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4,462 | gustaf | 2007-03-15T20:59:52 | Twitter - What are you doing? | null | http://twitter.com/home | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,463 | far33d | 2007-03-15T21:01:26 | Anyone have opinions on Apollo? | null | http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Apollo | 1 | 3 | [
4488,
4520,
4466
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,469 | r0b | 2007-03-15T21:36:57 | Steve Jobs' Best Quotes Ever | null | http://www.wired.com/news/culture/mac/0,70512-0.html | 5 | 2 | [
4475,
4511
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,471 | e1ven | 2007-03-15T21:46:10 | New Blog trying to explain UI concepts to mere mortals. | null | http://uiscape.com/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,472 | Readmore | 2007-03-15T21:46:53 | Thoughts on giving away your software for free | null | http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/199/Startup-Reality-Distortion-Effect-1-Giving-Your-Software-Away-For-Free.aspx | 4 | 1 | [
4531
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,474 | adamsmith | 2007-03-15T21:52:03 | Y Combinator, Should You? | null | http://blogs.xobni.com/asmith/archives/15 | 16 | 5 | [
4575,
4483,
4479
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,476 | danielha | 2007-03-15T21:55:14 | Bringing Web 1.0 Forums Into Web 2.0 Social Networking | null | http://www.socialdegree.com/2007/03/15/bringing-web-10-forums-into-web-20-social-networking/ | 3 | 1 | [
4583
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,480 | semigeek | 2007-03-15T22:08:10 | YC News Users / Startup School Attendees - Drinks @ The Bus Stop (Downtown SF) on March 23? | null | 1 | 1 | [
4481
] | null | null | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
|
4,485 | Elfan | 2007-03-15T22:39:27 | Google Summer of Code Student Applications Now Open | null | http://code.google.com/soc | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,489 | Sam_Odio | 2007-03-15T22:55:06 | 5 Reasons to Create Your First Startup | null | http://particletree.com/features/5-reasons-to-create-your-first-startup-now/ | 17 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,490 | Sam_Odio | 2007-03-15T22:55:54 | How to Feed a Startup | null | http://reddit.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-feed-startup.html | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,492 | e1ven | 2007-03-15T23:13:32 | One of Apple's founders backed out after a few weeks, and was for the best. How can a team understand when a smaller team might be a stronger one? | null | http://extras.denverpost.com/books/chap0411h.htm | 2 | 1 | [
4493
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,501 | drop19 | 2007-03-16T00:53:48 | Face to face trumps twitter, blogs, podcasting, social news... | null | http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/03/sxsw_interactiv.html | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,502 | farmer | 2007-03-16T01:18:40 | New Google Talk module better than desktop app | null | http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9697660-2.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,503 | farmer | 2007-03-16T01:20:25 | Ron Wayne, Apple's forgotten third founder | null | http://extras.denverpost.com/books/chap0411h.htm? | 1 | 1 | [
4506
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,509 | e1ven | 2007-03-16T01:57:16 | Techstars is a YC-style program out of Boulder. Has anyone considered it? Why or why not? | null | http://www.techstars.org/ | 4 | 9 | [
4538,
4523,
4524,
8439,
4529
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4,510 | flannagan | 2007-03-16T02:09:58 | Error - delete. Clicked the bookmarklet by accident! Never again. | null | http://forums.livewire-records.com/list.php?f=1&t=238948&a=2 | 1 | 1 | [
4514
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,513 | gustaf | 2007-03-16T02:21:14 | Ignite Realtime: a real time collaboration community site | null | http://www.igniterealtime.org/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | Ignite Realtime: A real time collaboration community site | null | null |
Ignite Realtime is an Open Source community composed of end-users, developers and service providers
around the world who are interested in applying innovative, open-standards-based Real Time
Collaboration to their businesses. We're aimed at disrupting proprietary, non-open
standards-based systems and invite you to participate in what's already one of the biggest
and most active Open Source communities anywhere.
Turn-key IM Solutions
Our client and server products allow you set up a cross-platform, real-time collaboration server optimized for business and organizations in moments!
Highly customizable through plugins and configuration, our clients and servers easily integrate in your pre-existing ICT infrastructure.
Learn More
Development Platform
Our server product and libraries are exceptionally well suited as a development platform for your custom instant messaging or data sharing solution!
The software that we produce is based on well established open standards, has extensive extension APIs and come with a great deal of pre-existing functionality - ideal to form the basis of your project!
Learn More
Open Source Philosophy
We create Open Source software because we know open, collaborative minds can improve the
software landscape. We believe in the potential of the XMPP protocol and we welcome ways
to increase its adoption. We put tremendous value on the involvement of Igniterealtime's
developer and user community--their continuous feedback, QA, and development efforts
help steer our development path.
We are committed to live out the values of the Open Source movement to the best of our
abilities, to act responsibly and in the best interests of our community and to be highly
responsive to the needs of the community and communicate proactively.
The XMPP Protocol
XMPP (formerly Jabber) is the leading open standard for presence and
real-time messaging. Since 2004, it's been an approved standard of the IETF
(the same organization that standardized email and World Wide Web protocols).
A rich set of extensions to
the protocol are maintained by the XMPP Standards Foundation.
Today, XMPP is used by leading companies, millions of users worldwide and
is the best choice for open real-time collaboration.
Open standards are critical in order to achieve a completely federated
environment where real time collaboration software works seamlessly
together. This will drive the medium forward as a unified productivity tool
and provide the greatest benefit to end users. The hundreds of interoperable
software products that use XMPP prove the reality of this vision.
Ignite Realtime furthers XMPP through best of breed protocol implementations,
development of new protocol extensions, and participation to the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF).
Learn More
| 2024-11-08T01:45:30 | en | train |
4,515 | smackaysmith | 2007-03-16T02:26:26 | The $7 TV Network: Neokast brings multicasting to the masses. | null | http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070315_001831.html | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | Failed after 3 attempts. Last error: Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Generate Content API requests per minute' and limit 'GenerateContent request limit per minute for a region' of service 'generativelanguage.googleapis.com' for consumer 'project_number:854396441450'. | Retired Site | PBS | null | null | Oops! You've reached a retired site page.PBS no longer has the rights to distribute the content that had been provided on this page.
Explore Video by Genre
Explore More from PBS
Discover the Impact of PBS
We educate America on topics that matter.
Explore PBS Videos
Watch local and national programs from anywhere at anytime.
PBS KIDS for Parents
Parenting tips on raising children, planning birthdays & more.
PBS LearningMedia
Explore our free digital resources spanning pre-K - 12th grade. STREAM ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
| 2024-11-08T04:10:47 | null | train |
4,516 | smackaysmith | 2007-03-16T02:27:18 | Microsoft Deal For Large Customers: Use Live Search, Get Free MSFT Products | null | http://battellemedia.com/archives/003447.php | 1 | 2 | [
4517
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,525 | lupin_sansei | 2007-03-16T04:03:20 | Study: Playing Video Games Improves Eyesight - Yahoo! News | null | http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070315/sc_livescience/studyplayingvideogamesimproveseyesight | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,526 | r0b | 2007-03-16T05:05:07 | Death to User-Generated Content | null | http://www.powazek.com/2006/04/000576.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,530 | brett | 2007-03-16T06:35:56 | Xobni Blog Archive - Top Mistakes in Year One | null | http://blogs.xobni.com/asmith/archives/5 | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,532 | noisemaker | 2007-03-16T07:01:54 | The 5 Most Common Mistakes Made By Startups | null | http://startupspark.com/the-5-most-common-mistakes-made-by-startups/ | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,533 | brett | 2007-03-16T07:04:49 | A VC: Superdistribution | null | http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/03/superdistributi.html | 5 | 2 | [
4537
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,535 | noisemaker | 2007-03-16T07:13:31 | Advice to Young Men from an Old Man | null | http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/279126743.html | 7 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,539 | volida | 2007-03-16T08:06:50 | I couldn't resist! | null | http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=paulgraham.com&site1=philip.greenspun.com&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=r&z=1&h=300&w=500&range=6m&size=Medium&url=paulgraham.com | 1 | 1 | [
4546
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,541 | danielha | 2007-03-16T08:15:44 | We Dig TV Brings Television Game Shows To The Web | null | http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/we_dig_tv.php | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,542 | ynot | 2007-03-16T08:19:02 | Vote this post up | null | 2 | 2 | [
4559,
4543
] | null | true | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
|
4,544 | ynot | 2007-03-16T08:19:33 | Don't vote this post up | null | 4 | 6 | [
4557,
4562,
4551,
4545
] | null | true | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
|
4,550 | vb | 2007-03-16T08:53:34 | A startup idea | null | http://philip.greenspun.com/business/mobile-phone-as-home-computer | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | Mobile Phone As Home Computer | null | null |
a product/business idea by Philip Greenspun in September 2005
What would you call a device that has a screen, a keyboard, storage for
personal information such as contacts, email, documents, the ability to
play audio and video files, some games, a spreadsheet program, and a
communications capability? Sound like a personal computer? How about
"mobile phone"?
A mobile phone has substantially all of the computing capabilities
desired by a large fraction of the public. Why then would someone want
to go to the trouble of installing and maintaining a personal computer
(PC)? The PC has a larger keyboard and screen, a larger storage
capacity, can play more sophisticated games, and has a faster
communications capability.
This is a plan for building an appliance into which a mobile phone plugs
and that extends the phone's capabilities without requiring the consumer
to become a system administrator or be aware that he or she owns more
than a phone. In the rest of this document we will call the new device
"The Appliance".
Dethroning the Mighty PC
At first glance it would seem difficult to make something better than
the PC, a product so beloved by customers that more than 200 million are
expected to be purchased worldwide in 2005, for a total cost of
approximately $200 billion.
If you are an architect and want to run a computer-aided design program,
the PC is great. If you are an electrical engineer and want to design
circuits, a PC is great. If you are a filmmaker and want to edit video,
a PC is great. For all of these customers it would be difficult indeed
to supplant the PC. For a large segment of the market, however, the PC
represents confusion, misery, and wasted hours.
The PC is a scaled-down circa 1965 mainframe. The hardware engineers
have done a brilliant job in changing the way that the circuits are
constructed. The software engineers, unfortunately, have presented
today's consumer with much of the same complexity that professional
programmers faced in 1965.
Consider as an example the mainframe file system. The mainframe had a
hierarchical file system in which files were divided up into folders.
This made it faster to find a particular file by name. The mainframe
also had some fast memory, what we call "RAM" today, and some slow
memory, which was and is called "disk". Programmers knew that they
could work on data in RAM but that changes would be erased when the
program ended or the computer restarted so they saved those changes
permanently to files on disk.
What does a personal computer designed for a 65-year-old grandmother
with no technical training demand her to know? All the same stuff!
Grandma has to pick one and only one folder in which each file will
reside. Grandma works on a document for awhile and, satisfied with her
changes, quits the word processor. She is asked "Do you want to save
these changes?" "Save them where?" she might wonder. And why weren't
they already saved somewhere? The result of exposing this much
complexity to grandma is that all of her files will be on her desktop
and she still won't be able to find important documents without
resorting to search.
Alan Cooper argued in his 1995 book About Face that the
file system should be used by the operating system but hidden from the
user. There should not be a "file" menu on the typical application. Joe
User works on a document and closes the application when he is
done. If he later wants to go back to an earlier version he asks "let me
see what this document looked like a week ago" or "let me see what this
document looked like when I said 'call this Final Draft'". The file
system is still there, of course, but the interface is divorced from the
implementation.
The PC industry, however, is seemingly unable to change. Nothing has
been done to address the havoc wreaked on users except to build better
desktop search tools for finding those lost files more quickly. You
would think that the success of programs such as iTunes, MusicMatch, and
Windows Media Player, which present a multi-categorized view of files in
the underlying hierarchical file system, would inspire the authors of
other PC programs but this seems not to have been the case.
The Central Principle
As far as the consumer is aware, the only computer that he or she owns
is the handheld mobile phone. The Appliance is a means of driving the
phone from a full-size keyboard and display.
(As far as the engineers building The Appliance are concerned, the phone
is the key that identifies the user and the phone is a USB flash drive
for storing a working subset of documents and information. The
Appliance itself is mostly a standard PC running a standard operating
system plus a thin layer of custom software.)
Evidence that it can work
Where is the evidence that there are a substantial number of consumers
interested in a simpler way of computing? There are millions of
Japanese consumers whose only home computing device is an iMode phone,
providing them with text messaging, Web pages, and various social and
commercial services. In the U.S. the best example of a successful
simpler computing product is the Palm operating system. The Palm OS
doesn't hassle the user with "Do you want to save this file?" and "Which
application would you like to run today?" You open a document, edit it,
and close it when you're done. If someone asks you "Which application
did you use to edit that document?" you wouldn't be able to say.
Microsoft Outlook is another good example of simplified computing.
Within Outlook there are tasks, notes, emails, calendar items, and
contacts. A user can edit any of these without really thinking about
"now I am in the special application that I use for editing tasks". A
user is not asked to confirm changes upon editing and then closing a
note. Rather than being asked to create a folder hierarchy, a user can
view notes by category, by creation date, or by "color". All of these
ways of organizing notes are available simultaneously.
Fundamental ways in which the phone/appliance is more powerful
The combination of the phone and Appliance is more powerful than a
standard PC in some ways. The physical phone plus a PIN number serves
as a secure key identifying the customer and a means of billing the
customer. This is gradually being adopted in a lot of European
countries and Japan as a payment method in shops, for vending machines,
and in dealing with government. Someone engaged in online shopping with
the phone/Appliance combo should not need to enter credit card data,
shipping address, etc. every time he or she buys something. Similarly
subscription services can be added to and dropped from the customer's
phone bill without the customer having to remember additional
username/password combinations.
What must it do?
The combination of the phone/Appliance must be able to support the
following activities:
Web browsing, which includes email access via Hotmail and Gmail, and
which includes on-demand streams of audio and video
the ability to transfer recent and/or selected email messages to the
phone itself
continuation of the instant message sessions that are very likely
already active on the phone alone
shopping without constantly retyping address and payment information
calendar and contacts (basically just using the big keyboard and
screen to enter data more easily into the phone; the Appliance backs up
these data but the phone has a complete set)
word processing, spreadsheet
digital photo organization, editing, printing, uploading to printing
services, and publishing to the Web
music collection storage, access to subscription music services such
as Rhapsody and Yahoo Music, organizing the subset of music that will be
available on the phone (podcast spoken-word streams can be considered
"music")
play a DVD movie on the big screen; would be ideal if portions of
the movie could be transferred to the phone for later viewing
burn an audio or MP3 CD with music
play a video game sold on DVD and designed for a Windows machine
(** this requirement could be relaxed on the assumption that a
game-lover will own a separate Xbox or PlayStation **)
Most things on this list that a PC does can be supported via Web or
Internet applications, e.g., if the user receives an email with an
attachment in an unusual format the Appliance will automatically upload
it to a Web-based service for conversion and display in a browser.
The Hardware
The Appliance is a box containing the following
stuff you might find in a standard PC
DVI output for LCD monitor
USB ports for connecting the phone itself, a keyboard, a mouse, a
printer, and other devices
a DVD drive/burner for putting in games or movies to play, making
backups to take off-site, and making music CDs
a fast CPU
two big hard drives, mirrored (RAID 1), and connected as
easily-swapped cartridges
sockets for digital camera memory cards, e.g., CF
stuff you might not find in a standard PC
a 4-port Ethernet switch
an 802.11 base station
a DSL modem
a cable modem
Aside from the cartridge-based hard drives, all of the hardware can be
delivered in a standard mid-sized PC case and powered by a standard PC
power supply. The networking extras can be accomplished via one or two
plug-in PCI cards. The all-in manufacturing cost should be similar to
that of a mid-range PC and therefore the total retail price of the
Appliance should be around $350, without software (this is about what
Dell charges for a Celeron-based PC without monitor). As explained
later under "making money", however, a consumer's acquisition of the
Appliance might be subsidized by the carrier.
The Software
The Appliance runs a standard operating system such as GNU/Linux or
Microsoft Windows, augmented by software to enable remote
administration and integration with the telephone.
As with any standard mobile phone, all software is provided free by the
carrier and kept up to date by the carrier in a way that is transparent
to the customer. The customer pays a monthly bill for service.
All software is modified so that the File menu is removed and the
customer is presented with the versioned multi-categorized view of
documents envisioned by Alan Cooper. The need to incorporate a
consistent document browser and email/messaging interface into every
program implies a requirement that all software incorporated into the
Appliance be open source.
For user interface consistency with the phone, the applications on the
Appliance take their user interface conventions from the phone operating
system. As of late 2005, the majority of smart phones run one of three
operating systems: Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. If a customer
owns a Nokia Symbian phone, for example, the applications on the
Appliance that he or she purchases should have an immediate familiarity
with consistent color schemes and design.
The Internet Connection
The phone has whatever communications capabilities a phone has these
days. In the absence of alternatives the phone is used by The Appliance
as its means of connecting to the Internet. As of 2005 this usually
means a throughput of between 50 and 100 Kbps. If the customer wishes a
higher-speed connection he plugs The Appliance into a phone line or
cable TV coaxial cable. A dialog box comes up asking the customer if he
is willing to add $30 per month (for example) to his existing
communications bill. If so, The Appliance finishes configuring the
connection to DSL or cable Internet. Note that in no case does the
customer type a name or billing address into any form or set up The
Appliance with this information. As far as he is concerned the mobile
phone carrier already knows who he is, where he lives, and how to bill
him.
Note that the kind of easy addition of DSL makes a lot of sense for
carriers such as Verizon that own both mobile phone companies and
offer high-speed home Internet connections.
Services
Nearly all of the network-based services required by a consumer using a
phone/Appliance combination already exist. There are several
all-you-can-listen subscription music services, for example. There are
dozens of internet-based backup services. There is no need for the
maker of the Appliance or the carriers to reinvent or rebuild these
services. All that is required is for the makers of the Appliance to
pick a vendor in each category, negotiate a discounted price, and make
sure that the client software from each vendor is modified so that the
consumer does not see new interfaces and the consumer does not see new
"manage my account" pages nor become aware that he or she has
established a relationship with an additional company.
Casual Encounters
Suppose that you visit your friend Bob. You have your phone in your
pocket, you want to surf some password-protected sites on the Web,
change some documents, maybe buy some stuff, and he happens to have an
Appliance in his house. Instead of trying to get all of your work done
with the phone's tiny screen and keyboard you plug your phone into Bob's
Appliance. The software ensures that you get access to (a) Bob's
high-speed Internet connection, (b) Bob's keyboard and display, and (c)
Bob's fast CPU, but not access to Bob's personal files. The software
ensures that as you surf the Web your bookmarks and saved passwords are
available.
What if you're away from home and your houseguest Jenny wants to use
"the machine"? She doesn't have your phone to plug into the Appliance
and certainly does not have your PIN number. If you've set up the
Appliance to "allow guests to surf the Web" she can sit down at the
keyboard and monitor and enjoy Internet access but not access to your
personal files or information.
Connection Sharing
If more than one person in a household has a phone and an Appliance, all
of the Appliances ought to be able to share a single high-speed Internet
connection. Hence the incorporation of an 802.11 transceiver in the
Appliance. If multiple Appliances are present in the household they set
up a secure mesh network and all transfer their Internet data via the
same DSL or cable connection.
If someone shows up in the household with a laptop computer running a
conventional operating system and wishes to use the Internet connection
this can be authorized by the phone/Appliance owner. It is an open
question as to the best way to do this. It might work if a dialog box
could come up on the Appliance or phone with the MAC address of the
laptop and asking for confirmation that it is okay to let this person
have access.
Backups
The most critical data are already backed up in virtue of a customer
adopting the phone/Appliance combination. Contacts, calendar items,
recent documents, etc., are all stored on both the phone and the
Appliance.
Off-site backup can be accomplished in three ways. If it is connected via
a high-speed Internet connection, The Appliance will offer the customer
the option of a network backup service. For people with large photo and
music collections we can sell a matched "offsite backup store".
This is just a standard USB external hard drive pre-formatted and
including a key that only a particular customer's Appliance will
recognize. When the Appliance sees this matched offsite backup store it
copies the contents of its internal hard drive onto the USB drive. (The
key is necessary so that an evildoer can't simply walk into your house,
plug in a hard drive, and get all of your private info. For additional
protection the backup operation could be limited to times at which the
phone is connected to The Appliance and a PIN number is entered.)
The third option for backup, and one that works with large photo and
music collections, is to break the mirror and pull one of the disk
cartridges out for storage in a remote location. A replacement disk
cartridge is installed and the mirror reestablished.
Service
Software upgrades will be handled seamlessly and remotely. A single
disk drive failure is handled with a notification to the consumer that
new data might be at risk and that a new hard drive is on its way in the
mail. The consumer will follow instructions to replace the appropriate
hard drive, which is in a cartridge with a single connector for power
and data.
Hardware failures will be dealt with by the consumer who either brings
the Appliance into a shop or who gets a replacement Appliance via
overnight delivery. Failures are divided into "both disks" (very
unlikely) versus "not both disks". If it is both disks that have failed
the consumer will have to restore a fresh new Appliance from a USB
backup drive. In the usual case, however, the consumer will pull the
disk cartridges from the old Appliance and plug them into the new one,
plug the phone in, and go back to whatever he or she was doing.
Making Money
One of the great things about this business is that the carriers don't
imagine that they can innovate by themselves. If you take a great idea
to IBM or Microsoft their first reaction is "that sounds promising;
we'll build it." The mobile phone companies such as Verizon and
T-Mobile see themselves as helpless to do anything other than buy
off-the-shelf hardware and software and plug it all together.
Because nearly every Appliance will generate a $200-600 per year
DSL or cable modem revenue stream for the carrier, the carriers could
afford to subsidize the purchase of Appliances much as they currently
subsidize the purchase of mobile phones.
The company that produces the hardware spec and the software for the
Appliance should be able to make money from carriers when consumers
initially purchase the Appliance and from selling services such as
Internet backup to Appliance owners.
As an acquisition the company behind the Appliance should be interesting
to any firm unhappy about the fact that personal computing is frozen in
the 1980s from a user interface point of view and that most of the
profits go to one company (Microsoft). A handset maker would be a
logical acquirer as would any company with a sophisticated engineering
capability that has been reduced to making commodity PCs to run
Windows (e.g., HP). An online services company such as Yahoo or Google
might acquire the Appliance's creator in order to get a deeper foothold
in subscription-based services. Finally, Microsoft itself might buy the
company, if only to kill it with neglect, as they did with WebTV.
A mobile phone carrier would not be a logical acquirer because it would
be too difficult for them to sell to other carriers and because
continuing to improve the software and hardware would be beyond their
corporate capabilities.
Objection: Why not just plug the phone into a PC?
Why is this different from plugging the phone into a PC? Most
consumers already own a USB-equipped Windows XP machine of some sort.
Why not supply software that runs on top of their existing PC and
performs the functions described above?
From an engineer's point of view, the Appliance is just a PC with
built-in cable and DSL modems and a cartridge system for connecting
disk drives. From a consumer's point of view, however, running
software on top of an existing PC does not get them out of sysadmin
and upgrade hell. The existing PC might not have mirrored disk
drives. The existing PC might be infected with a virus. The existing
PC might be running an older version of XP.
The deeper problems with using an existing or standard PC include the
following:
A standard PC offers multiple ways to do any given task, thus
creating confusion (e.g., email can be sent from Outlook Express,
Outlook, clicking right on a document, using a Web-based mail system
such as Gmail or Hotmail)
A standard PC needs to be told who are the users and what are their
privileges.
A standard PC needs to be told how to get to an Internet connection
and it needs to be plugged into the Internet connection properly.
A standard PC always has the potential for someone to come along and
install performance-hogging software or otherwise compromise the system
with configuration changes.
A standardly configured home PC running standard programs cannot
have all of its software updated remotely and without the owner's
intervention.
Objection: Early adopters won't like it; late adopters won't trust it
Various attempts at doing simpler computing have foundered and one of
the reasons may be that people who are willing to be early adopters of
technology only want the greatest possible function. For example, in
the mid-1990s various companies, including Oracle, decided that the
world wanted a simple machine ("network computer") that only functioned
as a Web browser. Applications would be provided from centralized
servers. Consumers rejected this approach to computing and kept buying
standard Windows PCs.
Why might the Appliance succeed where the network computer failed? A
mobile phone in 2005 is a vastly more powerful device than a mobile
phone in the 1990s. Web-based services are much more useful and
pervasive than they were in the 1990s. Network computers were sold by
new and unfamiliar companies. The Appliance will be sold by the
consumer's existing mobile telephony provider, a company with whom he or
she already has a relationship and from whom he or she already buys a
new $200-400 device every two years (though much of this cost is hidden
via the carrier's subsidy). The Appliance might also be subsidized by
the carrier. Most importantly, the Appliance does not try to push
everything back out onto the network. The Appliance stores a consumer's
music library on a local hard disk, for example.
A deeper problem that is hinted at by the failure of the network
computer is that the Appliance is a new technology and therefore must by
definition be sold to early adopters. Early adopters are technophiles
with the most tolerance for complexity and the most demand for
function. An early adopter, for example, might object to the Appliance
because it doesn't have a state-of-the-art video card. A typical
consumer might not even know that a computer device has a video
card or that there are differences among cards. However, the typical
consumer, a "late adopter", might be wary of being the first among his
acquaintances to buy a new type of device. The late adopters have been
exposed to PCs for 30 years and think of PCs as a safe purchase even if
they don't actually know how to use them.
Probably the best way to push through this problem is to make the
Appliances free or very low cost with a service agreement, the same way
that carriers have managed to sell hundreds of thousands of expensive
smart phones.
Text and photos (if any) copyright 2005 Philip Greenspun.
[email protected]
Reader's Comments
It's about to arrive (7 years after the article):
"Ubuntu for Android: Penguins peck at Nokia's core problem
...Your smartphone runs Android when it�s a phone but when you plug into a monitor or dock, Ubuntu kicks in. Plug in a keyboard and you�ve got Ubuntu � with the phone serving as your desktop computer."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/21/ubuntu_for_android/
You could say this article was very successful in predicting the features of the 2007 iPhone (and later Android phones), which does things like 'play a DVD movie on the big screen', stream music and the like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone
-- Michael Bluett, February 22, 2012
someone at Microsoft must have read this article; now in 2015 they want to sell windows phone devices that can double as a desktop;
http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/29/microsoft-announces-continuum-turning-windows-10-phones-into-desktops/
is this done with the focus on corporations/enterprise markets? i guess that this will not make more sales for Microsoft, as most corporations are already using windows for the desktop.
-- Michael Moser, April 30, 2015
To say that MS is now implementing this misses (IMHO) the point of this piece.
As I read it, Phil is asking for a simpler UI for users; basically he's asking for iOS. THAT is the important thing. Sharing a CPU and RAM is a pointless, idiotic, distraction. CPU and RAM is cheap and getting cheaper; there is utterly no need to drive your 27" screen using the CPU (and all its thermal constraints) built into a phone.
What MS is offering is the exact opposite of what Phil wants --- you can keep your old Windows, with all its problems and complexity and, hey, we'll add a whole NEW LEVEL of complexity to that...
So how would one implement Phil's vision? Step one would be a dramatically simpler,more secure OS. This is essentially what we have today in something like iOS.
If ALL you care about is the vision, then we're done. But if you feel that an additional important part of the vision is large screens and keyboards, then what you want is seamless interaction between these. That is harder, but, again, not for the reason the Continuum fans think.
There are two difficulties.
The first is wanting to retain the value in the existing OS while getting rid of what makes it difficult to use. Apple has mad substantial progress along these lines, for example with security measures that are not too disruptive, but it's not clear how far they can go. Much of the pain in using a PC comes from crappy hardware, and the consequent more or less random bugs that result; and it's not clear how far Apple can go in fixing that. (Though they certainly can do a LOT better than they do today.)
So what does Apple do? You could imagine, for example, solutions somewhat like OSX Server. What I mean by this is that something like iOS (OSX UI elements, but iOS policy elements) is the base OS, but OSX is (like OSX Server) an optional install, maybe installed in a separate VM? The hope then is that the amount of life that has to take place in the OSX VM grows ever smaller, the security value of the OSX VM likewise grows ever smaller, and the iOS hypervisor is in control of the hardware and can cope better with its faults and stupidities.
[My guess is that when the long-awaited ARM-based Mac arrives, it will provide a solution somewhat like this. I would expect the OSX Blue Box(a VM) to stay around forever, though the x86 JIT that accompanies it will probably have a limited lifespan.]
The second issue is that one wants a seamless compute experience between one's phone, tablet, and PC; but this is not best achieved by plugging the phone into a dock --- that's an idiotic solution. The goal is not to share physical hardware; it's to ensure that data of all forms is shared seamlessly across a personal eco-system. Apple has laid the foundation for that with iCloud. The next would be to seamlessly move "state" from one device to another ("I was composing that letter/reading that web page/listening to that song on device A, now I want to continue on device B") and Continuity (not Continuum --- that's MS) solves that problem.
Essentially an iPhone + iMac gives the valuable part of Phil's vision today (minus the simplified OS running on the Mac) but it's achieved by wireless network connections, not by something as 20th century as plugging an iPhone into a dedicated slot in a docking station.
-- Maynard Handley, December 23, 2015
Add a comment | Add a link
| 2024-11-08T10:03:00 | en | train |
4,553 | staunch | 2007-03-16T10:34:41 | Markus Frind sets his aim on "making 100 million a year instead of just millions" | null | http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2007/03/16/the-plan-of-action/ | 12 | 5 | [
4555,
4678,
4573,
4574
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,558 | aglarond | 2007-03-16T11:54:41 | Your Elevator Pitch: Finding Business Focus | null | http://yourelevatorpitch.com/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,565 | veritas | 2007-03-16T13:05:03 | Springwise: new business ideas for entrepreneurial minds. | null | http://www.springwise.com/ | 8 | 3 | [
4629,
4567,
4626
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,570 | pixcavator | 2007-03-16T13:33:34 | Web 3.0 | null | http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070316/tc_cmp/198001306 | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,571 | jwecker | 2007-03-16T13:42:10 | A Scheme language for building web 2.0 apps | null | http://hop.inria.fr/ | 11 | 1 | [
4687
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,572 | python_kiss | 2007-03-16T14:01:43 | Summize: Enhancing Search With Heatmaps | null | http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/summize_search_heatmaps.php | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T20:37:08 | null | train |
4,577 | smackaysmith | 2007-03-16T14:40:42 | Slide design: signal vs. noise (redux) | null | http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2007/03/a_few_weeks_ago.html | 5 | 2 | [
4579
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,578 | gin | 2007-03-16T14:44:21 | If you submit your application early to Y combinator, do you get a response early? | null | 2 | 3 | [
4586,
4580
] | null | null | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
|
4,582 | veritas | 2007-03-16T15:15:20 | Photos of 37signals HQ - (37signals) | null | http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/313-photos-of-37signals-hq | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,585 | gweb | 2007-03-16T15:56:05 | Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon Valley | null | http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/technology/14valley.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=12d2fa9b84a1dfd3&ex=1174536000&emc=eta1 | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | bot_blocked | nytimes.com | null | null | Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker | 2024-11-08T13:23:15 | null | train |
4,587 | mattculbreth | 2007-03-16T16:01:42 | Wordpress Plugin Directory | null | http://wordpress.org/development/2007/03/plugin-directory/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,588 | volida | 2007-03-16T16:03:27 | viaweb.com | null | http://web.archive.org/web/19971022011536/www.viaweb.com/vw/com.html | 15 | 16 | [
4599,
4589,
4631,
4696,
4590,
5268,
6480
] | null | null | no_error | Company | null | null | Viaweb was founded in 1995 to bring to market a new kind of
software for building online stores. Our product,
Viaweb Store, is
the first true end-user system for selling on the Web.
What makes Viaweb different is that our software works over
the Web. Merchants build and maintain
their store on a central server, using an ordinary browser as the
interface. Merchants log into the server to retrieve orders
over a secure connection, and have access to a powerful array
of traffic analysis
tools.For merchants, our technology means a quantum leap in ease of use.
The merchant does not have to set up a server, or even
install any software, to run an online store. A user with no
previous experience can create a working online store in a matter of
minutes.Since its release, Viaweb Store has won
praise from industry experts
and users alike. In July 1997,
Viaweb won the first industry-wide
comparison of online commerce software packages (ZD Internet
magazine, 7/97).Viaweb users include
TWEEDS,
Rolling Stone magazine,
Frederick's of Hollywood,
the NASCAR catalog,
International Male,
and Dean & DeLuca.
Paul Graham ([email protected])
is President. Paul is the author of
On Lisp (Prentice Hall,
1993) and ANSI Common Lisp
(Prentice Hall, 1995), now the standard
college text. He has worked as a consultant to the US Department
of Energy, DuPont (for whom he wrote one of the first parametric
CAD programs), and Interleaf. He has an AB from
Cornell and a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard.Fred Egan ([email protected]) is
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Before joining Viaweb, Fred
was a regional Vice President with Interleaf Inc,
President of Interleaf
Japan, and sat on the boards of several Interleaf subsidiaries.
During Interleaf's startup period he had responsibility for all
major corporate partnerships and strategic resellers in the US and
Europe.
Prior to Interleaf, Fred was a Regional Manager for Wang. He has a BS from Northeastern, and an MBA from
Suffolk University.Langley Steinert ([email protected])
is Vice President of Marketing. Before joining Viaweb, Langley
was Vice President and General Manager of Papyrus
Inc., a $29 million subsidiary of
Sierra On-Line. Under his leadership, Papyrus
developed and shipped four
new products, including NASCAR Racing, one of the best-selling
entertainment software titles of 1996. Prior to
Papyrus, Langley was Director of Marketing at Jetform
Corporation and the Product Manager for Freelance
at Lotus. He has a BA from Georgetown and an MBA from
Dartmouth.Mark Nitzberg ([email protected])
is Vice President of Customer Services.
Mark has worked 15 years as a consultant to Microsoft, Matra
Communications, Bull, Interleaf, and Corbis. An expert in
machine vision and image processing, Mark is co-author of
Filtering,
Segmentation, and Depth (Springer, 1993), which describes
his research. He has a BA
in Math from the University of Oregon, and a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard.David Parker ([email protected])
is General Manager, New Media Group. Before joining Viaweb,
David was Vice President of Marketing for Delphi Internet.
Prior to Delphi, he was a Vice President at Community Newspaper
Company. He has also worked for International Data Group,
Time Magazine, and Capital Cities/ABC. He has an AB from Harvard,
and an MBA from Harvard Business School.Harris Fishman ([email protected])
is Chief Financial Officer. Hutch has served as a part-time
CFO to emerging businesses since 1986. He has taken a number
of startups through IPOs, including VideoServer, which
completed an IPO led by Goldman Sachs in 1995. He previously
had been a senior manager at Deloitte & Touche LLP. He is
a member of the Massachusetts Society and American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants, and has a BS from Bryant College.Julian Weber ([email protected])
is Secretary and General Counsel.
Julian has been practicing law in New York for over 30 years. From
1964 to 1979 he was a partner in the firm of Botein, Hays, and
Sklar. From 1979 to 1984 he was President of The National
Lampoon. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School.Trevor Blackwell ([email protected])
is responsible for Viaweb's tracking tools and image generation
software.
An expert in system and network design, Trevor has published
papers on congestion control
in high speed wide area networks, signalling protocol architecture,
and file system performance. He is also the author of several notable
Web sites, including the
Information
Supercollider, which
won Cool Site of the Day in March 1995.
He has a BEng in Computer Systems Engineering from Carleton,
and is currently a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Harvard.John McArtyem ([email protected])
is in charge of Viaweb's ordering system, hardware
and security.
An expert on computer networks,
he has published papers on high-speed networks, wireless
communications, and computer security.
He has worked for Convex Computers, Thinking Machines, DEC
Systems Research Center, and the Bunster. He has an AB in Computer Science from
Harvard, and is currently a PhD candidate in Computer Science
there. | 2024-11-08T10:59:57 | en | train |
4,591 | sszhou | 2007-03-16T16:33:29 | 100 Ways to Be a Better Entrepreneur | null | http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/article79260.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | body_too_long | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T09:36:47 | null | train |
4,592 | sszhou | 2007-03-16T16:37:29 | Social network ad spending greater than $2b by 2010? | null | http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=8 | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,593 | r0b | 2007-03-16T16:38:26 | Check out the new Wired.com | null | http://www.wired.com | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | cut_off | WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and Business | null | Condé Nast | Today’s PicksWhat Donald Trump's Win Will Mean for Big TechDonald Trump's approach to Big Tech has oscillated between calls for stricter regulations for some players and a hands-off approach for others. Here's how he might steer tech policy in a second term.Lauren Goode, Paresh Dave, and Will KnightWIRED ClassicsThe Boat That Could Sink the America’s CupOriginally published in May, 2013: Larry Ellison planned the biggest, fastest and most exciting yacht race ever. Then Team Oracle wrecked one of his catamarans in San Francisco Bay, showing just how fragile the big boat—and event itself—really is.Trending StoriesTOP STORIES IN THE LAST 48 HOURS | 2024-11-08T13:57:30 | en | train |
4,594 | sharpshoot | 2007-03-16T16:47:31 | Building companies for the long haul (Index Ventures) | null | http://indexventures.com/cgi-local/kNewsRd2Ext | 2 | 1 | [
4658
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,595 | Readmore | 2007-03-16T16:52:30 | An honest Postmortem for Klipboardz.com | null | http://www.klipboardz.com/klipz/comments/1636 | 11 | 10 | [
4598,
4606,
4608,
4609,
4620,
4652
] | null | null | fetch failed | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T05:56:54 | null | train |
4,596 | far33d | 2007-03-16T17:06:40 | San Jose Mercury News - Microsoft CEO meets with Stanford students | null | http://origin.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_5445449 | 2 | 1 | [
4597
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,600 | sharpshoot | 2007-03-16T17:33:12 | PS3 for distributed computing | null | http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21659&hed=PS3+For+Distributed+Computing | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | bot_blocked | 403 Forbidden | null | null |
nginx
| 2024-11-07T22:08:47 | null | train |
4,601 | nostrademons | 2007-03-16T17:34:12 | Postmortem - Fictionalley.org | null | http://nostrademons.livejournal.com/103250.html | 6 | 1 | [
4603
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,613 | agentbleu | 2007-03-16T18:45:43 | TechCrunch articles worth less to a startup than expected | null | http://startupcrunch.org/getting_editorial_coverage_to_launch_your_startup | 1 | 3 | [
4673,
4676,
4627
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,616 | jamiequint | 2007-03-16T18:58:57 | Delete This - mispost | null | http://localhost:3000/puzzles?photourl=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.flickr.com%2F143%2F422552871_819c953627.jpg | 3 | 4 | [
4621,
4679,
4617,
4648
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,618 | Sam_Odio | 2007-03-16T19:05:42 | Tips for Startup Companies | null | http://philip.greenspun.com/business/startup-tips/ | 22 | 1 | [
4650
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,619 | Sam_Odio | 2007-03-16T19:09:31 | Michael Mandel and Chris Sacca @ Startup School '05 | null | http://www.gaborcselle.com/blog/2005/10/startup-school-michael-mendel-and.html | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,624 | danielha | 2007-03-16T19:26:02 | YouTube Users Sue Viacom back | null | http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1173776610683 | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,630 | mattculbreth | 2007-03-16T19:53:38 | Composing DSLs in Ruby | null | http://weblog.raganwald.com/2007/03/approach-to-composing-domain-specific.html | 8 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,632 | nippotam | 2007-03-16T19:59:43 | Death of desktop ? SXSW2007 | null | http://www.odannyboy.com/blog/new_archives/2007/03/sxsw_2007_the_d.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,633 | farmer | 2007-03-16T19:59:49 | Cracking pagerank | null | http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012943&intsrc=hm_list | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,637 | danielha | 2007-03-16T20:18:02 | Socializr Launches (from Friendster founder) - Still a Mess | null | http://mashable.com/2007/03/16/socializr/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | Socializr Launches - Still a Mess | 2007-03-16T19:54:03+00:00 | null |
Credit:
You could forgive the ugly interface of Socializr during its Gamma test - us bloggers had crashed the party unannounced, and there was surely some tweaking to be done.But today we were told the San Francisco-based company from the Friendster founder has launched, and it's just as messy as it was before, albeit with a shinier logo. Moving beyond the interface, however, the experience isn't too terrible: add the email address you used to register at Friendster, MySpace, Flickr, Rapleaf and the rest, for instance, and it'll import as much info as it can from those profiles. It's a smart feature that I wish other services provided, although MySpace has a history or preventing this kind of scraping. Address book import is another necessary feature.Beyond that, it works a bit like Evite: create invites based on templates, make them public or private, and add music from Imeem, videos from YouTube and VideoEgg, Flash widgets like Slide, RockYou, Photobucket, and MeeboMe and custom images from ImageChef. Inclusion of widgets is a really neat idea, no doubt about it.So Socializr may still be a mess, but it's a mess with some innovative features attached. These things are viral, too: everyone invites their friends. But, there's masses of competition, from ILCU, Renkoo, MingleNow, Planypus, MyPunchBowl and others. I'm 50/50 about whether it will work out. Well, maybe 51% in favor of success - there's a glimmer of hope here.
| 2024-11-08T04:12:37 | en | train |
4,638 | danielha | 2007-03-16T20:20:22 | Ficlets -- Collaborative story telling startup | null | http://ficlets.com/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | missing_parsing | The Ficlets Archive | null | null | This is the new ficlets archive. It was a lovely thing I built with a bunch of lovely people back at AOL... which was now a very long time ago. This archive is based on the ficly archive with some changes for the craaaazy exported version of ficlets. You should start by browsing the stories, perusing our many amazing authors, or some truly interesting tags. I don't expect this page to get updated very often. Thank for reading. Love, Kevin Lawver | 2024-11-08T07:14:23 | null | train |
4,639 | dawie | 2007-03-16T20:34:00 | Google Acquired Trendalyzer | null | http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/world-in-motion.html | 3 | 1 | [
4703
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,640 | amichail | 2007-03-16T20:38:10 | Google TechTalk: Closures for Java | null | http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4051253555018153503 | 3 | 2 | [
4723,
4734
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,641 | mattculbreth | 2007-03-16T20:51:03 | Ask News.YC: What titles are you using in your startup? | null | 4 | 11 | [
4690,
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4642,
4653,
4671,
4766
] | null | null | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
|
4,647 | domp | 2007-03-16T21:56:36 | Is Pandora done with? Online radio seems doomed! | null | http://blog.pandora.com/pandora/archives/2007/03/more_on_the_cop.html | 1 | 2 | [
4672
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,649 | amichail | 2007-03-16T22:30:38 | Entrepreneurs are largely born rather than made, research suggests. | null | http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5049288.stm | 5 | 2 | [
4791,
4731
] | null | null | no_error | BBC NEWS | Health | Genes key to entrepreneurs' drive | null | null |
Sir Alan Sugar: A genetic success?
Entrepreneurs are largely born rather than made, research suggests.
A UK-US study has found our genes are crucial in determining whether we are entrepreneurial and likely to become self-employed.
It found nearly half of an individual's propensity to become self-employed is due to genetic factors.
And, contrary to previous beliefs, family environment and upbringing have little influence on whether a person becomes self-employed or not.
The research is important for business schools and employers who in the future could identify ways of selecting those who were most likely to succeed
The other factors which did play a significant role were random life events, such as being made redundant, winning a large sum of money, or a chance meeting.
The study was carried out by the Twin Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital, London, the Tanaka School of Business at Imperial College, London and the US Case Western Reserve University.
The researchers examined self-employment in 609 pairs of identical twins and 657 pairs of same-sex non-identical twins in the UK.
Identical twins share all their genes while non-identical twins share, on average, about half.
The rate of entrepreneurship among twins was the same as across the general population.
But researchers looked at whether one twin being an entrepreneur increased the chance of their co-twin becoming an entrepreneur.
By comparing the difference in similarity rates between identical and non-identical twins they are able to establish the importance of genetic and environmental factors.
The similarity rate within the identical twins group was greater than for the non-identical twin group which suggests that genes are important.
Vital role
Professor Tim Spector, director of the Twin Research Unit, said: "This relatively high heritability suggests the importance of considering genetic factors to explain why some people are entrepreneurial, while others are not.
"The research is important for business schools and employers who in the future could identify ways of selecting those who were most likely to succeed."
Professor Spector said there was evidence to show that genetic factors influence a variety of business-related areas, from job satisfaction to vocational interests.
However, he said the role of genetic factors in explaining the tendency of people to engage in entrepreneurial activity has not been explored.
"Although entrepreneurs are vital to the economy, as they create wealth and jobs, no-one knows precisely what drives people to become an entrepreneur.
"Until now, it has been assumed that the tendency to engage in entrepreneurial activity is explained by learned individual difference or factors relating to a person's situation."
The researchers say genetics is likely to determine whether a person has traits vital to being a successful entrepreneur, such as being sociable and extroverted.
Simon Briault, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "You do need to have a certain natural spark to be successful in business, and that is probably something you are born with.
"But after that it takes a lot of hard graft."
John Cridland, CBI Deputy Director-General, said: "If half of a person's propensity to become self-employed is due to genetic factors then half is caused by other influences and it is vital that the proper education and entrepreneurial support schemes are in place to enable them to blossom."
SEE ALSO:
RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
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| 2024-11-07T14:53:42 | en | train |
4,651 | lackbeard | 2007-03-16T22:49:37 | How to Fund a Startup | null | http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,654 | amichail | 2007-03-16T23:03:04 | Which startup buzzwords irritate you the most? I don't like "passionate". | null | 5 | 10 | [
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|
4,655 | herdrick | 2007-03-16T23:07:11 | List of acquisitions by Yahoo since 1997 | null | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Yahoo!#2006 | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,656 | herdrick | 2007-03-16T23:08:23 | List of acquisitions by Google since 2001 | null | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google | 5 | 1 | [
4657
] | null | null | body_too_long | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T02:27:42 | null | train |
4,660 | Elfan | 2007-03-16T23:33:23 | Startup 101 : Should You Form An Inc. or LLC? | null | http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/1303/Startup-101-Should-You-Form-An-Inc-or-LLC.aspx | 8 | 1 | [
14776
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,665 | msgbeepa | 2007-03-17T00:07:14 | A New Site That Discover And Collaborate Over News | null | http://www.wikio.com/webinfo?id=14930515 | 3 | 1 | [
4670
] | null | null | http_404 | Page non trouvée | Wikio | null | null |
Wikio.com fournit des services de conseil aux entreprises exceptionnelles grâce au travail d’équipe.
| 2024-11-08T15:16:39 | null | train |
4,666 | danw | 2007-03-17T00:15:42 | Thank you for the latest update :) | null | 3 | 3 | [
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|
4,667 | amichail | 2007-03-17T00:19:15 | Do incentives build robustness in BitTorrent? Actually, no. [pdf] | null | http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/piatek/papers/BitTyrant.pdf | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,681 | pg | 2007-03-17T02:23:47 | Doing better than Digg | null | http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/16/whos-taking-on-digg/ | 8 | 5 | [
4688,
4744,
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] | null | null | missing_parsing | Toward a Better Digg | TechCrunch | 2007-03-16T23:35:52+00:00 | Contributor | Digg revolutionized social news when it launched in 2004. Since then, it has become the undisputed champ of news link ranking sites. They just recently crossed the million mark. And their influence goes far beyond those user registration numbers.
Tangible evidence of Digg’s importance: the raw number of clones and Digg gaming schemes out there. We’ve seen rigging, vote buying, profile sales, and accusations of thug rule. The dozens of clones include a not-bad SourceForge project called Pligg, which lets users “build their own Digg”.
But Digg’s ubiquity and influence doesn’t mean it’s perfect. A number of startups are tackling the same problem as Digg – sharing of good content via link submission and some form of voting. One of them, stumbleupon, actually has more registered users than Digg. For the most part, though, these sites won’t be able to do much damage to Digg’s steady growth. But many of them are worth looking at, and they all have individual features that could, if incorporated into Digg, make it a better overall service.
*Personalized refers to recommendations uniquely tailored for each user
BlinkList
BlinkList takes a distributed approach to the Digg model. It lets anyone get their own link blog where they can add their favorites. BlinkList then looks across the whole network and ranks the site based on how many other users added the link.
ClipMarks
Instead of full URLs, Clipmarks lets users share just the best parts of webpages. Using their plugin, you can bundle together your favorite selections of content from a webpage. This includes text as well as pictures and video. Submissions are then “popped” by other members of the community, with the most popular at the top. Using the plugin, you can also submit your clips to your blog. Currently, the site’s two pane page layout gives me the feeling of looking at the net through a steamship porthole.
CoRank
CoRank confronts the mob mentality on Digg. Digg promotes stories to the front page based on the votes of the whole community, resulting in a lot of noise for users with interests different from the crowd. CoRank lets you look at all submitted links or filter out the noise by subscribing links from just the users you choose. Only the highest rated stories from your subscribed sources make your front page.
Netscape
Netscape has also taken on Digg’s mob mentality, mixing in their own team of anchors to submit stories and cut out spam. The anchor’s stories are featured on the front page along with the current top 25 stories. They also got into a little hot water with their recruitment practices. Netscape has managed a greater variety of content in it’s front page, pulling 2 stories from each of the top 10 most popular channels and 1 story from each of the next 5 most popular channels.
Newsvine
Instead of a submission free-for-all, Newsvine implemented it’s own form of quality control by only allowing users to vote on content from the Associated Press and other user’s personal articles. Users are given a live feed of all the latest AP stories, voting on articles and writing their own on their personal column page. Newsvine shares 90% of all revenue generated by advertisements on your column page with the user. Users can also personalize their feed
OpenServing
OpenServing is a product of Wikia, and the opensource version of BlinkList works for fun or profit. The concept is the same, a personal page of links, democratically ranked by your friends, but it also lets you post your own ads on the site.
Reddit
Reddit made headlines when Conde Nast acquired them. The site is a favorite of mine and is still up and running, with some key differences from Digg. Reddit rankings are based on an absolute vote (+1 for hot, -1 for cold), meaning a story can dance up and down Reddit’s top page instead of being buried out of existence by a few power users. To see what’s on top now, there’s also a “hot” list. This type of voting system also means the front page can be stagnant, to the chagrin of some users, but it has also avoided Digg’s payola scandals. Another bigger differentiator for Reddit is their recommended article page, which suggests links based on your voting pattern.
Spotback
Spotback is an automated alternative to Digg, that aims to use personalization to improve the signal to noise ratio of the stories you see. You train Spotback by clicking and voting on the stories it digs up. Voting positively on a story causes Spotback to reveal the next most relevant story. One of the best parts about Spotback is that it doesn’t even require a registration to get up and running.
Spotplex
Spotplex is another automated link site that automatically submits stories from blogs carrying its badge. Stories are then ranked on the Spotplex homepage based in part on how many views the article generates (the algorithm is still being tweaked). The site’s automation and closely controlled blogroll seems has avoided the types of rigging Digg was subjected to, but it lacks the community of commentors that make these social media sites addictive.
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon provides a different user experience while discovering and digging up links. You use a tooblar (FF & IE) to tag, submit, and vote for links. While the site does rank links the main experience is by taking a random walk around the internet. It keys in on Diggs greatest strength, an easily accessible constant stream of interesting links. StumbleUpon is definitely catching on, they recently surpassed 2 million users.
| 2024-11-08T17:44:35 | null | train |
4,684 | smackaysmith | 2007-03-17T03:06:05 | Art Rhyno's science project | null | http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/03/16/art-rhynos-science-project/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,699 | danielha | 2007-03-17T04:36:22 | YOUTUBE: Mark Cuban's motives - Valleywag | null | http://valleywag.com/tech/youtube/mark-cubans-motives-244950.php | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | fetch failed | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T01:18:00 | null | train |
4,701 | semigeek | 2007-03-17T04:42:09 | Ask The VC: How do you plan for M&A? | null | http://www.askthevc.com/2007/03/how_do_you_plan_for_ma.php | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,702 | volida | 2007-03-17T04:43:03 | Doing heavy CSS, JS? Install multiple IE versions on the same machine | null | http://tredosoft.com/IE7_standalone | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,706 | farmer | 2007-03-17T06:20:52 | Kaneva: a 3D Myspace? | null | http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/16/kaneva-a-place-for-3d-friends/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,707 | farmer | 2007-03-17T06:27:04 | Neo-nomads transform a laptop, cell phone and coffeehouse into their office | null | http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/11/MNGKKOCBA645.DTL | 5 | 2 | [
4746
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,709 | brett | 2007-03-17T07:07:00 | The top 25 UK web 2.0 start ups | The Register | null | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/16/the_top_25_uk_web_startups/ | 7 | 4 | [
4742,
4728
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,710 | Paul | 2007-03-17T07:10:17 | Quintura for Kids - intuitive and safe search engine for kids | null | http://kids.quintura.com | 2 | 3 | [
4753,
4714,
4729
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,711 | python_kiss | 2007-03-17T07:11:47 | Startup School 2006 (1 hour video) | null | http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-4652085287991069440 | 2 | 1 | [
4716
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,712 | kf | 2007-03-17T07:20:47 | How to Make Wealth | null | http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | body_too_long | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T05:26:48 | null | train |
4,713 | jcwentz | 2007-03-17T07:26:50 | What's wrong with Ruby? | null | http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/What-s-Wrong-With-Ruby | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,717 | abstractbill | 2007-03-17T07:47:40 | How to spend $1M on a domain name and lower your traffic | null | http://www.smallbusinesshub.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/1306/How-To-Spend-1-Million-On-A-Domain-Name-And-Lower-Your-Web-Traffic.aspx | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,718 | Sam_Odio | 2007-03-17T07:48:01 | The Startup News: links to the latest on cool startups and web tech | null | http://thestartupnews.com/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,719 | Sam_Odio | 2007-03-17T07:51:42 | Many Internet Start-Ups Are Telling Venture Capitalists: 'We Don't Need You' | null | http://paste.lisp.org/display/13090 | 7 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,721 | Sam_Odio | 2007-03-17T07:52:45 | How to Hire Like a Start-Up | null | http://www.softwarebyrob.com/articles/How_to_Hire_Like_a_Start_Up.aspx | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | How to Hire Like a Startup - Rob Walling - Serial Entrepreneur | 2005-09-17T04:00:00+00:00 | null | As a rite of passage, every software management author has to give their take on the hiring process (Joel’s, Erik’s, Paul’s). This is mine.
In an ideal world you would take as long as you want to fill a position. This would allow you to be very picky about who you interview and even pickier about who you hire. I’m a staunch supporter of this approach and tend to be a pretty harsh interviewer as a result; at times interviewing 30 or 40 candidates before giving someone the nod.
But sometimes you don’t have the luxury of spending four or five months to fill a position. There may come a time in the life of your company when you’re faced with more job openings than you have developers, and you need to hire people in a hurry.
Hiring Fast
The best example of this is a venture funded start-up. Start-ups backed with venture capital are on strict deadlines to reach financial goals or risk having their funding eliminated. As a result they consume new hires with an insatiable hunger, and more than once I’ve seen situations where the development team needs to grow two or three times its size in the span of a few months. If you’re a manager in this situation you’re forced to leave conventional wisdom behind and enter a mode of hiring fast rather than hiring perfection.
Take this not-so hypothetical situation: your current team of 6 developers needs to be at 22 people in 4 months. You have 16 open positions, more than 2.5 times the number of developers on staff, and you need developers who can hit the ground running.
I think I just heard someone scream.
We could argue all day about the drawbacks to growing a team this quickly, but assume that you’ve been told to hire 16 developers or find yourself a new job (hire or be hired, in other words). Think about it in these terms: any start-up attempting to dominate a rapidly-growing market must take this approach or be consumed by competitors who will.
So the question is: how can we modify the strategies of conventional hiring without throwing them out entirely?
Hiring fast consists of the following steps:
Write the Shortest Job Description Ever
Skim Resumes Like Crazy
Use the Numbers
Hold Phone Interviews
Finish In-Person
1. Write the Shortest Job Description Ever
Don’t kid yourself, job hunters don’t read long job descriptions. They read bullet points, skip to the required skills section and submit their resume. The shorter your description is, the higher the likelihood you’ve adhered to the single most important tenet of good writing: brevity. A long job description usually means the person writing it doesn’t really know what the candidate will be doing once she’s hired (what I call the kitchen-sink approach). Aside from the Pope, there’s not a job on earth that requires a three page description.
If your description is longer than half a page (three quarters if you use a lot of bullets), revise it.
2. Skim Resumes Like Crazy
Hiring is about playing the numbers; as a manager you’re trying to maximize the chance that the person is going to fit. Since we don’t have time to meet every candidate in person we rely on other means such as resumes and phone interviews to give us a picture of a candidate’s abilities. A resume can get you about 20% of the way, with phone and in-person interviews taking you to 80% (the highest you can get without actually working with someone).
Most managers take resumes too seriously. If you’re spending 15 or 20 minutes reviewing a resume you’re better off spending the time on a phone interview. You can tell a lot more from a conversation than you can from a piece of paper.
Your sole task when reviewing their resume is to decide if the candidate is worth talking to on the phone. You must become fast at skimming resumes; you should be able to evaluate one in 3-5 minutes.
3. Use the Numbers
In his book, Winning, Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, introduced a concept called Differentiation that consists of rating each employee as an A, B, or C according to performance. Intel uses a similar approach. The intent of these scales is to create a common, familiar method of ranking employees. The exact scale is not important; using a consistent metric everyone can understand is the key. In my experience a 10-point scale works best.
My dad has worked in the construction industry since people built skyscrapers out of dirt, and he learned early on how to evaluate electricians. His method is something I call the Rule of Thirds: on a 10-point scale you make money with your 7s, 8s, and 9s, break even with your 4s, 5s, and 6s, and lose money with your 1s, 2s, and 3s. There are no 10s in that list since no one is perfect; the highest possible rating is a 9+.
In every job search there are hires, maybes, and no-hires. Using the Rule of Thirds, 7-9 is a hire, 4-6 is a maybe, and 1-3 is a no-hire.
The only difference between hiring slow and hiring fast is what you do with the maybes; when hiring slow the maybes become nos, when hiring fast you let the maybes proceed to the next round of evaluation. If you’re at the last round (the in-person interview), you should never hire anything less than a 5.
In general, a developer with killer technical ability but so-so people skills is a 7. A developer with fabulous people skills and so-so technical skills is a 6. Someone with the complete package can range from an 8 to 9+.
The key to hiring fast: Always hire 7-9s, never hire 1-4s, and hire as many 5s & 6s as you need until you can find more 7-9s.
4. Hold Phone Interviews
From the time you receive a resume to a scheduled phone interview should be no more than two days. This may sound fast, but it follows from the fact that the best candidates are hired very quickly, if they hit the job market at all. Executing quickly is critical to finding 7s, 8s and 9s.
Phone interviews are the next step of evaluation after reviewing a resume. First round phone interviews should be given by hiring assistants or recruiters and consist of 5-10 short answer technical questions. If the candidate makes it through the first phone interview, call them yourself and ask 10-15 in-depth technical questions. You should keep this call to 20 minutes.
Here are a few tips for this phone call, which is your first real contact with the candidate:
Start with Banter. Psychologists say that 55% of communication is non-verbal. I’ve found that people tend to be very nervous during phone interviews due to the lack of visual cues, and nervous candidates are less likely to give you a true picture of their capabilities. Put them at ease with an introduction and some small-talk, typically relating to something other than work.
Give Them An Outline. Continue with a quick rundown of what to expect during the call. You’re dealing with developers so known, logical steps are helpful.
Ask for Clarification. Next, try to get to the bottom of any ambiguous statements on their resume. This typically involves asking about specific details of their current position, including why they want to leave. Also ask about any outrageous claims or discrepancies.
Ask Technical Questions. Candidates tend to get nervous when answering technical questions so be sure to explain how many questions you’re going to ask and to let them know that you’re not looking to pass or fail them, rather to get an idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Try to stick to more conceptual subjects like architecture and basic programming concepts, as opposed to language specifics.
See If They Have Questions. Since you are their first technical contact with your company they will typically have questions about the size of your team and whether there’s free soda in the lunchroom.
If the candidate is obviously an 8 or better, try to schedule an in-person interview at the end of the call. If not, close the interview and use their 1-10 ranking to decide how to proceed.
6. Finish In-Person
The in-person interview has been discussed in so many articles that I’m not going to beat it to death here. Joel Spolsky’s Guerilla Guide to Interviewing has a good outline for an in-person technical interview. Here are a few of my thoughts:
Ask a few technical questions that don’t have specific answers and observe how the candidate responds. There are plenty of smart developers, but someone who can translate complex concepts into words is an exception.
Ask them to write code and watch how they approach the problem. Recursive questions are always fun and help indicate whether or not they understood the things they were taught in their computer science courses.
Ask any additional technical questions you haven’t covered before now. This is your last chance before making a decision.
Finally, if you’re at all interested in the candidate, be sure to evangelize your company and answer their questions to the best of your ability. You’re almost to the point where you’re going to make them an offer, so you want to convince them that working anywhere else is a mistake.
Once the interview is complete, use their 1-10 ranking and the Rule of Thirds to help with your hire/no-hire decision, keeping in mind you should never hire less than a 5.
If hiring were easy it wouldn’t be the subject of so many books, articles and seminars. Hiring technical people is extremely challenging, and hiring a whole slew of technical people in a short time can feel like parting the Red Sea. My hope is that this article lends some guidance when you’re forced to hire like a start-up.
| 2024-11-07T23:11:21 | en | train |
4,722 | python_kiss | 2007-03-17T07:58:50 | Steve Ballmer Says Google's Growth Is 'Insane' | null | http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/307730_msftgoogle16.html | 3 | 6 | [
4732,
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4800
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,724 | jwecker | 2007-03-17T08:18:10 | Gasoline powered shoes and why Silicon Valley works by way of contrast | null | http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/business/worldbusiness/17gazshoes.html?ex=1331784000&en=4a1e5cad7169ed42&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,726 | jwecker | 2007-03-17T08:37:33 | Popularity Might Not Be Enough | null | http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/business/17online.html?ex=1331784000&en=8c67e3ff3a190b78&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,741 | sharpshoot | 2007-03-17T12:28:51 | Building companies for the long haul (Index Ventures) | null | http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1496283.ece | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,745 | danw | 2007-03-17T13:08:22 | SXSW 2006 podcasts | null | http://2006.sxsw.com/coverage/podcasts/ | 1 | 2 | [
4749
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,748 | amichail | 2007-03-17T13:45:29 | Google Web Toolkit Q&A Video (BAD URL, PLEASE DELETE) | null | http://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=lobby.jsp&eventid=31594 | 1 | -1 | null | null | true | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-07T20:06:00 | null | train |
4,750 | amichail | 2007-03-17T13:51:11 | Google Web Toolkit Q&A Video | null | http://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=lobby.jsp&eventid=31594&sessionid=1&key=1AD83D1D6B16BB2242DDF3D940DF8169&eventuserid=9935013 | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,751 | python_kiss | 2007-03-17T15:28:21 | The birth of AJAX - an amazing story | null | http://techtracer.com/2007/03/12/the-birth-of-ajax-an-amazing-story/ | 4 | 4 | [
4768,
4900,
4755
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4,752 | jl | 2007-03-17T16:22:10 | Official Startup School '07 wiki | null | http://wiki.startupschool.org/doku.php | 12 | 2 | [
4769,
4764
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
4,756 | rami | 2007-03-17T17:32:16 | Startup Funding Options | null | http://raminasser.com/2007/03/17/startup-funding-options/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
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