Cause $20 Million ain't chump change. God Bless the USA! How wild is it that three guys throw their disparate apps into a pot and four years later are recognized with $20 million in funding by Intel Capital. While each of us may have different ideas of what constitutes true success in life, this funding is recognition of a phenomenal group of developers who have created an outstanding product.
Wednesday Friedman. I'm closing in on finishing Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America.
This book is SO important. Here's an in-depth New York Times article on Friedman's thesis titled "The Power of Green" which includes a video. Here is Friedman's Fresh Air September 8, 2008 interview with Terry Gross.
Blog post as the hook. Good description from Chris Brogan on how Om Malik effectively uses a blog post to entice readers to buy additional content in "Selling Blog Content the Clean Way."
The "P" Word and Microsoft. I don't talk about passion much, but I'd like to think it's a driver in what I do every day as a Microsoft .NET Developer. Seth Godin writes a thought-provoking piece titled "What advertising can't fix," with the takeaway for me being that Microsoft products are not supposed to inspire joy or passion. What we can build with Microsoft products can inspire both, but it's okay that they might not do so out-of-the-box.
Maybe it's only a bad TV Show after all? Anti-Sarah Palin T-shirts and gifts on cafepress.com.
Create more value than you capture. David Berlind blogs Tim O'Reilly's keynote at the Interop and Web 2.0 Expo. You don't have to read the article, you just have to remember the phrase "Create more value than you capture."
Man causes spammers to go fax themselves. In response to my recent encounter with a spammer using my email address, my pal Shakes pointed me to this post about a man who redirects a telemarketing fax back to the company's receptionist.
"You know," Hitler says, "I loved that dog. I have to tweet this." The creativity in this video of Hitler reacting to twitter being down is off the charts.
Two great tweets that don't necessarily go together. Two great tweets, here from Tim O'Reilly on an exchange with Al Gore, and this one from Clay Shirky on McDonalds and AIG.
Zune Life 3.0. I'm really enjoying the new Zune 3.0 update. Channels, Games, Audiobooks, Messenger contact integration, wireless Marketplace browsing AND a clock! The Zune Pass opens up vast access to new music, with the ability to download songs from the Marketplace over WiFi and even while listening to Zune's FM radio. I probably won't do the Zune Pass though. It's only $15 a month, but I have trouble with the idea that you can't burn the songs you get with a pass and they only play as long as your Zune Pass is valid. I still hold onto the idea that a tune is your's forever. For a quick overview of Zune 3.0's new capabilities, including a demonstration of the Zune Pass, check out this 6 minute CNET News video with Zune's Joe Belfiore.
Back to "From the Earth to the Moon." HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon" is back at the top of my kitchen DVD playlist. Every geek, every American (particularly now), every person, should watch this series from time to time as a reminder of the amazing accomplishment of going to the moon. It inspires me every time I watch it, especially "Spider." The series is enjoyable for geeks as we get to watch other geeks work through all of the technical and engineering challenges of going...From the Earth to the Moon.