February 2010
After all these years, I still really enjoy Dave...
Keep it up, buddy. Thanks.
January 2010
jschwa:
I often find a brilliant blog, see that it’s not a Tumblr, and realize that I’ll never visit it again. Tumblr and Techmeme are my only feedreaders. If you’re not getting me there, you’re not getting me.
A service that could Tumblrize RSS feeds would make my day.
Tying Postling’s publishing tools with an RSS reader is something we can do pretty easily, so you could plug in any...
I'm following 129 people.
fishy:
My happy number is about 123. I get to 126 and start getting itchy. This is a problem. (A first world one.)
I’m following 280, but my Tumblr dashboard has been broken for about a year in that all posts by certain people I’m following never show up in my dashboard (Marco is one such account). I’ve emailed Marc at support several times about this and didn’t get any...
courtenaybird:
Facebook Is Working On A Foursquare-Killer
“Here’s who Dennis and company are going against:
Yelp
Advantages: Scale, brand, ardent community, large app install base. More money from investors like Elevation Partners.
Disadvantages: Not your real friends. It’s a site for writers. No Foursquare-like gaming element.
Gowalla
Advantages: Closer to mainstream than Foursquare. Has...
Book Wars: Amazon Retaliates Against Publisher... →
Looks like publishers are trying to ensure their own death. With direct-to-Amazon authors now offered 70% of e-book revenue coupled with Amazon’s print-on-demand technology, publishers are being marginalized into nothing more than money lenders. Amazon will take care of manufacturing and Amazon is such a huge store that you will be able to get meaningful sales volume, so the only thing...
CulinaryCulture is Hiring!
mischadehart:
We’re looking for talented people who are fluent in PHP and MySQL to do contract work.
To start, we’re looking for 10 hours of work a week, which could lead to a permanent position. Applicants that are able to commute to and from our Chicago office is our preference, but isn’t necessary.
Please send your resume and note on why you’d like to join CulinaryCulture to:
...
“I picked up an interesting factoid this week from AppStoreHQ - a Founder’s Co-op...”
– Chris DeVore: Do iPhone developers care about the iPad? Here’s a data point… (via iseffcom)
Nice, Ian! I didn’t know you were a Founder’s Co-op company. Congrats on the traction!
“Snookism: Um, I don’t read books. I tried to read “Twilight,”...”
– Jersey Shore: The wisdom of Snooki via (Salon.com)
New on Postling: Manage everything you've...
postling:
Until today, Postling was simply a great tool for publishing all of your social media content. We let you post, edit, delete, and track the comments on anything you posted through us.
We’ve taken things a step further — you will now be able to oversee everything you’ve posted to all of your social media accounts, regardless of where or how it was originally created.
If you’re a...
iPad: First Overhyped, Now Underestimated
continuations:
Yesterday’s “reveal” of the iPad was predictably anti-climactic. With the hype that had built up, anything short of a mind-reading, teleporting device had to be a bit of a letdown. But we are now likely to enter the phase of underestimating the iPad. People are already obsessing about such flaws as the omission of a camera. Or the lack of support for Flash. Or the absence of...
Restaurant Recommendations
peterwknox:
adeandabet:
Without further ado and in no particular order:
More low-key:
Momofuku Ssam - 13th St. & 2nd Ave
Momofuku Noodle - Between 10th & 11th Sts & 1st Ave
Kanoyama Sushi - 11th St & 2nd Ave
Hearth - 12th and 1st Ave - a really nice sit-down, local/organic, well prepared food joint. Very cozy and with really good grub.
Num Pang Sandwich Shop - Just...
evangotlib:
“The biggest advantage is the Kindle’s lack of any good use other than reading. When I pick up a Kindle, I read.”
—
This is a quote by Roberto Mateu in this post (via Marco).
This is a big deal in hardware design that applies to more than just the Kindle. Computers overtime have become commodity hardware with endlessly flexible software that allows it to be anything and everything...
The only thing I will say about the iPad
joeconyers:
caterpillarcowboy:
Apple is attempting to create a new market with the iPad. That means that they will need to spend plenty of time and money educating their customers on benefits and uses of this new product. It’s unfair to criticize a product that creates a new market until sufficient time has been given to allow that market to mature and develop and users have time to learn new...
The only thing I will say about the iPad
Apple is attempting to create a new market with the iPad. That means that they will need to spend plenty of time and money educating their customers on benefits and uses of this new product. It’s unfair to criticize a product that creates a new market until sufficient time has been given to allow that market to mature and develop and users have time to learn new forms of interaction with the...
The iPad is Trying to Beat the Internet
dfdeshom:
llimllib:
Apple wants you to write apps instead of websites. They’re saying “we have a better UI, better devices, and you can actually make money in our ecosystem”. Pricing the iPad low is absolutely essential for them, because they need this to be a commodity device. I expect a price drop in a year, just like the iPhone had.
Long-term, they want to beat the internet at its own...
mcdavis asked: We're actually just a few of the tumblrs with 4/20 bdays.
Do you get asked all the questions that come with having that birthday (laughing at drug reference, Columbine, Hitler, etc.)?
Do you get asked all the questions that come with having that birthday (laughing at drug reference, Columbine, Hitler, etc.)?
I've got grand jury duty again today, so (please!)... →
Today and every Wednesday for the next 6 weeks. We did 17 cases last week. Hopefully today goes by quickly.
“Focus on the B Plan. It’s easy to get excited about the potential of a business,...”
– Patricia Handschiegel from StyleDiary (via kstewart87) (via mikehudack)
Especially that second-to-last sentence: “running and developing a successful, profitable, and viable business.” I might exchange viable for scalable, but the general point is the same.
“The engineers and I handle customer support. When I tell people that, they look...”
– The Way I Work: Paul English of Kayak (via soxiam)
“If news media outlets want to thrive in this new environment, they need to start...”
– Maya Baratz: In the App Economy, Newspapers are Apps
Rafer sez: This is a terrible idea. The open web is the only platform that lasts.
It is suicidal for existing large web enterprises to become dependent for distribution on Apple, Facebook, et al. Trading a quick buck for long-term value is how...
Cornell University: The Most Bizarre Ivy Of Them... →
jennabee:
Things (miraculously) left out — and this shit isn’t tour guide lore (like that “virgins crossing the quad at midnight” thing, which we used to tell tour guests to fill some awky space while crossing the quad); it’s legitimate:
The swim test. Ugh, the fucking swim test. As a freshman, you leave your parents in your dorm to continue the unpacking process while you go swim a few laps in...
"New" and Improved?
brittanybelt:
The other night I was settling in for some brain twinkie television, and lo’ and behold, I saw a commercial for this:
<—Whaa?
Yes, ladies and gentleman, this is NyQuil “Less Drowsy” Cold and Flu - the latest addition to the Vicks family of pills, caps, and syrups.
There are now so many to choose from that Vicks has it’s own “symptom checker”, where you can rank the same list...
NYC Tumblr drinkup?
section9:
Time: Thursday night after work. So, 6:30-?
Location: TBD. Preferably some place in the city. Depending on who wants to come and where they are located, the location might change.
So who’s up for it?
Edit: bf’s, gf’s and spouses (if they’re on tumblr or not) are more than welcome to come out as well.
How about around Union Square? I’m in.
Product Market Fit & DoInk.com
hiten:
aaronwhite:
We at DoInk.com recently ran a customer development survey to gain some insight from our users; word on the street is that if greater than 40% of surveyed users would be “very disappointed” if your service no longer existed, you’ve achieved product/market fit.
At greater than 75%, I’d say we have something special on our hands! Now that I’ve shared that minor success,...
Connecting mentors and founders
bijan:
I get asked all the time, how can i find a great advisor/mentor/angel for my startup? My friend Fred Wilson wrote a great post the other day about role models. I encourage you all to read it.
I’m a big believer in mentorship driven programs and have put my money where my mouth is as an investor in Techstars and YC companies.
It was nice to see so many local mentors come out and support...
Op-Ed Columnist - Bankers Without a Clue -... →
rickwebb:
This column is so not fair. (also, I am drunk). I mean, it seems to me it’s pretty hugely disingenuous to use the banker’s testimony as some sort of evidence they don’t get it. THEY GET IT. They also get they need to go and testify, and offer some sort of pablum and say a bunch of trite things to get through it, rather than say the truth “look. we looked the other way. And you looked...
It's About New Behaviors: A Proposed Playbook for... →
Bijan shared this link from Bill Warner about MA tech companies, but it is applicable to NYC (and elsewhere) as well.
Company Playbook
1. Start Small
- Playing big doesn’t mean huge capital early on or huge teams.
- Make things that work and test them quickly.
- Be curious, try things.
2. Hire Tough
-too often we hire our friends, people we know.-we have to be WAY tougher.
- Not to...
Cash Multiples VS IRRs in VC Funds
thegongshow:
Fred wrote an interesting post today describing how to use IRR to analyze an investment opportunity. I thought I’d extend on his work to explain why IRR isn’t not a great way to think about VC funds.
Let’s say the Teachers’ Union of Springfield want to invest their pension fund into venture capital. They would be Limited Partners (LPs) in the fund. Springfield Teachers’ Union...
“People take it for granted that their retirement funds can earn 8.5 percent a...”
– Peter Thiel in Utopian Pessimist Calls on Radical Tech to Save Economy - Gary Wolf (via @pedrosky) (via llimllib)
“Hire people smarter than you. Find a decent designer who understands human...”
– From startups-vcs-eat-your-own-damn-dogfood (or more politely, Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own Consumer Internet Dogfood) by Dave McClure.
I <3 this post.
(via alexismichelle)
“Given that the tax credit appears to account for a good deal of the improvement...”
– Home Sales Worse Than Expected in December - NYTimes.com
So basically what you’re saying is - there actually is no housing recovery, that the government just gave the patient a shot of adrenaline via a tax giveaway, and that goosed the market for a few months? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
(via...