The Webification Of Applications Bill Burnham (whom I remember from the days in which he was simply a Piper Jaffray analyst covering online brokerages) has a great post on how the democratic revolution that created the Web is about to hit the world of applications. Like many people, I struggle to understand the impact of … Continue reading

Beware the coyote dog! Actually, this is a big issue in California. Many of my friends lost cats to coyotes when I was growing up. Of course, up here in Palo Alto, we have mountain lions!

But will she be able to come up with her own catchphrase? This week’s sign of the apocalypse: Martha Stewart, who is still incarcerated, will be the star of “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.” I can’t wait to see how they divide up the teams. Men vs. Women would be unfair. So would Gay vs. Straight. … Continue reading

Whither the First Amendment? This week’s sign of the apocalypse: 32% of high school students think that there is too much freedom of the press, and 36% think that publications should have to receive government approval before publishing an article. I don’t think I could possibly add any further commentary that could say more than … Continue reading

Billy’s First PAC As if there weren’t enough reasons to be disgusted with our current political parties, now they’re targeting kids. I’m not sure what is worse–“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!” or “No, George, No!” Criminey!

Moantones? I can’t imagine who would pay for them.

Going with the flow Over the holidays, I caught up on my reading by working my way through “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “In work, sport, conversation or hobby, you have experienced, yourself, the suspension of time, the freedom of complete absorption in activity. This is “flow,” an experience that is at once demanding and rewarding–an … Continue reading

But hey, they won’t have to eat bugs NBC is creating a “Fear Factor Live” attraction at Universal Studios. While the theme park ride will follow the TV show’s patented mix of physical challenges and revolting foodstuffs, no live bugs will be involved. Dead bugs, maybe, live bugs, no.

The Power Of Failure Here’s a great quote from futurist Paul Saffo on the strength of Silicon Valley: “If you look, our inventions are built on the rubble of earlier failures. We’ve learned to fail the right way. Thank god so many managers were so bad that they drove employees to start new companies. Bad … Continue reading

Online Missionaries This article is both fascinating and scary. Forward-thinking evangelical churches are targeting online gamers in MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games) for proselytization. It makes a lot of sense. Here’s what Billy Houston, a young evangelist had to say: “I think the reason so many people are open to hearing about Jesus in the … Continue reading