Netizen: September 2009

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Twitter Top 100 NYC: I Am In

http://twitterholic.com/top100/followers/bylocation/New+York+City/

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

CloudContacts does your cards!
SetJam launches!
BlazeTrak launches!
Postling makes your life easier!
Regroup does it all!
Tagnic is the bomb!
ChallengePost announces something big!
AnyClip won TC50, now wins your hearts!

October 2009 NY Tech MeetUp.

I bumped into Nate late Friday evening on the subway as I was on my way back from a major Nepali event (Interaction With Madhav Nepal: Friday), and he was on his way to a party. That is when I learned about "AnyClip won TC50, now wins your hearts!" I think that is going to be the most exciting of all presentations Tuesday. I think it adds to Nate being the NY Tech MeetUp Organizer that he is a top notch entrepreneur himself. And I told him so on the train. I also told him Nepal is the poorest country outside of Africa, "not many people know that." He didn't.

Almost There

I am trying to become one of the top 100 Twitter users in New York City. And I am almost there.
Make Money On Twitter
Twitter Number 115 In New York City

Monday, September 28, 2009

Twitter Top 100 NYC

Make Money On Twitter
Twitter Number 115 In New York City

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Make Money On Twitter

Image via CrunchBase

Time: Brought To You By Twitter
Mashable: Sponsored Tweets Launches

The Time article grabbed my attention and I signed up right away. The site suggests I need to get paid $34.07 per tweet. I am not complaining. Twitter has been my 2009 fascination. And I have worked hard to build a stream and a following. I am at 23,000 followers and counting and a day or two away from becoming one of the top 100 Twitter users in New York City. I am not complaining.

Twitter so far has been quite a journey.

Twitter Should Hand Over Search To Google
Twitter Number 115 In New York City
Twitter, TechCrunch, And The Stolen Docs
The Best Follow Friday I Ever Received On Twitter
Space, Time And Twitter: Are There Plant Twitters?
My Twitter Suspension Lifted
Can Tweet Google, Can't Tweet Twitter
Monetizing Twitter: A Few Ideas
How To Increase Your Following On Twitter
Is Google Wave Social Enough To Challenge Facebook, Twitter?
Real Time Search: Twitter Is Not Doing It
Google Falling Behind Twitter?
Eminem: The Relapse: Twitter
Converting To The Mass Follow Formula On Twitter
NewsDesk: China, Twitter, Hawking, Obama
Digg Button, Twitter Button For Your Blog Posts
Twitter Is Not Micro
The Depth Of Your Friendships At Twitter
Goal: A Billion People On Twitter
Fractals: Apple, Windows 95, Netscape, Google, Facebook, Twitter
I Talked To Google Through Twitter And It Worked Like Magic
Twitter And The Time Dimension
TweetDeck, Power Twitter, Twitter Globe, Better Than Facebook
TCC: Twitter Community College
Twitter Tips: It's A Bird, It's A Bird
Mitch Kapor Now Following Me On Twitter
I Get Twitter

Family Ties: The Other Bill Clinton
As Economy Improves, Bank Bailouts Persist
G20 Leaders Agree, Broadly, on Climate Change
Surrogates: The Zen Machismo of Bruce Willis
What You Need To Know About The H1N1 Vaccine
Brought to You by Twitter

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is not black magic. It is essential. It is basic. Unless you entirely missed out on the whole internet thing. How could you have?

You want to be found. That applies to big media websites, but also applies to local businesses. People will look you up on the internet before they show up at your storefront.

SEO is not about tricking people into showing up. It is about helping people find you. Big difference.

It is about putting in the right words, but it is also about deserving and getting inbound links. This is a link economy, many would say.

And the online world is hardly for just tech companies. There is no line of business that need not be online. No business is too small to get online. People do local search to get to you. Are you optimized yet?

Search Engine Optimization Chicago
Chicago SEO
Chicago Internet Marketing

Search: Pregnant Territory

Image via CrunchBase

Once you have figured out that there are four screens - the phone, the browser, the desktop, the wall - it is easy to see search is pregnant territory, rich with possibilities. Search, content, distribution. There is so much to do.

Search is of special interest to me. There is one clear leader, but the challenger is not lacking in money. And for the leader the competition is but one click away. If there was ever an innovation challenge, this is it. Could Microsoft innovate, or find a startup or two that might? That second possibility is more likely. But then Google has been in competition with itself. It never stopped innovating in the search domain and boasts a larger index than anyone else. And its algorithms are still the ones to beat.

Microsoft should try and eat into Google territory. Google should try and eat into Microsoft territory. The consumer will benefit. Search and operating systems are fair game.

Technology Review

What's Microsoft's Bing Strategy? "We are going to compete hard on the core results, but where we are going to differentiate is in organizing results more effectively and providing tools to help searchers make decisions"
Making Search Social
More-Searchable Flash
Opening Search to Semantic Upstarts
Searching as a Team
Building a Better Search Engine
Q&A: Peter Norvig
Digging Deeper in Web Search
Better Search in Virtual Worlds
Wolfram Alpha and Google Face Off
How Twitter Could Bring Search Up to Speed
A Smarter Search for What Ails You

Image via CrunchBase

Microsoft Searches for Group Advantage
A Google Killer Stumbles
Search Engines' Chinese Self-Censorship
A New Perspective on Search Results
Social Search
Jennifer Chayes
Wikipedians Promise New Search Engine

How Facebook Copes with 300 Million Users Technology Review Doing things in or near real time puts a lot of pressure on the system because the live-ness or freshness of the data requires you to query more in real time. ...... There's too much data updated too fast to stick it in a big central database. That doesn't work. So we have to separate it out, split it out, to thousands of databases, and then be able to query those databases at high speed. ...... "Like" became one of the most common actions in the system. ........ a tremendous wealth of photos being uploaded and shared ......... Then we went and built our own storage system called Haystack that's completely built on top of commodity hardware.
Twitter's Growing Pains a large-scale, ground-up architectural revamp ...... it will reduce its reliance on Ruby on Rails, and will move to a "simple, elegant file-system-based approach," to replace its original unwieldy database system. ........ a communications-class technical infrastructure that supports unpredictable activity.
Social Networking Is Not a Business
How Facebook Works

More Angry Investors Say, Throw the Boards Out

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

What Makes An Entrepreneur Tick?

Image via Wikipedia

What Have VCs Really Done for Innovation? TechCrunch Back in 1986, when Bill Gates was still making sales calls, he pitched my group at First Boston on why we should bet the farm on Windows. Despite the risk involved, we gave his fledgling startup the deal. This wasn’t because of his financial backers (he didn’t even drop any names), but because we believed in his vision and nerdiness. ....... VC’s follow innovation, they don’t lead. They go where they smell blood.
From Nothing To Something. How To Get There. forget everything else and just get your product out the door

For one there are few of them. But not that few. Every business owner is an entrepreneur. They create and sustain jobs. They are in every sector. The bold ones build the companies of tomorrow. Since most people work in the private sector to feed their families, we can say entrepreneurs are our guiding light. But what makes them tick? The failure rate is high, but many still try.

Partly it is a personality type, I think. Some people go for it, most don't. And there are all kinds. Few are big, most are small. The entrepreneurial spirit can also take over jobholders. I would think the best companies encourage that spirit.

But there is no crystal ball. It is hard to pick the winners early in the game. And, of course, the trailblazers become legends in their own lifetimes.

The Holy Grail of the Unconscious New York Times he started to view the human soul — not just the mind and the body — as requiring specific care and development, an idea that pushed him into a province long occupied by poets and priests but not so much by medical doctors and empirical scientists. ....... the same borderlands traveled by both lunatics and great artists. ...... the mangrove swamp of his inner world ........ the idea that a person might move beneficially between the poles of the rational and irrational, the light and the dark, the conscious and the unconscious — that provided the germ for his later work and for what analytical psychology would become. .......... “All my works, all my creative activity,” he would recall later, “has come from those initial fantasies and dreams.” ......... Jung had become disillusioned with scientific rationalism ........ “the spirit of the depths,” a field that makes room for magic, coincidence and the mythological metaphors delivered by dreams. ........ humanity shares a pool of ancient wisdom that he called the collective unconscious
Paul Krugman: Reform or Bust

Thursday, September 17, 2009

That Thing About Changing The World

Image via CrunchBase

Memo to Start-ups: You’re Supposed to Be Changing the World, Remember? too many people building safe businesses, too many companies just trying to make existing things slightly better ....... The people who extol the virtues of “sensibility” are never the people at the core of the next great companies. .... Whether press or VCs, they’ll be late to the next wave, just like they were too late to this one.

Or maybe the next big startup is not trying to sqeeze into the dot com space.

Twitter Closing New Venture Round At $1 Billion Valuation TechCrunch
Facebook Crosses 300 Million Users. Oh Yeah, And They Just Went Cash Flow Positive.
RedBeacon Wins The Top Prize At TechCrunch50 2009
Skype Sniffing Around Web Chat Startups
Jajah Brings Voice Calls To Twitter
Posterous Adds Theme Support; Continues To Grow
For Better Social News Times, Make It The Twitter Times
Pricefalls Scores Seed Funding, Launches Online Auction Site In Public Beta
Corkd Is Back With A New CEO, Winery Fan Pages, And A Social Stream
Imitation Isn’t Always Flattery: Microsoft Previews Google Apps Killer To Beta Testers
Fwix Launches API For Real-Time Local News, Announces $2.75 Million Series A Round
TC50: Six Noteworthy Startups From Korea And Japan

The Car Connection: GMC, Volkswagen, Ford, Mazda

GMC Review: A whole bunch of robust looking vehicles fall in this category. Look around and take your pick. For example, the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali. It is the go to SUV for VIP

Image via Wikipedia

motorcades and for good reason. It looks sturdy. This is a secure looking vehicle.

2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI: This sportswagen is an improvement from its previous edition for how much cargo space it has in the back. Its aerodynamic styling catches your eye.

Image via Wikipedia

2010 Ford Transit Connect: This van has been designed for tight, urban environments. This was launched in Europe first, but will hit the market in the US as well.

2010 Mazda CX-7: This baby has an aggressive look. It has a SUV feel. But it drives like a passenger car. That is the combo that seems to have been attempted. Autoblog: “Mazda has refined the CX-7 inside-and-out, including a redesigned front end with a larger five-point grille and different front and rear fascias.”

TutorVista: Math Help

TutorVista is the top online tutoring company in the world. It is the beauty of the online medium that the tutoring can be 24*7. For about a hundred dollars a month, a student can get as much tutoring as she wants and needs on all subjects. That is a deal. K-12 students are welcome. Those starting college are welcome.

AMS Fulfillment

AMS Fulfillment does warehousing, inventory management, and fulfillment services: product fulfillment, order fulfillment.

Advantage Media Services (AMS) takes care of it for you. It stands out by offering OnGuard Inventory Protection™. AMS takes care of your inventory, and you track it all from your desktop. That easy. AMS does B2B as well as B2C.

You can depend on its reputation. Let AMS take care of your inventory so you can focus on your core business processes.

OpenACircle: Where Business Meets

OpenACircle.com is an online collaboration space. You can't meet in person, but you absolutely have to work together. Some of the exchanges possible at OpenACircle.com beats meeting in person. It is a multi-media experience.

Online collaboration is a business must. OpenACircle.com gives you great options. It allows you to reach out to members of your team, to your customers, and potential customers. Inviting is a piece of cake.

Files, documents, pictures: share them all. OpenACircle.com allows for video talk: upto 50 people can participate.

Go to OpenACircle.com and create your private collaboration circle now. OpenACircle.com is free.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

The Science House MeetUp

The Science House MeetUp earlier was great.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Google, Micropayments, And Online Newspapers

Google's proposal to the Newspaper Association of America

This article has been making the rounds this morning among some of my friends: Google developing a micropayment platform and pitching newspapers: “‘Open’ need not mean free”.

This truly is the wild wild west.

Image via CrunchBase

Noone really has a clue. Newspapers are imploding left and right. News is more important than ever before. But newspapers are not? Journalists are not? Many people don't know how to square that circle.

Companies need focus. That is why Cisco outsources its manufacturing. And big companies don't necessarily do well in every little venture they paddle into. But Google is Google, and Google Checkout has been a minor hit, although, it has to be noted, in the aftermath of Google Checkout PayPal has only grown.

But micropayments, I believe, are a tougher nut to crack. PayPal did not show up in

Image via CrunchBase

the face of an imploding industry. It simply showed up.

Will people pay? Even small amounts? Will ads carry the day on their own? I don't know. I don't know anyone does.

We sure will see a lot of creative destruction in the space over the next few years.

My PayCheckr team has as good a chance as any, and I am sure there will be several players in the space.

(Disclaimer: I sit on the PayCheckr Board, and am a small part owner.)

Netizen: The First Blog To Place The PayCheckr Button
The PayCheckr Promise
PayCheckr Potential
PayCheckr: Bringing Money Into Blogging?

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Jay Leno Should Go On YouTube

Jay Leno: It's Not the Tonight Show. It's, Um, the Ten-ight Show Time 9/15 Everyone's asking how well Jay will compete against CSI. I wonder if his biggest rival, in the long run, isn't YouTube.

Jay Gets Bigger, NBC Gets Smaller
Leno to America: Goodbye! I’m Not Going Anywhere!
Jay Leno Is the Future of TV. Seriously Time The show could be a footnote, or it could make its host bigger than ever. But either way, the small screen is only getting smaller.

Comedy is not going anywhere. And Jay is funny as hell. What is being challenged is the business of television, the business of comedy on television. Jay could adapt to the business.

I say go on YouTube, produce one, and two and five minute clips. Embed ads in them. And produce a ton of the embeddable material: a Jay Leno joke on every conceivable topic that you can embed into your blog or website.

There would be a basic fee for the ads, and then a recurring fee based on how many times that particular clip got viewed.

I bet he would make more this way than doing his hourly thing on NBC.

I am suggesting ultimate fragmentation to a guy who many consider a holdover from the era of mass media. He might not like it.

New York Times, Don't Die, Live
All Books Need To Go Digital

http://twitter.com/paramendra/status/3771376873

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Memory Upgrade

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CheckAppointments.com

CheckAppointments.com is an online software that takes care of the scheduling needs of professionals and small businesses, all for free: no more playing phone tag with your customers.

CheckAppointments.com helps you focus more on your business. It takes care of the scheduling needs of a large team, and gives you the option to publicize the availability of your team to your clients.

CheckAppointments.com gives each account a small website that you can share with your clients.

CheckAppointments.com allows for the use of one account by many users.

CheckAppointments.com is free.

Tim O'Reilly Mentions Scott Heiferman On TechCrunch

Image by

Meetup

via CrunchBase

Scott 2.0, MeetUp.com 2.0
Social Networking: Where The Internet Comes Down From The Clouds

I just met Scott Tuesday evening: NY Tech MeetUp: Gravitas.

And now I read this gushing mention of him by Tim O'Reilly in TechCrunch: Gov 2.0: It’s All About The Platform. Makes me feel good. Scott started what I call a 5.0 company, one about face time. (Netizen: Web 5.0: Face Time) And he has executed well. And he has a sound business model. He charges organizers, organizers charge those who show up: everyone is happy. Wishing the guy all the best.

It’s important for the idea of “government as platform” to reach well beyond the world of IT. It was Scott Heiferman, the founder of meetup.com who hammered this point home to me. Meetup is a platform for people to do whatever they want with. A lot of them are using it for citizen engagement: cleaning up parks, beaches, and roads; identifying and fixing local problems.

In this regard, there’s a CNN story from last April that I like to tell: a
Image via CrunchBase
road into a state park in Kauai was washed out, and the state government said it didn’t have the money to fix it. The park would be closed. Understanding the impact on the local economy, a group of businesses chipped in, organized a group of volunteers, and fixed the road themselves. I called this DIY on a civic scale. Scott Heiferman corrected me: “It’s DIO: Not ‘Do it Yourself’ but ‘Do it Ourselves.’”
Image by
Tim O’Reilly / Flickr
via CrunchBase
Imagine if the state government were to reimagine itself not as a vending machine but an organizing engine for civic action. Might DIO help us tackle other problems that bedevil us? Can we imagine a new compact between government and the public, in which government puts in place mechanisms for services that are delivered not by government, but by private citizens? In other words, can government become a platform?

Twitter Top 0.1%
The PayCheckr Promise

Friday, September 04, 2009

Twitter Top 0.1%

I am glad to be part of the Twitter top 0.1%.

Twitter Number 115 In New York City