tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15478155197833147402012-01-29T02:07:13.312-08:00bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.comBlogger941100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-75867604806439510602011-02-05T07:56:00.000-08:002011-02-05T09:29:58.451-08:00

As was widely reported yesterday, the Chinese internet giant Tencent has agreed to acquire a majority of the capital stock of Los Angeles-based Riot Games, a Benchmark portfolio company. The transaction is a huge validation of Riot's meteoric rise to prominence in the online game business. CEO Brandon Beck, his co-founder Marc Merrill and the team at Riot have executed their business plan

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-22964562507567420782010-12-03T10:58:00.001-08:002010-12-03T10:58:57.478-08:00

Well, the mandarins at FIFA, one of the world's most venal and corrupt bureaucracies, have selected Russia and Qatar, respectively, as the sites for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.This would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic and so horribly, shockingly wrong for the sport. Let's just parse this for a minute. First, Russia. As a Spanish diplomat put it in one of the Wikileaks documents, essentially

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-11244997215218080802010-11-23T07:53:00.000-08:002010-11-23T09:30:53.031-08:00

At one point late in the second half of the dreadful MLS Cup Final, with both of these mediocre teams protecting the 1-1 scoreline and heading to extra-time, I was actually tempted to flip over to watch the LA Lakers-Golden State Warriors NBA game, despite the fact that LA was up by 30 at the time. Seemed like it might be more compelling.It's rare to get to use the words "scintillating" and "

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-31243310729652974312010-11-08T08:06:00.000-08:002010-11-08T08:56:19.004-08:00

It was a bizarre weekend in the MLS playoffs. With the exception of LA (more on that later), every higher seed lost their first round series. New York Red Bull crashed and burned against San Jose. Columbus went down on penalties to Colorado after a regular time stalemate. And Dallas convincingly held Real Salt Lake to a draw at Rio Tinto, allowing them through on aggregate after their 2-1 win at

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-35615286329773197502010-11-01T14:28:00.000-07:002010-11-01T16:39:19.582-07:00

So, LA Galaxy went to Seattle, into one of the best (and, for LA, most hostile) atmospheres in the history of MLS playoffs, and came away with a one goal victory. Despite all of the pre-match hype about Seattle's pace, and midfield possession, and wing play, and how hot they were down the stretch, as I predicted, the Galaxy dictated the flow of the match and go back to Home Depot Center in the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-86885410208651255552010-10-08T09:15:00.000-07:002010-10-08T14:53:06.117-07:00

With only a couple of games left in the MLS season, the playoff picture is relatively clear. And a large part of that clarity is just how fucked up and unfair the MLS playoff format truly is.The continued weakness of the Eastern Conference will lead to six of the eight playoff teams coming from the Western Conference (last season, it was five of eight). In fact, if the tables were combined (as

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-58492844477213431762010-09-15T14:52:00.000-07:002010-09-15T17:20:32.642-07:00

Sometimes, you see an idea and suddenly you start seeing it everywhere. Sometimes that synchronicity is so sharp, it's kind of uncanny. While I was on vacation, I finally got around to reading a couple of books that had been sitting on my nightstand for a while. The first was a remarkable near-future science fiction novel called The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. This wildly imaginative and

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-40170700966302977762010-09-11T21:46:00.000-07:002010-09-15T17:21:07.929-07:00

It's kind of an odd year for a Fulham supporter. After last season's magical run through the Europa League -- and believe me, as a Fulham fan it was truly magical -- there's an air of let-down about the team this year. The crafty old codger Roy Hodgson is off to greener pastures at Liverpool. Who could fault him. He did yeoman's work at Craven Cottage, engineering the Great Escape, getting them

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-30512420844269544302010-07-11T21:01:00.000-07:002010-09-15T17:21:07.929-07:00

Well, the World Cup is over and Spain are champions. Good. Balance is restored to the universe. The best team playing the best style managed to win.The final itself kind of sucked. Holland avoided any semblance of trying to play with Spain. Instead, they must have decided that Germany lost because they were too deferential to Spain's midfield, and therefore that the proper strategy to counter

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-25494404257640300982010-07-10T18:31:00.001-07:002010-07-11T09:59:49.968-07:00

The New York Times has a piece on the Cruyff connection.Jonathan Wilson at The Guardian dissects the prevalence of the 4-2-3-1 formation at the World Cup, and contrasts the two examples of the formation on display in the final. Zonal Marking has their preview of the final up (well, part one of it), and it's as thoughtful and detailed as you'd expect. Full of interesting links.For a little homer

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-36694499236963985912010-07-09T18:18:00.000-07:002010-07-10T19:17:49.030-07:00

While I am delighted that Spain and Holland are in the final, I'm personally a bit conflicted about who to support. On the one hand, for familial reasons, I'm for Spain. My wife's parents -- now naturalized US citizens -- came to the US from Spain in the early '60s. My son is a big Spain supporter. I've heard so many stories about Spanish football in the '50's from my father-in-law, and we watch

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-65290229016691186432010-07-05T19:38:00.000-07:002010-07-09T20:11:07.460-07:00

I'm very excited about the semi-finals, because I think this World Cup hangs in the balance. There's less inevitability about these four teams than any cup I can remember. Any of these teams could win it. I'd put the Germans first on current form, fitness, and national football character; the Spaniards second on talent and guile; the Dutch third on efficiency and good luck; and the Uruguayans

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-54512641507276744912010-06-28T18:54:00.000-07:002010-06-29T21:45:00.796-07:00

I got four things very wrong in my pre-tournament predictions. First, I vastly over-estimated the quality of the old European powers outside Europe (even though I explicitly discounted for their tendency not to travel well). I guess I thought that they would ultimately suck it up and perform on the big stage. I picked 6 European teams to make the Round of 16, and in fact 6 made it. While I got

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-70267411970017399242010-06-27T09:23:00.000-07:002010-06-27T20:34:06.465-07:00

Uruguay 2:1 South Korea -- actually a pretty good match. Uruguay took the game over in the 8th minute with a crazy play. Forlan sent a low cross through the penalty area behind the Korean back four, who all turned around and watched as the ball drifted through. The keeper thought about coming out for the ball, but then seemed to hesitate and half-slid at it, hoping, I guess, that one of his

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-71758331511072950942010-06-23T16:17:00.000-07:002010-06-25T09:09:28.179-07:00

I'm kind of sick of the whole "what it means for US soccer" meme. It means we are through to the final 16 of the World Cup. As group winners, over England. If that's not enough, I don't know what's going to do it. This is football at its most dramatic. A minute into extra time, we were cooked. England was finishing off Slovenia 1:0, and if the results held, we were going home and Slovenia was

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-87166076665827567012010-06-21T20:56:00.000-07:002010-06-25T09:10:07.955-07:00

"Le Meltdown" as it's being called in the press -- the French disaster at the World Cup -- has received more than its fair share of snarky coverage, but this, from around 25:30 to 29:00, is both poignant and very interesting.

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-31042027429027141172010-06-21T14:57:00.000-07:002010-06-25T09:10:07.956-07:00

As of the end of the second round of group stage matches, the five major European teams -- those that received one of FIFA's coveted #1 seeds -- are a combined 4W-4D-2L. That's England, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain. They've taken only 16 of a possible 30 points. They have dropped points from matches against the likes of New Zealand, Algeria, and Switzerland, among others.If you add France,

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-61798789232665030142010-06-21T14:25:00.000-07:002010-06-25T09:10:07.957-07:00

One of the great things about the FIFA World Cup format is the last match days of the group stage. It's unusual for a group to be completely settled prior to the last day, so there's frequently a good bit of drama. Often, the goal differential and goals scored tie-breaker rules come into effect to decide positions. As we saw at last year's Confederations Cup, it's possible for the team dead last

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-62214613030987331952010-06-19T09:48:00.001-07:002010-06-25T09:10:07.957-07:00

"Football is a simple game," Gary Lineker famously said after England's 1990 defeat in the World Cup semi-final (on penalties, of course). "22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win." But seriously, the same twenty or so FIFA laws of the game govern both my kid's U10 club matches and the World Cup finals. Ball, goals, keepers, offsides, throw-ins, fouls, cards, free kicks

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-80149031035215574092010-06-13T20:04:00.000-07:002010-06-25T09:10:07.958-07:00

Mexico 1:1 South Africa -- I had a feeling that the home support was going to be worth a goal and that the Bafana Bafana might possibly see a result from this match, so I was not surprised by the draw. Mexico looked the better team in the first half, but all credit to South Africa for a tremendous first goal on the counterattack which sent the fans into ecstasy. Unfortunately, the home side

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-3604241953160394862010-06-03T11:37:00.000-07:002010-06-25T09:10:07.959-07:00

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."~Bill ShanklySeven days to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Now that all the squads have been set and the teams have begun arriving in South Africa, it's time for my pre-tournament preview and my (generally insane) predictions.Overall, this

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-16674369534467479152010-03-05T09:52:00.000-08:002010-03-05T14:40:40.078-08:00

Ok, the Dutch are FIFA ranked third in the world behind Brazil and Spain. They are fantastic -- best Dutch side since their Total Football teams of the '70's. So even a listless Dutch performance is going to be a handful for the US national team. Still, we looked a mess out there and we learned some painful lessons:1) We are really, really missing our injured stars. Dempsey's possession and

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-25793653705551935742010-02-22T14:57:00.000-08:002010-02-23T12:12:53.415-08:00

Landon Donovan showed up at Everton FC in Liverpool the first week of January facing a veritable trial by fire. Everton, laid low for most of the fall with injuries and poor results, was embarking on a two month span during which the team would face fixtures with Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham (i.e., all 6 of the top 6 teams), as well as a tie with

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-90193093285581837942010-01-14T11:36:00.000-08:002010-01-14T14:04:12.130-08:00

I got a lot of feedback about my EA post. Since this blog is normally read by around 50 people, I welcome the new visitors. But because many people are here for the first time with no context, I think it's important that I try to distinguish the forest from the trees. My 50 regular readers know what I mean by "transition to digital" but a lot of the first-time readers don't.EA has in the past

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-40296604466691086782010-01-11T20:41:00.000-08:002010-01-12T09:23:16.289-08:00

After the bell today, EA announced a massive miss for their fiscal year, reducing revenue and earnings per share expectations. CFO Eric Brown also said in a conference call that they expect the packaged goods business to be flat to down for Fiscal 2011.For anyone paying attention to the larger trends in the video game market, this could hardly have come as a surprise. A few days ago, Gamestop, a

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com879tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-23155762079518872202009-12-09T13:57:00.000-08:002010-01-14T15:43:11.922-08:00

Well, if you read my last post and you followed the draw, you know that I think the USA got one the best possible draws -- as good as we could have reasonably expected. Overall, however, it was kind of a predictable draw, with few surprises and few really compelling story-lines in the group stage.The USA's Group C is comprised of England, Algeria and Slovenia. England are a very strong side,

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-29847967504421403972009-12-02T13:11:00.001-08:002009-12-02T14:14:03.751-08:00

This Friday at 9:00am Pacific time, the iniquitous bureaucrats from FIFA, along with a handful of celebs and pols, will get together in Cape Town, South Africa for the once-every-four-years ritual known as the World Cup Draw.This horrendously boring event, which can be cringe-inducing in its mock seriousness and cheese factor, involves grown men and women drawing 32 balls (representing the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-67540192924444763212009-06-28T21:54:00.001-07:002009-06-29T08:18:12.170-07:00

The heartbreaking Confederations Cup final, in which the tenacious but ultimately over-matched USA team went down 3-2 in the 84th minute to a fantastic Brazil side, made me realize that America has actually become a footballing nation. The collective anguish of hardcore football fans and bandwagoneers alike put us in an elite group of disappointed bridesmaid nations who get close but fail to lift

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-8951508133663375532009-06-24T19:22:00.000-07:002009-06-29T08:18:12.170-07:00

There's absolutely no way to make rational sense of it. The US men's national football team, who looked so pathetic and shambolic in their first two matches of the FIFA Confederations Cup, will play the final Sunday against either Brazil or South Africa after handily defeating Spain in the semi, 2-0. Spain, as in the Euro 2008 champions, FIFA's #1 ranked team in the world.For those unfamiliar,

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-12830596536925307862009-05-20T22:50:00.001-07:002009-06-29T08:18:30.086-07:00

In many ways, this year's finale was an odd repeat of last year's: the earnest heartland guy overcomes the splashy stage kid for the crown. Last year it was Cook over Archuleta; this year it was Allen over Lambert.Lambert was a much stronger competitor than the lightweight Archuleta, and would have made a worthy winner this year. He was made for television -- his histrionic goth/vampire vibe, his

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-43359053337214458782009-04-21T17:25:00.000-07:002009-04-24T17:47:10.930-07:00

I've talked quite a bit in the past about the turning point that the year 2004 represented in the video game business. To recap, in that year the internet revolution finally rocked the game business to its core, with electronic distribution and new business models reaching mainstream acceptance. Between the release of World of Warcraft, the launch of Half Life 2 through Steam, the Shanda, TenCent

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-26297870168829443932009-04-17T08:34:00.000-07:002009-04-17T13:55:27.943-07:00

Following up on my post about OODA, I thought I'd expand a little on the reason for strategic planning and some specific methods I've used in the past to facilitate planning. One of the important lessons that Colonel Boyd derived from his study of military history was the importance of decentralized decision-making and field-level initiative. As the military has applied Boyd's concepts on the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-41439961564401478152009-04-16T11:25:00.000-07:002009-06-29T08:18:43.677-07:00

The UEFA Champions League semi-finals are set: Man. United v. Arsenal and Barcelona v. Chelsea. The winners will play the final in Rome on May 27th. There's a chance we will see a rematch of last year's Chelsea-ManU final, although I don't think that's the way it's going to go down. This is no symbolic tournament about national honor -- this year's winner could take home nearly $60MM in prize and

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-13351230360406278062009-04-14T13:08:00.000-07:002009-04-14T13:08:38.750-07:00

I got a lot of re-tweets over the weekend regarding a blog post by Kas Thomas on "The Principle of the Last Responsible Moment." Thomas' post has mostly to do with project planning and the fallacy of the complete specification. But the actual principle he's talking about is a military tactic which is oriented toward threats, or in the realm of business, competition.I've always been a big believer

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-88481019073950411742009-03-27T16:58:00.000-07:002009-03-27T16:58:06.118-07:00

This week I spent a day at Dean Takahashi's GamesBeat conference (where I did a panel with some sharp investors from other venture firms) and two days at the Game Developer's Conference (including a solo session in the business track -- slides posted here). Didn't get a chance to see many GDC sessions, given all the meetings and presentations, but I was able to see a couple, and walk the floor

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-14631847617874246212009-03-06T10:04:00.000-08:002009-03-06T10:46:23.054-08:00

My friend Rick Heitzmann sent me a blog post by Stephen DiMarco from Online Metrics Insider titled Powerball vs. Moneyball Marketing. It is interesting reading. DiMarco's point is that there are two approaches to marketing: the Powerball approach, which is a high risk/high return, "swing for the fences" strategy; and the Moneyball approach, which (hat tip to Michael Lewis) is a metrics and

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-72333173422501496292009-03-03T17:02:00.000-08:002009-03-03T17:02:15.307-08:00

In Lahore, Pakistan, a group of up to a dozen terrorists brazenly ambushed two minivans carrying the Sri Lankan national cricket team and officials, killing 7 police and civilians, and injuring 9 of the cricketers. Just another sad and pathetic day for Pakistan, fast becoming the Somalia of South Asia? A blow to Pakistan's government, which -- after the destruction of the Islamabad Marriott, the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-92099603283576524212009-02-26T08:54:00.000-08:002009-02-26T08:54:06.541-08:00

Very cool stuff.

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-80167929209039025452009-02-23T23:21:00.001-08:002009-02-23T23:21:56.321-08:00

Tomorrow is the first match day of the UEFA Champion's League knock-out stage (live on ESPN2 @ 11:30am Pacific, with other matches rebroadcast on Setanta later in the day). There are sixteen elite teams left and some phenomenal ties. It's a great format: they play a two match home and away series, with the winner determined by aggregate goals and the tie-breaker being away goals. It is hard to

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-56326952360562525192009-02-20T09:49:00.001-08:002009-02-20T09:53:25.765-08:00

Pinch Media released an awesome presentation about iPhone app usage. I haven't validated their data directly, but if it is accurate it has some very important implications for the companies who think they can make a business with free, ad supported apps.Check it out: Most of this is pretty well-known to entertainment and e-commerce people: the hit dynamics, the seasonality, the pricing strategies

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-22896958379454640202009-02-11T08:50:00.001-08:002009-02-11T08:50:09.317-08:00

This afternoon at 4:00pm Pacific time on ESPN is the first match of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying "hexagonal" -- U.S. v. Mexico. All the stars are back from Europe for this intense rivalry. These teams absolutely despise each other. The Mexicans dominated the series from the 1930's until around 10 years ago. But in the last decade the US is 9-1-2 against them, the only two losses coming at

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-62325147646099720062009-02-04T09:13:00.000-08:002009-02-15T20:19:32.861-08:00

Almost two years ago, I predicted that the future of the internet may look more like mobile than vice versa. I was referring specifically to the growing influence of platforms -- i.e., large traffic aggregation points with API's and/or application eco-systems. It seemed inevitable that these platforms would end up playing a similar role in the internet to the role of the carrier in mobile. That

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-36089301728898569832009-01-30T08:35:00.001-08:002009-01-30T08:35:17.591-08:00

If you don't use Mint, the personal finance site (disclaimer: a Benchmark portfolio company), you should. It's a killer service. Mint provides a simple, powerful, web-based alternative to the bloat-ware that Quicken and Microsoft Money have become as a result of the "feature war" they commenced a decade ago. In this environment, where everybody is taking a second look at personal spending, Mint

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-86847960556221399682009-01-29T08:43:00.001-08:002009-01-29T08:44:27.619-08:00

PocketGamer reported today that Apple will create a "premium" area of the iPhone app store for games priced at $19.99, and will restrict distribution to a "number of large publishers, rather than the thousands of smaller developers currently selling their titles on the main App Store." The move is reportedly to help combat the race to the bottom that I wrote about last summer. To me, it suggests

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-72272355851433536792009-01-28T16:11:00.001-08:002009-01-28T16:11:53.715-08:00

I read this interesting piece on Gamasutra today and it motivated me to write about the keynote I gave at the SMU-Guildhall conference on video game law and business earlier this month. My topic was, broadly, the fallacy in the video game business that content innovation creates enterprise value. By enterprise value, I mean a return on equity for shareholders, usually at some multiple of revenue

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-58581165401155890592009-01-22T16:48:00.001-08:002009-01-22T16:51:53.105-08:00

Texan Clint Dempsey has been getting a lot of headlines in England for his good run of form at Fulham, particularly his double against Chelsea which allowed the Cottagers to steal a point in the west London derby. While he didn't seem to be particularly in favor with Fulham's dour coach Roy Hodgson early in the season, now he's a consistent starter and co-leads the team in goals.However, the big

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-85661980039391853892008-12-10T16:12:00.000-08:002008-12-12T15:24:59.590-08:00

So, Jerry Yang has finally stepped down. The search for a new CEO has begun. I have to say I'm puzzled by most of the candidates that have been rumored so far. Yahoo is at a crossroads and requires a true change-agent. Someone who will ignore the past and play the ball as it lays. Yang's decision to play chicken with Steve Ballmer will certainly go down in business history as one of the costliest

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-55183784079156747352008-12-10T14:00:00.000-08:002008-12-10T21:08:22.343-08:00

I'm currently a Mac/iPhone user, and I have some applications that I have found extremely useful over time. For those new to these platforms, I thought I would share my favorites:CommunicationsAdium (Mac): really nice IM aggregation client. Beautiful, extensible interface. Wish it did video ...Blogo (Mac): my new favorite blogging client, which has taken over from the venerable MarsEdit. Love the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-8277515130355128912008-12-07T22:00:00.001-08:002008-12-07T22:00:38.251-08:00

It's December 7th, and Fulham FC are 9th in the Premiership table with 20 points and a positive goal difference after 15 matches played. Yes, that's not a series of typos. Fulham are a top 10 side, with more than half the points they'll need to stay up, and not even half the season gone. Last year, the Cottagers didn't hit 20 points until March. They only won 8 out of 38 matches all last season,

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-83689141515564762022008-11-07T07:53:00.000-08:002009-06-29T08:19:01.116-07:00

1. Only 22% of America's counties voted more Republican in this election than in 2004. Where were they? Primarily in Appalachia, northern Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and eastern Oklahoma. As one commentator put it: "Obviously concerned about marginal tax rates for those earning over $250,000 a year, I suppose." Heh. This was the Palin base, the rural rump at whom all the coded

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-10421874995870560762008-11-02T22:48:00.000-08:002008-11-03T08:14:28.996-08:00

Election is Tuesday, for those of you who live off the grid. At this point, the biggest unknown is the youth turnout. Early voting patterns have firmly established the fact that the Dems in general and African-Americans in particular are motivated to deliver a large turnout. Probably augurs a large Republican turnout as well. Here's my prediction for the outcome:Electoral Vote: O:338, M:200 (

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-36897808042101033592008-10-31T21:44:00.001-07:002008-11-03T08:10:00.663-08:00

Heh. Obama is launching ads in Arizona, Georgia and North Dakota. Now, these are some motherfucking red states. While recent polling suggests all of these states are marginally competitive, I don't expect Obama thinks he can win in these states. I agree with Nate Silver -- this is primarily a media strategy designed to demoralize the McCain campaign. It's like the burning of Atlanta in the Civil

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-55748100148440268892008-10-30T14:17:00.000-07:002008-10-30T14:28:20.718-07:00

I thought the Obama infomercial was pretty boring. In his effort to be substantive and to reach out to the few undecideds or soft republicans, he purposefully swung away from his lofty rhetoric into a mundane articulation of policy. Frankly, I think we could have used a jolt of his preachifying at this point -- we've seen enough policy on the stump. And the cut-away to him live at the end was

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-14043492446897230092008-10-30T08:19:00.000-07:002008-10-30T14:27:38.378-07:00

As this most entertaining election cycle comes to a conclusion, I went back and read my Six Reasons post and felt I should update it with what I've learned in the eight weeks since I first wrote it.I believe we've learned a lot about McCain's character and his fitness to govern from watching his campaign. And I think what we have learned is not positive, and leads me to conclude even more

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-86172291184526046232008-10-22T08:12:00.001-07:002008-10-22T08:20:50.295-07:00

HipLogic, one of the companies I invested in earlier this year, launched their platform today. Here's the video: The conventional wisdom around Sand Hill Road is that the whole world will be running iPhones or Android phones in a couple of months, but as long-time readers know, I don't really buy that. In my conversations with carriers and handset manufacturers, they are looking for increased

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-54227842168838459602008-10-21T10:28:00.000-07:002008-10-21T12:11:25.287-07:00

... why I believe we need not simply defeat these American Taliban -- we need to sow their fields with salt for a generation. Take a listen to this, all you jews, muslims, non-evangelical christians, city-dwellers, free-thinkers, etc.  After a week during which we heard Palin call us anti-American by implication, some unhinged Minnesota congresswoman call for a McCarthyesque pogrom against the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-85981785044809478262008-10-18T19:28:00.000-07:002008-10-21T10:05:37.307-07:00

I've mostly remained out of the fray as the left has picked apart Palin with a vengeance. But after a month of aggressive digging (and muckraking) by both the old and new media, I think some of the realities are starting to emerge.Clearly, she's a not-very-bright small town/small state conservative. As such, she is scary to the coastal elites like all fly-over conservatives, because she's deeply

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-76208371483519841252008-10-16T08:25:00.000-07:002008-10-16T14:29:44.351-07:00

No, not Tom Ellsworth's mobile video company. "Get Out The Vote." The grassroots key to winning elections. Actually mobilizing the lazy, disaffected electorate to line up at the local church or school and cast an actual ballot.You may disagree with Obama ideologically on policy (even I was a little freaked out by how many programs he said he wants to fund in last night's debate), but read this

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-38199787701658819012008-10-15T23:04:00.000-07:002008-10-17T09:07:51.582-07:00

Much better than the previous ones. More substantive. More interactive. I was worried about old hack Bob Scheiffer as moderator, but he was pretty good.I thought McCain started much better than Obama, who seemed a little off his game, a little slow and befuddled at the outset. McCain had him on the defensive for most of the first half of the debate.About an hour in, though, McCain seemed to get

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-9048831751920658492008-10-15T14:26:00.000-07:002008-10-15T14:58:56.535-07:00

Two things really struck me after reading the "RIP Good Times" deck that Sequoia Capital presented to their CEO's at an all-hands meeting last week.First, the extremely well-done and convincing frontispiece. Looking at graph after graph of macro-economic data, one gets the overwhelming feeling of inevitability.  Of course this crash happened. Look at the numbers!  Rising consumer debt. Falling

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-36422112828245728812008-10-13T09:03:00.001-07:002008-10-13T13:09:47.968-07:00

One of my mantras as a business unit manager and as a CEO was the importance of creating an organizational culture of thrift.  A lot of CEOs pay lip service to cost control, but don't really run their organizations with thrift as a fundamental value.  I think that is a terrible mistake.In organizations that are succeeding, there is the tendency toward carelessness in spending. It's not outright,

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-17100034597312838752008-10-10T15:35:00.001-07:002008-10-13T16:47:37.904-07:00

I've been listening to a lot of Linton Kwesi Johnson lately. For those of you who don't know him, LKJ was a British dub poet of West Indian origin, who recorded several amazing and incendiary reggae albums in the late 70s and early 80s. LKJ is, sadly, the perfect soundtrack to the current political and economic circumstances.LKJ was at the height of his powers as a poet during a time of

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-61543441779303958352008-10-03T13:05:00.000-07:002008-10-13T13:44:06.291-07:00

I actually found the vice-presidential debate more enjoyable than the presidential debate.  In place of the grouchy dickhead McCain and the aloof, bloodless Obama, Palin and Biden seemed like nice, normal people.  Palin held her own, didn't try for too many scripted zingers, and, after a shaky start, seemed to relax into the moment.  I expected her to over-perform expectations, so her good

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-57503896753874620752008-10-03T10:45:00.000-07:002008-10-13T16:56:18.922-07:00

I think it's too early to assess the real impact of the Great Wall Street Meltdown of 2008 on the venture community and on the startup companies we fund. One thing seems clear: with the IPO market disappearing and the M&A market effected by the diminished currencies of the potential buyers, the exit opportunities are certain to be attenuated.  The blowback from this attenuation -- and an overall

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-82923204516720918182008-10-02T13:08:00.000-07:002008-10-13T13:46:25.866-07:00

If you thought I was stretching when I questioned McCain's personal narrative and described him as the callow beneficiary of nepotism and favors, read Tim Dickinson's new article in Rolling Stone. If anything, I understated what an asshole he was and is.  If Obama had received this much "affirmative action," he'd be answering for it every day.Well, perhaps it just won't matter.  Looks like the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-89159974322072519102008-10-01T13:54:00.000-07:002008-10-01T15:31:34.203-07:00

I don't trust polls.  There are a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the tendency of polls to be dead wrong.That said, if the current presidential election polling is correct merely in identifying the trends, our war hero buddy Johnny Drama is fucked.  Clearly, there is a lot of time left on the clock, and this could (and likely will) tighten before voters cast ballots in November. But

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-26735240414315341312008-09-29T15:00:00.000-07:002008-09-30T08:48:54.820-07:00

Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit used to be one of my favorite blogs on the internet. He's also one of the internet's most successful and popular political bloggers, so he's not exactly an undiscovered gem. But if you've read any of the politics posts on my site, my previous admiration for Instapundit would probably surprise you. "Isn't Glenn just a partisan Republican flack, snarkily repeating

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-76720711415391720102008-09-25T08:37:00.001-07:002008-09-29T20:22:10.509-07:00

You know, I gave McCain too much credit, calling him an antagonist rather than a leader. In fact, he's actually a stunt man, lurching from one massive, insanely risky, and highly self-dramatizing performance to the next. Hurricane's coming .... cancel the convention! Time to select my VP ... pick the hockey mom who has only been outside the US once! Wall Street is in crisis ... no, the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-11954550503045836982008-09-18T14:36:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:20:14.780-07:00

Sometimes, I really wonder about the Silicon Valley echo chamber. I spent the day yesterday at GigaOm's Mobilize conference, which is really a first-rate show. Great panels, well done.But the concentration on mobile internet companies and start-ups really masks the reality of the mobile business. If you had just woken up from a Rip Van Winkle sleep and attended this conference, you'd believe

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-48162641387643668562008-09-05T13:18:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:19:34.082-07:00

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-15023195635396036732008-09-01T21:09:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:19:34.082-07:00

Ok, the Kos kiddies went on the slander dis tip over the weekend accusing Sarah Palin of covering up her daughter's pregnancy by claiming that baby Trig was actually hers. Offered some pretty convincing circumstantial evidence. The conservative commentators went apeshit -- after all, disgusting slander-mongering is usually reserved to them (vis the Swiftboaters, or the Obama-is-a-Muslim meme).

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-9416373374523397252008-08-29T10:26:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:19:34.082-07:00

Like just about everybody, I don't know much about her.  But what I do know is that the first Democratic response to her selection was absolutely stupid:"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency."If they thought this one through, they'd realize that McCain just handed them a major gift on a silver platter.

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-17754365048495153032008-08-28T13:54:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:19:34.082-07:00

6. He's a pugilist, not a leader. He has thrived as a "maverick" by challenging from outside the centers of power. He pokes powerful and cynical politicians in the eye. He's an insurgent. But, like Castro or Robert Mugabe, insurgents can get kind of deranged when they win. I don't think he knows how to lead. I think he knows how to resist. It's the legacy of his captivity, perhaps.5. He's

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-34238758399047205882008-08-23T23:40:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:20:36.849-07:00

Ok, I'm a Fulham supporter. I know, it's slightly pathetic. But like many FFC supporters, I have a story.In the early '80s I spent a summer living with my friend Hamish McAlpine (now the head of Tartan Films and a great supporter of transgressive, psychotronic cinema) and his entourage in London. At the time, Hamish lived pretty far down the King's Road near the Fulham-Broadway tube station, a

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-39609594164656956462008-07-12T12:07:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:19:34.082-07:00

Stuck without a book on a recent long flight, I ended up reading a bunch of current magazines. Among the articles I read were a number of post-mortems on the Democratic primaries.Two stories in particular really struck me. The first was the companion piece to Jann Wenner's interview with Obama in Rolling Stone, "Obama's Brain Trust" by Tim Dickinson. The second was Gail Sheehy's look at the

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-36484543034582615602008-07-09T17:05:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:20:14.780-07:00

My partner, Bill Gurley, wrote an interesting post in his Above the Crowd blog, responding to Matt Richtel's piece about the dearth of venture-backed IPO's in the quarter. To summarize, Matt's contention is that the IPO drought was caused by lack of demand (e.g., Wall Street doesn't like what Sand Hill Road is selling); Bill's contention is that the drought was caused by lack of supply (e.g.,

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-82616516831516525292008-06-29T21:51:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:20:36.849-07:00

The better team won.  There's no question.  Spain played well enough to win the final, and consistently played well throughout the tournament.  Unless you are a die hard German homer, you have to say they were second best.Germany started well.  The Spanish defense looked confused for the first 10-12 minutes, and Germany had good possession in midfield.  Then Spain seemed to relax and get some

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-41042665410867465792008-06-28T14:37:00.001-07:002008-09-25T13:20:36.849-07:00

Spain won this one going away. Not even close. Throughout the tournament, Spain has played a quick-passing, ball control offense, but has seemingly struggled to finish chances (this strikes me as a bit odd, since Spain scored a decent 10 goals in 5 matches, but hey, what do I know). This time, at least in the second half, they kept possession and scored goals.Except for an occasional dangerous

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-53327304315279164312008-06-25T18:58:00.001-07:002008-09-25T13:20:36.849-07:00

Well, I was wrong about the score, but I was right about the Turks.  Man, they are tough. I underestimated the sheer will of the Turkish second string -- mostly guys from the great Turkish clubs like Besiktas, Galatasaray, and Fenerbahce. They were playing with only three or four of their starters, and yet they managed to score two excellent goals against Germany.Turkey came out and really took

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-43463477024269807802008-06-23T20:01:00.000-07:002008-06-29T22:56:09.069-07:00

Ok, let's admit it.  Euro 2008 has been insane.  The quality of play has been excellent and a significant number of the matches have been on the knife's edge until the final whistle.  The semi-finals will be Germany v. Turkey and Russia v. Spain.  I think you could have gotten long odds on this foursome before the tournament.  Of the four, only Germany was a stone cold favorite. The bugbear of

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-89139472871306358992008-06-22T19:06:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:26:28.475-07:00

I'm moving Bizpunk to Blogger.  I have to move my web server up to northern California over the summer, and I want to have a stable site in the interim.  I may go back to my Typo blog after I move, but I'm here for now.I'll try to back-fill my old posts here when I pull them off the server.

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-1097778262894940062008-02-09T22:33:00.000-08:002008-09-25T13:20:14.780-07:00

DICE is always an interesting gathering. If GDC is (or at least was) a combination job fair and tech seminar for the video game industry rank and file, and E3 was the sales and marketing orgy, then DICE is where the industry celebrates creativity and the craft -- and occasionally where the creatives confront the suits.I was there to do one of the two Autodesk-sponsored "Fight Club" sessions. My

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-53918191479771028282007-10-01T18:32:00.000-07:002008-06-30T18:36:03.215-07:00

In early 2000, Microsoft was at the top of its game. Windows 95 and it's successor Windows 98 had achieved worldwide dominance. Apple was still a year away from releasing OS X and the iPod, marking the beginning of the company's renaissance. Internet Explorer had wrested leading market share from Netscape, repositioning Microsoft as a leading internet company and dooming the dot-com darling to an

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-14022842758569728212007-07-23T18:41:00.000-07:002008-06-30T18:43:06.372-07:00

I went to the match with my family on Saturday. I'll have more to say about the atmosphere and Beckham-mania later, but first, the match.It was very entertaining. Chelsea, clearly still in pre-season form, played most of their great players (Robben was a notable exception). In the course of the afternoon, Drogba, Lampard, Kalou, Terry, Joe Cole, Sean Wright-Phillips, Essien, Makalele, Shevchenko

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-32059820432369192812007-06-21T18:47:00.000-07:002008-06-30T18:48:26.715-07:00

USA 2-1 Canada. USA heads to the final despite playing a weak and sloppy game, again. And, frankly, they probably shouldn't have won -- give that an end-of-injury-time equalizer by Canada was called offside, when it clearly was not. However, given that the match was in the 5th minute of a supposedly 4 minute extra time, it's hard to get too worked up about it, unless of course you are

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-79603090814677251962007-05-25T18:50:00.000-07:002008-06-30T18:52:16.484-07:00

I attended the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference in Las Vegas this week. Anthony Noto, the lead research analyst at Goldman, puts together a great conference. He's whip-smart, gets great people to attend and present, and balances it all very nicely.Over the two days, I saw presentations from Microsoft, Getty Images, Linden Lab, eBay, Tencent, LinkedIn, Viacom, Disney, Amazon, Glu Mobile, IAC,

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-53978341303684780602007-05-21T18:56:00.000-07:002008-06-30T18:57:50.595-07:00

Since I've started at my new job, I have looked at a number of mobile products and services. While I've had some amusing meetings where entrepreneurs show me their hot new "mobile marketing" concept that's essentially crude, circa-2003 SMS/WAP Push, the more interesting conversations relate to the current and future role of the mobile operators, or carriers, in the mobile content and commerce

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-22066244103154278422007-05-18T22:33:00.000-07:002008-07-01T11:54:36.474-07:00

Tomorrow morning (7am pacific, PPV), Chelsea and Man United play the FA Cup final. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like we were headed for a trio of classic Chelsea/Man U. matches -- the second-to-last match of the Premiership season, which could have been a decider; the FA Cup final; and, most importantly, the Champions League final in Athens.Instead, we'll have an injury-weakened Chelsea (no

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-49418307347352021822007-05-18T20:41:00.000-07:002008-10-17T17:09:30.295-07:00

Over the Christmas break, our whole family (10 of us) drove up to the central coast for a vacation. We spent a few nights in Paso Robles and a few nights in Santa Barbara.Paso Robles and the Edna Valley, to the south of San Luis Obispo, have really become extraordinary wine regions. I actually prefer it to the more hyped Los Olivos/Santa Inez regions outside Santa Barbara.We tasted at 17 wineries

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-45444269129158882142007-05-18T09:16:00.000-07:002008-07-01T11:27:35.124-07:00

My speech on the JAMDAT story from the Santa Clara University entrepreneurship series is up on the web. This presentation was influenced by the style of Lawrence Lessig, well-summarized at Presentation Zen. It's perhaps a bit wordier than the classic Lessig style, but it's still pretty iconic and sparse. The audience seemed to really enjoy it.

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-57867183485618693842007-05-17T11:19:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:26:14.190-07:00

During the summer of 2006, while I was on a hiatus from blogging, the amazing band Sleater-Kinney announced the sad news that they were no longer going to record or tour as a group.From my perspective, there have been three truly great "alternative" guitar bands in the last 25 years: Husker Du, Sonic Youth, and Sleater-Kinney. These bands produced a diverse catalog of music over many recordings

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-19073343671531319202007-05-15T13:00:00.000-07:002008-07-01T11:40:03.875-07:00

My 10 year old daughter, who is an avid reader, started getting into comics. The gateway comic for kids her age is Archie, which she devoured. Then she started reading the comics page of the LA Times. Then she started drawing her own comics.Being the geek dad, I got her a copy of Scott McCloud's classic Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. If you haven't read this book, and you work in a

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-4834278178091309262007-05-15T11:20:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:26:45.176-07:00

I'm back after a long hiatus from blogging, necessitated by my job change. I've got some catching up to do -- a backlog of posts about pop culture and business.

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1547815519783314740.post-25038465870096656502006-09-16T11:22:00.000-07:002008-09-25T13:23:16.460-07:00

My family is highly computerized and connected. In fact, we have more than twice as many computers in the house as TV's; two computers for every family member. Despite the cozy domesticity of the setup, it's a pretty high-demand environment. The need for reliable, high-speed connectivity, permissions, security, file services, mobility, etc., make this much more than a "plug in the WiFi router and

bizpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371421326927967695noreply@blogger.com5