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Sad, but true. @NickBilton tells us what we assumed, but wouldn’t allow ourselves to let soak in.
posted on Feb 13 2012

Writing on the issues surrounding Path’s unauthorized obtaining of your contacts via your iPhone, and Path CEO David Morin’s response to the matter.

At Mr. Morin’s last job at Facebook, his boss Mark Zuckerberg apologized publicly more than 10 times for privacy breaches.

It seems the management philosophy of “ask for forgiveness, not permission” is becoming the “industry best practice.” And based on the response to Mr. Morin, tech executives are even lauded for it.






MOO describing their amazingly awesome new style of business cards will make you want to buy their amazingly awesome new style of business cards
posted on Jan 31 2012






The book I have recommended for the last 2 years, and will continue to recommend
posted on Jan 9 2012

Rework is a business book that explains who your employees and your bosses age 20-35 do what they do, and/or how you should more effectively run your business, work day, and life.






If you were curious how seriously @verge would be taken at CES this year, their setup should answer that question.
posted on Jan 6 2012

My Lawd. That’s an awesome trailer.

[Not trolling here, serious question: Have Gizmodo or Engadget or others ever brought a setup like this to CES?]






Birmingham has one of the most amazing motor companies creating works in downtown. If you know nothing or little about it, read this. (@confedmotors)
posted on Jan 3 2012

That “motorcycle” pictured above? It’s made in Birmingham.

Inside a former flower shop, this team creates kinetic art, metal sculptures of museum quality that are also capable of moving more than 160 miles an hour. Critics have called the fruits of their labor “stunning,” “startling,” “sexy,” “unapologetic” and “astounding.”

The Wall Street Journal actually called their new product “perfect.”






I’ve been to Chick-fil-A 110 times in the last 12 months.
posted on Dec 22 2011

When Chelsea and moved back to the South last year we arrived in Jasper, Alabama on December 17. From December 17, 2010 to December 17, 2011 I consumed Chick-fil-A 110 times. I know this because I’ve used Foursquare to track my activities for the last 2+ years.

I love Foursquare because at the heart of my discombobulated life and ADHD-ish attention span, I am a number geek and map geek. I like to track my activities, and Foursqaure does a good job of that, despite the occasional this.

Foursquare doesn’t yet provide what I would term “substantial analytics” tools to help me break down my activity into something more meaningful like the number of locations visited, the most frequented locations, or breakfast vs. lunch vs. dinner vs. snack binging… but 110 is n indicator nonetheless.

Why the obsession? I wouldn’t call it so much an obsession and I would call it the lack of food and service quality across the board at other fast food chains and restaurants, and how Chick-fil-A has them beat by light years. I love the products Chick-fil-A makes, and how each one (aside from the coffee) is pretty much near perfect. I love the way they treat their employees, and how that translates into how their employees treat me. I love how fast and easy it is to buy something from Chick-fil-A. But at the end of the day Chick-fil-A is simply a great place to eat and always a pleasant, enjoyable experience.

Before I moved to Seattle in August 2006 I faced the stark reality that the business I love the mostest was nowhere near Seattle. By “nowhere near” I mean 763 miles. When one opened about 2 hours north in the Western Washington University student union, I ensured that a weekend trip revolve around food… but the Chick-fil-A was closed the first time… but open the second… and the third, etc. I spent many days trolling them on Twitter to open a Seattle location, and sometimes they responded.

They’ve yet to expand in to Seattle, but I hope they do because every time we drove north to Western Washington University we would always bump into other Seattleites equipped with coolers and dry ice, prepared to haul back weeks of sandwiches to quell their cravings. I’m not joking. That type of behavior makes my 110 visits pale in comparison.






“Dear World, Netflix is an awesome company”
posted on Oct 10 2011

This image (via reddit) puts it in a little better perspective… though Netflix still has a way to go before regaining customer trust due to their recent pricing and Qwikster snafus.






How has no one at @LinkedIn fixed this bug yet?
posted on Sep 28 2011

I love LinkedIn. Love it. Having been in business development roles for for years it’s one of my first stops in the morning and I probably visit the site 20+ times a day.

However, someone over there needs to get their act together.

Background: I’m headed to the first Seattle Interactive Conference (aka: SIC) in November. We’re (we = Doozer) in the midst of launching our new online tool Mittix, and this conference is important for a slew of networking reason.

So I head to the events page for SIC and see that I have 2 connections attending. Two out of ~80? Meh… at lest I’ll have 2 friends there.

I then select the drop-down menu to see that I am one of those connections. The other being a former coworker at ChemPoint who has since launched his own venture.

How the heck and I connected to myself?

This bug has been present on LinkedIn for quite some time and it’s annoying as any bug in the social media tools I use. If LinkedIn can get Obama to visit their Palo Alto campus for a townhall, they should be able to fix an obvious bug.

So, my question is quite ironic: Who has a LinkedIn connection at LinkedIn to whom I can petition the removal of this bug?

Yes, one can refer to it as a “feature gap” or what have you, but it’s obvious that a feature isn’t performing in the manner it should; that’s a bug and I want to report it because I’ve had too much coffee and feeling a little judgmental.

Contact me if you have a LinkedIn contact.

PS – If we’re not connected already, holler.






Do yourself a favor and watch this interview with @Jack and @KevinRose
posted on Sep 23 2011

Nothing just happens.

Jack Dorsey invented Twitter, founded and co-created Square, and co-created my favorite early podcasting site Odeo. In short, he’s full of ideas and, from the look of it, incredibly humble.

Here’s an interview from early 2011 where Jack talks with Kevin Rose, Digg founder.

More great interviews at Foundation.






Nobody ‘Like’ this guy’s speech? No?
posted on Jul 6 2011

A screenshot a took during Mark Zuckerberg’s July 6 announcement from Facebook HQ in Palo Alto.

There is one individual making eye contact with the creator and curator of one of the most influential website of the last 10. See red arrow… that’s the only lady not glued to her MacBook keys, reporting to the twitter and blog-reading masses.

Oh… and one girl on the left who had just taken a picture of Markie Z and was, I assume, uploading it to Facebook.






Phil Knight’s reaction when first seeing the proposed Nike logo
posted on Jun 16 2011

“Well, I don’t love it,” Phil Knight said at the time, “but maybe it will grow on me.”

Aside from the McDonalds arches, the script of Coca-Cola, and the Christian cross, I cannot think of a more timeless and recognizable symbol in the world than the Nike swoosh.

Read the full article over at OregonLive.com.






It’s been 3 months and 18 days, and I still cannot decide what app I’ll build this year.
posted on Apr 18 2011

I harp with people all the time to “just make a decision”. Taking calculated risks is fun, but they have to be calculated. In my brief 30 years my calculated risks surrounded attending a university where I knew no one, solo backpacking through Europe, and moving to the Pacific Northwest with only a room found on Craigslist and no job.

Some risks proved fruitful, some not. Though despite the outcome I wouldn’t change a thing because even through “failure” a ‘Plan B’ and sometimes ‘Plan C’ and ‘Plan D’ were in place prior to action.

With all that said I’m about to kick my own rear into gear, calculating a next step if I aim to meet one of my 2011 personal goals. One of my goals this year, no matter if it flies or flops, is to launch a mobile app compatible with iOS and Android.

One could easily argue that going it alone is quite silly. Therefore, if you’ve got the idea, then I’ve got the resources. We can even draw up an agreement to prevent one another from going all “Winklevi” on each other.

Hit me up.






In business, your role is to constantly reinvent the wheel
posted on Apr 11 2011

Note that it’s not “You break it, you buy it.” That phrase has been repeated so many times, and with such implied anger toward the customer, that it falls on deaf ears.

Take a note from the Christmas Round The Corner store in Fairhope, Alabama and 1) change a cliché message, and 2) stop wagging your finger at a customer during their first interaction with your company.






Learning to travel better
posted on Mar 14 2011

I’ll be traveling more than normal in 2011, therefore I’m doing my darndest to travel better.

“Better” is defined as:
- lighter suitcase
- smaller suitcase
- faster through security
- faster at packing
- faster at repacking
- activity learning and practicing airport security tips/tricks

Sound cheesy? I agree… until one has to get from DFW’s Terminal A to Terminal E in 16 minutes.

To assist in my efforts I’ve been reading up on what others have to say about the ins and outs of business and personal travel.

One of my particular favorites was this blog post, and the following snippets.

I am very minimal when I travel.
I never check luggage. I refuse to check luggage. I look down at people who check luggage. When I get on the plane I have a backpack with my laptop and a carry-on—that’s it.

If you’re going to check luggage…
you basically should just get back in your car, go home and not fly anywhere.

[...]

When you fly: don’t wear sweatpants.
Wearing sweatpants on a plane is like wearing a fanny-pack walking around Paris. It’s pretty much the same thing.

[...]

I was on a plane once that lost all cabin pressure.
We had to make an emergency landing in Buffalo. My nose started bleeding because there was no air-pressure…and then we realized that the only thing worse than crashing and dying was landing in Buffalo.

[...]

One time I sat on a plane next to Britney Spears’ mom.
That was hilarious. We talked about Britney for two and a half hours.






The random ‘awesome offices’ links
posted on Mar 10 2011
  • Google
  • Pixar
  • Facebook





  • The random business links
    posted on Feb 22 2011
  • Gawker’s Gulp Moment: Big Redesign Is Driving People Away
  • Most Bizzare Celebrity Bankruptcies
  • 5 Bailed-Out CEOs Still Living the High Life





  • The random business links
    posted on Feb 15 2011
  • Why Companies Should Insist that Employees Take Naps
  • Startup Culture Lessons From Mad Men
  • 10 seeeeeriously cool workplaces





  • Everything makes sense after a while
    posted on Feb 12 2011

    Wired took a tour of IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center. This image of a blackboard was one particular shot which caught me eye.

    It makes absolutely no sense to you and me, but it could. It’s intimidating until you realize that one day you and I will buy a product or service that relates to the brainstorming shown on this board. This means that, as complicated as this board appears, there’s a way to simplify it.






    The random business links
    posted on Feb 12 2011
  • “Fantastic” beats “efficient”
  • Improving Sales: The Excuse Department Is Closed
  • How to Get Feedback When You’re Rejected





  • The random Quora links
    posted on Jan 31 2011

    Any of you TechCrunch readers are as tired as I am for having to read about Quora every other post. I love Quora, but talking about Quora and talking about content on Quora are two completely different things.

  • Why is Seattle famous for coffee?
  • What was it like working in NYC’s Silicon Alley a decade ago?
  • How can I know if my web startup idea is worth launching?
  • How do you run a great meeting?
  • What to do when your answer is marked as “Not Helpful.”
  • Has anyone on Quora found business partners or partnerships?
  • How do you meet other technical people interested in starting a company?
  • Is freemium a valid model only for apps with a strong network effect?
  • Who are the most active members of Quora?
  • Why is Quora so addictive?