert. Brad has the original post here.
(we are investors in Me.dium)
Here is the product demo:
And here is the interview:
I did my homework and TerraPass looks like a very good choice.
I just signed up and am doing something to reduce my carbon footprint. My car and house are now carbon neutral for the year.
I'm sure there is more I can do besides offsetting my house and car and the recycling we do already. But it's better than nothing.
Give it a try or at least consider it.
Fred's post is so right.
I didn't like dead pools when I was an entrepreneur. And I don't like them as a vc.
These are people's lives and I really don't get the point.
There will be several announcements this week about digital broadcast for mobile.
I think this is good news. More ways to watch "what" you want and "wherever" you want. And digital broadcast for sports and live events will be popular for mobile. But broadcast doesn't necessarily help with "when" you want which is what we all want.
Just like it's not hard to imagine a world where all tv content is available on demand (either from vod or the local disk) in the near term. I think the same is true for mobile video and audio entertainment.
With carriers embracing digital broadcast I'm hopeful there will be more bandwidth available for unicast (on deck or off deck).
Mobile entertainment needs to be instant (streaming or download). It has to be personalized. It should be on demand. And it needs to embrace the attributes of the device (portable, social, easy, short duration).
We have a company working on this. And I can't wait to tell you more about it.
It was actually 70 degrees in Boston today. Unbelievable.
We walked everywhere and spent a bunch of time in the Public Gardens. Kids had a ball. People were wearing shorts and even the cherry blossoms were blooming.
Few pictures on our flickr account from today.
Yesterday it was 63 degrees.
Today it's supposed to be 60.
in Boston.
in January.
This is getting very freaky. maybe it's time we actually watch this dvd which has been on our mantle for months
I've been having problems with the Airport Extreme Base stations in our house. Lately they just randomly "disappear" from the network. I can't ping them or see them with them admin utility.
I've been power cycling them to get them to work again but it's annoying.
I guess I'm not alone . The fix seems to be downgrading the firmware in the base station to v5.5.1. I'll try it tonight.
So I'm loving Brad's new blog AskTheVC. It's great.
Someone recently asked "how do you raise a small amount of money". in this case the person asking the question was talking about seeking a $1M investment.
I disagree that a $1M investment is too small for a $200M+ fund . I think it's really about the definition of "too small" and the style of the firm.
We are managing a $260M fund. We have done a few deals putting in as little as $2M. We look at <$1M investments all the time. And we would absolutely do a $250k seed investment for the right team and right idea.
If you are looking for less than $250k than it might be harder and angels would probably be best.
Again, I think it's about the firm itself and their style. Size matters but it's not everything :-)
I am thrilled to announce Spark's latest investment in Next New Networks.
They are going to integrate communities & video in a unique way and distribute it everywhere. It's breaking the mold of traditional tv. I couldn't agree with Jeff Javris more. It's time for new tv.
N3's team is a mix of traditional and new media folks with a history of creating wildly popular content time and time again. (That's not easy). They are passionate about what they are building at N3. Plus they are great guys.
NewTeeVee coverage here.
Stay tuned. More to follow...
I've blogged about robots before. I'm super excited about how they will positively impact our lives.
Bill Gates wrote an article in the current issue of Scientific American and also available online. As you might expect the title of the article is A Robot in Every Home. He believes that the emergence of the robotics industry is developing in much the same way that the computer business did 30 years ago.
Terrific article with insightful perspective.
Worth a read.
The connected car is a concept that has been kicked around for awhile but hasn't happened in a mainstream way yet.
The raw ingredients exist:
-displays/monitors
-gps/navigation
-2 way communication networks: cellular, bluetooth
-voice commands
-content (satellite, hd radio, etc).
-storage (ipods, dvds, etc)
But the software and services need to be developed so that the connected car set of apps "just work". And since we designing for the car it also needs to be safe.
For example if I want traffic updates on my Nuvi I connect my mobile phone via bluetooth to my gps. Then I have to make sure my car's built in bluetooth radio doesn't try to pair with my mobile phone. And even after going through these steps I can't get any other interesting info that I would naturally expect when you connect a display, gps and the internet (ie local search, where my friends are located, ratings, reviews, etc). Clunky and feature light.
That's why I'm excited about this announcement between Yahoo and Dash. They are combining yahoo local search with gps in seamless way. That's more like it.
I would be very interested to hear from people working or thinking about the connected car. It's a big idea.
Well Jeff Pulver started this [sick] game and now we are all playing. Fun and pretty geeky stuff.
Howard tagged me yesterday. Here are 5 things you probably don't know about me.
1. I was a brown belt in tae kwon do by my senior high year in high school. then i goofed off and never earned my black belt.
2. i played in a rock band in college. i played bass.
3. i have this man bag
4. Briefs .not boxers.
5. i voted for a republican president once.
I tag Santo, Nabeel, Brad, Josh and Jason. Have fun guys :-)
Last week Brad Feld and Dick Costolo at FeedBurner turned me on to FeedBurner's SiteStats. I set it up a few days ago and it's already giving me interesting data about my blog.
A few initial surprises:
-about 50% of the people that visit my blog are using firefox
-about 20% are using a mac
-over 50% of the people visiting this blog are using a very high resolution monitor. (ie higher than 1280x1024. I wish I knew the notebook vs desktop stats. that would be interesting to me).
If you have FeedFlare set up on your blog than it's just one click to make it happen. Log into your account on FeedBurner, click the Analyze tab then click StandardStats. Piece of cake.
Thanks guys for the heads up. This looks very cool. I'll share more feedback as I spend more time with it.
Update: this post from Dick provides more info.
Saw this on Om's personal blog. Fun stuff.
Om wanted to be Spiderman. I was hoping for superman....
My results:
You are Spider-Man
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You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.  |
Happy New Year everyone.
Here's The New Year by Death Cab for Cutie. Enjoy.
www.flickr.com
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Meets every Thursday
Andala Coffee - 10am-12pm
