April 2010
1 post
The iPad's cannibalization of MacBook sales...
Apple’s recent launch of the iPad has raised questions about the device’s cannibalization of sales of the MacBook product line. I don’t believe this matters in the long run. To explain why, I am borrowing some text from a book I am currently reading, Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma.
The fear of cannibalizing sales of existing products is often cited...
December 2009
2 posts
Phoenix - 1901: my track of the year.
Bon Iver’s For Emma is the perfect...
November 2009
8 posts
“The truest mark of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy.”
– François de La Rochefoucauld
Understanding the Unit Economics that drive "Rent...
I am a huge fan of metrics driven businesses. Part of it has to do with my love for numbers. It’s the idea of coming up with conclusions driven by data that is satisfying.
Rental businesses are all the rage these days. High concept pitches of wanting to be “the Netflix of _(insert consumer good here)_” are popular. These business are highly metrical and data driven. (Ex:...
Joining the Product Marketing team at AdMob
After a great year and four months at Hercules, I’m excited to say that I am joining the Product Marketing team at AdMob. At AdMob, I’ll focus on the development of the AdMob Metrics Report. The Metrics Report is a monthly look inside the traffic flowing through AdMob’s network. The Report has become a big piece of AdMob’s brand and is used widely across the internet as a barometer to measure...
The XX - Basic Space (The...
Did Texas execute an innocent man?
This is my favorite article of 2009 (thus far) from the New Yorker.
If you believe that capital punishment is an effective form of disciplinary action, I implore you to reconsider. The risk of executing an innocent person is just too high. More importantly, it’s not humane.
Infuriating Typography Geeks
There’s a lovely article in the NYT about mistakes in typography disturbing typography purists. Details are important to someone. Even the smallest details. Someone is out there watching and judging.
I am very excited about the launch of Typekit. I haven’t seen much innovation around typography and Typekit’s model is particularly interesting. If Typekit can monetize...
October 2009
4 posts
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun (In Digital...
Jay-Z vs. The Verve - Bittersweet...
September 2009
2 posts
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime...”
– Winston Churchill
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and...”
– David Foster Wallace, Kenyon College Commencement Speech, 2005
July 2009
1 post
I love this mix. Wale - New Soul f. Yael Naim.
June 2009
1 post
April 2009
2 posts
“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing...”
– John Lennon
“I haven’t learned a lot more about investing or making money since I was...”
– Warren Buffet
March 2009
1 post
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be...”
– Steve Jobs, on what drives Apple employees
February 2009
2 posts
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide...”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
January 2009
2 posts
The Danish Mortgage System
Danish homeowners can actually purchase their own mortgages at a discount when the bonds linked to the mortgages are trading at a discount. Very interesting system. The Economist elaborates…
“The second feature of the Danish system is that mortgage-holders can also buy the bonds in the market and use them to redeem their mortgages. This is useful if a rise in interest rates (or a...
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a...”
– Lewis Carroll
December 2008
1 post
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like...”
– Thomas Jefferson
November 2008
5 posts
The Death of Privacy
I caught this in the FT today.
Linguist says US intelligence spied on Blair
The part of the article that I want to draw attention to involves the Red Cross:
“Last month, Mr Faulk and another former NSA employee provided a rare glimpse into the veiled world of the NSA, by revealing that the spy agency had spied on journalists, soldiers, and non-governmental organisations, including the...
Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for...
“Auto Industry Close to Bankruptcy But They Get Pricey Perk
By BRIAN ROSS and JOSEPH RHEE November 19, 2008 382 comments FONT SIZE EMAIL PRINT SHARE
The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation’s capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in...
Mitt Romney on letting Detroit Fail
I don’t think the American government should bail out the failing US auto industry.
Mitt Romney has a great op-ed in tomorrow’s NYTimes on why Detroit should fall into a bankruptcy. The crux of his argument, is that Detroit needs to restructure itself. A bailout (aka Get out of Jail Free card) would let it pass go and collect $200. “With [a bailout], the automakers will stay...
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym,...”
– Muhammad Ali
October 2008
7 posts
El Bulli on NPR
El Bulli, consistently rated as the best restaurant in the world, was recently featured on NPR.
As a former roommate of foodie and aspiring gourmet chef Emerson Taymor (www.twitter.com/etaymor), I caught the gastronomy bug my senior year of college. It was interesting to hear the <5 Minute feature on NPR on the world’s best restaurant.
El Bulli, which is located in Spain, typically has...
several key trends that will affect the PE...
Fewer lenders will provide debt to fund acquisitions
Private equity firms will face less competition from investment & commercial banks
Distributions to limited partners will fall in the mediumterm
Decreased global liquidity will result in reduced commitments to new private equity funds
There will be more co-investment opportunities
There will be fewer PE commitments from high net worth
...
“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through...”
– Ellen Goodman
“The darkest hour is–in fact–right before the dawn.”
– This is for those that are feeling down about the downturn.
The Rich Support McCain, the Super-Rich Support...
“More than three quarters of those worth $1 million to $10 million plan to vote for Sen. McCain. Only 15% plan to vote for Sen. Obama (the rest are undecided). Of those worth more than $30 million, two-thirds support Sen. Obama, while one third support Sen. McCain.”
...
i-banking: an apple ipod accessory or an industry?
“No one in the investment banking industry calls it i–banking,” says Joe, another Columbia grad turned banker. “I mean, it’s not a f***ing Apple accessory .”
- from a BusinessWeek article.
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Just an fyi that no one in the industry generally refers to the industry as i-banking. It’s either “investment banking” or just...
September 2008
1 post
“Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her...”
– Eve Ensler: Drill, Drill, Drill (via bijan)
August 2008
8 posts
on Palin as vp
She has more executive experience than Obama and Biden combined. As Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard, she even has more military command experience than the Dem ticket. As for foreign policy matters, Alaska borders on Russia.
__________ - ChrisA from the WSJ forums __________
“Qua religion, no—in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or...”
– From a 1964 interview in Playboy magazine: Playboy: Has no religion, in your estimation, ever offered anything of constructive value to human life?
Rand: (her answer is the quote above)
On the other side of the law
With the emergence of social media, more blogging is done by VCs and entrepreneurs. The increase in transparency is great for almost everyone (except for people that believe that success is a zero-sum game - I think it’s not).
Furqan Nazeer’s fantastic blog www.altgate.com pointed me to Yokum Taku’s (a partner at Wilson Sonsini) law blog. The blog covers different legal issues...
Yes it is possible to over-twitter and over...
“SocialMedian founder Jason Goldberg wrote a Twitter message moments ago letting people know that they are raising a new round of funding, up to $500k, and to contact him if you’re interested. Great way to get investors, right? Exactly not - the whole purpose of the Securities Act of 1933 is to prohibit public offerings like these unless accompanied by a registration statement and a valid...
4 tags
back to reality.
I have been back from my backpacking trip around Southeast Asia for 3 weeks now.
I wrote three travelogues about my trip. I am posting them below.
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JUNE 29th I have been traveling for almost two weeks. In the time I’ve had the opportunity to explore Hong Kong and the South of Thailand. Andy and I leave for Burma tomorrow. I am both anxious and...
July 2008
2 posts
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valuation of an economist reader?
Here’s something interesting I found. Statistics on the average Economist reader.
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THE ECONOMIST is a weekly international news and business publication offering clear reporting, commentary and analysis on world politics, business, finance, science and technology, culture and society. Founded in 1843 to support the cause of free...