BizThoughts

Thank goodness I have an understanding significant other who understands my hectic schedule. Being an entrepreneur isn't easy. Living with one doesn't sound much better.

I know some colleagues whose significant others that aren't as understanding and patient. Or perhaps just fed up and frustrated that they see so little of their partner. Being an entrepreneur isn't a 9-to-5 job, after all. It's more like a lifestyle. And it isn't for everyone.

My schedule has been more hectic than usual. Sometimes I love it (the thrill and energy of it all can be intoxicating), sometimes, not so much. And through it all, my significant other has been there, being supportive and helpful.

So here's to understanding significant others! We entrepreneurs couldn't do it without you! Thank you.

I often check out Techmeme for my popular technology news. Then I'm off to Google Reader for further news.

A new realization struck me today. Every time I dig deeper into a story on Techmeme, I click on ReadWriteWeb's related entries to get more detail. Once upon a time, Iwould turn to TechCrunch for story details & commentary. Now it's RWW.

I'm not quite sure when RWW replaced TC, but I enjoy their longer posts, thoughtful insights, and occasional personal commentary. While I don't always agree with their writers, it's nice to see that personal flavor in there. They cover all the same popular topics that TC, Mashable, GigaOM, and all those guys do, but sometimes I like a longer, more in-depth article than a quick 2-paragraph "Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am" kind of post.

So here's my very non-RWW, "Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am" post to give props to RWW's founder Richard MacManus and his team of writers. Nice job guys!

You know what I love about this recession? The low prices. I'm seeing sales and discounts everywhere. It's much easier to haggle and get a good bargain nowadays. Even a lot of stocks are arguably undervalued right now.

One stock I've been tracking is Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares (BRK-B). As of this post, it's floating around $2,830.50/share. I like Buffett's school of thought. His Class A shares are above the amount I'm willing to invest right now, but Class B is totally doable. With his track record, BRK-B is sure to swing back up again. Same for many other great stocks. (Buy low, sell high!)

Of course, this presupposes that you have the means to be buying right now. A lot of people don't. If are one of the lucky few who can, take a look at the prices you're seeing on Craigslist and eBay (EBAY). Some people are unloading lots of high-value products at low prices. An enterprising individual with a discerning eye and a bit of capital could easily scoop up some of these items and sell them at a higher price when the market rebounds. Know what I'm sayin? (Buy low, sell high!)

This recession also means low prices from vendors. Small business owners should definitely advantage of this. Negotiate with your vendors on lower prices, favorable payment plans, and/or lower interest rates. Many businesses are open to negotiation right now. All you have to do is ask. (Buy low, sell high!)

Isn't this a great time to be an entrepreneur? Ah yes, it sure is.

Photo by: timparkinson

Count me in as one of the super-geeky obsessives abuzz over the upcoming Facebook Usernames. And just several precious hours away!

I've even got it on my Google Calendar. heh.

There is some contention over these Facebook Usernames though, most notably by Chris Messina. He argues, and rightfully so, that usernames as URLs can be problematic. There is a limited universe of possible usernames out there, so collisions are inevitable. I know I'm not the only Mike Lee drooling over getting "facebook.com/mikelee", for instance.

It is also going to spark a land-grab (username-grab?) for a vanity URL, unless you are a journalist. But this is nothing new. A similar thing happened on Twitter and other social media tools. And with domain names.

Imagine all the hair Messina's pulled out over these cases. His bathtub drain must be all clogged up.

Personally, I think only a relatively small number of people in the world care about this. Geeks like me, for instance. And purported "social media experts" (FYI: calling yourself that is a sure sign that you are NOT an expert).

I also wonder how today's youth views usernames. Anecdotally, I've heard that teens may have anywhere from 2-5 email addresses, instant messenging accounts, and social network accounts at any given time. I don't think they place the same premium we old geeks do on usernames.

Perhaps a username to them is like underwear – a new one is fresh and exciting, but a bit stiff. After a while, it becomes nice and comfortable. Over time, it gets old, stained, and full of holes. So you (hopefully) toss it out. Then you get a new pair and start the process all over again. Natch.

I wonder if this is the start of something new. Apple (AAPL)'s newly announced iPhone 3GS will have OpenGL ES 2.0 support, a 600 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM.

Contrast that to Sony's (SNE) latest PSP 3000: a 333 MHz processor and 64 MB of RAM. I'm not sure how it compares to OpenGL ES 2.0, anyone know? I'm also not entirely sure if these are the right specs to be comparing; if I'm wrong, please let me know.

To be honest, I'm not much of a gamer. I've never owned a PSP, Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) GameBoy or anything like that. But I know the handheld gaming market is huge. If Apple enters as a viable competitor, Sony and Nintendo are going to have some interesting times ahead.

I know, I know. The iPhone is much different than a traditional handheld gaming console with its buttons and controls, but perhaps game manufacturers will find a niche that works with a touch screen. Who knows?

There's some evidence of this already. id Software and Escalation Studios recently announced Doom Resurrection for the iPhone. (BFG FTW!) No word yet on how you play the game – I assume you tap the screen to shoot the monsters? Looks interesting though.

John Carmack, co-founder and CTO of id Software had this to say about developing on the iPhone 3G (NOTE: not the 3GS):

I love the iPhone. It's a real game platform, not a tiny little toy.

If you look at it in raw hardware horsepower, the iPhone should be better in performance than the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable. But the truth is, you can't exploit it all because of software inefficiencies.

I wonder how he'll feel once he ports Doom Resurrection onto the 3GS. Carmack also mentioned that he will be speaking with Apple about improving the iPhone for game development. If Apple takes his advice and starts discussions with other game developers, well…

Methinks the future of the iPhone 3GS as a handheld gaming platform looks bright! (SPISPOPD lives!)

The tech world is abuzz with the Palm Pre.

But what about developing for Palm's webOS? I haven't seen as much news about that platform yet. For web software developers like my agency and I, that's what we really want to hear about.

Google Search (GOOG) to the rescue. A quick search netted me some useful information. I've collected it together here to offer a pre-view (har!) of developing for webOS.

Palm Pre webOS Technologies for Developers

webOS is comprised of the following developer-relevant technologies:

• Operating system based on Linux 2.6
  • Device services (telephone, touch-screen, address book, etc)
• UI System Manager
  • WebKit layout engine
  • DOM Level 2 event model and custom events
  • HTML5 and local storage capabilities
  • Custom DOM elements with an "x-mojo-element" attribute
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Mojo Application Framework, an MVC, JavaScript-based framework
  • Prototype JavaScript library
  • Other UI services (navigation, event management, local and web searches, etc)
• webOS Services
• Service APIs with access to hardware capabilities (GPS, camera, audio/video player, etc) using JSON

Want to see some sample code? webOShelp.net has some. It will give you a glimpse at a sample app, though it's difficult to do much without an emulator. According to Palm, an emulator will be coming out with the Palm Mojo SDK, along with an Eclipse-based IDE.

A great technical overview is also available at the Palm Developer Network. They posted the first chapter of the upcoming book Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo Framework. Much of the info I gathered was from this free chapter.

Pandora Internet Radio's Chief Technical Officer Tom Conrad also gave an interview about their experience developing their Palm webOS app. There are some useful insights there too.

And finally – and thankfully, Palm has declared that they will not have the same restrictions in their App Catalog as Apple does for their iTunes Store. No funky and inconsistent approval processes, just lots of apps. They'll police the catalog a bit to weed out the most egregious offenders, but that's about it (so they say). Cool beans.

P.S. I may be attending preDevCamp at either San Francisco or Los Angeles. Interested in going too?

I had to laugh at this one.

Here's a quote from Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari:

I think that one of the reasons Silicon Valley creates so many entrepreneurs is, you work next to someone who has started a company and you say to yourself, "That guy has been successful and he's a dumb shit."

I saw these guys at [Nutting Associates, an arcade company in Mountain View, CA] who were not smart folks, and yet they had this successful company. So I said to myself, "I couldn't possibly screw up more than them."

So there's reason #107 to start your own business. There are a lot of successful yet dumb shits out there. You can do better than them!

I geeked out this weekend. Went to WordCamp in San Francisco and saw a bunch of old friends, met a few new ones, and found some developers for WebMocha. Geeking out is fun!

And so was WordCamp. Let me tell you why:

1. Tim Ferris showed us how to "peel" a hard-boiled egg without peeling it. Well, he didn't really show us at the conference, he just referred to this as an example of a viral post.
2. BuddyPress is a suite of WordPress plugins and themes that can turn WP into a social network. I've heard about this before and am now itching to try it out.
3. Matt Cutts told the audience: "Avoid BO"
4. Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz has a secret diary. Can't believe I didn't hear about this one sooner.
5. Matt Mullenweg announced that WordPress and WordPress MU (Multi-User) are going to merge into the core WordPress installation. Makes total sense.
6. Some guy loves WordPress so much that he got himself a WordPress tattoo. "I guess we can never change the logo," said Mullenweg.
7. The BBQ lunch was tasty. Yum.
8. Tara Hunt uttered the question: "Are there any cougars out there?" Hehe.
9. Ann Oyama did her very first conference presentation ever. Her nervousness was endearing and her custom WordPress theme tips great for beginners.
10. Someone accidentally exited Steve Souder's presentation through the side door, setting off the fire alarm. But we forgive him. He's Canadian. Heh.
11. Mullenweg reveals a WordPress easter egg. Ooo!

P.S. Bonus points for you if you know where I got the title of this entry from.