Monthly Archives: February 2009

GPS Feature Wish List

Posted on February 24, 2009 by payne

I’m a huge GPS fan, and have wondered how I got through two decades of driving without electronic navigation help. Recently, the innovation rate in navigation applications seems slow.  TomTom raised the bar a few years back, but nearly everyone’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

When Disruptive Value is Sponged up by the Incumbents

Posted on February 11, 2009 by payne

Charles Teague and I were riffiing today on entrepreneurial opportunities around the iPhone, location-based services, and other areas.   A recurring discussion theme was:  sometimes technology disruptions don’t lead to NewCo opportunities.  Why? Consider the hype around Web Services from years … Continue reading →

Posted in Ramblings, Software | 3 Comments

Notebook time

Posted on February 9, 2009 by payne

I sometimes use JDarkroom for writing.  It blanks out the screen, giving only monospaced text, letting you focus on words (not formatting, the clock, the weather, email, surfing, or blog reading). But when I need to think, turning off the … Continue reading →

Posted in Ramblings | 1 Comment

“More turning to Web TV”

Posted on February 6, 2009 by payne

I got a big chuckle out of this article from CNN, about consumers canceling cable service and turning to the Internet for TV. The analyst/pundit comments reminded me of the Internet naysayers from the mid 90s: The brutal economy may motivate some … Continue reading →

Posted in Ramblings | 1 Comment

App Stores for Mac and Windows?

Posted on February 5, 2009 by payne

David Pogue wrote today about the 15,000 apps now available in the iPhone app store.  It’s pretty amazing. But where’s the app store for Mac and Windows?   Buying apps on-line is not a new concept:  I’ve got a handful of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Angel Funding Contraction

Posted on February 3, 2009 by payne

Any entrepreneur considering angel funding should read today’s NY Times article “Angel’s Flee From Tech Startups“, and some of the followup commentary. Angel investors, unlike most professional investors, control most of their investment portfolio.  If their equity investments drop (say) … Continue reading →

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Leave a comment

Flash is the New Client-Side Java

Posted on February 1, 2009 by payne

Remember Sun’s vision for Java:  client-side applets, downloaded on the fly, running in/alongside the browser?  It was a great vision, but Microsoft moved to block browser adoption and Sun botched it.  After nearly 15 years, client-side Java never really hit … Continue reading →

Posted in Software | 2 Comments