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Outsourcing My Life 2 - Loic's RunCast Comments

This is becoming funnier and funnier. Loic just posted his RunCast with comments and and a new challenge to me as a follow-up from my previous Outsourcing My Life 2. Now I have been challenged to comment on Le Web 3 in RunCast format too! Don't worry. A RunCast with Outsourcing My Life 3 will come too now with comments on Le Web 3. And Loic, what about turning peoples VideoCast on Le Web 3 into an actual Advisory Cast Board? Stay tuned to the RunCast, SwimCast and PoolCast too.. Technorati Tags: loiclemeur , leweb3 , netanel , outsourcing, entrepreneurs, video

Outsourcing My life: Comments via Video By Loic Le Meur

After my blog post followed by my video post on outsourcing my life. Loic responded in a brilliant way. He created a video comment on my video and challenged me to continue the conversation with him and our viewers via video. What a great idea!

As you can see from Loic's comment, he too  decided to join the outsourcing my life idea and I connected him with Brickwork as well. We're now both on the way on this experiment and I will update you all tomorrow via video on how it goes.

BTW, check out the great video/TV site vpod.tv - Loic's & my video is now on their front page. Stay tuned - another coming tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Loic Le Meur, BrickworkIndia, vpodtv, outsourcing, India

Traditional Media Dead? Not Yet - 10 New Uses For Newspaper

With the advent of citizen journalism, blogging, twitters, youtubers and the overall fragmentation of news, traditional media is trying hard to find new ways or not being irrelevant. Here are 10 new uses for newspaper:

1. Deodorize food containers. Stuff a balled-up piece of newspaper into a lunch box or thermos, seal it, and let sit overnight.
2. Ripen tomatoes. Wrap them individually and leave them out at room temperature.
3. Pack delicate items. Wrap frames and figurines with several pieces of newspaper, then crumple the remaining sections to fill extra space in the box.
4. Wipe away tough streaks on glass. Use newspaper with cleaning fluid to clean mirrors and windows.
5. Preserve antique glass. Some older frames have finishes on the glass that can be damaged by cleaning solutions. Remove smudges by rubbing with newspaper dipped in a solution of one part white vinegar and one part warm water. Let air-dry.
6. Dry shoes. Place crumpled paper in them overnight.
7. Wrap gifts. Use the comics to wrap a child’s birthday gift, or try the wedding announcements for an engagement gift.
8. Create a home for slushy snow boots. During the winter, keep a pile of newspaper near the entryway. When your little snowmen and -women come home, they can toss their winter wear onto the newspaper instead of creating puddles on the floor.
9. Prepare a garden. In the fall, mow a patch of lawn to make room for a dedicated bed. Cover it with four layers of newspaper, then a four-inch layer of shredded leaves or bark mulch. Hose it down. Come spring, the compost blanket will have smothered the grass roots, and the bed will be primed for planting.
10. Keep the refrigerator vegetable drawer dry and free of smells. Line the bottom with newspaper.

Who said that newspapers are dead? The above proves that they can be really useful in daily life. Soon coming : 10 New users for TV and Radio.

The above 10 points were found here but in a totally different context...

Technorati Tags: Lifehacks, Media, New Media, Newspaper, 10 new uses, puppy, TV

Create Your Own Subtitles To Any Video with SubPly

The guys at Plymedia just launched SubPLY. SubPLY allows anyone to create and add subtitles to any video from any site enabled by PLYmedia and post it anywhere they wish.  Disclaimer: I site on Plymedia's Advisory Board.

Technorati Tags: Plymedia, Subply, Video, Subtitles, YouTube, Metacafe,

Two great weeks in California & Phoenix

After two full weeks on the road it's finally time to head home to Israel again. It has been two great weeks starting out in San Francisco and the Web 2.0 Expo, followed by five days in Palo Alto and finally the CRV Leadership summit at Royal Palms Resort & Spa in Phoenix.

I think I summed up my views on Web 2.0 Expo before so I won't comment on that here. It is always so great to be in California, I get so much stuff done and have time to meet and hang-out with interesting entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and other great people. Although I try to spend a week a month in California, I must say that this time has been the best so far.

One of the highlights was hanging out with the Plymedia gang on Shabbath (for whom I am an Advisor) and especially hiking at Tiburun with Ben Enosh. It was a great day and I felt that I really made a new great friend. I also had time to meet new interesting entrepreneurs like Nik from Omnidrive, Yahya from Freewebs and others.

The best event was however the Charles River Ventures Leadership Summit at the Royal Palms Spa & Resorts in Phoenix, Arizona. What a great place! I wish I had brought my wife..This was the first time in five years that CRV had invited all their CEO's and founders from their portfolio companies and top speakers from various industries.

Against the backdrop of the Camelback mountains the event was very well planned and with a great lineup. I am really glad I decided to stay another week just to participate here. Besides all the portfolio companies people like Chris Sacca (Google), Evan Williams (Twitter), Andrew Baron (Rocketboom), Scoble, Michael Arrington, Om Malik, Ted Leonsis, Nathan Myhrvold (Intellectual Ventures & frmr Microsoft CTO), Prof. Yared Diamond (Pulitzer winner and author of "Collapse"), Larry Summers (frmr US Treasury Secretary), Matt Jacobson (Facebook), David Eckoff (VP Turner) and many more.

I particularly enjoyed chatting with Evan Williams (Twitter rocks!), Chris Sacca, Om Malik, Matt Jacobson, David Eckoff, Andrew Baron and David Sachs (Geni). Man! Geni is so good. Its going to become so big. David is a fantastic entrepreneur.

The event was really top quality in terms of speakers and participants but best of all - intimate enough for having quality time with each other. There was also time for desert hiking (see photo above with me & Bill Tai making the "m" Maxthon sign) lots of cactuses and a feeling of being beamed to Indian and cowboy land. Will post a separate CactusCast that I shot on the hike later.

I definitely learned a lot, met new friends and was inspired. Lot's of stuff on my mind now, new potential partnerships and new business ideas. Time to head home to wife and kids - I really miss them!

Technorati Tags: CRV, Freewebs, Geni, Larry Summers, Maxthon, Nathan Myhrvold, Plymedia, Rockeboom, Royal Palms Spa & Resort, Ted Leonsis, Twitter, Web2expo, Yared Diamond

Advice to Start-ups : Do Not Sponsor Big Conferences

I am surprised to see how many new web start-ups that are sponsoring big conferences like Web2.0 Exp, Web 2.0 Summit, Digital Hollywood etc you name it.

I have only one advice to these companies:

If your target audience is not conference attendants (and they very seldom are) Do not waste your marketing budget on these events! It's a total waste of money. Your potential users/customers are most likely not early adopters, partially half-converted Internet savvy media people and developers. If I would be an investor I would be very upset to see resources wasted like this.

Believe me, if you as a start-up would instead pay anybody on the street $50 to become a user - I bet that it would be a better return of investment that paying outrageous sponsorship fees for web conferences.

Go where your users are. And they are everywhere. The big challenge is to aquire real users - Go and get them!

Technorati Tags: Web2expo, Web2.0expo, Marketing, Advertising, Start-ups, Web2expo

"All Marketers are Liars" - Seth Godin speaks at Google

                 

Here is a very good and entertaining video wih Seth Godin, the author of six bestsellers, most recently, All Marketers are Liars. The video is a part of the Authors@Google series. The bottomline: Be personal & relevant and most of all: Tell a story - don't sell blue boxes! It's amazing how  many companies and advertisers that still don't understand that.

Track BitTorrent Swarm in Google Earth

This is quite cool. By using the swarm plugin for Google Earth you can look up the BitTorrent client that is used by each peer, what percentage of the file they downloaded so far, and their exact location. The only thing is that now it only shows seeds for torrents that contain the word "Borat"... I guess that more useful words are on the way.

If this could track all p2p traffic in China - you wouldn't see any thing on the map except pins.. Via TorrentFreak.

Technorati Tags: BitTorrent, Borat, Google Earth, p2p, peer-to-peer, mp3, mashups, Swarm, Torrents, tracking

The Office: Stealing From the Best

 

Paul Kedrosky posted this fascinating BBC Documentary about the origins of the Office.  From the conversation between Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the series's creators they admit that they they stole ideas from everybody, and especially the best.

Ricky Gervais: We ripped off the best.
Stephen Merchant: No, there's not one new idea in that whole goddamn show.
Rick Gervais: We ripped off Laurel & Hardy, The Simpsons, Spinal Tap, and what was the other one you said?
Stephen Merchant: Woody Allen. Larry Sanders.
Ricky Gervais: We ripped them all off.
Stephen Merchant: And we got away with it.

I actually had a colleague when I was working for a start-up in London that not only looked exactly like David Brant but actually was like him in real life...That was quite an experience to say the least.

   Anyway, the bottom-line here is that you can create something really successful by "stealing" from the best and just serve it in a different way..

Technorati Tags: BBC The Office, Fun, Humor, Ricky Gervais, The Office

Web 2.0 Over and Out?

An interesting observation by EarlyStageVC is suggesting that Web 2.0 is over and out by pointing out the dramatically falling traffic among three pure web 2.0 plays : Techcrunch, Gigaom, and Technorati. Although a lot can be questioned regarding Alexa ratings' accuracy, the all show a similar falloff in reach compared to their Q4 peaks.

I don't know if this really is interesting or not, expect perhaps for Techcrunch, Gigaom and Technorati. However, judging from my own reading habits, I actually stopped following the three named properties quite some time ago now. I just don't find them interesting anymore. I would definitely put Gigaom before Techcrunch in terms of quality and depth, but still I feel they are lost the edge.

Likewise, I have noticed that Technorati is not picking up blog pings like Google Blog search and is seriously falling after in picking up blog posts in general. It's a pity, because I really like David, Tantek and Peter. Perhaps it really is an indication of a general falloff.

Anyway, wether or not web 2.0 is over and out or not does not really matter. What matters is that innovation continues - and it will and have always done. What is really good will in the end survive, the rest will contribute to the innovation wave but eventually enter the dreaded "Dead pool".

Technorati Tags: Alexa, Technorati, Techcrunch, Gigaom, Technorati, Web 2.0