Viewpoint West Partners

Man Behind the VC Slagfest at TheFunded.com Reveals Himself to Wired

Man Behind the VC Slagfest at TheFunded.com Reveals Himself to Wired

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-12/ff_funded?currentPage=all

... Adeo Ressi says that he's not out to punish venture capitalists. He just wants to refocus them on what should be their goal: "backing savvy entrepreneurs to move the fundamental technologies of humanity forward." And some of TheFunded's readers say they get more out of the site than a mere chance to vent. Stephen Bell, founder of a video-shopping site called ShangBy, says he used TheFunded to research VCs before meeting them. ...

... TheFunded's reputation had spread throughout the VC industry. Investors in venture funds — endowments, pension funds, wealth-management institutions — wanted to tap into the collective wisdom of TheFunded's members. And consultants, advisers, and attorneys who worked with entrepreneurs also wanted access. (Ressi would later offer paid subscriptions at $250 per year for applicants who didn't meet his criteria but wanted access to all the site's features. About 150 have subscribed. "I can't believe people signed up for it," he marvels.) ...

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Valleywag - Google admits to Cracking Facebook Private Data

Valleywag - Google admits to Cracking Facebook Private Data

Over the weekend, Google admitted it used private information about Facebook users to target advertising, AllFacebook reports. Google sells advertising to Facebook application developers, which Facebook permits. Google's mistake was "allowing" these developers to redirect information from user profiles through Google's AdSense system in order to serve relevant advertising. That's a violation of Facebook's terms of service. The irony?

Facebook does the same thing, of course. A couple of weeks ago CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it behavioral targeting and said it would change media for 100 years to the near-unanimous praise of Madison Avenue advertising agencies. It's not that Facebook disapproves of targeting ads to its users' private data. It just disapproves of Google doing it.

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http://valleywag.com/tech/your-privacy-is-an-illusion/

WSJ - Bloggers React to Amazon's Kindle ...

Bloggers React to Amazon's Kindle ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119549727866598162.html

Amazon.com Inc.'s new e-book reader, Kindle, has only been on sale for a few hours, but the blogosphere already has a lot to say about it.

Gadget blogs like Engadget and Gizmodo are buzzing about the device's free wireless capability and odd design. Media and publishing bloggers, some responding to Newsweek's nearly 5,000-word advance look, are discussing what Kindle means for the e-books industry and reading itself. Other tech bloggers are hashing out its price tag ($399) and the notion of having to pay for blog feeds.

And everyone has an opinion, mostly negative, about how it looks. A sample description: "like a prop from an old sci-fi horror flick."

Amazon customers have weighed in, too, with more than 100 reviews already in. Kindle, so far, is rated 2.5 stars out of 5.

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Henry Blodget - Facebook: Who Else Wants to Invest at $15B? No One?

Facebook: Who Else Wants to Invest at $15B? No One?
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/11/facebook-who-el.html

It's been three weeks since Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg took a desperate Microsoft to the cleaners with a $15 billion valuation. It's been 2.9 weeks since Forbes reported that Facebook had raised an additional $500 million from "hedge funds," lending credence to the idea that the $15 billion valuation was actually reasonable.  And it's been about 2.8 weeks since that $500 million was hastily revised to a "possible" $260 million by the Wall Street Journal.

Then, last week, after two weeks of deafening silence (and an anti-climactic launch of Social Ads), Portfolio reported that Facebook was still looking to raise that additional cash.  And now, another week later...more silence...

... Bottom line? With the disappointing launch of Social Ads and the failure to raise additional cash, we may watching the bloom start to fall off the Facebook rose.

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NYT - I.B.M. to Push ‘Cloud Computing’

NYT - I.B.M. to Push ‘Cloud Computing’

By STEVE LOHR

Published: November 15, 2007

 

I.B.M. plans to build a sizable business by bringing Google-style computing to mainstream corporate customers.

The I.B.M. strategy, to be announced today, seeks to exploit the technical work and commercial interest in large data centers that can be run more efficiently, searched for information and programmed from remote locations over the Internet.

This model of Internet-based supercomputing is known as cloud computing because vast stores of information and processing resources can be tapped from afar — by a laptop personal computer, cellphone or other device.

I.B.M. is calling its initiative Blue Cloud. Most of the basic software needed for cloud computing is open source, meaning that the code is freely available and can be modified by users. The hardware used in the data centers is typically many thousands of industry-standard server computers, powered by processors made by Intel or Advanced Micro Devices, and produced by many hardware makers.

But I.B.M., analysts say, is trying to position itself as a leader in the corporate market for cloud computing, which many specialists regard as the next evolutionary step in information technology. The business strategy, they say, is to sell more I.B.M. hardware, software and services tailored for cloud computing. Starting in spring 2008, I.B.M. will offer versions of its server computers, including mainframes, that are adapted for cloud computing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/technology/15blue.html

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