I almost want to watch The Hills

Okay, I hate to admit it, but I’ve seen a few episodes of MTV’s The Hills in the past. For the uninitiated, it’s a “reality” drama spinoff of Laguna Beach, and it follows the life of Lauren Conrad (seen in the blue). Most of the episodes I have seen are mind-numbing, with maybe five minutes of actual content in each thirty minute episode. It’s hard to believe that there’s been two entire seasons already, but it’s true.

With the third season about to start on Monday, MTV has really increased the advertising for the show. About 80% of the time when I log into Facebook, I see a banner for The Hills, with Lauren in that amazing blue swimsuit. I saw it so many times that I eventually gave up, clicked on it, and made my way to this page. Now I really want to watch the show. Yeah, I can be shallow.

A show all about four hot, young girls – is there anything not to like about it? Actually, yes. As I mentioned, the show will make you lose brain cells. There is very little in the way of substance. Not a problem, mute the television and you’re good to go. The real problem though is MTV. They air something called “The After Show” immediately following each episode. If you are unlucky enough to see it, I think you’ll agree that it is quite possibly the most painful television viewing experience ever. Seriously, I can’t stand it. Thirty minutes with two very strange MTV hosts trying to sound excited about a show that really isn’t about anything. Horrible, just horrible.

The first episode of season three airs Monday night at 10 PM EST on MTV. I might watch it, if only for Heidi, but I’ll be sure to switch the channel the moment it ends.

Read: MTV

Amazon FPS: another US-only payments service

Post ImageAmazon launched another web service on Friday, called the Amazon Flexible Payments Service (FPS). The interesting thing about the launch is that Jeff Barr was teasing everyone on Twitter, building up the anticipation. I was eagerly watching for updates! I wish more product launches happened in a similar fashion.

Anyway, here is how Jeff described FPS:

We’ve taken all that we know about dealing with credit cards, bank accounts, fraud checking and customer service and wrapped it all up into one convenient package.

In much the same way that S3 and EC2 allow developers to forget about leasing space in data centers, buying servers and negotiating for bandwidth, FPS shields developers from many of the messy and complex issues which arise when dealing with money. Once again, we take care of the “muck” and developers get to focus on being innovative and creative.

As you know, I love S3. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise then when I say that FPS gets me really, really excited. I haven’t looked at it too closely, but even a quick glance suggests that FPS is amazing. PayPal is the giant of the payments space, but they badly need some competition. Unfortunately, no one seems prepared to provide it. No, not even FPS.

The problem is geography. There’s competition for US merchants, but everyone else is left out in the cold. Just like Google Checkout, FPS has launched with support limited to companies in the US (though buyers can be anywhere…and Google has since added UK merchant support but that’s it). There are certainly a lot of Internet users in the United States, but they still make up less than a quarter of the world total, and that percentage drops every day. There is a ton of e-commerce taking place outside the US.

PayPal is supported in over 190 countries and regions. There are 14 countries that PayPal describes as “localized” and another 21 that support withdrawals to local bank accounts. For merchants in 34 of these countries (ignoring the US), Google Checkout and Amazon FPS simply are not options. PayPal is the only viable choice.

And don’t get me wrong, I quite like PayPal, but there are definitely things that need to be improved. The FPS feature set addresses a wide range of these issues (such as support for micro-payments). But Amazon FPS and Google Checkout will simply not beat PayPal until they are supported just as widely around the world. Maybe they don’t want to take on PayPal, you say? Bullshit, I reply. PayPal is the target, even if Amazon and Google will only admit that behind closed doors.

I would suggest there are only five companies that could build a payment system to rival PayPal. The first two are eBay and Amazon, the giants of e-commerce. eBay owns PayPal, and Amazon now has FPS. The other three are the usual suspects: Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. Google has Checkout, and Yahoo seems to be fine with PayPal. That leaves Microsoft. A small part of me is hopeful for a wicked payments service as part of Windows Live Core, but Microsoft’s track record with launching worldwide services isn’t so great either.

Will there ever be a viable, worldwide competitor to PayPal? I hope so, but I’m not holding my breath.

Read: Amazon FPS

Notes for 8/5/2007

Here are my weekly notes:

  • I went to the Edmonton Heritage Festival today. It was quite hot out, especially since I was wearing jeans and shoes instead of shorts and sandals (I left the house quite early, and it was a tad chilly out). I didn’t have any crazy food, but I did buy a hat from the Chinese pavilion that makes me look like a rice farmer (how the heck did my shirt get so wrinkly? I am looking at it now and it’s fine!).
  • Fake Steve Jobs has been busted! Turns out it’s Daniel Lyons, a writer for Forbes.
  • The Royal Alexandra Hospital here in Edmonton (the hospital where I was born) made Engadget today! Apparently they are testing some surgical robots. Hardcore.
  • Interesting read about Microsoft doing business in China.
  • I’ve been showing off the Remember the Milk application lately. I really like the user interface, especially the “undo” capabilities. Really impressive!
  • I have been procrastinating about moving, which isn’t surprising I guess. I have my work cut out for me tomorrow.

What have I been up to

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while (thanks!) you’ve likely noticed that I haven’t been posting as frequently as usual lately. It’s not that I have nothing to post – quite the opposite in fact! It’s just that I have been taking some time to adjust to a new schedule. And I’ve been busier than normal too.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

  • Awake around 7:30 am every morning, at Starbucks by 9:00 am. I have a Grande mild, no cream or sugar, in my own stainless steel travel mug. Interestingly, the price is never the same. Some baristas charge the correct price (Grande minus a discount for the personal mug), some charge for the smaller size, and some charge for a normal Grande (no discount). I never correct them, so I guess it all balances out.
  • Work! Lots of Paramagnus stuff going on lately, including some new improvements to the distribution engine that powers Podcast Spot. Various other projects too. I’d like to do more coding than I have been though.
  • Posting elsewhere! I’ve continued to post on and off at WindowsMediaBlog.com, and I am still writing at last100 too. My latest feature there, on Amazon.com and the digital living room, went live today. Feature posts take quite a bit more time and effort to write, but they are much more rewarding too.
  • Preparing to move this weekend. I’ve been house-sitting for friends since last August while they were living abroad. They’re back on Monday, so I need to get the house back to the way it was when they left!
  • Twittering! I’m addicted (you can find me here). And I have started to use Twitter for work too. I wrote a bot that I can send direct messages to and it will respond with the information I have requested. For example, I can send it the command “!stats” and it will reply with the number of podcasts and episodes at Podcast Spot. My bot is pretty basic right now, but I can see hundreds of ways to improve it.
  • Random other things. Went for dinner a few times with Grandma and Helen (relative from Australia…she’s visiting Mom and Dad now). Drove Tom to the airport yesterday morning – he too went to visit the parental units (as he and Kim used to say) up in Yellowknife. Fixed Megan’s laptop, which involved installing a new hard drive. Been to Chicken For Lunch a few times – Amy calls me a “good boy” heh. Random movies and other dinners.

So that’s my update. After this weekend I think I’ll be a bit more settled, and normal blogging will resume. I haven’t even been reading that much lately…good thing the really important stuff comes via Twitter!

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?