Braid

Braid is messing with my head.



The time warping gameplay is awesome, frustrating, dizzying, and genius. This is just the beginning of the 'indie games' movement.

I'm having trouble sustaining my inspirations. I hate to say its the environment and the people around me, but there is a slight of truth in that. Most people aren't quite so forward thinking.

I wonder if creative people have to be moody. It sounds silly, but I do think inspirations are often drawn from transient emotions. Is it possible that a person is vanilla and creative? For me, being uninspired is like living inside a box.

I have ten things to do this long weekend. And I'm excited about none of them. Maybe I should add something fun to the schedule. I want to write a song. Something about love.

Pirate Google

When The Pirate Bay was ordered shut down by the Swedish courts because it linked to infringing torrents on the Internet, many people pointed out that Google links to whole mountains' -- whole planets' -- worth of infringing stuff. Now, to make the point, comes The Pirate Google, a Google mashup that finds torrent files: "The intention of this site is to demonstrate the double standard that was exemplified in the recent Pirate Bay Trial. Sites such as Google offer much the same functionality as The Pirate Bay and other Bit Torrent sites but are not targeted by media conglomerates such as the IFPI as they have the political and legal clout to defend themselves unlike these small independent sites."

The Pirate Google (via BoingBoing)

China

is changing the world.

Only recently I've come to grasp why and how China has and will continue to affect everything around us. China exports are already nothing new to our lives, but the rise of the Chinese marketplace is going to make just as big (if not more) of an impact to the world.

China is a perfect storm -upsetting the dynamics of anything (including countries/industries) in its way. I think in 30 years time, we will all look back in awe the changes that have taken place.

I am in a very exciting time of history.

Chester French - Love the future

Okay. Chester French's 'Love the future' album is out. I know I've already talked about them, but if you come to this blog for music recommendations, this one is a must check out. This is a gem.

Kontagent Fb Developer Garage Final Jeff

View more presentations from jefftee.

Sustainable competitive advantages

Companies with sustainable competitive advantages are unstoppable.

It makes a lot of sense. The most reliable companies are those that can consistently generate revenue from high margin products/services. These companies have very little in risk and lots of room for experimentation. The cash is usually piling in.

Technology companies rarely hold such a position without constant R&D (expensive!). Lately I've been looking into Adobe. Their Creative Suite and Flash platform dominates the marketplace. I need to do more research, but they look pretty good at first sight.

Jaydiohead

Check out 'Jaydiohead', a Jay-z and Radiohead mashup. This album is much better than 'Radiodred'.

mininova torrent

13wins

I haven't been around much lately. I've been horribly addicted to the 13wins app development and I haven't found the time to do any blogging.

Speaking of which, the amount of work that has been put into the app is really starting to add up. I think this is also a type of competitive advantage -a piece to maneuver in the marketplace.

Not all addictions are bad

How perfect. 420.

I WIN

Marketing is so difficult.

Maybe I just don't like to spend money, but marketing is so difficult. How can you find the most cost effective marketing plan? The best ones are original. There is no right answer.

Artist to Watch: Chester French

When the Neptunes sign and produce a new record I normally listen. Particularly, when they sign a pop band made up of two Harvard undergrads (compared to the typical hip-hop swingers from the streets).

Chester French started out as a dorm-room project for Harvard University students D.A. Wallach and Maxwell Drummey, who spent their college years perfecting a hooky pop-soul formula that drew equally from classic rock and the latest hip-hop and R&B sounds.

Chester French's debut album 'Love the Future' releases on April 21, 2009

Easy Star All-Star, authors of 'Dub Side of the Moon' (a reggae interpretation of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'), also released a dub of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'.

The album is called 'Radiodread'. Check it out!

Not sure where else to store this pic

How to be a Web 2.0 Metrics Jedi (Web 2.0 Expo, April 2009)

View more presentations from Dan Olsen.

Airik x Stan Smiths

I've had some trouble with this canvas for a while. I bought these Stan Smiths more than a year ago with hopes of trying a new medium.

Sport shoes are constraining, especially classics. I wanted to keep the laces and the front toe white, and I felt like I wasn't left with a lot of room to work with. The original idea was to add metal studs and use gold colored markers, but I changed my mind after it seemed too cliche (hence, neon colors).

I don't think I'm going to wear them. Especially if I don't plan to do another pair.

Recommend

+++ Whitest Boy Alive - Rules +++
+++ Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Its Blitz +++
+++ (MF) Doom - Born like this +++

Youtube blocked in China

Annoying. Simply annoying.

the Customer Development Model

The customer development model is so powerful.

In a nut shell, the model focuses on developing a business around the customer and their needs. Instead of focusing on product development milestones, the goal is to build to validation a need before you scale. Another way to put it would be to claim that the model states that a product is nothing without its business.

The customer development model is possibly the bread n butter of any serial entrepreneur. And to be honest, I hate it. Partly because I don't fully grasp all of its mechanisms yet, but also because it is customer centric (duh!). I don't like to compromise my visions.

There aren't a whole lot of good business (case study) books related to China out there. This one is good, not great. It reeks of its author, Warren Liu, my operational behavior professor.

Good is good enough for me given the selection of books like these.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it

Infonautics was in the right place in the right time -- but made some wrong decisions. We were so locked into our initial strategy and vision that we were unwilling to "pivot" in response to changes in the market. We had all of the necessary ingredients (funding, search technology, data center, hardware, engineering team, and consumer interface) but were unwilling to change the recipe.

Some of the most successful companies have been "pivots". PayPal started out as a service to beam money through Palm Pilots, while YouTube was originally a video dating site. The truth is that early stage ventures are all about experimentation and iteration. As soon as it's written, every business plan is wrong. Good entrepreneurs recognize this, and tend to build agile teams that can quickly respond to early market information in order to identify a real business model and minimize risk.

via Redeye VC

Project Offset is still here. The video might seem a bit boring, but the effects are impressive!

Startup Pitch Viagra

How to Pitch a VC (aka Startup Viagra: How to Give a VC a Hard-On)

View more presentations from Dave Mcclure.

Macbook Pro

I am tired of spyware, antivirus, drivers, and Microsoft. I am succumbing to the dark side and will be purchasing an Apple Macbook soon. I never thought this day would come, but here we are.

Its usually better to say I have tried than never.