The Email Conundrum

Cover of Groundhog Day/Ghostbusters/StripesFred Wilson: The Black Hole Of Email

I don't want to make email work better for me. I don't want to hire an assistant to do email for me. I don't want to try some new magical app that will make email better for me. ...... I give email an hour in the morning, an hour in the evening, and I dive into it throughout the day. The result is probably three hours a day in total. That's all I'm going to give email. And it is not enough to manage the inbound flow.

I don't have this problem. Usually when I am online I treat emails like they were text messages. I read and reply immediately. Saves me time. Short replies are not considered rude since I was polite enough to reply immediately. If I read an email but do not, can not reply immediately I use the Mark It As Unread feature to come to it later. I mean, Gmail is so central to my work, when I am emailing, I am working. My tech consulting team is global and email is absolutely the best way to keep moving. I look forward to the emails.

But then I don't read half the emails I get. You see who or what (usually what) sent it, you read the subject line and you realize they are not even worth deleting. Deleting would cost time. Instead I might mass delete in a few months. Mass deleting emails is fun. It is amazing how emails lose value over time. (Inbox Zero)

But I am nowhere close to Fred Wilson's scale. My question to Fred is, how big is your Inbox? Granted you don't read more than three out of 10 emails you get, but is your Inbox 99% full? Have you paid for a petabyte of Gmail space? Did Zynga go IPO?

That is not to say the Inbox is not a serious innovation territory. But the ultimate barrier there is human. You could end up with the best filters and still end up with too much email. I mean, if you have only three hours a day for email, there are only so many emails you can read. So you better have a great ultimate filter for people whose emails you don't want to miss.

I already have those filters. I use several platforms. If you are a stranger who just wants to say hello, send a tweet. That is the best way. If you know me well, send a Facebook email.

I don't even use the Priority Inbox. I guess I don't have an email problem. Not yet.

Reimagining The Inbox The Simple Way
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The Inbox: Like Search Before Google
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My Gmail Prayers Heard: Multiple Inboxes

Who you gonna call?

Spotify Vision Specialist: A No Go

My pitch two days ago (over email) with Spotify has ended up being a no go, and that's okay. One has to be Vision Specialist to one's own startup. For me that is microfinance. I am thinking six months. Max six.

Spotify Now Advertising On Netizen

+ 20-25 hours a week, rare week 30, 6 months
+ $100 per hour plus an equivalent in equity, 5K sign up bonus
+ 20 hours of face time with the CEO, 1-2 hours at a time, spread over
the final 4 months
+ 10 hours each with the top 10 people in the company - face time (not
phone, not Skype)
+ A few trips to Sweden in Spring/Summer
+ Interacting with as many employees as possible mostly in party settings

Vision Specialist
Spotify right now is headed to becoming a mid-tier company.
Noone thinks of it as a future Google/Amazon/Facebook.
My job would be to create that vision and inject it into the company.
I think Spotify could end up a truly big tech company.

Hardware (IBM) -------> Software (Microsoft) --------> One Site
(Google/Facebook) -----> Content/Mindfood (music/movies/books)

I hope to launch my own microfinance startup later this year.
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2011/02/googlefacebook-of-microfinance.html
That is why I never thought in terms of going full time with you guys.
Otherwise it would have made tremendous sense to do so. You guys are
pre-IPO.

SmartWatch

GigaOm: Sony to try the smartwatch game for a second time

Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting
Seven Screens

When you move from the level of Instagram to the level of FoodSpotting there are 100 possibilities. It is the same when you move from the smartphone to the smartwatch. The smartphone is Instagram. The smartwatch is FoodSpotting and 100 other services like it. You are looking at Tens Of Billions Of Devices.

Dating In The 80s, Pre eHarmony

Via Wiktor Macura

Boxee is Cannibalizing Television

GigaOm: Boxee clashes with cable companies over encryption

Piya O Re Piya

Instagram Does Not Know What It Has On Its Hands

Image via CrunchBase

"The only thing that will make other platforms happen is natural growth of the team. I think we didn't expect how quickly we'd grow a year ago when we were like ‘oh let's work on Android next.' Everything became a priority, and because everything became a priority we had to focus on what was most important which was to keep the site going and make users really happy. A person is a person is a person no matter what phone you own. I'm excited to be on Android someday. Are you kidding me? Our growth is going to double." - Kevin Systrom

This is an insane thing to be saying.

Instagram is one of those lucky companies that does not have to worry about money. It can raise money. And it is not true there are only 10 good engineers on the planet. So if it not lack of resources or talent, what holds them back?

I think the Instagram guys might have hit the jackpot but they don't really fathom the full implications of what they have in their hands.

They should raise 50 million and grow to 50 engineers. Right away.

Mark Suster's Web Second Applies To Istagram
Kevin Shitstorm Of Instagram

The Empire Strikes Back, Finally

Seattle Times: Motorola wants patent royalties from Xbox, Windows 7 a court in Germany seems inclined to side with Motorola in the company's patent fight with Microsoft in which Motorola would like Microsoft to pay it royalties of 2.25 percent in sales of Windows 7 and Xbox 360, among other products. ...... Microsoft Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9, the Windows Media Player and the Xbox 360 infringe on those two patents. ..... have to do with video compression and decompression technology, covering methods for reducing the amount of bandwidth needed for video that is streamed online..... At stake are millions of dollars in royalties, along with strategic competitive advantages. ..... Microsoft itself has a number of patent agreements in place in which manufacturing companies pay royalties to the software giant. Microsoft has not disclosed how much it gets in royalties, but Microsoft attorney Brad Smith has suggested in the past that about $5 per mobile device "seems like a fair price."

Granted the Google Motorola integration has not happened yet, the purchase has not gone through, but don't tell me the people at Motorola do not feel the need to get on the right side of their future boss, Larry Page. They know exactly why he bought Motorola.

World War III Time: Let's Go To War
Android Has To Be Kept Free

Or if these legal steps have been a long time coming, just goes on to show how software patents need fundamental reform, for everyone lives in glass houses.

But until that reform happens, the Android people have to simply fight back. Owning Motorola patents helps.

Eminem: Sing For The Moment

Chrome For Android

You'd think they'd have done it sooner.

10X Not 10%

Google: What’s your X? Amplifying technology moonshots
http://www.wesolveforx.com