The impending Age Of Abundance was prophecied in the scriptures thousands of years ago.
Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Dorsey's Second Snub At Twitter?
I was slightly amused reading this. Maybe Dorsey is no Steve Jobs either. For one, Steve Jobs was not trying to be anybody. Dorsey is trying to be Steve Jobs. That is a no no. You have to try to be yourself.
Perhaps Dorsey is a visionary and an innovator who just does not have Jobs' CEO muscles.
NY Times: Jack Dorsey Role At Twitter Reduced Because He’s “Difficult” And Indecisive
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Map Clash
This is one space Google can't afford to slacken. It will have to double down and go for it.
How Apple's new vector-based Maps leave Google Maps looking jittery
Apple isn't just declaring its independence from Google Maps with its new in-house backend for Maps in iOS 6. It has developed a superior way to deliver map data that relies on resolution independent vectors rather than Google's multiple zoom levels of bit mapped images. .... resolution independent vector images ..... allows users to smoothly zoom in with a pinch of the fingers, while details and labels pop up as space allows. ..... When using to vector maps, all coastlines, roads, labels and other data are represented as mathematical lines rather than as fixed graphic images. This enables Apple to allow users to freely rotate the map however they want; the text of map labels dynamically reorients itself to remain legible. When users zoom in or out, the text size of labels scales smoothly, because it is being rendered live as dynamic text, not as a graphic image that includes text and must be "repainted" for every zoom level..... if you load a map of San Francisco then turn off network access, you can still zoom in and out all over a very large surrounding area without getting Google's zoomed in jaggies and blank grid spaces. ..... Apple's new vector maps can deal far more gracefully with a lost data connection ..... vector graphics (among other technologies) have the potential to revolutionize mobile maps .... Google acquired Where 2 Technologies in 2004 to release its initial web app for online maps, relying heavily on JavaScript and AJAX technologies to enable map zooming and exploration features on the web that nobody had ever seen before..... as Google focused its attention on delivering Android as a competitor to the iPhone, it began launching new map features exclusively on Android as differentiating features iOS didn't have .... Since 2009, Apple has only acquired a dozen different smaller companies. A quarter of these highly selective, strategic moves involved mapping companies. In July 2009 Apple bought Placebase, followed by Poly9 the next July. In August 2011, it bought C3 Technologies, known for work in developing 3D images based on aerial or satellite images. ..... But Apple didn't just want to clone Google Maps. It made plans to replace it with superior technology. By delivering maps as vector graphics, rather than static bit maps, Apple realized it could enhance the navigation experience and take fuller advantage of the graphics capabilities of its newest mobile devices. ...... Google is also working on its own next generation Google Maps that makes use of vectors, but it has a more difficult job because it is targeting several major platforms: the web, which relies upon the experimental new MapsGL enhancements of WebGL; Android, which has a native JavaME-like platform; and its existing public API, which is rooted in how Google Maps has worked in the past. ..... Apple can introduce entirely new technologies very rapidly because it only has to optimize for one platform: iOS Cocoa Touch. Apple isn't serving up a public web version of its own maps as Google does, so it isn't constrained by the limits of web-based technologies. ..... When iOS 6 ships later this fall, Apple will essentially take away about half of Google's mobile maps users, and virtually all of its iOS users. When Apple ships its own Cocoa version of Maps for Mac OS X users, Google will likely lose another valuable segment of desktop users as well. This new competition should push Google to deliver mapping tools that iOS and OS X users will want to go out of their way to download and useMicrosoft just made a legit push in the email space too. This is 3D chess.
Yahoo used Google Search like Apple used Google Maps. But Yahoo did not ditch Google Search for a better Yahoo Search. Too bad.
One great thing about having a successful IPO (here is looking at you Facebook) is you get to engage in wonderful acquisitions. Android was also a Google acquisition.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Big Data: It Is About Taking It To The Masses
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| Image via CrunchBase |
GoodData offers operational dashboards, metrics and performance reports, data storage, analytics, and collaboration tools in a single platform. The company focuses on user experience, so all the tricky, technical elements of big data are comprehensible to people outside of IT teams..... dramatic revenue growth of 500% year over year...... It was founded in the Czech Republic in 2007 and is now based in San Francisco. It has 180 employees.Big Data has always been around. What is about to change is it is about to get to the masses. It is about to become as easy as email. Or as cumbersome, depends on how you look at it.
Your company needs electricity, it needs broadband, it also needs Big Data.
Urban Centers And Tech Innovation
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| New York City (Photo credit: kaysha) |
The company currently has over 901 million monthly active numbers and estimates that over 80% of those users are outside the U.S. and Canada.What is it about big cities? Most Silicon Valley engineers prefer to live in San Francisco, the city. They commute. The number one place for tech startups in America today is San Francisco, not Silicon Valley. And I intend to differentiate between the two. The number two place is not Boston or Seattle. It is New York City. Google has a major engineering presence in NYC. Many big tech companies do.
Big cities are attractive because that is where engineers want to live. Broadband is everywhere. So other than quality of life it is about the ecosystem. And the tech ecosystem is easier to build in a big city.
Frankly I think NYC is on its way to become number one by the end of the decade.
Does Geography Matter?
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Social Media Week: The Social Media Way
Image via CrunchBaseI just revisited the Social Media Week schedule page to prepare for the events I have said I will go to tomorrow and the rest of the week. And it's amazing to me how many of the events will be on LiveStream, and each event has its own hashtag. And so I am tempted to stay home for quite a few of the events and consume them from my laptop. Tweeting is so much easier on the laptop.
This event by Sree at Columbia comes to mind.
Twitter Blocks Me: Sree's Loss
Social Media Weekend: Columbia Journalism School: Sree Srinivasan
I guess I can "go" to even more events than I was planning to if I go the LiveStream way. Nice.
Social Media Week: Registration Now Open
Does Twitter have limits to how many times you can tweet per hour, per day?
Know Your Limits: How Many Tweets Can You Post Per Day?
How many Tweets can you send Twitter per hour?
1,000 tweets per day, 100 per hour? Twitter blocked me way before that when I was trying to "cover" the Sree event. Maybe it was my rate. If you are tweeting two times a minute, five minutes in a row, the Twitter servers think you are going to end up with 120 tweets for the hour, or something like that.
Of course I am going to show up in person, for at least one event per day. But now I think I am in mind to attend many of the Social Media Week events over LiveStream.
Me: Top Internet Week Influencer?
Wow, there are so many more events since I last checked, like so many, many more.
If it is about absorbing knowledge, the LiveStream way might be the better way. It is you and the speakers, and that's it. But would you be paying a social price because you are not there in person? Some of that can be offset by actively tweeting. You will be found. If you tweet.
But then, it is not like I am not going to show up in person. It is just that all plans I made a few weeks ago about which of the Social Media Week events I will go to are now out the window. I am having to start from scratch.
I am guessing the fact an event is going to be on LiveStream also says to its importance.
Heck, over LiveStream you could be attending events in Miami. Why only New York?
By now I know Social Media Week is primarily going to be a LiveStream and Twitter experience for me. And then I get to make guest/cameo appearances at some select events. I am thinking one per day.
An event that is on LiveStream and has its own hashtag earns major points from me. I am most likely to view those events.
Livestream + Twitter Hashtag = Great Way To Experience An Event
Monday, November 21, 2011
Evite Cries Y(h)elp! Copies Paperless Post Pixel By Pixel
Mike Arrington still has that thing that made him build the top tech blog in the world. Now no longer with TechCrunch, look at what this dude has dug out!
Mike Arrington: Uncrunched: Embattled Evite Clones Startup Paperless Post In Quest For Survival: For the last few years, though, a small startup called Paperless Post has emerged that lets people create beautiful event invitations online. Paperless Post isn’t free. In fact, that seems to be part of the attraction....... There’s been very little tech press about Paperless Post ...... The company has sent some 50 million invitations, has raised $6.3 million in funding and is break even with 35 employees in New York and San Francisco. Marissa Mayer uses Paperless Post for her events. Metropolitan Museum of Art, The White House executive branch, The National Gallery and even The Prince of Wales have all used the premium invitation service. ...... It’s a fascinating case study against the notion that people will always choose free over for pay online services. ..... an outright rip off of Paperless Post’s business. Evite’s Postmark hasn’t officially launched yet, but they promote it on the evite home page and people have noticed it. ...... “Evite’s Postmark looks like someone hired a programmer and told them to copy every aspect of Paperless Post,” says the person who pointed it out to me. And that’s true. The business model is identical – charge for every invitation sent, plus optional fees for specialized designs and other customizations. The pricing is nearly identical. ...... Evite has also copied the exact look and feel of a number of the Paperless Post invitations as well. ...... I particularly like the line they use at the bottom of the Postmark website – “The comfort from knowing that Evite Postmark is as reliable, effective and innovative as Evite.” .... Innovative, indeed....... And I certainly don’t weep for Paperless Post. In fact, this is great for their business. As much as Postmark has retreated from the stain of the evite brand on its website, most people will still understand where this service came from and remember the years of horror using the evite service.What is happening to Paperless Post now has happened to FourSquare several times over, and they are stronger than ever before. Paperless Post knows this space, and Evite is just imitating. It feels like a total copy and paste. When you did that with term papers at college, you got into trouble.
In elementary school the guy sitting next to me in an exam copied everything I wrote down without my realizing he was doing so, including my name! That is how he got caught! Hello Mohan! You want to know how Evite got caught? Check out this video.
I agree with Mike Arrington's conclusion.
My guess is Postmark will just raise awareness of Paperless Post, and even more people will flock to the service when they want to send a premium event invitation.The day Facebook Places was launched FourSquare had its best day ever. That's there, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth. Somebody explain why! Mikie?
Evite is Plaxo, no disrespect for Sean Parker intended. This stunt will not save them. I think this episode, at the end of the day, will go down in history as someone else having launched a PR campaign on behalf of Paperless Post.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
One House Got Trashed
Image via WikipediaIn one of the greatest novels of all time - One Hundred Years Of Solitude - there is this village that is so new that not one person has died yet. And then one day that first person to die dies. That is what I am getting reminded of with the Airbnb scandal. It is not even a scandal. Have perspective, people. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. The important thing is the right follow up takes place. The police get to do the follow up. Airbnb does the right follow up. And next. USA Today: Plot thickens in Airbnb vacation rental horror story: a San Francisco blogger named "EJ" wrote a riveting account of how she returned from a week-long business trip last month to find that her home had been ransacked and trashed by a paying guest she'd connected with through the online rental agency Airbnb
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