Google Announces ‘Instant Pages’
Here’s Google full use of it’s infrastracture to blast past competitors.
Note to entrepreneurs: Your idea is not special
Note to entrepreneurs: Your idea is not special
Brad Feld:
Often these entrepreneurs think their idea is brand new – that no one has ever thought of it before. Other times they ask me to sign a non-disclosure agreement to protect their idea. Occasionally the emails mysteriously allude to the idea without really saying what it is. These entrepreneurs think their idea is special and magic. And they are wrong. The great entrepreneurs are already focused on the implementation of their idea. They send me links to their website or software. They describe the business they are in the process of creating (or have already created). They point me to what they’ve done to implement their idea and show real users who validate that the idea is important. And they quickly move past the idea to the execution of the idea.
As part of working with entrepreneurs, I see this all the time. People that don’t share their idea freely usually have never built anything before, and thus don’t know how hard it is to build and scale a unique product that pay love or pay for(which ends up being the same depending on you’re market) .
Duke Nukem Forever: barely playable, not funny, rampantly offensive
Duke Nukem Forever: barely playable, not funny, rampantly offensive
Ben Kuchera from ArsTecnica:
In the first few moments of Duke Nukem Forever, your character pees in a urinal and then earns an achievement for reaching into a toilet and extracting a piece of human excrement. Why does the game reward you for doing this? I have no idea. It’s not part of a joke or important to the story; the designers of the game apparently feel that you would miss out by not holding some poo in your virtual hand.
Software(or video game development) is not like wine. Don’t forget to release early and often. This fiasco could have easily been avoided.
IBM’s centenary: The test of time
IBM’s centenary: The test of time
The Economist:
But [Apple] has a powerful organising idea: take the latest technology, package it in a simple, elegant form and sell it at a premium price.
I think Apple applies this principle very effectively, but completely disagree it charges a premium. iPhones, iPads and Macs compete on features and price with their competitor’s products.
iCloud’s real purpose: kill Windows
iCloud’s real purpose: kill Windows
Robert X. Cringely on iCloud:
The incumbent platform today is Windows because it is in Windows machines that nearly all of our data and our ability to use that data have been trapped. But the Apple announcement changes all that. Suddenly the competition isn’t about platforms at all, but about data, with that data being crunched on a variety of platforms through the use of cheap downloaded apps.
I really don’t pay attention to what Cringle usually says, but this time he’s kind of right. Apple really dosen’t have much to loose if the PC becomes just another device with iCloud. Microsoft does.
The mobile revolution is about data, not files. Until iCloud is released, all data in mobile apps rest in silos, unlike desktop apps. iCloud frees that data and makes it available to other devices in the ecosystem. It’s the bold move and it’s worth it for whoever controls it.
For this reason, soon Google Apps will only support modern browsers. Beginning August 1st, we’ll support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, we’ll begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.
Netflix Is Killing BitTorrent in The US
Netflix Is Killing BitTorrent in The US
As we’ve said a few times in the past, the only way to decrease piracy is to compete with it and offer products that are superior to its pirated counterpart.
It appears that for (older) movies Netflix is on the right path here.
Now that there’s proof, how do we get studios on board on releasing movies to Netflix, iTunes and Amazon at the same time as their DVD counterparts? It’s all about convenience and sadly right now pirating is so much easier than having to wait for a just released movie to arrive via snail mail.
Brent Simmons on why we still need blogs:
Brent Simmons on why we still need blogs:
Twitter and Facebook are great for organizing a revolution. Blogs are for explaining why we need one.
Zappos is so good at customer service, 404 means a whole different thing.
Wag of My Finger to Paul Allen
Wag of My Finger to Paul Allen
After reading Freakonomics 2, my respect for Paul Allen and his team skyrocketed as they try to solve big problems like hurricanes, global warming and malaria(with mosquito killing laser beam-not a joke). But now, in my eyes, he’s just a plain old patent troll(like the one near his office).