Disqus - Latest Comments for rikin

Re: Back to Reality with some Bling on my Finger and Renewed Perspective

rikin — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:56:35 -0000

Congrats Matt! I'm really happy to read this and see where you're at in terms of balancing work/life and stepping back from this "microcosm". Good luck with everything.

Re: http://fredwilson.vc/post/522948160

rikin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:56:36 -0000

I hated her too after that movie. But then I realized that was the point, I was supposed to hate her. Her job as an actor was to make me hate her. She did a terrific job. But I wanted to like her so much when I first hit play.

Re: Should Apple be more open?

rikin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:56:02 -0000

I'm simply drawing the similarities i see between the current mac & pc
market and that of an emerging iPhone and android market. One is
vertical controlling most levels of development and distribution while
the other aligns with multiple partners and has more points of access
for additional stakeholders.

Re: Should Apple be more open?

rikin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:55:45 -0000

Once the mobile market develops more, say in a year or two even, Android and Mobile handset manufacturers will be akin to Windows and PC manufacturers.

People will call Google wondering what's going wrong with their phone and frustratingly be directed to Motorola and vice versa. Then there'll be a vocal minority that prefers just working with Apple, knowing there's a singular store and singular phone number to call upon. Not to mention that the products in question will be as good if not better than the rest as well as safer as you mentioned.

Open is becoming more like Communism - better on paper than in practice. Google and Apple are proving this, but I prefer Apple's stance of being more direct about it.

I also just wanted to point out something I noticed. Within three years of the launch of the iPhone, multi-touch interfaces and technology have become commonplace. Not necessarily that every device has it, but more so that no one is impressed by it. When the iPhone launched it was multi-touch that wowed us, I don't think we'll be wowed in the same way until a device comes along that removes any need for touch at all.

Re: Craig's Blog - The record companies have had their heads in the...

rikin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:52:15 -0000

Could not agree more. We bought the t-shirts, the concert tickets, the over priced slice of pizza and cup of beer during the show. What more could you want from us?

Re: http://oksheila.tumblr.com/post/316674271

rikin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:29:53 -0000

looks like a crazy subway line.

Re: Google’s feature creep

rikin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:42:02 -0000

@wilner, agreed talks of it have been around for a while but everyday comes another anti-Google post and I can't help but think that 2010 might just be the year some one does something about it. Even if it's a company putting in a no-robots.txt line.

Re: Google should open source what actually matters: their search ranking algorithm

rikin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:28:38 -0000

It just seems so strange to put yourself out in the firing line when you know and are admitting that your own practices are questionable.

Re: Google should open source what actually matters: their search ranking algorithm

rikin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:24:47 -0000

Re: Google should open source what actually matters: their search ranking algorithm

rikin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:04:44 -0000

i concur.

Re: Getting Computer Science Into Middle School

rikin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:42:14 -0000

Agreed, just like shop class or home-ec, computer science needs to be integrated into our curriculum at an early age. But I think what's even more disappointing than middle school level education is the lack of emphasis on the topic in highschool and even university.

If you're studying business, especially marketing, programming and design should be integral components of your course work. I studied marketing and only took one class on computer science, again mostly focused on Excel and Word. When they did get to teaching HTML, the teacher had such rudimentary knowledge of the language that we ended up creating sites that looked like they were from 1995. If she had only gone further and taught us about design in Illustrator or Photoshop and thrown in some CSS on top, we would have all known that we could create true websites.

Re: Expecting Information and Transparency

rikin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:39:02 -0000

It almost reminds me of the development of personal computers. At first humans had to push technology so as to meet their needs. After a while, the technology became so advanced that we're only using a fraction of its power. The internet will most likely head down this same path, and I think we're seeing some of that now.

Re: Google’s feature creep

rikin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:43:02 -0000

I think calling it Clippy is about the harshest criticism you could give. Unfortunately, I agree it's pretty fitting though most likely not as bad as Word with every toolbar enabled.

What scares me though is that most of the clutter isn't even useful to the user. Most of those features are there for advertising or because of business development deals with the likes of Twitter. Search for a music artist and you'll be met with Rhapsody and iLike.

I can see what Google is trying to do but by aligning with certain companies you will not only piss of a few others but you'll limit other partnership opportunities.. (Ty Ahmed-Taylor says something similar about Vevo).

On a slightly different note, I think the end of 2009 marks the beginning of a tangible Google backlash.

Re: A new Internet Law, named after Bill Gates. (Scripting News)

rikin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:23:12 -0000

I think Google somewhat does screw around with search results. Do a search for "cancer" and you'll see health.google.com. Now I'm no expert on the most authoritative medical sites but I'm pretty sure it's not Google health. Also, I believe integrations with music services like Rhapsody and iLike should not be in the same column as search results but instead off to the side.

It was nice when search was based on authority and not bizdev deals.

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - My Le Web Keynote ( please note some dirty...

rikin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:22:13 -0000

This was such a great talk and such a big kick in the ass for many of us Gary. I've seen your keynotes many times before and this was by far the best of them all. No spam, no cliches, no selling, and no buzzwords. Thank you.

Re: Where The Digital Music Business Is Headed In 2010 (And Why 2009 Was So Disappointing) | paidContent

rikin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:44 -0000

Great list Mark. I was hoping to see your thoughts on Vevo which I don't think can be classified as a 2009 product just yet but believe will be a huge disappointment in 2010.

A partnership of titans for official music videos doesn't seem to deliver anything new in a time when disruption seems so inevitable in the music industry. Many more reasons can be found here,
http://www.rikinontheweb.co..., but let's hope I'm wrong.

Re: Hyperlocal Goes Mainstream: CNN teams up with Outside.in

rikin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:37:27 -0000

This is great news for Outside.In and local news as a whole.

I worked closely with Mark and Jared during my days in business development with NYPost.com and can say that it was an absolute delight partnering with them. They shared concern over the future of news and media, had a vision for a different path (i.e. not disaster), and placed themselves perfectly within that landscape.

I hope to see great things from them but most importantly I do hope that the media, especially newspapers which are so often based in local markets, start embracing the towns and cities around them. Evaluate the need for national news which has become highly comodotized and work along side local writers, artists, and businesses to envision a better path. It sounds too simple because it really is. Things might be rough in the near future but they'll be rewarded in the long run for it.

Re: When Does Personal Branding Go Too Far?

rikin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:48:19 -0000

To Susan and Sam,

There's just too much of the same old shit going around the web right now. There are a thousand people trying to give career advice and thousands more claiming expertise or even worse the title of entrepreneur because they started a website or blog. It's extremely discouraging and almost insulting that they amass a pretty large following by executing the same old formula.

I often read a blog and wonder if the writer would come across as in real-life as they do on the web. If I can't be confident that they are one in the same then I'll usually abandon them. Not the most scientific approach but at the end of the day I want to read about the experiences of real people accomplishing things other than just building a successful blog and can tell me about it with a sense of humility.

Re: "Audio Preview" Is A Bad User Experience

rikin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:07:37 -0000

not sure if that's a good/bad thing.

I'm over 20 but I go because of it's powerful search. If I want to listen to a specific song there's no easier way (i know of) to do it.

Also many tools, like last.fm, are simply aggregating YouTube videos as part of the algorithms. Eventually, that just leads me right back to YouTube.

Re: "Audio Preview" Is A Bad User Experience

rikin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:08:30 -0000

I don't believe we do - yet. They keep saying their working on it.

Re: "Audio Preview" Is A Bad User Experience

rikin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:29:45 -0000

I'm actually surprised that they didn't further incorporate YouTube into this experience rather than MySpace/Lala.

YouTube has become my defacto platform for listening to a new song/artist and determining if I like it or not because I can often find songs in their entirety, actually see what the band looks like, and dig deeper into their catalog.

YouTube is already utilized by many record labels/bands to post official music videos. YouTube has a bizdev deal to purchase music through iTunes/Amazon for many songs. Google owns YouTube.

Only downfall is that the sound quality is often poor but when you're "test-driving" a song that's not as important.

Re: The Case of the Missing Social Media Metrics

rikin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:12:22 -0000

@Mark

Thanks for coming by. I've used Sysomos in the past and will attest to
its benefits.

I still think there is a lot more work to be done by both the
platforms and third parties.

As end users of these tools we are always looking for more. It's a
double edged sword because we also refuse to sacrifice ease of use.

Re: The Case of the Missing Social Media Metrics

rikin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:17:54 -0000

Urs - I think where we differ is in semantics rather than our belief of what's needed right now.

When it comes to ROI - we ultimately want to know that each additional visitor from YouTwitFace led to an X% increase in purchases. That's the fundamental equation when determining the effects of social media on our bottom line.

However, I believe we're missing a huge set of metrics on a level deeper than that.

For example, A Facebook page was launched with links to our main site. Well, using current web analytic tools we can track Facebook visitors and ultimately the percentage of them that went to checkout.

As owners of social media platforms we are struggling to obtain analytics within the platforms themselves. Such as what sites linked to our Facebook page? What was the time spent on our Facebook page? Which tabs within Facebook were most visited? What was individual link performance on each page?

I use Facebook here merely as an example because of its importance in the social web but essentially it is this insight that is needed to leverage social media and get a better idea of performance. Once we are able to understand what works and what doesn't, we'll have a solid barometer on the strengths of our efforts and our ability to provide ROI.

Re: What’s In Your Blogroll?

rikin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:08:24 -0000

Noah, your blog has been an inspiration. It never shouts, it only
informs. It never cries for attention or pretends to know everything,
it sits with humble and wisdom.

How'd you stumble upon this? Trackbacks?

Re: Apple Should Buy Tumblr

rikin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:31:00 -0000

That's a great point - this partnership could be very limiting. It's all hypothetical; however, if a deal like this was completed I'd hope that accessibility and openness was upheld. Closed networks will only benefit in the short term and will eventually have to open up their walls to everyone.

I think that companies, even those whose products are as proprietary as Apple's, are realizing this and slowly beginning to embrace platform agnosticism.