Wired Magazine's iPad Demo: Why I'm Excited

February 16, 2010

Why am I excited about the forthcoming iPad? It has an opportunity to change our reading behavior... much in the same way that the iPhone (and Android and other mobile computers) have changed web consumption. Below is an example of Wired Magazine on the iPad - a product being collaborated with Adobe. Imagine this for your favorite magazine, newspaper, or book. While the Kindle is beautiful in its simplicity and storage - the below demo showcases a different kind of beauty: interactivity, expansiveness, user experience, etc. For most publishers, this is not feasible - let alone scalable... but is a hint of what can be developed and how our reading habits might change:

Busy Week at Dogpatch Labs San Francisco

February 15, 2010

It's a busy week at Dogpatch Labs San Francisco. Below is the week's calendar - if you are interested in being part of any of the following events, please let me know and RSVP:

1. World Entrepreneurship Day Networking Event (Tuesday)

Join World Entrepreneurship Day (WED) for an exciting afternoon of networking & creativity at the Dog Patch Labs in Pier 38 Embarcadero. The purpose of this gathering is to unite & collaborate with the local entrepreneurial community to help craft a vision for WED in San Fran on April 16th, 2010. You can learn more here.

2. Dogpatch Labs Office Hours (Wednesday, 9am-11am)

Drop by Dogpatch Labs for a tour and open conversation with me and other attendees. Coffee and bagels are provided. Please RSVP if interested. 3. The Future of Funding Conference (Thursday)

On Thursday, I will be talking at the Future of Funding conference in San Mateo. The specific panel will be Innovative Fund Experiments:

Traditional Venture Capital firms have not been standing still. Many are experimenting with new models for early stage deals. This panel will explore how different venture groups have delivered innovative financing programs.

- Moderator: Adeo Ressi, CEO of the Founder Institute - George Zachary, Partner, Charles River Ventures - Dave McClure, Angel, Founders Fund, (FF Angel & fbREV) - Ryan Spoon, Sr. Associate, Polaris Ventures (Dog Patch Labs) - Jeff Clavier, Managing Partner, SoftTech VC - Kevin Dick, Managing Director, Right Side Capital Management

Learn more here.

4. Stanford Events at Dogpatch (Friday)

Two great, informal networking events at Dogpatch on Friday. Please RSVP if interested in either: First, the winning team of Stanford’s Global Innovation Tournament spending the morning learning about Dogpatch Labs and meeting entrepreneurs... and that will be followed by the Stanford BASES Group doing the same!

Zynga's 6 Core Values Help Create a Culture of Success

February 13, 2010

In a recent New York Times article, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said that all employees need to "be a CEO of something." Its a terrific mantra and speaks to the importance of ownerships, responsibility and incentive structures. It turns out that it - specifically "Be CEO: own outcomes" - is just one of Zynga's six core values. Here is a picture of Zynga's core values, all of which speak to culture (ownership, responsibility, growth, people) and success (innovation, speed, gameplay).

At eBay, each employee was awarded a "core values" badge card that was worn atop the security card... and therefore all the time. It was a simple, constant reminder of company-wide behaviors and themes. Consequently the values were engrained in everyone's head and that's a powerful driver of culture.

Has Your Facebook News Feed Slowed Down? Here's Why...

February 12, 2010

Have you noticed that your Facebook news feed has come to crawl since the new homepage rolled out? Here's why: in addition to various layout changes, Facebook seems to have altered the Facebook news feed settings for a significant portion of users.

Instead of showcasing updates from your entire network, Facebook has defaulted to showing just 250 friends. It is unclear how those 250 friends are determined - but it is clear, based on my personal usage, that interactions with posts (clicks, likes, comments, etc) have been dramatically affected.

To make sure that you are seeing posts from your entire network, scroll all the way down and click the "Edit Options" button:

You will then get a pop-up that will allow you to increase the "maximum number of friends shown in the live feed" above 250:

Two messages are actively passing through Facebook (just copy and paste into Google or public Facebook search to see!):

HERE'S THE DEAL w/ THE NEW FACEBOOK LIVE FEED: They are blocking all your friends' news feeds except 250 that it chooses. TO UNDO: From HOME page, select MOST RECENT & scroll to the absolute bottom of page, click EDIT OPTIONS. Select NEWS FEED SETTINGS. Reset 250 to 5000 for FB's max friend limit & your feed w...ill work right again! Pass it on!

And

FB is blocking all your friends’ NEWS FEEDS except 250 THEY CHOOSE. TO UNDO BLOCK: Go to your HOME page. Make sure your news feed shows LIVE FEED. Then scroll to the bottom, click “Edit Options”, You will then see your NEWS FEED SETTINGS. Change the 250 to 5000 for Facebook’s friend limit and your feed will work right again. COPY & PASTE THIS & PASS IT ON

7 Reasons Google Buzz Matters

February 11, 2010

Mind you, this is coming from a someone who does not profess to understand Google Wave (after several attempts)...and from someone who believes that Facebook is the bigger than most give it credit for.

Here are seven unsorted reasons Google Buzz matters:

1. Buzz integrates directly into email.

One of the failings of Wave is that I had to repeated return to see new activity... that's asking too much for a new service with still sporadic usage. The email integration gives a large population (Gmail users of course) immediate and continued access to Buzz - all within a setting that is stickier than any other: email.

2. Buzz is familiar.

Combine email, Google Chat, Facebook status updates, Google Reader, etc... and you have Buzz. A familiar combination of web activities. Wave is too complex - this is simple enough to bridge us from email to Wave (or whatever is next).

3. Email contacts are the original - and perhaps most powerful - social network.

The ability for Buzz to connect you with people you already contact on a daily basis is powerful... it also means new users never are lonely.

4. Content is public. Conversations are defaulted to being public and have their own URLs. In anyone else's hands, this is not revolutionary. But Google has worked hard to integrate blogs and Twitter into search results... it is a powerful way to accelerate Buzz and to reward / incent active users with traffic (much like SEO).

5. It is versatile. The ability to pivot conversations through Buzz, GChat and Email is slick, simple and powerful because activities can also pivot between public / private and one:one / one:many.

6. It beats CC'ing The public functionality makes Buzz a powerful tool for group activity and chat. People can jump in and out of threads.

7. ... And it therefore makes sense as a Google Docs Tool There are clear benefits for team usage and it fits within the Google Docs suite of corporate products.