No Snivelling

Oh, I'm so proud -- I have so many people to thank. My computer teachers, Mr. Fisher and Ms. Rothermel, who taught me everything I know about BASIC. Radio Shack, for developing and marketing the wonderful TRS-80 that I pined over. Texas Instruments for making the even more incredible TI-99/4A, that was connected to my tape recorder backup drive. My parents, for getting me my own phone line, to power my bedroom-powered bulletin board, the Magical Tavern. All of the engineers at TeachStreet, who I've taught so much to as we've built the site -- they've learned quickly and have taken well to my guidance and technical wisdom.

Thank you all -- I love you all.

Yes, I'm Seattle's Geek of the Week -- take THAT, Daryn -- who's your daddy now?!?

Labels: geek, seattle, teachstreet

Big goings-on tomorrow, with events at TechFlash (Palace Ballroom) and Ignite Seattle

Yes, I know this post is worthless -- I'm working on Blogger and Site Migration, so phlbbt!

I was talking with @daryn about Twitter today -- I'm perplexed by it. I've been using it for more than two years, and I'm still not sure what I think about it. Why is that? Normally, I'd either be a fan, or be over it. Instead, I'm still somewhat confused. At many times, it seems like another instantiation of my overflowing inbox, much like what happened with RSS readers (which I've stopped reading entirely, because of that very fact).

In fact, I've pretty much stopped trying to read any of my incoming tweets, beyond what appears on the main screen. Instead, I read my @ and D replies. Which, really, is just like having public IM and private e-mail. Or, a lot like having my IM have public and private settings. So, is Twitter just more of an improved IM play, with the advantage that the public IMs bubble up to a really good real-time search engine? If so, that's great, and I'm pretty darn happy about that. And, if people are willing to make their IMs public in many circumstances, then we've got a much more well-connected world. But, if everyone stops following their @ replies (with a service like Tweetlater or a good Web/iPhone app like Tweetie or TweetDeck), then the service is pretty useless as a communications vehicle. Which means that people will stop contributing. Which means that it turns into a bubble that pops.

So, Twacquisition, TwIPO, or Twop -- which will it be?

Labels: bubble, twitter

I admit it - I'm afraid of my e-mail. It's a neverending task engine
of sorts, with the horrible characteristic that it increases in
intensity whenever I reply or try to resolve issues. It gets to the
point where I don't want to open it at all, so as to leave it
dormant. Sadly, the beast is stirring, as Monday stealthily
approaches...

Just saw this on twitter (from @seanpower and @hnshah) - just in case you get in your time machine and go back a few years, and need to invent a few things -- remember to file for patents :-)

I'm two-thirds of the way through Steven Johnson's book, The Invention of Air, and it's just fascinating.� It tells the story of Joseph Priestly, a man who prospered during the Enlightenment Age (during the late 18th century, along with contemporaries Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and others) -- and presents a compelling picture of a man who combined passions for Scientific discovery, Political discourse, and deep Religious belief -- that combination is extremely rare, as the author displays.� I hope that I can become more involved with Steven Johnson's work, at Outside.in and in other pursuits -- he seems fascinating, and someone who will inspire me, and others, to previously unexpected goals.

For the record, I don't know Eric Ries, but he seems all the rage of late with my twitter-stream flowing glorious with his Web 2.0 Expo wisdom about running a lean startup. He's more than likely earned it, most recently as co-founder and CTO of IMVU. And, I bet that we'd get along wonderfully, and that he's a great guy (given the posse he travels with, and friends of friends).

But, last I checked, he's a Venture Advisor at Kleiner Perkins, and I'm quite sure Kleiner Venture Advisor's aren't working for extra equity right now, firing their own staff to survive the next 6 months, filing and resolvings bugs on weekends, or doing PR outreach late into the night to get a little extra traction from their most recent product launch.

My hunch is that memories are forgetful when it comes to doing whatever it takes to make it to your next milestone.

So, if you have to make binary tradeoffs on who to take your advice from, I'd recommend that you take it from someone who's in the trenches, like Glenn Kelman, Andy Liu, or Ev Williams (and here) as their feedback may be a little more moist, with recent blood, sweat and tears (that is, if they have time to talk with you -- my hunch is that you'll be more likely to get a 4 sentence e-mail, as they won't have the time to prepare for and attend a multi-day conference).

Labels: andy liu, eric ries, ev williams, glenn kelman, kleiner perkins