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Google Reader
Louis Gray shared an item on Google Reader
FriendFeed And Twitter Have *Not* Killed Blogging
8 minutes ago - Link
Blog
James Kendrick posted an entry on jkOnTheRun
Warning- HIS netbooks are counterfeits
45 minutes ago - Link
Twitter
Brent Schlenker posted a message on Twitter
Blog
Brent Schlenker posted an entry on Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development
12 Brain Rules - Become a Fan! - BrainRules for StoryTellers
16 minutes ago - Link
FriendFeed
Robert Scoble posted a message
“VC shutdown underway? One entrepreneur told me her deal with Intel Capital fell apart after they lowered valuation from $5 mil to $1. Ouch.”
10 hours ago - Link
I think we have not reached the bottom until now. Worse luck! - Marcel Janus
22 more comments
wow, crazy. tell her to contact me if she needs any development - Jason Pratt
I am trying to remain personally optimistic, but I don't believe the bottom has been reached. - Louis Landon
This is what I love about being a student and working with other students. I can do everything much cheaper. $1 mil would probably fund my current business for 2+ years easily. - Daniel Zarick
It'll get worse before it gets better. Next two quarters will be tough. - Patricia
@Louis Landon Me too. I still hope thing will get better. - Marcel Janus
Eventually, things will get better. - Patricia
how people/firms/investors respond in bad times is much more telling of their character than how they respond in good times. they're doing it because they think they can get away with it. that window will close. - Bryce Roberts
Look, things are really bad and getting worse. They will eventually get better as Patricia says, but it will be hard for very many people. No one is really insulated, but there's no point in panicking or worrying about what you can't fix. However, we all should try to understand WTF happened and learn from it. I just shared a speech today by Charlie McCreevy of the European Commission in my timeline that everyone should read. It's simple and clear. - IRWebReport.com
better worse better worse better worse better worse better worse ... been going on forever, every up has a down ... why complain about the inevitable? - Gregory Lent
I don't doubt that VCs are having a tough time, but Intel Capital wanting to lower the valuation to $1 doesn't mean Intel Capital is having a tough time. It means some of the previous investors who participated in the rounds leading to the $5 mil are no longer putting in more money, and Intel wants to squeeze them out. They don't want to carry nonperforming investors. Those other VCs might be shutting down, I guess. - Denton Gentry
You kinda get the feeling that the 'world' is on hold until someone, anyone, suggests a REAL solution. Crazy stuff - Charlie Anzman
I have to say I agree with Denton. Value of a company is still consistent with the market. At the end, you're only worth what somebody's willing to pay. - Patricia
I also agree what Denton and Patricia have said. - imabonehead
I recently had one of those 'holy shit' idea moments, and I am wondering if I'll even be able to get seed capital. - Michael R. Bernstein
In many ways this is just a sign of a smart VC is it not? I'm hearing that most VCs are going to be lowballing valuations in 2009, using the economy as the 'excuse'. Extend your runway if you can and wait until the funding environment isn't as unbalanced. - AJ Kohn
I can understand if the lowered value was just 1M but from 5 to 1? That's gotta suck - Canada's Web Shop
Well the other thing is that VC isn't always the ideal expansion route. Everybody gets excited about, because it can be useful and it can be the right thing - but as somebody mentored by quite a few successful serial entrepreneurs, and a few VC, everybody says the same: don't do it unless you have to. The barrier of entry and costs of web business are so low. I went three years self funding, then started to look at financing options which I didn't end up needing. In a nutshell, it's not the only way to skin the cat in financing a startup. - Patricia
AJ, if I invested in a startup now, I would invest much less than a year ago. I think the risk in the economy is enough of a reason to give a lower valuation, since there is higher risk you won't get your money back. - Chris White
@Chris: Absolutely. I'm not saying there's not a real risk. The risk/reward ratio is steeper in this environment. But VCs are going to over-correct IMO, both to protect against risk and maximize reward. - AJ Kohn
As someone working on his own startup right now I can say categorically that if you are looking to raise VC money you are nuts. There IS NO potential for massive growth right now... there is no expendable income in the economy. Bootstrap - find partners and customers... sell what you can and try and survive. That is all. - Brian Roy
Another data point here is that very serious suitors of Genalyte, the company I work for, pulled back. We're now in survival mode, but that's not to say we aren't able to get some interest from some of the bigger players. My industry is biotech, and although the sector is down like everything else, we've not have a industry-specific bubble and crash yet. I think there's tremendous potential for growth in our sector for technologies that present significant cost savings over competitors. - Mr. Gunn
As CEO of a startup, I gave up on Venture Capital in September. Anyone paying attention could see the signs of slowing investment since the spring. But September slammed the door. What worries me now, though, isn't the VC markets. What worries me is the credit card market. AMEX is slashing credit limits, which will hurt small businesses and slow innovation far more than any VC slowdown. Real innovation happens on the back of credit, until a case can be made to risk-averse VCs that there's a real business opportunity. When credit is gone, our economy is like an engine running without any oil. - Chris Kenton via twhirl
So a good time for the super rich to help small businesses then ;o) - Rob Sellen
The first question you have to ask yourself is - can I do this and generate profit (or at minimum be revenue neutral)? If not you've got big problems. You have to do whatever you need to do to get to profit... NOW. - Brian Roy
Twitter
Russell Beattie posted a message on Twitter
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Marshall Kirkpatrick posted two messages on Twitter
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Tim O'Reilly posted a message on Twitter
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Jerry posted a message on Twitter
Google Reader
Louis Gray shared an item on Google Reader
The Two Kinds Of Web Popularity
8 minutes ago - Link
Google Reader
Luke Gedeon shared an item on Google Reader
nciku just added a new feature!
5 minutes ago - Link
Twitter
Michael Brito posted five messages on Twitter
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Jeff Moriarty posted 21 messages on Twitter
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C.C. Chapman posted a message on Twitter
Blog
Louis Gray posted an entry on louisgray.com
Just Wishing for Something to Go Mainstream Won't Make It So
September 22 at 1:20 am - Link
So far, the commenters on my site _don't_ want Twitter and FriendFeed to go mainstream. Do you want to keep these technologies to yourself? - Louis Gray
25 more comments
I do, I'd say Twitter probably has the best shot right now. FF is still over the head of too many, they dont know (and dont want to know) about rss - sean percival
I really hope with the continuous feature additions and improvements to FriendFeed, it would soon have a universal appeal. There are so many Nay-sayers but I'm behind them 220%. :) As for Twitter - I don't really use it anyway, so it doesn't make a difference. Although I would LOL if they were to start charging monthly fees. ie: Threaded replies are only for premium accounts haha - Mona N.
This weekend I excitedly told an engineer-friend (hydrologist) about meeting the "inventor of RSS" last week. And he said "what's that?" -- Bastard. - Brian Hendrickson
I'm with friendfeed. And yes, it should go mainstream ASAP. Many just want to go to friendfeed because "nobody else but you are on there, I know". So that is the real problem. - Ryo
Twitter will go mainstream as people always want to be noticed. Friendfeed has a harder road because it is not about the user, it is about the information. If Friendfeed goes mainstream, it will be in a much different way, like a major research or news tool. - Rob Diana
FF will go mainstream as soon as people realize that it's *not* about the information, it's about the conversation. Twitter in its current form is a megaphone broadcasting system a la FB status updates, without a realistic and understandable method of replying. FF on the other hand not only let's you share information, but creates a method to *discuss* it. It's biggest obstacle for going mainstream is the UI. - Stupid Ninja (aka Tina)
Tina, I mostly agree about the conversation, but the conversation is typically based on the information at this point. I think the amount of information that passes through will be too much for most people until better filters are in place. I admit, I tend to be very pessimistic when it comes to growth and mainstream adoption of most tech. - Rob Diana
I am all for both apps hitting mainstream fast. Both serve excellent online communication needs. Twitter provides broadcasts and quick short replies; whereas FriendFeed provides the ability to share information and generate conversation / feedback regarding that info., which can blossom into an entire community around that topic. Twitter's challenge is stability, scalability and UI. FriendFeed's challenge is search, organization and UI. - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)
Rob, I can only base statements on my experience of course, and they're going to be affected by who follows me. With that said, my most engaging conversations on FF have usually been around a topic tossed up as a status update/question, not a link to an external post. Also, unlike FB and TW which offer a one to one conversation model (excepting FB groups), FF automatically offers a one to many conversation model. - Stupid Ninja (aka Tina)
FriendFeed will go mainstream because it's a better medium than email for sharing links and news. I wrote in detail on this here: http://friendfeed.com/e/c2f76d... - Bruce Lewis via fftogo
couple quick comments: not everything needs to "go mainstream" to be a success, it is ok to fill a niche & some things are not products but rather features best integrated into or augmenting something else - i think friendfeed fits both these criteria (current and future) and i see that as a good thing personally... - mike "glemak" dunn
@Mike - I've been thinking this too lately. What is "a success"? Is Apple a "success". They only have about 5% of the market of computers, yet I think there is a lot more media buzz about Apple unveiling a revised macbook than there is about Dell or HP introducing a revised 1050e or whatever they call them. If you get 1% of Americans using your product, that is 3 million people. That is a lot. - Robert Felty
What is mainstream? 25% of US population? 10% of RSS/tech geeks? 1% of the world? 10% of people who would pay for this service? FF's current UX won't scale to a large population having lots of real conversations here. But it does serve a good niche (or two or three) right now. But what % of the world has/wants to have conversations like this? Mainstream would drive FF to be everything to everyone. Would we (as early adopters) still like it then? - David Lee
I have a radical idea... how about Twitter just finds a way to make some money. Mainstream is great... but completely misses the point... - Brian Roy
I am "mainstream", but I've been on FF for a year as of tomorrow. - Anne Bouey
Has anyone else noticed the push the major media give to some services and not others? How often did Television Programming (news, sitcoms, talk shows) talk about "googling" something; did you ever hear them talk about "yahooing" or "asking" anything? Then it was myspace, myspace, myspace followed by Facebook. Makes me wonder if those who own the media heavily invest and then push their investments. - Internet Strategist
Internet Strategist: media people just want to be cool. It's easy to understand why they push certain stuff. I do the same. I have no investments in anything. - Robert Scoble
Will Twitter and FriendFeed become mere commodities, fed to the masses by media moguls, to sell their product ? Because that is their job. I think Twitter is becoming more mainstream, more noticed and talked about - but not generally understood. How would it be affected by advertising and ten times the traffic? FF will take longer to catch on, even though it is better. Twitter plants seeds that can be grown in FriendFeed. - Chris Loft
frankly i don't think Joe the Plumber is really that interested in such a mass of content/dialogue, Facebook is about as much feed as an average person can handle. FF/Twitter are downright manic for them and they don't have/don't want the mental faculty to deal with the multiple perpetual conversations/topics - it creates more anxiety than fun and if it's not fun it's toast. Neither will get double digit % of the population using them - Bob
OTOH, is text messaging considered mainstream yet in the U.S.? (I realize we lag way behind the rest of the world in this.) I don't think the "mainstream" can handle more than one technological breakthrough at a time :) I still know people who are even just getting used to using a computer. - Victor Ganata
@Bob I think Twitter is so powerful that it can be used for many different purposes. Imagine a multi-dimensional Twitter with single or more refined services. For local councils, government, media companies, business services, geeks, gossip, etc. Each with their own customised Twitter serving their needs. This is where Twitter will produce an income stream; hiving itself off into customized services, without the noise. - Chris Loft
i dont think it is a "we dont want it to go mainsteam" it is more of a "the technology isnt quite ready for it to go mainsteam, we couldnt handle all our friends and family and colleagues nattering on our feeds, we can barely handle the information flow at the moment". We need better filtering, a better way to have several spheres in parallel on these services. - Joelle Nebbe
(translating my previous comment in pragmatic speech:) I am happy to have all that crowd happily segragated on facebook sending each other quizzes, i dont want them coming on my FF and twitter. I love them to bits but they are, well, embarrassing! I don't want "what peanut character are you" on my friendfeed, and it will come with the mainstream - Joelle Nebbe
hmmm, this bubbled up so I re-read it. man, that was a great old post - Sarah Perez
By old you mean 9 weeks, right Sarah? :-) - Louis Gray
Just remember what comes with being mainstream...tons of spammers. - April Russo
FriendFeed should go mainstream. Despite our selfish desire to want to keep it to ourselves, it is a smarter way for news and information to be disseminated that would benefit all once they are aware of it. - Thomas Hawk
Blog
kathy posted an entry on WiredPen
QOTD: Neal Postman
15 minutes ago - Link
Disqus
Jake Kuramoto commented on three blog posts on Disqus
Re: I Got ID
7 minutes ago - Link
"So, dude will you be sharing your comments and activity from sites where you use FB Connect with your FB News Feed, e.g. if you comment on TechCrunch or CitySearch, will you choose to cross-post it to FB? Just wondering, since beyond the identity piece, FB's play is about bringing in content (and learning about you) too." - Jake Kuramoto
Re: http://theappslab.com/2008/12/04/what-makes-ui-good/
29 minutes ago - Link
"Yeah, I'm aware of all that, including su, which I do occasionally on both machines when necessary. Windows started following the same scheme years ago too, i.e. requiring administrator privileges to install. You probably know what a pain it is to login to XP as "Administrator", at least on the Home Edition, hidden by default and all with a blank password if I remember correctly. So, the logic is common: abstract the power stuff as much as possible so if need be, troubleshooters can use the uber account. Crappy thing is once default passwords get in the wild and you don't change the uber account's password, you're basically hoping for the best, not preparing for the worst." - Jake Kuramoto
Re: Email: A Love/Hate Relationship
37 minutes ago - Link
"I get why people *say* they want email subscriptions, and I happen to think they are mildly useful. Rich and I have been chatting about how to integrate more email and IM interactions into Connect. Why? Because it's obvious that RSS doesn't fit the bill. At the end of the day, it comes down to interest. If the content isn't interesting, people file the email mentally as spam. If it is interesting, you get 35 emails about how to decide between Macbooks. This also speaks to why 2.0 will fail in lots of enterprises. Because change management is hard, you can't count on the adoption that's required to see benefit, i.e. network effects. It's not for everyone, knowing which makes me wonder how much development I should spend on drawing traffic vs. making it totally awesome for the diehard users." - Jake Kuramoto
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Beth Kanter posted six messages on Twitter
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Paul Colligan posted a message on Twitter
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Michael Brito posted an entry on Enterprise Social Media: Conversations Matter
You don’t need to be an ‘expert’ to succeed at corporate social media
17 minutes ago - Link
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Greg Hughes posted a message on Twitter
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Jeff Martens posted a message on Twitter
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Hugh MacLeod posted six messages on Twitter
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Netflix
Leo Laporte added a movie to Netflix
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
26 minutes ago - Link
You can watch this on Hulu, without waiting for Netflix to deliver this. - Anika Malone
Also you can watch it on Watch now through PC/MAC or 360 too I believe. - Michael King
That's true Michael, but it looks like crap on the Watch it Now. It's incredibly noisy. - Anika Malone
It is not too bad for me on my PC to my HD TV of course anything not in HD is kind of crappy. Hulu looks better? I will have to compare if I have time this weekend. - Michael King
Twitter
Chris Heuer posted six messages on Twitter
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Blog
David Recordon posted an entry on TheSocialWeb.tv
Episode 21: "Facebook Connect vs. OpenID?"
34 minutes ago - Link
1 related entry from Rick Turoczy
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Rick Turoczy posted three messages on Twitter
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Rex Hammock posted two messages on Twitter
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Hugh MacLeod posted a message on Twitter
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Louis Gray posted a message on Twitter
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