Writing
Choose
Internet (Self) Censorship and European History
Albert Wenger – Sep 17, 2012
Last week’s posting of a video to Youtube that resulted in violence and killings presents an interesting challenge for the open Internet. The whole incident illustrates that the design and capabilities of the Internet are fundamentally at odds with many [...] Read more
Feature Friday: The Challenge of Staying Simple
Albert Wenger – Sep 14, 2012
At the airport in London this morning just before getting on my flight back, I read John Batelle’s epic complaint about his usability problems with Apple software. That got me thinking about my 30 years of experience with a wide [...] Read more
Technology, Consumer Debt and the Labor Market
Albert Wenger – Sep 13, 2012
I have been struggling to articulate why I feel quite so concerned about the economy but in a dinner conversation last night I had a kind of Eureka moment. It is now well understood that for at least two decades [...] Read more
The Open Data Institute + Gavin Starks
Albert Wenger – Sep 12, 2012
One of the great promises of the Internet is that it provides for unprecedented access to data. Whether that is data on government or corporate activity or research results and intermediate measurements. By opening up that data so that entrepreneurs, [...] Read more
Tech Tuesday: Data Structures (Records and Structs)
Albert Wenger – Sep 11, 2012
Today on Tech Tuesday we are diving into Data Structures. The idea of a data structure that combines multiple attributes to describe a thing, goes back as far as the 1960s and possibly earlier. Both the COBOL and ALGOL programming [...] Read more
Prioritization for Startups
Albert Wenger – Sep 10, 2012
I have written about the topic of prioritization before, but maybe with a title that was too oblique – “Applying Engineering Business: Binding Constraints.” There I made the point that at any one time a startup tends to have only [...] Read more
Feature Friday: Engagement and Growth Before Discovery and Analytics (Edmodo)
Albert Wenger – Sep 7, 2012
Today’s Feature Friday is not about a single feature but rather about initially prioritizing user engagement and growth over other features and in particular over discovery and analytics. The idea here is simple but still often ignored. If you have [...] Read more
A Different Take on Android Fragmentation
Albert Wenger – Sep 6, 2012
There is a rumor that Amazon today will announce an Android based smartphone tomorrow. And despite repeated denials there is also a persistent rumor of a Facebook phone that might be Android based. In China there are already several custom [...] Read more
Pollenware (C2FO)
John Buttrick – Sep 5, 2012
If you follow our investment strategy, you know we love internet-based marketplaces that enable direct transactions between interested parties. What is less well known is that our focus extends beyond consumer-facing marketplaces such as Etsy and Lending Club. Last week [...] Read more