David Pogue’s presentation at TED in 2006 was pretty funny and carried an important message for designers: simplicity sells. The iPhone wasn’t even out, but the trend is clearer than ever. The talk starts slowly but quickly builds momentum. As we always stress: view it critically, play with the idea, try to contradict it or apply it in some other field(s).
Buffett was particularly expansive regarding his processes and methods, and this alone makes this video worth the time (some 90 minutes). The fact that it was October 1998, a pivotal time in the dot-com boom and just after the LTCM imbroglio makes it even more interesting.
The AOL – TimeWarner merger’s 10-year anniversary inspires a feature in the NY Times, and the videos are a must-see for the candid opinions of the top execs involved. One must remember that talented fund managers got burned in 1998-1999 shorting AOL at a P/E of 100, 200, 300… only to see it reach 700. Not a typo, that’s the P/E ratio.
Zynga Games creates games for Facebook and MySpace. Its users number in the tens of millions, and many of them pay real cash for virtual goods to spice up their gaming. In fact, Zynga might well be making more money with Facebook than Facebook itself is. In paper, the business model seems great. We’ll probably get to know this soon, since Zynga is supposedly preparing for an IPO. Anyway it’s a huge reminder that disrupting technologies don’t necessarily imply that the inventors will make the most money – in some cases, any money. For new and old industries, always look at the entire value chain, be it suppliers, service providers, etc.
DARPA, the US military agency that 40 years ago spawned the Internet, organized a contest to study how people collaborate online and, most importantly, how information spreads virally through social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. The winning team took less than 9 hours to locate 10 balloons spread throughout the US – unthinkable maybe even 5 years ago… And the implications are quite interesting.
They took questions from Columbia grad students and the event was broadcast live by CNBC. It has an eerie feel to it – with the whole “must keep spirits high” approach. That said, both men think in the long term (15+ years) and it’s always interesting to be reminded of some basic concepts.
Continue reading about Buffett and Gates at Columbia University
Quite specific examples of the levers that move SAP, Oracle and Microsoft – also applicable to Totvs. The bottom line: bargain while you can. Very interesting to illustrate the power of maintenance in the software business.
Continue reading about How to deal with your software vendor
The Wall Street Journal has a nice piece today on Google’s option repricing bonanza now that the stock is back to the US$ 500’s. Not a second too soon, not a bit exaggerated.