The internet is reshaping our economy from one of huge corporations with lots of jobs to huge platforms with lots of income streams

2012-02-26

From Innovation and the Bell Labs Miracle in today NYTimes: Innovation is an important new product or process, deployed on a large scale and…

Once you take money, the clock starts ticking

2012-02-25

One of the interesting things about having been investing in startups for a number of years is that at any moment you get an inside peek at…

Big timing

2012-02-23

“Big timing” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot lately which refers to people who are “higher ranking” acting disrespectfully toward people who…

“It is the human friction that makes the sparks”

2012-02-19

From Jonah Lehrer, Brainstorming Doesn’t Really Work (via Stowe Boyd): Building 20 [a scene of incredible innovation at MIT] and…

Platform distribution risks

2012-02-14

When your product extends a platform’s functionality, one of the main risks you face is that the platform could embed your product’s key…

Between failure and Facebook

2012-02-13

Recently, a friend was trying to recruit a programmer to join his early-stage startup. The programmer had just graduated from college and…

eBay vs Amazon: decentralized vs centralized e-commerce

2012-02-13

Note: The company I cofounded, Hunch, was acquired by eBay in November 2011. I am now an eBay employee. But all the opinions expressed below…

Some thoughts on the iPhone contact list controversy and app security

2012-02-12

1. I’ve heard rumors that lots of apps have been uploading user contact lists for years. One person who knows the iOS world well told me “if…

And then, suddenly, it works

2012-02-11

The other day a friend was demoing a new app he was working on. My first reaction was: “Yeah, yeah. This is nicely executed version one of…

Bedrock programming

2012-02-06

“Bedrock programming” is a phrase used to describe a style of programming that favors building code from the ground up versus reusing…