5 Things I'm going to STOP in 2011
In the spirit of the time honored tradition of new year's resolutions, I thought I'd share what I've decided to STOP doing for 2011 and beyond. So without further ado, let's indulge in some modern day voodoo / sympathetic magic / psycho-cybernetics / egotistical self-justifying cathartic mumbojumbo, shall we: In 2011 and beyond, I will:
-
I guess you could say that I'm a notorious underachiever. It's
- 2. STOP working hard at waiting for someone else to deputize, knight or crown me (see 1.)
-
START taking matters back into my own clammy hands and leave the greasy pole salaryman rat-race. Who's the boss now? Well, I am. I alone am now responsible for my success - or failure.
- 3. STOP only doing what I'm good at (see 1.and 2.)
-
Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you should be doing it. Have you ever thought about that? START throwing myself off a cliff, forcing me to learn how to fly whilst falling.
- 4. STOP not focussing my time and energy (see 1. 3. and 5.)
- Passion comes easy - I seem to have unlimited amounts of it. Focusing it is hard - I have seemingly unlimited interests and fleeting distractions. START focusing, disciplining, killing all but one of my pet projects (or at least put them in suspended animation or better yet - put them up for adoption, delegate them or give them away), working towards ONE goal doing ONE thing at a time on ONE project, putting my skin in the game, committing the time and resources, going out on a limb, sticking my neck out and risking failure.
- 5. STOP criticizing (see 3. and 4.)
-
START giving, helping, praising more than receiving, criticizing, chiding. It's easy and cheap to be negative and criticize or comment without taking the time to reflect and suggest solutions and improvements. But, as Carnegie reminded us: "Be lavish in your praise and hearty in your approbation." and as Lincoln said: "A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.”. I'm OK, you're OK. I guess not everybody's OK, but we're both OK, OK?
If you catch me relapsing, feel free to verbally abuse and humiliate me in public and on the Internet. What are you going to STOP doing in 2011?
Books I Read in 2010 [LIST]
In the spirit of sharing, here's an alphabetic list of the books I read and lectures listened to in 2010. I think I learned something from each and every one of them, so I can recommend them all. I'd love to learn more about what you've been reading lately. What did you read in 2010? Do you have any ideas on what I should be reading in 2011? Did you read any of the books on my list too? What did you think? Tell me in the comments below!
All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin
All people tell stories. Marketers included. Better get yours straight. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by [drumroll] Benjamin Franklin
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
You will never be able to view after-the-fact explanations the same again after reading this one. At least I can't. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Blink by Malcom Gladwell
On the adaptive unconscious - or intuition, or the power of thinking without thinking, if you will. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder (@business_design), Yves Pigneur (@ypigneur)
Don't marry your business plan - it's going to be thrown out the moment you get funded anyway. Focus on your business model if you must. Here's some help to do just that. Get it: Amazon
Bursts by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
The hidden pattern behind everything we do. Barabasi is a great storyteller. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Click by Rom Brafman, Ori Brafman
On why we seem to instantly connect with some people. On why we 'click', see? Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Critical Mass by Philip Ball
On how one thing leads to another. Better insights in this one compared to "The Tipping Point" mentioned later. Thanks to @kitblake for recommending it! Get it: Amazon
Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe
On the wisdom and power of crowds. Get it: Amazon Audible
Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuck (@garyvee)
Gary's highly personal (and after-the-fact) advice for success. But if you need to learn how to hustle, listen to Gary. He's awesome! I recommend the audio version to hear the author read it himself with added bonus materials. Contagious energy and passion. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The Dip by Seth Godin
On when to quit - and when perhaps not to. Or on "bad quitting" and "good quitting". Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick (@davidkirkpatric)
The rosier version of the story behind Mark Zuckerberg's "Social Network". Highly interesting. Set in this light, you really get to love and respect "The Zuck". No, I'm not kidding. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Engage! by Brian Solis (@briansolis)
The survival guide for businesses and brands in the [communication and information] world of today. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders by The Stanford Technology Ventures Program
Are you into entrepreneurship like me? Are you thinking of starting your own venture? Your own startup? Not exactly a book, but who cares. You should listen to every single one of these 130+ awesome talks with lessons learned by the superstars of the entrepreneur world. I know I did and I am eternally grateful for the insane amount of time it has already saved me by learning from other people's mistakes. Get it: http://ecorner.stanford.edu Here are some of my favorites: From Harvard to the Facebook The Art of Negotiation Secret to Successful Negotiation Negotiations On and Off the Field Research Lens on Understanding Entrepreneurial Firms Phases of a Startup A history of venture capital A Panorama of Venture Capital and beyond Stimulating innovation and creativity in the workplace Fall 2009 Quarter Roundup: What did we learn? Getting to Plan B Honest Advice on Starting a Company
Fascinate by Sally Hogshead (@SallyHogshead)
On discovering the triggers of fascination behind yourself and your brand - and how to tweak them to better communicate your values and position yourself. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Flip the Funnel by Joseph Jaffe (@jaffejuice)
On how to use existing customers to gain new ones. Get it: Amazon Kindle
Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
More awesomeness from Taleb on rethinking of common (mis)conceptions and after-the-fact explanations. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
On rethinking common (mis)conceptions and raising new questions by applying economics. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
ECON 159: Game Theory
Because everybody should remember to put themselves in the other people's shoes, know never to play a dominated strategy, use iterative deletion and know about best responses and the Nash Equilibrium. And because Prof. Ben Polak is an amazing teacher! And it's free from Yale. (Aside: Yale University uses the Plone CMS - An awesome and humbling factoid for me personally. Yay!) Get it: Open Yale Courses Also available on iTunesU
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Nah. I still practice my own Inbox Zero version to get my things done. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
How Pleasure Works by Paul Bloom
Interesting facts about why we (or at least some) attach value to and desire mundane objects that has been owned by or in some case were only in the vicinity of a famous person; how under some conditions an object is thought of possessing some sort of "essence" of the famous person, but I found it going here, there and everywhere rather shallowly without arriving at any particular place. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
I'd say just stop worrying because you're going to die and you can't stop it. Period. Being curious about other works [than described further down in this list] of Carnegie's made me read this one (so you probably won't have to). Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie (re-read)
The Inmates Are Running The Asylum by Alan Cooper (@MrAlanCooper) (re-read)
On why and how you should get serious about software design and why programmers shouldn't design software. Not as fresh as when it came out, but it holds up nicely. Get it Amazon Kindle
Linchpin by Seth Godin
On rethinking your mindset, value generation, your role and position [as an employee] in the modern work place. (I personally think linchpins should quit and start their own businesses, though). Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Linked by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
On how everything is connected to everything else and what it means. Get it: Amazon Audible
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (@chr1sa) (re-read)
On why the future of [or actually current] business is selling less of more. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin
On why you shouldn't and wouldn't make and sell a meatball sundae - although some corporations still seem hellbent on making them. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The (Mis) Behaviour of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin and Reward by Benoit B. Mandelbrot
A fractal view on financial turbulence. Provides interesting insights on market mechanics, or rather the actual lack of empirical insights to such. Do not let the math aspect scare you: It's a [relatively] math phobic safe book. (Aside: Mandelbrot unfortunately died in 2010.) Get it: Amazon Kindle
The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
This one really put me off by referencing pseudo-science as science-fact. Aside from that fact, it says something along the lines of that you can program yourself to be and behave like you want to. Simplistically speaking, just tell yourself "you are the kind of person who does x" or "you are NOT the kind of person that does y" in front of a mirror and you're on your well on your way. It's all about self-image, see? It's also talking about the tortoise mind or the lizard brain; the power of your brain processing problems without your active thinking, better explained here: (Aside: I'd really love to read more about any scientific research on the "Tortoise Mind". Perhaps you know of any?) Get it: Amazon Audible
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
More on why the gaussian distribution model doesn't tell you the whole story and why 10.000+ hours of practice actually counts for quite a lot. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
It's the opposite of Interrupt Marketing. Which one is the most successful? Yes, you get it. But why do so many companies still not get it? Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The Power of Pull by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, Lang Davidson
On rethinking business and innovation in a fast moving and globalized world. Mostly for suits, so there's a good chance you know and live most of this already. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The Prince by Machiavelli (re-read)
This classic was a fun re-read whilst experiencing, shall we say managerial turbulence, this year. Get it: Project Gutenberg Archive.org
Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan)
Enough talk about social media. Here's something that you can and perhaps should do. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions by Gary Klein
A cognitive psychologist's theory on "naturalistic decision-making". Fascinating. Get it: Amazon Kindle
Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
Challenging even more common (mis)conceptions and raising even more interesting questions with applied economics. It surprised me as being at least as funny and provocative as their first book, Freakonomics. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (@gladwell)
On how, why and what things lead to another. Providing less substance and answers than I had hoped for but Gladwell is an entertaining read as always. Get it: Amazon Audible
Tribes by Seth God
What is a tribe, why do you need one and how and where do you find it? Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Trust Agents by Chris Brogan, Julien Smith (@julien)
What is a Trust Agent and why and how would you become one? Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler
On how social production transforms markets and freedoms. Get it: Harvard Archive.org
Understanding Media by Marshal McLuhan (re-read)
Interview I think I read it the first time back in 1994 or 95 understanding little but being highly intrigued. As I read it again in 2010 I don't know if I actually understood much more but it sure as hell raised a number of interesting questions and provoked a lot of new thoughts so I guess I found it even more fascinating now as it's arguably obvious to most that we're living smack in the middle of his 'prophecy'. Spoiler: The Medium is the Message. Get it: Amazon
UNMARKETING by Scott Stratten (@unmarketing)
Unthinking, unlearning, relearning marketing, helping small and large businesses master the art of (un)marketing with example stories in this day and age: Listen and engage, do not interrupt and try to find better ways of cold calling because you know it sucks. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible
Wikinomics by Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams
How mass collaboration changes everything. Get it: Amazon Kindle Audible I mostly listen to books these days to make better use if my time. I use a Sony DR BT-50 stereo Bluetooth headset with the iPhone for audio quality and wireless convenience anywhere.
A Brief History of Social Networks
No, I don't mean a brief history of Old Boy Networks, The Family or other more outlandish and exotic pre-digital era networks.
You see, as I was doing my due diligence for this crazy new venture, I jotted down some notes on the history of digital social networks leading up to the Facebook era and I thought I'd share them here with you.
Most of the following is based on to the level of theft in no small part, verbatim quotations from the book "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatric (@davidkirkpatric) and some tidbits from Wikipedia, Google and my own faulty memory.
And, yes - it is heavily biased towards the US and Europe since I did not have much good source material on say, e.g. Chinese, Korean and Japanese social networks. Feel free to fill me in.
I highly recommend the book if you are interested in a different (albeit rosier) perspective of the story behind Mark Zuckerberg's (@finkd) Facebook than the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich and the film version "The Social Network" by David Fincher. Preview the book in Google Books, buy the paper version at Amazon, or as a eBook from the Kindle store or as an audiobook from Audible. (I bought mine from Audible).
I claim Fair Use, as in the "Please don't sue. That wouldn't be fair." kind. The following content is meant for educational purposes only . If you want to use or republish, please make sure to credit and attribute David Kirkpatric and Wikipedia. Commercial (re)use would probably be bad for your karma.
Here we go - A Brief History of Social Networks:
[/caption]
JCR Licklider & Robert W. Taylor write the essay "The Computer as a communication device" and predicts;
[/caption]
Community Memory started. A notable precursor to the public Bulletin Board System.
From Wikipedia:
[/caption]
The first BBS is launched.
From Wikipedia:
[/caption]
Usenet enables members to post to groups dedicated to specific topics.
From Wikipedia:
[/caption]
The French postal service is the first to bring the concepts of commenting in online groups and chartrooms to a mass consumer audience with the launch of the national online service, Minitel
A side note, from Wikipedia:
[/caption]
America Online starts (albeit under another name; Quantum Computer Services, Inc.)
[caption id="attachment_7707" align="aligncenter" width="143" caption="http://www.well.com/"]
[/caption]
The WELL (The Whole World ELectronic Link) launches in San Francisco by Stuart Brand, Larry Brilliant (@larrybrilliant) et al.
Howard Rheingold (@hrheingold) - a big user of the WELL - publishes an essay in which he coins the term "virtual community" to describe this new experience.
[/caption]
IBM and Sears launches commercial online service called Prodigy.
Anonymous users, pseudonyms were the norm on these online services.
[caption id="attachment_7812" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="IRC II"]
[/caption]
IRC was created by Jarkko Oikarinen in August 1988 to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser Talk) on a BBS called OuluBox in Finland.
[/caption]
CU-SeeMe, an Internet videoconferencing client originally written by Tim Dorcey of the Information Technology department at Cornell University launches for Mac in 1992.
In the early days of the World Wide Web the notion of an online community advanced a little further, enabling users to set up a personal homepage that could in some cases link to pages created by other members.with services like Tripod started in 1992 with two Williams College classmates, Bo Peabody (@bopeabody) and Brett Hershey, along with Dick Sabot, an economics professor at the school, theglobe.com founded in 1994 by Cornell students Stephan Paternot (@stephanpaternot) and Todd Krizelman and GeoCities originally founded by David Bohnett (@dcbohnett) and John Rezner in late 1994.
[/caption]
match.com started by Gary Kremen as a proof of concept for Electric Classifieds which aimed to provide classified advertising systems for newspapers launches, filled with personal information for a highly specific purpose.
Classmates.com created by by Randy Conrads launches to help people identified by their real names to find and communicate with former school friends.
The first Internet Forums (or Message Boards) start to emerge.
PlanetAll a social networking, calendaring, and address book site launches in November 1996. It was founded by a group of Harvard Business School and MIT graduates including Warren Adams. (A big thanks to James Currier for pointing out that I had missed PlanetAll!).
From Wikipedia:
[/caption]
SocialNet.com dating service founded by Reid Hoffman (@quixotic)(Hoffman worked at Apple on eWorld, but perhaps better known for founding LinkedIn and as an Angel Investor).
sixdegrees.com founded by Andrew Weinreich launches, takes social networks further. A breakthrough in use of real names. The first Rolodex in the cloud. Invitation only. At the time revolutionary. "Network me" feature for matching you with users that met your quality criteria. Failed due to operating costs, licensing costs, development and maintenance costs and users only having dialup Internet at the time (e.g. the service lacked photos due to bandwidth concerns). Bought out for 120 million. Shut down in late 2000. Weinreich was granted a broad reaching social network patent.
Ethnic focused networks Black Planet founded by Omar Wasow (@owasow) and Asian Avenue co-founded by Benjamin Sun, Peter Chen, Grace Chang, Michael Montero, and Calvin Wong launches with limited social networking functions.
The daily jolt (R.I.P. April 6, 2010) launches as a campus bulletin board for 12 Schools.
tickle.com launched originally as emode.com, with quizzes and tests for both entertainment and self-discovery, by James Currier and Rick Marini. Warren Adams of PlanetAll is an investor.
Swedish teen community Lunar Storm (R.I.P. August 8th 2010) launches
Ordinary people begins using email. Again, using addresses that typically would not correspond to their real names.
Address books of emails maintained on and within the services. Members did not identify real-life friends or establish regular communication pathways with them. Later in the decade, Instant Messaging (IM) services like ICQ, PowWow and Ubique to hold the same way. People used pseudonyms for themselves, not their real names.
Cyworld (huge in Korea) adds social networking capabilities
Plaxo launches by Napster co-founder Sean Parker (FB profile)(and later The Facebook CEO) and two Stanford engineering students, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring. Has a viral concept; One user leads to more users - It has a Network Effect.
"Network Effect" as explained by Wikipedia (excerpt):
Ryze launches by Adrian Scott (@adrianscottcom). Explicitly business-only.
Friendster launches March 22nd by Jonathan Abrams (@ABRAMS), Peter Chin and Dave Lee. It gambles to lure users away from match.com. Uses real names and photos on profiles. You could search for friends near locations. Invitation only, befriend if you liked the photo. Cracked the code of the modern social network, defined basic structure. Problems; "Fakesters" - People with fake names, fake photos. Plagued by engineering misjudgments; did not scale, had major outages, performance issues. Mark Pincus (@markpinc)(later founder of Zynga) and Reid Hoffman (@quixotic) are investors.
Club Nexus launches by Stanford students Orkut Buyukkokten (@orkut) and Eytan Adar. Meant to connect Stanford students only. Complicated, too many features. (Bonus material: An analysis of Club Nexus by the founders.)
InCircle launches by Club Nexus founders. Alumni only.
Orkut Buyukkokten (@orkut) leaves for google. Programs a new social network prototype. Pitches it to google. orkut.com launches.
CourseMatch and Facemash are created by Mark Zuckerberg (@finkd) while at Harvard.
Harvard Connection is founded by the Winkelvoss twins Cameron Winkelvoss and Tyler Winkelvoss with Divya Narendra and some help from Mark Zuckerberg.
LinkedIn founded by Reid Hoffman (@quixotic).
Tribe.net founded by Mark Pincus (@markpinc). A social network around specific interests. Burning Man, Alt Sex and connecting turned out to be what the users are more interested in instead of buying and selling things.
Patent by SixDegrees.com's Weinreich put up for sale, Reid Hoffman (@quixotic) and Mark Pincus (@markpinc) buy the patent for $70.000 in front of highest bidder Yahoo!.
MySpace founded by Tom Anderson (@myspacetom) and Chris Dewolfe in frustration of Friendster's failures and wanted to appeal to the fakesters. Hustled bands, artists and fans in Los Angeles to join. Music + Sex + Anonymity + Chaos seemed to be the recipe.
Collegster.com free usable services by students for students launched at UC Irwine Alumni.
House System launched at Harvard to buy and sell books, review courses. It invited students to upload their photos.
WesMatch at Williams College.
GaleStation at Yale. A dating site.
CUCommunity (or CampusNetwork, SEASCommunity.com) at Columbia University.
Hi5 created by Ramu Yalamanchi (@ryalaman), big in Spanish speaking countries.
The Facebook launches. Limited to elite universities offering a stark contrast of an experience of that of MySpace
From the CrunchBase profile:
YouTube founded by former PayPal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim
twitter launches in July 2006 by Jack Dorsey (@jack), although the founding story behind it is controversial.
YouTube sold to Google in November for $1.65 billion.
1968
[caption id="attachment_7694" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="J. C. R. Licklider Source: Wikimedia Commons License: Public Domain"]
"you will not send a letter or a telegram - you will simply identify the people who's files should be linked to yours"
1973
[caption id="attachment_7809" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The first Community Memory terminal, an ASR-33 teletype, at Leopold's Records, Berkeley, CA, 1973. Source: Community Memory Project Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 "]
Community Memory was the first public computerized bulletin board system. Established in 1973 in Berkeley, California, it used an SDS 940 timesharing system in San Francisco connected via a 110 baud link to a teletype at a record store in Berkeley to let users enter and retrieve messages. While initially conceived as an information and resource sharing network linking a variety of counter-cultural economic, educational, and social organizations with each other and the public, Community Memory was soon generalized to be an information flea market . Once the system became available, the users demonstrated that it was a general communications medium that could be used for art, literature, journalism, commerce, and social chatter.
1978
[caption id="attachment_7811" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Monochrome BBS - A more recent modern BBS"]
The first public dial-up Bulletin Board System (BBS) was developed by Ward Christensen (@WardXmodem). According to an early interview, while he was snowed in during the Great Blizzard of 1978 in Chicago, Christensen along with fellow hobbyist Randy Suess, began preliminary work on the Computerized Bulletin Board System, or CBBS. CBBS went online on February 16, 1978
1979
[caption id="attachment_7691" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Diagram of usenet, Author: Benjamin D. Esham License: Public Domain"]
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980. Users read and post messages (called articles or posts, and collectively termed news) to one or more categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board system (BBS) in many respects, and is the precursor to the various Internet forums that are widely used today. Usenet can be superficially regarded as a hybrid between email and web forums. Discussions are threaded, with modern news reader software, as with web forums and BBSes, though posts are stored on the server sequentially.
1982
[caption id="attachment_7696" align="aligncenter" width="407" caption="Minitel built in 1982 Author: Tieum License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported"]
The German "Bildschirmtext" (BTX) is almost as old as Minitel and technically very similar, but it was largely unsuccessful because consumers had to buy expensive decoders to use it. The German postal service held a monopoly on the decoders that prevented competition and lower prices. Few people bought the boxes, so there was little incentive for companies to post content, which in turn did nothing to further box sales. When the monopoly was loosened, it was too late because PC-based online services had started to appear.
1985
[caption id="attachment_7704" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="AOL logo 1991 to 2006 Source: brandsoftheworld.com License: Fair Use"]
1987
1988
[caption id="attachment_7713" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Screenshot of Prodigy"]
1991 - 1994
The World Wide Web sees the light of day in 1991 created by Tim Berners-Lee (@timberners_lee) and Robert Cailliau (robertcailliau.eu). From Wikipedia:The World Wide Web, abbreviated as WWW and commonly known as the Web, is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can viewweb pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them via hyperlinks.[caption id="attachment_7804" align="aligncenter" width="189" caption="CU-SeeMe logo"]
1995
[caption id="attachment_7716" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="match.com screenshot anno 2008"]
1996
PlanetAll was possibly the first social networking site on the Internet. The site had more than 100,000 groups, organized around real-world counterparts such as academic institutions and employers. When the user entered the name of his or her university, the service would list the user's classmates who were also members of the service. Users could exchange authorization to access the each others' contacts. Many sites at the time offered web-based address books and calendars, but PlanetAll.com combined the two: when a user entered travel plans into the calendar, the service would cross-reference the destination with the address book, as well as the user's contacts' travel plans; the site would then notify users when they would cross paths with their contacts.
1997
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Reid Hoffman"]
1999
1998
On August 4, 1998, Amazon.com announces that it has agreed to acquire PlanetAll. Under terms of the agreement, Amazon.com acquired 100 percent of PlanetAll in exchange for 800,000 shares.2000
Amazon.com shuts down PlanetAll.com on July 2, 2000, telling PlanetAll members, "We are pleased to announce that we have completed the integration of the key e-commerce related features of PlanetAll.com into our main site at Amazon.com... Although PlanetAll.com will be going away, you'll still be able to enjoy some of the tools that help you keep in touch with like-minded folks."2001 - 2002 : Social Networking bug hits Silicon Valley and SF
2001
In economics and business, a network effect (also called network externality) is the effect that one user of a good or service has on thevalue of that product to other people. When network effect is present, the value of a product or service increases as more people use it. The classic example is the telephone. The more people own telephones, the more valuable the telephone is to each owner. This creates a positive externality because a user may purchase their phone without intending to create value for other users, but does so in any case.Online social networks work in the same way, with sites like Twitter and Facebook being more useful the more users join. The expression "network effect" is applied most commonly to positive network externalities as in the case of the telephone. Negative network externalities can also occur, where more users make a product less valuable, but are more commonly referred to as "congestion" (as in traffic congestion or network congestion). Over time, positive network effects can create a bandwagon effect as the network becomes more valuable and more people join, in a positive feedback loop.
2002
2003
2004
When Tagged launched in 2004 as a teen-only social network, security was a top priority. In October 2006 the site made a drastic change and went from being under-18 only, to allowing users of any age to join. This change has helped user registration skyrocket. In fact, Tagged was adding more users per day than MySpace in May of 2007.
2005
2006
2007
Dana Boyd & Nichole Ellison write in a paper:"The salient features of a true social network": "A service where a user can construct a public or semi-public profile, articulate a list of other users which whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. You establish your position in a complex network of relationships. And your profile positions you in the context of these relationships. Usely in order to discover otherwise hidden points of common interest or connection."twitter reaches it's tipping point at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. During the event Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000. Orkut.com strangely occupied by nearly over 50% Brazilians and 20% Indians.
2010
Amazon is awarded a social networking system patent based on its previous acquisition of PlanetAll. twitter has over 190 million users. Facebook launches Graph API, Open Graph protocol, an improved Facebook Connect and Social plugins, has over 500 million active users. Mark Zuckerberg is Time's "Man of the Year". Microsoft and Google still haven't got a real answer to social networks. [fblike layout_style='button_count' show_faces='true' verb='like' font='arial' color_scheme='light'] What is your take? Something missing? Tell me what you think in the comments below.Dell (Inspiron) Mini 9 and 10v Hackintosh - Battery Won't Charge, Battery Not Identified, LED Lights Blinking [FIX]
As you may already know I use Dell Netbooks with OSX and I previously wrote a post about how you can too.
I recently encountered a problem with the Dell Mini (Inspiron) 9 that I found no real helpful solution to fixing on the intarnets, so I thought I'd just take a moment to share what I did to fix it. Sort of.
Whatever you do, don't buy a new Dell battery before you've tried this. If it doesn't work, you're probably better off buying a new (used) Mini 9 on e.g. eBay instead, cost/benefit wise. You can always use the old Mini 9 Hackintosh on mains in the kitchen, on the night stand, in the bathroom, give it to someone who could need a computer or whatever.
Problem / Symptoms:
Recipe / Fix:
I do have a 3G iPad and I'm really happy with it, should you be wondering, but I still find myself needing a "real" OS for work use from time to time. Maybe it's more due to my mouse, keyboard, desktop paradigm conditioning over the years than the iPad iOS and Apps. Sure, I'd really love to get the new MacBook Air, but as a bootstrapping entrepreneur, I find the cost/benefit of a Hackintosh to be the more conscientious choice at the moment.
Do you use OSX on non-Apple hardware? Tell me about your experiences.
Bonus Material:
How to change the HD for a SSD in a Dell Mini 10v
How to upgrade the RAM in a Dell Mini 10v (Part 1 of 2)
How to upgrade the RAM in a Dell Mini 10v (Part 2 von 2)
- Battery not recognized on boot up ("Battery not identified, press F1 to continue")
- OSX reports that the battery is 100% charged (although you know it's not)
- White power/charging ligt and red low battery warning light blinking, disco style
- Battery will not charge whatever you (even downgrading BIOS to A00) do and will eventually run out of juice
- GOTO 10
- BIOS upgraded to A05 or above
- Something else (I have no idea. You tell me.)
- Dell Mini 9 with blinking leds, disco style
- NetBookInstaller 0.8.4 RC1 "special edition"
- OSX Snow Leopard updated to 10.6.5 installed on said Dell Mini 9 by way of said version of NetBookInstaller
- USB stick with Dell I910 Mini/Vostro A90 USB Key Drive flashBIOS Utility installed (Don't ask me how to get it. Search around.)
- Make sure the battery is connected to said Dell Mini 9
- Boot from said "Dell I910 Mini/Vostro A90 USB Key Drive flashBIOS Utility" on said USB stick
- Select the Mini/Inspiron A04 BIOS and flash it
- Wait for the flashing to complete and reboot the Netbook
- If you pull the mains power plug out, the red/white disco style blinking will return
- If you pull the mains power and re-insert it, OSX reports that the battery is 100% charged (although it's not)
- If you pull the mains power and re-insert it, the Hackintosh will not recharge
- GOTO 10
- Don't pull the mains when turned on
- Re-insert mains
- Reboot
- Or turn off, turn on, let boot
- Or keep it turned off, connected to mains, see if the white charging light is on, if the battery is actually charged
- Or rinse, lathe and repeat the flashing of the BIOS if the battery won't charge once again
Boom or Bust!
Dear friends and random strangers! You might have noticed that I've been extraordinarily boring quiet in the last couple of months. The reason is that I'm working on the next big thing ™ bootstrapping a new startup with partners. It's not like it's the new F-117 but we're kinda stealthy about it still.
We think we are addressing a real-life problem by tapping into existing potential to mitigate it. I know that isn't saying much but I'm super excited about this! We're either changing the world or going home on this one.
We're all about doing the heavy lifting aggregating power and wrangling leveraging technology to work for people - real people like you and your family and friends and colleagues - and not the other way around. (Ok, maybe not for you, you and you - but for YOU!)
It may just be a small step in a nacent field, but we think its potential to make a difference in your life is just awesome. We are extremely passionate about it. We want to be able to share our vision with you any-day-real-soon-now!
What makes us perhaps a little different than most of your average garden-variety tech startups - besides our vision - is our eclectic team. Our team consist of seasoned pros with a couple of merit badges of their own. I am super excited to have them onboard!
I think there's such a great background story behind it all too. I wish I could tell you more right now.
Should you be looking to invest, our Keynote deck is quite fancy and our enthusiasm for our vision highly contagious, but we'd love to get back to you in a month's time or so when our own money, blood, sweat and tears has transmogrified into proof.
If you're interested to know more I would love to have a coffee with you right about now. If you're interested in contributing, help out or join, come aboard - we're expecting you!
Let's talk! My iPhone is as always +49 (0) 151 40 133 149. My mail is as always vidar@blacktar.com. My lines are as always open. :)
Ryan Dahl on node.js @cowoco [VIDEO]
I recently attended a brilliant and funny talk by Ryan Dahl (@ryha) on node.js at @cowoco a great co-working/co-location initiative in Cologne, Germany.
Here's my recorded live stream from the event. (I apologise for the quality and the Flash format of the videos. I hope USTREAM implements HTML5 video soon too.)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Yes, Moving On
Introducing the Social Media Lunch Cologne
Was denkst Du? Wirst Du teilnehmen? Was erwartest Du? Willst Du drüber sprechen? Hast Du etwas zu zeigen? Hast Du großartige Ideen? Vorschläge? Verbesserungen? Spezielle diätische Anforderungen? Ängste, Unsicherheiten, Zweifel? Lass es mich wissen, indem Du in folgenden Kanälen Deine Kommentare hinterlässt: Offizielle Website, twitter, facebook, mail oder ruf mich an (DE +49 (0) 221 3023 953 - INT +1 (650) 450-8047, beide CET)! Egal wie und warum.
Persönlich würde es mich sehr freuen, wenn wenigstens eine Person auftauchen würde. Das wäre phantastisch. Hoffe Euch dort zu treffen!
-Vidar 'blacktar' Andersen, Kölle und Internet 15.06.2010
Freigeist Conference CGN
World Plone Day 2010
What is Plone?
Plone is a free and open source content management system built on top of the Zope application server. Plone can be used for in principle any kind of website, including blogs, internet sites, webshops and internal websites. It is also well positioned to be used as a document publishing system and groupware collaboration tool. The strengths of Plone are its flexible and adaptable workflow, very good security, extensibility, high usability and flexibility. -Wikipedia
What is the goal of the World Plone Day?
The World Plone Day (WPD) is a worldwide event. Our goal is to promote and educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using Plone in education, government, ngos, and in business. -World Plone Day FAQSo far today at the WPD in Bonn Jan Ulrich Hasecke from hasecke.com and DZUG held a great introduction to Plone. You can download the slides here. (Currently only available as PDF due to image license issues. The presentation should be up on Slideshare shortly.) and you can read his (German) Whitepaper on Plone here (be sure to set your browser language to DE). Here's some snippets of his presentation as streamed live on USTREAM (sorry for the low quality; It's live from my iPhone): You can also follow my
