posted yesterday

Is The FBI Dumb, Evil, Or Just Incompetent?

Sledgehammer-dvd

Your government is worried. The world is “going dark.” Once upon a time, telephones were the only way to talk to someone far away, and the authorities could wiretap any phone they wanted. Nowadays, though, suspects might be communicating via Facebook, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Skype, Viber. And so, inevitably: “Today, if you’re a tech company that’s created a new and popular way… → Read More

May 21st, 2013

Cultural Learnings Of Silicon Valley For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Ukraine

Screen Shot 2013-05-21 at 10.40.34 PM

Like you and a lot of other people in the Valley, I read the blogs snarking on the Valley, because nothing is funnier than making fun of people just like us, technology elite who download hot apps, ringtones and backgrounds all day and all night – all on our separate phones reserved for daytime and nighttime. → Read More

May 19th, 2013

Iterations: How Tech Hedge Funds And Investment Banks Make Sense Of Apple’s Share Buybacks

Apple Hand

Apple has a good deal of cash. And, in the Valley, the startup ecosystem — for many reasons — wants to see Apple spend that cash. As their cash pile continued to grow as their stock price and market cap soared, Apple’s inability to provide robust software services combined with opportunities to expand their reach through acquisitions has become a fancy parlor game which includes every stripe of… → Read More

May 18th, 2013

I/Overload?

i-overload

Did Google’s conference succeed? It launched dozens of products in its 205-minute keynote, but did the world understand them? I saw some of the smartest journalists in technology struggling to handle the information density. But what’s the alternative? Break it up across multiple days, or even multiple conferences? Google’s breadth presents it with a challenge unique among the tech giants. → Read More

May 18th, 2013

The Time Has Come For Chrome In The Home

3569785349_d1ec6caa88_z

I’ve spent the last two weeks wandering around London, Paris, and Istanbul (not Constantinople.) As an experiment, I left my trusty MacBook Pro behind and brought only the $199 Chromebook on which I type this. And to my considerable surprise it has served admirably. So admirably, in fact, that I believe ChromeOS is only one or two iterations away from being the right choice for many-if not most→ Read More

May 16th, 2013

“In The Studio,” VMware’s Parth Shah Helps Explain The World Of Enterprise IT

This is the final episode of my show on TCTV, “In The Studio.” The final guest is a good friend, Parth Shah (no relation), an engineer with VMware, and before that, at Yahoo! Parth combines the precision of CMU CS graduate’s take on web development with a hacker mentality, and has the rare skill of being able to explain some of the most complex enterprise IT concepts to those who don’t have as… → Read More

May 15th, 2013

Google’s Products Are Just By-Products Of Its Quest For Tomorrow

Google's Future

Google isn’t about search, apps, or devices. Those are just vehicles, and there’s no destination. That’s because Larry Page’s Google is on an unending pursuit of the future, not just next quarter’s earnings. The scattershot of projects Google revealed today at I/O had just one unifying factor: They further that pursuit, or empower the curiosity of others. → Read More

May 13th, 2013

3D Printing Is The Future, But What Kind Of Future?

Lincoln

The crescendo of media reports about the advent of a DIY printable firearm has caused an understandable uproar. In the wake of so many high-profile, mass-casualty incidents involving firearms — and a lot of impotent rage by our elected officials — it seems counterintuitive that, as we circle the wagons around the idea of passing rational gun legislation at the federal level, we can also… → Read More

May 12th, 2013

Iterations: Snoopify, The Greatest Mobile Photobombing App Of All Time

Snoopy Steve

“What are the cool new apps you’ve seen lately?” To this oft heard question, lately, there have been lots of answers. So, mobile is indeed exciting and moving fast. And, just recently, a fun new app came out that instantly captured my attention — no, it’s not from a Stanford dropout or from the  ”innovation lab” of a large technology company. No. It’s from Snoop Dogg — excuse me — → Read More

May 12th, 2013

Packing For Walden

walden2

I’m probably going to be consigned to whatever level of hell is reserved for pretentious editorialists for saying this, but sometimes when I’m trying to evaluate some new piece of technology, I consider whether Thoreau would have taken it to Walden Pond with him.

Wait, just give me a second. I know how it sounds. Let me explain. → Read More

May 11th, 2013

America’s Carriers Are Terrible. It’s Probably Your Fault.

4779333214_84dd65ff27

A few days ago I landed in England and, expecting little, slipped an old UK SIM card into my phone. I’d bought it when living in London five years ago, and hadn’t used it in over a year. But to my amazement it was still active — as was the money I’d added to its pay-as-you-go account sixteen months earlier…and then I received a friendly text message informing me that my data costs were… → Read More

May 9th, 2013

As Tech Giants Scramble For Talent, It’s Buy Or Die

mobile-talent2

The writing’s on the wall. Mobile is the future, and it requires different skill than the web. Entrepreneurship is more fetishized than ever, making standard hiring tough. The result is days like today where Yahoo, Twitter, Salesforce, and Box all bought startups, and Facebook and Microsoft were reported to be in talks for major acquisitions. Big is a scary thing to be right now. → Read More

May 9th, 2013

“In The Studio,” ScaleArc’s Varun Singh Builds Database Infrastructure From India And The Valley

This is the penultimate episode of “In The Studio.” The show, which features developers and entrepreneurs working on enterprise technology, will be ending. This week’s guest is Varun Singh, CEO and founder of ScaleArc, a young startup which began in India but registered as a US-company with designs to expand to this country once it got off the ground in Mumbai. ScaleArc operates in the space of… → Read More

May 6th, 2013

Tumblr’s Teenaged, Double-Edged Sword

tumblr-poster

im ddeleting the internet [sic]“: A telling re-blog from a teenaged girl on the blogging platform turned social networking site Tumblr, in a chain of re-postings that had her pondering Tumblr’s impact on her life twenty years from now, when her passing, immature thoughts become fodder for a discussion among her boss and colleagues at some imagined future workplace. → Read More

May 5th, 2013

Iterations: A Youthful Rebellion Against The Permanence Of Facebook’s Walled Garden

feather

Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected. Indeed, great things can come from this, and for many of its one billion users, Facebook isn’t just on the web — it is the web. It is where images, biographical data, and every speck of a connection to a person, place, or thing lives, both the dream of a doting family spread miles apart and a marketer close by. It is a place… → Read More

May 4th, 2013

Napster For Pirated 3D Printing Templates?

2012-04-25_1239

Buy it in a store, laser scan it at home, upload it to the web, print it anywhere. 3D printing is poised for the mainstream, but what happens when one person’s finely hand-crafted designs can be pirated and reproduced by anyone? Will 3D printing piracy social networks arise? And how will manufacturers lobby to stop them? → Read More

May 4th, 2013

Google’s Cloud Is Eating Apple’s Lunch

8245100091_ac0edd66c8

A new front has opened in the smartphone war, and for the first time in many years, Apple is both outnumbered and outgunned.

I’m not talking about the phones themselves. iOS is still better than Android, although the gap has narrowed. The next iPhone will doubtless be the best phone in the world when it’s released, as ever. It won’t be as customizable – no Swype, no Facebook Home – but those… → Read More

May 3rd, 2013

We’ve Heard A Similar Reaction To Google Glass Somewhere Before

20130417_111359_200 (1)

Google Glass is finding its way to developers and others and the reaction has been, well, predictable. So far, there are those who think that Glass will absolutely change the world, that it’s our version of the flying car. Those people are full of shit. On the other side of the coin, there are those who say that Glass will never find a place in the hearts of consumers, that it’s… → Read More

May 2nd, 2013

The Trouble With Identity’s Late Arrival On Instagram

Who's This Photographer

BeTheDancer is Alex Greenburg’s name and handle on Instagram. He’s a good friend and a brilliant photographer, but because Instagram doesn’t require real names, I had a lot trouble using the app’s new tagging feature to point him out in my photos. Right now, Instagram’s 100 million users are discovering that while pseudoanonymity can be fun, it’s not very functional. → Read More

May 2nd, 2013

“In The Studio,” Sutter Hill’s Sam Pullara Carves His Own Path From Technologist To Venture Capitalist

Those who know in the Valley know the name Sam Pullara. Whether it was his time as a repeat entrepreneur and technical founder, or stints as an EIR at some of the Valley’s most premier venture capital firms, or his time as a lead technologist at two of the largest tech companies in the Valley (most recently at Twitter), Pullara has occupied nearly every seat at the table throughout his career. → Read More

April 28th, 2013

Iterations: How Six Technology Investors Size Up The Google Glass Opportunity

Brin Glass

People won’t stop talking about Google Glass, and rightfully so. Ever since the epic parachute-hangout demo, the Valley has been buzzing about the future coming of what is arguably one of the biggest potential advancements in computer interfaces since the iPhone. Lately, the buzz has been bubbling as Google employees, early adopters (Scoble just posted his detailed review), tech bloggers, and… → Read More

April 27th, 2013

Economies Of Scale As A Service

foxconn

Credit where it’s definitely due: this post was inspired by a Twitter conversation with Box CEO Aaron Levie.

Don’t look now, but something remarkable is happening.

Instagram had twelve employees when it was purchased for $700 million; all of its actual computing power was outsourced to Amazon Web Services. Mighty ARM has only 2300 employees, but there are more than 35 billion ARM-based chips… → Read More

April 22nd, 2013

You Weren’t The Only One Watching Amazon’s Original Programming This Weekend – New Shows Were Most-Watched TV Content Since Release

AmazonStudios

Amazon is pulling a Netflix today, in the sense that it’s now touting the release of its original programming as the “most watched” TV shows on the Amazon Video service since launch on Friday. Netflix previously issued the same statement about its original show, “House of Cards.” But it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, here. When Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said that… → Read More

April 21st, 2013

Dawn Of The Digilante

dagger

It’s hard to say with any conviction where we are in the process of, shall we say, crowd-sourcing justice. Like most things, it is a process, not something achieved, and while some question its utility, it’s no good to question its existence.

Some see the events of this week as a turning point, and in a way, they were, but there are dark days ahead for digilantes. → Read More

April 21st, 2013

Hey Apple, What The Next iPhone Really, Really Needs Is A Much Better Keyboard

original iphone ad demoing keyboard

What the next iPhone really really needs is not an even bigger screen, flatter icons, flexible widgets or live tiles, or even crystal-ball-gazing cards. Or Facebook Home. That list is just garnish compared to the biggie: the iPhone needs a better keyboard. The iOS keyboard remains the most offensive piece of skeuomorphism across Apple’s faux realistic, lavishly textured user interface estate. → Read More

April 21st, 2013

Iterations: From Singapore To Silicon Valley, The Cross-Pacific Journey Of Developer-Focused Nitrous.IO

Nitrous Bessemer

During the summer of 2012, while working in venture capital, one of the early-stage companies I stumbled upon was founded by a trio of guys based in Singapore. We met a few times in the Valley and quickly became friends, and I informally helped them, from time to time, navigate the waters of moving to the Valley and getting situated here. I hadn’t talked to them in a while but we recently… → Read More

April 20th, 2013

Vine, The App That Eats Your Precious Memories

Vine GOne Done

No app has ever broken my heart quite like Vine, Twitter’s six-second animation maker. You capture a scene, then pocket your phone while you think of a witty way to describe. But when you open it a few minutes later or the app randomly crashes, it’s gone. That moment, that memory, deleted. I still love Vine, but I’ll never forgive it for the visions it stole from me. → Read More

April 20th, 2013

OK Glass, RIP Privacy: The Democratization Of Surveillance

guy-glass

How’s this for synchronicity: Google Glass started shipping on the same week that CISPA passed the House, 3DRobotics unveiled their new site, and 4chan and Reddit pored over surveillance photos trying to crowdsource the identity of the Boston bombers.

Cameras on phones. Cameras on drones. Cameras on glasses. Cameras atop stores, in ATMs, on the street, on lapels, up high in the sky. Modern cars… → Read More

April 19th, 2013

Is Our Addiction To Tragedy On Social Media Inspiring Violence?

tw-fb-violence1

If terrorism requires an audience, than the recent mainstream adoption of social media has given violent actors a bigger stage than ever before. There are many reasons people lash out at the world, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that becoming the center of the attention could be a factor pushing some to commit atrocities. Our retweets could be delivering their messages of fear. → Read More

April 18th, 2013

“In The Studio,” Greylock’s David Sze Shares Detailed Lessons From His Career

“In The Studio” this week hosts a special guest who doesn’t typically go on camera that often. As a result, I decided to make this particular episode of the show longer to capture my entire discussion with Greylock’s David Sze. For anyone who follows the ins and outs of venture capital, Sze’s name looms large. By now, most everyone knows of Greylock’s impressive run over the last decade, a firm… → Read More