Archives for 2006

Google Became Microsoft

Posted on August 3, 2006 ·

Everyone knows Google’s ploy is to get us off the desktop and into the cloud… a key argument why this will be a good move is getting rid of all the bloated buggy software on our machines, the never-ending aggressive updates from Microsoft that wreck our PC’s requiring more and more patches…. so the last thing I expect from Google is to release buggy client software that need constant patches.

That’s exactly what’s been happening to previously rock-solid Picasa. Ever since the Web Albums version of Picasa was released, it’s been constant trouble. On two separate computers I’ve received countless update notifications, the updates fail to properly install, I end up running multiple instances of Picasa, having to reboot multiple times, Picasa indices and thumbnails totally messed up – it got to the point that I am really worried keeping all my photos in Picasa now.

Sounds familiar? It sure does to me, but so far I’ve only experienced it here. Google has become Microsoft.

Update (8/3): Ironically, after posting this, Picasa is telling me to download yet another update.

Filed Under: Business, Software, Technology ·

Voice (W)rec(k)ognition, Vista Style

Posted on August 1, 2006 ·

I guess dictation software won’t rescue me just yet … better improve typing skills. Voice Recognition becomes Wreck-ognition in this Microsoft demo:

Update: new demo by Fake Steve Jobs.

Technorati : Microsoft, demo, dictation, vista, voice recognition, voice wreckognition, windows vista

Filed Under: Humor, Software, Technology ·

Costly Typo

Posted on August 1, 2006 ·

I don’t normally echo articles without adding some value (?) or debating it, but since I had a good laugh this morning, I thought why not share this gem by Vinnie with my readers …..

“A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand. He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up! In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies. The head monk, says, “We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son.”

He goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn’t been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. So, the young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head against the wall and wailing, “We missed the “R”! , we missed the “R” !” His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably. The young monk asks the old abbot, “What’s wrong, father?” With a choking voice, the old abbot replies:” this is where you need to click to find out the answer.

Filed Under: Humor ·

Controversial Blog Advertising

Posted on July 30, 2006 ·

(Updated)
The Blog-ad to the right is from Guy Kawasaki’s blog. I don’t really understand why Guy runs it – in fact I wonder if he paid attention to what this really is. Don’t get me wrong, this is not an “anti-Guy” rant, what I dislike is Class Action Suits, and stupid advertising in general.

I don’t think I am alone thinking that class action lawsuit are controversial, to say the least. Sure, they provide a way to curtail companies “evil” behavior – but provide little to no benefit to individual “class members”. In fact it’s widely known that the only party benefiting from settlements are the lawyers. For everyone else involved it’s a lot of hoopla for nothing.

As for the particular case, I admit I don’t know Alltel and their “My Circle” program: for all I know they may truly be evil, but this class action suit solicitation provides a link to them anyway, potentially boosting their business – not very smart, if you ask me.

Another link reveals the lead plaintiff’s background: he spent his life representing us, the “little man” against “bad industries”. Here’s a typical case:

“In 1998 a crossed leg, revealing a slouchy, wrinkled sock, falsely identified me as an untrustworthy loafer to other members of an important real estate consortium, costing me my seat on the board. After suing the sock company for damages, new industry standards were put in place, ensuring that the same fate won’t happen to you..”

Hm… personally, I would not want to be in a board where I can lose membership due to wrinkled socks 🙂 Seriously, Guy, do you really want to promote this angry man’s next tirade?

Update: While typing this up, I’ve just received an email solicitation to join (start?) another class action lawsuit, against Panda Software for their spam. I politely declined. I found my own creative way to stop Panda’s spam, and it worked. Case closed. I’m not interested in spending my life fighting.

Update: (7/30). OK, I bought it. It’s a spoof .. or viral ad, whatever you want to call it. There is no class action lawsuit, only the campaign bu Alltel. Thanks to Thatedeguy for being doubtful enough .. (see his comment below). I digged further and I think he is right.

Update #3 (7/30): Guy Kawasaki confirms it’s a spoof, an ad run by Alltel. I’m glad to see we’re on the same page as far as the “class action lawsuit” is concerned, i.e. he rejected it when he thought it was real. Thanks, for coming over to comment, Guy!

Technorati : Edward Maxwell Von Houten, alltel, alltel my circle, blog advertising, blogads, class action, class action lawsuits, guy kawasaki, panda software, panda spam, spam

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing / PR, Misc ·

One Design Dell Should NOT Offer

Posted on July 30, 2006 ·

Dell is offering a free skin with the purchase of an Inspiron or XP notebook. Clearly targeting the back-to-school crowd they have University-themes, as well as a range of other designs, one of them being Flaming Hot.

Hm… considering the two recent accidents of exploding Dell laptops, is offering a Flaming Hot skin such a good idea?

Technorati : Dell, back-to-school, dell notebooks, dell skins, explosive dell, flaming hot dell, notebook skins

Filed Under: Humor, Marketing / PR, Technology ·

Link-Love for Sex

Posted on July 29, 2006 ·

On The Turning Away gets a link for pimping Hugh’s Links for Sex deal 🙂

Filed Under: Blogging, Humor ·

Venture Zine

Posted on July 29, 2006 ·

Hummer Winblad was the #1 search term on Technorati most of last Saturday and Sunday. I couldn’t find anything significant. Go figure …

Rick Segal is trying to place a half-a-million order but the company, a six-month-old startup is hiding:

“Click on contact us.

Web form. We’ll get back to you with 2 -3 business days. WTF?

Hmm. Click on about us. Long dribble about why they exist, a founders message and nothing about the people.

Okay, let’s re-cap. We have a 6 month old start up making it as hard and as impersonal as possible to take an order while the founder drones on about Web 2.0, being innovative, blaah blaah blaah.”

You want to be successful in business? You need to be available.

Jason Wood raises his eyebrows on Jobster’s recent $18M funding, which he considers a sign of access Venture Capital:

“I don’t know if Jobster will end up a winning company or not, but I do know enough to raise a skeptical eyebrow when I read that they’ve now raised $50 million and carry a $100mm post-money valuation. This in a market that is CROWDED with startups (Simply Hired, Indeed), established online companies (Monster, CareerBuilders) and plenty of adjunct job-related resources (e.g., craigslist, LinkedIn).”

Calling in rich … well, this one certainly isn’t about me

“One of the best lines I have heard in a long time was uttered by an entrepreneur we know. He was talking about one of his co-founders who one day decided he didn’t want to work anymore. He said about his co-founder, “he called in rich“. I laughed so hard I almost cried.”

Funny as it sounds, it’s a potentially serious situation for a startup, says Fred Wilson, proposing a way to handle the situation when you just ost your motivation and are too wealthy to work. My personal experience is from the other side: when I interviewed for a VP position in a startup, the Founder/CEO was releived that my previous startup had not been financially successful – he only wanted team-mates who were still “hungry”.

The Business Model diagram below by Peter Rip reminds me of my previous life in Big 6 consulting 🙂

Of course the analytical approach helps understand a business, but clearly there are times when the entrepreneur still needs the 30-second summary… like those in our SVASE VC Breakfast sessions. Or the Office 2.0 Under the Radar event by IBDNetwork, where Peter will be a panelist.

Talk about Panel Discussions, here are a few more, all of them next week, in the SF Bay Area:

Jeff Clavier will moderate a discussion on Web 2.0 in the Enterprise by IBDNetwork. I heard Jeff and fellow “Irregular” Jeff Nolan discuss this meme a few times, it will be interesting to see/hear how it evolves. (I wrote about related issues here and here).

Web 2.0 Forum and Amidzad Summer Party. VC Panelists: Accel’s Kevin Efrusy, Opus Capital’s Ken Elefant, Partech’s David Welsh and David Lane from Diamondhead.

Raising Capital For Early Stage Tech Companies – The Definitive Crash Course by SVASE, with Lightspeed’s Jake Seid, DFJ’s Warren Packard, Garage’s Bill Reichert and former SVASE President Laura Roden from The Angels Forum.

Rick Segal always points to interesting stories, so I wanted to click throgh this post:

“And I thought the US was getting conservative
Check out this commercial that got pulled in New Zealand for being a bit much. This is racy? Hmm…”

… but this is what I got:

To use this product, you need to install free software

This product requires Microsoft© Internet Explorer 6, Microsoft© Media Player 10, and Macromedia Flash 6. To download these free software applications, click the links below and follow the on-screen instructions.

Step 1: Download Microsoft© Internet Explorer 6

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 is free to download.

Damn, Microsoft, I have all the stuff you want on my PC, I just happen to browse in Firefox And no, I don’t care to switch browsers….

Technorati : business model, entrepreneurship, management, startups, vc blogs, vc zine, venture capital, venture zine

Filed Under: Startups ·

F-15 Flying One Wing Only

Posted on July 27, 2006 ·

Amazing video:

Technorati : Air Force, Eagle, F-15

Filed Under: Misc ·

Do You Like the New Technorati? Poll Results

Posted on July 27, 2006 ·

Here are the poll results, based on 347 354 votes:

Since I am still getting quite a few page hits (thanks for the link, Robert), for now I’ve left the poll open and will continue to update the numbers. The poll is now closed, thanks for your participation.

(Poll taken by Zoho Polls, chart created by Zoho Sheet.)

Technorati : blog search, blogging, blogs, office 2.0, technorati, technoratifeedback, weboffice, zoho polls, zoho sheet

Filed Under: Blogging, Collaboration, Personal Productivity, SaaS ·