Taken the wrong way....

Taken the wrong way this could sound egotistical but don't you think you know more about just about any subject than the average american? Let's deconstruct that statement - it doesn't mean that you know more about everything than anyone else or any single person off the street. It just means that on all general topics you likely know more than the averaged American.

I think it's a true statement for me with the possible following exceptions:

• Guns - i know very little about guns and since many people hunt, maybe the average American knows more about firearms than i do
• Childbirth - Figuring than most women know more about childbirth than i do + all the fathers out there
• Christianity - Close call here. If you say "religion" i think i can pull it off, but if you start to get into Christianity in general, i might be exposed to the bible school teachings that i never received.

But everything else i'm feeling pretty good about: animals, country music, geometry, ethnic cooking, etc.

Covering the Best

Being one who loves a good cover song, was excited to find these gems on YouTube:

Guerilla Radio - Alanis Morissette gives her take on this Rage Against the Machine banger
My Humps - Another Alanis classic for this Black Eyed Peas Top 40 hit
Hey Ya - Supersuckers amp up Outkast - shake it like a Polaroid picture
Breakin the Law - Supersuckers do some Priest, country style
Sweet Child o' Mine - Carrie Underwood (American Idol?)
Sweet Child o' Mine - Kelly Clarkson - what is it with these American Idol chicks and Gn'R?
Turn the Page - Metallica channels Bob Seger
Darling Nikki - Foo Fighters rip this Prince oldie [Foo Fighters do so many great covers that the local SF paper opined a Top 10 list]

Long Live Redband

Redband trailers are the industry term for more raunchy movie previews which aren't suitable for all audiences. They largely disappeared from theaters but the Internets have brought them back in force. Search YouTube for "redband" to get a sample. And here's a pretty funny one:

YouTube: New Media Douchebags Explained!

I see pixies (and the future of social networks)

Here's a cool new toy trend on top of the webkinz, etc -- Disney's Pixie Hollow has an online component and a physical toy. But instead of it just being about entering a code from a tag, these toys blend real and virtual world together.

How does it work? They sell pixie jewelry with a new technology they're calling "Clickables." If two friends have Pixie Hollow Clickables in the real world, you can click bracelets and automatically become friends in the virtual one. Now that rocks. Forget about sending a Facebook invite to someone you just met, instead let's have a social network blue tooth keychain dongle or phone app which allows you to just insta-friend. Nice!

The kid in Hillary's 3 a.m. commercial endorses Obama

YT Award Winners Announced

We just wrapped up a great past year with 2007's YouTube Video Awards where the community votes in multiple categories such as Best Eyewitness and Most Adorable. See the winners here.

[update to fix broken link]

Why I Give

Had an interesting conversation with a friend recently about our patterns of charity. Realized that my giving falls into three distinct buckets.

1) My Things
"My Things" are the institutions that I was a part of - Stanford, Vassar, Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. There's definitely some self-interest here -- keep them excellent so I can bask in their brand glow.

2) Your Things
"Your Things" are the various endeavors that my friends are part of - ongoing or event driven. Friends that are on various boards, doing an AIDS ride, etc. I'm always good for a small sum - usually $25-50 - regardless of the institution. It's just about supporting the people i care about.

3) Balancing Out Evil
I use my money to try and counter specific activities that offend me. For example, after reading a story about Taliban forces shelling a school that taught young girls, i donated to a charity which supports the education of women across the world. When pro-life activists bomb a clinic or murder a doctor, i give to choice groups. I feel strongly about equal and opposite force in the face of those trying to destroy personal freedoms or equality.

Interestingly i'm not usually motivated by natural tragedy - i don't think i gave to katrina funds, tsunami rescue, etc. Why? Sometimes it doesn't feel personal enough. Sometimes it's skepticism that funds are going to be used well in the moment of crisis.

Completed: The Ghost Map

Finished Steven Johnson's book The Ghost Map, an interesting recounting of the mid-19th century London cholera outbreak. Serving as a backdrop for Johnson's feelings on the scientific method and urbanism, it veers into a too long final chapter and epilogue which speculates broadly on the impact that bio or nuclear terrorism could have on today's cities. Read the first 150 pages, then skim the rest.

Zagat for sale but no buyers

Wrote before about how Zagat missed a great opportunity to own local user reviews on the web. Looks like others are realizing the same: Zagat Drops Off Menu for PE Firms. Amusingly the $200m that Zagat is asking for matches the latest Yelp valuation.

Hot girls like a man with a big degree

Governor Spitzer, err I mean Client 9, maybe you want an online degree? Ok, so obviously it works because gee, i looked, but sultry side shots of attractive women in an online education ad? Oh direct response branding, you sink so low.

Now they call it Drew-stang

Okay, he updated his LinkedIn profile so i'm going to assume it's safe to announce :)

My good friend Drew Carpenter is the new CEO of job startup Doostang.

Drew is a rockstar who has basically been running the digital media business at walmart.com (Movies, Photos, Music, etc). It's a huge win for Doostang and another great step for Drew who plunges back into his entrepreneurial roots after stints in VC and eCommerce (having co-founded a big interactive agency when the web was still taking off commercially back in the mid 90s).

YouTube APIs really open up

The YouTube API team is proud to announce a significant evolution in our ability to help developers. The new APIs allow full control of the YouTube player, a chromeless player that you can customize, the ability to upload videos directly to YouTube from offsite, localization of the API into many languages and several other cool things. Check out the code.google.com site for more details. Congrats!

Jury Duty 2.0

Overheard by a friend at a recent San Francisco jury pool.

Judge: Have any of you ever evicted someone?
Potential Juror (PJ): I have but it was virtual land
Judge: What?
PJ explains Second Life
Judge: But there was no money involved, right?
PJ explains that there was money, but it was virtual, but it can be converted back to real dollars
Judge: Ok, whatever, you're on the jury

1% of Americans are in jail

Crazy stat from WSJ - more than 1% of US adults are in jail, a record level. And 11% of African-American men between the ages of 20 -34 are behind bars. Tragic for everyone.

Gentle undertones of funny

WSJ provided an amusing headline to the news that Amazon.com would start selling wine:

"Amazon Wine-Buyer Posting Has Subtle Hints of Product Expansion"

Love mountain climbing? No, I hate email.

The NYTimes covers the benefit of totally unplugging from electronic communications for a zen moment. Our ability to create and distribute information is definitely accelerating past our ability to parse and absorb it, thus we're going to see a number of interesting social and technical tools designed to restore the balance.

One example is the rise of "extreme destination travel." You think your friends actually want to travel 7,500 miles to summit a mountain? No, they just want to be out of blackberry range and have a convincing OOO status message. Who's going to buy "in Miami without access to email?" But "hiking in australian outback without mobile" - that sounds reasonable.

Refunds - Airborne Class Settlement

Seems like the miracle supplement Airborne just settled a class action for $24m. If you purchased Airborne btw 2001-2007, go to the settlement site to file for a refund. You can claim up to six units without proof of purchase (because who saves receipts).

God doesn't have a BATNA

Usually i'm a pretty balanced individual - especially in negotiations I often seek to better understand the other person's perspective and incorporate aspects of it into my worldview. However sometimes I'm convinced that I'm just plain absolutely correct, producing an almost dogmatic certitude and unwavering desire to not concede any aspect of my ask. This potentially polarizing "winner take all" strategy is sometimes effective but obviously frustrating to others involved.

I've been on the other side of the table in these situations, perhaps no time more curiously than summer 1999 when I was performing acquisition due diligence on a genealogy company in Utah. My tasks consisted of necessary tediums such as inventorying the microfilm records of various 19th century immigration documents, but things got really interesting when we sat down to haggle on price.

It was my first negotiations with Mormons and I came away realizing that when you think you're representing God, well, it can be tough to strike a deal. What i mean is, with their strong devotion to the Church and substantial tithing, the owners were negotiating on behalf of a higher authority. Being $500k apart on price didn't mean the difference between an entry-level and S-class Mercedes to them, but rather a direct decrease in the amount of evangelism they could help fund. This can lead to a fervor at the deal table that beats the pants off of any slick M&A specialist. And so it didn't surprise me when they got everything they asked for and then some because obviously God doesn't have a BATNA.