Author Archives: dunster

Advertising 2.0

I enjoy reading Jason Calacanis. Sometimes he’s insightful. Sometimes he’s just giving everyone else the finger. The tricky part is figuring out which posts are which.

Is there enough money in advertising to sustain Web 2.0? Is Calacanis right, or is he just poking the Web 2.0 naysayers in the eye?

Many companies failed in the 2000-2002 period because advertising revenue didn’t materialize. My last internet startup, Abuzz, didn’t succeed because the advertising dollars in the business plan didn’t appear in reality. 2006 is different from 2000. I can’t decide if it’s different enough.

Paying God’s Bills

The Arlington Advocate ran a story about a car that was set on fire in October. Run-of-the-mill crime story, right? Then you find out that the car was a 2006 Mercedes AMG S165 (V12 engine with 604 horesepower). Then you find out that it’s a rare car valued at $200,000.

Then you find out that the car is being leased by Gerson Silva, the pastor of Asambleia de Deus Renovada, a 130-member Baptist congregation. It’s not a run-of-the-mill crime story any more.

If I were a member of the congregation, I’d be asking some pretty sharp questions about why my donations were paying for a high-end Mercedes. I’d also be reeeaaaally curious how my minister managed to make someone angry enough to inspire arson.

I’m glad I’m not the one paying God’s bills.

Wired Loves Tabblo

Wired magazine reviewed the popular photo sharing sites and Tabblo got the highest score – we even edged out Flickr! We got 8, Flickr got 7, Webshots and Zoomr got 6, and down from there. It’s worth pointing out that when Wired reviewed the video iPod, it got an 8, too. For Wired, an 8 is high praise.

It’s nice to get recognition like that, especially when work is particularly difficult. We’re pushing out two major releases, one next week and one the week after. It’s a lot of work, and a fair amount of stress. What aspects of new feature X are the ones that you have to fix, and what aspects will never be noticed? Did I spend to long trying to figure that out, when I should just have fixed both of them? The questions don’t stop. Even when you stop to write a blog entry.

The good news is that if Wired liked us last month, they will love us next month. We’ve got some neat stuff.

Tangent: I can never read Wired without thinking of the Simpsons:

==============================================================================
> Quotes and Scene Summary  {jp}
==============================================================================
% Lisa sits on the couch reading the magazine "Wired" when Homer comes in and
% takes it from her, thinking it is the magazine "Weird".

Homer: Heh-heh-heh.  I love their hilarious send-ups of hit movies.
Lisa:  Dad, it's not--
Homer: "Gigabyte"!  [laughs] They've done it again.  Gigabyte.  Wait, this
isn't "Weird"!  [looks at cover] Why, there's no magazine *called*
"Weird", is there?
Lisa:  [takes magazine] This is *"Wired"*.  It's about computers and
technology.
[Homer stares]
Hey!  Look, there's a cyber-café opening here in Springfield.  Will you
take me, Dad, please?  I'll show you how to order pizza over the
internet.
Homer: The internet?  Is that thing still around?
Bart:  [walks in] I know a web site that shows monkeys doing it.
Lisa:  Bart, the internet is more than a global pornography network it's--
[Homer, in the car with Bart, honks the horn]
Homer: Come on, Lisa -- monkeys!
-- "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo"

Election Day +1

A few unconnected thoughts from the day:

  • The most surprising results for me were the congressional races in New Hampshire.  Two scandal-free, relatively popular incumbents were kicked out.  Iraq? Uncontrolled federal spending? Civil liberty issues? Some fraction of each of these, I’m sure.  There were a number of “first time in a century” events in New Hampshire yesterday.  It’s a different state than the one I grew up in.
  • The Democrats in Massachussets tightened their grip on the General Court.  35-5 in the Senate (88%), 137-19 (88%) in the House.  It seems like this is a real governance problem.  The legislature is effectively being chosen in primaries a tiny fraction of the electorate.  I’ll be writing about this one more in the future. (I know that the House count isn’t quite right.  If you have a link to final results, please let me know – I’ve been searching all over)
  • I think that Webb’s lead in Virginia is safe. The recount will not change the outcome. First, look at last year’s recount for Attorney General – it barely budged.  Second, just do the math.  The lead is about 7000 votes, depending on which website you use.  Webb, Parker, and write-ins have perhaps 1.2 million votes combined.  That means that Allen has to find an error in his favor on one out of every 171 votes cast, while finding no errors that work against him.  I would be shocked if the error rate was that high, and it always broke in his direction.  Allen has to hope that someone finds a ballot box or a broken calculator.  We won’t know for weeks, but I’m betting on a Democratic-controlled Senate in January.
  • Why is it that the results in Virginia were available hours after the polls closed, but races like Washington’s Eighth are still only half counted?  I’m sure there’s a reason here, but I don’t know it.
  • Eleven races are still too close to call. We won’t know the margin of this mid-term defeat for quite a while.
  • I’m encouraged to note how many third-party candidates received more votes than the margin of victory (there are more, but those are a representative few).  I hope that it leads the main-stream press to give them more coverage in future elections.  I’m not holding my breath.

Boston Tabblo Meetup 

http://digcam.meetup.com/134/calendar/5205054/

Thursday November 9 at 7PM at Flattop Johnny’s in Cambridge.
Discuss photosharing, storytelling and networking.
What’s working and what’s not.
Demo Tabblo.com.

Flattop Johnny’s is a 5-minute walk from Kendall on the Red
Line. If you’re driving, there is plenty of parking at the
Kendall Cinema next door.

Flattop Johnny’s has a decent menu, so feel free to come
hungry. I think we’ll rent a pool table or two as well.