no, really

We had a call with the outsourcing firm we’re looking into yesterday morning.  I continue to be amazed at the level on which these guys operate.  Anyone who’s worked with me knows that I have an absurdly high expectation of the people that I work with, particularly in their ability to examine a problem and understand all its facets.  The particular tech lead we had the conversation with asked all the right questions.  I actually got the feeling I was a little under-prepared for the conversation.

I spent the rest of the day preparing the tools they’ll need to finish spec-ing out the project to give us a quote.  I set up a duplicate copy of the site for them to browse and poke at.  I also took the time to finish installing Trac.  At FiLife, we used Trac, and I actually learned to like it.  It may not do any of the big features amazingly well (wiki, ticket tracking, planning), but I came to appreciate the cross-links between the different feature sets.  Plus, it’s a very easy way to browse a Subversion repository.

Tonight we’re going to visit the Food Film Festival in LIC (bringing our own beverage, of course).  It’s going to be a gorgeous evening with the sunset and all, so… sangria, anyone?  I wish I could take the ferry, but there are conflicting reports about the east river ferry running.  We’re waiting for Bill’s week off to take a day trip from the Williamsburg landing to Pier 11 in Manhattan to Ikea at Red Hook!!

I’m also having fantasies about trading in the truck for a BMW 135.  SO HOT!

It has been far too long.  And what a long three and a half months, indeed!  Let’s see…

• Bill moved into the apartment.  Hilarity ensued.
• I worked several ~70hr weeks at FiLife.  We launched today.
• I started working full time with Mahdad on Noo.  We got financing.

Along the way, there were some good points (Birthday bash, weekends on Fire Island), and some sad points (grandfather passing, tax nightmares).  In the end, I’m grateful for loving friends and family that have been there for it all.

So, yet again, I’m at a point of transition.  I’ll miss very much working with the FiLifers – a talented and crafty bunch who have been so much fun to work with.  I’m still tingling with excitement as I do work on Noo.  Success is within reach!

As part of my new regimen, I will get back to blogging regularly.

Okay, now that my childish rant is done…

I’m sure I’ve gone on more than a few tangents about how some of the really good, lightning-strike brain moments in my past have yielded excellent, viable ideas that, having been shared with industry gatekeepers, were rejected – only to show, a year or so later, to not only be great ideas, but industry changing!

Example:

I recall a scorching summer afternoon in 2006 at Pershing Sq. Cafe where I identified a problem and a solution. The idea was challenged. I responded. It was dismissed. Some valiant effort was made by a colleague to implement this idea, to no avail. At the time (as you may have read), I was suffering some crises of a professional nature that sapped a lot of energy out of me, and so I was unable to invest any effort into the idea.

As it turns out, everybody loves my idea. They can’t wait for it to be a reality! People predicted a lot of resistance on the part of big players like Facebook, MySpace, Google… why would they participate? Why would they let it happen and exist? I explained why it’s good for all of them, but nobody believed me. And now this. If things had gotten moving when I thought of this, I’d be poised in a great position to run the market on this. But alas, I’m just another one of the whining “I coulda done that” kids.

Bombshell: Google and Facebook Join DataPortability.org

Last night I attended nextNY’s November event… MatchupCamp.  I haven’t been to an all out event with them for a little while, so I was uncertain what to expect.  I spoke to Neil, and he was attending as part of a new capacity in some new venture (again), so at least I’d know someone there.

We arrived to a small crowd of about 45 people in a large photo studio loft with a few posters on the walls describing ventures and ideas seeking labor.  As the night progressed, that number allegedly reached over 130.  Neil made the observation that when nextNY started, it was about 15 people around a table in a bar, and now it’s grown to this.

In so many ways, it’s a great thing, and pretty much the purpose of nextNY.  What I’m starting to notice, though, is that the quantity vs. quality debate is coming up now.  What we had in the beginning were a select few… the hard core, tuned in, excited tech industrialists looking to make a difference in their industry and in the city.  Now, it’s hard to say what the description of the group is.

I met a lot of different people last night.  Some were splendidly hard working people who have been plugging away at their ideas and their work for years.  Some have all the background and a great idea, and are really looking to push it to the next step.  Some… seem to just be tagging along.  I spoke to a couple people that have “ideas” that can not only be summed up in a few words, but that are so inane, they’re all buzz words.

I do hate to be negative about these kinds of things, but I calls em as I sees em.  There is still a healthy, vibrant, exciting tech scene in New York.  But like the temples of the Inca… it’s going to take a machete to cut through all the weeds to find it.

At Money-Media, I remember the relentless repetition that we, the tech staff, kept pounding to editorial: “just because someone clicked a link on a snazzy headline doesn’t mean they liked the story. therefore, calculating “most popular” based on hits is invalid.” We referred them to the NYTimes site, where they calculate the top stories based on e-mail forwards and blog references. Clearly, those are better metrics of popular stories.

I actually read that list, too. When I click and read an article, I take a look at that list and see if there’s anything else good to read. Today was an interesting day in that list. It contained news from the last few days, mostly on a specific theme: economic turmoil.

I realize that just because people forward articles a lot doesn’t make their content true. However, it makes it clear that it’s on peoples’ minds, which is something that the fed and the media are denying. Just see for yourself:

I know that it’s no coincidence I feel this way after a NY Tech Meetup, but I’m so far behind in getting things done.  There are so many things I’ve wanted to do in the past year that have ended up being done by someone else and done well.  I don’t feel bitter or jealous, I think it’s great!  I just wish it were me showing off the fruits of my brain labor.

The good effect that this has on me is it makes me focus more on my ideas… streamline what I’ve got, and make sure that the work I’m currently doing is as focused as it can be.

I need to find a quiet corner and apply all this focus now before it wears off

I wouldn’t call myself a pessimist. I’m a bit more of a realist, on the optimistic end of the spectrum. If you can figure out what that means, good for you!

All good things do come to an end… particularly when they’re named something as finite as Web 2.0. Even moreso when such a term is so buzz-y that whole magazines and conferences and business models are designed around its loosely defined description.

Crunchgear asserts that the end is nigh. Two factors are contributing to this: Laziness and Advertising. (more…)

You read it here first.

dinosaurl: a human relic of the old internet age.

usage:

“Can you believe that guy? ‘VC this’ and ‘development cycle’ that. What a dinosaurl!”

pronunciation:

DAI-nou-sawrl

play on:
di-no-sa-URL

© 2007

TV is slumping. Majorly. Read any business publication that covers media, and they’ll point to TV and newspapers and say something like “it’s like watching the titanic sink… in slow motion.”

TV is suffering a bit more noisily that newspapers. The ‘papers at least have subscription revenue to keep them propped upright as they offload passengers. DVR is tearing a giant gash in the hull of the HMS Boobtube.

(more…)