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Good post on what's wrong with European tech startups and venture capitalists: they are not taking enough risks! Excerpt:
If you start a company and fail, there are often serious results from a career perspective; basically, failure is not accepted. ...the big issue is that the VCs in Europe are typically unable to take on the level of risk that US VCs are happy with because on their first or second fund, they cannot afford to have failures.
Nothing ventured, . . .
Link, and here's another one.
My favorite econopal Hal Varian points to some studies that explain why the sale of used books on Amazon doesn't hurt new book sales as much as the industry once thought it would. The best reason:
The presence of a market for used books makes consumers more willing to buy new books, because they can easily dispose of them later.
Also, used books encourage people to try new authors and buy books they would not otherwise if they had to pay full price. Markets always benefit from more choice (something Hollywood could learn from as it ponders whether to sell movie downloads over the Internet).
Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan, thought to be his heir-apparent, quit today. Ah, what's wrong? Daddy decided not to make you CEO?
Kevin Kelly's latest musings in Wired back up something I truly believe: To understand the Web, you need to understand the culture of participation. From his long and enjoyable article:
The electricity of participation nudges ordinary folks to invest huge hunks of energy and time into making free encyclopedias, creating public tutorials for changing a flat tire, or cataloging the votes in the Senate. More and more of the Web runs in this mode. One study found that only 40 percent of the Web is commercial. The rest runs on duty or passion.. . . This impulse for participation has upended the economy and is steadily turning the sphere of social networking - smart mobs, hive minds, and collaborative action - into the main event.
When a company opens its databases to users, as Amazon, Google, and eBay have done with their Web services, it is encouraging participation at new levels. The corporation's data becomes part of the commons and an invitation to participate. People who take advantage of these capabilities are no longer customers; they're the company's developers, vendors, skunk works, and fan base.
I couldn't agree more (as I've written before here, here and (subscription required) here)
In the latest salvo of the search wars over Google's hiring away Microsoft researcher Kai-Fu Lee, Google is countersuing Microsoft, alleging that Redmond's original suit is merely a desperate scare tactic to stem the tide of Microsfties jumping ship to Google. The WSJ reports (subscription required):
In a sworn statement also filed Tuesday, Dr. Lee alleged that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told him on July 15 that Chief Executive Steve Ballmer "has been looking for something just like this, someone at a VP level to go to Google. We need to do this to stop Google." Dr. Lee alleged that Mr. Ballmer on July 8 told him, "It's not you we are after, it is Google." In the filing, he said that Mr. Ballmer tried to convince him to stay at Microsoft by offering a new job and more compensation.
Ooh, juicy!
Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, is launching another videogame restaurant chain, but this time it is geared at post-teens instead of preteens. The restaurant will be called uWink Media Bistro, and the tables themselves will feature networked videogames so that diners can play against each other from across the room. From Cnet:
Bushnell says that because the concept will let players team up with just about anyone in the restaurant, he foresees twentysomethings flocking to the Media Bistro, rather than staying home playing games alone.
Can you say, "Dork Cafe"?
I like this smart clothes concept that will be shown at the CyberFashion Show in LA on August 3: bags and scarves that talk to you and to one another. From the description:
Handbags that warn you if you're about to leave the house without your wallet or if you'll need an umbrella for the day, and scarves that yell at their fellow handbag if they're about to be left behind on the subway.
I wonder what an incensed scarf sounds like.
Finally, a directory of Google Maps. It's pretty spare, but at least it's a start.
I think this one should be included, maps of New York City potholes.
(Thanks O'Reilly Radar).
