November 2007 Archives
CNet reports that Google has added "My Location" to Google Map Mobile. That is a big step towards making mobile applications real and functional. Being location-aware is pretty much a fundamental need for mobile applications and Android promises that through its APIs, but right now absent of GPS mobile applications do not have a way to get that information - and GPS does not have a lot of adoption in the US cell phone market right now.
So it's great to see that Google is building the database to triangulate the location without GPS, something that I'm sure they are doing for Android.
So it's great to see that Google is building the database to triangulate the location without GPS, something that I'm sure they are doing for Android.
Somebody has been kind enough to document and share his experience with Amazon Kindle. I'm very tempted to order one...
Ok... The ball is rolling. Verizon Wireless has announced that they will open up their network in 2008. That is, Verizon opening up to any application, any device. Of course "any device" is anything that supports compatible technology (CDMA) with their network, but that's given. This is a huge move, most probably a result of Google building the Open Handset Alliance. For the first time in the US, you will be able to go buy your own phone, say from Japan, and use it on a US carrier network. And when it comes to apps, the possibilities are endless.
I have maintained from the moment I learned about Android that a revolution has started. I think there's no way to stop it any more :-)
I have maintained from the moment I learned about Android that a revolution has started. I think there's no way to stop it any more :-)
TechChrunch has done a great job of writing up a what-are-you-thinking about the announcement from InstaColl regarding Live Documents (for which they did not bother to buy livedocuments.com by the way - the domain is live-documents.com). Read the TechCrunch Live Documents coverage here.
This is not a "news" item to post here, but I'm posting it because I'm very interested in hearing the future of this company/service. It is very obvious that the service is very late in the game, there is not much (if any) differentiation, and the calculation of the potential revenue is, how should I put it, stupid. Sorry. But it's coming from the founder of Hotmail, so the connections are there. I'm just curious to see if despite all the "no way" signs around Live Documents, we will see them acquired by one of the big guys (Microsoft?) a year down the line... I will not be surprised.
This is not a "news" item to post here, but I'm posting it because I'm very interested in hearing the future of this company/service. It is very obvious that the service is very late in the game, there is not much (if any) differentiation, and the calculation of the potential revenue is, how should I put it, stupid. Sorry. But it's coming from the founder of Hotmail, so the connections are there. I'm just curious to see if despite all the "no way" signs around Live Documents, we will see them acquired by one of the big guys (Microsoft?) a year down the line... I will not be surprised.
I was following the live blog updates as Jeff Bezos was introducing Amazon Kindle. There was a lot of mixed reactions afterwards from people who write about the technology, and for the most part I have to say they did not welcome Kindle.
I did not get a chance to write (and then there was the thanksgiving holidays, which I'm enjoying very much by the way) but I have to say I'm very positive about Kindle. My initial reaction was that with Amazon's force behind it, this is going to be a revolution in the book industry. This is an industry that has not changed much in decades. I do not know much about the history of printing, but as far as I remember books have been books. We have "better quality" prints now, but that's pretty much it.
Amazon spent 10 years to make e-commerce mainstream, and I think it will do the same to make e-books a reality. It looks like at least a Newsweek editor agrees with me.
I did not get a chance to write (and then there was the thanksgiving holidays, which I'm enjoying very much by the way) but I have to say I'm very positive about Kindle. My initial reaction was that with Amazon's force behind it, this is going to be a revolution in the book industry. This is an industry that has not changed much in decades. I do not know much about the history of printing, but as far as I remember books have been books. We have "better quality" prints now, but that's pretty much it.
Amazon spent 10 years to make e-commerce mainstream, and I think it will do the same to make e-books a reality. It looks like at least a Newsweek editor agrees with me.
Unrelated to current content of this site but very related to the historical Unix information which I have maintained from many years ago: MIT has put the source code of Multics, the predecessor of Unix, in public domain.
Multics is what inspired Ken Thompson to do Unix, ironically because it was too big and pretty much dysfunctional at the time. The name "Unix" is a pun on the name Multics - Multics was supposed to do multiple things, but Unix was much simpler.
Multics was a joint effort of MIT, GE, and Bell Labs (where Ken got exposed to it). As a part of 1970 acquisition of GE's computer business, it was transfered to Honeywell (if you're as old as me you've probably seen the Honeywell computers). Honeywell became Bull and kept Multics going up until 1992.
So finally Bull has passed the source code to MIT, and MIT has put it in public domain. Many of the novel ideas of modern operating systems, such as "security" in general, come from Multics, so researchers will find the source code a valuable tool in studying the history of computer science. Here's the official Multics page at MIT. My congratulations to Multicians!
Multics is what inspired Ken Thompson to do Unix, ironically because it was too big and pretty much dysfunctional at the time. The name "Unix" is a pun on the name Multics - Multics was supposed to do multiple things, but Unix was much simpler.
Multics was a joint effort of MIT, GE, and Bell Labs (where Ken got exposed to it). As a part of 1970 acquisition of GE's computer business, it was transfered to Honeywell (if you're as old as me you've probably seen the Honeywell computers). Honeywell became Bull and kept Multics going up until 1992.
So finally Bull has passed the source code to MIT, and MIT has put it in public domain. Many of the novel ideas of modern operating systems, such as "security" in general, come from Multics, so researchers will find the source code a valuable tool in studying the history of computer science. Here's the official Multics page at MIT. My congratulations to Multicians!
Told you it's serious. Here's a video in which Google co-founder Sergey Brin introduces Android. The introduction is followed by demos of multiple applications on two prototype phones:
Last but not least, at the end of the video Brin talks again and announces the $10,000,000 developer prize.
Also, if you're interested in the architecture of the software, you may want to watch this three part video:
Last but not least, at the end of the video Brin talks again and announces the $10,000,000 developer prize.
Also, if you're interested in the architecture of the software, you may want to watch this three part video:
- Android, Part 1: Architecture Overview
-
Android, Part 2: Application Life Cycle
- Android, Part 3: APIs (specially pay attention to the Location Manager and Location Based Notification)
A while ago I wrote about green tech being better than Internet, coming from Bill Joy of KPCB. With him and Vinod Khosla on board it has been obvious that the VC firms in focusing more and more on green tech and energy sectors.
Latest news is that Al Gore is now officially a partner at the firm. His name and image, both politically and from the "Inconvenient Truth" movement, will be a great asset to the firm. And I'm sure the Noble Prize does not hurt...
Latest news is that Al Gore is now officially a partner at the firm. His name and image, both politically and from the "Inconvenient Truth" movement, will be a great asset to the firm. And I'm sure the Noble Prize does not hurt...
Of the two rumors that are out there about Google right now, the one about Google being in talks with Simon Fuller (anybody who has seen American Idol even once must remember him) is really cute and cool. I can't wait to see a TV channel sponsored by Google and hosted by Simon. That will make me actually watch TV.
But the other one, Google looking at buying Sprint, is huge. Following the announcement of Android, Google is pushing in major fronts to get it off the ground. The first step was obviously building an alliance and making Android an open initiative, the second one is the $10,000,000 Developer Challenge Fund for Android developers. That will attract a lot of people to seriously look at developing for Android. Ok, you have the backing of some companies, you have an army of 3rd party developers, what else do you need? The audience to use the applications.
It has been no secret that Google has been bidding for a wireless spectrum to do their own mobile service. I'm sure it will happen at some point. But hey, when you have the money, why not buying out a carrier with an existing customer base and just expose them to a new realm of mobile applications that did no exist before? The US market will pick up mobile applications for the first time. This is going to take as by a storm, it's not trivial to realize the magnitude of what we have in front of us. Today the mobile application market virtually does not exist in the US. With Frucall I have been living and breathing that market and I know what's out there. Pretty much nothing of meaningful consequence. The key reason has been the lack of infrastructure, from handsets to carriers (be it mindset, technology, or pricing).
Google is big enough to change this picture, and it looks like they are doing it. Think of pre-PC and post-PC market, I think we are about to see such drastic shift in the history of technology again.
By the way, the news in the wireless sector probably overshadow what's going on elsewhere: Same shift seems be starting in the Cable market. I'm sure we will see Google's name here too - probably with Simon's :-)
But the other one, Google looking at buying Sprint, is huge. Following the announcement of Android, Google is pushing in major fronts to get it off the ground. The first step was obviously building an alliance and making Android an open initiative, the second one is the $10,000,000 Developer Challenge Fund for Android developers. That will attract a lot of people to seriously look at developing for Android. Ok, you have the backing of some companies, you have an army of 3rd party developers, what else do you need? The audience to use the applications.
It has been no secret that Google has been bidding for a wireless spectrum to do their own mobile service. I'm sure it will happen at some point. But hey, when you have the money, why not buying out a carrier with an existing customer base and just expose them to a new realm of mobile applications that did no exist before? The US market will pick up mobile applications for the first time. This is going to take as by a storm, it's not trivial to realize the magnitude of what we have in front of us. Today the mobile application market virtually does not exist in the US. With Frucall I have been living and breathing that market and I know what's out there. Pretty much nothing of meaningful consequence. The key reason has been the lack of infrastructure, from handsets to carriers (be it mindset, technology, or pricing).
Google is big enough to change this picture, and it looks like they are doing it. Think of pre-PC and post-PC market, I think we are about to see such drastic shift in the history of technology again.
By the way, the news in the wireless sector probably overshadow what's going on elsewhere: Same shift seems be starting in the Cable market. I'm sure we will see Google's name here too - probably with Simon's :-)
I usually do not post technical details here, but this one seems to be a fairly common issue and took an hour of my time, so here it is hoping it saves somebody else some time...
Changing the "navigation" (or sidebar) on MediaWiki in itself is in fact pretty straight forward - if you figure out the right way to do it, which is not easy due to confusing documentation. So here's what you need to do:
For example, if you have a "To Do" page on your wiki and the page is called "To Do List" (meaning that its URL is .../index.php?title=To_Do_List), and you want to add it right after the link to Main Page, simply add this after the "mainpage" line:
** To Do List|To Do
Save and enjoy.
Now, the login as admin is important since this page (MediaWiki:Sidebar) is a special page and not editable by regular users, so if you do not login as admin you will not see the "edit" tab, and that will be confusing. If this is a shared Wiki installation that somebody else has installed and you do not have admin access, you have to ask them to do the change. If it's your Wiki but you do not remember the admin user name, go to Special:Listusers (.../index.php?title=Special:Listusers) and you will see whether you have Admin, Sysop, or something along those lines. This is the name you specified at the time of installation.
Changing the "navigation" (or sidebar) on MediaWiki in itself is in fact pretty straight forward - if you figure out the right way to do it, which is not easy due to confusing documentation. So here's what you need to do:
- Log into your MediaWiki as "Admin" or "Sysop". If you're not sure what this means, see below.
- Go to: .../index.php?title=MediaWiki:Sidebar - for example http://www.example.com/wiki/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Sidebar
- You will see the content of the sidebar, or navigation links, on a Wiki page as a list with a format of Link|name like this:
- navigation
- mainpage|mainpage
- portal-url|portal
- currentevents-url|currentevents
- ...
For example, if you have a "To Do" page on your wiki and the page is called "To Do List" (meaning that its URL is .../index.php?title=To_Do_List), and you want to add it right after the link to Main Page, simply add this after the "mainpage" line:
** To Do List|To Do
Save and enjoy.
Now, the login as admin is important since this page (MediaWiki:Sidebar) is a special page and not editable by regular users, so if you do not login as admin you will not see the "edit" tab, and that will be confusing. If this is a shared Wiki installation that somebody else has installed and you do not have admin access, you have to ask them to do the change. If it's your Wiki but you do not remember the admin user name, go to Special:Listusers (.../index.php?title=Special:Listusers) and you will see whether you have Admin, Sysop, or something along those lines. This is the name you specified at the time of installation.
IAC announced today that it'll split itself off into five (still public) companies. The announcement is interesting because it gives you a nice summary of how many brand names that you know were operating under the same umbrella company, and how IAC has categorized them. Most probably the categorization has to do with how well they generate revenue - notice how Ticketmaster stands out as one of the five companies.
It's good to finally get rid of all the rumors... Google is not making a phone, it is creating an open platform to be adopted by phone manufacturers. The platform is Linux based and allows third party applications full control of all phone functions. It's called Andriod.
Here's an introduction to what Adndroid is. An early preview release will be out on Nov 2th.
Here's an introduction to what Adndroid is. An early preview release will be out on Nov 2th.
I have not written much here about the gPhone hype, and it will stay the same until we have facts. But I ran across this article on NY Times which is not much about gPhone but the person in charge of developing it (if there is something called a Google Phone), his history, his obsession with gadgets, and his many attempts in touching consumers.
A rare type of engineer specially these days that everybody can launch a Web 2.0 company in a day (how long they last is a different story), I really liked the story of Andy Robin.
A rare type of engineer specially these days that everybody can launch a Web 2.0 company in a day (how long they last is a different story), I really liked the story of Andy Robin.
It's one think to talk about a new API, it's a different thing to watch actual demos. OpenSocial went live last night, and while not all platforms or "hosts" are linked yet you can see demos of what they have been busy building here. You can fast forward about the familiar marketing mambo jumbo in the beginning, yes we know OpenSocial is a good thing, and watch what the social sites as well as application developers have to show you:
The way some of these applications are tapping into the activity streams, and also the fact that the application can get separate canvas pages to have "its own" pages within, say, orkut or Ning, is really amazing. Personally I liked the Flixter and iLike demos, and also the Flixter/MySpace integration done in a few hours (last presentation) was amazing.
I feel we are at the beginning of a new online revolutions.
P.S. Obviously whoever arranged this was doing his/her best to make Facebook jealous, and in some instances like the way MySpace was brought to spotlight at the end they overstretched it a little!!
P.S.S. I lost power just as I was finishing this post - a big OH S%$&* - but I have to give it to MovableType, the AutoSave feature had saved pretty much everything I had typed including the embedded video... Thanks Guys!
The way some of these applications are tapping into the activity streams, and also the fact that the application can get separate canvas pages to have "its own" pages within, say, orkut or Ning, is really amazing. Personally I liked the Flixter and iLike demos, and also the Flixter/MySpace integration done in a few hours (last presentation) was amazing.
I feel we are at the beginning of a new online revolutions.
P.S. Obviously whoever arranged this was doing his/her best to make Facebook jealous, and in some instances like the way MySpace was brought to spotlight at the end they overstretched it a little!!
P.S.S. I lost power just as I was finishing this post - a big OH S%$&* - but I have to give it to MovableType, the AutoSave feature had saved pretty much everything I had typed including the embedded video... Thanks Guys!
Big Change was released the day before yesterday. Natalie Portman, as an Ambassador of Hope, has worked with iTunes to create this exclusive digital album by hand picking songs from a number of great artists such as Norah Jones. The proceedings will go to the FINCA anti-poverty organization. FINCA International provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs
so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of
living.
The album (link goes to iTunes store and may try to launch your iTunes application) goes for $7.99 and includes a digital booklet including pictures from Portman's recent trip to Africa.
As somebody has commented on iTunes, "If artists will donate their talents and time so generously, we should be willing to donate a few of our dollars".
A big thank you to Natalie Portman - for whom I have a very high respect both as an actress and as a person - as well as all the artists who have contributed to this album.
The album (link goes to iTunes store and may try to launch your iTunes application) goes for $7.99 and includes a digital booklet including pictures from Portman's recent trip to Africa.
As somebody has commented on iTunes, "If artists will donate their talents and time so generously, we should be willing to donate a few of our dollars".
A big thank you to Natalie Portman - for whom I have a very high respect both as an actress and as a person - as well as all the artists who have contributed to this album.
I liked 5Min the minute I saw it about five months ago. I could see that its viral aspects are pretty good, making it a self-marketing web site. I'm glad to hear that they got their series A and raised $5M.
The above mentioned TechCrunch report has something much more interesting though - the cap table of the company prior to doing the series A round, which I'm showing here right from the TechCrunch report.
Cap table is almost always confidential information for private companies, so having a chance to look at some company's cap table is always interesting.
Founders are Tal, Ran, and Hanan. As you can see the founders collectively owned 52.1% of the company prior to series A. I don't know how many seed rounds they had (their site only mentions one "seed" funding of $300K), but it looks like the founders were not good at negotiating the valuation.
As a rule of thumb, founders would be at about 50% (give or take some, depending on negotiation powers) after series A. Of course if you're a super-hero founder with a solid track record of building companies things are different, but for the first timers that's pretty much what happens. Series A is usually considered the most diluting round. So if you're founding a company, you have to either make your valuation high enough or raise less angel funding, so that you're still roughly at about 80% ownership. Otherwise by the time of series A (and usually a series B is inevitable) there is not much left. In the case of these guys most probably now that they have got their series A they are at about 9% ownership each (Hanan even less), and by series B they'll be at about 6% (these are just guestimates of course, but that's what an entrepreneur should do anyway and do the math to reverse engineer and see what makes sense). If we assume a $50M exit for these guys, 6% after all the conversation multiples and other stuff will make a founder about $2-3M. Not bad, but not impressive either.
The above mentioned TechCrunch report has something much more interesting though - the cap table of the company prior to doing the series A round, which I'm showing here right from the TechCrunch report.Cap table is almost always confidential information for private companies, so having a chance to look at some company's cap table is always interesting.
Founders are Tal, Ran, and Hanan. As you can see the founders collectively owned 52.1% of the company prior to series A. I don't know how many seed rounds they had (their site only mentions one "seed" funding of $300K), but it looks like the founders were not good at negotiating the valuation.
As a rule of thumb, founders would be at about 50% (give or take some, depending on negotiation powers) after series A. Of course if you're a super-hero founder with a solid track record of building companies things are different, but for the first timers that's pretty much what happens. Series A is usually considered the most diluting round. So if you're founding a company, you have to either make your valuation high enough or raise less angel funding, so that you're still roughly at about 80% ownership. Otherwise by the time of series A (and usually a series B is inevitable) there is not much left. In the case of these guys most probably now that they have got their series A they are at about 9% ownership each (Hanan even less), and by series B they'll be at about 6% (these are just guestimates of course, but that's what an entrepreneur should do anyway and do the math to reverse engineer and see what makes sense). If we assume a $50M exit for these guys, 6% after all the conversation multiples and other stuff will make a founder about $2-3M. Not bad, but not impressive either.
