It Burns! It Burns!

Then I realized why I need to start a new company. Not for the money. Not because I’m “bored”. But because a company is a laboratory to try your ideas.

The entire Mac franchise, even with the halo effect from the iPhone and iPad, is worth less than the amount of cash Apple has on hand.

Apple computers are getting more proprietary. Shocking!

Firstly, if you get shot in the head, in this day and age, you have, on average, about a 50/50 chance of surviving.

And:

There is one rare effect, called the Krönlein shot, where a high powered shot messily opens the skull but neatly ejects the whole brain on the ground. You can find pictures on the web from pathology articles but, I warn you, they’re neither child friendly nor particularly good tea-time viewing.

Don’t try this at home.

Forget Facebook. Forget Groupon. Forget everything you know about Silicon Valley. Because Ponzify isn’t like other tech companies. We don’tpromiseresults. Weshowthem to you, on a piece of paper, that has your name and a monetary figure that increases every month.

Our business model is simple: Attract users, advertisers, positive press and a corporate buyer; then, pull the cord on that golden parachute and have cable news book you as an expert on startups from time to time. There may be a book deal in there, too. We haven’t decided.

Users love our product because it’s something free. Venture Capitalists love it because they can imagine themselves talking about it at T.E.D. or on Charlie Rose. Trust us: Once you invest in Ponzify, you’ll have a difficult time investing your money anywhere else ever again.

Must read for everybody involved in startups. Take notes.

Unbelievably entertaining. You have to try it for yourself.

Paul Irish dissects the site.

(via Web Design Weekly News)

People love me. Why? Because I’m fun. I’m the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party?WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business’ website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.

Comic Sans with a vengeance.

Andreessen enumerates a list of software companies that’ve redefined industries. Think advertising (Google), bookstores (Amazon), music (iTunes), etc.

Software engineering is a meta-discipline. Like business and law, it touches every aspect of every industry. Unlike business and law, it tends to have a much more transformative impact.

“The present findings have striking parallels to the evolution of classical music from 1600 to 1900,” Schellenberg and von Scheve write. “Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries …. Pieces tended to sound unambiguously happy or sad. By the 1800s, and the middle of the Romantic era, tempo and mode cues were more likely to conflict,” which allowed composers to express a wide range of emotions within a single piece.

“Popular music from 1965 to 2009 shows the same developmental trend over a much shorter time scale,” they add. “Popular music with mixed emotional cues has always existed, (but today) artistic integrity and commercial success are no longer contradictory, and art-rock bands such as Radiohead have legions of fans.”