Vinod Khosla, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, a long time partner at Kleiner Perkins, and a principal in well-respected Khosla Ventures, just published a great piece in TechCrunch on the “unhyped” new areas in Internet and mobile that interest him. These are the areas he expects to produce the next batch of great opportunities and start-ups. It is well worth a read, but here are the twelve areas he identifies: [Read more…]
Multiple Monitors Does Not Equate to Multi-Tasking
February 8, 2012 by 1 Comment
Image courtesy of MacWorld Magazine, June 2008
I am a long time member of the cult of multiple monitors. And the practice is really taking off. But the NYT has it all wrong. [Read more…]
Cloud-Enabled Business Models (Or Why iTunes Match Will Change Your Phone)
December 8, 2011 by 1 Comment
Gartner’s hype cycle charts how all emergent technologies start with a trigger, quickly ramp up to a peak of inflated expectations, drop in to a trough of disillusionment and then move back up a slope of enlightenment onto a relatively stable plateau of productivity. Cloud computing is moving right along that curve; the initial buzz was followed by a paralyzing fear of security issues, but we are now well up the slope of enlightenment: cloud computing is here to stay, and nobody disputes that it’s going to have a huge impact.
The power of cloud computing to enable radical new business models is really starting to be felt on a massive scale.
Localytics CEO on Steve Jobs, Raising Capital, Mobile Apps & TechStars
November 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Here’s a short video interview with the Founder and CEO of one of my portfolio companies, Raj Aggarwal (@analyticsraj) of Localytics. Raj sat down for a few minutes with Keith Cline of VentureFizz. In this short video interview, Raj talks about the origins of Localytics, his experience raising money from Launchpad Venture Group and others, his pick axes & shovels strategy for Localytics, and his experience working for Steve Jobs on defining the early iPhone business model…
Going Green
October 26, 2011 by 1 Comment
[This post is part of a series about our net-zero residential solar project – to see a list of links to the full Solar Project series, click here or click here to bring up all Green-related posts. Next Post in Series.]
For reasons I cannot explain, solar energy has always fascinated me. So prepare yourself to see a bit more by way of green topics in this blog. A big part of the impetus for those posts is the impending conversion of our home to a net-zero solar-powered residence. What that means, for the uninitiated, is a house that produces 100% as much energy from the sun as it uses over the course of a year. In fact, if the design calculations are correct, and we scrimp and conserve power just a tiny bit more, we may even be able to eek out an actual surplus. Due to the benefits of net-metering, this means the power company will actually pay us more than we pay them in a year – a negative electricity bill – very cool. We are in the final planning and paperwork phases for of the project, so construction won’t start for a few weeks. Expect many more updates on the project to follow in coming months.
In the meantime, for my first general interest green post, I’d like to share a really cool new program worth checking out.
Telephoto Lens for Your iPhone 4S
October 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Add-on lenses for cellphone cameras have been around for a while. And most of them are crap. But I stumbled onto a great little kit that is very nicely made, and, when combined with the out-standing new camera on the iPhone 4S, takes such great photographs, that I had to share.
Godspeed, Steve
October 5, 2011 by 2 Comments
The world lost a great mind today. Although I had warning, I am still more deeply affected than I would have expected. I have admired and respected Steve Jobs and adored his products for almost 30 years. Apple is almost entirely responsible for two of the most abiding passions of my life – a fascination with technology and what it makes possible, and a love of excellent design. When well executed, computers are, as Jobs called them, “a bicycle for the mind.” There is no business figure I have read more books and articles about, watched more of, or followed with greater interest. Watching him get sicker and sicker over these last years has been truly awful, and, as odd as it is to say about the CEO of a for-profit company making consumer electronic devices, I feel like a little piece of me died today as well. I truly will miss him. I can think of no better way to mark his passing than to dig up the following note I wrote him right after his liver transplant, a month after the iPad debut, when he had begun to make regular headlines for answering the occasional private email, and Apple was taking a lot of heat for refusing to support flash on the iPhone.
10 Best Things About Apple’s iOS 5 [Updated]
October 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment
[Originally Published on July 10; Updated on October 3]. In honor of Apple’s big iPhone announcement tomorrow, I thought it was worth republishing this list of the best things about Apple’s iOS 5. It will be awesome. Most of the focus will be on the new hardware, but the fact is that it is really the software that will make a bigger difference to most people. There is something for everyone to look forward to amongst the 200+ new features headed our way. Here’s the list of the top 10 things I am most psyched about:
Why Google+ Will be a Big Win for Google (and the rest of us) [UPDATED]
September 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
[Originally Published July 19, 2011. See current updates at end.]
Its always dangerous to make predictions, especially with Google, which tends to (1) garner an inordinate amount of breathless coverage for its every initiative and (2) reveal its true plans slowly while it plays for the long, long, term. But I’ve been thinking about, reading about and messing about with Google+ quite a bit since getting my invitation a little over a week ago, and based on my observations so far, I am willing to venture that this one is going to be a biggie. Here’s a baker’s dozen reasons why:
NFC? NFW! (Near Field Communications is Total Hype) [Updated]
September 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The buzz about near field communications (NFC) is totally missing the point. NFC is just a contactless (or nearly contactless) replacement for swiping a credit card. But who cares? The swipe really doesn’t need replacing. It is no more trouble to swipe a credit card than it is to tap a smartphone on a pad. 20 credit cards stacked up in your pocket is still a tenth the size and weight of your smartphone. Saving that weight or hassle when you are headed to the gym is hardly a compelling vision. It is just not valuable to consumers or merchants, especially when you consider the hassles one has to go to in order to manage the security risks.
The excitement is misplaced. The things to get excited about are systems which handle the payment for you by tapping into the smarts of a mobile device and your identity and your context to create a relationship between you and the vendor, to the potential benefit of both. Currently an NFC tap is every bit as anonymous and devoid of context as the tried & true credit card swipe. What you want is a system that knows it is you and allows the merchant to relate to you in the form of loyalty awards, discounts and relevant offers.