betaworks

"The way VCs think and act is very dangerous for the whole iPhone platform. My hopes are that the..."

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:05:00 -0400

“

The way VCs think and act is very dangerous for the whole iPhone platform. My hopes are that the most successful developers that come out of this are truly independent developers and that the market does its best to support them.

Again, fuck the VCs.

”

- taptaptap

UPDATE: Rafer, in a reblog of this, writes: “Andy, do you really feel this way? I can’t believe that” to which I sez “No, I don’t feel this way, but thought it was a worthy quote anyway expressing someone’s opinion. I am more in line with your comments here”

"Of course, it’s our opinion at Tipjoy that instead of clicking ads, it would make much more..."

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:00:30 -0400

“Of course, it’s our opinion at Tipjoy that instead of clicking ads, it would make much more sense to leave the content creator some money directly. Cut out the middle man, and do it without leaving the page, and certainly without being taken to an annoying ad page.”

- Abby/Tipjoy

"I’ve argued for years that one of the critical architectural decisions we can make about Web..."

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:44:00 -0400

“I’ve argued for years that one of the critical architectural decisions we can make about Web 2.0 applications is whether they are built on the “one ring to rule them all” model that we saw with Microsoft Windows and Office, a game where network effects drive a winner-takes-all marketplace, or the Unix/Internet model of “small pieces loosely joined,” in which cooperating applications come together to build value greater than any of the pieces do alone.”

- Tim O’Reilly

Agree. The challenge for some right now is visibility into the business model - as these are businesses - the “one ring” model had clear economic levers (see Microsoft) and while the realities of the market today may not make those levers attainable, they were understandable. But what is the new model with small pieces loosely joined - is it the same size pie sliced into smaller and smaller (and unsustainable) pieces, or a much larger pie available only to those who come together. And if the latter (which I think is right), how do you structure those economic arrangements now?

"There is something largely last-decade about requiring restarts to add a new feature to your..."

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:03:52 -0400

“There is something largely last-decade about requiring restarts to add a new feature to your browsing experience. It’s ironic that the entire Web is on a push model, yet the browser—the most fundamental tool of interacting with the Web—is on a pull model.”

- Aza Raskin

Tumblr Search now searches your entire Dashboard

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:02:37 -0400

johnborthwick:

bijan:

This won’t mean as much to those of you that don’t use Tumblr.

But if you do use Tumblr v4 beta then you are going to absolutely love this.

Tumblr now searches your Dashboard. Just click the “all posts” link as if you were going to do a Tumblr 3.0 style filter and then you will see the search box.

This rocks.

Kortina made the bit.ly bookmarklet into an ubiquity command -...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:01:00 -0400

Kortina made the bit.ly bookmarklet into an ubiquity command - works great

kortina:

bit.ly for ubiquity screencast

Ok, ubiquity is AWESOME. Think Firefox + Textmate + Quicksilver.

If you like macros, keyboard shortcuts, textmate, quicksilver, launcy, emacs, the command line, auto complete, or touch typing, go download the ubiquity Firefox Extension right now. This tool lets you create javascript macros that are launched through a Quicksilver interface inside Firefox.

I just made the bit.ly bookmarklet into a ubiquity command in about five minutes. The screencast is linked at the top of this post. You can install the bit.ly macro by first getting the ubiquity plugin, then returning to this page and clicking the subscribe button at the top right hand part of the page.

Ubiquity is my new favorite thing. I started working on a vaguely similar Firefox extension about a year ago called snipfire, but the execution of ubiquity is lovely. More importantly, it’s very easy to write new macros for it. Plus, it’s quite clear that Mozilla spent a good amount of time thinking about sharing ubiquity scripts and the social distribution of these scripts.

Brilliant!

tumblr — explore, wonderful stuff …

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:50:30 -0400

tumblr — explore, wonderful stuff …

"I believe that in the UK we aren’t missing great technical talent - we’re missing enough regular..."

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:23:51 -0400

“I believe that in the UK we aren’t missing great technical talent - we’re missing enough regular events for hackers to meet, in forums focused on hacking. In SF there are developer oriented meetups every night of the week, in New York there’s the mighty Tech Meetup but in the UK we need to do more to make sure those discussions happen.”

- Ian Hogarth of Songkick

Gawker chooses Hype Machine . .

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:22:00 -0400

The Hype Machine is cool even if you aren’t. The music startup seems really simple: index MP3s linked from popular music blogs and make them easy to find and listen to and brag about to people who haven’t found whatever the Youngs will be sick of before they even hear it. Blame it on cofounder Taylor McKnight (pictured here at Lollapalooza, how retro!) for being so blonde and damn easy to talk to, and for designer Zoya Feldman for the gorgeous little logo. Because you can’t buy cred, but you can buy cute.

Gawker

bryc3: Last week I posted a few updates to twitter I called vc...

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:07:24 -0400

bryc3:

Last week I posted a few updates to twitter I called vc tip-o-the day, basically these were kinda snarky thoughts that I felt would help entrepreneurs with how they approach and interact with VCs. A few examples here and here.

It wasn’t anything I intended to turn into a series of updates, let alone form a group, but the response has been really positive and entrepreneurs seem to be digging them. Fred suggested we put together a group and I loved the idea. So with the help of Whitney McNamara we did just that.

I’ve recruited a handful of other VCs and angel investors that are active on twitter to contribute. Great folks like Albert, Andy, Aydin, Bijan, Fred, Hornick, Josh and Rob will be posting to the group. Others will be coming on board too. We’re hoping this will become a hub for VCs, entrepreneurs and anyone interested in the world of building great companies.

You can start receiving these tips by going here and following VCTips.

"Are virtual relationships shallower than face to face relationships? Do virtual relationships..."

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:49:02 -0400

“Are virtual relationships shallower than face to face relationships? Do virtual relationships enrich or detract from face to face relationships? What is the trade-off between quantity and quality in relationships? To what extent can virtual relationships support the communication of tacit knowledge? Do we seek out virtual relationships that merely reinforce our existing points of view or that expand our perspectives?”

- John Hagel

A nice review of Firefly from Hello Kitty Junkie

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:20:23 -0400

A nice review of Firefly from Hello Kitty Junkie

Chk out the information page for this bit.ly...

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:16:37 -0400

Chk out the information page for this bit.ly link

http://bit.ly/20QnpZ

Bryce Roberts

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:44:36 -0400

Bryce Roberts

"Profanity in the workplace may be considered taboo at most companies, but a new British study shows..."

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:03:00 -0400

“Profanity in the workplace may be considered taboo at most companies, but a new British study shows that office expletives might actually help boost morale. Swearing can help develop and maintain solidarity among workers, as well as relieve stress, according to the study”

- Inc. (via Signal vs Noise)

"As much as the RIAA might like to think they can sue everyone to stop piracy, and as much as we all..."

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:14:39 -0400

“As much as the RIAA might like to think they can sue everyone to stop piracy, and as much as we all might like to think we are good people who would never steal music, neither positions reflect reality.”

- Venture Beat

News

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:57:00 -0400

Lotame, which runs an ad platform aimed at social networks, has raised a $13 million Series B round, led by new investor Emergence Capital Partners.

Alley Insider

Wow lot of money raised. They have lots of revenues, so it is well-deserved, their business is exploding, like Lookery, which does things very differently. I guess this is a now a betaworks company that has grown up.

"This is like complaining that the GPL is too “political” to be a software license because it..."

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:22:05 -0400

“This is like complaining that the GPL is too “political” to be a software license because it “restricts” users’ “freedom” to take without giving back. You’re missing the point; the GPL is designed to be a political manifesto (cleverly disguised as a software license).”

- diveintomark (via Alex)

"When you have a fast enough connection you can unbundle discovery and transaction and get the best..."

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:27:18 -0400

“When you have a fast enough connection you can unbundle discovery and transaction and get the best of all worlds.”

- Sam Lessin

Photo

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:19:21 -0400