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Why some people shun wisdom (Wisdom series, part 2)
It can be very frustrating when people around you shun wisdom and choose foolish ways. Some people tend to gravitate toward overly simplistic explanations and deny existing problems. This gives them a sense of control and felt-stability in their lives. You might show them a problem and ask them to look at it from a different perspective, but they’ll deny the problem exists. They might say,…
Defining Wisdom (Wisdom series, part 1)
Wisdom just might be the most valuable asset/skill in the world. I define wisdom as the ability to make good decisions on a consistent basis. It’s difficult to make good decisions since we aren’t privy to all the knowledge and information about each and every aspect of every situation. There are just too many unknowns. And the unknowns create blockages in visibility which hamper our ability to…
The First Year of Marriage, Part 1
The idea of a one-week honeymoon always struck me as being too short. So when I got married (back in 2007) I wanted my wife and I to take a year off of work and enjoy our first year of marriage. I had heard about the idea from ancient Jewish culture and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I figured not working during the first year of marriage would allow us to focus on our…
The greatest tip ever to a clean email inbox
It’s been almost 10 years since I made a decision to keep a clean inbox. Since that time, I’ve managed to clear my inbox down to zero on average a few times a month. It’s always a great feeling to see your email inbox at zero, but it’s been an excruciating journey to get there. Over the years I’ve managed to learn some tricks to manage email (like unsubscribing to…
iPhone 5c/5s Thoughts
I wanted to share some thoughts on Apple’s recent iPhone 5c and 5s announcement. ( Apple’s full video presentation ) 1. Apple has launched a second line of the iPhone. I think the most significant news about Apple’s announcement of the 5c/5s is that Apple has now launched (and is apparently committed) to two separate lines of the iPhone. Previously since 2007 Apple has released…
Got Things Done
(This is a guest blog post by Ludvig Ericson .) People seem so stressed out today, yet we live in the era of automation where you can actually buy a pair of shoes on your morning commute while taking care of business. Odd, isn’t it? Think about three things you did prior to reading this, how did you end them? Chances are you didn’t properly, “alright that’s 90% of the job -…
Four Devices Apple Doesn't Make Yet
Here’s the computer setup I wish I had. Too bad they’re all devices Apple doesn’t make (at least yet). 1. Retina 27” iMac. Apple recently announced their lineup of new iMacs , but they’re non-retina displays. The 27” iMac display is 2560 x 1440. Apple usually doubles the resolution to make it retina. So, the retina iMac 27” should have 5120 x 2880 resolution and it would be a beauty to read from.…
Moving to where the puck is
Apple’s new iMacs (21.5” and 27”) are quite impressive - much thinner, less glare, much lighter. (I’m thinking of getting the 27” version.) The most interesting “addition” to the iMac is actually the missing DVD/CD optical drive slot. It’s been a standard feature for years and Apple has decided to completely remove it. You’ll need an external drive if you want to access a DVD/CD. What’s…
Why the iPad Mini Matters
Today Apple announced the the 7.9” iPad Mini (starting a $329). I want to take a few minutes to share why I think the announcement is a big deal. First, it’s surprising that Apple didn’t price the iPad Mini closer to the Nexus 7 (which starts at $199). I was expecting the iPad Mini to come in at $299 or lower. But Apple pricing the iPad Mini at $329 shows that they’ve made a decision to not…
I Respectively Disagree (with Jeff Bezos)
Jeff Bezos is a fantastic presenter and innovator. Yet, yesterday at the Kindle 2012 lineup event he made two major arguments that I have a difficult time agreeing with. (Watch full event on YouTube ) First, Jeff Bezos argued that Android tablets haven’t taken off because they’re “gadgets,” while the Kindle Fire sold well because it had better “services”. Bezos spent…
I propose an iOS AppStore Fast Track app approval process
Andrew Chen wrote an interesting blog post, Mobile app startups are failing like it’s 1999 . I think the root problem is that the AppStore review process takes too long to encourage rapid, iterative development. If you need to wait 10 days for your update to get approved, it breaks the feedback loop that you need to have to iterate quickly for new products. I’d like to propose a Fast Track…
Ten million users is the new one million users Insightful blog post by Chris Dixon. I’ve been...
Ten million users is the new one million users Insightful blog post by Chris Dixon. I’ve been saying that the scale of mobile/social (ie., ios, android, facebook) has increased the distribution 10x for apps/services. It’s truly incredible what’s happened in the past 5 years. But saying that, there are major challenges of mobilizing a non-transactional app… namely, usually…
Where is David Pogue’s iPhone? Entertaining story of David Pogue (tech writer from NY Times)...
Where is David Pogue’s iPhone? Entertaining story of David Pogue (tech writer from NY Times) losing his phone in the NY Subway and Find My iPhone, Twitter and the police helping him to track it down.
"Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer..."
“Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go. It hits your mind and bounces right off. You have to ask the question – you have to want to know – in order to open up the space for the answer to fit. (paraphrased from Clay Christensen)” - http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3225-what-are-questions
"Our goal absolutely at Apple is not to make money. This may sound a little flippant, but it’s the..."
“Our goal absolutely at Apple is not to make money. This may sound a little flippant, but it’s the truth. Our goal and what gets us excited is to try to make great products. We trust that if we are successful people will like them, and if we are operationally competent we will make revenue, but we are very clear about our goal. - Jony Ive” -…
Wow, this iPhone (5) video looks legit. Can’t wait until...
Wow, this iPhone (5) video looks legit. Can’t wait until the next iPhone comes out. iMore is saying that Apple will announce next iPhone, 7" iPad and new iPod nano on September 12 Btw, my guess is the next iPhone will not called the iPhone 5, but rather the “new iPhone”. I think Apple is realizing the sequential numbers are too predictable and causing people to not buy iPhones during the months…
"Some people seem to think that getting acquired should be the highest aspiration for an entrepreneur..."
“Some people seem to think that getting acquired should be the highest aspiration for an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. I disagree vehemently. - Vinod Khosla” - http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/khosla-the-silicon-valley-vision/?src=recg
Definition of Zynga Fatigue
Zyn·ga fa·tigue noun \zin-ga fə-ˈtēg\ 1. When users spend an insane amount of hours playing Zynga’s addictive games but gain little or no meaningful lasting value; as a result, they are repulsed at the idea of playing another Zynga game or anything that resembles the dozens of lame games they’ve wasted thousands of hours on. Some people describe it as waking up from a bad dream.
The "Net Loss" Clause to Excellent Customer Service
In order to give great customer service you need to be willing to take a net loss on certain transactions. For many this is difficult to accept. Yesterday I dropped off my car at the dealer for a repair and they called today saying that the repair will cost an additional $300 because they broke a part. I thought, shouldn’t they pay for a part that they broke? After 90 minutes of back and forth…