"Web services don’t get better under the ownership of big companies. They get worse."
Fred Wilson
Apple Logo
The Internet is an odd place sometimes.
I was googling {update: term removed by request} for reasons that I will keep to myself. Not a lot of results there, but one led to tasty little tidbit that Apple’s second logo was a tribute to Alan Turing. Seems that the father of modern computer preferred men and he committed suicide by partially eating a poisoned Apple. Hence the rainbow apple with a bite.
If any of this is true only Mr. Jobs can tell. But I find it rather strange that less then 30 minutes about stumbling across this that an article on the evolution of tech company logos appears on Techmeme and then gets picked up by TechCrunch.
The Internet is an odd place sometimes.
Capital Connections Survey
Last night was the third Capital Connections event put on by the guys from Startup Lounge. Another great event. The only problem was that there were so many people there it was a bit crowded. But that is a good problem to have. Personally my only compliant is the constant ribbing I took for having “Observer” on my badge. I never just observe anything. Does anybody? What about the observer effect?
Regardless, I saw some new companies that I had not seen before and some that have been around for awhile. One of the companies that showed up for the first time was dNeero. I have been helping the Joes out for a while and it was good to see them bringing the company out in the light. dNeero gets my award for the best promotion, edging the guy holding the light bulb on the pole ala a music festival that I did not get a chance to meet.
Mentors Wanted
Lots of folks have asked what Tony leaving ATDC means for me. Not much really. I suppose I get to do more interesting activities. One of those is taking Tony’s place on the GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition Task Force.
In this role Tino Mantellla has asked me to recruit a number of mentors to help the applicants. Mentors are successful high tech entrepreneurs who are interested in giving back to the community by helping other entrepreneurs
be successful. Mentors essentially help entrants refine their
business plans and presentations before the final application is submitted. The specific role of the mentor is
determined between the mentor and entrant.
So if you are a successful entrepreneur that knows what a business plan and presentation needs to convey, understands the Internet space, and has a little time to devote between mid February and mid April to help other entrepreneurs, I would love to hear from you.
You can reach me at lance at weatherby.net.
Super Vote Tuesday
I am going to go vote today as I ususally do when given the privilege. It makes me feel proud to live in this great country of ours. And despite the challenges we face this election year this country is great.
I came into work real early this morning, have a series of meetings, and then am going to the polling place to vote before heading home to take care of Kate and Jack who remain sick.
Last night Abby and I discussed the election over dinner. I had not made up my mind on who I was going to vote for. Last election I voted for the guy that lost. My vote was driven by social issues. This year fiscal issues are driving my decision. Which made me state pretty early on that I won’t vote for any candidate that wants to raise taxes. I admire the leadership that Hillary and Obama are displaying, but I can’t vote for them.
And while I am not a staunch died in the wool Republican (remember, I voted for the other guy last time) this leaves me with McCain and Romney. They both scare me in some way, mostly over social issues, but if they win my taxes are not going up. But McCain seems too old, too inside, and too pandering for the conservative vote. Mitt won my vote in the California debate. He seems to be the only person that understands and willing to address that we have to stop treating entitlement spending as a fixed cost. He wants to do this via private retirements accounts. He wants to offer tax breaks to people making less then $200,000 eliminating capital gains tax (thus spurring innovation), interest, and dividends for most. He wants to pay for this by cutting government spending. Sounds good to me.
On another level Mitt seems the most executive like to me of all the candidates. And I want an executive to run the executive branch. So Mitt gets my vote today. Like the Giants, he is the dog. Like the Giants, I hope he wins. If he does not I don’t know what I am going to do come November.
If you want to find out where to vote and get a summary of the issues go to this article by Tessa. And if you are looking for some motivation to vote go read this by Seth.
Super Bowl Sunday
Sunday started with a bang for me with a flag football game partially played in Piedmont Park (site of the first Auburn/Georgia football game played in 1892 that kicked off the oldest football rivalry in the South.) The black team beat the red team 77 – 56. Like most football games the outcome was determined by turnovers.
Now I am starting feel the effects of two and a half hours of football and starting to think about the Super Bowl. This year is not as exciting for me as last when I was cheering on the Bears. But it is an interesting game with history on the line.
While I was hoping to see the Packers in this one so that Favre could ride off into the sunset, I am going to be cheering for the underdog Giants. Not because they are dogs. I have cheered for them from my Hoboken days when I was lucky enough to make it out to Giants Stadium once or twice to see the great LT play. That man was scary fast. Regardless, I was rooting for them from a Hoboken bar in Super Bowl XXV when they beat the Bills. I was in the stadium looking for some O when the Ravens defense shut them down in Super Bowl XXXV. Tonight I am going to be cheering them on from my couch with two sick kids.
Their are some interesting technical innovations that will be happening during the game. There is going to be the first Twitter Bowl, where twitter users can send tweets to @superbowlads rating commercials. Those following will have a pretty good idea of the ad scorecard as the game progresses.
The NFL is going to let fans help pick the game’s MVP. During the fourth quarter fans can vote at Super Bowl web site or by texting to 99777. The fans vote counts for 20% with media getting 80%.
So I am going to be rooting for the Giants, watching the ads, playing with some tech stuff, and taking care of the kids.
My prediction? Plaxico almost has it right. Add ten points to his call of 23-17 and switch the winner. The Giants cover, but lose 33 – 27. I hope I am wrong, because I really want the 85 Bears to remain the 2nd greatest team to play in my lifetime.
Double Quote of the Week
“Social networking inventory is not monetizing as well as expected.”
"While Google management insisted on the call that the company beat its
internal growth estimates, that’s like your kid getting a C grade
versus your B+ expectation, and then attempting to explain it away by
saying that he/she had thought they were going to do worse."
Negative Feedback for eBay
A couple of days ago eBay announced some "bold changes" to its fee structure, seller standards and feedback mechanism.
Now I participate a bit in the eBay community as "nopressureman". 100% positive feedback have I. Most recently I sold my Nikon D70s and a Nikkor 28-105mm lens when I upgraded to the D80.
For the most part I agree with eBay’s announced changes. Lowering insertion fees and charging more when something sells is a better performance based pricing model in my mind. Free gallery photos a good thing for both buyers and sellers. The changing seller standards is a yawn to me, I am a good guy.
Then today I read an article by Amanda Fehd entitled "EBay’s Tweaks to Feedback Worry Sellers" that gave me a little heartache. Seller’s will not be able to leave negative feedback for buyers. eBay’s rationale; it drives buyers away from the site. Note to eBay, the only reason why good seller’s give negative feedback to buyers is if they don’t pay. And if they don’t pay they are not buyers to begin with, they are freeloaders that enable eBay to earn double commission when I have to list the product again.
Case in point, kolobob, who won the action for the above mentioned lens has yet to pay me for the auction he won last Saturday. If I don’t get payment by Saturday I am going to have to relist. Or perhaps I will just use Craigslist.
Who are you driving away now eBay?
What’s In My Bag
After reading Paul Stamatiou’s meme post I thought I would play along. Like Paul I travel light, perhaps even lighter.
The most important item in the bag is my trusty 12" PowerBook G4. It goes everywhere and I prefer to use it to take notes. For those moments when tapping keys is not appropriate I have a composition book and Mont Blanc notepad to drop into a suit coat when I am dressed up and networking. To jot I have a Mont Blanc platinum rollerball. A yellow highlighter and red marker round out the writing devices.
Also in the bag are three sets of business cards, my iPhone with buds, a screen cleaning cloth, reading glasses, and a thumb drive courtesy of Hitachi whom I have some dealings with while consulting. All this is packaged up in a not pictured Tumi deluxe computer portfolio brief that was gifted to me by Delta when I became a million miler back in 2001.
That’s it. What’s in your bag?
The R Word
It’s recession. And this article by Henry Blodget sent me over the top. It begins:
Morgan Stanley economist (and perennial bear) Stephen Roach says the current US recession…
Like anyone that has ever successfully prevented themselves from completely glassing over during macroeconomics I can tell you that a recession is defined as a decline in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for two or more successive quarters of a year. BTW, GDP is simply the value of all the goods and services produced by a country.
In Q3 of 2007 GDP grew at a very robust 4.9%. I am no economist but I can tell you that is a huge number. While the Q4 figures will not be released until January 30, the estimates that I
have seen are in the 1.5% range. While we may be heading toward one, currently we are not in a
recession. It’s not technically possible.
When doing a little research for this article I came across a story by Brian Wesbury in today’s Journal. According to Brian, “models based on recent monetary and tax policy suggest real GDP will grow at a 3% to 3.5% rate in 2008, while the probability of recession this year is 10%.”
Is there a housing crisis? Yes, but deep rate cuts should fix that. Are we in a bear market? Darn close. Are we in a recession? No.
And until we are people need to be a little more responsible when they are tossing that word around.