Friday, November 05, 2010

Google's Gmail Envy

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...Image via CrunchBase
TechCrunch: Google To Facebook: You Can’t Import Our User Data Without Reciprocity
The use of the word data by Google here is key. That further confirms the point I have been making at this blog over months. Social is not in Google's DNA. Google does data, Google does information, Google does not do social. When it goes into local and location, it is hung up on data.

Leave Costa Rica Alone

Variant flag of Costa RicaImage via Wikipedia
Search Engine Land: Nicaragua Raids Costa Rica, Blames Google Maps
As of recent I have been thinking in terms of Costa Rica as the country where to have the pilot project for my microfinance tech startup. A member of the exploratory team suggested a small, central American country might be a good idea. And so I have been mulling over the name.

Facebook And Twitter: The Only Two That Count

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...Image via CrunchBase
TechCrunch: 2010 State Of The Blogosphere: Facebook And Twitter Drive The Most Traffic (Slides): They use many types of social media (LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg), but when it comes to driving traffic back to their blogs only two social media services really count: Facebook and Twitter
I have long suspected this. People have been like if you want traffic for your blog, become a regular on Digg, go visit StumbleUpon, and I have resisted. I have put my efforts only into Facebook and Twitter.

Movies, Dude


So I met this guy at Digital Dumbo last week, and we exchanged cards, and we exchanged emails later. And we are talking and he is like, how would you like to come to this event I am co-organizing? I forget precisely what, but it was nothing to do with movies.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Google Needs To Reinvent Gmail

Image representing Gmail as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaseI have heard this over and over again over months from many, many people. Gmail has slowed down to a trickle. Email continues to be a massively popular program. Google might have tackled the web over a decade ago, but no one has been able to tackle the inbox. The inbox is ripe territory.
TechCrunch: Hey Gmail, 1994 Called, It Wants Its Dial-Up Level Performance Back
TechCrunch is a blog that mostly talks about which startup got funded. But today it has been talking about the slowness of Gmail. Fast is a good reason to be in news, not slow. Slow is no good.

Zuckerberg Interview: Scoble's Recording


(Source: Robert Scoble)

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Andy Bechtolsheim: 100K To 1.5 Billion Through Google

This is a remarkable story. A hundred thousand dollars turned into a billion and a half dollars in a decade: that is utmost remarkable. There is no lottery, no Vegas that can give you that kind of a return.

A lot of people could cough up the 100K if they had to. The question is what was Andy doing at the right time at the right place? What was he doing at that Stanford faculty's home that particular morning?