Month: July 2007

NY Times article on Pownce made me laugh

Post ImageAfter writing my review of Pownce a few weeks ago, I figured I’d never write about the site again. However, after reading an idiotic article published in the New York Times yesterday, I knew I’d have to. Author Jason Pontin had me shaking my head right from the opening paragraph:

JUST now, the hottest startup in Silicon Valley — minutely examined by bloggers, panted after by investors — is Pownce, but only a chosen few can try out its Web site.

Hottest startup in the valley? News to me. Maybe three or four weeks ago. Anyway, let’s continue.

Within days, invitations were selling on eBay for as much as $10. Mr. Rose has declined all requests to be interviewed about the service, including my own. But as a consolation, he sent me a coveted invitation. I enjoyed the rare thrill of cyberhipness — and got to experiment with the site.

Coveted? Are you kidding me? Pownce tells me I have nine invites to give out. I’ve had them for weeks. I am positive I’m not the only one. Sorry Jason, receiving an invite to Pownce is anything but a hip cyber experience.

After some general information and background on Kevin Rose, Jason concludes that media executives should keep an eye on Pownce:

What struck me most was the site’s potential to be powerfully disruptive. Most file-sharing occurs on public sites, which can be monitored by media companies; if the users violate copyrights, the sites or the users themselves can be threatened into compliance or litigated out of existence (as happened with the original Napster). File-sharing on Pownce would be difficult to police.

If I didn’t know any better I’d think Jason was trying to make a joke. Because I sure laughed.

The RIAA has sued children, senior citizens, and everyone in-between. They’ve shut down company after company, and they’ve successfully petitioned ISPs for records detailing the activities of their subscribers. Somehow I don’t think policing Pownce (a system which knows exactly who is sharing what with whom, btw) would be a problem. Evidently Jason hasn’t heard of BitTorrent, which actually does make it difficult to police file-sharing (especially with the recent work done on protocol encryption).

I really wish the NY Times would stop publishing useless fluff pieces like this one.

I should mention that my main criticism of Pownce is set to be remedied soon – they are starting an API. Should be available in September, though the undocumented API that their desktop app uses has already been, um, documented.

Read: NY Times

Do you really need a business plan?

Twitter announced a round of funding last Thursday, from Union Square Ventures and a few others. Michael Arrington did some digging and is fairly certain the amount was $5 million on a $20 million pre-money valuation. That’s not too bad, especially when you consider that Twitter is perhaps most famous for not having a business plan.

No business plan?! It’s true. At least no formal business plan. Biz Stone tried to assure everyone last week that the company has in fact thought about a business model, but I am not sure how many people bought it. The investment started a small “you don’t need a business plan” meme in the blogosphere, and it really got me thinking…do you need a business plan or not?

Paul Kedrosky says you don’t need one, and thinks that “business plans are overrated, and profits perhaps even more so.” Don Dodge says that “investors invest in people not business plans.” Fred Wilson, one of the investors, admits that they “don’t know yet” what the business model will be for Twitter. He claims they have time to figure that out. Charles Hudson says the meme is “crazy talk” and thinks it is worth writing some ideas down. Robert Scoble says that “if you REALLY think you can get funded without having a business plan you’re probably smoking something illegal.”

After reading dozens of these posts, and looking back at what I learned from the business plan competitions we competed in last year, I’ve come to the following conclusion: I think business plans are useful for internal use, and mostly a waste of time otherwise.

I think what Charles says in his post makes a lot of sense. There are certain questions that entrepreneurs should answer and write down. Really though, no one needs to see those pieces of paper. When it comes time to market your business or your idea to someone else, you’ve got to tune your message. And you’ve got to market yourself more than anything else. That’s why it’s a waste of time to have a complete, polished business plan (unless you’re in a competition I guess). If no one is really going to read it but you, does it matter what it looks like?

I think the trick is to remember that investors are people too. You need to relate to them, and you need to excite them. A heavy, thick document is probably not the best way to do that.

We haven’t really updated our business plan since the competitions in 2006. That’s partly due to the fact that it’s tedious, and partly due to the fact that we haven’t had a need to. A smaller executive overview, a quick slide deck, or an actual conversation are far more useful.

There’s a difference between a business plan and a business model, however. I still think it’s important to have some ideas about how you are going to monetize your product or service. And it’s important to know that there really is someone out there willing to pay for whatever it is you’ve created. Even better if you know who that someone is.

The realization that a traditional business plan is useless simply reinforces the idea that getting face time with investors is important. And for technology, that generally means the United States. Or perhaps BC or Ontario, but definitely not Alberta.

Anyway, just some thoughts. Congrats to Twitter on the funding!

Read: Twitter

Notes for 7/29/2007

It’s almost August already! Here are my weekly notes:

  • Saskatchewan is going to be the first province in Canada to launch a widespread, publicly funded wireless network. I can only hope that this means Alberta and the other provinces aren’t far behind.
  • Goodbye Linksys! Cisco has decided to drop the brand.
  • I went to see The Simpsons Movie on Friday night with Megan – it rocked! It was exactly like a normal episode, only slighly longer. It was the top movie this weekend.
  • Can you believe that Hilary Duff is dating Mike Comrie? You could do better Hilary. She’s looking amazing on the August issue of Maxim though.
  • I didn’t go to Capital EX or Taste of Edmonton this year. And frankly, I’m not sad about that. I am looking forward to the Fringe though.
  • I was walking down Whyte Ave with Sharon on Thursday evening, when I saw this sign out front of a store called Polly Magoo’s. It reads: “find us on facebook” – can we call Facebook mainstream now?

Happy 25th Birthday Diet Coke!

Twenty five years ago today, Diet Coke was introduced to the world at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Just four years later, it became the #1 low-calorie sparkling beverage in the world, a title it continues to hold to this day.

I am definitely a fan of Diet Coke. I have been drinking mostly Coke Zero lately, but I enjoy a Diet Coke every now and then. It has a very distinct taste that I think is fairly divisive: either you like it or you don’t.

Diet Coke is about more than beverages however:

“Since its launch, Diet Coke has been synonymous with stylish sophistication,” said Katie Bayne, chief marketing officer, Coca-Cola North America. “Through the years, Diet Coke marketing and advertising has reflected and embraced pop culture, and the brand has become a global icon that embodies great cola taste with an undeniable sense of style.”

Ah yes, pop culture. Numerous celebrities have endorsed Diet Coke, and the drink itself has become something of a celebrity recently – along with its good friend Mentos, that is. Oh by the way, if you like the image I included in this post (and who doesn’t) then check out the video.

If you have some time to waste, check out the Wikipedia entry for Diet Coke. I had no idea there were so many sub-brands, for instance. Lots of interesting information.

I still haven’t seen Diet Coke Plus anywhere, but I’d like to give it a try. Hopefully it shows up in Edmonton soon. Oh and Cherry Coke Zero too.

Happy Birthday Diet Coke!

Read: Coca-Cola

Did you have problems with Telus Mobility last night?

I just got off the phone with a client service representative at Telus Mobility. The good news is that their support service is still fast and effective, as I mentioned back in May. The bad news is that the Telus network doesn’t seem incredibly stable.

Around 9 PM last night, my phone stopped working. I couldn’t make or receive any calls, nor could I send or receive text messages. Every attempt was greeted with an annoying “beep beep beep” and text messages just disappeared into the unknown. I was kind of lost without my phone, and I mentioned to Megan that I should almost buy a backup pay-as-you-go phone on another network for precisely this type of thing. She just laughed!

Calls started working again around midnight, but text messaging still was not working this morning. Hence the call to Telus. The service representative asked a bunch of questions, and by the way I was answering, I think she got the hint and asked if this had happened before. I said yes, unfortunately, and asked her to send the clearing message. She did, and also said she was going to “do a reset” which means I have to turn my phone off for twenty minutes. Stange, I know. Hopefully it works.

I wasn’t the only one with problems it seems:

I’d like to know what happened, and if it was limited to just Edmonton and area or whether it was more widespread. Too bad they suck at communicating that sort of thing. Telus needs a blog!

It's all green to me

I wonder how long it will be until we all have green overload – I am guessing it’ll be sooner rather than later. These days, you’re simply not hip and with it unless you’re proclaiming how environmentally friendly you are. That goes for individuals, companies, and all other organizations too. Trying to cure cancer? Great – so long as you go about it in a “green” sort of way. Okay maybe it’s not quite that bad, but it’s getting darn close.

Did you know Discovery is launching an entire TV channel dedicated to the green movement? Apparently the New York Times had the story back in April, but I just came across it tonight while reading about Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest project:

DiCaprio is set to executive produce “Eco-Town,” a 13-part reality series which will follow state and local officials in their quest to build an ecologically – and economically – sustainable town in Kansas, aptly named Greenburg.

Yep, even famous movie stars need to add a shade of green to their images. No one is safe from the big bad green machine!

A television channel is one thing, but a niche blog is quite another. If the recently launched earth2tech blog doesn’t scream “go green or go home” nothing does:

Earth2Tech is a publication devoted to intersection between the tech industry, their eco-moves and the next generation of tech innovation that will combat climate change.

When will it end?

Some Thoughts on the Association for Downloadable Media

Post ImageLast week a new organization calling itself the Association for Downloadable Media launched. The ADM aims to provide standards for advertising and audience measurement for episodic and downloadable media. From their press release:

The ADM will focus primarily on the world of podcasting, downloadable media and portable content monetized by advertising and sponsorship. The ADM will create a landscape that facilitates the commercialization of this growing audience.

Monetization of podcasts is a growing opportunity for these parties, and the ADM supports the momentum of this channel through the collective mindshare of its members.

They have sixteen organizations already on board, including Apple and NPR. Individuals can join for $150/year, for corporations the price is $1000/year.

First of all, I’m not sure the organization is needed. Where are all the content creators and advertisers complaining about the lack of standards? Furthermore, none of the member companies are bound to do anything anyway. They can, however, point to the ADM as an example of how they are “participating in and improving” the industry. Take the five “initial” committees they have already created – isn’t it kind of early to have such committees? Probably, but it makes them look more legitimate.

More importantly, will the ADM really be able to accomplish anything? Aside from Apple and the NPR, the organizations currently on board are small fish in the grand scheme of things. Yes even venture-backed companies like Podshow, PodTech, and Revision3. What happens when NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox jump into the downloadable media market? Or perhaps even other media outlets like the New York Times? The ADM will drown in the ensuing splash, that’s what. The big fish will be able to do whatever they like, regardless of what the ADM has already “standardized.”

One other thing – downloadable media is a fairly broad term, don’t you think? Fairly ambitious of the group to proclaim themselves the association for such a thing.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope the ADM will accomplish great things. I don’t think it’s going to happen though. I suspect the ADM will be nothing more than a distant memory come this time next year. Time will tell!

Read: ADM

Notes for 7/22/2007

Here are my weekly notes:

  • My first week at the new job was good, except I had forgotten how much it sucks to get up at 7 AM every morning! Thank goodness for Starbucks.
  • This one is for you Megan: Jon Bon Jovi objects to name of energy drink.
  • Don Cherry is now pimping Rayovac batteries. At what point does what’s left of his credibility go down the crapper? Maybe it already has.
  • I only came across DotNetKicks on Friday. It’s like Digg, but for .NET developers!
  • Hott4Hill is indeed hot. Not sure if the video helps or harms Hillary though.
  • Speaking of politics, here’s a great post at the 37signals blog talking about the fact that EVERY presidential campaign logo is red, white, and blue. The candidates want their logos to scream patriotism, but instead they scream uncreative and boring.
  • Here’s a fun Web Trend Map for 2007. Looks like someone had too much time on their hands!
  • Starting this week I am going to be a regular contributor to last100, so if you haven’t done so already, subscribe now!

Laura Vandervoort is Supergirl

I was pretty sure Kristen Bell wouldn’t be cast as Supergirl, but that didn’t stop me from hoping! Turns out I was right, she won’t be making an appearance on Smallville, as the CW has announced their choice for the role:

Look, up in the sky: it’s a bird, it’s a plane! It’s…Supergirl! This fall, Supergirl will be joining the lineup of burgeoning superheroes and villains in SMALLVILLE.

Laura Vandervoort (The Lookout, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”) has been cast as Kara – Clark’s (Tom Welling) 19-year-old cousin.

I don’t know much about her, but I think they made a good choice. She’s young, hot, and Canadian! Okay she’s from Toronto, but still. Her Wikipedia entry is here, and her IMDB profile is here. Her last name has a cool sound to it too, don’t you think?

According to IMDB, the first episode of season seven (titled Bizarro) will air on September 28th. Just over two months to go!

Read: CW Blog

Harry Potter Mania

Post ImageAre you ready for Harry Potter mania? I am! And by that I mean I’ll happily ignore it just as I have for all the previous books. I haven’t read any of them. I’ve only seen two or three of the movies. It’s not that I am anti-Harry Potter or anything, I just (for whatever reason) have never gotten into it.

I do intend to read the books one day, simply because so many other people have read them. It’s almost like I am obligated to read them in order to really be part of society or something. I’m fine with that – I always give my best “WTF” look when someone tells me they have never seen Star Wars, and I’d rather not be a hypocrite.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the new book, as I’m sure you know, and it has broken all kinds of records:

Amazon said that as of midnight, it has received more than 2.223 million pre-orders worldwide on its various Web sites, eclipsing the previous pre-order record of 1.5 million held by the sixth book in the series.

Apparently on its busiest pre-order day, Amazon.com received more than 1.75 orders per second. Ridiculous and impressive, all at the same time!

You’ll notice the picture above is of The Simpsons – I found it here. I haven’t seen the episode, but I guess The Simpsons spoofed Harry Potter in one of the Halloween episodes. Here’s a seven mintue clip. Good stuff!

If you’re a fan, enjoy reading the book this weekend! If instead you’re an indifferent muggle like me, try not to spoil it for the Potter-heads, mmkay?