Comments on Friends without Benefits

Daniel Lyons wrote an interesting article on the impact of young Silicon Valley start-ups. In the article, he compares young Facebook, Twitter and Zynga with titan HP, Intel and Cisco. Because young companies are so focused on making a quick profit and not on solving hard science problems, Lyons believes that they are walking down a wrong path -- not focusing on hard science limits their ability to create value for the humanity.

I disagree with Lyons. On the surface, web sites like Facebook and Twitter seem insignificant -- how much does a "like" button really matter when comparing to the invention of semi-conductors. But, we can't discredit these young companies' innovation solely based on their business model. Technologies like cloud computing and virtualization didn't really exist a decade ago. While some academics had speculated about these ideas back the days, but there was no real market for such kind of technology deployment. Because of a growing popularity of social networks, there is a paradigm shift in the fundamental design of computing infrastructure. Cloud computing and virtualization are elements of this evolution. New technologies like these generated billions of revenues for businesses and created thousands of jobs.

Lyons also complained about too few start-ups care to invest in the alternative energy market. He worried that if this trend continues, it will hinder the economic growth of this country. I completely agree. But, this is a problem for the lawmakers and not the entrepreneurs. It's politicians' job to set the right policy so that the economy can grow in the right direction. I'm confident that if the government provides sufficient support to encourage alternative energy development, young people will come to Silicon Valley to build the business.

On NoSQL and Bug-free Software

Came across two interesting blog posts this weekend. The first discusses why developing bug-free software is difficult, and the second argues why it's harmful for new projects to blindly pursue NoSQL.

From "The Economics of Perfect Software":

Software can’t be written bug-free, so if you want to ship perfect software you have to fix the bugs that burrow their way into your code... the more time and money you throw at fixing bugs, the more bugs you’ll fix. But, unfortunately, our old nemesis from economics, the Law of Diminishing Returns, applies to this process.

I agree that in order to discover and fix all bugs in a software program is a costly business. But, money alone plays little in driving the quality of a product. Just because you can throw money at a project, it doesn't entail that the project is guaranteed to produce high quality software. Software programs are as good as the quality of the engineers who created them.

From "I Can't Wait for NoSQL to Die":

You Are Not Google. The sooner your company admits this, the sooner you can get down to some real work. Developing the app for Google-sized scale is a waste of your time, plus, there is no way you will get it right. Absolutely none. It's not that you're not smart enough, it's that you do not have the experience to know what problems you will see at scale.

I agree that not all software projects should start with NoSQL when an MySQL-solution makes perfect sense. It's a bad habit for developers to blindly follow buzzword technologies. But, this doesn't imply developers should stop learning about the new technology. NoSQL is new but not without value. It's very possible and feasible for new projects to use a hybrid SQL and NoSQL solution. Yes, you are not Google, but you can be the next Google!

A new war in the cloud

In this week's Economist magazine, an article talks about an ongoing technology war between Microsoft, Google and Apple, fighting to dominate the clouding computing market. The premise is that while all three companies have ample resources and niche technology to win, but the final outcome is still too early to tell -- i.e., don't bet your retirement fund in any one of the three companies. :-)

In cloud computing, there are three key elements: data centers, services and hardware periphery. Google clearly has an upper hand in building data centers. But, it's only a matter of time before the others know how to build scalable and efficient data centers. In services, Google again has a lead, but Microsoft and Apple are not too far behind. After a disastrous release of Windows Vista and a slow grasp of web-centric computing, Microsoft recently comes back with a new Windows 7, Live services and Bing search engine, bringing a new battle to Google's own turf. Unlike Google and Microsoft, Apple has always focused on selling the best designed hardware and not software. With the super successful iPhone and iTune store, Apple is the leader in mobile computing. As computing users become ever more mobile and develop an acquired taste for pervasive computing, winning this battle helps Apple to buy more time to develop its data centers and services.

The Economist article also points out other issues that could significantly alter the outcome of the ongoing battle -- antitrust issues, difference in culture and business model among the three companies and the emergence of new players, such as Amazon and Facebook.

The future of cloud computing certainly looks exciting!

Update: Oct. 12, 2009

• Google may be coming out with a new online music service
• Microsoft "owns" Twitter search and Facebook data
• Apple iPhone and iTouch's user adoption rate beats which of all popular devices
  

Britain grocery store explores weather prediction

Tesco, the largest grocery chain in Britain, is exploring a new kind of data-mining technology to save cost. A six-person research team developed a computer software that calculates shopping patterns based on weather prediction.

Research showed that changes in weather often affect people's shopping behavior.

Supermarkets that stocked more meat and other barbecue foods in anticipation of sunshine could be left with the food unsold because of unpredicted rain and cold weather. A 10 degree Centigrade (18 degree Fahrenheit) temperature increase generally triples sales of barbecue meat and increases demand for lettuce by 50 percent, Tesco said.

It's pretty amazing what data-mining technology can help business these days. I wonder in the near future if we will see similar software programs to help individuals to shop based on aggregated set of contextual information, such as bank account balance, weather and day of the month?

Source: Some Rain and Clouds With That Rib Eye?, NYTimes

Apple product as new U.S. military weapon

One of the ubiquitous Apple iPod products is emerging to become new "weapon" gadgets in the US military. Using the Apple iPod Touch, new military programs are underway to build systems that would link up soldier communications.

The iPod Touch seems to be a good candidate for new US military programs that seek to improve real-time communications between soldiers, command centers and intelligence units. Comparing to iPhone, iPod Touch is relatively cheap and has almost the same feature as iPhone. Moreover, it's easy to create military iPhone applications to run on iPod Touch. The touch-screen feature of the device made it easy for the soldiers to use, even in a dynamic and mobile environment.

From the Newsweek:

Since sharing data is particularly important in counterinsurgency operations, the Pentagon is funding technology that makes it easier for the soldier on the ground to acquire information and quickly add it to databases. Next Wave Systems in Indiana, is expected to release iPhone software that would enable a soldier to snap a picture of a street sign and, in a few moments, receive intelligence uploaded by other soldiers (the information would be linked by the words on the street sign). This could include information about local water quality or the name and photograph of a local insurgent sympathizer.

The U.S. Marine Corps is funding an application for Apple devices that would allow soldiers to upload photographs of detained suspects, along with written reports, into a biometric database. The software could match faces, making it easier to track suspects after they're released.

iPod Touch, US Military, Technology

Can Palm Pre compete with Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone is certainly dominating the smartphone market in the US and many other 3G countries. So far, it has no major competitor. Palm Pre, recently unveiled at CES, looks relative promising, and somewhat controversial.

First, it features a multi-touch user interface that maybe infringing Apple's patents. Second, its has a new operating system called webOS, which is built on the Linux operating system and encourages developers to write native applications using standard web technology -- HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Third, it will support Adobe Flash, which iPhone will not support in the near future.

I think the business strategy behind Palm Pre is a lot like which of Google's Android -- use open source and standard web technology as an leverage to compete with Apple's relatively closed iPhone system. I think it's still too early to predicate who will come out at the top, but I very much welcome the competition.

Resource:

• VentureBeat article on Palm Pre webOS
• An overview of Palm Pre webOS architecture
  

The Internet Kills Your Cable TV

In economic downturn, full with uncertainty, cable TV subscriptions (~$40-100 per month) seems to be a luxury for many people. The latest consumer trend is watching TV shows and movies online without paying for any cable and satellite TV subscriptions.

From CNN.com,

As more Americans get used to watching video on their computers, more
Web sites are popping up to offer free movies and TV shows. Consumers
are taking advantage of this to eliminate cable or satellite TV and integrate their home entertainment with the Web. And online video viewership is skyrocketing.

Internet users in the United States watched a record 14.3 billion
online videos in December, an increase of 13 percent over the previous
month, according to comScore, an Internet marketing research firm.
Popular site YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for almost half the incremental gain in videos viewed.

Internet TV services such as Hulu, Joost and Veoh also are feeding off a new generation of tech-savvy users in search of cheap access to video content. Add to the mix players such as Netflix -- whose Roku set-top box offers more than 12,000 streaming videos and who is teaming with LG Electronics to embed new TVs with the service -- and there's enough online TV options to justify a subscription-free lifestyle.

My family enjoys watching TV and movies online. Since we had unsubscribed from our satellite TV service, our entertainment experience became rather personal. When we had the service, we were offered hundreds of programming channels, but we only frequented a few on a daily basis. Today, with Hulu, ABC.com and Netflix, we can create our programming schedule. Watch shows when we want and wherever we want.

I highly recommend everyone to experiment life without cable and satellite service. But, be warned, a high-speed internet connection is required!

Netflix player: Roku

Recently we acquired a Roku box, a Netflix player that enables instant watch of Netflix movies over the Internet. Netflix is known for its subscription-based online DVD rental service. Taking the service to a next level, Netflix players allows rental movies to be streamed to subscriber's TV over the Internet.

I really enjoy using Roku. It was easy to setup. Took less than 10 minutes to plug in HDMI and setup the Wi-Fi connection. The box takes less than 1 minute to boot. The user interface is simple and intuitive. After entering my account information, instantly I can watch Netflix movies on my TV.

While Roku box is fun to use, but it's not perfect. When watching movies over the Internet, the video quality can easily degrade if there is sudden burst of network traffic. Although Roku's media player is smart enough to dynamically adjust the video quality as the network bandwidth changes, but jumping between different video quality settings can be annoying. Another issue with the Netflix player is that not all movies are available for streaming. This is not a hardware issue, but rather a business issue that Netlix currently implements.

I believe watching movies over the Internet is the future. Netflix players are in a head-to-head competition with Apple TV and Amazon's Video On Demand. I speculate that Netflix players and Apple TV will be the key players in the market.

Watch movies over the Internet will forever change the way to people receive media entertainment. In my home, we canceled our subscription-based TV service (no cable, no dish). To watch TV shows, we use Roku box and an over-the-air HD antenna. To watch news, I switch to online video programs (e.g., CNN and NY Times). There are some limitation to our current configuration. But, we were able to avoid watching TV ads and watch what we want whenever we want.

If you're a Netflix subcriber, I strongly encourage you to try Netflix players. If you're in the market for a Blu-ray DVD player or a TiVo player, you can buy combo boxes that come with Netflix player.

The Web time forgot

The Web is an ubiquitous technology for information sharing. Living in the 21st century, the age of digital technologies, we often forget that some fundamental ideas of the Web really came from the age of analog. Alex Wright wrote a fascinating story about Paul Otlet, a Belgium innovator who dreamed about the Web in the 1930's.

Important works by Otlet began with an attempt to create the world largest paper-based database of every book ever published. After Otlet and his associates created a large database of books and information, they used it to help people to find information. People would send in questions, and Otlet would use his system to find answers. As the number of users grow, scalability became an issue. Otlet believed that the paper-based approach must be scrapped. To solve this problem, Otlet sketched ideas of new technologies to create a "mechanical, collective brain" that would house all the world's information and made readily accessible over a global telecommunications network.

According to some scholars, Otlet may have dreamed the Semantic Web and social networks. Hyperlink is an important concept in Otlet's design of the Web. His vision of hyperlink is very similar to which of the Semantic Web. Hyperlinks are not just "pointers" to information, but also carry meanings about the information that they point to.

Recently a museum was built to house Otlet's work in Mons, Belgium. "Later this year, a new corporate citizen plans to open a data center on the edge of town: Google."

Exciting Android feature

The future is mobile computing. Recently Google showed off its latest Android platform.



The demo is extremely cool. However, it's still too early to say who will outcome strong in the future mobile computing world. Both Microsoft and Apple have good ideas and secret technologies under their sleeves. Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7 will supports a multi-touch interface and may work with its Surface computing technology. On the other hand, Apple's iPhone may get a 3G upgrade.

Technology innovation in a poor economy

"How Does a Poor Economy Affect Tech Innovation", a Slashdot reader asks. Specifically the reader asks whether companies will pull back from risky research & development and stick with selling what they know how to sell?

I think the answer is somewhere in between. There is no doubt some companies will layoff workers and reduce R&D budget in order to weather through the poor economy. But, I doubt any smart companies will completely stop their technology innovations even if they are risky. I always believe that whenever the economy is in a downturn, it's the best time for a company to invest. Those who invest early will likely to come out strong when the economy turns its head. Should Google, Amazon, Netflix had stopped their technology innovation and expansion during the dot-com crash in the late 90's, they would probably be overran by Yahoo!, BN and Blockbuster today.

In addition, I think continuous technology innovation is the only way to pull us out of a economy recession. If you trace back into the US economic history, you will see that there is a strong correlation between new technology and economic growth.

Some specuation. During the 90's, a parallel explosion of person computers and the Internet created the dot-com boom. In the next decade, I think mobile and wireless computing will bring about a new wave economic growth.

Socialable geeks

Am I a geek or a nerd? Where do I stand in the modern society? How do other people think about me being a geek or a nerd? Answers can be found in this New York Times article by David Brooks. Central to his article is the idea that an explosion of social web technology has given geeks an opportunity to be cool and smart, and today geeks are often enjoying a higher social status than the jocks, preps, frat boys and sorority sisters.

What's difference between "nerds" and "geeks"?

At first, a nerd was a geek with better grades. The word described a high-school or college outcast who was persecuted by the jocks, preps, frat boys and sorority sisters.

A geek possessed a certain passion for specialized knowledge, but also a high degree of cultural awareness and poise that a nerd lacked.

Why geeks are cool and socialable?

But the biggest change was not Silicon Valley itself. Rather, the new technology created a range of mental playgrounds where the new geeks could display their cultural capital. The jock can shine on the football field, but the geeks can display their supple sensibilities and well-modulated emotions on their Facebook pages, blogs, text messages and Twitter feeds.

They [Geeks] can visit eclectic sites like Kottke.org and Cool Hunting, experiment with fonts, admire Stewart Brand and Lawrence Lessig and join social-networking communities with ironical names. They’ve created a new definition of what it means to be cool, a definition that leaves out the talents of the jocks, the M.B.A.-types and the less educated. In “The Laws of Cool,” Alan Liu writes: “Cool is a feeling for information.” When someone has that dexterity, you know it.

Why Google succeed and Yahoo! failed

Both Google and Yahoo! went through the millennium bubble burst. However, years after, the business of those companies seem to have gone into two different directions. Google's stock price has risen more than 500%, and the price of Yahoo!'s stocks is nearly unchanged.

So what business discussions have contributed to the success of Google and the failure of Yahoo!? Conrad de Aenlle in this IHT article explains...

The strength of Google has been to take complicated technology - a superb Internet search engine - and build an uncomplicated business around it: selling advertising aimed at consumers based on Google's understanding of their needs and wants, gleaned from their search patterns.

Yahoo is a jack of all trades - a communication medium, aggregator and distributor of news and entertainment - and it has not mastered many of them, Weiner said. "Yahoo is attempting to become a broadcasting platform, creating original content, cutting deals with film studios and TV networks," he said. "None of that has really panned out.

A simple answer to the question is this...

It takes more than great technology to make a great technology company.

When it comes to building a successful technology company, while technology and innovations are important, but the company's operation and execution are even more important.

Source: Why Yahoo! came up short

Rubens' tube

Here is a cool physics mashup application: Rubens' tube. The idea to demonstrate how sound waves can affect air pressure and using flames as a means to demonstrate their effect.

A video that demonstrates how Rubens' tube works.

Read more about Rubens' tube on Wikipedia.

Essential mobile applications for your phone

Recently I bought a new phone Sony Ericsson K550i. When it's coupled with the T-Mobile data service (t-zones), it becomes a fun machine.

The following are the kind of tasks that I perform using my new cellphone:

1. Snap pictures and post them directly to my blogger account


2. Check my personal email via Gmail mobile


3. Send short chat messages to friends without using SMS Text Messaging


4. Read my Bloglines RSS feeds


5. Browse the Web and get information

These mobile applications I highly recommend:

• Opera Mini


• ebuddy mobile or ebuddy web


• Gmail Mobile


• Blogger Mobile

Microsoft photosynth demo

At TED, Microsoft demonstrated its latest computer graphics technology called photosynth.

[photosynth] takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three-dimensional space.

• How does it work? Read on.


• Want to try it on your computer? Go here.


• See a demo video. Go youtube.

Can you imagine what you can do with this technology if it's combined with Microsoft's Surface Computing?

Microsoft surface computing video

Microsoft soon will sell multi-touch surface computing devices -- like the one demonstrated in this video...

Mozilla business

Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization. It depends on people donations and contracts to operate it's daily business -- pay for developers, marketings etc. Since 2004, with the success of its Firefox browser, Mozilla has grown into a very successful open source organization, and a very profitable one.

The revenue of Mozilla Foundation increased from $6 million in 2004 to $52 million in 2005. A large portion of this increase is due to a special agreement with Google. The company pays Mozilla more than $100 million to have Firefox's default page to display the Google search page.

In 2005, a new for-profit Mozilla organization is created, which is called Mozilla Corp. A key task of the new organization is to manage tax and other issues related to the Google contract.

Here are couple interesting questions to think about:

1. When the survival of an open source organization (e.g., Mozilla) is depended on special arrangements and agreements with a for-profit company (e.g., Google), can it continue to function independently without being influenced by any business objectives of the for-profit company?


2. Should Mozilla share wealth with thousands of people who have contributed to its open source projects? If so, how?

Source: Firefox faces the costs of success

WordPerfect is back

Corel announced a new word processing product called WordPerfect Lightning. It a light-weight word processing application (~20MB) with a web-centric design.

Key features include:

• Quick notes: users can WP Lighting as a scratch pad to edit and organize short notes.


• Supports WordPress API: users can use WP Lighting as an editor to publish posts to their WordPress blogs.


• Online collaboration: mulitple WP Lighting users can share documents via the Web (a valid WP online account is required)


• Supports multiple document formats: you can use WP Lighting to view PDF, MS Word, text, HTML etc.

This blog is written using this new application. So far I like it.

Spotted on: Read/WriteWeb

Fusing Swarovski crystal with Philips technology

Technology is cheap. Massive produced technology products are now selling for a dirt cheap price. Lower product price means lower profit margin. In order to survive, companies must try new strategies that will allow them to sell technology with high profit margin.

Philips, the consumer electronics giant, and Swarovski, the cut-crystal company, are teaming up to create "fashionable" technology that could sell for a high profit margin. This new line of products will be branded under the name "Active Crystals", targeting women age between 20 to 40.

The first two fashion products from the Philips-Swarovski collection are a flash drive and headphones, to be introduced in April. Others will follow this year, executives said without elaborating. De Jong's unit is responsible for products like remote controls, Web cameras, headphones, batteries, DVDs, CDs and burners, speakers and cables.

The Philips-Swarovski peripherals will carry a modest price premium, executives indicated. The price range over the whole product line will be €40 to €250 , they said. "We didn't want to price it so that women think it is not for them," de Jong said.

Source: Geeky gadgets get a shot of high-fashion bling, IHT.

What can we learn from this new business model?