grandeffectmaster

To Catch A Hypocrite

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:04:00 +0000

Yesterday, Jason Kincaid posted damning evidence of VEVO, the online music video entity jointly owned by a few major record labels, committing piracy at their boozy event at Sundance this year.

Watch the video, then read Jason’s full story. It’s worth it.

Today, VEVO’s CEO has responded. Here’s his stance:

A guest of our lounge asked for an NFL game to be aired. We said no. There was a laptop hooked up to VEVO.com that fed into the large TV screens around the bar. Unfortunately, the laptop was easily accessible to the public. That was our mistake for not making sure the laptop was more secure. While VEVO staff was in other areas of the venue, the game was put on – via a website transmitting ESPN’s broadcast of the NFL game – without our permission or knowledge.

Which reads a lot like:

Holy fucking shit. We’re so fucked. Is there anyway on Earth we can spin this so it doesn’t look so bad? … Anyone? … Okay, fuck you all, I’ve got it! We’ll say that we were so grossly negligent at our own event that some some shady, masked criminals — preferably foreigners — illegally took control of our laptops to access the game. It was actually an elaborate terrorist plot, if you must know. We’re investigating — and we’ve hired the same people that O.J. Simpson is using to find the real killers.

As Jason says, it’s probably impossible to prove this dipshit is lying, but come on: common sense and Occham’s razor here. Someone was clearly refreshing the feed over and over again. And it never was taken down the entire time Jason was watching.

Either VEVO employees take extremely long bathroom breaks as a group, or — wait for it — they were the pirates!

These assclowns should be fined out of existence or go to jail for a level of hypocrisy so bad that it makes Newt Gingrich seem like a good husband fully qualified to lecture others on ethics. By the music labels’ own definition, they are now criminals.

This situation perfectly highlights the SOPA/PIPA times we live in. As Jason writes:

Sure, there are some people who will duck the bill when they can — but many of them were never going to buy the content they downloaded in the first place. And a huge swath of ‘pirates’ are driven to their ways because it’s easier to stream or download something via an illegal site, not because they’re averse to paying for content. Stick a bunch of DRM and ads in front of the media they’ve already paid for, and they may opt to go with the path of least resistance next time.

Why would VEVO pirate content? Because it was easier than getting it legally. This is the actual root cause of piracy online. It’s not shady, masked individuals at swanky events commandeering computers to pirate for the hell of it. It’s VEVO employees. It’s everyone.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, No it’s Pizza Man [Video]

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:57:51 +0000

Talk about normal kids, geeks even, who one day find themselves in situations and predicaments beyond belief only to discover that they have the power to forever make changes – to be a hero.

Frankie Muniz is just one of those people as he is given the power of Pizza Man, thanks to a genetically modified tomato, and then finds his life changed forever – even if he does have to wear a ridiculous looking super hero outfit.

Hey, don’t look at me like that .. this has all the hallmarks of geek greatness – superhero, geeky kid, and Pizza.

Well see for yourself and then tell me I’m wrong in the comments.

via BuzzFeed

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, No it’s Pizza Man [Video] is a post from: winextra
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Awesomeness for your light switches – hand painted robot covers

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:29:40 +0000

When we go about redecorating our homes the last thing that we typically think of is those light switch, and other electrical outlets, covers – well other than just painting them over, but artist Natalie McKean figured that these covers were actually ignored canvases for one of a kind artwork.

As you can see from the images of her work Natalie’s idea of transforming them into miniature works of art featuring cute looking robots is a mighty fine idea. Personally I like the purple one but if you like her work and maybe want some of these little gems of art for yourself head over to her Etsy page, Natalie’s Robots and see about picking up some for yourself.

They are individually numbered and are yours for $25 to $30, and they also come signed by the artist.

via Bit Rebels

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Retina Ready: Apple’s New Year’s Resolution?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:32:40 +0000

Retina Ready: Apple’s New Year’s Resolution?

Would you take the pulse of that petri dish over there please [Video]

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:43:19 +0000

We’ve all see video of some chicken wandering around sans their head and other various Frankensteinish type medical wonders but somehow the idea of something in a petri dish in a lab having a pulse you can measure isn’t high on the list of things to watch.

That’s a shame because even though it might be hard to believe scientists have managed, with stem cells, to create the smooth muscle cells that make up the blood vessels in your heart. Once created the cells ‘try’ to create a heart but only really get as far as being able to send out a pulse that causes the cardiac cells to contract – hence having a pulse.

Even better from a research point of view is that these disembodied heart cells are able to respond to drugs in the same way that interior heart cells would respond. The example given is that this type of petri dish testing would be able to tell doctors if a cancer patient’s heart would be able to handle chemo therapy.

It’s a little on the expensive side right for conducting tests this way, like $15,000 expensive and it also takes a year but given how fast this type of thing is advancing we could soon be able to do this for less money and take less time.

via io9

Would you take the pulse of that petri dish over there please [Video] is a post from: winextra
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The Revenge Of The Black Bar

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:32:00 +0000

The Revenge Of The Black Bar:

I started seeing an updated Google nav bar earlier today and figured it was a mistake or bug related to the new Chrome beta that shipped today. The new (and much delayed) Google Bar actually looked good — but this was a step back. It was a weird hybrid of the Google Bar and the old, ugly black bar.

Turns out it’s not a mistake.

Sigh.

Fun science fact for today – why zebras have stripes

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:17:31 +0000

Okay I can’t say that I’ve been overly concerned as to why zebras, which look like horses, have stripes but it would seem that this is a rather pressing question in some scientific circles.

Lucky for them then that we finally have an answer and it has to do with horseflies apparently, or so says a team of scientists in Budapest who tested their hypothesis with painted trays and salad oil.

I kid you not folks:

Insect defense!
A team in Budapest painted trays with different black and white patterns, inspired by research showing tsetse flies attack striped animals the least. They covered them in salad oil to trap flies, and unleashed the nipping little insects.
The trays with stripes most closely resembling a zebra’s attracted the least flies. Why? The stripes are confusing to the horseflies, making it hard for them to land, and also disrupt polarized light, which is how horseflies tend to navigate.
via Gamma Squad

See I told you – horseflies.

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Google Kills the Google Bar it Never Launched – Just Tweaks the Old Black Navigation Bar Instead

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:26:01 +0000

Late last year, Google announced a new design for the navigation menu that sits at the top of virtually every Google product. A gray Google Bar with [...]

Android at Home: Did Google Already Demo Its Rumored Home Entertainment Device at I/O Last Year?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:49:05 +0000

The Wall Street Journal today reports that Google is working on designing and marketing a home-entertainment device that would "stream music wirelessly through the home." The interesting [...]

Apple $500

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:36:00 +0000

Apple $500:

Remember a month ago when Robert X. Cringely predicted that there would soon be an “insurrection” at Apple to overthrow Tim Cook?

“If you are wondering when Apple will peak, well we’re about there folks,” Cringely wrote.

Since then, Apple has posted holy-fucking-shit earnings (in their first official quarter under Cook). And the company is now a full $100 billion more valuable than it was when Steve Jobs passed away.

Apple’s stock nearly touched $500 a share today. It will probably hit it tomorrow. The company’s market cap surged past $450 billion. It will hit $500 billion soon.

The second most valuable company in the world is Exxon — at $400 billion. Apple is worth more than Microsoft and Google — combined.

What’s the opposite of an insurrection?

George Orwell lived here

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:15:09 +0000

Just in case you aren’t familiar with the name George Orwell he is the famous author who is responsible for two of our best and classic pieces of literature: Animal Farm and 1984.

The image above is actually quite hilarious when you know that 1984 was his masterpiece about “Big Brother” and always being under the eye of the government.

via Geeks are Sexy

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Get Ready For Google Hardware

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:31:15 +0000

Get Ready For Google Hardware:

As Amir Efrati of The Wall Street Journal reports:

Google Inc. is developing a home-entertainment system that streams music wirelessly throughout the home and would be marketed under the company’s own brand, according to people briefed on the company’s plans.

The effort marks the Internet company’s first full-fledged effort to design and market consumer electronics devices under the Google brand, and represents a sharp shift in strategy.

As I said last week:

If I were a betting man, I’d bet on Google getting into the hardware game with an unexpected device at some point this year.

Today’s news and last week’s news are directly related, but most people overlooked the key aspect last week: Google is getting into hardware.

Real-time computer rendering breakthrough – ultra realistic skin [Video]

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:51:29 +0000

It might not seem like much of a big deal unless of course you play a lot of games; or you are a developer of games of course, then this news is a really big deal especially since the breakthrough is based on code that will work on run of the mill computers – like yours and mine.

Graphics researcher Jorge Jimenez came up with the process called separable subsurface scattering (SSS) using code that is based on original research using DirectX 10. Now Jorge has said that this graphics technology will run on consumer-level computers and graphic cards however reality does suggest that you will still need the upper end of that ‘consumer-level’ hardware. Jorge himself runs with a GeForce GTX 580 equipped machine which will run the downloadable demo at around 112.5 frames per second.

As you can see from the video below his breakthrough shows an incredibly realistic skin texture that if it makes its way into our future games should be pretty incredible.

via GizMag

Real-time computer rendering breakthrough – ultra realistic skin [Video] is a post from: winextra
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Coming Soon to Chrome: Faster 3D Graphics for Slower Computers

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:33:09 +0000

Chrome 17 just launched yesterday, but today, the development team announced the next beta of Chrome. This new beta includes improved support for hardware-accelerated 2D graphics using [...]

If 2 GB is excessive, why is AT&T selling 3 GB mobile data plans?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:29:47 +0000

If 2 GB is excessive, why is AT&T selling 3 GB mobile data plans?:

Great question.

Still Fucking Hate Email

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Fred Wilson took some time this morning to go off against email. Clearly annoyed, he writes:

I write these posts occasionally to let people know. The result is hundreds of comments about how I can make email work better for me. Please don’t leave those comments. I don’t want to make email work better for me. I don’t want to hire an assistant to do email for me. I don’t want to try some new magical app that will make email better for me.

Amen.

I complain often about email as well and everyone comes out of the woodwork with some idea for how to fix my problem. The reality is that there is no fix. Trying something else is an even bigger waste of time.

Wilson says he devotes about three hours a day to email and he still can’t nearly get through it all. I’m in roughly the same boat; some days more, some days less. It’s also a boat I put myself in when I left my job as a writer (tons of email) to become a VC (shit tons of email).

The only real “solution” is to change the way people think about email. It needs to be considered more of a stream than an inbox. That is, it needs to be more like Twitter and less like a to-do list.

On Twitter, it’s acceptable not to respond to every Tweet sent your way. With email, it’s considered rude not to respond. That’s a problem.

But there’s a problem with changing the mentality about email because most people don’t get as much email as Wilson or I do. So it just looks like we’re complaining for being popular or something. BUT the fact of the matter is that as more and more of the world spends more time online, more and more people will feel email overload.

What isn’t a problem for you now, will eventually be a problem.

The other, smaller problems with email are the formalities and the speed at which online email services work.

“Dear”, “Sincerely”, “Hello” — we’ve transfered the centuries-old elements of formal letter-writing to email. And we’ve added some new nonsense: Subject Line!

Meanwhile, many of us facing email overload use online email services like Gmail. These services are great because they work anywhere thanks to the cloud and you can keep all your old emails (including those you missed) and search them for later reference! But these services are still Way. Too. Slow.

There’s a point of nearly every morning where I want to put my fist through my monitor because it takes Gmail 30 seconds to load one email. It sounds silly, but imagine watching this happen for 80 emails a day.

Meanwhile, native clients aren’t built to handle huge email loads. Oddly enough, my best email friend is often the iOS Mail app which is so much faster than Gmail — swipe-to-archive, swipe-to-archive, swipe-to-archive. But again, it’s not ideal if you need to search all your old email.

Jesus. I’ve just written 500 words about email again. I fucking hate email.

AT&T Spouts Off Some More Bullshit

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:56:01 +0000

AT&T Spouts Off Some More Bullshit:

Reports Brian X. Chen for The New York Times:

Mr. Siegel said that even if you do exceed 2 gigabytes of data usage and qualify as one of the top 5 percent, that doesn’t absolutely mean you’re going to be throttled. AT&T will only reduce speeds for the top 5 percent of users in areas where network capacity or spectrum is insufficient, he said.

Read: only in areas where AT&T is completely incompetent. Read: San Francisco and New York City, among other places. You know, small towns that no one lives in.

What jackasses.

The Ides Of March?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:46:20 +0000

The Ides Of March?:

iPad 3 (or whatever it will be called) will be announced during an event in San Francisco in the first week of March, reports John Packowski. Makes sense — that’s exactly what Apple did last year.

The only question I have is on the specific timing. Last year, Apple announced the iPad 2 on Wednesday, March 2 and shipped it on Friday, March 11.

But this year, March doesn’t start until a Thursday. Do they do it on that Thursday or Friday or wait until the following week? I only wonder this because last year, the device launch coincided with SXSW, which seemed like it might be a headache at first, but thanks to some pop-up shops in Austin, ended up as great press for Apple. They were the talk of the event despite have no real presence there.

SXSW starts on Friday, March 9 this year, so that launch date would make sense again. And it happens to line up perfectly with a snippet of carrier code found yesterday that suggests iOS 5.1 will launch on March 9.

So does Apple do a Thursday/Friday unveiling (not unheard of, but they typically do Tuesday/Wednesday)? Or do they wait until the following week and then ship the iPad just days later? Do does the iPad ship the week after SXSW Interactive? The Ides of March?

None of this really matters. I’m basically just thinking out loud so I can plan my trip to Austin.

Nielsen: Cord Cutting is on the Rise, But Traditional TV is Still Holding Strong

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:45:15 +0000

Media pundits love to discuss whether cord cutting – that is forgoing a traditional cable TV subscription in favor of going streaming-only – is a real trend [...]

Inside a Startup Pivot: Shopcastr

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:33:11 +0000

If you’re looking for the definition of a pivot, you probably couldn’t find a better example than Shopcastr. (Note: Shopcastr is a client). The original idea was Hipsell, which had huge ambitions to change the online classifieds marketplace by letting people cross-post listings on Craigslist and Kijiji in a way that leveraged mobile and social [...]

Two-Face: Will Google Become The New Patent Villain?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:44:35 +0000

Two-Face: Will Google Become The New Patent Villain?

‘The Bourne Legacy’ Teaser Trailer

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:38:27 +0000

‘The Bourne Legacy’ Teaser Trailer:

The new Bourne film looks like it could be good. The first three were all great, but all had Matt Damon as the base. They’re moving to Jeremy Renner now, but smartly keeping several other elements intact — namely Joan Allen, Albert Finney, David Strathairn, and Scott Glenn.

And Renner isn’t Jason Bourne, he’s another agent from Bourne’s program. The tagline of the film plays this up: “There was never just one”, and Bourne is mentioned in the trailer. Smart way to handle it.

As an aside, interesting that Renner seems to be successfully taking over both the Bourne and the Mission: Impossible franchises — and he’s doing it as neither Jason Bourne nor Ethan Hunt.

[via /film]

Google Close To Launching "Drive"

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Google Close To Launching "Drive":

Amir Efrati reports that Google is close to launching a new product called “Drive”, a would-be Dropbox/Box/iCloud/etc competitor.

Before I left TechCrunch full time, I was hot on the trail of this project. Yes, Google had a Google Drive project that will killed off years ago, but a new one emerged last year and was being extensively used internally once again.

Last I heard, this new Google Drive was said to be much better than the one that was killed off (which was killed off because many thought it “sucked”). It included a web component as well as Dropbox-like software piece that runs on your desktop. Mobile will be key as well, obviously.

The most recent thing I heard supports what Efrati is reporting: that the prices are going to be more competitive than Dropbox.

"Stealing" Your Address Book

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:42:00 +0000

"Stealing" Your Address Book:

Dustin Curtis more directly states something I hit on earlier with regard to the Path address book situation:

I did a quick survey of 15 developers of popular iOS apps, and 13 of them told me they have a contacts database with millons of records. One company’s database has Mark Zuckerberg’s cell phone number, Larry Ellison’s home phone number and Bill Gates’ cell phone number. This data is not meant to be public, and people have an expectation of privacy with respect to their contacts.

This really isn’t a secret, ask around. There are a lot of apps you use on a daily basis doing the same thing. Some have for a long time. None (that I know of) are doing it to be evil, they’re doing it because it’s a connection/spreading mechanism that iOS allows for.

And again, from what I hear, Apple is likely to change this soon as well. But I’m with Curtis, I can’t understand why this unrestricted access was in place to begin with. I really can’t think of a good reason.

Justice Department Poised to Clear Google-Motorola Deal

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:56:32 +0000

Justice Department Poised to Clear Google-Motorola Deal:

Here we go. This is going to be fun to watch.

"A Nightmare For Carriers"

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:44:00 +0000

"A Nightmare For Carriers":

It certainly looks true that the iPhone is a “nightmare” for the carriers, as David Goldman of CNN Money suggests. But context is important. It’s a nightmare for their margins — it’s a dream from a product offering perspective.

A few other things here:

1) Boo-fucking-hoo. The carriers have raked consumers over the coals for years with things like SMS charges, which have a near-infinite margin.

2) This shows the position of power Apple has now. This is a direct result of going exclusive first with AT&T to ensure they got the deal they wanted. Once the iPhone took off and AT&T started stealing customers, it forced the other carriers to bend to the same deals.

3) This shows why the carriers need Android and are willing to spend a lot to promote it. All the OEMs besides Samsung are basically getting dicked over when it comes to making money off of Android devices, but the same is not true of the carriers. They love it.

4) Sadly, this will still end with the consumers getting screwed. To be able to pay the Apple subsidy and maintain their huge margins, carriers are going to continue to raise rates and/or put in ridiculous restrictions like this.

Making the Real World Easier to Use

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:17:47 +0000

Making the Real World Easier to Use:

Speaking of Foursquare, I’ll be talking with co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley at SXSW this year.

It will be at 3:30PM on Saturday, so I shouldn’t be too hungover by then. Should be a fun talk.

New Foursquare Explore

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:14:37 +0000

New Foursquare Explore:

Great update for the Foursquare app. I personally love the option to filter by places “New to me”.

Tweetbot For iPad

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:53:00 +0000

Tweetbot For iPad:

I’ve been testing out Tweetbot for iPad for a few weeks now, it’s brilliant. Well worth the $2.99 price. If you’re in any way a Twitter power user, this is the client to get.

And I say that as a huge fan of Twitter’s official client for iPad. My concern is that, like the iPhone version, it will soon be “upgraded” — which, in many of our eyes, has unfortunately meant “made worse”.

On that topic, Tweetbot has unleashed a one-two punch today and also unveiled Tweetbot 2.0 for iPhone (also $2.99 as a separate app from the iPad version, but the upgrade from version 1 is free). I’ve also had the chance to try that out for a few weeks, and it’s my go-to Twitter client on the device now. It’s in my dock.

For full reviews of both, be sure to check out Federico Viticci’s takes on Macstories. Here’s his review of Tweetbot 2.0 for iPhone. And his review of Tweetbot for iPad.

Apple's $100 Billion Run

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:32:00 +0000

Apple's $100 Billion Run:

Phillip Elmer-DeWitt’s data from earlier today is already almost out of date. The stock is now closer to being $100 billion up than $90 billion (as he stated earlier) since the day before Steve Jobs passed away.

Apple’s stock is past $475 a share now. The market cap is approaching $450 billion. Exxon is far in the rearview — almost $50 billion in the rearview.

As a reminder to the reminder, if you sold your Apple stock back in October, you were a huge moron.

Path, Not Pathological

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:59:00 +0000

As an iOS lover and Path champion, a number of folks have asked for my take on the Path address book situation of yesterday and today. I’ve avoided weighing in for two reasons: first, I wanted to talk to some other actual developers about the situation. Second, the fact that CrunchFund is an investor will render my take moot by some. But there are still a few things not being said that should be.

First, I agree with everyone that there should be a prompt to send your address book data to third-party servers. And with their newest version out today, Path is doing just that.

One thing overshadowed by this situation is that there’s a reason Path was doing this — and it was anything but nefarious: it makes the service more useful. Path is about your personal connections and the best way to establish those connections is for Path to find your true friends also on the network. What’s a great signal if someone is a true friend? If their information is in your address book and if you’re in their’s.

Path wasn’t trying to gain your address book to cold call all of your friends and bug them to join Path. Nor were they going to sell this data to marketers. They weren’t even auto-friending people (which way too many apps do). It was simply to ease the connection building process by giving users good recommendations.

Here’s the other key thing: a number of your favorite social apps do the exact same thing. And some have for a very long time — for years, actually.

The fact that there hasn’t been an issue in all these years as a result is a good sign. It shows that these apps, like Path, were simply using the access which iOS provides to strengthen social connections within apps.

Yes, it’s weird that Apple, which has the App Store approval process on lock-down and requires prompts for things like accessing location information doesn’t do the same for address book information. My understanding is that Apple has been looking at this issue and it will probably change in a future iOS update.

For what it’s worth, I’m told that Apple’s iOS developer agreement does contain some wording that may prohibit such actions, but the wording is too vague. And again, Apple screens all these apps and hasn’t rejected one as a result of this address book transfer yet.

Given Path’s mission to be your most personal and most private network, I think it’s fair to hold their feet to the fire about this issue simply because it wasn’t stated that it was happening. My CrunchFund partner Michael Arrington publicly called on Path to “nuke” this data collected before the prompt, and they have. Good call.

But if we’re going to freak out about this situation, it’s naive to freak out about it over one app. Again, this is happening all across the iOS ecosystem. And no one has said a thing. For years.

The good news: look for all of this to change. I’ve spoken to a number of developers planning to implement some sort of opt-in-to-address-book-data prompt, just as Path did today. Again, this wasn’t some sneaky attempt to steal your data and sell it off or whatnot, it simply utilizing an option that was put in front of these developers. And they all seem happy to do that in a more transparent way.

Tweetbot 2.0: The Best iPhone Twitter Client Just Got Even Better

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:37:02 +0000

As Twitter has decided to focus on simplicity, its iPhone app is now a shadow of its former self for more advanced users (and for Twitter, search [...]

Chrome 17 has Arrived: Features Safer Downloads and Smarter Prerendering

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:33:07 +0000

Google just released version 17 of its popular Chrome browser. Given its rapid release schedule and its various beta and developer channels, there are no major surprises [...]

What’s the Deal with Google’s Screenwise Panel? (Updated with Statement from Google)

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:41:45 +0000

Google has had a bit of a bad PR run lately and it looks like today will be yet another one of those days for the search [...]

Warning: Watch Out for Startup Roadkill

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:30:11 +0000

When it comes to startups, I’m a glass half-full person. To me, every startup has the potential to be successful, although it does depend on a combination of their ability to execute, some luck, and being in the right place at the right time. Although I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, here’s another reality: [...]

Congress Gives Commercial Drones Takeoff Clearance for 2015

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:01:54 +0000

The U.S. Senate today approved the reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Besides obviously making sure that the FAA has the necessary money to operate, [...]

Google Docs Gets Customizable Styles, Sparklines and Google+ Sharing for Forms

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:29:29 +0000

Google just announced some welcome new features for Google Docs. Maybe the most important of these updates is Google Doc's new-found ability to apply changes to a [...]

Chrome has Finally Come to Android (But Only to 1% of All Android Devices)

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:52:56 +0000

This definitely took a while, but Google just launched Chrome for Android. Don't get too excited about this yet, though, as it is only compatible with Android [...]

How Generous Should Startups Be with Stock Options?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:30:06 +0000

One of the many fascinating aspects of Facebook’s S-1 filing for its $5-billion IPO was how it handed options to employees, freelancers and contractors. This included graffiti artist David Choe, who accepted options rather than a few thousands dollars for painting Facebook’s first office. It put the spotlight on the question about how generous startups should [...]

The Week in Startup Land (Edition #2)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:07:33 +0000

After kicking off my weekly look at the Canadian startup landscape last week, here’s edition #2. It features highlights of the Canadian landscape, as well as some other interesting startup-related information and content. Leave a comment if there’s something interesting I should add. 1. Extreme Startups (a rebranded and recapitalized version of ExtremeU) kicked off with [...]

Forget About Lean. It’s All About Lunch for Startups

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:37:37 +0000

There are lots of different “secrets” for startups to be successful. There’s the lean approach, minimal viable products (MVP), bootstrapping, crowdsourcing, strategic seed capital, etc. But in working closely with startups, here’s a key ingredient few people talk about: lunch. Yup, lunch. Think about it. Lunch is not just about nutritional intake, it’s about community [...]

You’ve Raised Venture Capital, Now What?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:30:17 +0000

For many startup entrepreneurs, raising their first venture capital round is like winning the Super Bowl. It validates what they’re doing, their vision and all the hard work that’s happened. When the deal is signed, there are lots of high fives and the champagne flows. It’s good times, baby! The funny thing is you wake [...]

Shopify Makes First Major Acquisition

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:35:09 +0000

Armed with $15-million in venture capital to aggressively expand its e-commerce platform, Shopify has made two big moves – made its first major acquisition – Ottawa-based S3 – and moved into a new 17,000 sq ft headquarters in Ottawa’s ByWard Market. The purchase of S3 is a key part of Shopify’s efforts to expand its mobile [...]

Extreme Startups Unveils Accelerator with $7M in Financing

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:31:31 +0000

As much as Canada’s startup landscape has been seeing more financings (Clio being the latest deal announced), there’s still a long way to go before we have a healthy and robust capital ecosystem. So it’s good to see the arrival of a new accelerator, Extreme Startups, which is launching with $7-million in funding from Extreme Venture [...]

Tapping Blog Networks for Personal Brand Building

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:46:09 +0000

Joining blog networks is one way you can go about building your personal brand. By joining blog networks though, I don’t mean simply commenting on everyone else’s post and being super active in a blog network community. Sure, active participation in that way is good, especially since people do appreciate (useful and relevant) feedback. However, [...]

Snapshot of a VC Deal: Clio Raises $6-million

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:34:42 +0000

Who: Vancouver-based Clio, which offers cloud-based management tools for the legal industry. How much: $6-million in a deal led by Acton Capital Partners, a Munich-based growth equity investor, as well as existing investors, including Berlin-based Point Nine Capital, an early stage investor. The Quote: “The legal space is ripe for disruption,” Boris Wertz, Acton’s Vancouver-based venture partner [...]

Keeping the Faith While Raising Venture Capital

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:30:17 +0000

I met with an entrepreneur for lunch recently who had just completed raising a modest series A round. Curious, I asked about the most challenging part of the process. His answer was maintaining the faith in your startup’s vision. It was an interesting answer because you might expect the answer would be the preparations, the [...]

Why Google Translate Can Work For Your Blog

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:33:11 +0000

If you have something to say, it’s important that everyone hears it. After all, you did not spend hours writing that brilliant article just so people could look at the letters on the page. You want people to be able to read your content, but many take this for granted. Not everyone can read the [...]

Why Branding is For Everyone

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:08:21 +0000

What do you think of first when asked about brands? If you’re like most people, big name brands will probably come to mind. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll think of some relatively obscure product or company, no matter how often you use their product or service. This isn’t surprising since it’s exactly how branding is [...]

Productivity Tips for Work-at-Home Parents

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:22:50 +0000

One of the best things about the internet boom is that it has opened up opportunities to work from home that otherwise would never have existed. As a work-at-home mom with two small kids, being able to stay at home and see to the kids while earning enough money to help ease the financial burden [...]

Look to the Past in 2012: How to Put Referrals Back on the Table

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:13:35 +0000

Many companies are focusing on the 2012 trends and new developments in business, but some should be thinking more along the lines of a New Year’s resolution. In other words, the New Year is a great time to improve upon what your company is already doing (or should already be doing). Many of those old [...]

5 Questions Every Blogger Should Ask Before Allowing Guest Posts

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:07:47 +0000

We are obviously brilliant writers, but sometimes we want to give our genius a rest. We know it’s a sad day for everyone when our blog takes a day off, but sometimes it can be so difficult to think of a new, fresh topic; especially if the blog is part of a small and specific [...]

How to Make Full Time Salary by Means of Blogging

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:32:10 +0000

Do you want to earn extra money without interfering with your day to day activities? Well then you can, with a little patience and creativity, you can earn money online and lots of them for that matter. By simple blogging your way to the internet market, you can earn a full time salary in three [...]

Going Beyond Mobile-Friendly Sites to Mobile Apps

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:22:08 +0000

Last week I discussed the importance of having a mobile-friendly version of your site. If you want to get a bigger chunk of the ever growing mobile market though, I suggest that you don’t stop at a mobile site, but develop a mobile app for your users. There are many different kinds of mobile apps [...]

5 Critical Mistakes to Avoid

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:06:45 +0000

You’ve got a great blog and a stunning layout. Now you’re looking to load your site with content and you’re overwhelmed by all of the SEO tips flooding your inbox and news feeds. The good news is that the basics of SEO aren’t ridiculously difficult to learn. The bad news is that making a few [...]

Mobile-Friendly Version of Websites a Must for Everybody

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:12:40 +0000

The popularity of mobile devices, particularly smartphones, is such that any serious online publisher should never overlook the needs of mobile users. These days, mobile users refer to just about any average Joe, from smartphone-toting moms to high-level executives who can’t do without their offices-in-a-pocket. With such a wide range of mobile users, no website [...]

s.coop URL shortening

Sat, 01 May 2010 19:26:58 +0000

There are hundreds of URL shorterners, but I have moved from bit.ly to s.coop. s.coop is owned by the Co-operative Press, so as a service its democratically and co-operatively controlled. It offers everything you’d expect (an API, Tweetie integration, a catchy URL and stats), and its co-operative nature is just another advantage. s.coop is well [...]

Has social media revolutionised charity donations?

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:33:14 +0000

Social media has helped influence the way we donate to charity. It has made the experience more interesting, and makes it easier to get your friends involved. Sites like JustGiving make it easy to co-ordinate sponsored activities (and in the UK, integrates ‘GiftAid’; something many individuals would not bother with when organising such events) and [...]

Why is OpenID not more popular?

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:24:25 +0000

Keeping track of different track of various sign-ins and passwords for all the different sites one visits can feel a bit like juggling business cards. This is why I love OpenID. I love having a portable online identity, not being tied to an email provider or something like Facebook Connect or Twitter OAuth. Better yet, [...]

Software pricing: finally becoming reasonable?

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:31:35 +0000

When OS X Leopard was released, my Mac was fortunately new enough to qualify for a special £5 upgrade, but the vast majority of users had to pay about $129. Snow Leopard was different; for an upgrade, Apple only charged about $30 (£25). £25 for a piece of software, even one as important as an [...]

Why aren’t social networks co-operatives?

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:55:31 +0000

The primary aim of a social networking site should be to satisfy of its members. Members do not control such sites; their wants are often slow to be fulfilled or unpopular features introduced. Facebook fails to have a network for my urban area. If I want to join a geographic network, I have to join [...]