Current Obsessions and Inner Chatter: Archive

6 tags

Does Seattle shun startup failure?

Tonight I attended the UW CSE Annual Industrial Affiliates Meeting. As I walked around, I bumped into familiar faces close to the UW CSE and Startup communities. I asked people “how are we doing on entrepreneurship coming out of the department?” Surprisingly, feedback from 3 people very close to the issue was “we’re not doing too well.” Common themes: Infrequent...

Oct 30th

4 tags

FiReGlobal West Notes

Last week I attended FiReGlobal West as a guest speaker on a CTO Challenge Panel discussing how technology can help increase civic engagement at all levels of government. Here are a few rough notes I took (and my opinions interwoven) throughout the day Education The internet is disruptive to the traditional model of education. The role of teacher has (or must) change from leading a classroom...

Oct 19th

2 tags

Competition. Am I screwed?

I’m advising a first time web entrepreneur on a new service. This week he discovered a directly competitive service that is much further along and already launched. He wrote me asking “am i screwed?” Here’s my response: The answer to your question is “you are not screwed.” I believe competition is more good than bad. To the extent competitors exist and...

Sep 21st

7 notes

4 tags

Advice for Visitors to Japan

I spent nearly 2 years living in Japan, both deep in the countryside working on a farm and in the heart of Tokyo working in an R&D lab. Beside that, I studied Japanese at the graduate level and worked in the mobile software arena for a few years. Someday I’ll write about the experiences I had during those times. Recently my friends Brendan and the very pregnant Ellie visited Japan so...

Sep 8th

3 tags

Insider tips for visitors to Seattle

Here are some of my favorite places to take guests visiting Seattle. Enjoy! For post card views of downtown, there’s Kerry Park in Queen Anne. Even my jet-lagged friends thank me for dragging them here. Surprising that not many Seattle natives even know this place. Mt. Rainier is an icon, and the best place to see it is at Sunrise. Paradise is more well-known, but Sunrise is an easier...

Sep 4th

2 tags

Today's Triathlon (reflections)

I just finished the Lake Sammamish Sprint Triathon (my first tri). I think I heard 1:33 over the speaker as I crossed the finish line. Most importantly, I met my personal goal which was to finish without stopping, resting or walking any of it. Shout-outs To @algard for accepting the challenge on the spot a few weeks ago to do a triathlon To @mmaunder and Kerry for pointing out that it would...

Aug 29th

The Museum of Coffee Gift Shop (aka Starbucks)

In his book, “Pour Your Heart Into It”, Howard Schultz describes his life story and the story of how Starbucks was built. Great book, btw. In it, he mentions being inspired by Italian cafes that function as gathering places and are part of the daily routine of people in the neighborbood. That is certainly an aspirational vision for Starbucks, but I think implementation totally...

Aug 23rd

Recommended Blogs

I read a lot of blogs. Recently I had an opportunity to reflect on which blogs I get the most value out of. Here they are. SEO Here are two excellent blogs for SEO news, techniques and interviews. SEO Moz: http://www.seomoz.org/blog SEO Book: http://www.seobook.com/blog Search Engines Search Engine Watch covers search engine industry in general (as opposed to just SEO)...

Aug 12th

2 tags

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man...”

– Theodore Roosevelt “Citizenship in a Republic,” Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Jul 18th

2 tags

“None of it lay neglected and idle; none of it was under the control of another,...”

– Lucius Seneca

Jun 15th

2 tags

“Peace of mind, obtained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the...”

– John Wooden’s definition of success.

Jun 15th

Apr 28th

Seattle 2.0 Awards

It was certainly a pleasant surprise to find out that I’m a finalist in the Seattle 2.0 Awards for “Best Startup Technologist”! The Seattle 2.0 Awards recognizes the amazing accomplishments of the best of over 300 Seattle area technology startups (despite the challenging economy), and the exceptional people who are behind their heroic efforts. We will single out the very...

Apr 2nd

GoDaddy.com sucks.

GoDaddy just screwed me. I bought a domain, got caught in their UI trap and their customer service was unable to do the right thing and just fix the problem. First of all, they design their user interface to ensure that various add-on services and features are automatically added to the shopping cart. They do this by making the largest and most obvious button automatically add the up-sells. ...

Mar 30th

Mar 15th

Great Caller ID App for Android

Our Caller ID app for Android phones was already one of the most popular (and useful) Android apps available. Now, we have just released a new update that includes “Telemarketer Alerts” — letting you know when telemarketers are calling so you can ignore them. Finally, there are a LOT more names in the database so you’ll have a higher match rate. Check it out Note: To...

Mar 2nd

Best movie?

Prior to Oscar night, I asked 65 people movie they thought would win. Here’s what they said:

Mar 1st

If you could be any kind of animal for 1 day, what...

I asked 25 people and here’s what they said. The results surprised me!

Feb 6th

Best Valentine's Day Idea?

I asked 50 people for their best idea for a romantic Valentine’s day. Here’s what they said.

Feb 4th

What do you value most in life?

I asked 25 people to name 3 things that they “value most in life”. Here’s what they said.

Feb 3rd

How to increase your odds of getting pregnant

I asked 100 people “What’s the best advice for increasing the chances of getting pregnant”. Here’s what they said.

Feb 2nd

What qualities does Obama have that Bush lacked?

I asked 50 people and here’s what they said

Feb 1st

What is your favorite genre of food?

I asked over 50 people. Here’s what they said

Feb 1st

Look on the bright side...you're not dead! →

As I’m sure you’ve heard, there is a lot of bad news out there in the world today. Some examples: At best, the world economy is on the brink of recession World Heading for Great Depression…

Oct 13th