Sure thing. I'm about to release a new software platform for Avocado farm management. Jupiter Research says it's going to be a 10 billion a year industry by 2012.
1) "The 'killer app' of tomorrow won't be software or hardware devices, but the social practices they make possible." - Howard Rheingold
The Sony 'iPod killers' are just using new technology to accomplish the same social purpose. The only difference between the Sony products and the Apple ones is that the Sony ones are less sexy. If Sony wants to succeed, they need to make a product that A) serves a new social purpose and B) is more sexy. Let's face it: the iPod is already sexy. But the iPod is sexy as in sexy to look at. That was good enough five years ago, but not today. I want REAL sexy. Not just sexy as in sexy to look at sexy, but sexy as in dripping down your face sexy.
2) "The real 'iPod killer' won't be an mp3 player."
The world doesn't need a new mp3 player. The iPod is already good enough. The real iPod killer won't be an mp3 player. It won't even play mp3s. It will do something entirely different. The problem is the people who run these companies like Sony are a little slow and don't get this, so we get these people investing 100 million dollars to create shit products that any five year old knows won't sell when they could be creating the next patent pending paradigm shifting curve jumping technology for 1/20th of that much.
It was a joke. Theoretically though it actually makes sense since the Chinese governments can't prosecute US citizens and the US government can't prosecute Chinese citizens. In reality though it would be an unmitigated disaster.
China doesn't have the authority to kidnap US citizens without probable cause and send them it Gitmo without trial to be tortured or killed so it doesn't matter. Well, technically neither does the US, but that doesn't seem to be stopping Bush.
Maybe they should be moving the US records into China, given all the crap with the DOJ recently. That would actually be a pretty good swap, moving the US records into China and the Chinese records into the US.
Well, at one point it actually was announced in the IRC channel that it would be the millionth non speedy deleted article. However, because Squidoo is a business it was decided that we should stick with the original one millionth, so as not to encourage people to use WP to promote their businesses. Which is fine with me.
I would note though that during the beta test all profits are being donated to charity, with over $4,000 raised so far. So if it was declared as the one millionth article it wouldn't have actually been a big deal, but I suppose perception is everything.
Heh, I don't see why people have such a hatred of everything that can't be quantified. Just because it can't be measured, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Isn't giving your email address optional? I think it says that you either get a linkback to your website or a link to your email address right where you submit the article.
This is dumb. I own an Apple. The more people who buy Apples, the more software that gets made for the platform. Anyone who already owns an Apple naturally wants other people to buy them. It doesn't have anything to do with "drinking the kool-aid." If you own an Apple because you think it's the best OS, then it's economically rational for you to want other people to use Apple.
Windows has had what, like 200,000 Virus's in the last year? Apple has had two or three theoretical exploits that either require the user to run code by hand or else target services that most mac users don't turn on. Sounds like Apple is doing its job to me. And honestly this idea that as Apple gets more popular there will be more viruses is largely a load of crap. The notoriety of writing the first real virus for OS X would be vastly more than for writing yet another windows virus. The reason why no one writes viruses for Apple is most likely because people like Apple and want them to succeed. I think if people start writing viruses for Apple it will be because Apple gets lazy and stops innovating, or else stops at least trying to fix the bugs in its software. Because right now both the means and the motive or there, but it's just not really happening.
The word "credentials" is a four letter word to entrepreneurs. Remember, this is a community where dropping out of college to start a business and failing miserably, losing your life savings in the process, is considered a good thing. Literally. It will make it easier to get investment in the future.
As for your comment about ViaWeb, it was profitable IIRC when they sold it to Yahoo!, which means it was sustainable.
I agree. Most of these companies don't even have a business plan yet. The probability of going from idea to IPO is 1 in 6 million so it isn't a bad deal if you are starting a Web 2.0 company where you won't need much cash. That way you get enough money to live on, plus the advice and company of your fellow hackers to keep you motivated. This is really much more important than the money. As YCombinator gets bigger I would like it if they could add a program more suited to hardware developers and other types of start ups. Right now for businesses that require a lot of investment YCombinator isn't really practical.
If you don't know, there are some amazing talks given by Paul Graham that can be downloaded on the net. I will paste the links below, but all of these are copied from my lens on start ups (see my sig), where there is a good mix of free start up goodness and amazon link referral whoring (because the only thing worse than tricking Americans into reading is tricking Americans into reading while raising money for charity).
Ideas for Start ups -- An entertaining talk by Paul Graham on how entrepreneurs get ideas for start ups.
Hackers and Painters -- Another entertaining and informative talk by Paul Graham. Unlike architects (who figure out what to build) and engineers (who figure out how), great hackers and painters do both. Who makes a good hacker and how can you identify a good hacker/programmer in a job interview? Why is empathy an important skill for programmers? As a hacker who also studied painting in Europe, Paul may be uniquely qualified to write a book entitled Hackers and Painters. If you leave your day programming job only to get home and write more code, this is a great book for you.
What business can learn from open source -- Paul Graham, popular author and Lisp programmer, discusses what business can learn from open source. According to him, it's not about Linux or Firefox, but the forces that produced them. He delves into the reasons why open source is able to produce better software, why traditional workplaces are actually harmful to productivity and the reason why professionalism is overrated.
I think this may just be the funniest Slashdot comment of all time. It would be even better though if you tailored it around PG's philosophy though, i.e. Lisp or Python, never Java.
If you actually watched the video you would see pictures of innocent men and women being sexually abused, people being threatened with electrocution, and dead bodies beaten to death.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes indeed, you win! :-)
Sure thing. I'm about to release a new software platform for Avocado farm management. Jupiter Research says it's going to be a 10 billion a year industry by 2012.
You don't need to make up some Wired-article style techno-mythology to explain why Sony can't compete with Apple in this market.
It's because walking around with a Sony MP3 player won't get you laid.
Why do you think people spend four bucks on a cup of coffee on Starbucks even though only 30% of the people surveyed actually like Starbuck's coffee?
Why do you assume the social practice the iPod makes possible is playing music?
*hint* You can buy a better mp3 player for less money than the iPod.
And also the fact that this story is under the Apple category even though it's about Sony is telling :-)
(And no, I'm not just a serial entrepreneur, I also do consulting)
1) "The 'killer app' of tomorrow won't be software or hardware devices,
but the social practices they make possible." - Howard Rheingold
The Sony 'iPod killers' are just using new technology to accomplish the same social purpose. The only difference between the Sony products and the Apple ones is that the Sony ones are less sexy. If Sony wants to succeed, they need to make a product that A) serves a new social purpose and B) is more sexy. Let's face it: the iPod is already sexy. But the iPod is sexy as in sexy to look at. That was good enough five years ago, but not today. I want REAL sexy. Not just sexy as in sexy to look at sexy, but sexy as in dripping down your face sexy.
2) "The real 'iPod killer' won't be an mp3 player."
The world doesn't need a new mp3 player. The iPod is already good enough. The real iPod killer won't be an mp3 player. It won't even play mp3s. It will do something entirely different. The problem is the people who run these companies like Sony are a little slow and don't get this, so we get these people investing 100 million dollars to create shit products that any five year old knows won't sell when they could be creating the next patent pending paradigm shifting curve jumping technology for 1/20th of that much.
It was a joke. Theoretically though it actually makes sense since the Chinese governments can't prosecute US citizens and the US government can't prosecute Chinese citizens. In reality though it would be an unmitigated disaster.
China doesn't have the authority to kidnap US citizens without probable cause and send them it Gitmo without trial to be tortured or killed so it doesn't matter. Well, technically neither does the US, but that doesn't seem to be stopping Bush.
Maybe they should be moving the US records into China, given all the crap with the DOJ recently. That would actually be a pretty good swap, moving the US records into China and the Chinese records into the US.
Well, at one point it actually was announced in the IRC channel that it would be the millionth non speedy deleted article. However, because Squidoo is a business it was decided that we should stick with the original one millionth, so as not to encourage people to use WP to promote their businesses. Which is fine with me.
I would note though that during the beta test all profits are being donated to charity, with over $4,000 raised so far. So if it was declared as the one millionth article it wouldn't have actually been a big deal, but I suppose perception is everything.
You think you feel bad, I posted the 1,000,001th article!
Heh, I don't see why people have such a hatred of everything that can't be quantified. Just because it can't be measured, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Isn't giving your email address optional? I think it says that you either get a linkback to your website or a link to your email address right where you submit the article.
This is dumb. I own an Apple. The more people who buy Apples, the more software that gets made for the platform. Anyone who already owns an Apple naturally wants other people to buy them. It doesn't have anything to do with "drinking the kool-aid." If you own an Apple because you think it's the best OS, then it's economically rational for you to want other people to use Apple.
Windows has had what, like 200,000 Virus's in the last year? Apple has had two or three theoretical exploits that either require the user to run code by hand or else target services that most mac users don't turn on. Sounds like Apple is doing its job to me. And honestly this idea that as Apple gets more popular there will be more viruses is largely a load of crap. The notoriety of writing the first real virus for OS X would be vastly more than for writing yet another windows virus. The reason why no one writes viruses for Apple is most likely because people like Apple and want them to succeed. I think if people start writing viruses for Apple it will be because Apple gets lazy and stops innovating, or else stops at least trying to fix the bugs in its software. Because right now both the means and the motive or there, but it's just not really happening.
The word "credentials" is a four letter word to entrepreneurs. Remember, this is a community where dropping out of college to start a business and failing miserably, losing your life savings in the process, is considered a good thing. Literally. It will make it easier to get investment in the future.
As for your comment about ViaWeb, it was profitable IIRC when they sold it to Yahoo!, which means it was sustainable.
I agree. Most of these companies don't even have a business plan yet. The probability of going from idea to IPO is 1 in 6 million so it isn't a bad deal if you are starting a Web 2.0 company where you won't need much cash. That way you get enough money to live on, plus the advice and company of your fellow hackers to keep you motivated. This is really much more important than the money. As YCombinator gets bigger I would like it if they could add a program more suited to hardware developers and other types of start ups. Right now for businesses that require a lot of investment YCombinator isn't really practical.
Ideas for Start ups -- An entertaining talk by Paul Graham on how entrepreneurs get ideas for start ups.
Hackers and Painters -- Another entertaining and informative talk by Paul Graham. Unlike architects (who figure out what to build) and engineers (who figure out how), great hackers and painters do both. Who makes a good hacker and how can you identify a good hacker/programmer in a job interview? Why is empathy an important skill for programmers? As a hacker who also studied painting in Europe, Paul may be uniquely qualified to write a book entitled Hackers and Painters. If you leave your day programming job only to get home and write more code, this is a great book for you.
What business can learn from open source -- Paul Graham, popular author and Lisp programmer, discusses what business can learn from open source. According to him, it's not about Linux or Firefox, but the forces that produced them. He delves into the reasons why open source is able to produce better software, why traditional workplaces are actually harmful to productivity and the reason why professionalism is overrated.
A) You get the PG brand on your start up
B) No VC will ever sign an NDA
I think this may just be the funniest Slashdot comment of all time. It would be even better though if you tailored it around PG's philosophy though, i.e. Lisp or Python, never Java.
Zelda was good, one of the best even. But it still doesn't hold a candle to NetHack.
Didn't Slashdot submit questions for Jimbo to answer? Is this instead of that, or is he still doing the Slashdot interview?
What were we talking about again?
If you actually watched the video you would see pictures of innocent men and women being sexually abused, people being threatened with electrocution, and dead bodies beaten to death.
And yes, it is as bad as anything Sadaam did.