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Archives for August 2011

Amazon Moves Up the Food Chain

August 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I guess this is the week for partner conflict.  With Samsung, and HTC still reeling from Google’s announcement that they are getting into the mobile phone manufacturing business (discussion here), Amazon has now announced it is stepping up its nascent publishing efforts and going to war with the traditional publishers who have feed its business for so long.  Amazon has signed on to be the direct publisher of Timothy Ferriss, author famous for his series of “4 Hour” titles. The NYT had a great article on this and my four favorite quotes are set out below.

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Filed Under: Business, Communication, Internet / Big Data / Internet of Things, Literary Humor & Miscellaneous, Media / Publishing

Why Did LogMeIn Buy Pachube?

August 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A couple weeks ago newly IPO’ed Boston area company LogMeIn announced it had acquired one of the cooler companies in the “internet of things” space, Pachube.   I’ve long followed the space and continue to find it fascinating (for some great articles, check out ReadWriteWeb’s internet of things topic archive here).  I agree with Cisco that the number of devices on the internet is undoubtedly going to be huge, and I think Pachube is a really cool project to help drive people in that direction with their API and community.

I am a LogMeIn user – it’s a great service.  In particular, I like the ability to totally control a computer from an iPad while on the beach, using their Ignition iOS app.  For those large desktop programs you cannot, and generally would not want to, have running on a tablet or smartphone, it can be just the ticket for taking care of that one desktop chore that would have otherwise forced you back into the office.

So I am clear that they are both great companies.  But where I get a little fuzzy is exactly what LogMeIn, which focuses on human interaction with remote computers wants with Pachube which is focused exclusively on device interaction with remote computers.

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Filed Under: Internet / Big Data / Internet of Things

Shooting Out The Lights: Google + Motorola Mobility

August 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Great analysis by PEHubWire on the Google / Motorola Mobility announcement this morning.  Pretty much captures it.  Look for increased anti-trust scrutiny on this one:

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Filed Under: Apple / Google / Amazon / Big Tech, Business, Communication, Internet / Big Data / Internet of Things, Mobile / Gadgets

Open Forum with Angel, Seed and VC Investors (Video)

August 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

L to R: Rob Puopolo, Jeff Bussgang, Christopher Mirabile, Rob May, Rob Go

Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge, Rob May of Backupify, Rob Go of NextView and I recently participated in a roundtable discussion about working with angels, seed micro VCs and life-cycle VCs at MassChallenge.  Rob Puopolo of Greenberg Traurig moderated the sometimes very lively discussion.  Turns out that Rob and Jeff don’t always see things exactly the same way.  It made for a great discussion and Q&A.  Video below. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Angel Investing, Communication, Entrepreneurship, Video Interview Series

Brian S. Hall Hates Google

August 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Brian S. Hall has posted a super-harsh smack-down of Google entitled “How Do I Hate Google? Let Me Count the Ways.”  (Link is to Business Insider repost because the original post includes offensive language that detracts from his points.)  As a big fan of a lot of what Google has done (noted here and here for example), I am not sure I agree with Brian’s rant on all fronts, but I do think it is a valuable perspective that is worth having out there in the mix.   There were a couple areas, however, where I think we are in total agreement, and I mentioned both of them in my post on Google+.  Here are those excerpts from my original post:

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Filed Under: Apple / Google / Amazon / Big Tech, Business, Entrepreneurship, Internet / Big Data / Internet of Things, Mobile / Gadgets

A New Cold War? [Updated]

August 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Reuters just released a story about the biggest, longest and most audacious campaign of cyber attacks to date.  I have talked about this here and here, but I remain increasingly alarmed about the deplorable state of cybersecurity in the US (and elsewhere it would appear.)  With the US Department of Defense recently declaring cyber attacks an act of war, the number of attacks and brazenness of attacks increasing, the economic and strategic value of information being stolen increasing, the likelihood that these are state-sponsored acts increasing, and the defiant and in-your-face tone of hacks by groups like LulzSec increasing, it feels to me like we need to make this a bit more of a priority.

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Filed Under: CyberSecurity, Internet / Big Data / Internet of Things

We’re All Marketers Now

August 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Great McKinsey article about infusing a marketing mentality throughout the enterprise.  Money quote (emphasis added):

For the past decade, marketers have been adjusting to a new era of deep customer engagement. They’ve tacked on new functions, such as social-media management; altered processes to better integrate advertising campaigns online, on television, and in print; and added staff with Web expertise to manage the explosion of digital customer data. Yet in our experience, that’s not enough. To truly engage customers for whom “push” advertising is increasingly irrelevant, companies must do more outside the confines of the traditional marketing organization. At the end of the day, customers no longer separate marketing from the product—it is the product. They don’t separate marketing from their in-store or online experience—it is the experience. In the era of engagement, marketing is the company.

Full Text: We’re All Marketers Now

Filed Under: Business, Communication, Internet / Big Data / Internet of Things, Social Networking