Fred Wilson, Google, Facebook, Apple, USV

English: Apple iPad Event (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fred seems to have taken some flak for his comment that in 2020, Google and Facebook will be among the three biggest tech companies in the world, but not Apple. When asked if one of his portfolio companies will be among the top three he said, I most certainly hope so.

I am bullish on Google. I see it becoming the first trillion dollar company in the world. Usually when companies get big, they get innovation lazy. In Google's case when they have become big they have innovated at large scales. They have tackled problems that small startups just can't because they don't have the huge resources.

I disagree with Fred on Facebook. I am not sure Facebook will be among the top three in 2020. Facebook has been a one trick wonder. They have the option to be among the three, but I have not seen it yet.

I agree with him on Apple. Apple will milk the iPhone and the iPad as much as it can, but that momentum will last only a few more years, and then funny things might start happening to its standing in the stock markets. The next sexy hardware is not coming from Apple.

As for Union Square Ventures, I don't think they have a portfolio company that will be among the top three in 2020. I would love to be proven wrong. But that is a judgment call I am making. Point be noted I am not up to date on USV. I don't have a good knowledge of their investments in the recent two years.



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Kitkat Battery Issues Resolved

Original flavor KitKat purchased in Atlanta, GA, USA in Feb. 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was easy. You google up the matter, and you get reminded you reset your phone like the last time Android sent you an updated version of the operating system.

There was resetting the phone, which also freed up a lot of space on my 8 GB phone. And then there was turning off a Google+ feature. Now photos on my phone only get uploaded online when the phone is on wifi and when the phone is connected to a charger.

The auto upload feature is why Google+ is my top choice for photo upload and sharing. But that was also draining my battery.

Now my phone feels more normal. So much so that I still want a OnePlus One phone, but I am not in a desperate hurry.

My external battery clocks at 10,000 mAh. That is what I carry. So it is like carrying two phones. But it's worth it for the peace of mind that my phone will quite literally never run out of juice during the course of the day. When your smartphone is your personal assistant, you tend to use it with some intensity.

I am thinking a 5,000 mAh inside a phone might finally do the trick.

Another reason not to be in a big hurry for the One is the idea of actually being with people when you are with them. Face time is also good for the phone battery.

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OnePlus: The China Angle

English: Jack Ma speaks during The Future of the Global Economy: The View from China plenary session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China 28 September 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And there is this whole Jack Ma angle. Alibaba showed up in America with a bang. This guy is not even a coder. And he has created this ecommerce behemoth in China. Like I said at one point, Jack Ma is the new Jack Welch.

A lot of what we think about China gets colored by the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. There are genuine issues of free speech and democracy, but one can not stop but take a good look at some genuine innovation that is coming out of that country.

China is getting global in a big way. OnePlus is the newest example where a Chinese company is out to eat the lunch of companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google. China is not just the back end factory for your front end brand name. We live in era when people display their status more through their phone than their car or house. If there OnePlus is going to do well, all bets are off.

OnePlus is making smartphones the way smartphones are supposed to be made.

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Bill Gates: Rich Man

Source: The Huffington Post

Google Is Being Harassed By Europe

Flag of Wallonia فارسی: پرچم والونیا Nederlands: Vlag van Wallonië (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Europe might not be China, but it is no America either. European politicians are way out of line in some of their assertions. At some fundamental level they seem not to comprehend the Internet. The US government should be defending Google.

Europe should learn from China and try and maybe come up with an Alibaba instead of being jealous of the Google success.

The world could use a better search engine, but that might require innovation, not political rhetoric. And this political rhetoric poisons the space for entrepreneurship and innovation in Europe. These political clowns, who are they pandering to?

Google's Settlement with European Union Faces Increased Pressure

France has given the company a bill for back taxes that could reach over EUR1 billion, including fines...... The French government said it would push for a new European law later this year to classify Google and other Web giants like public utilities, forcing them to guarantee access to all of its services like phone operators. In Germany, Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel advanced the idea of breaking apart Google in a German newspaper this week, though officials acknowledge such a move would require new laws ...... "We don't want to become a digital colony of global Internet giants," said French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said at an event to oppose the antitrust deal last week. "It is necessary, indeed urgent, to put in place a framework that guarantees a level playing field" for European companies. ...... Tech executives respond that the political rhetoric in Europe toward American tech companies amounts to a new kind of digital xenophobia, that could chase away foreign investment. Regulating search engines like public utilities could make them "impossible" to operate, one tech executive said. ....... Martin Schulz, a German candidate who is in the running to become the next European Commission President, has put the case at the heart of his election campaign. During a televised election debate with other candidates, Mr. Schulz said Google was "a monopoly in Europe entirely and nobody even discusses it. […] That's why the instrument of competition in that case is a very important one." ...... "We must do everything so that the market power of Google doesn't become ever stronger."

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Google Is Finally Tackling Connectivity

Google (Photo credit: warrantedarrest)

Hardware, software, connectivity. That last one has been the biggest hurdle. So it is great that Google is finally tackling it in a big way. Google Fiber has been too slow rolling out. But Google balloons were a good sign. Then it bought that drone company. Now it is going higher up into satellites. And it is going to the ground level with this wifi initiative. I am thankful.

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Google has a beautiful business model. If people can go online, they are going to use their search engine. And that search engine serves ads. And so helping people go online is big money.

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