Sent from my iPhone, but I'd rather be using my blackberry frankly.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
How to make Jell-o shots is our biggest page right now (& on Google trends!)
Apparently Jell-O shots are the big drink on New Year's Eve!
My Dec. report card on Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni -- what do you think Knicks fans?
Posted this over at New York Magazine.... Knicks fans what do you think?http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2009/12/lets_just_pretend_last_nights.html
B+
"It fairly obvious that D'Antoni's tight rotation has our contract year/almost contract year players--and that's all we have--on tilt.
The economic impact of the short rotation is clear to the players: Nate Robinson is worth about $2M a season next year as an oddity for a second market team, David Lee is going to get that $12M a year deal (and a ring playing next to LeBron in NYC or Dallas) and Jarred Jeffries finally looks like a steal! Chris Duhon is back up to "quality backup" PG value, and Al Harrington is going to rocker from sixth man of the year to go-to offensive player for some team next year.
Last year I hated D'Antoni's spiteful ways with Steph, this year I'm loving his "I'm gonna f- with your money if we don't get Ws strategy."
VIDEO: and now, monkey's eating jell-o. http://bit.ly/5zd527
VIDEO: and now, monkey's eating jell-o. http://bit.ly/5zd527
Most popular page right now: New Year Greetings and Messages (SMS) http://bit.ly/qLEGj
Any good SMS messages to send at midnight on New Year's Eve?
My camera system at home let's me see London from my iPhone.
This really is a game changer. We were out at the movies and I could pan tilt and zoom in and see how my daughter was doing... Really nice for piece of mind. Plus I'm storing daily video of my daughter.... Need a drobo!
Sent from my iPhone, but I'd rather be using my blackberry frankly.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
VIDEO: Weather Channel Marriage Proposal http://bit.ly/676NWb
Cute video: Weather Channel Marriage Proposal
How to buy Gold Bullion (for those of you getting ready for inflation--not me)
We're covering every possible gold angle at Mahalo including:
http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-buy-gold-bullion
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
PARENTS: Please don't light your kids on fire to get a reality TV show
Any chance that parents out there could tone down their insane pursuit
of fame through their kids?
Monday, December 28, 2009
TSA Directive post NWA 253: no more wifi or live TV?
am I reading this correct: no more wifi or live TV on flights? does this mean they think inflight terrorists are going to be Skyping with terrorists on the ground? see red
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Transportation Security Administration
Aviation Security Directive
Subject: Security Directive
Number: SD 1544-09-06
Date: December 25, 2009
EXPIRATION: 0200Z on December 30, 2009
This Security Directive (SD) must be implemented immediately. The measures contained in this SD are in addition to all other SDs currently in effect for your operations.
INFORMATION: On December 25, 2009, a terrorist attack was attempted against a flight traveling to the United States. TSA has identified security measures to be implemented by airports, aircraft operators, and foreign air carriers to mitigate potential threats to flights.
APPLICABILITY: THIS SD APPLIES TO AIRCRAFT OPERATORS THAT CARRY OUT A SECURITY PROGRAM REGULATED UNDER 49 CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR)1544.101(a).
ACTIONS REQUIRED: If you conduct scheduled and/or public charter flight operations under a Full Program under 49 CFR 1544.101(a) departing from any foreign location to the United States (including its territories and possessions), you must immediately implement all measures in this SD for each such flight.
1. BOARDING GATE
1. The aircraft operator or authorized air carrier representative must ensure all passengers are screened at the boarding gate during the boarding process using the following procedures. These procedures are in addition to the screening of all passengers at the screening checkpoint.
1. Perform thorough pat-down of all passengers at boarding gate prior to boarding, concentrating on upper legs and torso.
2. Physically inspect 100 percent of all passenger accessible property at the boarding gate prior to boarding, with focus on syringes being transported along with powders and/or liquids.
3. Ensure the liquids, aerosols, and gels restrictions are strictly adhered to in accordance with SD 1544-06-02E.
2. During the boarding process, the air carrier may exempt passengers who are Heads of State or Heads of Government from the measures outlined in Section I.A. of this SD, including the following who are traveling with the Head of State or Head of Government:
1. Spouse and children, or
2. One other individual (chosen by the Head of State or Head of Government)
3. For the purposes of Section I.B., the following definitions apply:
1. Head of State: An individual serving as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth, or any other political state (for example, King, Queen, and President).
2. Head of Government: The chief officer of the executive branch of a government presiding over a cabinet (for example, Prime Minister, Premier, President, and Monarch).
2. IN FLIGHT
1. During flight, the aircraft operator must ensure that the following procedures are followed:
1. Passengers must remain in seats beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
2. Passenger access to carry-on baggage is prohibited beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
3. Disable aircraft-integrated passenger communications systems and services (phone, internet access services, live television programming, global positioning systems) prior to boarding and during all phases of flight.
4. While over U.S. airspace, flight crew may not make any announcement to passengers concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks.
5. Passengers may not have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
AIRCRAFT OPERATOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The aircraft operator must immediately provide written confirmation to its assigned PSI indicating receipt of this SD.
AIRCRAFT OPERATOR dissemination required: The aircraft operator must immediately pass the information and directives set forth in this SD to all stations affected, and provide written confirmation to its PSI, indicating that all stations affected have acknowledged receipt of the information and directives set forth in this SD. The aircraft operator must disseminate this information to its senior management personnel, ground security coordinators, and supervisory security personnel at all affected locations. All aircraft operator personnel implementing this SD must be briefed by the aircraft operator on its content and the restrictions governing dissemination. No other dissemination may be made without prior approval of the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration. Unauthorized dissemination of this document or information contained herein is prohibited by 49 CFR Part 1520 (see 69 Fed. Reg. 28066 (May 18, 2004).
APPROVAL OF ALTERNATIVE MEASURES: With respect to the provisions of this SD, as stated in 49 CFR 1544.305(d), the aircraft operator may submit in writing to its PSI proposed alternative measures and the basis for submitting the alternative measures for approval by the Assistant Administrator for Transportation Sector Network Management. The aircraft operator must immediately notify its PSI whenever any procedure in this SD cannot be carried out by a government authority charged with performing security procedures.
FOR TSA ACTION ONLY: The TSA must issue this SD immediately to the corporate security element of all affected U.S. aircraft operators.
FOR STATE DEPARTMENT: Retransmittal to appropriate foreign posts is authorized. Post must refer to STATE 162917, 201826Z Sep 01, Subject: FAA Security Directives and Information Circulars: Definitions and Handling, for specific guidance and dissemination.
Gale Rossides
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Open Angel Forum update: mission statement, 2 new chapters & Jan 14th event.
First Event: We've had over 50 qualified entries for five slots at the first Open Angel Forum in Los Angeles on January 14th. We have over 15 qualified angel investors coming. The event is filled, there are not more seats available. If you would like to apply for the April event please fill out the forms at www.openangelforum.com.
Local Chapters: We've had interest from about a dozen cities to host a quarterly "Open Angel Forum" and we're totally blown away. I'm in the process of writing a charter that will be the basis of the local chapters and how we operate as a national--and some day perhaps international--organization. The format of Open Angel Forum is simple:
1. At 7PM 15-20 angel get together for an amazing steak dinner.
2. From 8PM to 9:30PM five companies present their ideas for 10 minutes each with a little Q&A.
3. After the event the five startups receive a list of angels who express their interest level in their startup: a) Setup a followup meeting, b) Keep me posted but not a fit right now, c) Not a fit.
I've come up with a mission statement, what do you think?
Open Angel Forum: To help entrepreneurs and angel investors change the world together.
The basic operating principles are:
1. Startups are not charged to present, but rather selected based on merit by a committee of angels (and myself).
2. Angel investors are not charged to attend.
3. Five service providers can attend the event for $1,500 each.
4. Only uber-qualified angels are allowed--power angels as we call them. We define this as three investments in known companies in the past year. If the person is not a "power angel," but still and angel, they are on the wait list (i.e. if you had two investments in three years we would out you second to someone with five in one year--makes sense to me).
5. Not entrepreneurs or press at the event for obvious reasons.
6. All presentations are under "friend-D-A" (but not NDA for obvious reasons). Angels are expected to keep presentations confidential.
7. If you're a "combo angel investor and service provider" (think: lawyer who sometimes invests, recruiter who takes equity, etc), then we qualify you as a service provider.
8. The service provider revenue should cover the steak dinner, and fine wine, but if it does not the angel investors split the bill.
9. All ticket sales, and sponsorship sales when we have them, will run through the national, for profit organization. The national organization will take 20% of all ticket sales and sponsorship, giving 80% to the local chapter. So, if the local chapter wants to sell five service provider tickets and two sponsorship for a total of $8,000 for each event, they would keep $6,000 and kick $2,000 back to the national organization.
10. Local chapters will host two to four events per year.
11. Chapter heads will be personally selected by me.
12. Killer startups from one chapter will, if they choose, be able to pitch to other chapters. So, for example, if the super cool startups www.Blippy.com had presented in San Francisco and simply crushed it, we would have them possibly present in London, New York, Boston, Colorado and Los Angeles.
13. All final decisions will be entrusted to the chapter heads who we have selected because of their high level of integrity and trust with me.
14. These rules are subject to common sense and will be altered, expanded, disregarded and contradicted based on the sole discretion of the fine folks who are hosting the forum. We will always be fair and true to the mission of OAF: To help entrepreneurs and angels investors change the world.
Any feedback?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Mahalo is looking for 12 more developers out of school/1-3 years experience, more:
Quick message to up and coming developers looking to crush it: Mahalo is hiring 12 developers in 2010 and you could be one of them.
Dear Developer Looking to Crush it,
We have an amazing training program at Mahalo for folks who are hard-working, resourceful, positive and who want to take five years out of their career path.
Mahalo is a pure meritocracy where the people who do the best work get rewarded and the people who can't keep up are, well, relieved of duty. If you're not fired with enthusiasm you'll be fired with enthusiasm!
The team works really hard, but we have a lot of fun as well. We are using the latest technologies like Django and Cassandra, and if you join us you will be thrown into the deep end of the swimming pool. If you keep your head above water we will throw you a couple of bricks and see how you do. That's our philosophy: hire people who great potential and challenge the hell out of them (while providing killer support and training when they need it).
If you're looking for a 9-5 gig where you can keep your head down and collect a pay check don't apply--we don't want you. Seriously, I don't care if you wrote the book on Python or MySQL... if you're not a hardworking maniac who is hungry as hell you're of no use to us. We need killers. So, if you're a killer who wants crush it with a bunch of killer who already crushing it send me your resume.
Additional notes:
========================
1. We pay about 15% less than the best programming gig, but we give stock options and the ability to learn a lot. If you're driven by cash comp this isn't the gig for you.
2. We have a full-time chef that serves health breakfast, lunch and snacks daily. No one else n Los Angeles does this.
3. We'll clean your car for you and do your laundry--literally. Seriously, we don't want you thinking about doing your laundry, cleaning your car or what you're doing to eat--let alone spending time on that non-sense. We want you focused on growing Mahalo from the 140th largest site in the United States to the 50th--and then to the top 25.
4. We have a flat management structure. There are no middle managers, or managers of any kind. We believe in hiring people who don't need to be managed and giving different people a rotating title of "responsible engineer" on project. This means everyone gets to take a chance at leading.
5. You'll have direct access to me, the founder and CEO. If you ever have a question or have an idea you can walk up to me and say "hey Jason, want to get a cup of coffee and discuss an idea I had?" and I will jump at the chance. I sit in "the pit" along with everyone else and we run the company transparently.
6. You'll know everything that is going on at this start and learn how to be CEO/founder of your own company after a three or four years working with me. Take a look at Brian Alvey doing CrowdFusion, Peter Rojas and Ryan Block doing GDGT, Rafat Ali of PaidContent and Shawn Gold of Cocodot, to name just a few folks who have worked at companies I've run. They will tell you uniformly that we all learned A LOT at those companies (and we worked really hard).
You have to be willing to live around and work in Santa Monica daily..... no remote, sorry. However, we love hiring folks from middle america and giving a shot to work at a company backed by the best investors in the world (like Sequoia Capital, News Corp, Elon Musk and Mark Cuban). We've grown the site from 0 to 15M uniques in 30 short months. In the next 30 months we would like to grow from 15M uniques to 60M. If we do that we'll have made a huge impact.... and you'll have something amazing to put on your resume.
If you're interested in being a killer, on a killer team, email me your resume and tell me what your life has been like up to this point. If you've been stiffled and held back by middle managers and idiots all the better.... so was I until I worked at a startup.
jason at mahalo.com
Jason's 11 zone @sonos. This system would cost $100k 10 years ago. W/Sonos? ~$5k
Sonos is the greatest thing you can add to your home to automate it I'm convinced. I spent about $5,000 on 11 Sonos units and a $12 Rhapsody and $15 Sirius Account and I can listen to any music in the world (literally, you can tune into radio stations in Tokyo or Paris!) in any room in my home... or combination of rooms. I can feed my TV or either of two Mac Mini's into the system as well. So, if I'm watching the Knicks game I can send the audio from the TV to the kitchen and my office so I don't miss anything.
The best part is the Sonos system runs on a wifi-like network so there is ZERO cabling to be done. You simply plug in a Sonos S5--basically the same as a Bose Wave Radio--and you're done. You can put these in every room for $400 and do five rooms in your house for $2,000.... less than the cost of running the cables.
I can't wait for Spotify to hook their service up to Sonos... then it's game over. You'll never buy a CD again, and you'll have access to every CD on the planet. Win!
Looking for half-time/part-time tech blogger of note for This Week in Startups blog #twist details:
I'm looking for someone to do a blog post every day or two for the www.thisweekinstartups.com blog to "keep the conversation moving" between shows. For example, we now have 40 or so companies that have been on the show, I'd like to cover them inbetween episodes in a wrap up post (i.e. LocalBacon did this, WordPress announced this, etc). Also, maybe a pre-post about an upcoming guests (i.e. Sky Dayton preview).
Not to mention covering the TechCrunch50 and Open Angel Forum companies...... mostly these would be roundup posts with links to TechCrunch, GigaOm, VentureBeat New York Times and AllThingsD, but I'm not opposed to some original reporting in/around the TWIST companies. If you're interested please ping me with your per post rate and some clips at jason at calacanis.comFriday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Update on my $25M windfall from the other day! Oh lucky days! #scam #spam
Worth reading my response below.... will keep you guys updated on this thread as we go. :-)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Roberson
Date: Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 9:16 PM
Subject: Greetings, Jason
To: jason
From: James Roberson
Date: Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 9:16 PM
Subject: Greetings, Jason
To: jason
Dear Jason ,
Thank you very much for your response to my mail. I am humbled by your
courtesy to respond to the offer despite the fact that we don't know
each other in the past.
My private telephone number is +44 703190---- and you are free to
call me 24 hours of the day. Please indicate also your private
telephone number for easy communication.and a copy of passport,
The money in question is currently secured in a bank vault of one of
the leading European bank. All I need from you is your absolute trust
so that you can stand for me as the beneficiary to claim this money.I
cannot claim
this money by myself because I am an international staff of the same
bank.
I am willing to give you $7,500,000.00 from this money as your share
and I hope that you will appreciate it. If you are not satisfied with
this, tell me how much you want because I want everybody to be happy
at the end of the day.
If these conditions are acceptable to you, kindly send to me a copy of
your acceptance letter and I will send you every other information
that you need to know so that we can start off the business.
I am waiting for your urgent and positive response.
Mr.James Roberson. <-----Original Message----->
From: Jason CalacanisSent: 12/22/2009 8:20:09 PM To: Subject: Re: Greetings, Thank you for your warm email--perhaps Christmas has come early for all of us!!!
Thank you very much for your response to my mail. I am humbled by your
courtesy to respond to the offer despite the fact that we don't know
each other in the past.
My private telephone number is +44 703190---- and you are free to
call me 24 hours of the day. Please indicate also your private
telephone number for easy communication.and a copy of passport,
The money in question is currently secured in a bank vault of one of
the leading European bank. All I need from you is your absolute trust
so that you can stand for me as the beneficiary to claim this money.I
cannot claim
this money by myself because I am an international staff of the same
bank.
I am willing to give you $7,500,000.00 from this money as your share
and I hope that you will appreciate it. If you are not satisfied with
this, tell me how much you want because I want everybody to be happy
at the end of the day.
If these conditions are acceptable to you, kindly send to me a copy of
your acceptance letter and I will send you every other information
that you need to know so that we can start off the business.
I am waiting for your urgent and positive response.
Mr.James Roberson. <-----Original Message----->
From: Jason CalacanisSent: 12/22/2009 8:20:09 PM To: Subject: Re: Greetings, Thank you for your warm email--perhaps Christmas has come early for all of us!!!
Please let me know how I can facilitate this transaction with my personal savings account in the United States. Would that be enough? What do you need, my wire transfer information and routing number or just my PIN code?
Looking forward to your response, and without casting any doubts on the sincerity of your offer I would like your assurance that these funds are not involved any illicit activities. Specifically, I'd like your assurances that these are not related to drugs, blood diamonds or terrorist activities.
all the best,
Jason
On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 11:06 AM, James Roberson <> wrote:
I will introduce myself at this time just as Mr. James Roberson, a banker.
Can you act as a front for me in the withdrawal and diversion of some accumulated and unclaimed funds valued at about US$25,000,000.00 from a Holding account in a European bank to your own bank account?
If you can, a handsome reward awaits you as your share in this deal.
N/B: This deal is 100% risk free and I want you to take the offer very serious despite the fact that we don’t know each other in the past..
Even if you are not interested in this proposal, please keep every detail to your self and I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors.
If you are interested in the offer, please contact me immediately. If I don’t hear from you within 5 days from today, I will assume that you are not interested.
Further details and procedure of the deal and my full identity will be discussed when I hear from you.
Regards,
Mr..James Roberson.
How to cook a ham
The biggest page of the day today on Mahalo will most likely be how to
cook a ham:
more people cook ham on Christmas? http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-cook-a-turkey
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas may have come early for JCAL! $25M clams on my doorstep!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Roberson
Date: Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Subject: Greetings,
To:
From: James Roberson
Date: Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Subject: Greetings,
To:
Greetings, I will introduce myself at this time just as Mr. James Roberson, a banker. Can you act as a front for me in the withdrawal and diversion of some accumulated and unclaimed funds valued at about US$25,000,000.00 from a Holding account in a European bank to your own bank account? If you can, a handsome reward awaits you as your share in this deal. N/B: This deal is 100% risk free and I want you to take the offer very serious despite the fact that we don’t know each other in the past. Even if you are not interested in this proposal, please keep every detail to your self and I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors. If you are interested in the offer, please contact me immediately. If I don’t hear from you within 5 days from today, I will assume that you are not interested. Further details and procedure of the deal and my full identity will be discussed when I hear from you. Regards, Mr.James Roberson. |
Monday, December 21, 2009
Funny @nicknotned (@nickdenton) story about failure & competition from WIRED magazine... good memories. :-)
from wired: Nick Denton
FOUNDER OF GAWKER MEDIA
In 2004, while vacationing in Brazil, I learned that Jason Calacanis
had set up a rival blog network and hired away Pete Rojas, the editor
of our gadget site, Gizmodo. There I was, a mogul at leisure, stopping
by an Internet café only to find that one of my top editors had been
secretly working on a copycat site. It was the business equivalent of
a kick in the balls and a sucky way to end a vacation. Engadget soon
overtook Gizmodo. But I’m grateful to Calacanis.
now has some 10 times the traffic it had then; it’s eclipsing
Engadget. I always say to myself: It’s never as bad (or as good) as it
seems at the time.
Amazing ChartBeat on Amazing Samsung LED TV at Amazing #mahalo office!
i love www.chartbeat.com and I love Samsung 55 LED... so we now have
one at Mahalo!
http://www.mahalo.com/search?q=Samsung+UN55B8000+55-Inch+
according to VentureWire Sequoia Capital commands 2.5% management fee and 30% carry. Impressive, well earned.
Sequoia Targets More Than $1B For Fund With New Structure
www.venturewire.com
Sequoia Capital is in the market for a massive new fund that will emphasize China and bring several investment strategies under one umbrella instead of dividing them between separate funds, according to investors familiar with the situation. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm aims to raise north of $1 billion for Sequoia Capital 2010 LP, these investors say. The structure of this fund, a new tactic for the firm, is designed to comprise China growth and early-stage investments as well as U.S. early-stage deals. Partners at Sequoia Capital couldn't immediately be reached for comment.The fund is expected to hold a final close on March 25 of next year, one investor said. Sequoia is changing its structure to be opportunistic and place a greater focus on China, this investor said. The China early-stage portion of the vehicle is targeted at between $250 million and $300 million, this investor said. The U.S. early- and very early-stage part will target between $400 million and $450 million, while the China growth strategy will aim for between $500 million and $600 million. Two other investors, however, said Sequoia has wider discretion over the allocation figures. The firm's Israel strategy won't be included in the new structure, investors said. Although the reasons are unclear for not including that portion, the firm's Sequoia Capital Israel IV LP wrapped up fairly recently - at the end of December 2008. The vehicle will charge a 2.5% management fee until after the sixth year, when it will drop a quarter of a point each year until it reaches 1.5% on the 10th year, according to one investor who received the private placement memorandum. The fund will have a 30% carry, that investor said, noting that the terms are similar to past Sequoia vehicles. Historically, Sequoia has raised separate funds for the various strategies in the new vehicle. It raised $429.75 million for Sequoia Capital China Growth Fund I in 2007, and $220.5 million for Sequoia Capital China II LP that same year. It also raked in $445 million for Sequoia Capital XII, an early-stage fund focused on the U.S., in 2006. One past investor in the Sequoia funds said he is undecided on whether to commit to the new vehicle since it doesn't give him the choice to pick strategies.
www.venturewire.com
Sequoia Capital is in the market for a massive new fund that will emphasize China and bring several investment strategies under one umbrella instead of dividing them between separate funds, according to investors familiar with the situation. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm aims to raise north of $1 billion for Sequoia Capital 2010 LP, these investors say. The structure of this fund, a new tactic for the firm, is designed to comprise China growth and early-stage investments as well as U.S. early-stage deals. Partners at Sequoia Capital couldn't immediately be reached for comment.The fund is expected to hold a final close on March 25 of next year, one investor said. Sequoia is changing its structure to be opportunistic and place a greater focus on China, this investor said. The China early-stage portion of the vehicle is targeted at between $250 million and $300 million, this investor said. The U.S. early- and very early-stage part will target between $400 million and $450 million, while the China growth strategy will aim for between $500 million and $600 million. Two other investors, however, said Sequoia has wider discretion over the allocation figures. The firm's Israel strategy won't be included in the new structure, investors said. Although the reasons are unclear for not including that portion, the firm's Sequoia Capital Israel IV LP wrapped up fairly recently - at the end of December 2008. The vehicle will charge a 2.5% management fee until after the sixth year, when it will drop a quarter of a point each year until it reaches 1.5% on the 10th year, according to one investor who received the private placement memorandum. The fund will have a 30% carry, that investor said, noting that the terms are similar to past Sequoia vehicles. Historically, Sequoia has raised separate funds for the various strategies in the new vehicle. It raised $429.75 million for Sequoia Capital China Growth Fund I in 2007, and $220.5 million for Sequoia Capital China II LP that same year. It also raked in $445 million for Sequoia Capital XII, an early-stage fund focused on the U.S., in 2006. One past investor in the Sequoia funds said he is undecided on whether to commit to the new vehicle since it doesn't give him the choice to pick strategies.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Samsung led tv's custom YouTube interface is tad
Sent from my iPhone, but I'd rather be using my blackberry frankly.
Perez Hilton is speculating--like everyone is thinking--that Brittany Murphy died of an overdose http://bit.ly/8WRPz4
Perez Hilton is speculating--like everyone is thinking--that Brittany
Murphy died of an overdose http://bit.ly/8WRPz4
thinking, but CNN, and even TMZ, will not report on the obvious
possibilities. We live in real time, and the speculation on Twitter
and the blogs is that she was anorexic and addicted to drugs. Is that
true? I have no idea.... but I do think that main stream news needs to
get over the "we can't speculate" rule. Everyone is speculating in
public and in real time. CNN is well within their right to report on
what blogs and twitter folks are saying.
Britney Murphy's husband Simon Monjack placed the frantic 911 call http://bit.ly/UcNES
Britney Murphy's husband Simon Monjack placed the frantic 911 call
http://bit.ly/UcNES
http://www.mahalo.com/brittany-murphy-dead
Brittany Murphy Dead of Heart Attack -- very sad.
Brittany Murphy Dead of Heart Attack -- very sad. She was 32 years old.
http://www.mahalo.com/brittany-murphy-dead
http://www.mahalo.com/brittany-murphy
buzz team): According to a report by TMZ.com, actress Brittany Murphy
died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 32 on the morning of December
20, 2009.1 The story was not immediately confirmed by her
representatives. According to the report, a 911 call was made from the
Los Angeles, California, home of her husband, Simon Monjack, around
8:00 a.m. PST. Emergency responders found the actress non-responsive
and transported her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was
pronounced dead.1
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Pat bing su from nicole's in Korea town
Sent from my iPhone, but I'd rather be using my blackberry frankly.
Sul long tang Korean "hangover" soup!
Http://www.mahalo.com/sul-long-tang
Sent from my iPhone, but I'd rather be using my blackberry frankly.
My avatar review emailed to some friends
The story, performances and characters are not bad or good--they are typical. The visuals, at least in 3D, are exceptional to the point at which I would say I've never seen anything like them in a film. In fact it feels otherworldly... Like hyper reality if that makes sense. There are moments, many of them, where you forget you are in a theater and feel like you're running in the tree tops or flying on the back of a large bird. I had vertigo and heart racing fear of falling at times. It is a must see, but not for the story part. The story is terrorism, coming of age, 9/11, odd-love rehash you've seen 1,000x. It doesn't get in the way of the real story: ground-breaking visuals that transport you to another place. Avatar makes a Pixar movie look like an Atari 2600 game. What did you think?
Friday, December 18, 2009
This Week in Startups starting up live now: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/this-week-in-startups Join Us! #twist
This Week in Startups starting up live now:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/this-week-in-startups Join Us! #twist
Facebook Follow-up: FTC complaints, lawsuits & horrific charts--oh my!
From my email newsletter which you can sign up for here:
http://www.bit.ly/jasonslist ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jason Calacanis
Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 10:58 AM
Subject: Facebook Follow-up: FTC complaints, lawsuits & horrific charts--oh my!
To: jason@binhost.com
Title: Facebook Follow-up: FTC complaints, lawsuits & horrific charts--oh my!
Location: CalaCompound, Brentwood, CA
Date/Time: December, 18th 2009 11:00AM
Subscribers: 18,719
Republishing: Please don't, selling web right to Jason's List right
now to highest bidder to charity! :-) Friends, I've had a crushingly busy week with the new baby, a Mahalo board
meeting and preparing for the first Open Angel Forum event in January.
I managed to squeeze out my Facebook missive on Sunday and that, as
you might expect, led to a flurry of emails and phone calls--some from
Facebook employees. I thought I would give you a quick update based on your color
commentary and some rough statistics based on analyzing about 70 or so
of your emails. Now, you guys are the canaries in the coal mine;
you're cutting edge, smart and good-looking if you subscribe to
Jason's List. You're a maven, connector and good dinner company. So,
these stats are very, very biased to the technology elite side. Add to
the bias the fact that the folks who are most charged up are the most
likely to hit the reply key to an email. Finally, some folks are
trying to curry favor with me for an angel investment or a slot on
"This Week in Startups," and as such have no objectivity. ... but who cares? Stats are fun! Before we get to charts a breaking news note: Breaking news from WSJ: "Ten privacy organizations filed a complaint
against Facebook Inc. to the Federal Trade Commission Thursday,
arguing that recent changes to the social-networking company's privacy
policies and settings violate federal laws." http://bit.ly/68H8j1 Here are the basic results with charts: 1. Do you trust Facebook with your information?
====================
The graph: http://www.bit.ly/facebookquestion1 Only 4 out of 71 of you said yes, you trust Facebook--about 5%. That should be a wake up call to the folks at Facebook:
opinion-leading technologists don't trust you. I'd love to see a
proper study done asking what percentage of folks trust Facebook vs.
Google, Twitter, Yahoo and Microsoft. I'm fairly certain folks would
trust Facebook least--but who knows? 52 said no outright--you don't
trust them. A savvy 15 of you said that yes, you trust them, but with
the condition that you don't share important information on Facebook.
That to me means that you don't trust Facebook, or perhaps anyone,
with your important personal data. Bottom line: most of you don't trust Facebook due to a never-ending
timeline of privacy blunders. That being said, you guys probably don't
trust many companies, right? Color commentary from you guys: a) "I allow Facebook to use quite a bit of my information. It's the
same info that's readily available just about everywhere else. What I
don't want people to know, I don't put on the Internet anywhere. It's
not a matter of trust. It's simple self-preservation." b) "I use Facebook as a marketing tool and assume that anything I post
is owned by facebook :) So clearly I do not trust them. The average
user trusts, they tend to visit the site everyday." c) "I know how the Internet works, if I put anything online its going
to run through systems. There are three types of information that I
like to think about online - first is my 'identity' this is social
security, bank information, etc. Second is my persona - this is the
facade I create when dripping tidbits of information online - anyone
that searches for me online can create a imagined personality that I
have personally created. And third is "ME" this is the unfiltered
information that doesn't get posted online and never will." d) "Yes. I'm a big boy, if I'm worried, I'm not going to post, any
differently than I would with Twitter. "
2. Is Facebook clueless, unethical or unlucky?
====================
The graph: http://bit.ly/facebookquestion2 Two thirds of you thought they were unethical, and one third felt they
were clueless. (We allowed folks to vote on more than one answer in
this one). Only a handful of you felt they were unlucky. Some of you
felt they were "other," with "other" ranging from delusional to
pragmatic. Bottom line: The reason most of you guys don't trust Facebook is
because you think they are inherently unethical, and at times
clueless. I have to say, I think that there is a fourth option I
should have included: delusional. After discussions with Facebook
employees, I realize that they actually think they have done more for
privacy than any other company. They have actually convinced
themselves that, because they've built the best feature set for
privacy options, their sneaky behavior should be forgiven. Luckily, as
an industry, we have pundits, tweeters and lawsuits to throw a little
cold water on the heads of the super-smart folks at Facebook who have
talked themselves into this absurd position. Color commentary from you guys: a) "Not clueless clearly as they are obsessed with twitter. Unethical?
not really, people don't pay a cent to use the Facebook. Though they
are clearly deceitful as I read some stat last week that mentioned
that Imagine the tsunami of information about to hit Google." b) "Unethical they just want to win no matter how. Its simple they
will follow Microsofts example and in 30 years or so when he is bored
and hated by 90pc of web users MZ will donate 300 billion and the US
will finally have free healthcare for everyone. In 2300 jean paul the
5th will then decide to make him a saint. (Sad part is I'm half
serious)." c) "Facebook is none of the above. I think they are quite
smart...probably too smart for their own good. They know they need
this and they know it is against the very essence of their service,
but they think the can pull a fast one on their users. Most people
will not even realize it is public or not care. They probably guess
this will fade away like all their other controversial moves. I think
their wrong. d) " I don't think Facebook is clueless, unethical, or just unlucky. I
think it's actually a combination of all three. They were clueless
that their unethical decision would generate press. This was a move
that was easy to see coming after everything else they've done to copy
Twitter." e) "I give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they're good
intentioned, but with faulty execution. I'm sure when this wast
pitched, it wasn't like, "lets expose all our users' private data to
the internet" but like, lets make it easier to access or find users,
groups, etc. etc. from "outside" of facebook. (which leads to more
clicks to facebook) especially since facebook search sucks. " (from a
student). f) "In my opinion, the regularity with which Facebook keeps making
these kinds of blunders lends me to believe that they are unethical.
The alternative is that they are massively incompetent, which seems
less likely."
3. Do you think there will be legal action against Facebook?
====================
The graph: http://bit.ly/facebookquestion3 Coin toss! You guys could see this going either way, though the folks
who said "yes" are winning "the race." Complaints are already coming
in to the FTC, and you can be sure the class action lawsuits will be
filed in the coming weeks. Bottom line: Facebook has taken a Microsoft circa 2000 and Google Book
Scanning approach to their product development. "We're doing what we
want and if you really don't like it the best way to communicate that
to us is a with a lawsuit." That is sad. Facebook's benchmark should
be, "We care about our users and respect the opinion leaders in the
industry enough that we're going to commit to an open dialogue with
them in advance of these executions." Of course, I think that half of
the Facebook team is now taking that position. In fact, I know there
is a change coming in Facebook's approach. The "adults" at the company
must now be thinking "screwing with hot-button issues like privacy is
not worth side-tracking the IPO." That's a good vote for capitalism:
the people about to get rich off of Facebook's IPO are incentivized to
resolve issues like this in order to protect their own personal
interests. I love capitalism! The system works, even if it is really
ugly at times. The fact is, you guys tweeting and blogging about this
issue alongside the "pundits" and NGOs like the EFF (who championed
it) makes it impossible for Facebook to keep doing the same thing....
right? Color commentary from you guys: a) "If enough momentum gains on this, which I don't think will happen,
then of course there will be litigations."
b) "If it can be proven that users were actually tricked into giving
away their data, there will be lawsuits. I'm not sure that will
happen, but the wording on the message was awfully deceptive."
c) "There will be a class suite."
d) "I don't think that their latest shenanigans will change much, but
it does not help the overall atmosphere. In other words I do not see
this as the straw that broke the camels back, but we are getting close
to that point. It may not be Facebook that gets the regulators
involved, but they will have been a big part of making that happen (I
see this as an unfortunate eventuality, as irresponsible behavior is
ultimately rewarded financially). It simply will not cost them enough
and conversely companies like Twitter are simply not rewarded enough." all the best, Jason ==================== To unsubscribe: http://www.tinyurl.com/jasonslist
To subscribe: http://www.bit.ly/jasonslist Sent by Jason McCabe Calacanis to his friends. 902 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Mobile: 310-456-4900
My assistant: admin@mahalo.com ==================== Upcoming Events: Open Angel Forum, January 14th 2010. Los Angeles, CA
www.openangelforum.com TechCrunch50 (Year Four!), September, 2010. San Francisco, CA ==================== My angel investments/board positions:
1. www.savings.com - on the board
2. www.bayridgeprep.com - on the board
3. www.gdgt.com - angel investor, on the board
4. www.challengepost.com - angel investor
5. www.gowalla.com - angel investor
6. Will announce fourth angel investment in January
7. Will announce fifth angel investment in January
http://www.bit.ly/jasonslist ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jason Calacanis
Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 10:58 AM
Subject: Facebook Follow-up: FTC complaints, lawsuits & horrific charts--oh my!
To: jason@binhost.com
Title: Facebook Follow-up: FTC complaints, lawsuits & horrific charts--oh my!
Location: CalaCompound, Brentwood, CA
Date/Time: December, 18th 2009 11:00AM
Subscribers: 18,719
Republishing: Please don't, selling web right to Jason's List right
now to highest bidder to charity! :-) Friends, I've had a crushingly busy week with the new baby, a Mahalo board
meeting and preparing for the first Open Angel Forum event in January.
I managed to squeeze out my Facebook missive on Sunday and that, as
you might expect, led to a flurry of emails and phone calls--some from
Facebook employees. I thought I would give you a quick update based on your color
commentary and some rough statistics based on analyzing about 70 or so
of your emails. Now, you guys are the canaries in the coal mine;
you're cutting edge, smart and good-looking if you subscribe to
Jason's List. You're a maven, connector and good dinner company. So,
these stats are very, very biased to the technology elite side. Add to
the bias the fact that the folks who are most charged up are the most
likely to hit the reply key to an email. Finally, some folks are
trying to curry favor with me for an angel investment or a slot on
"This Week in Startups," and as such have no objectivity. ... but who cares? Stats are fun! Before we get to charts a breaking news note: Breaking news from WSJ: "Ten privacy organizations filed a complaint
against Facebook Inc. to the Federal Trade Commission Thursday,
arguing that recent changes to the social-networking company's privacy
policies and settings violate federal laws." http://bit.ly/68H8j1 Here are the basic results with charts: 1. Do you trust Facebook with your information?
====================
The graph: http://www.bit.ly/facebookquestion1 Only 4 out of 71 of you said yes, you trust Facebook--about 5%. That should be a wake up call to the folks at Facebook:
opinion-leading technologists don't trust you. I'd love to see a
proper study done asking what percentage of folks trust Facebook vs.
Google, Twitter, Yahoo and Microsoft. I'm fairly certain folks would
trust Facebook least--but who knows? 52 said no outright--you don't
trust them. A savvy 15 of you said that yes, you trust them, but with
the condition that you don't share important information on Facebook.
That to me means that you don't trust Facebook, or perhaps anyone,
with your important personal data. Bottom line: most of you don't trust Facebook due to a never-ending
timeline of privacy blunders. That being said, you guys probably don't
trust many companies, right? Color commentary from you guys: a) "I allow Facebook to use quite a bit of my information. It's the
same info that's readily available just about everywhere else. What I
don't want people to know, I don't put on the Internet anywhere. It's
not a matter of trust. It's simple self-preservation." b) "I use Facebook as a marketing tool and assume that anything I post
is owned by facebook :) So clearly I do not trust them. The average
user trusts, they tend to visit the site everyday." c) "I know how the Internet works, if I put anything online its going
to run through systems. There are three types of information that I
like to think about online - first is my 'identity' this is social
security, bank information, etc. Second is my persona - this is the
facade I create when dripping tidbits of information online - anyone
that searches for me online can create a imagined personality that I
have personally created. And third is "ME" this is the unfiltered
information that doesn't get posted online and never will." d) "Yes. I'm a big boy, if I'm worried, I'm not going to post, any
differently than I would with Twitter. "
2. Is Facebook clueless, unethical or unlucky?
====================
The graph: http://bit.ly/facebookquestion2 Two thirds of you thought they were unethical, and one third felt they
were clueless. (We allowed folks to vote on more than one answer in
this one). Only a handful of you felt they were unlucky. Some of you
felt they were "other," with "other" ranging from delusional to
pragmatic. Bottom line: The reason most of you guys don't trust Facebook is
because you think they are inherently unethical, and at times
clueless. I have to say, I think that there is a fourth option I
should have included: delusional. After discussions with Facebook
employees, I realize that they actually think they have done more for
privacy than any other company. They have actually convinced
themselves that, because they've built the best feature set for
privacy options, their sneaky behavior should be forgiven. Luckily, as
an industry, we have pundits, tweeters and lawsuits to throw a little
cold water on the heads of the super-smart folks at Facebook who have
talked themselves into this absurd position. Color commentary from you guys: a) "Not clueless clearly as they are obsessed with twitter. Unethical?
not really, people don't pay a cent to use the Facebook. Though they
are clearly deceitful as I read some stat last week that mentioned
that Imagine the tsunami of information about to hit Google." b) "Unethical they just want to win no matter how. Its simple they
will follow Microsofts example and in 30 years or so when he is bored
and hated by 90pc of web users MZ will donate 300 billion and the US
will finally have free healthcare for everyone. In 2300 jean paul the
5th will then decide to make him a saint. (Sad part is I'm half
serious)." c) "Facebook is none of the above. I think they are quite
smart...probably too smart for their own good. They know they need
this and they know it is against the very essence of their service,
but they think the can pull a fast one on their users. Most people
will not even realize it is public or not care. They probably guess
this will fade away like all their other controversial moves. I think
their wrong. d) " I don't think Facebook is clueless, unethical, or just unlucky. I
think it's actually a combination of all three. They were clueless
that their unethical decision would generate press. This was a move
that was easy to see coming after everything else they've done to copy
Twitter." e) "I give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they're good
intentioned, but with faulty execution. I'm sure when this wast
pitched, it wasn't like, "lets expose all our users' private data to
the internet" but like, lets make it easier to access or find users,
groups, etc. etc. from "outside" of facebook. (which leads to more
clicks to facebook) especially since facebook search sucks. " (from a
student). f) "In my opinion, the regularity with which Facebook keeps making
these kinds of blunders lends me to believe that they are unethical.
The alternative is that they are massively incompetent, which seems
less likely."
3. Do you think there will be legal action against Facebook?
====================
The graph: http://bit.ly/facebookquestion3 Coin toss! You guys could see this going either way, though the folks
who said "yes" are winning "the race." Complaints are already coming
in to the FTC, and you can be sure the class action lawsuits will be
filed in the coming weeks. Bottom line: Facebook has taken a Microsoft circa 2000 and Google Book
Scanning approach to their product development. "We're doing what we
want and if you really don't like it the best way to communicate that
to us is a with a lawsuit." That is sad. Facebook's benchmark should
be, "We care about our users and respect the opinion leaders in the
industry enough that we're going to commit to an open dialogue with
them in advance of these executions." Of course, I think that half of
the Facebook team is now taking that position. In fact, I know there
is a change coming in Facebook's approach. The "adults" at the company
must now be thinking "screwing with hot-button issues like privacy is
not worth side-tracking the IPO." That's a good vote for capitalism:
the people about to get rich off of Facebook's IPO are incentivized to
resolve issues like this in order to protect their own personal
interests. I love capitalism! The system works, even if it is really
ugly at times. The fact is, you guys tweeting and blogging about this
issue alongside the "pundits" and NGOs like the EFF (who championed
it) makes it impossible for Facebook to keep doing the same thing....
right? Color commentary from you guys: a) "If enough momentum gains on this, which I don't think will happen,
then of course there will be litigations."
b) "If it can be proven that users were actually tricked into giving
away their data, there will be lawsuits. I'm not sure that will
happen, but the wording on the message was awfully deceptive."
c) "There will be a class suite."
d) "I don't think that their latest shenanigans will change much, but
it does not help the overall atmosphere. In other words I do not see
this as the straw that broke the camels back, but we are getting close
to that point. It may not be Facebook that gets the regulators
involved, but they will have been a big part of making that happen (I
see this as an unfortunate eventuality, as irresponsible behavior is
ultimately rewarded financially). It simply will not cost them enough
and conversely companies like Twitter are simply not rewarded enough." all the best, Jason ==================== To unsubscribe: http://www.tinyurl.com/jasonslist
To subscribe: http://www.bit.ly/jasonslist Sent by Jason McCabe Calacanis to his friends. 902 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Mobile: 310-456-4900
My assistant: admin@mahalo.com ==================== Upcoming Events: Open Angel Forum, January 14th 2010. Los Angeles, CA
www.openangelforum.com TechCrunch50 (Year Four!), September, 2010. San Francisco, CA ==================== My angel investments/board positions:
1. www.savings.com - on the board
2. www.bayridgeprep.com - on the board
3. www.gdgt.com - angel investor, on the board
4. www.challengepost.com - angel investor
5. www.gowalla.com - angel investor
6. Will announce fourth angel investment in January
7. Will announce fifth angel investment in January
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Schocked Vator supporting horrible Keiretsu pay-for-play scam? Angels/Startups pls support www.OpenAngelForum.com
Really Bambi? You're better than this! Support the free option! www.openangelforum.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Thu, Dec 17, 2009
Subject: fwd: Invitation to present to 300 angel investors and other opportunities
I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not that Vator is supporting Keiretsu. It is one of those things that I guess I should expect. Good fodder for your campaign in the pay to play.
From:
Date: Thu, Dec 17, 2009
Subject: fwd: Invitation to present to 300 angel investors and other opportunities
I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not that Vator is supporting Keiretsu. It is one of those things that I guess I should expect. Good fodder for your campaign in the pay to play.
Loved your FB privacy post the other day.
On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM, Bambi_Francisco@mail.vresp.com wrote:
Vator is always on the lookout for interesting opportunities to get our startups exposure. I'd like to share two opportunities with you.
Vator has partnered with the Keiretsu Forum, the world's largest angel investor community, to find one company to give a 15-minute presentation in front of 300 angel investors at the Angel Capital Expo on January 22 at Microsoft in Mountain View. There are no fees to apply or to present. In fact, the package is worth about $6,000, but Vator has been able to secure for its members one free spot. This spot will be given to the entrepreneur that wins the Keiretsu Forum Angel Competition on Vator.
Submit your company or nominate others: http://vator.tv/competition/show/keiretsu-forum-competition
 |  |
The second opportunity is for female-led startups. Vator has partnered with Girls in Tech, a social network enterprise focused on intelligent and influential women in technology and the organizers of the Catalyst Conference, to showcase and recognize female leaders in the startup community. Through the "Catalyst Competition -- Awarding the Leading Women-Led Startups," five women will get a chance to present onstage at the Catalyst Conference on Jan. 26, 2010 in San Francisco, to an audience of hundreds and a panel of experienced entrepreneurs and investors as judges. Presenters will gain visibility, feedback -- and perhaps even funding.
Submit your company or nominate others: http://vator.tv/competition/show/catalyst-competition--awarding-leading-women-led-startups
Best Regards,
Bambi Francisco
Founder and CEO, Vator, Inc.
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