The impending Age Of Abundance was prophesied in the scriptures thousands of years ago.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Mobile Banking For The Unbanked
Image via WikipediaBanking Technology: Mobile Banking For The Unbanked: Of the 6.9 billion people on our planet, just 30% (2.1 billion) have bank accounts. But 75% – 5.2 billion people - have mobile phones. ..... In Africa, bank penetration runs at between 10 and 50% – while mobile comes in at 40-100%. In Asia-Pacific, the figures are 20-60% for bank penetration and, again, 40-100% for mobile. And in Latin America, it's between 30 and 60% for bank and 60-80% for mobile. ..... it will be 2015 before most consumers in the developed world use their mobile phones to manage payments. ...... By contrast, while there is no great sense of urgency about mobile banking and payments among consumers in developed markets, in the developing world there is a strong appetite for mobile. ....... In these emerging markets, mobile banking could bring about a fundamental shift in the consumer experience - giving many millions of people who have never had access to bank accounts or to credit and debit cards the opportunity to quickly, easily and efficiently pay for goods and services and tap into the convenience economy those of us in developed markets now take for granted....... a disruptive technology that could unseat them and make way for more agile players with a closer relationship with the end customers and a track record of servicing them? ...... In March 2007 Safaricom, the leading mobile operator in Kenya, launched an SMS-based money transfer system that enables consumers to deposit, send and withdraw funds using their mobile phones. Use of M-PESA skyrocketed, with the system quickly being adopted by more than 35% of Kenya's adult population. The winner here is clearly the mobile operator. ....... The right regulation needs to be in place if mobile banking and payments services are to be really safe for consumers. ...... . The banks have strengths that the mobile network operators cannot boast, but they also need to tap into the agility and the reach of the mobile network operators, and the technology of the device providers....... when it comes to innovation in mobile payments and financial inclusion, collaboration is key: whether it is between banks or between banks and the other key mobile industry players.Just like mobile phones have been tools for democracy activists across the Arab world - very much still unfolding - the mobile phone can also be a tool to cure poverty. I think it is the most potent of all tools. And I expect its capabilities to, if anything, expand.
In the Global South, mobile is about leapfrogging. There are steps you skip.
18 Months Ago GroupOn Did Not Exist
Image via WikipediaReuters: Grouponomics: 18 months ago, Groupon didn’t exist. Today, it has over 70 million users in 500-odd different markets, is making more than a billion dollars a year, has dozens if not hundreds of copycat rivals, and is said to be worth as much as $25 billion. What’s going on here? There’s obviously something clever and innovative behind Groupon — but what is it? ...... “Groupon doesn’t do anything that four of us with a phone couldn’t do” ...... the more people Groupon signs up, the more targeted its deals can be ...... the idea that coupons only become activated once a certain minimum number of people have signed up for them. This is essentially a guarantee for the merchant that the needle will be moved, that their effort won’t be wasted. With traditional advertising or even with old-fashioned coupons, a merchant never has any guarantee that they will be noticed or make any difference. But with a Groupon, you know that hundreds of people will be so enticed by your offer that they’re willing to pay real money to access it. That kind of guaranteed engagement is hugely valuable, and more or less unprecedented in the world of marketing and advertising. ....... one sector, which I think is Groupon’s biggest: restaurants. ....... Before Groupon came along, there was no effective way for merchants to reach consumers in their area, while excluding everybody else. If you’re a neighborhood restaurant, you don’t want to entice people who live miles away: you want to reach locals. And while Groupon isn’t quite there yet — especially in New York, where a restaurant more than a few blocks away can feel like a schlep — it’s orders of magnitude better at targeting than anything which came before it. And it’s improving every day. ........ one of life’s great mysteries is why the New York Times is spending tens of millions of dollars building and promoting its easily-circumventable paywall, when it could have built a first-rate Groupon clone instead. The NYT has the exact home addresses — and the associated email addresses — of hundreds of thousands of well-heeled newspaper subscribers in a rich city of tiny neighborhoods. It also has a sales force which talks to local businesses regularly. It should own this space in New York City, instead of ceding it to arrivistes from Chicago who have much less specificity as to where exactly their subscribers live ........ when a few hundred people have signed up for your deal, you get a huge amount of mindshare from them. Many will redeem the Groupon very quickly, but a lot of them will wait a while, thinking about you in the back of their minds all the time ....... Groupons provide an important nudge to jolt people out of their day-to-day habits and try something new ....... By forcing people to pay for their Groupon, restaurants lock in new customers in a way that old-fashioned coupons never could. ....... a Groupon is a commitment device ...... very good at driving traffic during slow periods ...... he timed its Groupon “to create a surge of business in an otherwise soft couple of months after the holidays.” ....... 66% of merchants offering a Groupon said that the offer was profitable for them in and of itself — not including any subsequent repeat business from new customers. ....... diners spending their Groupon at a restaurant averaged a check 80% greater than the face value of the Groupon itself. ...... if that Groupon helps you to discover a new neighborhood gem where you go on to become a regular, then that’s a genuine and highly valuable service that it has performed, no matter how much money you spend on your first visit. ....... social media is at heart a fantastic way for companies to compete on quality rather than marketing glitz. ........ the best way to get great word-of-mouth is to deliver fantastic service. For a small company or even a large company which is great at what it does and never does any marketing per se, social media is a godsend. ........ Groupon’s CEO, Andrew Mason, attributes his company’s success not to the genius of the idea itself, but rather to Groupon’s ability to execute — to keep both consumers and merchants happy. ...... more than 95% of merchants would run their deal again or recommend Groupon to a fellow merchant. ...... enormous amounts of effort into ongoing customer service, rather than just putting four sales guys in a room with a telephone and putting them on commission. ...... Groupon itself, as much as its merchants, is counting on repeat business. And that comes from having a positive reputation which can spread like wildfire over Facebook and other social networks.
Gender And The Wilson Household
Cover of John LennonOne thing I appreciate about the Fred Wilson family is that all of them blog. I really, really like that. It is not like they are odd, and I salivate for juicy details - although, as for some of Joanne's food posts. None of that. They are very normal as people. I have not met the kids (and that's fine with me), but I have met Fred and Joanne. I do visit Fred's blog near daily. The guy just recently got called officially the top VC in the world for the kind of return he has shown for the money he has raised. But I have followed him at his blog for two years before that admiring his excellence, and the quality of his mind. He is also just a good person. I have blogged about him a few times. More than a few times. I have reblogged their three children on Tumblr multiple times. I have taken pleasure.
This crew is like the First Family of the NY tech ecosystem. And they are accessible. One day, some day, I am going to ask for Joanne Wilson's autograph.
One thing the Wilson couple talk frankly about is gender and gender roles. And I really, really appreciate that. We might or might not disagree, but I get suspicious of people who simply don't believe in bringing it up as a topic of conversation.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Intel's 3D Transistors: Moore's Law Marches On
Image via CrunchBaseThis is a big leap in a core sector of computing hardware. We will reap the benefits for years. This is great news for the mobile web, and for computing in general. Intel Explains
Exuberance, Not Froth
Image via WikipediaI said it was not a bubble, but there was some froth. I am revising that. I am now saying it is not froth, it is exuberance. It is mostly a positive scenario. Fred Wilson: Megatrend Crosscurrents: The history of tech investing is a series of waves or megatrends that come one after another. Mainframes to minicomputers to PCs to client server to Internet, for example. But right now we are in the midst of a number of these megatrends all happening at the same time. There are at least four big ones going on at the same time:Wait, Did They Say Froth?
- Mobile - yesterday I wrote that at least 16% of the visits to this blog are coming from mobile devices and that number is up from essentially zero six quarters ago
- Social - Facebook will have 1bn users in the next year or so
- Cloud - A third of Netflix' new subscribers are opting for the streaming only plan
- Global - companies like Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Google see upwards of 80% of their users from outside the US and these numbers are growing faster than ever ...... Each one of these megatrends would be an investable wave on its own. But we are in an environment when all four are crashing on the shore ata the same time. Twitter, for example, is mobile and social and global.
Bubble, Boom Or Froth?
Is It A Bubble?
Glass Half Full Phase
At first Fred Wilson said maybe a bubble. John Doerr said it's a boom. That word does not quite capture it. I said froth. Fred said froth. Then Fred said glass half full. Now he is saying exuberance. And I agree. It is not bubble, boom, or froth, it is exuberance. Done right this can give America China like growth rates. This is about lifting billions out of poverty, and making the already rich feel like it is not happening at their expense or at the expense of the planet.
Condition 1
Time: A New Way to Photograph War
Condition ONE, an app to provide a new form of storytelling. Dennis says it combines “the power of the still image, the narrative of films and the emotional engagement of tactile experiences to create a new language that is so immersive, it will shake viewers out of their numbness to traditional media and provide them a powerful emotional experience. Instead of opening a window to glimpse another world, we are attempting to bring the viewer into that world as an active participant.” ..... “Once viewers enter a video experience, they can move the tablet in any direction and see the corresponding field of view. The traditional two-dimensional, rectangular frame is shattered as viewers step inside the frame and experience the stories as the protagonists.” ..... “Before, when I was shooting, my camera only showed what was in front of me, the action. It was frustrating because often what happens just at your right is part of the story. Now it is like having five cameras. One more at your right, your left, up and down,” Chauvel writes. “It’s not easy to use; you have to watch not to get your shoes in the frame or your shadow or your face … But the result is worth it. You bring your story with more images all around and more information, so you are a better witness. Now people can feel the story.”(Via Upendra Shardanand)
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Patti Smith's Dancing Barefoot: One Powerful Song
Image via WikipediaI have been listening to this song multiple times today. It is so very powerful. I just googled up the lyrics to the song for the first time. Wow. This is really something. Patti Smith: Dancing Barefoot
This song might be to love songs what The English Patient is to movies in that genre. My favorite part has got to be the mention of gravity. That is one powerful metaphor. The mention of the word barefoot attains the same height as the mention of gravity. The mention of "the mystery of childbirth" takes me to my favorite book: Tagore's Gitanjali.
Apple: Trillion Dollar Company?
Image via WikipediaYahoo Finance: Apple Will Become A Trillion-Dollar Company, Says Altucher — $1,000 a Share: Apple recently blew past Microsoft, Cisco, and other companies to become the most valuable tech company in the world. But that's just the beginning, says investor James Altucher of Formula Capital....... Altucher thinks Apple will eventually be worth more than $1 trillion, maybe even $2-$3 trillion. ...... the company's global market share in its key markets--smart-phones, tablets, and Macs--is still very low. Also, factoring out Apple's massive $65 billion pile of cash, the stock is trading at a low price-earnings multiple.Apple is not going to be a trillion dollar company. That is too much extrapolation. This trillion dollar talk reminds me of the singularity talk, that is yet another case of too much extrapolation.
Quora Wants To Be Facebook Plus Wikipedia
Image via CrunchBaseQuora has worked so well for the startup scene. I hope it goes far and wide in terms of topics and people, but there is a part of me that feels like maybe Quora should stay focused on the startup scene. On the other hand the startup scene will teach Quora lessons that can then be replicated into other topic areas. Only time will tell. Monday, May 02, 2011
Rana June: iPad DJ
She performed at this party. I told her, I have read about this, but it is so great to actually see this in person.
I have always been a consumer of music. The iPad might make me a creator too. Otherwise I have not been too excited about the iPad. I call myself a power user. I use the keyboard a lot. And I like the physical kind.
It is amazing what she does. Mind blowing, actually.
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Chris Dixon Kind Of Person
Image by Zach Klein via FlickrThere Are Two Kinds Of People In The WorldThis blog post by Chris Dixon has been making the rounds of the blogosphere. It has generated many comments at the blog itself. I happened to see the post soon after it came out, and I was the first or second person to leave a comment. I returned a few hours later, and there were already close to 100 comments. Obviously the post had sparked something.
Future Of The Internet: Easy, Says Dixon
One of my favorite Chris Dixon posts is equally short, it is one where Chris is relaying as to how the Internet stands to transform anything and everything.
Superfluidity
Image by markchadwickart via FlickrCNN: 4 trends shaping the emerging "superfluid" economy: A new paradigm is emerging, where everything is increasingly connected and the nature of collaboration, business and work are all being reshaped. ..... Transactions and interactions are growing faster and more frictionless, giving birth to what I call a "superfluid" economy. ...... Our devices are becoming smaller yet more powerful. Cost continues to drop. ..... Whereas a guru might advise “Know thyself,” a technologist might suggest “Quantify thyself.” ....... Technology tackles the challenge of self knowledge through the pursuit of full-systems quantification - creating a simulation and map of everything. ...... our preferences, buying behaviors and social connections .... financial histories and medical records. ...... making previously invisible information transparent means it can be quantified and measured, so economic value can be tied to it. ..... data can be converted to become a useful tool for crisis mapping and visualizing real-time information ..... Supply chains can be mapped to help us assess the carbon footprint of the products we purchase ...... an initiative to map the real-time statistics of the entire planet, dubbed the Earth Dashboard. .... close to a billion smart phones will be shipped worldwide by 2015. ...... the financial and infrastructural challenges of laying down cables will be leapfrogged as these places transition directly to a wireless web via mobile devices ...... the ‘unbanked’ are being brought into financial inclusion through innovative services like M-PESA that enable the transfer of money via mobile phones. ..... within a few short years, we may see billions more people connected to the internet and capable of participating in economic transactions ...... Comments, Facebook likes, recommendations, and reviews all contribute to the growing layer of social metrics that reveal general perception around brands, people, events, issues and topics of interest. Not only could this alter the way democracy works by gathering real-time sentiment and developing positive feedback loops for improving civil society, it also shifts the way people make decisions about purchases or lifestyle behaviors. ....... hundreds of peer-to-peer marketplaces that are springing up around the world ...... As money and exchange increasingly go digital, our assumptions about what “currency” means are also being challenged. ...... When the tools are in place to allow individuals or groups within a local area to easily exchange value without using traditional/centralized currency, it’s reasonable to expect a serious challenge to the ingrained public perception of money. ...... It is not necessary to abandon every time-tested practice and jump headfirst into something radically new. But, it is wise to integrate new approaches as a sort of hybrid “coopetition” - going from push to pull, defining a new capitalism, and welcoming “social” as a 21st century strategy. ...... Wealth is not just a number on a financial statement, but rather a celebration of sustainable and resilient communities, a clean environment and an educated and informed society.A Social Graph For When Everyone Is Connected
Is Location The Fifth Dimension?
Cover of A Brief History of TimeThe SimpleGeo Promise I put out this blog post earlier. And I have been thinking. Your laptop screen is 2D. Your smartphone screen is 2D. But Twitter and Facebook happened before FourSquare happened. The time dimension got added before location ever became a factor. Length and width were the first two dimensions. The third dimension was not spatial, it was time, chronologically speaking, pun intended.
But if you go into 3D computing, the third dimension is not location. Easy math, that would make location the fifth dimension of web tech.
That makes it really, really interesting to me. Location has several sub dimensions. Location can be local, it can be global. Local can be hyperlocal with all its associated richness. When you move from local to hyperlocal, that starts feeling like fractal territory all over again. Blows my mind.
Mutual Friends: Cindy Gallop
Mike Arrington And I: Close
Mike Arrington Liked My Comment
After I got a friend request from her on Facebook, I googled her up for the first time. Interesting. :-)
The SimpleGeo Promise
Image via CrunchBaseBefore Einstein the world was 3D. There were the three dimensions of space: length, breadth, height, the usual suspects. You could argue Euclid's world was 2D. Well, old man Einstein came along, and added the time dimension to the equation. And that had huge implications, humongous huge. I think that whole metaphor is a great way to try to understand contemporary web tech. I just read the name SimpleGeo in a tweet and I saw its promise. I had heard of it before, I think I might even have read a TechCrunch article on it months back.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Just Watched The First Wedding Video
Image via CrunchBaseI just watched my first royal wedding video, although I noticed yesterday on Tumblr they were hard to avoid, not that I was trying to avoid, but I was not actively seeking them out. One thing I noticed was it was said two billion people watched it on television. Wow, those are World Cup Soccer numbers. Now, t-h-a-t is impressive. Brazil 2014
I came across the video when I dropped by the Google News page like I am likely to near daily.
Ignite NYC: Here I Come
Ignite, Set It On Fire
Internet Week: Going To Three Events So Far
Digital Dumbo: Here I Come
July 1 Digital Dumbo: Do Not Miss
I tried and failed to get on any Internet Week panel. But something better might happen. I just saw this in my Facebook stream, and jumped at the opportunity. I am applying for my five minutes at Ignite NYC during Internet Week. Tikva, make it happen, please.
Me In The New York Times
BBC Calls
Me @ BBC
Paul Graham, Brad Feld, Me, BBC
I Have Been Quoted In Fast Company
Me @ CNN
When I read this article when it came out and blogged about it, I did not realize I was in the picture. I saw a Facebook status from someone else in the picture that made me realize I was in the picture. I looked. There I was. (Two Upheavals Already)
Manhattan’s Tech Start-Ups Settle in the Flatiron District and Chelsea
Friday, April 29, 2011
Cary Randolph: A Manifesto On Material Things
“As we get older we gain a little perspective on the material, the perishable, the finite. We age, and as we do, the people we love die, move away, stop loving us. Now if the house caught on fire, I might not take anything. And the things I cannot live without are easily transported but not easily won: a great, brilliant man who loves me, his head on the pillow next to mine, his hand around my waist. My dad’s voice on the telephone line. I want clean, fresh air, and at least one good laugh every day. I feel guilty saying this, having built a career in fashion – an industry that at its center is all about accumulating more things – but I believe it: we really don’t need much.”
- Cary Randolph (Via Jessica Chu)
- Cary Randolph (Via Jessica Chu)
Doing Two Tech Startups
What is better than doing one tech startup? Doing two tech startups.
So I am doing two tech startups. And the newer startup is actually moving faster. But there is symbiosis.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Ai Fiori FoodSpotting DrinkUp
Photos From MetroMix
I showed up. On time. And I waited and waited and waited. This place was fancy. I took myself around. I was dressed in my usual black, only it was not a Brazil shirt with an overcoat on. It has been so nice these past few days. I was wearing a dress shirt. I am not much of a T shirt person. I like proper shirts. I like T shirts when they come with jackets.
I had some muchies they had at the bar. Then they brought a bowlful to my table itself. I finished one bowl. They brought another. I ordered a pineapple juice. I asked for a glass of water.
I showed up. On time. And I waited and waited and waited. This place was fancy. I took myself around. I was dressed in my usual black, only it was not a Brazil shirt with an overcoat on. It has been so nice these past few days. I was wearing a dress shirt. I am not much of a T shirt person. I like proper shirts. I like T shirts when they come with jackets.
I had some muchies they had at the bar. Then they brought a bowlful to my table itself. I finished one bowl. They brought another. I ordered a pineapple juice. I asked for a glass of water.
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