Main Dish: (from: jeff)
http://sapventures.typepad.com/main/2005/02/main_dish_1.html
- good article in the WSJ today about IBM/Toshiba/Sony’s new Cell chip. I’m really excited about this development for what it means to online gaming, but I think it’s a stretch for IBM to suggest that the chip will forever alter the landscape. Chip companies know better than anyone that it’s not the chip itself that matters, it’s the tools that you provide to app developers that make the difference, and by all accounts, developing on this chip is no walk in the park… parallelism in applications is still a tough nut to crack.
- Bloglines is being purchased by AskJeeves. Bloglines was the only significant company in this space that didn’t take venture money, and despite having some unique functionality and a lot of traction, seemed to be odd-man-out when Technorati and Feedster were thrown into the conversation. I wish Mark Fletcher well.
- Why does Windows suck, and if it sucks so bad why do so many people use it? Actually, this is a serious response to a column that was in the Chron last week. The Linux (desktop) and Apple user communities have not seen a significant swelling of their ranks and Ken Fisher offers some explanation why. I’ve played around with the Macintosh over the years, and more recently with Linux on the desktop, but I stay with Windows. I don’t love or hate Windows, it’s just not an emotional thing for me; it works well enough for me to be productive and that’s good enough. Fred Wilson is an Apple convert, here’s his take on the subject.
- New edition of CotC is up here.
- interesting story about how radiologists at UCLA turned to portable storage in the form of iPods for medical image storage. There’s a real opportunity for portable NAS devices, but it’s probably already being served in the form of the aforementioned iPods, cellphones, USB sticks and so on. Hard disks in cell phones are coming end of this year, that will be a big development.
- Larry Sonsini stepped down as CEO of the law firm that carries his name. He’s easily one of the most influential people in the Valley, and despite have spent his entire 38 year career at the same law firm, helped launch more companies than any venture capitalist. And on top of all that, he’s a nice guy.
- HELLO! How long have I been saying this…
- great moments in history for the word "fuck". I would add:
12- "it’s about @#$@^ time we found something" - Christopher Columbus, 1492
13- ""Mr. Watson — get the #$^%# in here comehere — I want to see you." - Alexander Graham Bell, 1876
14- "there is no #%&% way I’m going to jail" - Martha Stewart
15- "hey, what the @$)*% are those planes doing" - air tower commander, Pearl Harbor, 1941
16- "I don’t have @#)$$%* time this trip, I’ll check out the observation deck (of the WTC) the next time I’m in town" - Jeff Nolan shortly before 9/11
- eBay backs off their rate increases and promises to improve customer service… uh, would that mean actually having customer service? How about beefing up fraud response while they are at it. More on the rate backtracking here.
- keep this in mind for what I’m going to post tomorrow. link via gapingvoid
- I’m pretty happy with Feeddemon, but I’ll give this a spin.
- having a silent conversation on a cell phone. Please, there is no end to the stories of bad etiquette in this area. This reminds me to print up a new batch of these.