Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Business 2.0 - Can Amazon.com Play Nice with Others?

source: http://blogs.business2.com/beta/2007/04/can_amazoncom_p.html by Owen Thomas excerpt "FlickrCash, a service which searches Flickr, likewise neglects to mention Yahoo's interest in the name."

Read More...

Founders, Founders and More Founders

by Darren Herman (4/4/2007)

Paul Graham of Y Combinator success has released an insightful essay about traits he’s studied with the early stage entrepreneurs he deals with each day that are part of his program up in Boston.

The essay didn’t just strike me about founders, but it struck me about Y Combinators success rate as well:

We’ve now been doing Y Combinator long enough to have some data about success rates. Our first batch, in the summer of 2005, had eight startups in it. Of those eight, it now looks as if at least four succeeded. Three have been acquired: Reddit was a merger of two, Reddit and Infogami, and a third was acquired that we can’t talk about yet. Another from that batch was Loopt, which is doing so well they could probably be acquired in about ten minutes if they wanted to.

That’s pretty darn solid if you ask me. I do not know anyone personally who has been through the Y Combinator, but based on the essay that Paul has written and the statistics, the numbers certainly look positive.

In the essay that Paul has written, he talks about many reasons why people do not become entrepreneurial and talks about why those reasons should be ignored. The topics covered are:

  1. Too young
  2. Too inexperienced
  3. Not determined enough
  4. Not smart enough
  5. Know nothing about business
  6. No Cofounder
  7. No idea
  8. No room for more startups
  9. Family to support
  10. Independently wealthy
  11. Not ready for committment
  12. Need for structure
  13. Fear of uncertainty
  14. Don’t realize what you’re avoiding
  15. Parents want you to become a doctor
  16. A job is the default

Read More...

Download of the Day: HandBrake (All platforms)

handbrake-win.png

Windows/Mac/Linux: Rip DVDs to your iPod with HandBrake, the latest version of the program previously known as MediaFork.

HandBrake can turn DVDs into iPod-friendly MPEG-4 or H.264 video files. It includes iPod, Apple TV and even Sony PS3 presets, but you can also customize various audio and video settings to your liking. (Needless to say, the ripped files will also play on Zunes and other devices.)

Windows users can choose between GUI and CLI versions; both require DVD43 to be installed if you want to rip copy-protected DVDs (the ones you own, of course). Also, be sure to choose the VIDEO_TS folder when you browse the DVD, and then select the "title" that contains the actual movie (it's usually the longest one). For Windows users in particular, HandBrake definitely makes easier work of copying DVDs to your iPod, though the overall process still takes a few hours.

Still in beta, HandBrake is free; it's available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. —Rick Broida

Read More...

Samsung builds a better, smaller 4GB DIMM

OCZ may have recently laid claim to the title of some of the world's fastest RAM, but Samsung seems to have found room to do a little boasting of its own, trotting out its first 4GB DDR2 DIMM based on WSP (or wafer-level-processed stacked package) technology. According to the company, that process not only makes the module smaller, but faster and more energy efficient as well. Not so clear, unfortunately, is what effect the seemingly cure-all technology will have on pricing or availability, with no word on either from Samsung as of yet.

Read More...

The Miracle Polymer for the New Millennium

ETFE can be made into glass-like sheets or inflated in pillows and is being used in some of the most innovative new buildings around the world By Elizabeth Woyke (BusinessWeek) ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) is the building material of the future. This wonder polymer, a transparent plastic related to Teflon, is replacing glass and plastic in some of the most innovative buildings being designed and constructed today. Its selling points? Compared to glass, it’s 1% the weight, transmits more light, is a better insulator, and costs 24% to 70% less to install. It’s also resilient (able to bear 400 times its own weight, with an estimated 50-year life-span), self-cleaning (dirt slides off its nonstick surface), and recyclable. Architects started working with ETFE some 15 years ago. The material will soon get a boost with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where it’s an integral part of the distinctive designs of both the Beijing National Stadium and Aquatics Center. Here’s a sample of the most ambitious and creative architectural projects around the world that utilize ETFE. Read the story

Read More...