Well, what a cool beginning — Digital Fountain, the first presenter, uses some cool surf videos shot in Hawaii to show off its new Splash content delivery. I was lovin’ it. Though it won’t be available till January, it sure sounds great. 
It will deliver entertainment-grade video over any network, eliminating common problems like poor video quality, small picture size, slow loads, and frequent buffering. Splash uses Amazon Web Services to "deliver a low-cost, extraordinary consumer experience," said CEO Charlie Oppenheimer
Tag: Graeme Thickins (Page 36 of 55)
Great piece in the Boston Globe yesterday by Scott Kirsner: In Venture Capital, a Growing Rift Over Blogs. It’s the best look I’ve seen so far into why some VCs blog and why others pass. Makes some excellent points about the main advantage for VCs — better deal flow — and the main advantages for entrepreneurs — leveling the playing field, including from a geographic standpoint. That latter point is one I’ve written about a lot, and a very real issue for founders not lucky enough to be located in one of the VC hotbeds.
I like the way Kirsner characterizes VC blogging as the "new parity in the world of venture capital."
The article quotes one of the best-known VC bloggers out there, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures in NYC, a guy who’s invested in many Internet and Web 2.0 deals. Here’s an excerpt from the article that quotes Fred:
Venture capitalists who blog say it isn’t just about helping pump up
their firm’s reputation and show how market-savvy they are. Blogging,
writes Wilson via e-mail, is "the best tool for VC investing that I’ve
ever seen, and I’ve been in this business for more than 20 years."Wilson
says his blog not only helps him meet more start-ups, but it brings him
companies that are "more targeted and more relevant" to the areas he’s
interested in. Wilson also likes it when his readers argue with him or
tell him about companies he might not already know; it’s not unusual
for one of his posts to attract 25 or 30 comments. "You can’t buy that
kind of education," he writes, "and I get it every day for free."
Later in the piece, an opposing viewpoint is put forth:
"My gut says that there’s no correlation between VC blogging and
financial returns," Spark Capital’s (Bijan) Sabet says, noting that blogger
Fred Wilson has done well with his investments – but so has John Doerr
of the Silicon Valley firm Kleiner Perkins, who doesn’t blog but has
put money into Amazon, Google, and Intuit.
The trouble with that characterization, however, is that those latter deals were done long before blogging was popular. Granted, it’s hard to argue that big-kahuna KP needs to blog. But there’s a whole universe of newer, younger VCs out there who are finding it benefits them.
IDG Ventures’ Jeff Bussgang adds this great thought:
…as entrepreneurs increasingly maintain blogs of their own, Bussgang
says, "they want to see that the VCs are their peers and are wrestling
with similar issues and thinking through things."
I wonder how many VC bloggers will be at DEMOfall, starting later today? I’m looking forward to talking with them.
What do you think about blogging representing "the new parity in venture capital"? What are your experiences?
I’m really looking forward to the DEMOfall conference next week in San Diego — and, since I’m now working for a few days at my place in San Clemente, I only have an hour’s drive south to get there. The press announcement just came out earlier today, per usual procedure on the Friday before, announcing the innovations to debut at this year’s fall event. 
Wow, it’s another fire-hose of pitches from hot, new startups — there’s no place a guy like me would rather be! The twice-yearly DEMO conferences, now in their 17th year, are known for seeking out and showcasing important new technologies that usher in new methods of computing. [DEMO is produced by Network World Conferences, a unit of tech publishing giant IDG.]
DEMOfall ’07 is taking place September 24-26 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. It will introduce 69 carefully vetted products and services (see below) to "an audience of investors, business development executives, media, pundits, and fellow entrepreneurs." I would expect attendance in the neighborhood of 700, based on past experience. Presenters include both early-stage and established companies.
The event begins at 6 p.m. Monday evening with an outdoor welcome reception alongside the harbor. The conference itself then runs all day on Tuesday and Wednesday, culminating in a dinner and panel discussion Wednesday night. The complete schedule is available here.
DEMO conferences tend to feature a mix of technologies from across the whole spectrum of the technology industry — everything from consumer Internet startups and other consumer technologies, to enterprise software and enabling technologies and other new ventures focused in B2B markets, and everything in between. The press release called out this sampling of some of the technologies that will be introduced at next week’s event:
* a visually engaging, interactive, 3D-animation slot machine game.
* a powerful “bubble of security” tool that protects consumers as they bank and shop online.
* a conference call system that calls you, so every meeting begins on time.
* technology that enables mobile device users to find search results with lighting speed and accuracy.
* an automated check-in service for doctors’ waiting rooms, delivering immediately relevant health and wellness information to the patient.
* business execution software for SMBs, which keeps the entire team on track.
* fast, reliable storage technology for today’s digital age.
* a new MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) application for Facebook.
* a music entertainment service that allows users to collectively listen and re-mix musical compositions on their cell phones.
* a one-click service for improving the quality of videos captured on cell phones andlow-end digital cameras.
This DEMO event is truly global. We’ll see presenters from several countries besides the U.S., including Russia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, France, Ireland, England, Canada, Israel, and India.
The DEMOfall ’07 demonstrators are as follows:
360desktop Pty Ltd., Victoria, Australia
Advanta, Spring House, PA
AgendiZe, Grapevine, TX
Apprema Inc., Sunnyvale, CA
Attendi Inc., New York, NY
BatchBlue Software LLC, Barrington, RI
CashView Inc., Palo Alto, CA
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Redwood City, CA
ClipBlast!, Agoura Hills, CA
coComment, Geneva, Switzerland
CodaSystem France S.A., Paris, France
CornerWorld, Dallas, TX
Digital Fountain, Fremont, CA
Diigo Inc., Reno, NV
DimDim Inc., Burlington, MA
earthmine Inc., Berkeley, CA
EncryptaKey, Cypress, CA
Exalead Inc., New York, NY
FastCall411 Inc., Hollywood, CA
Fluid Innovation Inc., Austin, TX
Fusion-io, Salt Lake City, UT
Generate Inc., Maynard, MA
Glam Media, Brisbane, CA
Global Communications Inc., Houston, TX
Global Mobile Technologies LLP, San Francisco, CA
Graspr Inc., Sunnyvale, CA
iForem Inc., Redwood Shores, CA
InstaColl, Bangalore, India
Jasper Wireless, Sunnyvale, CA
kannuu Inc., Dallas, TX
LiveMocha Inc., Bellevue, WA
LogMeIn Inc., Woburn, MA
LongJump, Sunnyvale, CA
matchmine LLC, Needham, MA
MetaRADAR Inc., San Bruno, CA
mig33, Burlingame, CA
MotionDSP Inc., San Mateo, CA
mSpoke Inc., Pittsburgh, PA
MuseStorm Ltd., Yahud, Israel
Myndnet, East Palo Alto, CA
Myxer, Deerfield Beach, FL
Ncursion, Carlsbad, CA
PeopleJam Inc., Los Angeles, CA
Phreesia Inc., New York, NY
PlanHQ, Wellington, New Zealand
Prolify Inc., Waltham, MA
Propel Software Corporation, San Jose, CA
Proxure, San Luis Obispo, CA
Pudding Media Inc., San Jose, CA
Quire Inc., Mountain View, CA
Qumranet, Santa Clara, CA
Real Time Content Ltd., Ipswich, England
RedSquare Ventures Ltd., Moscow, Russia
RelevantMind Corp., Berkeley, CA
SceneCaster, Richmond Hill, Canada
SpaceTime, New York, NY
spigit, Pleasanton, CA
Sway Inc., Middleton, WI
Talari Networks Inc., Cupertino, CA
Trovix, Mountain View, CA
Truphone, London, England
Tubes Networks Inc., Boston, MA
Tungle Corporation, Montreal, Canada
Vello, Mountain View, CA
Vitarati Inc., San Luis Obispo, CA
Vyro Games Ltd., Dublin, Ireland
WMS Gaming, Waukegan, IL
Your Truman Show Inc., San Francisco, CA
For the
first time, DEMO is offering press and bloggers at the event open access to the video
files of all 69 demonstrators’ live stage presentations, PR contact Becky Sniffen tells me, to enhance coverage of the conference. They’re also offering us several edited video segments that
chronicle DEMOfall itself — a behind-the-scenes or man-on-the-street
look at the people and products of DEMO. These videos will be available
to us press registrants during and after the conference — so look for more video coverage of this event to be out there on the web, more than any other previous DEMO event.
I’m really looking forward to covering this conference, as I do twice a year without fail, because I think it quite simply is the best event in the business, year in and year out. (And I go to many.) Watch for my onsite coverage starting Monday evening, and then early Tuesday morning as the conference sessions get underway.
Well, take that Federated Media and your fancy-schmancy new buzz words. Or so Elinor Mills seems to be saying in this piece on CNet today: Want to ‘converse’ with advertisers? Me neither. 
It’s her review of FM’s glitterati CM Summit yesterday — at SF’s Presidio of all places. All the kool kids were there.
But Elinor rips into the whole concept anyway, bursting the bubble pretty well. Brands are conversations? Hooey, she says:
Hold on. Who asked marketers to join readers online? I know blog publishers need to make money, and they do earn revenue off regular old text, video and banner ads. But I’m suspicious when the “conversation” is initiated by the marketer and not the consumer. And what’s this with the slogan of the conference–“Brands are conversations”? No, they aren’t.
And she wraps up her review, after giving us a few quotes from attendees and speakers, with this gem:
Just as advertisers have been able to get their ads printed on stickers on supermarket fruit, tattooed onto people’s skin and even written in the sky, they will surely blanket the online world in ways we can not even imagine. But let’s not confuse plain old advertising and gimmick marketing with a new form of commercial digital communication that ostensibly gives consumers more control.
I think Elinor ate her Wheaties yesterday. [And, no, General Mills did not pay me to say that…… 🙂 ]
So, have you heard about the term being applied to Uncle Steve’s move last week regarding the iPhone? Yes, you could have guessed — it’s “iPology” 🙂 …. There’s some interesting insight on this whole overblown thing on a great new blog called MarketingApple. This guy (also named Steve) I think really sets the record straight. An excerpt from that post:
Folks, you are living through what has to be the Golden Age of marketing and Steve Jobs is its king. Enjoy the ride.
Then, a followup post yesterday on the same blog heralds the latest news that — you got it — one million iPhones have now been sold.
I was discussing this whole thing as it happened with my close colleagues — all of us huge Apple users and supporters — and I got a great summation from one of them over the weekend. He doesn’t want me to use his name, but he’s a very smart guy (serial entrepreneur), and I just have to share his recap and insights with you:
Jobs is the king of concept and design. It’s easy to market the coolest phone ever and the best MP3 player ever, but good luck conceiving, designing, and developing them.
By cutting the iPhone prices, Jobs created a problem, then conceived and developed a solution. Typical Steve Jobs.
When the first rumors surfaced about Apple getting into the cell phone market, people laughed and predicted instant failure. Before the iPod, the Diamond Rio had more than 50% market share, and they were dropping the price quarterly to meet new competition. Apple came out with the iPod (with a hard drive) at 3-5 times the price of the average price of MP3 players at the time and couldn’t make enough of them. Other MP3 players with hard drives came out shortly after at half the price, and those companies couldn’t sell the ones they produced for the launch, while Apple couldn’t make enough of theirs. Then, when you could buy flash MP3 players for $20, Apple released the Nano at $250 and the Shuffle at $150, and, again, they couldn’t make enough of them.
Steve jumped on 2.5″ and 1″ hard drive technology for the iPod and, later, on multi-GB flash, when they were both expensive, new technologies, and Apple’s volume alone drove the technology towards commodity pricing. Apple never dropped prices, they just come out with new models at the same prices with thinner designs and more storage.
They can’t release iPhones the same way, even though their prices have fallen, because they are using so much flash. It costs them less to make the 8GB today than the 4GB four months ago. They could drop the price to gain wider market acceptance, so they did. Adding more storage and making the iPhone thinner won’t be enough to release a new model. They need to bump up the speed, make the display as big as the case (40% larger), add faster broadband, and add a VoIP softphone. (Nokia has them and HP just released the new iPaq with more features and a VoIP softphone built in.) All the new cellular chips designs have WiFi embedded, so ALL new phones next year will have WiFi. The cellular carriers may block the SIP (the de-facto standard for VoIP, session initiation protocol) ports to disable VoIP, and there will be a new RTP (real time protocol) invented to transmit VoIP over any open port — maybe that’s what Steve is up to next? 🙂
People just keep laughing every time Apple does the unexpected, but their concept and design is so good that they become the market leader. I can’t wait for the iTV-LCD, the iDVR, the iCarStereo, and the iGameBox.
Now, does that nail the situation, or what? (And also raise some interesting new possibilites.) I told you I hang around with smart guys….
UPDATE: To correct a typo….sorry.
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