Disqus - Latest Comments for hank777

Re: People need an online nest they own

Hank Williams — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 08:50:09 -0000

Funny. This is *exactly* what I have been building for the last few years. I don't think we miss anything in the checklist. We are pretty close to rolling out the core technology with our first app. We are not publishing the API at first because we want to really make sure the core tech works and scales. It turns out security and stability and something like this are a big deal, and having zillions of people hit it with different apps before we've really made sure the APIs are secure is worrying.

The big thing that we are adding is security. Though we host the data, (and will as you suggest eventually allow others to do so) we will not have access to the data. So the NSA can never demand that we turn over your info like they can of google or dropbox, or salesforce or whatever because we will not hold the encryption keys, but you will still be able to search and sort in the cloud. Usually such services make the compromise that your data is either encrypted and secure or accessible/searchable, whereas what we are doing doesn't need to make that compromise.

If we've got this right, its the culmination of my life's tech work, and we're incredibly excited.

Re: - Thisisgoingtobebig.com - Beer and Startups: The Alcohol Culture of the Tech World

Hank Williams — Mon, 05 May 2014 10:11:42 -0000

I think this is really compelling. I never really thought about it quite this way but now that you say it, it makes a lot of sense. My issue is that I almost never drink (maybe one or twice a year I will have a glass of wine), and when I go to events it drives me nuts when (as is often the case at thrown together tech events) they don't even *offer* anything else. I don't want a friggin beer. Can I have a coke... or better yet some bottled water!

Re: A Couple Trips To The Future

Hank Williams — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 10:59:45 -0000

I saw Her yesterday and had much the same reaction you did. I have spent my life loving technology, and I cant imagine doing anything with my life other than build it, but in recent years I have come to a place of fearing, or perhaps knowing, that where we are headed may not end well.

Technology is displacing workers, messing with our economic system and societal distribution assets, at the same time it is messing with our ability to relate to each other in certain ways. What Her demonstrates is one aspect of this that I had not thought through fully, but represents a future that is, as I see it, almost a certainty.

I am not sure there is anything that any of us can do about any of this, but perhaps the most important thing all of us can do is just to think about it. Thinking beyond the next quarter, the next startup, next year's cool new tech is something that those of us involved in creating technology (and those that aren't) is, I think, becoming a civic and hugely important social responsibility.

Re: Greenwald, Pando, the hero and the billionaire

Hank Williams — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 10:49:49 -0000

Interestingly I am not an unqualified fan of Greenwald. He seems thin skinned for someone who does what he does and a bit too quick to attack rather than engage in discourse. I detect that same issue here.

That said, I find his defense, which is that all media is essentially, a business, or at least it wants to be, credible. I am not sure I would call all of his response to be a "content free" (my words) dismissal. The issue of whether we will every really have profitable news businesses in the future is obviously open for debate. But leaving aside all the muddying, and flame throwing, I did find the core point about media being a business (i.e. the washington post, Woodward, etc.) to be a reasonable defense (leaving out all the personal stuff). For example, in the media/news business who actually has the right to get rich, and who does not. Where should those lines get drawn. Is this only an issue because it is Pierre Omidyar? What if it was Rupert and Fox. Or what if NBC had offered him a fat contract. Of course in these cases we probably just would never even think about the economics.

But I guess this whole debate leaves me wondering whether news must be non-profit, either practically, ethically, or legally? Given that you have undoubtedly spent more time than I have thinking about this I'd just love you to lay out some more thoughts on this. It is interesting stuff.

Re: Jobs: Coming or Going?

Hank Williams — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 16:26:28 -0000

It is good to see that so many people have finally caught up to this issue. I wrote about this on my own blog in 2008[1] and then on Business Insider back in 2009[2] and was dismissed by many (including Henry) as being either alarmist or nuts for suggesting we have a serious problem on our hands. Now I think most economists actually agree there is reason to be concerned.

My view is that we are heading towards what I call an automated economy. This is an economy where all the basic needs of life and survival (i.e. food, energy, clothing, transportation, manufacturing) are met by incredibly efficient technology and a very small number of "operators". Everything eventually becomes software and while software engineers will be in demand we all know software has a massively asymmetrical benefit. Facebook serves billions of people with thousands of workers.

The notion that infinite increases in productivity are beneficial is obviously wrong if you consider that following that curve, eventually you end up with one guy making everything. The problem with this may not be as obvious as it seems. The key issue is that jobs are nothing more than a tool for re-distributing wealth throughout society. There is nothing inherently good about work, or jobs or capitalism. It is a man made construct that has worked for a short window of our human existence.

Capitalism is seen as a "fair" way to provide that wealth distribution while preserving individual motivation so that we can keep improving quality of life. It is an excuse for one person to not horde everything because he needs stuff from another. But once we lose jobs as a tool for wealth distribution, then capitalism as a structure becomes totally unworkable. This is fine except that the transition from a primarily capitalist society (we are already somewhat socialist as we must be) to an entirely socialist one will create social upheaval and disruption of a type that has only been seen in dystopian sci-fi films.

One of my additional worries is that while the pie is shrinking, some groups, particularly people of color, are being disproportionately left out of this key part of the economy. And while I ultimately think these issues impact everyone evenly, the canary in the coal mine will be people of color which will create even greater social unrest and very nasty political dynamics.

In short, I am a technologist. I love technology. But I am worried.

[1]http://whydoeseverythingsuc...
[2]http://www.businessinsider....

Re: Video Of The Week: Rohan's Interview With Albert Wenger

Hank Williams — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:09:16 -0000

Indeed. I was very glad to see paul write about it.

If your curious here was the original piece:
http://www.businessinsider....

and below henry's response, circa 2009 (top level point... times have changed!)

I think you're more concerned than you need to be here. Since the dawn of time, hundreds of millions of jobs have been eliminated for good, as technology solved needs we didn't know we had. The same thing is happening--and will continue to happen--this time around.

True, we don't need as many mortgage brokers and real-estate agents as we needed in 2007. But, as it always has been, necessity will be the mother of invention, and most of those folks will eventually find other things to do. Same for laid-off newspaper reporters, assembly-line workers, and so on.

I very much doubt the technology for growing food and making clothing will ever be more cost-effective for each house to own as opposed to being made in factories. But if it ever is, humans will find other things to do. They always have, and they always will.

Whether the wealth gets tied up in the hands of a few folks is a different question. I don't think that trend has much to do with technology eliminating jobs, though.

Re: Video Of The Week: Rohan's Interview With Albert Wenger

Hank Williams — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 13:09:47 -0000

The discussion of the future of work and whether the capitalist model works in a world where machines begin doing most of the work is one of the things I have been most fascinated with and concerned about. He referenced the social unrest which may come from that and I absolutely concur. It is interesting to hear more and more people agree about this. I wrote about this on business insider perhaps four years ago and had Henry make a comment which was essentially dismissive of he idea. I'm glad to see this discussion going more mainstream because I think while it is still not talked about enough, it is likely the defining issue of the technological age.

Re: Reception Desk NDAs

Hank Williams — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:55:52 -0000

yup it sucks. It is an inappropriate indignity. I would imagine that, given your position, you are less subject to such indignities, and when you are it must feel all the more galling. For most of us, getting screwed by inappropriate or disrespectful stuff is just called getting along. I find myself just ignoring stuff like that because there's nothing I can do, but it is interesting having someone like you point out how bad it is. I realize I've become inured to so much.

Re: Scripting News: An idea for CurrentTV

Hank Williams — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:09:17 -0000

As I have said before I'd love to work with you! Of course what I was thinking was not super creative. Its just that tweets as a form of payment or credits is a great general idea. I was thinking we could use it the way dropbox uses referrals to give people free storage.

Re: Scripting News: An idea for CurrentTV

Hank Williams — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:06:52 -0000

This is a brilliant idea. And it could be used for lots of other purposes. So if you dont mind, I'm going to steal it :)

Re: Why CNN’s ‘Black in America’ misses the point on race in tech | VentureBeat

Hank Williams — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:51:39 -0000

hmm... to suggest that *you* know what will or won't be successful as a product, and that such an analysis was the job of CNN, I think, misses the mark. But since you're going there, I think playd, as a foursquare for games, and fetchmob (in the same camp as zaarly) are both examples of companies that are in categories that have exploded but are not yet owned.

But the truth is that consumer internet is not about technology. Very few ycombinator or Techstars companies are changing the world. The business model of accelerators doesn't really allow for that level of initial value creation because, for the most part, companies are whipped up so quickly with so little funding. If your thesis is that none of these companies are likely to change the world, even if I agreed with that, it would be more of an indictment of the current structure of the tech and early stage investment market and not of the documentary since I would make that argument about any seed stage accelerator participating company.

Re: Want To Be A VC? Start A Company.

Hank Williams — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:19:24 -0000

Yeah, I wasnt rebutting your argument, really just taking things in a slightly different direction. One thing I will say though is that a lot of the great ones have been around a *very* long time. I think its harder to be a great VC thats only been doing it five years with no operating experience. But we *are* seeing great VCs that havent been doing it that long that do have operating experience. In other words, long VC experience may trump or at least be equal to operating experience, but operating experience may still be a significant advantage.

Re: Want To Be A VC? Start A Company.

Hank Williams — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:58:53 -0000

How do you teach loving products and technology? hmmm... in your heart it must be (said in yoda tone).

Re: Want To Be A VC? Start A Company.

Hank Williams — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:53:08 -0000

most of those guys (I dont know about all of them) were serious product guys either by training as an engineer or journalist. I think the financial engineering route is much less successful, but I have no stats to back that up. At least half your list (some I dont know their backgrounds) fit that description.

Re: Want To Be A VC? Start A Company.

Hank Williams — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:50:13 -0000

Its probably helpful to get the associate job and get in the door. But IMHO it doesnt make you a very good VC. Andrew Parker's point about successful VCs is a good one, many were not entrepreneurs. But lots were journalists or entrepreneurs, like Mike Moritz (journalist) or John Doerr (engineer). These guys loved products and technology. I think you have to love products and technology to be a great VC.

Re: Want To Be A VC? Start A Company.

Hank Williams — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:48:16 -0000

you hit the nail on the head. Of course I don't consider VC == PE. Many folks do.

Re: Want To Be A VC? Start A Company.

Hank Williams — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:06:43 -0000

lol. yeah. the interesting thing is you *became* a product guru, as in journalist, I think in large part through writing this blog. You guys did pretty darn well at flatiron (and no disrespect to my friend Jerry) but in this second round you have gone stratospheric, and I think the journalist piece of what you do has played an incredible part (says the arm chair analyst)

Re: Want To Be A VC? Start A Company.

Hank Williams — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:58:15 -0000

One thing I think is significant here is that the finance/mba path that many folks use to get into the VC business is a lot less legit. Even if you haven't run a business but you know some product space *really* well (i.e. journalist or engineer) thats great. I just see almost zero value in a VC whose background is running numbers and/or "analyzing" companies wall street style.

edit: well not zero value but let just say (much less likely to be really good) value.

Re: SoundCloud & Tumblr

Hank Williams — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:00:11 -0000

maybe we could put a pool together for charity. I'm in for $10!

Re: SoundCloud & Tumblr

Hank Williams — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 07:52:55 -0000

"And almost jumped out of my chair with joy."

I would have paid real money to see that :)

Re: A Challenge To Startup Lawyers

Hank Williams — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:11:18 -0000

i'll do you one better. I just had a law firm try to charge $4000 for a trademark filing. Instead we hired a cheap "trademarks only" firm for $600 (including the $325 filing fee).

Re: Scripting News: Minimal blogging tool, working!

Hank Williams — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:56:17 -0000

congrats man! I wish I had time to play with this because it ties into my current work, but I am putting out too many fires and trying to get ready for launch too. But congrats nevertheless!!!

Re: Exclusive: Kno Student Tablet Start-Up in Talks to Sell Off Tablet Part of Its Business

Hank Williams — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:33:56 -0000

I am simply saying I dont use an iPad for note taking and drawing an I don't think anyone sane uses it that way currently. So i don't think kno can be successful based on current iPad hardware. It will have to be android or apple will need to add more features. Audio recording is not note taking unless you're Stevie wonder.

Re: Exclusive: Kno Student Tablet Start-Up in Talks to Sell Off Tablet Part of Its Business

Hank Williams — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:54:55 -0000

The problem with the iPad for education is it doesnt have pen input. This will be critical for taking notes, drawing diagrams, highlighting content, and all the cool software stuff that the Kno did. Someone recently announced an Android with pen capabilities where Kno software will work well. But I dont see any way an ipad is useful for students without a pen. I use mine almost exclusively for browsing the web and email and occasionally some other audio or video content. I think (cool as it is) the iPad will suck for students.

Re: Apple Rolls Out Long-Awaited/Feared Subscription Plan

Hank Williams — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:10:48 -0000

I wonder what this means for software services. If I operate a web service for which there is a monthly fee, if I have an iphone app for that service, does apple now get a 30% cut? If so I better fire our iPhone developers quick.