January 2012
5 posts
Back to the future?
For starters, a quick shout-out to client Parse.ly, whose upcoming launch was outted in Techcrunch 2 weeks ago.
I really do think that predictive capabilities will not just be in vogue in 2012, but will also be real — meaning, really actionable, and really accurate. This is something Kovas Boguta and I have been talking about for 3+ years and I’m excited that we’re finally...
My 2012 Data Predictions for Mashable
As has become a habit, my annual predictions post — check it out here. I didn’t fare too bad last year, but accuracy’s overrated, right?
Infographics are dead, long live infographics
I recently did an email interview with Anthony Ha of AdWeek on the explosion of infographics, and whether they still have value. Here is the resulting story — it’s good and worth a read.
Below I’ve pasted the full text of what I sent Anthony if you’re interested in this topic more than most.
________
On the explosion and backlash:
“We’re as guilty as anyone...
December 2011
1 post
October 2011
1 post
September 2011
1 post
Further thoughts on Arrington, CrunchFund
Anthony Ha over at Adweek was kind enough to ask me for for comment on yesterday’s news, and here is the resultant story.
I figured I’d paste the fuller thoughts I sent here, for your reading pleasure.
Blanket/overall:
This might sound a bit callous, but a Techcrunch article is not a Techcrunch article is not a Techcrunch article. These days we don’t think so much about an...
August 2011
4 posts
“Just keep writing. It doesn’t suck. Your conscious is having a panic attack...”
– Cory Doctorow
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
7 posts
Facebook Comments: What’s Easy Isn’t Always Right
Amen to that, brother. Jordan Kretchmer on why outsourcing your comment community to the social networking behemoth is a bad idea.
Publishers who have chosen to hand over their entire communities to Facebook are likewise choosing to give up the entire value of their community. What this means is that they no longer have any data on loyal commenters, and no email addresses, which means no ability...
The Daily Dot -- And Off We Go
Owen’s onboard and we’re off and running. After last week’s all-hands meetings in Austin, I left psyched about the killer team we have put together in such a short period of time. I know everyone says that, but it’s different when it’s your baby.
You should read Mathew Ingram’s piece for the overall concept, Nova’s on the background and founding, and Owen...
Bottlenose starts to come out of hiding
It is fun to see Bottlenose start to uncloak after many months of work — it really is the coolest demo I have seen since Siri. You are in for a big treat. I have been using it for a month now and it has totally changed my effectiveness on Twitter — both on the consumption and the creation side.
I’m especially happy for my friends Nova and Dominiek — they were each talking...
March 2011
9 posts
Doug is, like, on TV and stuff
Over the past year our colleague Doug Freeman has been hard at work co-editing The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology.
Buy it, yo.
For a city that lives up to its “Live Music Capital of the World” tagline, you can image that this was quite an undertaking. And the result is a time capsule that includes almost 30 years worth of retrospective archives of the most unique and interesting music finds...
Watch
Meet LiquidSpace.
So proud of LiquidSpace, from recent funding to last night’s launch.
Really proud to be a part of this team. Has been a pleasure through and through. Mark, Doug and Candice — you rock.
This says it best:
The modern workforce isn’t just becoming mobile, it already is mobile. Employers and employees both, are seeking productivity gains while at the same time increasing their use of...
Scoble @SRI
It was awesome to welcome Robert back to SRI, and his headline makes an important, but subtle point:
The Coolest Tech Tour Ever: How SRI is Augmenting the Human Condition
Doug Engelbart was a key figure in SRI’s history, and a great leader.
His work was ultimately about a core goal of augmenting human ability — an idea that came alive in early SRI breakthroughs like the mouse, the...
Bittersweet.
Beluga got snapped up by Facebook this week, which was simultaneously totally awesome and also totally sad because our work together had really only just begun.
The plans we had made…
Major congrats to the team — Ben, Lucy and Jonathan. You guys rock hard. And we’re still going to eat everyone’s lunch at SXSW.
I feel this way every time a client gets acquired, and...
Hurricane Party Launches, Revelry Ensues.
From RWW today:
Speaking of SXSW, Hurricane Party planned this week’s release (as has every other startup on the face of the planet) to coincide with the festival. Some apps, however, are better suited than others for breaking out at SXSW and we can see Hurricane party being one of them. Over recent years, complaints have grown increasingly common over the size of SXSW Interactive....
February 2011
2 posts
January 2011
1 post
Form D and PR Consequences
Privately to clients we’re always giving (often belated) instructions related to Form D filing consequences.
Today, Dan Primack, one of the most skillful journalists out there at scouring filings for news, gives some good advice:
Last week we broke news about a new later-stage fund being raised by Union Square Ventures, which also is in market with its third early-stage fund. The fund...
December 2010
3 posts
5 Predictions for Online Data in 2011
Check out my (now) annual data + marketing post over on Mashable.
I think it’s a particularly interesting time, and as I say in the post, everything that can be data-driven, will be data-driven.
Feedback and debate definitely appreciated.
November 2010
6 posts
Congrats to ChallengePost on a great year (+ Fast...
ChallengePost really has had an incredible year. This Fast Company profile of the CEO is worth a read.
Overall, this is a story about huge establishments like the US Government, Samsung, and the World Bank working with a tiny startup to open up to the public for the first time in a meaningful new way that points not only towards a more open and transparent government, but a way that corporations,...
Aro Mobile starts to come out of hiding...
As first covered by the NYT, and then by Scoble (video below) and Techcrunch (screencast also below), Aro is indeed starting to show some skin.
I’ve gotten a few questions as to how Aro compares with Siri, and those are worth mentioning here. The two certainly do have in common a certain non-triviality above all else — they make real use of semantics and NLP and machine learning, at...
October 2010
1 post
ChoiceVendor and LinkedIn
Congratulations are in order for ChoiceVendor who was acquired several weeks ago by LinkedIn. ChoiceVendor is a B2B ratings and reviews site based in the valley.
“Our acquisition of ChoiceVendor is right in line with our top priority to build a world-class team at LinkedIn,” CEO Jeff Weiner said in a statement Thursday. “We’ve admired the work that Yan-David, Rama...
September 2010
4 posts
And they're off...new Roku launches
As I mentioned earlier this month, Roku officially stepped up to the plate against Apple TV by launching their new line of streaming video products. The price and functionality of the product compare favorably to our competitors, but the timing of this release was particularly fun.
Why?
Don’t overlook the fact that building these kinds of boxes is non-trivial (resulting in frequent delays...
Live Matrix Launches a TV Guide for the Scheduled...
I’m really bullish on Nova and Sanjay’s new project:
When we first looked at the service ahead of its private beta earlier this year, we described it as “the live web’s first programming guide” and as far as we can see, it is still the only service of its kind.
Why? Because I agree that the Scheduled Web is what makes the Real-Time Web actionable. You can read...
Doesn't get much better than this.
‘Nuff said. Matt couldn’t be more right. And…trust me, this Fall is going to be fun.
Disclosure: Roku is a client.
The Age of Assistants
Norm hits the nail on the head over on RWW:
Assistants will leverage the best of the Web, not just to help you with the tasks you already have on your plate, but also to fundamentally extend your ability to get things done. They are digital prostheses that know what the Web can do for you (and who is good at doing what) and bring distributed intelligence to bear at the local level.
The vision...
August 2010
3 posts
Swingly’s Answer Engine Comes Out Of Stealth...
I’m really proud to finally be launching Swingly today — the team is among the most fun with whom I have ever had the pleasure of working.
And, these demo videos now are #1 on my all-time list;)
Disclosure: Swingly is a client.
Swingly Teaser Trailer from Andy Hickl on Vimeo.
Swingly: Protecting Against the Zombie Invasion from Andy Hickl on Vimeo.
