American Airlines is about to test eco-friendly new technology on it’s regular flight between Paris and Miami this Thursday.
Keep Your Paws Off My PC, Microsoft
Posted on June 8, 2009 ·
<rant>
I’ve had it. I’m tired of Microsoft programs taking over my computer without permission. This time it’s IE7 – yes, I know, IE8 is out, but I could not care less. In fact I have not launched IE7 for a long time. Sticking with Firefox, and if I was not so dependent on several Ffox add-ons, the browser I’d switch to would be Google’s Chrome, not Internet Explorer.
So what happened? Read on …
Home – World Premiere, on World Environment Day
Posted on June 5, 2009 ·
I’m receiving congratulatory notes – in the age of Facebook and Plaxo there is no hiding. Oh, well, I’m happy to have reached 21
, at least I can get a drink now.
But June 5th is a memorable day for other reasons. This year it is the 20th anniversary of the of Tiananmen Square crackdown in China. June 5th is also World Environment Day, which this year has the theme:
Your Planet Needs You – UNite to Combat Climate Change
On this day an amazing film, simply titled HOME is released. Directed by internationally renowned French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, produced by world famous director Luc Besson and narrated by five-time Academy Award® nominee Glenn Close (Dangerous Liaisons), Home aims to change the way people see the planet and their impact on it. Shot in high definition in 54 countries and 120 locations over 217 days, the unique and first-time ever all-aerial filming style highlights the Earth’s wonders as well as its wounds and provides a necessary perspective to approach the changing environment.
The World Premiere will take place in more 100 countries and in 23 languages, with free screenings at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, in New York’s Central Park, London’s Trafalgar Square and Omaha, which is North America’s host city for the United Nations World Environment Day.
And now we can share it here, as the film is available in full length, amazing quality on Youtube until June 14th, 2009.
Update: apparently the film itself is not embeddable, so all I can include here is a a video on the shooting itself. But the real film is worth clicking through and watching on Youtube – in full screen mode, ideally HD.
Enjoy. And Think.
Jeffrey’s Seven: Cancer Dude Back Online
Posted on June 4, 2009 ·
This is the third slide of the Opening Keynote from Atlassian’s Summit this week. Amidst all the celebration of success, product and partner announcements, and just about a windfall of information it was a nice gesture to spend a minute with Atlassian’s first US employee, President Jeffrey Walker, who could not be at the event, having just received his chemotherapy a few days earlier.
Other than an Atlassian, Jeffrey is also a hacker artist and musician. And Cancer Dude. His words, not mine. He wrote them two years ago:
In preparation for this upcoming surgery, I’ll be working out every single day. I’ll be leaving work at a reasonable hour. I need to point my Type-A personality at Atlassian at something more important right now.”
I am Cancer Dude and I am going to kick it’s ass.
In March Jeffrey dropped a bomb: his cancer was back, bigger and uglier than ever before. I don’t want to repeat the story, here’s my wrap-up, and his own post: Living with Cancer in Silicon Valley.
Today Jeffrey’s back online: Living with Cancer in Silicon Valley II: Survival Tips from a Hardened Cancer Dude. It’s a must-read. There’s no excuse not to find the time to read it. His Seven Survival Tips are a testament of strong will, the kick-ass attitude that makes him invincible, and gives strength to many others. Literally.
This time around the battle took more focus than ever before, so Jeffrey took a 6-month leave from Atlassian. But he doesn’t rest. Between two chemo treatments he played guitar at the recent Stanford University Relay for Life:
Now for the important part: he has 3.5 weeks left until surgery. He is offering to play (free) at a local benefit in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you need a musician who can identify with your cause, or just know of a benefit event, ping me below in comments or via the contact form.
Focus on the positive. Tell cancer to “Piss off”
(Cross-posted from CloudAve)
CrunchPad – It’s Real. Beautiful. I Want One.
Posted on June 3, 2009 ·
I admit I was skeptical when Mike Arrington first announced he wanted to build a lightweight Web Tablet. But a few month later we saw the first prototype, which was not particularly attractive – but real. Mea Culpa, I was wrong.
The second prototype was already quite likable, albeit not as sexy as as the original sketch. Today Mike @ Techcrunch announced that the final prototype is just weeks away– and although all he now has are conceptual drawings, if the real thing is anywhere close .. OMG.. OMG.. it’s absolutely sexy
The Cat is Out of the Bag (Again): The Not-So-Hidden Business Model in SaaS
Posted on June 1, 2009 ·
Forget software: it’s all about (your) data.
Hyper-growing Financial Management system provider and Quicken / MS Money challenger Mint recently raised eyebrows announcing their plan to sell anonymized aggregate customer data. Some reviewers were screaming, we saw bombastic titles like Personal Finance Startup Mint Wants To Sell Your Money Trail – but in reality the news wasn’t earth shattering. You don’t really believe your spending patterns are not dissected – aggregated – analyzed in every possible way and sold by your bank and credit card company, do you?
So nothing new – but a good opportunity to discuss the role of user data in SaaS business models – and there is more than outright sale of data.
Good Luck Reading a Book on a NetBook
Posted on May 29, 2009 ·
I’m a big fan of netbooks, but they are not the magic device for all one’s needs, and they should not be. PC World has jumped the shark with a bombastic title: Bye-bye Kindle, E-reader Screens Coming for Netbooks. It’s all about start-up Pixel Qi’s new screen which can operate as traditional backlit color LCD or as a black-end-white e-paper that hardly consumes energy and most importantly reduces eye-strain. PC World jumps to the conclusion:
E-reader makers have reason to fear such innovation because people will be able to buy devices with more functions for about the same price.
I beg to disagree. But rather than speculate, I’m challenging authors Dan Nystedt and Martyn Williams to do a test: hold a 3-pound netbook for several hours, in different positions, not at their desk, while trying to enjoy an e-Book.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Pixel Qi demonstrates 3qi display, merges e-ink with LCD (engadget.com)
- Pixel Qi’s Magical Hybrid E-Paper LCD Coming This Fall [Displays] (gizmodo.com)
- Bezos: Color Kindle “multiple years” away (crunchgear.com)
Amazon’s PaaS with a Twist
Posted on May 27, 2009 ·
If you think this is yet-another post on Platform as a Service, you’re wrong. I’ll be talking about much simpler things here:
- PaaS – Pasta as a Service
- TaaS – Tea as a Service
- GaaS – Groceries as a Service
No kidding. Well, maybe a bit, but this is about real business – also the focus of a recent article by Fortune: Amazon’s next revolution, discussing the early days as Earth’s Biggest Bookstore, then moving on to other businesses, and now Kindle-izing our reading habits while revolutionizing the publishing industry.
So let’s talk about retail, from the consumers’ point of view, examining how Amazon changed our shopping habits and is on the way to becoming the default vendor for just about everything we buy.
Read on …
Intel & Microsoft Leans on the Netbook Market
Posted on May 26, 2009 ·
The proliferation of affordable netbooks is good for everyone – consumers, that is. Computer manufacturers loath it (high volume, low margin business) and so does Microsoft: they can’t exactly sell $100+ worth of software on a $200 machine. So they come up with all sorts of evil plans. 
Startups, Present @ Launch: Silicon Valley 2009. Few Days to Deadline.
Posted on May 4, 2009 ·
Startup Entrepreneurs who did not make it to the recent Under the Radar event, here’s your second chance: join us at Launch: Silicon Valley 2009, co-presented by SVASE, Garage Technology Ventures and Microsoft.
In fact it will be more than a second chance: while the UtR event focused specifically on Cloud Computing, Launch 2009 is designed to uncover and showcase products and services from the most exciting of the newest startups in information technology, mobility, security, digital media next generation internet, life sciences and clean energy. The inaugural Launch event was in 2006, combined with Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start conference.
Are these events worth attending? It’s your call … all I can say is since 2006 presenting startups received a combined $80+ million in venture funding.
So if you are building the Next Great Business in the areas mentioned above, are (almost) ready for launch, meaning that by June 9th, 2009 you will have a product or service available, but have not been out in the marketplace for more than a few months, then by all means send an Executive Summary of no more than 2 pages to Launchsv@svase.org. Submission deadline: May 8th, 2009 – yes, just a few days left. (Garage Technology offers a useful Writing a Compelling Executive Summary guide.)
Last year over 300 companies from all around the country and even overseas applied, so clearly the presentation spots are in high demand. Based on the submissions up to 30 companies will be invited to present at the Launch: Silicon Valley 2009 event on June 9th at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, California. Presentations slots are 10 minutes, running in 6 sessions of 5 companies each. Each presenting team will also be assigned a cocktail table in the Networking Room where they can meet with interested audience members one-on-one to answer questions and explore possibilities.
The evening before, on June 8th the presenting companies, registered audience and selected bloggers and media will be invited to a Pre-Event Party at a prestigious location in Palo Alto, providing a further opportunity for networking with Silicon Valley’s movers and shakers.
So if you are a qualifying startup Founder, remember the deadline: May 8th. For additional details and later for updates check http://www.launchsiliconvalley.org/ and you may also want to follow the event (actually the President of SVASE) on Twitter.
Guy Kawasaki called Launch: Silicon Valley “the poor man’s Demo”. SVASE proudly wears that badge, since this is an event with a price tag that won’t keep any startups away. It’s your turn now: send in the Executive Summary and launch with SVASE in June.
(Cross-posted from CloudAve. To stay abreast of news, analysis and just plain opinion on Cloud Computing, SaaS, Business grab the CloudAve Feed here.)
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