Five Books

Image via WikipediaAutobiography
Me: Author

I have talked about writing a 50-100 page autobiography, and I am going to do it, I have already started work on it. But I have come to realize I would not want that to be my first book to go public.

Instead I have decided on putting out five volumes of Topics In Tech based on my posts at this blog. Going to Amazon Kindle Self Publishing. Price $2.99. I think I get two bucks, Amazon keeps the other buck.

This is tempting. I already got the material ready.

This is tempting. The question you find asking yourself is, will the books sell? If they do, I could take bootstrapping to a whole new level.

Jessica Mah, Mark Zuckerberg

Both Jessica Mah and Mark Zuckerberg were 19 when they launched their respective companies. The difference though is that Mark dropped out of college, Jessica had already finished college.

Jessica Mah: The Most Promising 19 Year Old Tech Entrepreneur In America
Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited
Paul Graham: Disrupt
NYTM Mailing List Continued Controversy
Scott 2.0, MeetUp.com 2.0

2,000 Squats

Image via WikipediaI just did 2,000 squats. Don't get too impressed. I did it 50 at a time. But do get impressed. I think I could have done 1,000 more.

This is my way of getting into the mood for StartUp Week. I did not even know it existed. I was aware of Social Media Week. I was aware of Internet Week. But StartUp Week? Well, it exists. And I am going to all events. I am showing up in my ninja outfit.

StartUp Week At NYU April 6-15

April 6, Wednesday, 6-9 PM, NYU Stern, Kaufman Management Center (44 W 4th St), Room 2-60
April 7, Thursday, 6-8:30 PM, NYU Law School (Vanderbilt Hall), Tishman Auditorium, 40 Washington Square South
April 11, Monday, 5-9 PM, Kaufman Management Center Room M1-100
April 12, Tuesday, 6-8:30 PM, Room M1-100
April 13, Wednesday, 5-7 PM, The Courant Institute 251 Mercer Street, Room 109
April 14, Thursday, 6-8 PM, NYU Tisch Hall, Paulson Auditorium (UC-50), 40 W. 4th Street

A Social Graph For When Everyone Is Connected

Image via WikipediaBill Gates thinks the world population will stabilize around nine billion people. Let's say he is right. Already two out of six billion people are connected to the internet. Say the penetration goes above 90% by the time world population hits seven billion people. Would that have implications for the social graph? You bet.

The Color Social Graph Might Work Better For Books, Movies, Music

There is an old saying that everyone is connected to everyone else through six degrees of separation. Every random person out there knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows you. That magic number - six - might be lesser if the group size were smaller.

The Color Social Graph Might Work Better For Books, Movies, Music

Especially music. I don't think picture taking is overdone at all. Once Fred Wilson dismissed Facebook as "a photo sharing site." It was said at a major conference, and the comment sent a lot of pigeons flying, but he did point out a basic truth, which is that photo sharing is the primary activity on Facebook.

Google Images, Facebook Photos, Twitpic, Instagram, FoodSpotting

India Win

Image via WikipediaAnup Kaphle: Cricket Is Not Baseball, Stop Comparing
India Beats Sri Lanka To Win Cricket World Cup

New York Times: Cricket Victory Brings Relief From Scandal in India: cricket, a sport that permeates life here the way monsoon rains seep into the soil ..... Indians erupted in delirious celebration. Fireworks exploded in city after city and village after village, as throngs of people poured into the streets, beating drums, shouting and cheering. ...... “There is a national kind of mood, or zeitgeist, that cricket brings in,” said Anand Mahindra, managing director of one of India’s largest business conglomerates, Mahindra & Mahindra. “Can it have a disproportionate impact on people’s sense of self and general well-being and confidence? I think yes.” ..... In this country of 1.2 billion people, the national cricket team is treated like a group of rock stars and regarded by some as a metaphor for the country as a whole: young, increasingly confident and slowly moving forward, if sometimes tripping itself in the process. ....... especially gratifying for Indian fans because the national team has failed to win big matches in recent years, even though it was regarded as one of the world’s best teams. On Sunday morning, Indian newspapers carried euphoric headlines. “The World at Our Feet,” shouted The Times of India, the country’s biggest English-language daily. “Windia,” proclaimed The Indian Express. ...... a majority of India’s 138 million television households tuned into the tournament, with many tens of millions watching from elsewhere in the world. ...... In India’s biggest cities, fans congregated around outdoor screens or watched in restaurants and coffee shops. During key Indian matches, pilots on some domestic flights offered midair updates on the score. One 20-year-old model with a flair for self-promotion asked permission to perform a striptease for the team, calling it her patriotic duty. On Sunday, India’s politicians hailed the team, with the chief minister of Delhi announcing cash bonuses for Mr. Dhoni, the team captain, and the four team members from Delhi. ....... Then India was rocked by a telecommunications scandal over the allocation of cellphone licenses, as a government auditor concluded that the government might have lost about $40 billion in fees because officials gave licenses to favored bidders at bargain prices. On Saturday, as the cricket match was under way in Mumbai, the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation filed charges against a former communications minister, his aides and several high-profile business executives in that case. They were accused of cheating, forgery and corruption. ........ In India, cricket is no longer regarded as a leisurely sport of gentlemen in white trousers but has instead become a sexy symbol of the “new” India. The stars of the Indian team are wealthy and ubiquitous. They are covered feverishly in the news media and endorse countless products. India Today, a weekly magazine, recently listed India’s 50 most powerful people, placing the country’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, at the top. But ranked second, ahead of several billionaires, was the country’s most revered cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar. ........ Mr. Dhoni comes from one of India’s poorest regions, and his rags-to-riches story embodies the hopes of many Indians on the margins. After the match, Mr. Dhoni and other players said they were inspired to win for Mr. Tendulkar, a batter who has hit more runs than any player in the sport’s history and is often referred to in India as simply “God.” ...... Even Saturday night, e-mails were making the rounds in India charging that the World Cup match was fixed by bookies. Similar accusations were made after India beat Pakistan in a politically charged semifinal last Wednesday. ..... But as India awoke on Sunday, there was joy, a salve to a bitter political season. Even Sonia Gandhi, the president of the governing Indian National Congress Party, stepped into the streets of New Delhi to celebrate — perhaps not only the victory but the distraction it offered. .... “Sachin Tendulkar and company has done Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi a huge favor,” said Ramachandra Guha, a historian and authority on cricket, “by redirecting popular sentiment away from corruption and toward cricket.”

LCD Soundsystem: New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down

(Via Moshe Koyfman)

Smif-N-Wessun: Wrektime

(Via Whitney McNamara)

The Antlers: Parentheses

(Via Jen Robinson)

World Music Potpourri (1)

Jessica Mah: The Most Promising 19 Year Old Tech Entrepreneur In America

Or maybe she is 20 now. But still. Daniel Gross and Jessica Mah you have you to watch out for. Jessica's InDinero, the Mint.com for businesses, is headed for a hundred million plus kind of exit in a few years. Daniel will be swimming in the billion dollar range, if only because his product, Greplin, is just more fundamental. But Jessica has started by monetizing from day one. Three years from now they will not be by the roadside, a has been. They will be bigger than anything we can imagine right now.

Mike Yavonditte: An Hour Of Video

Okay so it is not an hour of Mike. When you have Jason Calacanis doing the interviewing, the guy feels like he is half the guest himself, and so this is 30 minutes of Jason and 30 minutes of Mike. But it's a good interview. Jason being an entrepreneur himself has really been able to bring out the story from Mike. It was an hour well spent for me.

Anup Kaphle: Cricket Is Not Baseball, Stop Comparing

"Understanding cricket is not that difficult — just stop comparing it to baseball."
- Anup Kaphle



India Beats Sri Lanka To Win Cricket World Cup