Thursday, July 14, 2011

Nosh: The Starting Point Is Not The Dish

Image representing Foodspotting as depicted in...Image via CrunchBaseI have long been a proponent of adding a social element to FoodSpotting, (FoodSpotting API) and Nosh seems to have that element, but where Nosh does not seem to "get" it is that with Nosh the dish does not seem to be the starting point. That is a big minus. (FoodSpotting's Dish As Starting Point)

The social graph I have had in mind for FoodSpotting has been more the Color kind than the Facebook kind. FoodSpotting could be an amazing force for peace. And I don't feel like I am exaggerating. I do mean to talk geopolitics.

The Color Social Graph Might Work Better For Books, Movies, Music
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting

But if I were FoodSpotting, this would be a wake up call to me. The brain behind Nosh was the same brain behind what today is Google Voice. The guy sure has the tech chops. And he is trying to fork into the FoodSpotting space from the Instagram paradigm. But he has already exhibited some major vision level blind spots. The name Firespotter borrows half the body from the name FoodSpotting. Thief!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Race, Gender, Tech

A representation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka...Image via WikipediaGroup dynamics is the number one thing I bring to the table for work. And there gender as a topic stands out. And I don't even mean in a political way. It is fascinating as a topic like stars might fascinate astrophysicists.

The zen of tech makes it even more possible to see the threads of race and gender. In a city where the subway ride is cheap, even at free events why do you end up seeing a room that is almost all people of one kind? Culture is a powerful force. Like Facebook did not create the social graph, it merely mapped it, tech in general helps you see social threads.

The other day I saw a group photo of the Tumblr team somewhere and it was an all white team, and I noticed. My teams in India are all Indian. (Doubling Down On Tech Consulting) I was at an event in Jackson Heights on Friday and it was a room full of people from Nepal.

And you come across women who would like you to believe they are on the cutting edge of things like the glass ceiling, only it simply does not involve a single white male they might personally know. Or when a white woman does her racist bonding thing with a white male to portray you as The Other. The same platform also is open to acts of sexist bonding, but do you really want to go for that? But then corporate warfare has its twists and turns. And the Internet is globalization on steroids. A billion Indians would not be my idea of a minority.

Permanent War