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Googles on Current Change Catalysts (HTML5, etc)

Scoble interviewed Patrick Chanezon around various emerging technologies today.

Some key aspects (tags) of HTML5

· Why it caught my eye Googles efforts to gain mindshare in the Enterprise developer space and the ongoing battle on how Rich Internet Applications would shake out. · Would I recommend you watch it?: Yes, if you are looking for a 10,000 foot overview of HTML5 and Canvas. The rest of the points were very high level. · Most Notable Point: Google’s selling angle on their stack is similar to Apples. Integrated and works together. Why put together the pieces at AMZN or Rackspace? Not much of a barrier there as there are ‘pre-rolled’ stacks already. · When should you fast forward? If you are in, you are in on this one. No part jumped out at me as a “Oh.” Moment. · Small tidbit: Some vendor is creating a 3rd party Google AE hosting environment so you are not locked into running just on Google’s hardware (cloud).

Hope it helps.

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

• http://www.building43.com/videos/2009/11/03/googles-take-on-html5/

• Patrick Chanezon – Developer Advocate @ Google

• 0:24.897 – Overview

………○ Advocate – Definition

………………§ Build ecosystem around tools ..Live w/ Dev Community

………………§ Get Enterprise to use it

• 1:37.951 – Whats cooking (trends)

………○ Build up APIs (over 1000 in last 4 years)

………○ HTML5 – Fight over who drives RIA

………○ Cloud computing push

………○ 3:58.274 — Every 15 years change way done

………………§ MF

………………§ C/S

………………§ Web (MF v2)

………………§ HTML5, SVG (new change)

• 5:25.962 – Types of Apps that could leverage HTML5/SVG

………○ Richer Apps

………○ Drive need for scaling (Google App Engines)

………○ iPhone – HTML5 on it

………………§ Canvas and SVG possible

• 7:26.847 – HTML5 Deeper

………○ Tag <video> … no plugin (built in browser)

………………§ Demos of greenscreen effects in browser

………○ Tag <audio> … use existing mp3 files …

………………§ HTML, Javascript, and CSS

• 10:9.775 More useful HTML aspects

………○ Offline access

………○ Local database (like Gears – draft for HTML5)

………○ Virtual Machines – Scale via workers (debugging tools)

………………§ Faster

• 12:6.420 – CSS 3, Canvas, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

………○ Tag … Canvas

………………§ Animate real time is possible

………○ Iphone who is using HTML5

………………§ Typically go native (objectiveC)

………○ Mobile (some open)

………………§ Platform is the web

………………§ API to device features … rest HTML5,SVG, Canvas

………………§ Android

• 14:48.689 – WebToolkit, why key

………○ Make web better platform for powerful apps

………○ Problem comes w/ optimization and at scale (easy to do small app w/ HTML, CSS, etc)

………○ Google WebToolkit

………………§ Does optimizations for you

………………§ Integrated to Eclipse

………………§ Compiles to each browser combination (GoogleWave is built using this)

• 17:2.242 – Google Wave –

………○ Showcases Google Web Toolkit

………○ Email re-invented

………○ Opps

………………§ Use to collaborate

………………§ Build wave robots (AE apps / robots)

………………………□ Translation real time

………………………□ Posting to twitter

………………§ Protocol is open source in federation

………○ Using OT (for real time interaction)

• 19:15.576 – App Engine

………○ Move to cloud

………○ Why AE?

………………§ Free is one

………………§ Bidding auction for resources

………………§ Big difference is their approach … AMZN … book server, storage, etc … piece by piece … assemble … a lot of work

………………§ Google — built an integrated solution … bigtable, google web server, simple api’s in python and java (jungle and GPA options) … develop app in python … push to Google

………………§ Limitations … if like MySQL … won’t work … can’t migrate

………………§ Win … DB model of big table … scaling …

• 22:0.580 – Moving off AE

………○ AppScale (?) offering same google API’s but another vendor (hardware stack not googles)

• 22:37.706 – Businesses impacted by new stuff

………○ Use to mobile

………○ Use for auto scale possibilities

………○ Google Web Toolkit and HTML5 – Some startups using it

UI Design: No Tools – Wetware

Ryan Singer gave a talk @ a WindyCityRails event about 30 days back around how developers should approach UI design (given he is a leading designer at 37signals in Chicago).

One of the Many Faces of Ryan

· Why it caught my eye 37Signals has some very well designed applications – Basecamp, recent release of Haystack, etc. Ryan is heavily involved in that. · Would I recommend you watch it?: Hrm. Maybe. If you are developer its probably good advice but his more edged points didn’t get much air time … like “punt on AB testing in apps” or “prototyping tools are a waste of time for him – paper and your brain”. I would be intrigued to see him speak at length on those points. · Most Notable Point: UI Design isn’t about slamming prototypes together. It’s about modeling the model in a manner that EVERYONE (business/tech) can understand and then discussion of the language that should be tied to it. He was not talking about the system model. Talking about the problem domain. Very valid point. · Nuance You Might Overlook: His examples from Visual Displays of Quantitative Information and the concept of Less Effective Difference were pretty deep.

So basically, his talk was one were there were comments throughout that made you go … ah. And want to dig in deeper. Hope it helps. Raw notes below.

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

…….○ 0:37.789 – Intro

…………..§ 37Signals Guy

…….○ 2:30.401 – UI is a software layer

…………..§ Key – customer only sees it … so start from UI view

…………..§ TDD similar to designing to a UI goal

…………..§ 4:54.317 – Example of UI driven code that doesn’t work – the model needs to be right

…………..§ 6:13.593 – Too little language (no verbs, sentences) is bad

…….○ 7:4.261 – Model focus

…………..§ From sentences from business users

…………..§ To data model …. Has one … has many … etc … still understandable by all roles

…………..§ Revised UI uses language, tied to model,

…………..§ 10:3.665 – Partial discussion (UI)

…………..§ Book recommendation – Domain driven design. Talk about how you understand domain goes into code.

…………………□ Model-driven design

…………………□ Ubiquotious language

…….○ 11:35.170 – Screens

…………..§ Define screen scope (pages), screen content, screen layout

…………..§ Don’t start w/ look

…………..§ Examples of how model .. Ties to page scopes … ie Booking/new = register

…………..§ Design inside/out

…………………□ Example of basecamp … focus on messaging first … core of screen … not layout

…………..§ Don’t design in terms of attributes

…………………□ Example – checking if balance is paid before registration

…………………□ Could do person/show … check in button …

…………………□ 16:21.916 – Example of paid and not paid on person/show

…………………□ Design is not art … it is rational … Edward Puffy (sp?)

…………..§ Design screen so important data on screen is

…………………□ Visual display of Quantitative Information (edward Tufte)

……………………….® Least effective difference

……………………………..◊ 19:22.632 example … removing grid .. How it makes data in grid jump

……………………………..◊ Contrast to text … Normal/Bold/Weak

……………………………………► Weak – useful but only in specific context

……………………………..◊ 20:44.91 example – late

……………………………………► Eye scans from attraction to attraction on page

……………………………………► Change text on side bar to 50% grey … can let it go more

……………………………………► Making good contrast means less … so don’t make good ‘green’

……………………………..◊ 23:20.348 – Using little differences … allows scale

……………………………..◊ Example – Actions (4)

……………………………………► 4 things possible on a screen … just links makes all actions the same

……………………………………► Make actions jump by usage

……………………………………► The ‘halo of attention’ see one core you will pick up the light items around it

…….○ 26:15.606 – Flows

…………..§ Stellar UI key

…………..§ Think of things in a series of actions

…………..§ Actions go in threes – get to, do, end point

…….○ 28:9.714 – Templates

…………..§ No HTML in helpers

…………………□ Developers need to realize that HTML in helpers is bad

…………………□ Example of developer trying to change form into code … broke pattern … over abstraction

…………..§ No clever builders

…………..§ CSS and JS us same REST conventions … good … breaking down css files

…………..§ Treat ERB .. As a block … as a helper

…….○ 31:59.240 – Summary

…………..§ UI is about modelling

…………..§ Explict and use a lot of language

…………..§ Break screens out in REST conventions

…………..§ @rjs twitter

…….○ 33:0.935 – Q&A

…………..§ Rails does a lot helpers bad? … form helpers generate one tag (problem is multiple)

…………..§ 34:48.710 – Use of fonts, thoughts? Verdana is great for small fonts. 10pix or smaller. Verdana specializes. Style focused

…………..§ 35:53.790 – mumble mumble? Scanning happens in straight vertical lines. Eye looks for first piece. That is why right aligned text is very bad. Provide single scan line.

…………..§ 35:53.790 – mumble mumble? No clue (bauer comment)

…………..§ 38:3.513 – Removing grid lines, how to flesh out that earlier in design? Depends what you are comfortable in / make changes in quickly.

…………..§ 39:39.276 Design process for him? UI is not photoshop. General idea most work happens in modeling and language. Then go to HTML.

…………..§ 40:47.853 – Do you AB testing? On Marketing side yes. But in app its too much work. One version deploy, watch, adjust if necessary. Ideally get it right w/ a lot of modeling (non-UI)

…………..§ 41:43.540 – Do you new tools like Balsamic/SketchPro? Don’t understand them and purpose. It want something you can’t put down there is paper. If you want to click there is HTML. Speculate that people to like in a complex manner. Waste of time for him. Paper is very flexible … just not sexy. Get excited about end goal.

Testing Rails Applications

Watched Noel Rappin talk at WindyCityRails 2009 regarding testing last month.

· Why it caught my eye I am curious on Test Driven Development and in Rails specifically. · Would I recommend you watch it?: Perhaps. If you are a Rails developer. He focuses primarily on the ways to test different aspects of a Rails system. However, it was hard to track as he was moving so quickly from example to example and at times the code samples were not in the screen. · Most Notable Point: No one thing. Just a nice overview providing samples of how to test the aspects in a ruby stack. · When should you fast forward? If you are in … you are in on this one. There was no high/low.

Hope it helps. A lot of it went beyond my pay grade in the testing arena but its nice to know the macro areas he covers in case I need to zoom to those specific parts.

As always, for those amused here are my raw notes …

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

……..○ Noel Rappin http://twitter.com/noelrap

…………….VP of Ruby Practice for Pathfinder Development and the author of Professional Ruby on Rails

……..○ WindyCityRails 2009

……..○ http://vimeo.com/6703197

……..

……..○ 0:5.353 – Intro

…………….§ How to test things that are not easy to test

…………….§ Changes should be driven by failed tests

……………………□ Not view, not refactoring

…………….§ Test close to code – controllers w/ controllers, etc

…………….§ Test features – not code

…………….§ Don’t test rails framework

……..○ 3:32.823 – Framework for testing

…………….§ Rspec vs. shoulda

……………………□ Very similar now

…………….§ New to testing – Use default (fixtures, test unit)

……..○ 3:32.823 – Model testing

…………….§ How to test associations

……………………□ Nva –

……………………□ Drive testing from actual feature

…………….§ Don’t do associations as blocks

……..○ 3:32.823 – Named Scopes

…………….§ Find functionality that is composable .. Basically methods

……………………□ Don’t test name scope is passing sql expected

…………….§ Test that it finds objects correctly (does / doesn’t find)

…………….§ Assert_same_elements

……………………□ Works but brittle (if universe of users changes)

……………………□ Better should_have_named_scope macro … positive and negative testing

…………………………..® Code example of the macro (need slides … originally in rspec)

……..○ Rails validations

…………….§ 12:13.682 – always test reg expr

……..○ 13:31.835 – Filters

…………….§ Manage access control – test from functional view

……..○ 15:9.997 – Testing Views

…………….§ Test. Test in such a way that the UI designer changing things doesn’t breaks test.

…………….§ Test for semantic structure level (DOM ID, CSS classes (marker classes to show data row))

…………….§ Assert_select works well

…………….§ Validate view on paper 1st

…………….§ Test for negative conditions is KEY. i.e. Admins have delete button … normal users don’t.

……..○ 18:32.335 – Test for Negative

…………….§ Assert_select … look for DOM ID of X

……………………□ Specify count … 1 or more … or zero … test for zero

……………………□ Psuedo classes … search list element that dom id <> X

……………………□ Specify arbitrary html attribute … validate things are in the form (source of image file, href of <A> etc … don’t tie to UI)

……………………□ ? Syntax … rails finders / sql statement … place holder for list

……………………□ Assert_select can be done in block

…………………………..® Ie sort behavior … use this structure to get view in order and validate order

……..○ 23:19.190 – Helpers

…………….§ Put complex logic from view here (good/bad)

…………….§ Auto generated in 2.3

…………….§ Block helpers

……………………□ Prior to 2.2 hard to test now easy

…………………………..® Assert not logged in

…………….§ 26:18.924 – Testing to output stream … concat

……………………□ Concat is not last call in helper sometimes … get output_buffer (all text to erb_out)

…………….§ Search_select

……………………□ Looks for instance variable response

……..○ 28:25.261 – Email

…………….§ Another kind of view … test structure (sent, values)

…………….§ Assert_select_email … testing sent, not sent … email spec for cucumber allows simulate open of email by target, click on link, etc

……..○ 30:4.191 – Social Networking

…………….§ Testing UserA / UserB changing on events from one another

…………….§ Hard to test (controller tests assume 1 session)

…………….§ Rails integration test – Open session method … works well

……..○ 31:37.880 – Ajax

…………….§ Hard to test

…………….§ Assert_select_rjs … does some stuff good … for rails stuff

…………….§ Blue ridge / screw.unit … just started using … javascript test like Rspec

……………………□ Packages so integrated w/ Rake

……………………□ Screw.unit … tests browser on launch

……..○ 33:46.729 – External Sites

…………….§ Use mock objects to encapsulate sites called

…………….§ Test failure response

……..○ 34:38.160 – Rake Tasks

…………….§ Encapsulate in ruby code (class/method) and test the method

…………….§ Invoke rake task programmatically

……..○ 35:25.222 – Dates and Time

…………….§ Time literals don’t work

…………….§ RESTful auth – intermittent timing error

…………….§ Gem called Timecop … freeze and manipulate time …

……………………□ Put in startup … and teardown

……………………□ Allows you to keep time equal for all test

……………………□ Messes up rake test times … small issue

……..○ 37:8.957 – File Uploads

…………….§ Fixture_file_upload method

……..○ 37:32.106 – Rack / Rails Metal

…………….§ Not a lot of experience here

…………….§ Rails Metal – bypasses rails router for speed

…………….§ Use rack::test … to test

……..○ 38:12.508 – Legacy App

…………….§ No tests (definition of legacy)

…………….§ Black box tests ..

…………….§ use mock objects

……………………□ Isolation

…………….§ Seam – change app that doesn’t current code

……..○ 39:50.347 – Wrap up

…………….§ Look for the tools (a lot exist) in rails environment

……..○ 41:7.876 – Q&A

…………….§ Functional (customer view) versus backend

……………………□ Example of error testing w/ model testing is key

……………………□ Model tests are more key … ditch cucumber if pinched for time

…………….§ Testing when render partial

……………………□ Mock test to verify partial (limited logic in view partial)

Startups – Numbers By Phase

Aaron Patzer gave a talk @ a JuicePitcher event about seven days back around the numbers Mint saw by phase prior to its buyout.

09/2007. Mint wins $50k @ TechCrunch50 (startup competition)

· Why it caught my eye Mint was just bought by Quicken for $170M so hearing the CEO of Mint talk about the details of his 3 years up to that is bound to have some tidbits. · Would I recommend you watch it?: Sure. It’s not too long (20 minutes) and the stats he gives on expenses by phase out are not typically available. You can see some of them in the notes below. · Most Notable Point: Typically takes a company, that is going to be successful long term, ~ 5 years to reach $50M in revenue. Took him about 3-4. · Nuance You Might Overlook: Business people don’t play a huge role in the garage phase (building out the prototype). Can lead to tension between founders if one feels they are doing all the work.

Hope it helps. Raw notes below.

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

• 0:2.390 – Intro

……..○ http://vimeo.com/6960507

……..○ Mint CEO – Aaron Patzer on Startups

……..○ Sold Mint for $170M cash to Quicken

• 1:14.791 – Start

……..○ Talk is on accounting

……..○ What you should pay per stage, what you need to go to the next stage

• 2:23.734 – Phases by equity

……..○ Garage Phase < $100k

……..○ Seed < $1M

……..○ Funded > $1M

• 3:3.371 – Overview of him

……..○ EE / Com Sci

• 4:11.837 – Garage Stage Expenses

……..○ Goal is prototype

……..○ No revenue

……..○ Value = $500k per engineer, -$250k per business plan

……..○ Engineers that build for first six months, business raise funds/research (relatively idle)

……..○ 5:54.45 – actual expenses

…………….§ $50k of his $

…………….§ First hires eng -30-50k, 2% equity … after dilution worth a lot, 2nd engineer 1.5%

…………….§ Office – $400/cube/monht

…………….§ Tech – $10k

……..○ Raise seed in 9 months

……..○ Need a technical partner, 50% if there from start

……..○ 3-5 months in and don’t have … 10%, CEO is 20%, VP 5-10%

……..○ Legal – Defer legal to 1st round … 0.5% to 0.75%

……..○ Total – ~ $150k

• 9:24.570 – Seed Launch

……..○ 100-1000 users, usable but not polished

……..○ Shows original design

……..○ 5-6 staff, 1 UI focus, 3-4 eng, 1 biz generalist (marketing, sales, books, recruiting, everything but tech)

……..○ $750k raised by angels

……..○ His salary $50k/year

……..○ VP Engineer – $180k/year … to $90k w/ 4% of company

……..○ Salaries – $450k, Overhead $100k, Legal $50k,

……..○ Total burn – $600k

……..○ Legal costs .. $750k costs 35k + legal counsel … 30-40k … to get seed funds … so $690 after fees

……..○ 12:30.964 – Revenue Projections

…………….§ Will be made up

…………….§ Average takes 6-7 years to get to $50M

…………….§ Biggest key is market opp and $/transaction

……..○ 13:45.653 – Define Market

…………….§ Talk about competitors

…………….§ Goal revenue per user per year … 3 years back … right on (+/- 30% but not 10x off)

……..○ 15:13.339 – Referrals & Lead Gen

…………….§ User Base * Rev/user/year = Opps

• 15:43.583 – Funding for Launch / Lead

……..○ Hidden expenses (patents, trademarks, contracts, etc)

……..○ $400/month for salary

……..○ One time expenses (patent, finance legal, consultants, servers, etc … every month $150-200k)

……..○ Assume average people cost of $200k/year (about 30 people at this point)

……..○ Earn ~ $6M / year

• 17:28.519 – Build A Model for when to raise funding

……..○ COGs vs Revenue vs Opex

…………….§ Who is active customers, customer growth

……..○ $20k/employee/month is the spend per employee

• 19:3.192 – Exit (Aquired)

……..○ Not just the cash

……..○ Incredibly gratifying

……..○ Learning all the skills (marketing, sales, recruiting, mgmt, etc) – great skills regardless of win/lose

……..○ Create something from nothing is a great thing

……..○ Tracks $200M in flow, $60B in assets … tracked now in MINT

……..○ He is 28 years old

Take Off Your Rose Colored Relational DB Glasses

Ben Scofield gave a talk @ WindyCity Rails on 9/12/09 on domains and databases. I decided to take a spin:

Ben’s Book on REST and Rails 2

· Why it caught my eye Modeling business entities is no simple task so I was intrigued on what nuggets he might drop. · Would I recommend you watch it?: Tuff call. He uses the first 30 minutes (of 40) establishing the problem (relational DB don’t align well to real world structures which rarely are discretely defined) and then spends 10 minutes talking through alternative DB’s that might work in chaotic models. So he does a good job of clarifying the issue (via example) but little on firm solutions. · Most Notable Point: Around 30 minutes he walks through the options beyond relational. His points there seemed the most memorable. · Nuance You Might Miss: I suspect his key point was to consider all DB options (including a mashup of DBs) when solving a business problem. That is a worthy point.

Hope it helps. Raw notes below.

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

• Ben Scofield

• Comics is Hard" On Domains and Databases

• http://vimeo.com/6702444

• 0:7.308 – Intro

……..○ Problem is domains that are hard to model

……..○ Map to code then to persistance layer and oo layer (like ruby)

……..○ Less focus on modeling @ DB layer

• 1:47.332 – Biology Basis

……..○ Linnean taxonomy (will use this as an example how system models fail)

…………….§ Fungi, Plants, Animals, etc

…………….§ Picture tables by levels

……..○ Problems levels are arbitrary (ie lions vs tigers)

……..○ Different opinions on what levels should be (ie sub/super on levels)

……..○ 4:24.248 – issues with class always having sub classes and super classes

……..○ He had a degree in biology

……..○ 4:24.248 – biological definition of species …

……..○ Examples

…………….§ 5:3.709 – Insect example

…………….§ 5:3.709 – Cross breeding example (point being cross breed object models, I assume)

……..○ 8:6.614 – Bacteria example

……..○ 8:42.644 – Tomato example

……..○ 9:32.983 – Plum example

……..○ 10:29.218 – Numerical Taxonomy

…………….§ Degrees of similarity between entities

…………….§ Real taxonomy is Cladistics

……………………□ Focus on picking out traits (i.e. chambers in hearts)

……………………□ Change in trait is branch point

……………………□ 12:21.251 – Doesn’t work – historical (can’t do forward)

……..○ 13:31.903 – The Challenge (imprecise – Biology)

• 13:50.356 – Comics

……..○ Publisher, Title, Issue (model)

…………….§ Naïve – Vertigo versus Johnny lines in Publisher

…………….§ Add imprint table (between issue / title)

……..○ 15:24.589 – Examples of different volumes of title (multiple series under same title)

…………….§ Add volume between title and issue

……..○ 16:23.117 – Issue

…………….§ Three types of issue by quality (hardback, comic, bulk)

…………….§ Giant size x-men … reprint of older xmen

…………….§ So add trades

……..○ 18:23.886 – Free comic book day

…………….§ Variations – Revisions (directors cut, censorship, art)

…………….§ Launch one comic w/ 5-6 covers … interior is same …cover is different

…………….§ Sketch variants (no color)

…………….§ 21:12.812 – XMEN example of bloody variant

……..○ 21:50.919 – Aquaman example

…………….§ Relaunchs in 90 and 2000

…………….§ Hand made out of water (issue 39)

…………….§ Aquaman releases w/ same title but use same number

……..○ 23:26.902 – Batman and the Outsiders

…………….§ Changed to just "batman" on 15

…………….§ Titles can be multiples then

……..○ 24:0.533 – Captain America

…………….§ Went away around 1947 … backup in Tales of Suspense (backup feature in this)

…………….§ Number change and title change

…………….§ Relaunch in 2005 … #1

…………….§ Jump from 51 to 600 … Marvel decided to renumber

……..○ 26:24.780 – Remundi

…………….§ Darkhorse … titles can change publishers

…………….§ Pulls imprint out

……..○ 27:20.578 – Genres

…………….§ Pirates, Marshal arts, etc … not there

• 27:49.954 – The Challenge In Modeling (The point)

……..○ Smash comic book domain onto a relational schema didn’t work

……..○ Possible doesn’t mean it’s a good idea

……..○ 29:9.335 – DBMS options

…………….§ Keyvalue stores – YAML, Memcache replacements

…………….§ Series on Engine Yard talks about Keyvalue Stores (read that)

……..○ 30:38.330 – CouchDB (Document Oriented DBs)

…………….§ JSON Hash – Mini structured key value store

…………….§ No schema

…………….§ Mongo mapper to hit mongo db

…………….§ YAML could be document format in document orientated DB

…………….§ Good for biology … example … dog vs tiger … keep both animals but no null storage if not there

…………….§ Good for surveys …

…………….§ Build a CMS on a document database

…………….§ Expression Engine

……..○ 34:10.493 Graph Databases

…………….§ New hotness for 2010

…………….§ There are a lot of them but you can’t see them (built internally ie Akami)

…………….§ Neo4j and AllegroGraph

……………………□ Nodes (like documents w/ attributes but not non-relational … relationships are 1st class objects

…………….§ Been around for awhile (not widely used)

…………….§ RDF is a graph database

…………….§ Do things without schemas here as well

…………….§ 37:45.278 – Comics

……………………□ Example of going to superhero node

……………………□ Create nodes, link them, get relationships

……..○ 38:51.668 – Other

…………….§ Column Oriented (BigTable)

…………….§ Temporal (time woven)

…………….§ Constant DB (can’t change)

…………….§ Link

• 39:54.239 – Polyglot Persistence

……..○ No SQL is a bad idea

……..○ Use DB tailored to job … create a hybrid DB for your solution

…………….§ Blog = couchDB for comments, tagging in relationships

……..○ The power is yours

• 41:53.695 – QA

……..○ Graph storage easy … what about retrieval … when you get a node you pull the relationships tied to the node

……..○ Graph DB how traverse the entire graph or complex queries … not sure

Measure Twice – Cut Once

As part of the FOWA conference Dave McClure spoke on what startups should measure to enable them the most. While he moved quickly and was a bit hard to follow at times (not to the lack of cuss words) it is evident he knows what he is talking about.

Doug’s 5 Metrics (by color) and Associated Flow

· Why it caught my eye Being a startup myself I was curious on what metrics he would emphasize. About 10:50 in he actually gave his five and hinted throughout that you should actually focus on 2-3. · Would I recommend you watch it?: Perhaps, but you will find yourself rewinding portions of interest to try to catch what he is saying. He moves very fast through the material and the slides are too detailed to capture as he talks. · Most Notable Point: Biggest issue with startups is Marketing and Sales not technical. · When should you fast forward? The hardest hitting points were 6 minutes on · What the audience didn’t hear: He pointed to 3-4 notable bloggers on the concept of startup marketing. I dug up their actual blog URLs in the notes below.

Hope it helps.

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

• Dave McClure – Founders Fund

• http://vimeo.com/6925856

• 0:7.201 – Overview

…….○ Key you are measuring too much stuff … focus on less

…….○ Startup metrics for pirates

…….○ Build a culture of feedback

…….○ Kill a feature

• 2:23.149 – Him

…….○ What he invested in … 9x on Mint

…….○ 13 … 3-4 success

…….○ Founders Fund … 12 seed deals (22 total)

…………..§ Small checks

• 3:49.630 – Measure User Behavior Real Time

…….○ Unique to internet

…….○ Watch customer behavior

• 4:43.26 – Be Humble

…….○ Listen to customers if using products

…….○ Analytic rigor

…….○ Read –> Smartest Person in the Room (blog post)

• 5:45.488 – Make money and users happy

…….○ Measure discontinuous increases in user happiness or value

• 6:33.643 – Startup Metrics (smarter than him … who to read)

…….○ Sean Ellis http://startup-marketing.com/

…….○ Andrew Chen .. http://andrewchenblog.com/

…….○ Eric Ries http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

…….○ Hiten Shah (hnshah on twitter)

• 7:12.77 – Biggest issues is Marketing issue not technical issue

…….○ Conversion

…….○ Iteration

…….○ Simple & Actionable

…….○ Less = More

…….○ 8:33.429 – Have two options (A / B)

…………..§ Figure out which is better … don’t go w/ just one

…………..§ Shipping new features adds complexity .. Does value offset for net users

…….○ i.e. Uniques to conversion, conversion to purchase, conversion to feedback

• 10:31.903 – Iteration loop

…….○ Lean Startup

• 10:50.904 – Startup Metrics for Pirates

…….○ Acquire (new)

…….○ Activate (like 1st visit – feedback)

…….○ Retention – come back

…….○ Referral – do they refer?

…….○ Revenue –

• 12:6.794 – 5 Step Startup Metrics Model (above)

…….○ Figure out one basic feature users like and will come back for

• 12:50.253 – Startup Pyramid

…….○ Product Market Fit (taking away a feature does it matter?)

…………..§ Process of taking away and see if they care

• 13:25.850 – Roles

…….○ Founder – What to measure

…………..§ Critical few actionable metrics – ones you can answer questions from … is it better or worse .. Trend information versus changes to product

…………..§ Look for 2-3 features

…….○ Product / Engineering – What features make user happy and make $

…………..§ Why are we shipping … why not remove?

…………..§ Kill a feature … what sucks? Every week.

…………..§ Focus on one thing users like … than more features

…………..§ 17:33.723 – The goal is ONE feature that users can’t live without … NOT a suite

…….○ Marketing / Sales – How to access channels (low cost mass distribution)

…………..§ 18:30.613 – High Volume, Low Cost, High Conversion. Map out marketing on this front

• Summary – 19:27.720

…….○ Focus on Good Product (activate, retain)

…….○ Market the product – Acquisition and referral

…….○ Make money –

• 20:5.940 – Links / References

…….

Rails 3 – Merb Implications

So as I ramp up to do some automation in my business I am looking at Rails as the baseline. So the work going on with Rails 3 caught my eye and I took a spin through an overview given by Yehuda Katz back in May.

image0041

· Why it caught my eye Supposedly Merb allows plug in play w/ Rails so you aren’t trapped w/ pieces you don’t like. · Would I recommend you watch it?: If you are hard core into Rails yes as the conversation is very detailed. If you want a layman overview of what Rails 3 is about this is probably not the best angle. · Most Notable Point: Ability to plug and play w/ Rails 3 is the goal and looks viable. Both on ORM and other pieces. · When should you fast forward? No notable slow segments … very detailed. · What some might of missed: Rails Boost looks interesting (a template approach layered on top of rails 2.3)

Seems cool. Not sure if I will work from the alpha rails3 due out shortly or just poke up 2.3. Need to ponder more.

As always, for those amused here are my raw notes:

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

• Actual presentation

• What to Expect in Rails 3.0 (Rails and Merb)

• Yehuda Katz – 5/22/09

• 0:33.296

…..○ Intro commentary

…..○ Worked on merb full time prior to merge

…..○ Defining audience

……….§ Merb targets the developer that wants to develop apps and extend RoR framework potentially

• 3:53.22 – ORM Agnostic

…..○ Merb

……….§ Form_for … allow activerecord or other types

……….§ Two valid types (valid, errors, new_record)

……….§ Net to two interfaces

…..○ ActionORM (name can change)

……….§ Upgrade on MERB

……….§ Have drivers to make other things pretend to be active records

……….§ I.e. Sequel driver

…..○ Two options – compliance or proxy

……….§ Object.to_model

…..○ 8:21.632 – Code changes required to do above in RoR

……….§ Error_messages_for changes

…..○ Community Extensions

……….§ Adaptor for sql for example

• 10:41.838 – Rack

…..○ MERB 0.05 – No rack, mongrel supported by support

…..○ Support pure rack (Mongrel, Thin, Ebb, CGI, FCGI, Webrick, IRB, Runner)

…..○ Merb 1 – Add some middleware

……….§ PathPrefix, ConditonalGet, Static

• 14:24.377 – Router#call

…..○ Get some rails to behave like rack in certain parts

…..○ Controller.action(:index) … rack object returns …

…..○ Middleware

……….§ Param Parsing (JSON, XML, etc – merge)

……….§ Rescuing – in RoR 2.3 in controller … in 3.0 just another middleware

……….§ Config.middleware.uss Foo to use

…..○ Integration Tests

……….§ Can test app w/ rack aspects with special handling

• 17:16.904 – End Game

…..○ Treat all aspects of Rails, Merb, Sinatra etc as one thing

…..○ Most will use RoR as it works today … but if you want to mount Merb or Sinatra apps … easily to your RoR app

• 18:24.169 – Refactoring Rails internals

…..○ Callbacks

……….§ Around Filters – Unify them – ActionPack, TestCase, Dispatcher, ActiveRecord

……….§ Speed

……………□ Like hello world request returning JSON (10-20% of time)

……………□ Every before_filter fires a ton of stuff (20:38.694)

……………□ Create _run_action_filters … rails compile to one tight method

…..○ ActionDispatch (22:26.253)

……….§ Not controller related … so move to action_dispatch (new)

……….§ Make controllers as fast as Rails Metal

…..○ AbstractController

……….§ Rails mailer, rails controller – same but forks

……….§ Rebuild controller on module approach that is more robust

……………□ Ability to super

……….§ Add new sugar to modules … include will setup super chain correctly

……….§ Layout module depends on renderer

…..○ Example of Rendering (25:51.864)

……….§ Render “foo” – render action foo

……….§ Render :template => “/foo” .. Removes slash (no lookup in abs dir)

……….§ Get Template object … AC::Renderer

……….§ Render Template object … Abstract::Renderer .. gets Template object

……….§ Set HTTP response .. Http base controller

……….§ Set response_body … main AbstractController

……….§ … so top down … normalize as you move up (top down in my list)

• ActionView (28:31.943)

…..○ ViewPathSet#find (single way in) … get Template object

……….§ Ask each of its paths (resolvers) do you have something that matches

……….§ Abstract file system physical from request for a template

…..○ Returns template

…..○ Template#render(self) – controller

…..○ ActionView.long_meth

• Public API (31:30.369)

…..○ Rails has … public doc is the API … one API

…..○ Merb 1 …

……….§ Public

……….§ Private

……….§ Plugin

• Rails 3 (32:43.202)

…..○ TBD

• Debugging

…..○ Rack::Bug (33:11.266)

…..○ Port of Django debug toolbar

…..○ Works in rails 2.3

…..○ Pluggable

…..○ Solution – Orchestra (34:23.441)

……….§ Event system in rails … 100 lines of code

……….§ Hook to ‘render’ event … not system

……….§ Publish a render event … works across stacks

……….§ Longer term goal … one place to override renderer and sequel

……….§ Make alerts custom … don’t block main thread w/ 10 callbacks

• Exception Middleware (36:38.514)

…..○ Rack thing

• Javascript

…..○ Rails 2.3 Bad

…..○ Merb .. Bring your own javascript

…..○ jQuery .. jRails (hard link to rails API – breaks)

…..○ Rails 3

……….§ Instead get javascript out of inline .. Semantic markup

……….§ jQuery example (38:44.851) of what you need

……….§ Separate behavior from markup

……….§ Generate Markup

……………□ Rails.prototype.js (HTML 5 question)

……………□ Rails.dojo.js

……………□ Rails.mootools.js

……………□ Etc

• Competition (40:27.494)

…..○ Remove Merb reduces competition

…..○ Why merger is good

…..○ ActiveRecord and DataMapper .. Allow choice

…..○ ActionController and MetalController … allow choice (for speed)

…..○ Known interfaces (drop our rails parts you don’t want)

…..○ Allow you to drop out pieces of rails that doesn’t work

…..○ Template Engines (42:59.934)

……….§ Good in 2.1 and up (so use rails)

……….§ Merb and ORMs – Work

…..○ Rails Boost (44:10.906)

……….§ Build part of stack .. Custom rails … create your stack on options

……….§ Don’t take away ‘rails foo’ experience

• Q&A (45:54.318)

…..○ Rails 3 release?

……….§ When its ready. Not prior to google summer of code. 2-3 months after that.

……….§ Get more plug-ins ready … goal stables are more stable

…..○ Will you do something like Rails Boost (48:2.728)

……….§ DHH is against a bunch of questions

…..○ Ease up upgrade from 2.3 to 3 (49:43.843)

……….§ API focus (don’t break that)

…..○ Help

……….§ Run apps and plugins on Master

…..○ Will rails 3 work 1.8.6 ruby … yes

…..○ Rails 3 trunk .. Is available (github)

…..○ Any alpha versions? Beta releases … maybe.

…..○ Books on rails 3? Later.

Farmville Is Bigger Than World of WarCraft? Really?

Kevin Rose (founder of Digg and WeFollow) gave a talk recently at FOWA. Link to actual discussion is http://vimeo.com/6905398.

· Why it caught my eye Viral traffic growth. An elusive beast. · Would I recommend you watch it?: Absolutely. His points, while summarized well by many are clarified by his examples. · Most Notable Point: Ego. Define your core use case and then design to fulfill user ego if possible. Does your app create sense of self worth? Value? For the user. · When should you fast forward? Q&A wasn’t notable. · What the audience didn’t hear: His point on marketing by approaching jr. bloggers with your startup story intriguing. Also, loved his example that Farmville (on Facebook) which I have played (thanks to my boys) and has more active users than World of WarCraft.

As always, for those amused here are my raw notes …

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:42 AM

……………..§ Kevin – Intro

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:43 AM – EGO

……………..§ Doesn’t drive design … but should influence design you need for the business goal

……………..§ What emotional rewards

……………..§ What visible rewards (badges, etc)

……………..§ Good Examples

……………………..□ 10/6/2009, 9:45 AM Twitter

…………………………….® Followers – Celebrity as free endorser (New idea)

…………………………………….◊ Works due to simple friend model

…………………………………….◊ Becomes a social currency … more is better (bigger platform)

…………………………………….◊ False follower concept is reality

……………………..□ 10/6/2009, 9:48 AM Digg Leaderboard

…………………………….® Who has submitted the most stories … Top Digg poweruser goal

…………………………….® Permlink page … size of icon for submitter is larger and friending icon

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:50 AM – SIMPLICITY

……………..§ Overbuild features

……………..§ Just release something (do it really well) and see what users do with it .

……………..§ Constantly ask what to remove

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:51 AM – BUILD and RELEASE

……………..§ Don’t debate features

……………..§ Put it out there

……………..§ Build, release, analyze, repeat

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:52 AM – HACK THE PRESS

……………..§ Invite only systems

……………………..□ Press likes limited story (bloggers)

……………..§ Logged in user to see categories

……………..§ Talk to jr. bloggers (talk to the staff @ TechCrunch for example)

……………..§ Attend parties of events you can’t afford (i.e. Web 2.0 costs $3-4k) … so hit after parties . Have demo in hand

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:56 AM – START PODCAST

……………..§ It’s not about numbers here … core of your community looks for this

……………..§ Launch party, quarterly parties

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:58 AM – ADVISORS

……………..§ What technical issues are probable (scale, server, etc)

……………..§ Can be biz/dev or tech

……………..§ Stock compensation . Small % . Vests over course of years

………○ 10/6/2009, 9:59 AM – USERBASE TO SPREAD WORD

……………..§ Farmville – Facebook app … larger user base than WoW

……………………..□ Notes to you that your friends are helping you when you are away . Pull stagnate friends back in due to feeling of owing them (they help to get free points)

……………………..□ Rare blacksheep given away

……………..§ WeFollow – Enable people to tweet out a pre-built msg … with their keywords

……………………..□ 10/6/2009, 10:02 AM – Graph of user growth … spike with add of welcome splash with call to action to add to directory giving them data of adding themselves

………○ 10/6/2009, 10:02 AM – DOES YOUR PRODUCT ADD VALUE TO 3RD PARTY SITE

……………..§ Wall Street gives link to Digg on every page as it adds value to WSJ

………○ 10/6/2009, 10:03 AM – ANALYZE TRAFFIC

……………..§ Google Analytics

……………………..□ Top exit pages, paths

………○ 10/6/2009, 10:03 AM – LOOK AT BIG PICTURE

……………..§ Users contribute – Quality Content

……………..§ Traffic from content

……………..§ Traffic nets to buttons (digg reference)

………○ 10/6/2009, 10:04 AM – Q&A

……………..§ B2B Advice on viral design – Not much to say there

……………..§ 10/6/2009, 10:06 AM – Moonfruit promotion on twitter good/bad – They offered to give a macbook to someone that promotes their service. Shut down by twitter due to volume. Digg (us) focus on show people what they are going to send not a generic plug.

……………..§ Visibly punish (opposite of reward)? – No do not. Users don’t know always they are gaming. Many times people digg 500 stories but to them it’s a game. User onboarding can help less users going off the deep end. Focus them on positive tasks.

……………..§ 10/6/2009, 10:08 AM – Companies don’t pay for marketing / advertisting … does Digg pay for some? Digg has not paid for marketing. Focus on meetups and get togethers.

……………..§ 10/6/2009, 10:10 AM – Demographics of Digg? 95% male started. Expanded content w/ version 3. Will do more promotion at the vertical level (i.e. Rock climbing). 3000 follow knitting.

Eric Schmidt (CEO Google) – Issues Facing U.S.

Sorry for the break but exercise outdoors was more fun than watching webcasts inside.  However, as winter approaches I return again to running on the treadmill … and I came across this keynote by Eric Schmidt.

• Why it caught my eye:
  • I like Eric Schmidt
• Would I recommend you watch it?:
  • No, he is rather vague in the talk.
• Most Notable Point:
  • Eric Schmidt is on Obama’s Transition team focused on Economy.  Now that is a huge win.  Would love to see him step down from Google and be part of the Obama administration.  It is rumored on the web right now.
• When should you fast forward?
  • Q&A.  Nothing notable was driven there.
• What the audience didn’t hear:
  • Eric mentioned a couple of times how he is looking for government to embrace crowd sourcing.   Funny thing was a few of the government I.T. leads asked in return when they could talk to the Google engineers.   (totally didn’t get his point)

As always, for those amused here are my raw notes:

*** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING ***

http://battellemedia.com/archives/004718.php
Eric Schmidt on 2009
• 11/24/2008, 11:56 AM
• New America Foundation
……………○ Schmidt board member.  Prior to Google.
……………○ Thinktank
……………○ Chairman of New America now (Eric)
……………○ Member of Transition Team for Obama for Economics
• 11/24/2008, 12:00 PM
• Eric comes up
……………○ Issues to look at
…………………………§ How restore trust in government
…………………………§ Healthcare
…………………………§ Schools
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:02 PM
……………○ Dependence on foreign oil
……………○ He is an optimist, average IQ talent of population
……………○ Talking how 3-4 years how all people in the world will have information of all time … similar to printing press and gutenburg bible moment
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:04 PM
……………○ Power of ability for people to share their ideas is not yet fully understood
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:05 PM
……………○ Energy Efficiency leader is in our power
……………○ Tech makes a difference
……………○ Talk about waves of innovation – telegraph, electricity
……………○ Regulatory control of innovation – Right answer is a balance
…………………………§ Understand the objective – Win as a country
…………………………§ Use the objective to find the balance point
……………○ Key is to fund the new startups … that is where innovation comes from
…………………………§ Eric Schmidt via DARPA funding was enabled
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:09 PM
……………○ Energy grid
…………………………§ Example – Battery from car to provide peak power during day
…………………………§ Problem is design and will to make it happen
……………○ Infrastructure research
…………………………§ Foundation on which wealth is created
…………………………§ More than roads, bridges
…………………………§ New networks (why is US 15th in broadband?)
……………○ Move from regulatory framework
…………………………§ Roosevelt – Electric framework
…………………………§ Eisenhower – Transport framework
…………………………§ Obama – Regulatory Framework
………………………………………□ FCC – example of good regulation – opening white spaces to allow people to create new goods / services
…………………………§ Open systems
………………………………………□ Innovation will come from who knows where so your platform must enable
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:12 PM
……………○ Open system
…………………………§ Community makes a better decision than an individual
…………………………§ Alternative – Ma Bell … limited choice
………………………………………□ De-regulatory … unleashed the wave of the 90’s in part
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:14 PM
……………○ Cloud computing
…………………………§ Defines
…………………………§ Move to cloud – due to regulatory changes  allowing data to flow to mobile users
…………………………§ Enables small business
………………………………………□ Takes infrastructure away as a barrier to entry
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:16 PM
……………○ R&D
…………………………§ Not good in last few years
…………………………§ Businesses by law don’t fund … they are tied to shareholder value … can’t do long term
…………………………§ Most innovation comes from universities.  Core aspect of US edge
………………………………………□ Budget went down last year for science
………………………………………□ Obama has promised to double funding
…………………………§ Focus on science and math
………………………………………□ Problem if the competitors (other nations) innovate  … and have better talent .. And more cash
…………………………§ Federal Tax R&D credit … continues to get pushed out
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:19 PM
……………○ Visa system – wrong
…………………………§ Why are we kicking out the best and brightest after they come to university here?
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:19 PM
……………○ Patent Reform
…………………………§ Why is every case is filed in east texas?  Bad policy
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:20 PM
……………○ International Property Laws
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:20 PM
……………○ What is google is doing?
…………………………§ Flu trends.  Anonymous way let people know.
…………………………§ Universal language translation.  Can translate from language to language without a dictionary.
………………………………………□ Language causes war
………………………………………□ So now we can bulk transform … no humans required (for rough translation)
…………………………§ What should you do this weekend?
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:22 PM
……………○ Energy
…………………………§ Oil is finite, Information is Infinite
………………………………………□ How apply to oil issue
…………………………§ Trillion $ industry
…………………………§ Climate change (tied w/ nuclear disaster for risks globally)
…………………………§ Is there a silver bullet … climate change, oil down, gets people to where they need go, creates export industry, and we can afford
………………………………………□ Google 2030 energy plan
……………………………………………………® Electrical power generation (coal, gas)
…………………………………………………………………◊ Same level of consumption per citizen for next 20 years
…………………………………………………………………◊ Reality is consumption is growing … except where utility profit <> efficiency
………………………………………………………………………………► Paid on energy of they save, not what they produce
…………………………………………………………………◊ Every plant rebuilt by 2050 anyway
…………………………………………………………………◊ Solar, Wind, Enhanced Geothermal
………………………………………………………………………………► Turbines approaching cost of coal
………………………………………………………………………………► Problem of wind, solar … grid not connected.
……………………………………………………………………………………………} Problem with grid … can’t get infrastructure approved.
……………………………………………………………………………………………} Federal incentives required
……………………………………………………® Transportation (oil)
…………………………………………………………………◊ Plug-in hybrids.  Small engine.  40 miles.  Chevy volt.
…………………………………………………………………◊ Charge on battery for short trips.
…………………………………………………………………◊ 1/2 the gas saved.
…………………………………………………………………◊ Works for all cars
…………………………………………………………………◊ Aerodynamic styles, carbon … down by factor of 30 of oil prices
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:30 PM
……………○ Stimulus program
…………………………§ Use that money to get the energy and infrastructure built
…………………………§ Matching programs … get vc’s tied to federal funds
………………………………………□ Utilities (state).  Fund them for efficiency models.  No brainer.
……………………………………………………® Do those via local contractors
…………………………§ Insulation
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:32 PM
……………○ Example – Improvement to Homes not doing due to 3-5 year turn
…………………………§ Bond for home improvement (green improvement)
…………………………§ Bond goes on title
…………………………§ Nice and friendly rate
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:33 PM
……………○ Auto – Fund them to beat the Café standards
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:33 PM
……………○ Renewable portfolio standards
…………………………§ State shoots for 10% renewable by 2015.
…………………………§ Fund transmission lines between states if have portfolio
……………○ $ flow
…………………………§ Tax credits to solar wind, geo thermal
…………………………§ Create a federal energy lending entity … modelled after 1930’s farm act … make low interest long term loans to build the businesses we are described
…………………………§ Tie to federal buying authority
…………………………§ Co2 eating rock … turns to marble
……………○ Buy polluting cars and replace the fleet
……………○ Jobs programs basically
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:36 PM
……………○ Restore trust in the government
…………………………§ Obama was skillful in using the internet for funding
…………………………§ People are debating Obama’s weekly address on YouTube.  Fundamental to how we get through this.
………………………………………□ Historically legislation is very closed doors
……………○ Political scandals didn’t occur because falsehoods are quickly corrected in internet
…………………………§ Tracked what everyone said
…………………………§ Political leaders know it matters.  See fellow members get caught
……………○ 1st African American President
…………………………§ Encourage debate
…………………………§ Still can’t see the base information that government uses to make decisions
…………………………§ Stream all the public meetings
…………………………§ Government has not embraced  – blogs, video, etc
………………………………………□ Patent office does – putting out applications early.  Wisdom of crowds gets it done early.
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:42 PM
……………○ Closing
…………………………§ Optimist
…………………………§ Force people to deal w/ current choices.  Get population involved.  Recognition among Amercians of private and public sectors working together.
…………………………§ 1831 quote – America will do well because of optimism of people, abundance of land, and absence of a king
……………○ 11/24/2008, 12:46 PM
……………○ Q&A
…………………………§ Social Security – $1B payouts a day.  Change the structure.  Get it right.  IT advisory panel.  Get new innovations into government.
………………………………………□ Social Security is most successful IT area in US
………………………………………□ Suggest to how get other people (crowds) to do the job with them
…………………………§ John Simpson – Consumer Watchdog.  No king comment.  Fear Google as ‘king’.  Privacy of  data.  Problems of Google Apps getting marketing to government.   Spread privacy problems.
………………………………………□ He has read their letter
………………………………………□ HTTPS, ETC … too slow
…………………………§ Elizabeth Holferd – Neutral Net – Infrastructure questions.   Where is the network that does all the goals.  How do you get investment into infra companies again?
………………………………………□ He point out Obama is supporting this
………………………………………□ Can’t do infra only – not enough stimulation there.  Not mature enough, can’t scale.
………………………………………□ Google and GE are working together
…………………………§ Wil – Use the grid for hybrid cars.  Immediate threat transfer wealth to other parts of world via oil.  Can natural gas fix the problem
………………………………………□ Crack of energy.
………………………………………□ Problem is its not a long term answer.   Sources are limited so as demand rises the price will rise.   L&G and C&G … use for fleet of buses and trucks.  That works.
…………………………§ DOD Advisory – Doing work inside of government.   Leverage web3.0/2.0.  How do we connect w/ the transition team to share lessons learned?
………………………………………□ Speak to transition team.  They are listening.
…………………………§ Vicki – MIT PHD in Mgmt – Director from NSF talked about MIT projects.   Do they fund?
………………………………………□ Fund computer science
………………………………………□ Fund in energy – Alternative fuels
………………………………………□ Invest in companies for energy future
…………………………§ Charlie Clark – Tax Notes – R&D Tax credit.  Make it permanent.  Would companies do new work if it were permanent.
………………………………………□ Expenses are tied to innovation
…………………………§ Bill Tucker – Consultant – How do you think nuclear power fits into the overall solution.
………………………………………□ Rats nest of issues.   Safety, long term storage, reprocessing.  Political issues.  Debate of a federal/national reprocessing center.
………………………………………□ No new plants since 1970’s.   Capital costs to build a new plant exceed budgets of power companies.
………………………………………□ 4-5 interesting new power plant designs.  Billions on speculative funding so a question mark there.
………………………………………□ Easy to say pro-nuke, anti-nuke.
………………………………………□ Compare wind farms … quicker to build wind farms