At last night's STIRR Founder's Mixer 1.7, we announced the launch of STIRRpedia.STIRRpedia is a resource for start-up entrepreneurs by start-up entrepreneurs. Contribute and assist your fellow entrepreneur! Let's put some fun into taking care of some of the dry parts of startup business. Stories, anecdotes, links to great info, personal insights are welcome.We hope that it takes off!
After reading the Cool Tools post on green laser pointers, I had to get one. Shipping was pretty fast and it arrived yesterday. I took it out last night and was able to see a faint green line all the way up to the clouds and beyond (this is in the suburbs where light polution is significant). Looking forward to taking it camping with me and using it as the fellow to the left is doing. Coolest stat: the range is 12,500 feet!
Hats off to my old friends at desktopstandard (nee AutoProf) for being purchased today by Microsoft! I've read some pretty positive write-ups about the acquisition. While I was there, the company expanded from their server offerings to include Internet-focused products and services. I was overseeing biz dev for the latter. The timing wasn't right and our division was folded and the IP was absorbed by the server side. Good move, as they grew fast after that. I'm kicking myself now for not buying my shares upon departure, but only a little bit, as life is pretty damn good for me. Good job Eric and John!
IFTF had an article published in IEEE Spectrum, reviewing survey results of over 700 IEEE Fellows. Colleague David Pescovitz provides a synopsis of it on BoingBoing.
Looks like Om and Joanne win in the finals of the latest Valleywag hotties contest. Go Joanne!
Some of you may have read John M. Barry's, "The Great Influenza" by now. I'm still in the early stages and was struck by a section that describes science and I couldn't help but think of IFTF. I particulaly like the highlighted sentences:The greatest challenge of science, its art, lies in asking an important question and framing it in a way that allows it to be broken into manageable pieces, into experiments that can be conducted that ultimately lead to answers. To do this requires a certain kind of genius, one that probes vertically and sees horizontally.Horizontal vision allows someone to assimilate and weave together seemingly unconnected bits of information. It allows an investigator to see what others do not see, and to make leaps of connectivity and creativity. Probing vertically, going deeper and deeper into something, creates new information. Sometimes what one finds will shine brilliantly enough to illuminate the whole world.At least one question connects the vertical and the horizontal. That question is "So what?" like a word on a Scrabble board, this question can connect with and prompt movement in many directions. It can eliminate a piece of information as unimportant or, at least to the investigator asking the question, irrelevant. It can push an investigator to probe more deeply to understand a piece of information. It can also force an investigator to step back an see how to fit a finding into a broader context. To see question in these ways requires a wonder, a deep wonder focused by discipline, like a lens focusing the sun's rays on a spot of paper until it bursts into flame. It requires a kind of conjury.
Einstein reportedly once said that his own major scientific talent was his ability to look at an enormous number of experiments and journal articles, select the very few that were both correct and important, ignore the rest, and build a theory on the right ones. In that assessment of his own abilities, Einstein was very likely overly modest. But part of his genius was an instinct for what mattered and the ability to pursue it vertically and connect it horizontally.
"Joey" as Nick likes to refer to Joanne made it out of the Valleywag Web 2.0oh Hottie Contest's first round with a pretty convicing win. Go Joanne! Now to the semis, where she takes on Rachel Rhodes. As of now, she is up 261 - 255. Please vote for her!
Valleywag's Nick is at it again with his latest Silicon Valley Hotties contest and one of the matches pits STIRR's Joanne Wan vs. Tara Hunt. As of now, it is 322 to 317 in favor of Joanne. Please vote for her!
Here's the official landing page and THE RANKINGS!!! How did your school do?By devising a set of criteria different from those of other college guides, we arrived at sharply different results. Top schools sank, and medium schools rose. For instance, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 48th on the U.S News list, takes third place on our list, while Princeton, first on the U.S. News list, takes 43rd on ours. In short, Pennsylvania State, measured on our terms--by the yardstick of fostering research, national service and social mobility--does a lot more for the country than Princeton.
Don't get us wrong. We're not saying Princeton isn't a superb school. It employs many of the nation's finest minds, and its philosophy department is widely considered the best in the country. Its eating clubs, or whatever they're called, are surely unmatched. Princeton may be a great destination for your tuition dollars, all 31,450 of them, not including room or board. But what if it's a lousy destination for your tax dollars? Each year, Princeton receives millions of dollars in federal research grants. Does it deserve them? What has Princeton done for us lately? This is the only guide that tries to tell you. That, and a bit more.
Working at a place called the Institute for the Future comes with its pitfalls. One is that from time to time we must deal with *interested* parties who want to talk to us about their predictions.
STIRR Mixers are blend of tech-social mixer and launchpad for new startups in an innovative format (the 60 second spot). This is not a sit-down event.
The companies start presenting at 7:15pm. The pitches are a compact 60 seconds or less. The speakers and their teams are available to speak with one-on-one before and after the presentations.
Launching:
Details
When: Wednesday August 9th. Gathering begins at 6:00pm, presentations at 7:15pm.
Where: Blue Chalk, 630 Ramona St, Palo Alto [map]. Cash bar.
NOTE: No walk-ins accepted, you must RSVP to attend. Pre-printed nametags will be ready at the door.
STIRR, a Web networking company, runs the mixer and times the presenters to make them get to the point, according to Joanne Wan.
"Tell them, 'how the hell do you actually make money, and what are you trying to do?' No slide shows -- just you and the mic," she said.
The St. Andrew's Face Morpher allows you to upload an image of yourself (or a friend) and look at yourself differently: young, old, east or west asian, african-american & also some artistic views. Here I am as a manga character. For fun, you can also see what you would look like as a monkey...well, at least 50% of one. 
