Seven Social Media Week Events

Image via WikipediaI tried very hard to limit myself to few Social Media Week events this year. First I decided on one: the party Thursday. Then I added one more. Then one. And I am like, that's it. But now looks like I will have attended seven Social Media Week events by the time the week is over, one of them on LiveStream. That counts. I got to witness the entire panel discussion, and got to ask a question on Twitter.

This morning the UN panel discussion was great, except the moderator chunked off the Q and A session. What a bummer. I approached him later and asked the question anyway.

"What is happening in Egypt right now, we did this successfully in Nepal in 2006. I was the only Nepali in America to have worked full time for it. We did good. That inspired protests in Tibet and Burma, both of which were mercilessly crushed. Iran's was another failure in 2009. Tunisia was a success, but Egypt is struggling. Social media is important. My blog was my primary tool when I did what I did, not phone calls, although those I did, not events, I attended quite a few. But at the end of the day social media is just a tool. Ultimately the challenge of a political revolution and of confronting the ugly, concrete versions of sexism in some parts of the world are social and political in nature. The solutions are primarily political. Would you agree?"

Social Media Week: The Best NY Tech MeetUp Ever

Food/Social = Physics, Coding = Mathematics

Image via WikipediaEinstein, the most celebrated physicist in human history, my favorite Dead White Male, started out struggling with maths. Much later in life he liked to joke that he was still struggling with maths. Early memories die hard. The key mathematics that gave shape to the Relativity, he had to ask around for. A mathematician friend of his led him in that direction.

What Einstein started with was physics. It really bothered him that light rays bent near the sun and no one had bothered explaining why.

Coding is like mathematics. Social is the physics. And the buzz is not here yet beyond a very small circle right now, but food's day will come. If you think about it, food has a very, very special place in the social universe. Food is the crown jewel. By the time you get to the level of food, social becomes dazzling. It becomes like watching the night sky if you are fascinated by stars.

I got a glimpse of that dazzle when I attended the FoodSpotting/Whole Foods panel this morning at 95 E Houston. I was amazed by the venue. It seems like Google is not the only dog in town with an office building that occupies an entire block.

2015: A Mobile Tech Company Will Storm The Room

Image by Emiliano Elias via FlickrYou did not foresee Netscape in 1990, or Google in 1995, you did not foresee Facebook in 2000. I have a feeling there will be a similarly monumental mobile tech company that will enter the scene around 2015. It is hard to predict what shape or form it will take. It is even harder to locate the founder. But she/he will sure worth be betting on, even if you can only come into her round two, or round three. But such visionaries are hard to locate even when they have already entered round three.

Over time I am going to try and foresee the details of such a company. But I admit right now I have no clue. Broad generalizations don't count. But let me take a crack at the situation.

Could You Have Predicted A Google In 1990?

Image via WikipediaOr a Facebook in 2000? I think not.

Predicting the far future is not hard, it is impossible. Or at least it is impossible according to the fractals theory by one of my favorite thinkers Mandelbrot who died a few months ago.

Fractals: Mandelbrot
Fractals And FoodSpotting

I like Eric Schmidt, but nobody has the crystal ball to see the technology scene as it might stand 50 years from now. Even broad generalizations are hard to make. Specifics are outright impossible.

Nelly Furtado: Night Is Young

Chairlift: Bruises

The Bird and The Bee: My Love

Kylie Minogue: Get Outta My Way

How Steve Jobs Gets Things Done

I found this amazing article in a tweet by angel investor and entrepreneur Hiten Shah. I follow The Angel List on Twitter. Go read the full article.

The Entrepreneur Does Have A Boss

Image via WikipediaA lot of people have this misconception that people who don't like to have to answer to bosses start their own companies. Entrepreneurs don't have bosses.

Perhaps it is the case that the entrepreneur does not have a boss. What the entrepreneur has is a goddess: the market. As an entrepreneur you have to meet your numbers. As long as you meet your numbers, you are in good shape.

Entrepreneurs do get fired. All the time. The entrepreneur version is to go out of business. The goddess can get mad at you and wipe you out.

There is a reason most people are not entrepreneurs. Someone once said being an entrepreneur is like being gay, it is not like you have a choice. I think there is some truth to that. It is a personality type thing. Some people are just more bent on doing the entrepreneur thing.

Shhh, Don't Tell Anybody

Don't tell anybody, I am going to a Wikileaks event.