A Threat to Startups

Updated August 10, 2010, 12:08 PM

Brad Burnham is a partner at Union Square Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund located in New York City. This was written with Fred Wilson, also a partner at the firm.

We believe that Google and Verizon’s proposed policy principles to preserve an open Internet came out of a good faith effort to bring some clarity to the market for Internet applications and access. But we fear that this agreement is a compromise that does not serve the next great startup enterprise well.

A Threat to Startups – Room for Debate – NYTimes.com

Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality) is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions by Internet Service Providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and no restrictions on the modes of communication allowed.^[1][2][3]

The principle states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access.

Though the term did not enter popular use until several years later, since the early 2000s advocates of net neutrality and associated rules have raised concerns about the ability of broadband providers to use their last mile infrastructure to block Internet applications and content (e.g., websites, services, protocols), particularly those of competitors. In the US particularly, but elsewhere as well, the possibility of regulations designed to mandate the neutrality of the Internet has been subject to fierce debate.

Neutrality proponents claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise uncompetitive services. Many believe net neutrality to be primarily important as a preservation of current freedoms.^[4] Vinton Cerf, considered a "father of the Internet" and co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the Web, and many others have spoken out in favor of network neutrality.

Network neutrality – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clouds, big data, and smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch

Advancing technologies and their swift adoption are upending traditional business models. Senior executives need to think strategically about how to prepare their organizations for the challenging new environment.

AUGUST 2010 • Jacques Bughin, Michael Chui, and James Manyika

Source: McKinsey Global Institute

In This Article

• Trend 1: Distributed cocreation moves into the mainstream
• Trend 2: Making the network the organization
• Trend 3: Collaboration at scale
• Trend 4: The growing ‘Internet of Things’
• Trend 5: Experimentation and big data
• Trend 6: Wiring for a sustainable world
• Trend 7: Imagining anything as a service
• Trend 8: The age of the multisided business model
• Trend 9: Innovating from the bottom of the pyramid
• Trend 10: Producing public good on the grid

Two-and-a-half years ago, we described eight technology-enabled business trends that were profoundly reshaping strategy across a wide swath of industries.¹ We showed how the combined effects of emerging Internet technologies, increased computing power, and fast, pervasive digital communications were spawning new ways to manage talent and assets as well as new thinking about organizational structures.

Since then, the technology landscape has continued to evolve rapidly. Facebook, in just over two short years, has quintupled in size to a network that touches more than 500 million users. More than 4 billion people around the world now use cell phones, and for 450 million of those people the Web is a fully mobile experience. The ways information technologies are deployed are changing too, as new developments such as virtualization and cloud computing reallocate technology costs and usage patterns while creating new ways for individuals to consume goods and services and for entrepreneurs and enterprises to dream up viable business models. The dizzying pace of change has affected our original eight trends, which have continued to spread (though often at a more rapid pace than we anticipated), morph in unexpected ways, and grow in number to an even ten.²

Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch – McKinsey Quarterly – High Tech – Strategy & Analysis

The Supreme Court on Monday loosened the limits on the kinds of inventions that are eligible for patent protection in a case that was closely watched for its impacts on innovation.

Supreme Court relaxes limits on innovations that can be patented

I had heard about this book a while back but after last years Wall Street Crash it was right time to read it. It took me a while to read it. It is not a very easy read. But I am glad I read it though.

Michael Lewis has shard story of Soloman Brothers and their collapse. Lewis illustrates how economic decisions made at the national level changed securities markets and made bonds the most lucrative game on the Street. His description of the firm’s personalities and of the events from 1984 through the crash of October 1987 are vivid and memorable.

It is a very good book to learn how Wall Street actually runs, what goes in mind of people at Wall Street. How investment backs make money etc…

It is fascinating to see how history repeats itself. You will read this book and think as if it was written after last years crash. This book is from 80’s.

It is a great read for anyone who wants to learn how mortgage securities market took off and how credit swaps came in play. Great book.

Author: Chip & Dan Heath

This is an awesome book. I was looking for book on storytelling this is an ideal book on that.

Made to Stick focuses on telling your story/message in a way that it sticks with the audience. Author focuses on very common themes like Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, Stories to make the stories stick.

Book also has some good punch line which are good. The one I liked and remembered was “Avoid burying the lead. Don’t start with something interesting but irrelevant in hopes of entertaining the audience. Instead, work to make the core message itself more interesting.”

Other Good quotes:

• "And that’s the great thing about the world of ideas — any of us, with the right insight and the right message, can make an idea stick."
• "Becoming an expert in something means that we become more and more fascinated by nuance and complexity."
• "Abstraction is the luxury of the expert. If you’ve got to teach an idea to a room full of people, and you aren’t certain what they know, concreteness is the only safe language."

It is really great book to read. I will try to take authors class if I get a chance it is that good. Enjoy.

Photo via Christian Steen

Tech On reports that the e-paper market is set to grow at an astounding rate, from US$70 million in 2008 to US$2.1 billion in 2015 and US$7 billion by 2020. And about 50% of that market will be thanks to e-books and the push for e-readers. However, we also just noted that consumer gadgets are taking up a whole lot of energy, offsetting efficiency efforts. That means it’s time to start asking some sustainability questions.

Digital e-books are a great way to lower the impact of reading, same as digital music cutting down the consumption of materials like CDs, CD cases and so on. e-Readers allow for not only thousands of books to be held on one energy efficient device, but also documents, which helps cut down on the need for printing in business settings. There are a lot of pros to e-paper technology and the efficiency gains it gives to consumer electronics that utilize it.

Soaring e-Paper Market Means It’s Time to be Careful : TreeHugger

Tracking Swine Flu Cases Worldwide

Health officials continue to report mild cases of swine flu throughout the United States and worldwide. Among the hundreds of confirmed infections, 53 people have died, including 48 in Mexico, three in the United States, one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.

New cases are no longer being reported here.

• Changes to the map: Confirmed cases will be based on figures reported by the C.D.C., W.H.O. and the Public Health Agency of Canada, not individual states. Suspected cases will no longer be tracked, as officials report them irregularly.
• The W.H.O. and the C.D.C. have reported a total of 4,780 cases in 30 countries, including 2,618 in the United States.
• Officials in mainland China reported their first swine flu case, a man who had recently flown there from the United States.

Swine Flu Cases Map – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com