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Apple, the Boomer Tablet and the Matrix
June 25 2009
I have written here, here and here about Apple’s inevitable assault on the Tablet market. What I hadn’t factored until recently is how symbiotic such a device would be for Baby Boomers. Why Baby Boomers? Well, for the same two reasons that this demographic is unlikely to embrace the palm-sized… read moreNine Essential Truths for Entrepreneurial Success
June 24 2009
Leveraging the pattern recognition of others is one of the best ways to build upon best practices, while sidestepping avoidable mistakes. What follows is a primer of nine key lessons learned from doing eight startups (four as co-founder, four liquidity events). Read on... read morePattern Recognition: Makers, Marketplaces and the Commons
June 16 2009
Finally, having a chance to decompress following his Maker Faire visit, Mark Sigal ruminates on what Maker Faire's 78K attendees means, concluding that it's all about creative destruction, mass customization and the rise of DIY (do it yourself) class. read moreAnalysis: Apple WWDC Keynote - Punishing the Wizard, Part Two
June 09 2009
Fair or unfair, Apple has done such a good job of delivering technical wizardry over the years that when they merely execute, we hammer them because...well, we expect magic. With that in mind, this analysis of Apple's WWDC Keynote yesterday tries to make sense of the key storylines likely to… read more3D Glasses: Virtual Reality, Meet the iPhone
June 05 2009
A light flickers from two distinct points in time. As a child in the early-1970s, one of my toys was a View-Master, a binoculars-like device for viewing 3D images (called stereograms), essentially a mini-program excerpted from popular destinations, TV shows, cartoons, events and the like. The View-Master completely predated the… read moreBuilt-to-Thrive - The Standard Bearers: Apple, Google, Amazon
May 18 2009
When you think of companies that are not only built to last, but rather, built to thrive - in good times and bad - what companies logically sit at the top of the pyramid? Equally important, what should be the criteria for assessing them? Let me propose a straw man… read moreApply Sparingly: Open Standards (and When to Use Them)
May 08 2009
The great thing about standards is that there are "so many to choose from." While it may be convenient to default to aphorisms like proprietary is evil, open is good, I am here to tell you that there are only three reasons to embrace open standards. read moreIs the iPhone Platform Destined to Disrupt the Packaged Software Industry? [GigaOM]
May 01 2009
A recent report by mobile app/game ad network Greystripe confirms what a lot of iPhone/iPod touch owners already know — namely, that the lifespan of a typical iPhone app is short, real short. In fact, the average iPhone App is used a mere 20 times before it’s sent out to… read moreThe Goodness of Artificial Milestones
April 29 2009
A friend of mine in startup-land had a really important meeting with a prospective partner. Knowing the one-shot nature of these things, he literally moved mountains in just a few days, achieving a transformational milestone for his fledging, early-stage company. How did he do it? Read on... read moreWhen No News is GREAT News: Analyis Apple Earnings Call
April 23 2009
Apple crushed it (earnings in the most recent quarter). So much for the recession prompting consumers to stampede away from Apple's "high-end" products, as the prognosticators predicted (and the stock market priced into Apple's stock). So what's the moral of the story? Read on... read morePC 1.0, iPhone 3.0 and the Woz: Everything Old is New Again
March 30 2009
This is a post on how iPhone 3.0 OS is destined to "accessorize" our mobile future by opening up the door to all sorts of interesting hardware-software accessory innovations, in the process creating a $2B+ industry. read moreANALYSIS - iPhone 3.0 Developer Preview: Block the Kick Strategy
March 17 2009
Today's iPhone 3.0 Developer Preview was what I call a "block the kick" announcement. What's a block the kick? It is an effort to do such a good job of persuading your core constituency that any perceived momentum of the competition pales in comparison to your own that you block… read moreiPhones, App Stores and Ecosystems
March 16 2009
On Tuesday, Apple is previewing its iPhone OS 3.0 to developers. While I have no idea what they will present, I will say this. The fact that Apple is stepping on the gas pedal and pushing 3.0, while the new kids on the block (read: Android and Palm Pre) are… read more"Right Here Now" services: weaving a real-time web around status
March 11 2009
The "status update" has become the ultimate social gesture (ala Twitter tweets). Now, imagine Status and Location as application ingredients that can be combined together to create new application compounds using social ingredients, like People, Places, Localities, Times, Topics and Events. The composite that results is what I call "Right… read moreIdeation: Flip Video News Network (a RIGHT HERE NOW service)
March 04 2009
Imagine CNN for the broadband era. A real time news network with bureaus/beats all around the world. Best of all, we're building it on the free or cheap. read moreRecent Posts | All Posts
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