Net

Consumer Web Panel at TiECON 2009

• What are the pros and cons of an apps only strategy?
• What are the best practices around a hybrid website/app approach?
• And, is there still such a thing as a website only strategy?

This and many other questions will be discussed at the Consumer Web - User Acquisition in the Era of App Platforms panel  that David Hornik, August Capital, Jason Oberfest, MySpace, Rashmi Sinha, Slide and myself will participate in moderated by Dave McClure, Founders Fond this Friday at TieCon 2009.

What do you think? What is your take on the above questions?

Left Facebook

Dear friends, I am no longer with Facebook and am now going to spend the near future exploring new ventures. I you are interested to talk to me, please contact me using the contact details to the left. You may also leave a voice mail on: 650 488 7688.

Stay tuned for more.

Meet-up at CES?

I am going to be at CES Las Vegas, Jan 8-9 if anybody wants to meet up. Send me a message on Facebook.

Pulver's Israeli Facebook Party

Although I really didn't have time to go Jeff Pulver's Facebook party given my new job, new child and relocation errands, I'm glad that I stepped by. Letting your Facebook friends connect with each other over free drinks is definitely a great idea. Everyone was wearing stickers with their name, company and tagline. Anyway, I made some new acquaintances and had a chance to catch up with some old friends. Kudos to Jeff for inviting me and for the great idea.  I wonder if there are any other Facebook networking events like this around the world? (In the picture Jeff, me and Ouriel).

Joining Facebook

I am very excited to announce that I have joined Facebook as Director of International Business Development! I truly believe that Facebook is creating a paradigm shift in social communication and beyond, and I am really psyched to be part of this fantastic team and opportunity. This means that me and my family will be moving into Facebook town (a.k.a Palo Alto) before the end of this year. Before we make the big move, I will be dividing my time between Israel and Palo Alto, with an emphasis on Palo Alto. For those of you that want to share any advise with me regarding relocating to Palo Alto - or real Palo Alto life-hacks - please feel free to join my personal advisory board on Facebook.

The Psychology of Immersion - Virtual Reality Is Reality

A recent article in Wall Street Journal talks about virtual relationships and their affect on real relationships. According to a recent study cited we can learn the following about the cognitive processes in players brains:

• On a neurological level, players may not distinguish between virtual and real-life relationships
• People socializing in virtual worlds remain sensitive to subtle cues like eye contact - in one study, participants moved their avatars back if another character stood too close, even though the space violation was just virtual
• Our brains are not specialized for 21st-century media - There is not switch that says "Process this different because it is on the screen".

More discussion at the MIT Advertising Lab and Neuromarketing

Hong Kong Web Startup Meet Up

Last year when I was visiting Hong Kong and met with the Simon Lee & the guys at Bullpoo, they complained that there where not enough web entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. And if there were, they were not aware of each other. I then suggested that the meet up with a few people I had been in contact with and start meeting informally for drinks once a month. Guess what? Today Simon tells me over Skype that the initiative I started have just resulted in the fourth Hong Kong Web Start up Meet up, and they were almost 200! Amazing!

EditGrid hosted the last meetup, Yahoo HK have started to show-up and  Catharina Maracke from Creative Commons was there as well. I am really excited about the fact that it was started on my initiative and in one year has grown to such an extent. There is nothing more gratifying than being able to help and connect people with each other.

And of course, what event/group can be taken seriously if they don't have their own Facebook group? Join HK Web 2.0 on Facebook here.

I for sure will come by next time I have an opportunity to join the meetup. Good luck - and thanks Simon for sharing the story.

My Soul Is Craving Culture

Lately I have had an over-dose of blogs and media covering the Web, social networks, start-ups and technology. To cure this I have come up with my own prescription:

• Classical Music Podcasts
• Jazz Podcasts
• MP3 Podcasts
• Ideas & Culture Podcasts
• Science Podcasts
• Free University Courses

NPR and watching interesting videos on the free-open source video platform Miro. Offline line reading: Umberto Eco's: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. The only technical/ web related blog I read follow regularly is Lifehacker. While we are on the subject of reading. What are your life changing books?

Summer Time - And the Kids are Jumping

I know I haven't been blogging for the last 3 weeks, sorry about that for all you people who have been up sleepless wondering what is going on. There is a very good reason for it:

• We have a new baby on the way
• I am taking some time-out before my next new very exciting venture (stay tuned)
• Family time - it's summer!
• I have found Twitter and Facebook as more suitable platforms for updates and all the miscellaneous stuff.

Stay tuned for more stuff on Outsourcing my life, RunCasting and Storyboarding!

What do you think?

Ever since I announced that I am stepping down from my active involvement in Maxthon, the stream of proposals and offers just keep coming. Although I did expect some positive reactions I never anticipated the amount of positive reactions. I now really need to carefully think about what my next move should be and what kind of venture/s I would like to get involved in.

Since I know that my blog readers are extremely intelligent, wise and really wise people, I have decided to crowdsource for some inspiration. Currently a number of options are open:

• Join the VC world
• Top position in a very well known public company
• Join a start-up
• Combine a number of ventures under my Mashup Media company
• Start something completely new
• Just take a very long vacation and think about it

What do you think?

For those of you located in the Bay area, I will be over again July 24 - Aug 1st and as always I love to meet up with fellow entrepreneurs and share experiences,  so if you want to meet up, please leave a comment or contact me directly on you know what...;)

Technorati Tags: entrepreneurs, Maxthon, netaneljacobsson, crowdsourcing, VC, venturecapital