Beware of Freeconomics
The quote below is from this post from ReadWriteWeb
While we are certainly seeing more and more examples of products being given away for free, it is not necessarily a good thing. There are different aspects and faces of free. The Flickr free, which Fred Wilson calls freemium, is the model where the basic version is free and the premium one costs money.This model is very different from the GMail model where the entire product, with full features, is completely free. The downside of freeconomics is a monopolistic market, with barriers to entry, and little incentive to innovate. In addition the middle-man and transactional complexities are the other side effects of this new economic trend.
(Read the whole thing : Beware of Freeconomics)
It is of course on a topic that I've written a lot about, so I won't comment on it further, just that I agree 🙂
Another interesting post at the ‘TSA’ Blog
Another really interesting post from TSA Blog: Evolution of Security: (which should be called 'The TSA Blog'!
"Behavior analysis is based on the fear of being discovered. People who are trying to get away with something display signs of stress through involuntary physical and physiological behaviors. Whether someone’s trying to sneak through that excellent stone ground mustard they bought on vacation, a knife, or a bomb, behavior detection officers like me are trained to spot certain suspicious behaviors out of the crowd. Once we make our determination, we refer these passengers for additional screening or directly to law enforcement."
(from: The Truth Behind the Title: Behavior Detection Officer)
Brad Feld: “Why Am I Passing?” – At least you are passing
Brad Feld, famous Venture Capitalis t writes an interesting post about how he might get to the point of telling an entrepreneur "we are passing " in this post from Feld Thoughts:
"We always try to be respectful of the entrepreneurs and pass as soon as we hit the "this isn't going to happen" point. There are different triggers for each company and it's not predictable. I imagine this can be frustrating for an entrepreneur because it feels like you are making process with us when we suddenly say "we are passing ", but I'd like to think it's an efficient way for you since we unambiguously take ourselves out of the hunt when we realize we aren't going to get there. Ultimately, this is better for you since you don't have to consume a bunch more time with us on a low priority outcome."
(from: Why Am I Passing?)
Couldn 't agree more! I've seen it happen more than once that people are just strung along and strung along and never actually get a "No" for all kinds of reasons. It's refreshing and it should be appreciated when a potential investor reaches a definitive conclusion, even if it's a "No."
From Demo 2008: Silobreaker – A unique new research tool
Joining the ranks of the growing number of news aggregation and research sites is Silobreaker, which I first met at Demo 2008. Two things catch my interest with Silobreaker - try it by clicking here for a search on the topic 'Google'
-
The result displayed for a search is mult-dimensional or multi-media or whatever you want to call it. In addition to the usual top stories about Google (for example) you find the top Videos about Google, a histogram showing article volume about Google over the last week, a concept network around Google. a map showing where in the world people are writing about Google. And more. Check it out yourself to see what I mean.
-
Silobreaker has made an effort to understand the semantics of the search, so if you type in the beginning of a search word, say "Boston" it displays a list of companies, places, people and keyphrases that start with Boston, and lets you disambiguate. That means to me that they are keeping track of the meaning of what you are searching for, which bodes well.
Two examples of great Web 2.0 by USA government
Who said "your TSA don 't dance and your USPTO don't rock and roll?" (One free copy of BlogBridge for all of you who get the reference without using Wikipedia)
Here are two cool examples. First up, the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) now has a blog that seems to be much more than a bunch of pre- digested PR drivel, but instead posts from actual people with actual knowledge about TSA and their mission.
From their blurb:
"This blog is sponsored by the Transportation Security Administration to facilitate an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process." (from The Evolution of Security)
By the way, a plea: please name your blogs in a way that it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out what it is. How about calling it the TSA Blog? Duh.
But it is quite interesting, for example, from a few days ago:
"Saturday morning, a Transportation Security Officer working the x-ray machine saw two razor blades in what appeared to be a book in someone's carry-on bag. During the bag check, the razor blades were found inside the pages of a Bible, and bag belonged to… a priest. Can't make this stuff up." (from Saturday Morning, Strange But True…")
This blog and the way it is being written is a Very Good Idea. I just hope that the politicians don't grab hold of it and turn it into another propaganda portal.
So that was the dance part, here's the rock and roll.
The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has created a very cool site to allow peer input about patents that are being sought. From their blurb:
"Peer-to-Patent opens the patent examination process to public participation for the first time. Become part of this historic pilot program. Help the USPTO find the information relevant to assessing the claims of pending patent applications. Become a community reviewer and improve the quality of patents."
So this is kind of a social network to assist the patent office in filtering out bad patents more effectively, something that they have failed to do often and have been heavily criticized for.
The cool thing is that they seem to have thought this through quite well. Particularly the way peer input is used or not used as part of the patent review process seems to protect against competitors trying to somehow manipulate the process. And the site is attractive, sensible in its design, incorporates video and tutorials etc. A thoroughly modern effort. And a valuable service. Kudos!
Quickbase on steroids?
Here's a new online light weight database product that picks up where QuickBase leaves off and goes crazy. It's called blist. It has a far snazzier (and more complicated) user interface than Quickbase.
In good old SAT fashion, Quickbase is to Blist as Google Docs is to Buzzword, which by the way, you should check out also!
I am not taking sides, but next time you need a web based, light weight, list or database, you should check out both QuickBase and blist.
Giving till it hurts
Do you get fund raising / spam phone calls from very persistent, insistent callers asking for money to 'Support our Veterans'? I've gotten them more than once, and have even donated. For some reason it has stuck me that these particular calls were unusual in the high-pressure tactics they used. So I was interested when I came across this:
"The public has rightly shown its empathy with wounded and troubled war veterans, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to private charities that claim to have the veterans’ best interests at heart. A new study details rampant abuses of the money flow." (from The New York Times)
I don't know what to make of it, but it does feed into my suspicions.
Oldish news, but interesting
I came across this note that the fairly famous spat between Apple Gossip site Think Secret and Apple Inc. has been settled:
"We understand that Nick Ciarelli, the journalist who ran Think Secret, is "very satisfied" with the settlement. While it is sad that Think Secret will be closing its doors, since it was a valuable news source, Ciarelli is now free to move on to other things…[snip…]" from Electronic Frontier Foundation
It's too bad. Think Secret was a valuable resource. I wonder where Nick will turn up next.
Summing up the history of human affairs
In the context of the current Wall Street excitement, I received a letter of assurance from a mutual fund manager saying, among other things:
_" Dear Investors, _
While the recent downdraft in worldwide equity markets may be unsettling, there is a great deal in our investments to engender optimism. In fact, we believe that we are witnessing an incredible investment opportunity for those who are able to exhibit some fortitude.
We have endured similar experiences in the past.
If thehistory of human affairs can be summed up in simple terms , it would be by the phrase: “This too shall pass.” In our opinion, the current crisis will end sooner rather than later."
I don't know, in my opinion a significant part of human affairs can be summed up in these simple terms:
" It seemed like a good idea at the time"
Chris Herot on RulesBase
Chris Herot writes about a new product called RulesBase: Check out this post from Christopher Herot's Weblog:
"I had a visit yesterday from Steven Ginzberg and Jack Schatz of Gray Box Software. They showed me a new financial analysis and modeling tool - RulesBase.
A mutual friend had noticed a resemblance to a product from my first start- up, Javelin Software, and suggested they seek my advice. I've spent quite a bit of time recently advising startups on other technologies with which I've worked - audio, video, wireless, social networks - but this was definitely a flash from the past.
Javelin was a financial modeling package that was based on formulas instead of cells, and used GUI and windowing before Windows (Steve Balmer paid us a visit and asked us to consider porting it). It beat Excel for Infoworld's Software Product of the Year, much to the consternation of Bill Gates. The company never did displace Lotus 123, but Lotus did pay the compliment of implementing many of Javelin's features in Lotus Improv. The company was acquired by IRI which later became part of Oracle.
(from : RulesBase)
One other product in the 'everything old is new again ' category is Quantrix, who say:
"Frustrated with error-prone, inflexible spreadsheets? Quantrix is multi- dimensional business modeling & analytics software used by business and finance professionals for: Forecasting, Budgeting, Strategic Planning, Risk Modeling, Data Modeling, Much More…."
Unlike RulesBase, which so far is only available on Windows, Quantrix works on Windows and Mac (and Linux).More fun and interesting for me, Quantrix is based on a fairly faithful knock-off of Lotus Improv, with improvemetns and additions. Very cool!