Everything you can imagine is real.

"Facebook, Apple and a raft of start-ups are all trying to develop a low-cost payment system, which..."

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:11:35 +0000

“Facebook, Apple and a raft of start-ups are all trying to develop a low-cost payment system, which could be a lucrative undertaking in itself. If they succeed, they may bring some relief to media firms that have seen much of their business disappear into the vacuum: many in the music and newspaper businesses, for example, are pinning their hopes on the idea that consumers can be persuaded to pay small amounts for digital wares.”

- Video games move online: A giant sucking sound | The Economist

"John S. Reed, who helped engineer the merger that created Citigroup Inc., apologized for his role in..."

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:04:56 +0000

“John S. Reed, who helped engineer the merger that created Citigroup Inc., apologized for his role in building a company that has taken $45 billion in direct U.S. aid and said banks that big should be divided into separate parts.”

- Reed Says ‘I’m Sorry’ for Role in Creating Citigroup (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

Imagine if Sandy had lost instead. Muscle vs brains. Shareholders made a very poor choice (and paid for it.)

"Strictly as a fan of business hardball, you have to tip your cap to the Scandinavian team of Niklas..."

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:57:31 +0000

“Strictly as a fan of business hardball, you have to tip your cap to the Scandinavian team of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. First the founders of Skype got eBay to pay close to $3 billion for the Net telephony pioneer while somehow retaining control of its key technology. And now, after being snubbed in their attempt to buy the company back, they’ve won themselves a healthy chunk in exchange for that technology, while putting a beat-down on a friend-turned-enemy for good measure. Nicely played, gents.”

- Skype founders ring up their second big eBay payday | Good Morning Silicon Valley

…nice one.

"Seven companies received about 82 percent of those benefits, the panel estimated. General Electric..."

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:31:50 +0000

“Seven companies received about 82 percent of those benefits, the panel estimated. General Electric Capital was able to reduce its borrowing costs by about $1.9 billion, while Goldman Sachs saved an estimated $606 million. The other big beneficiaries were Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Company.”

- Break for Companies in Bailout’s Fine Print - NYTimes.com

…and alot of this saving instead of accruing to shareholders ie recapitalizing the banks (which however unpleasant is needed/for good of all, will be subject to a 50% vig via bonuses.

"Furthermore, you lose a lot of information in a master trust pool. Because new loans are added to..."

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:25:25 +0000

““Furthermore, you lose a lot of information in a master trust pool. Because new loans are added to the existing collateral pool when new bonds are issued, the performance statistics of the older loans are diluted by the new loans.””

- FT.com / UK - Recent deals signal market’s reopening in the same old style

…many of the core data quality issues in RMBS could be solved by the adoption of ZSINs (Zoopla Standard Identification Number) and thus automated access to rich data and meta-data on underlying property in each pool.

"All in all, it’s clear that the public’s hatred of the banking industry – far from easing – may just..."

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:12:21 +0000

“All in all, it’s clear that the public’s hatred of the banking industry – far from easing – may just be winding up. And next time a bank CEO heads for the White House, I’d steer clear of the snipers.”

- Want to kill some bankers? There’s an app for that - Bank Think

…pretty good for a business who’s main product is trust…way to go banking industry!

"Believe it or not, not everyone wants to build tools that can grow into large centralised solutions,..."

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:58:35 +0000

“Believe it or not, not everyone wants to build tools that can grow into large centralised solutions, which is how many people seem to define scale. No one is ever going to run a nationwide election monitoring campaign running into millions of text messages using a single laptop, cable and mobile phone. FrontlineSMS is based on “horizontal scaling”, gained by an increase in the numbers of individual users with their own systems. In other words, a hundred systems in a hundred clinics serving 10,000 people each, rather than one system adapted and “scaled up” to serve a million. We’re happy and comfortable with this approach, as are our target audience of grassroots NGOs.”

- Our “social mobile” line in the sand | Build it Kenny, and they will come…

“…horizontal scaling…” I think we’ll hear this expression more and more…

"But how do you determine you are there? According to Sean the key question to ask users is “how..."

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:35:15 +0000

“But how do you determine you are there? According to Sean the key question to ask users is “how would you feel it you could no longer use our product?” If you achieve product/market fit you are looking for greater than 40% of respondents answering “very disappointed” to this question. If less than that you need to keep working on your product until you have something people really need. Sean’s made available a free survey tool and all the necessary questions pre-populated at Survey.io; if you have a product right now and you’re not sure where you are then start with this.”

- How to measure product/market fit and the implication for external finance « Scott Allison’s Blog

"Look folks, if this copyright treaty means protecting Mickey Mouse from unauthorized reproductions,..."

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:20:45 +0000

“Look folks, if this copyright treaty means protecting Mickey Mouse from unauthorized reproductions, then it’s a small price to pay to forever risk losing access to civic participation, health information, education, registration and renewal of government documents, global communication, access to government, weather and traffic, emergency service information, freedom of speech and assembly….”

- Secret copyright treaty leaks. It’s bad. Very bad. - Boing Boing

…how is that we have leaders that will even contemplate passing laws like this???

"Psychologists think that there are distinct brain circuits that drive two very different modes of..."

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:51:00 +0000

“

Psychologists think that there are distinct brain circuits that drive two very different modes of thought in regards to other people. We can treat them empathetically as humans we identify with, where the watchwords are: respect, kindness, compassion …or as outsiders who we view as ‘other’ where the watchwords are fear, intolerance and disdain. The first category are granted moral consideration, the latter are threats to be dealt with. Now these two modes of thought are present in every human and depending which one is active, people will behave very differently. It is of crucial importance to the world’s future as to which mode of thought becomes dominant.

Here’s the thing. The difference between them is not hardwired. It’s possible for a child to learn to gradually expand the circle of people she or he can identify with. It might start with just family and friends, but gradually it can extend to the local village, or town or country or race or religiion, or even, just maybe beyond that to the entire human family.

”

- An international school in India with a message for the world - TEDChris: The untweetable

On the eve of TED India, what a wonderful post by Chris; I imagine that most of the people that come to TED feel much the same way as him, and while it is always more comfortable to surround yourself with like-minded people, I think the real power of TED is to legitimize the idea (and desirability) of “global souls”. In this regard of course the conferences themselves are extremely exciting and energizing but the real transformational power of TED probably lies much more in their use of technology to create a broader community and to offer millions of people around the world comfort that they are not alone. Perhaps inspiring some of the more timid to follow their instincts, to take risks, to seek out different cultures, experiences and points of view or giving them the courage to be different. To be themselves.

"Somalia’s mobile phone business is booming despite the almost daily artillery fire that flies..."

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:22:53 +0000

“Somalia’s mobile phone business is booming despite the almost daily artillery fire that flies over expensive satellite dishes and the violence that has brought misery to the population of the Horn of Africa nation.”

- Somali mobile phone firms thrive despite chaos | Reuters

"If you are an IT professional and you find your self thinking, “damn, I have to make sure I restrict..."

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:02:43 +0000

“If you are an IT professional and you find your self thinking, “damn, I have to make sure I restrict my users from all of these crafty uses of EC2″ then, jackass,you are the problem with your firm’s IT department. If you see your job as stopping users then you are a useless burden on your firm and you should be not only fired, but spat upon. The way to prevent users from doing these, and other “shadow IT” behaviors is to provide the IT services that help your users be awesome! If you do that then you don’t have to worry about what your users are up to. They’ll be too damn busy being awesome to have time to mess with Amazon EC2.”

- Cerebral Mastication » Blog Archive » Using Amazon EC2 to Thwart Crappy Internal IT Services …OMG should be required reading for every Fortune500 IT manager, thanks JD!

"Kamal Quadir: When I first launched CellBazaar in 2006, I assumed that SMS-based phones would..."

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:19:24 +0000

“Kamal Quadir: When I first launched CellBazaar in 2006, I assumed that SMS-based phones would continue to dominate the market for another few years. Only a few people had WAP/Internet enabled mobiles with graphic interfaces; high-end smart-phones were a rarity. Our forecasts said it would take several years before most people had Internet-enabled phones. Our initial launch focused only on an SMS-based application; our plan was for the technical team to continue modifying that application for another year or two, and then we would launch the second-generation applications on WAP and the Web. But by January of 2007, the handset market experienced a seismic shift, and suddenly high-end phones were proliferating. At least five complex, interlocking factors help explain this rapid penetration…”

- eNidhi India: Interview: Kamal Quadir -Founder, CEO Cellbazaar.com …need to learn more. looks interesting.

"If forward looking regulation isn’t the answer, can companies themselves draw some lines in the..."

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:15:57 +0000

“If forward looking regulation isn’t the answer, can companies themselves draw some lines in the sand, unpack what “don’t be evil” suggested, and nudge the market towards an architecture in which users, companies, and other participants in the open internet signal the terms or expectations they have. Below is a draft list of principles. It is incomplete, I’m sure — I’m hoping others will help complete it — but after reading Auletta’s book and after thinking about this for a while I thought it would be worth laying out some thoughts in advance of another regulatory mess.”

- THINK / Musings» Blog Archive » lines in the sand …

..nice complement to my recent eComm presentation on the ‘new optimal industry stack’…

"Gartner analysts answer thousands of questions daily on various IT topics, and we learn a lot about..."

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:59:57 +0000

“Gartner analysts answer thousands of questions daily on various IT topics, and we learn a lot about IT trends by talking to our clients. For example, for the last twelve months we answered more than 1,000 inquiries from clients specifically on the topic of cloud computing. Which end-user verticals are asking the most questions?
1. Financial services (12%)
2. Manufacturing (10%)
3. Business and management services (10%)
4. Telecommunications and equipment (9%)
5. Government (7%)
6. Insurance (6%)
7. Oil, gas and electric (5%)
8. Professional/specialized services (5%)
9. Schools and education services (4%)
10. Food (4%)”

- Cloud Computing Inquiries at Gartner

…not surprised to see financial services at No. 1. Nice also to find out that insurance is not a financial service… (Gartner=muppets)

"FINRA has set up a task force comprised of industry representatives “to explore how regulation..."

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:08:44 +0000

“FINRA has set up a task force comprised of industry representatives “to explore how regulation can embrace technology advancements in ways that can improve the flow of information between firms and their customers without compromising investor protection,” he said.”

- Facebook challenges financial regulators: FINRA | Technology | Reuters

…slowly but surely the socio-institutional paradigm creaks forward to adjust to the new technological paradigm…

With a little help from my friends...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:28:35 +0000

I need some statistics that didn’t seem easy to find via normal organic search. Would be very grateful if you could help me find the following:

Amazon.com: No. of Marketplace merchants, No. of Associates, % of overall sales coming from these channels

Apple: No. of Apps in Apps store, No. of individuals/companies developing apps, no. of members in Apple Developers Network

Facebook: No. of Apps in Apps store, No. of individuals/companies developing apps

Microsoft: No. of members in MSDN

Please send numbers and/or sources to @nauiokaspark on twitter

"Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a web service that makes it easy to set up,..."

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:25:26 +0000

“Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient and resizable capacity while managing time-consuming database administration tasks, freeing you up to focus on your applications and business.”

- Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS)

…one more step on the road to the sixth paradigm…

Beware of Avanta

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:42:26 +0100

If you are thinking of renting a serviced office from Avanta, you might want to think twice. We were tenants for almost two years and during that time I must say it was ok - the building was well kept and the staff were friendly and helpful. But it certainly wasn’t cheap.

Then we moved out. We left the office in pristine condition, and when doing the checkout the Avanta represented remarked as much and said we didn’t need to have any cleaning done. Just repainting the walls as we had put up two pictures and a whiteboard. I thought even this was pretty cheeky given I’m sure this would fall under normal depreciation / dilapidations but since it was only going to cost £100 or so I figured it wasn’t worth arguing about…

A day or so later in the midst of the hectic move I signed the checkout sheet without noticing that cleaning had been added (c. £250…) Nice.

Obviously when we took on this space we had to put down a deposit and upon leaving the contract stated this would only be returned 60 days after check out. Setting aside the cynicism of this provision (after all I had agreed to it when signing their T&Cs), I have to say I was mildly annoyed when 60 days later nothing arrived… I waited a week or so (just to take into account any lunacy around business days or holidays or some such rubbish I thought they might have in the fine print) and then when still nothing had my associate contact them. Once. Twice. Three times…

When finally she was able to speak to someone with authority, we were informed that we had to ‘request’ the return of our deposit in writing and as soon as this was done, they would prepare a cheque. Request??? It’s OUR fucking money. Plus you’ve taken our rent payment for two years by direct debit so why don’t you just transfer the money to our account instead of making us go to the bank???

Well good luck Avanta, I hope the extra profits made by the interest you skim off customer deposits and the odd one who doesn’t chase you when their money isn’t automatically returned to them, makes up for the people who knowing how lame and slimy you can be, never consider renting from you in the first place.

I also feel very badly for your employees who were always friendly, professional and helpful - must be awful for them to have to enforce such cynical corporate policies…

"Bezos may sense similar opportunity, a moment when he, in true Jobs-like fashion, could colonize..."

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:55:52 +0100

“Bezos may sense similar opportunity, a moment when he, in true Jobs-like fashion, could colonize this growing niche for the Amazon ecosystem. Should that happen, book publishers would have more to fear than just being squeezed. Amazon could phase them out completely, treating them as the ultimate middlemen orphaned by a new technology.”

- Amazon Taps Its Inner Apple | Fast Company