Disqus - Latest Comments for Alexander Muse

Re: A Delicious Eight Months

Alexander Muse — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:16:38 -0000

Nice... How involved were you with the decision to sell to Yahoo? What made you decide to go that route instead of internal development of the concept?

Re: Sessions Top Ten Insights - Two

Alexander Muse — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 20:30:56 -0000

I think the insight relative to Craig's pricing model is interesting. Did he think of that or did Tom just invent the theory? Craig? Someone is brilliant...

Re: A VC: As Long As We Are Rethinking Yahoo's Board

Alexander Muse — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:18:30 -0000

Don't be frustrated. If Yahoo had actually sought the involvement of "Someone like Joshua Schachter or Stewart Butterfield or Caterina Fake or Eric Marcoullier or Al Warms or Satish Dharmaraj." they wouldn't find themselves the target of Carl's efforts. Assuming Carl can pull it off, Microsoft HAS agreed to buy the company so the slate of directors won't matter a lick.

Re: Chrome, Android, and The Cloud

Alexander Muse — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:07:54 -0000

I completely agree on the Android front. When our team began building GoCart (our ADC winner) we could have built it for the iPhone first, but decided to focus on Android instead. Building for Android for the long term and porting to iPhone afterward seemed a little illogical at first since there were NO Android phones available when we started. We believe, in the long, run (especially internationally) Android will win and being first and native to Android will keep us on top (hopefully anyway). Of course expect to see GoCart on iPhone in a month or two. :)

Re: To Splurge Or Not To Splurge

Alexander Muse — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:04:52 -0000

I looked into the $2300 number and found it a little misleading. Most Americans (i.e. half of taxpayers and those who do not pay taxes as they don't earn enough) will pay far less $0 to $350 each. Of course, those in the top 25% of taxpayers will pay far more, between $17K and 170K. Here are the details: http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2008/09/26/how-...

Re: There's Plenty Of Oxygen In The Air

Alexander Muse — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:11:36 -0000

I agree with your post, but to be sure it isn't a time for 'idea-stage' startups to raise millions. esterday I had a chance to listen to elevator pitches from more than 60 companies at Rice University’s Rice Alliance event. Lots of interesting concepts and ideas. Many of these entrepreneurs are looking for $1,000,000+ to take their ideas from prototype to production. Twelve months ago it was VERY reasonable for many of these entrepreneurs to assume they would be able to secure angel or venture capital for their startups. The sad truth is that for 97% of these companies there is simply no chance they will be able to raise anywhere near the amount of money they ‘need’ given the realities of THIS market.

For most of these entrepreneurs the ‘notion’ that they ’should’ be able to raise the money necessary to build their companies is holding them back. They are ‘waiting’ to move to the next stage until they get the cash they think they need. My advice to entrepeneurs (in this market) is to start building their businesses on the assumption that outside capital is NOT available. Partner with other companies, find paying customers, find employees willing to work on the side for a cut of the business - anything that will enable the business to survive.

It is not 1999 - not even close. Stop acting like it. The key term in 2009 (for most of us, me included) is BOOTSTRAP! You CAN lift yourself up without money from Benchmark, trust me.

Re: Advertise Different: Nip/Tuck Premiere Episode 2006

Alexander Muse — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:15:22 -0000

FX and their Nip/Tuck series have started using our Fancast System to promote their show. Check out the on-air promo (rights free):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMyyqyJmQFs

Also, these two pages describe the system:

http://www.biggu.com/fancast-2/
http://www.biggu.com/fancast/

I can connect you with the FX guys if you want to do something on this..

Re: Top 10 Reasons to Date an Entrepreneur

Alexander Muse — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:36:30 -0000

LOL

Re: It’s a girl!

Alexander Muse — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:55:35 -0000

Congrats! Say hi to her for us. When are you coming back to work? Just kidding! Take it easy and take care of your wife and newborn...

Re: Tag! I’m it.

Alexander Muse — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:25:07 -0000

Might as well add the nude photos as 'favs' as you have let the cat out of the bag. That way we could all enjoy your nude/seminude selections. FYI - blog are fairly public. :)

Re: Picnik makes me feel all fuzzy inside

Alexander Muse — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:03:38 -0000

I agree completely... Gotta love that picnik!

Re: About

Alexander Muse — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:59:24 -0000

Mind if I reprint your pitch monster piece on the Texas Startup Blog? Just let me know amuse@m-ven.com Thanks!

Re: I'm not happy with Leopard (Scripting News)

Alexander Muse — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:29:20 -0000

If your computers are important to you, why would you upgrade to the first version of any operating system? Taking you at your word, that the previous version of OSX worked for you, why migrate back to Windows? Your actions seem to be a bit rash and thoughtless. Take some time, relax, take a deep breath. Think before you leap. My advice? Downgrade Leopard to Tiger and continue to enjoy your Mac until Apple gets all of the kinks out. Let the first movers do the heavy lifting. You need to hold your time and work in higher regard. Migrating back to Windows is a huge mistake. By the way, which version of Windows did you revert to? XP or Vista?

Re: http://www.rev2.org/2006/04/17/at-least-theyre-big-in-japan/

Alexander Muse — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 04:25:42 -0000

The tools really are in Alpha, i.e. that means we have released them on the 'dev' boxes. So each time we add a new feature, fix a bug or test a new idea the tools get modified directly. Once we move to beta we will only release new code after it has been tested in a dev environment. Sorry this was not clear. I think you are the first person to do a 'real' review of the tools. Once we release all of them and do so in beta I would like to invite you to try again.

With regard to adding shows to your podcast on podserve this is done by clicking on the podcast you have created and hitting the 'add a new show' link. I have taken a screenshot and added on Flickr for you here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/132285479/ Before we release in beta we will have cleaned the UI and made it easier to understand. Thanks again!

Re: Yahoo redefines “fail” — again

Alexander Muse — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:37:37 -0000

Nightmare. These guys need to sell before the lawyers get all of the money!

Re: PodShow raises $15M more for….podcasting. Yikes!

Alexander Muse — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:32:16 -0000

Our own experience in this space with Big in Japan (PodServe and Fancast) perhaps jade my thinking on these things, but I don't get it either. What is the money for? Really, what can you do with $15MM that you can't accomplish with far less risk for $1MM?

Re: Technology buyouts come of age

Alexander Muse — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 19:23:39 -0000

This story is a bit bigger here in Dallas. Turns out there might be quite a bit more to the story at Sevin Rosen than first came out. Dan Primack is suggesting that they pulled a snow job on the New York Times:

http://texasvc.weblogswork.com/2006/10/14/dalla...

Re: Start-up advice for entrepreneurs, from Y Combinator Startup School

Alexander Muse — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:25:20 -0000

I cannot imagine how the organizers of Startup School can stand behind Mark's statements. Typically a 'school' whose 'teachers' suggest that their students violate the law can be taken to task. Perhaps it would be smart for the Startup School to require their 'teachers' to limit their teachings to legal activities. I know I am ranting, but literally, my jaw dropped when I heard Mark suggest that founders should violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967...

Re: Big in Japan wins the Android Challenge, raises money and has big plans for Google Android development

Alexander Muse — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:31:50 -0000

Thanks for the article, we are really excited about Android and the opportunity it may bring developers like us!

Re: Big in Japan wins the Android Challenge, raises money and has big plans for Google Android development

Alexander Muse — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:10:31 -0000

Get a life Sean...

Re: A Delicious Eight Months

Alexander Muse — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:16:38 -0000

Nice... How involved were you with the decision to sell to Yahoo? What made you decide to go that route instead of internal development of the concept?

Re: Sessions Top Ten Insights - Two

Alexander Muse — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 20:30:56 -0000

I think the insight relative to Craig's pricing model is interesting. Did he think of that or did Tom just invent the theory? Craig? Someone is brilliant...

Re: Big in Japan wins the Android Challenge, raises money and has big plans for Google Android development

Alexander Muse — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:11:04 -0000

Again, Sean, get a life...

Re: The “capital calls” crisis: separating fact from fiction

Alexander Muse — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:30:35 -0000

Good reporting...

Re: Twitter has made Dell $1 million in revenue

Alexander Muse — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:57:48 -0000

So, they only made $80,000 (i.e. around 8% margin on those sales). How much could Twitter hope to earn on that? 10% of margin? $8,000?

Re: louisgray.com: 10 Predictions for 2009 In the World of Tech

Alexander Muse — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:50:12 -0000

:) You're welcome. I think the fact that T-Mobile is going to offer the G1 for free in Europe means it will penetrate much faster than the iPhone did in the US. Obviously, Europe is MUCH bigger than the US and this alone should mean Android is going to have a good year. I agree completely that the IPhone has a huge lead - a lead Android won't come close to matching until late 2010.

Re: louisgray.com: 10 Predictions for 2009 In the World of Tech

Alexander Muse — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:53:28 -0000

I think the G1 is a great first pass. Think about the fact that they had only 4 months to get the phone out the door, while at the same time finishing the operating system. I think the G1 is a great handset if you take that into consideration. Motorola is ONLY making Android based handsets, HTC is working on three more Android handsets, LG is making a handset, Lenovo has a handet in production and so on. Don't worry - you will soon see an array of handsets that meet the needs of kids, adults, virtual keyboard fans, real keyboard fans, business users, gamers and so on. I am so pumped about Android's opportunity I can hardly stand it - can you tell?

I love the iPhone - but Apple can support only so much innovation. How silly would it be for Apple to release 20 different iPhone versions? I don't think they have the ability or the desire to meet the needs all all users. The fact that Android is open means everyone can innovate - some phones will suck, but many others will rock.

Re: louisgray.com: 10 Predictions for 2009 In the World of Tech

Alexander Muse — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:57:13 -0000

Most of us who opposed Obama (conservatives) have been fairly happy with Obama. Privately, and ironically, we are fairly confident that Obama will govern far closer to the center than McCain would have. I think most of the anti-Obama activity/activism is on hold. Now if Obama swerves to the left you can expect conservatives to start speaking up, but I think he will have a longer than usual grade period (i.e. given the economic issues we face).

Re: Unruly Fans at the Yard.

Alexander Muse — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:59:05 -0000

Aaron - I wanted to get your email address. Seems like we have quite a bit in common and I wanted to introduce myself. I found my way to B5 as a result of Fred Wilson. He thought I should get you guys to record an elevator pitch to the Elevator Pitch Podcast (more than 10,000 iTunes subscribers tune in to hear pitches from startups and those seeking funding). Love to hear a three minute pitch from you guys. Anyway, you have may email! - Alex

PS here is the address of the podcast (you can upload your mp3 anytime) http://podserve.biggu.com/podcasts/show/elevato...

Re: Apple giving out boxes that can’t be opened until June 10th, could hold 3G iPhone

Alexander Muse — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:30:12 -0000

So we couldn't resist opening ours. Check out the photos:
http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2008/06/06/raid...

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Hard Disk Crusher - That’s What It Is, That’s What It Does

Alexander Muse — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:31:49 -0000

So, I agree with reflection. Save the $11K and buy a $11 hammer. Works just fine for me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/307226463/

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Hard Disk Crusher - That’s What It Is, That’s What It Does

Alexander Muse — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:32:54 -0000

Shamil - cinderblocks tend to break and they are not, as you suggest, free...

Re: Barcode Scanning is Cool; But Does It Matter? - mediabistro.com: MobileAppsToday

Alexander Muse — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:57:49 -0000

I am not sure why you were only able to scan CDs and Books with ShopSavvy. 90% of our scans are for items other than CD and Books. In fact books represent 9% of scans and CDs represent less than 1% of scans.

Most users scan consumer electronics. Our success rate (i.e. finding an item) is now greater than 97%.

Re: wearing pants

Alexander Muse — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 18:19:30 -0000

Location in the world matters as well when considering appropriate dress. Dallas is a fashion mecca and a shirt and slacks is usually the most casual look that is acceptable in business. It was a culture shock for me when I went to SFO and met with executives in ratty t-shirts and flip flops. You standout if you are wearing a dress shirt. Thanks for the link, we are excited about our new focus and direction.

Re: Best in Show

Alexander Muse — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 12:35:44 -0000

Thanks for the note!

Re: Storm front

Alexander Muse — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 17:18:38 -0000

The blog was not deleted due to a “spat” instead it was removed because it was no longer in use and it was a haven for thousands of spam links. We were surprised by Brian’s post today as Brian contacted us and asked that we point the old Slidell blog to his new Gulf Blog. I had a conversation with Brian today and planned to meet with the team to discuss his request and options for the blog.

The last post on the Slidell blog was in April and the spam problem was getting out of hand (sure handling future spam is easy, but what about the thousands of old posts). The blog was always considered a temporary project and we never bothered to load a spam filter on the comments. There was talk of cleaning the spam out and then locking down comments - to turn it into sort of a historical site. We estimated that 40,000 spam links were hosted on the blog.

We are meeting later today to discuss various options. One favored option was the creation of a single page that told the history of the blog and provided resources for Katrina and possible future disasters. I do want to mention that while Brian did a great job on the blog, he was only one of several contributors on the project.

Re: 2008/03/24/twitter-spam/

Alexander Muse — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:34:43 -0000

Yep, they are spamming the heck out of me. Most of my new friend requests are spammers:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/2359920392/

Re: Uncov’s Back… Sort of.

Alexander Muse — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:26:06 -0000

Poetic... Poetic I tell you. Ironically, he is pissed at Mike.

Re: Uncov’s Back… Sort of.

Alexander Muse — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:26:06 -0000

Poetic... Poetic I tell you. Ironically, he is pissed at Mike.

Re: Dear Al Gore: here’s some inconvenient truths

Alexander Muse — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:56:00 -0000

You might be surprised to learn that leaving fluorescent lights on, versus turning them on and off saves energy. We learned this when we were running data centers. The ballast in a fluorescent light uses a lot of engergy to turn on the light, but running the light is very efficient (producing very little heat - i.e. using very little energy). So if you keep charging the ballast over and over you end up using more energy than just leaving it on.

It turns out that unless you are not going to use a light for more than 36 hours it is better to leave it on. It will use less energy running than charging the ballast for a second time. Anyway, turning off the lights makes most people feel better.

We had to remove the light switches to save energy in our facilities. Interesting?

http://www.era-electronic.com/ppbx1x3.htm

Re: Dear Al Gore: here’s some inconvenient truths

Alexander Muse — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:58:07 -0000

Oh and I think the more 'inconvenient truth' is that if everyone turned off their cars and their air conditioners starting today we could not reverse the current warming trend. Some of the same scientists who have measured the impact we are having on global warming speculate that if we stopped using all fossil fuels we might be able to reduce the global warming by 1/2 degree, 500 years from now. This half degree reduction would not reverse the trend.

The good news is that we have managed to cut green house gas emissions from cars by more than 25% since 1972 even though the number of cars has doubled during that period.

We are clearly going through a warming period, there is simply nothing we can do to stop it. Hybrids create the same amount of green house gas as conventional engines - they just reduce concentrated smog emissions in cities. Anyway, being kind to the environment is smart, but don't be taken in by alarmist like Al Gore - he has an agenda...

Re: I want a wiki…

Alexander Muse — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 23:11:59 -0000

We like to use PmWiki for our wikis. We would happily put a custom PmWiki up for you - just let us pimp that you are one of our customers. Our company, Big in Japan, builds and support social tools like wikis. http://www.weblogswork.com

Give me a jingle - Alexander Muse 214.550.2003 or amuse@m-ven.com

Re: Don’t break the Web — I’m off the grid

Alexander Muse — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 20:07:24 -0000

Robert, the blog was not "his" in fact it was a team effort by our company. Brian was a member of the team and the driving force behind the project. We wrote about taking the blog down in this post:

http://www.weblogswork.com/2006/07/31/looking-b...

The blog was gathering dust as no one wanted to "own" it anymore. It was also gather thousands of comment and trackback spam messages. Anyway, we did not see how it was useful to keep it up and offered to point the domain to Brian's personal servers. Before we could he blasted us in his blog. Ultimately, we had no idea anyone cared, but since they do we restored the blog, writing about it here:

http://www.weblogswork.com/2006/08/03/disaster-...

So if we are going to keep the Hurricane blogging project going we are going to need help. If you would be kind enough to put a call out to people from the Gulf Coast who are interested in helping us keep the effort alive. It is very easy to complain, but another thing to actually get involved and contribute. You can have interested parties give me a call at 214.550.2003 - Alexander Muse

Re: What Mark Cuban is missing about HDTV

Alexander Muse — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:14:58 -0000

The image you see won't be 1080i... More like 480p or less...

Re: I removed Snap’s previews from here

Alexander Muse — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:16:53 -0000

I rarely get emails about my blog, but more than a few folks took the time to email me complaining about Snap. Sort of crazy if you think about it. People hate the darned thing so much they will take the time to email you about it. Anyway, it took me a while to find the script, but I finally did and it is gone...

Re: Leo Laporte leaves Twitter for Jaiku

Alexander Muse — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:19:59 -0000

We were thinking about the same thing the other day. Why choose between Twitter and Jaiku (and the next moblogging player to enter the space). What if you could 'twitter' to any or all moblogging platform? We brought the issue up at the office and the guys came up with EgorCast. The idea is to mashup Jott's voice to text service with Twitter and Jaiku.

Jott allows users to dial a predetermined number and record a 15 second message. Jott then transcribes the message and emails the transcription to your phone or email account. EgorCast provides a gateway between the messages from Jott and social mo-blogging services such as Twitter and Jaiku (or both if you want). EgorCast will also send your messages to your WordPress blog with a specific category or tag. So you don't need to pick...

Re: Funny “we’re in a bubble” video!

Alexander Muse — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:57:00 -0000

LOL...

Re: Mike Arrington’s dream team has wrong goal

Alexander Muse — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:19:40 -0000

Agree with your idea, but not your arguments:

• we went to the moon to beat the Russians.
• in Job's biography he is quotes saying they built the Apple to beat IBM.
• we went to war to beat the Axis powers, most notably Hitler.

I agree with your thoughts on beating Cnet though... Bad focus.

Re: VCs to Obama: Don't regulate us

Alexander Muse — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:42:00 -0000

Obama promised the NVCA that VC funds would NOT be regulated. Of course, Obama promised not to tax anyone making under $250K. Today we learn they are doing both. New legislation will regulate VCs AND tax every single stock purchase and sale. Ouch.

Re: VCs to Obama: Don't regulate us

Alexander Muse — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:42:00 -0000

Re: http://blog.inc.com/archives/2005/05/diary_of_a_star_15.html

Alexander Muse — Tue, 10 May 2005 17:25:25 -0000

Most venture capitalists will not respect you if you do not negotiate the deal. I would never want someone I invested money with to simply accept whatever deal was offered - I want smart people working for me.

Re: Sessions Top Ten Insights - Two

Alexander Muse — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 20:30:56 -0000

I think the insight relative to Craig's pricing model is interesting. Did he think of that or did Tom just invent the theory? Craig? Someone is brilliant...

Re: A Delicious Eight Months

Alexander Muse — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:16:38 -0000

Nice... How involved were you with the decision to sell to Yahoo? What made you decide to go that route instead of internal development of the concept?