Disqus - Latest Comments for PKafka

Re: "Audio Preview" Is A Bad User Experience

PKafka — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:48:54 -0000

I think most of the labels are going to try get you full plays (once for each song) for most songs, at least at the start. It will be interesting to see what happens after that, though: Everyone one of those plays will cost someone something, and if they add up -- without generating significant $ via conversion -- labels/services will have to reconsider.

Re: "Audio Preview" Is A Bad User Experience

fredwilson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:45:47 -0000

That's worse in some ways

Re: "Audio Preview" Is A Bad User Experience

PKafka — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:35:44 -0000

Some of the songs are full plays - depends on the label, artist, etc. But as a user that won't be obvious - you'll just know that you can't consistently get a full play, which makes it a crappy experience.

Re: New Speedway Boogie

PKafka — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:26:54 -0000

I can decide. I love this one. May have something to do with the fact that I heard the cover before the original.

Re: Will the future of TV start with sports?

bijan — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:22:43 -0000

I think it's going to change Peter.

Timing is not clear but the online audience is only growing

at some point it will tip.

I also think if the leagues don't bring it then consumers will (ie theft/p2p/bittorrent). There are just too many users online with fat pipes and it's growing

The other problem with "traditional tv" is the DVR. it's a real issue. DVR penetration is meaningful that those users don't watch ads - regardless what nielsen says....

Re: Will the future of TV start with sports?

PKafka — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:44:55 -0000

I think we are a long way off here. Right now sports is going to direct to consumer *only* when it doesn't risk upsetting a more lucrative tv stream. MLB is happy to let you watch yankees in boston on your pc b/c there's a tiny market for that. But it won't let you watch red sox in boston b/c of rights deal -- and it won't let you watch playoffs, for the same reason. Same thing w/tennis - small audience and small dollars so no worries. But note that direct tv now selling web access to its "big ticket" NFL package for MORE than tv $.

Re: Books For Entrepreneurs

PKafka — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:25:35 -0000

Not embarrassing at all! I thought about doing the same thing -- or at least writing a single post about it -- but never did it. Good for you!

Re: Books For Entrepreneurs

Derek Skaletsky — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:12:06 -0000

So agree on the Kitchen Nightmares -- even agree more with you on the BBC version. So good. A bit embarrassing to admit, but I actually started blogging lessons learned from each episode last year! Here's an example: http://phase2strategy.typepad.com/p2_business_s...

Re: Books For Entrepreneurs

fredwilson — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:26:22 -0000

I suppose we could do this for all media. Thanks for the suggestions peter

Re: Books For Entrepreneurs

PKafka — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:43:56 -0000

Want to start a separate list for movies and/or TV? In all seriousness, let me suggest two food-themed ones: Big Night, and Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. On the latter, I'm not a knee-jerk Anglophile, but make sure you see the Brit ones, not the extra-stupid Fox version (http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/154/episodegu...). B

Re: Sports and Cards Analogies

platshaw — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:42:27 -0000

Maybe it's been a long week... but for some reason, when I just read that paragraph, I had a visual image of 4 guys playing bridge when suddenly an Apache helicopter comes crashing through the wall... trumped.

Re: Sports and Cards Analogies

fredwilson — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:56:39 -0000

Wow. That's a great insight. And its true that baseball, soccer, and poker can teach us only so much about life.

Re: Sports and Cards Analogies

PKafka — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:24:19 -0000

Here's an interesting counterpoint: Malcom Gladwell's review of a Bear Stearns book, in which he argues that Jimmy Cayne's skill at bridge gave him false confidence. Great read, and I encourage you to read the whole thing. But here's the (long) key graf:

In bridge, there is such a thing as expertise unencumbered by bias. That’s because, as the psychologist Gideon Keren points out, bridge involves “related items with continuous feedback.” It has rules and boundaries and situations that repeat themselves and clear patterns that develop—and when a player makes a mistake of overconfidence he or she learns of the consequences of that mistake almost immediately. In other words, it’s a game. But running an investment bank is not, in this sense, a game: it is not a closed world with a limited set of possibilities. It is an open world where one day a calamity can happen that no one had dreamed could happen, and where you can make a mistake of overconfidence and not personally feel the consequences for years and years—if at all. Perhaps this is part of why we play games: there is something intoxicating about pure expertise, and the real mastery we can attain around a card table or behind the wheel of a racecar emboldens us when we move into the more complex realms. “I’m good at that. I must be good at this, too,” we tell ourselves, forgetting that in wars and on Wall Street there is no such thing as absolute expertise, that every step taken toward mastery brings with it an increased risk of mastery’s curse.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/07/27/0...

Re: The Difference Between Total Uses and Active Users

fredwilson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:38:30 -0000

indeed. facebook is a worldwide juggernaut. they are building the white
pages of the internet

it would be interesting to know the total registered user numbers

do you know if they share them publicly?

Re: The Difference Between Total Uses and Active Users

PKafka — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:23:53 -0000

That's what's staggering about Facebook's self-reported stats: 200 Million active users, 100 Million on the service once a day. http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Re: mokoyfman.com

PKafka — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:12:14 -0000

Missed a good show.

Re: bijansabet.com | a tumblelog by Bijan Sabet | Sunny Feeling - Wilco I’m in a serious Wilco...

bijan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:44:22 -0000

nice find. thanks!

Re: bijansabet.com | a tumblelog by Bijan Sabet | Sunny Feeling - Wilco I’m in a serious Wilco...

PKafka — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:41:54 -0000

More for your fix: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?...

Re: Freemium and Freeconomics

facebook-753625971 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:11:10 -0000

You can't put a strong enough lock on it.
In the physical world, locks work because it takes effort to break it, then effort to copy and the copy isn't really as good as the original so the premium cost of an original is often worth it.
But online, if just a single copy is broken, it can be duplicated perfectly an infinite number of times very quickly. Any strong lock won't stop copies, and will only bother legitimate owners.

"What I'll pay" for something goes _way_ down if I have to go through the bother of installing some special software or typing my password in every-time I try to access it. I'll usually just do without.

Re: Freemium and Freeconomics

fredwilson — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:13:12 -0000

You can always pirate content online but if a stream is available and it is reasonably priced, I think most people will take the stream. MLB has the added benefit of a live event. The WSJ and the FT are no different from the NYT and Techcrunch for most people, but for some, they are a daily must read. I think the latter group will pay for their content but the former group will not

Re: Freemium and Freeconomics

PKafka — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:49:45 -0000

Fred, I'm hung up on your "what you'll pay for" examples, which is why I'm always hung up on the marginal cost argument. Marginal cost of delivering all of that stuff is also approaching zero (with the possible exception of MLB live stream, but that will change soon enough), so why would I pay for any of it when I can get it for free? And if providers are able to put strong enough locks on the product so that stealing it becomes a pain, then why can't other providers do the same?

Re: Aggregate, Curate, Publish To Create Local Media

PKafka — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:53:57 -0000

Hey! I can view this story *and* comment! It's been very frustrating not being able to do either all day. Many, many good comments here and maybe at some point I'll come back to engage a few of them. But for now, a query/request to Fred's community: Ideally, I'd like to find some way to present's Mark's work in a format that allows readers to change the various inputs (RPM, staff size, page views, etc) and see the results -- without permanently changing the initial strawman model. I don't believe Google Docs lets us do this. Any idea how we can pull this off?

Re: bijansabet.com | a tumblelog by Bijan Sabet | Fake Plastic Trees - Jeff Tweedy Great cover....

PKafka — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:52:55 -0000

Awesome. I'm a Tweedy completist but never heard this before. Wonder if its newish...

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

hymanroth — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:40:34 -0000

Great point re practical limits of openness

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:37:25 -0000

peter - thanks for showing up and participating. that in and of itself is exactly what i am talking about. if i am going to talk to anyone about the stuff i am doing that i don't blog about, it's likely to be you or someone like you who takes the time to engage in the medium i care about and invest in.

i also agree that "use good judgement and common sense" is the rule that everyone ought to be applying. i've broken that rule a few times and paid the price for it.