tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85844122051728575732024-03-13T11:24:10.962-07:00Sky Dayton's BlogSkyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-39751094392222198092024-01-19T10:14:00.000-08:002024-01-22T14:50:48.769-08:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What moves the world – agency or chance?</span></span></h1><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5cDjYaRVc3g42y3Zvu1vSUnZQBoTTahtUDvQEKuPyDgn_GNKsYVnaBhEdF4Z21N_d13j9GJGBS_f0elr1src3JZL2mcSGOulFI9nPOPLv7jxmWCspYYTAEyW15mhjEUCmVixqZuDN_8cdkMcObqtShQclQBnC4m-RvmfZkvW_7cptwnD4KTL7T_4N7d8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="1690" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5cDjYaRVc3g42y3Zvu1vSUnZQBoTTahtUDvQEKuPyDgn_GNKsYVnaBhEdF4Z21N_d13j9GJGBS_f0elr1src3JZL2mcSGOulFI9nPOPLv7jxmWCspYYTAEyW15mhjEUCmVixqZuDN_8cdkMcObqtShQclQBnC4m-RvmfZkvW_7cptwnD4KTL7T_4N7d8=w415-h312" width="415" /></span></a></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many years ago, I saw the movie The Social Network, and I came with the impression the filmmakers believed Facebook was almost an “accident”. The movie was good entertainment, and I enjoyed it. But I wondered if they were trying to make a point.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I can’t comment about the disputes at the center of the film; I wasn’t there. Possibly other people had the idea at the same time as Mark Zuckerberg, but it’s not like the idea wasn’t already in the air. There’s nothing particularly proprietary or unique about a social network — many of them existed well before Facebook.</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">However, the central premise of the film is Zuck sort of stumbled his way to success (fittingly, based on a book titled “The Accidental Billionaires”), and that he was essentially the lucky beneficiary of timing and other people’s ideals.</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">As someone who has struggled many times to build something from nothing, and occasionally succeeded, I find this notion a little disturbing. Yet we see this angle taken by critics, reporters and other spectators on a regular basis. Why?</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">During EarthLink’s heyday, Wired assigned a journalist to write an in-depth feature about me. During one of the ensuing interviews, he asked me whether I thought I was responsible for shaping my own destiny or was I, as he felt about himself, “floating down a river” toward a fate determined by my environment and genetic endowment. I bluntly told him that people in that school rarely created or did anything of value in the world. He seemed annoyed and scrawled in his notepad.</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">A few weeks later, after he had filed his story, I got a call from Wired’s then Editor In Chief, Katrina Heron, whom I had known for years and greatly admired. She told me that she had finally read the article, and that she was killing it. She felt it wasn’t an accurate reflection of me or the company I’d created, and she wouldn’t publish it. She said, “I know you, and this isn’t you.” I trusted her opinion, and took it on faith that she had made the right decision, although I was more than a little curious what the story had to say!</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I didn’t have to wait long. The journalist retained ownership of the article and shopped it around to several other publications, and it was soon published in a small magazine in Canada. When I finally read the piece, I understood why Katrina had killed it: The central notion of the story was that EarthLink just “happened,” that my success was pretty much an accident, and that I was just a lucky SOB.</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Successful entrepreneurs like to say that it’s all about being the right place at the right time. There’s a lot of truth to this. However, real success is won in a hard knock-down drag-out fight, scratching tooth-and-nail against impossible odds. Elon Musk isn’t exaggerating when he describes some moments of the entrepreneur’s journey as “chewing glass and staring into the abyss.” </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yes, timing IS vitally important, and no one builds anything of scale alone, but the smartest, most ferociously determined entrepreneurs recognize and PUT themselves in the right place at the right time. When a massive new wave is about to crest, they paddle like crazy and drop in. And then they have the conviction and perseverance to survive what usually turns into a brutal ride. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is always a CAUSE.</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The root of lasting success isn’t luck, and greatness is never an accident.</span></span></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc85be2f-7fff-3de2-f5b5-4b211ff9a05f"><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-31827660557082864872013-12-07T15:46:00.001-08:002013-12-07T15:50:35.537-08:00New blog... better than the old oneMy new blog is now up and running at <a href="http://www.skydayton.com/">www.skydayton.com</a>. Thanks to the talented team at <a href="http://www.squarespace.com/">Squarespace</a> for finally making the Web WYSIWYG.<br />
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<br />Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-22288584233603365362013-11-18T00:09:00.002-08:002013-11-18T00:09:58.721-08:00Emergency Maneuver Training<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Continuing my aviator training, I recently completed an intense ground and flight course in emergencies. I spent three days wearing a parachute doing spins, rolls, spirals, loops and recovery from "unusual attitudes". We made every land</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">ing with the engine out or with simulated missing controls -- I landed once without any aileron or elevator control at all, only using rudder and power (it worked but wasn't pretty!). In addition to the obvious benefits of knowing how to recover from spins, I gained an awareness of the physics that allows airplanes flown by competent pilots to be so inherently safe.</span><br />
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<iframe width="459" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RIhIG_aGbS0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-3701137051041591392013-09-21T11:49:00.001-07:002013-09-21T11:49:41.897-07:00Jet to OregonFlew a small jet Van Nuys to Oregon (with an instructor) this week. Greased the landing.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KVI9ygbWNQI" width="459"></iframe>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-77630390267628199302013-07-06T01:04:00.002-07:002013-07-06T01:06:53.515-07:00Inspiring letter to a son heading to spaceI ran across this inspiring letter, which was written over 50 years ago to astronaut Malcolm Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit the earth, from his father the day before he left and printed in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0151004676/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0151004676&adid=08PBANFTG9FA9MXEMP66" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">his biography</a>.<br />
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I think a lot about what I tell my kids -- like a rocket, a few degrees of adjustment here or there at launch makes a huge difference later.<br />
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Dear Son, </blockquote>
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Just a few words on the eve of your great adventure for which you have trained yourself and anticipated for so long — to let you know that we all share it with you, vicariously. </blockquote>
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As I think I remarked to you at the outset of the space program, you are privileged to share in a pioneering project on a grand scale — in fact the grandest scale yet known to man. And I venture to predict that after all the huzzas have been uttered and the public acclaim is but a memory, you will derive the greatest satisfaction from the serene knowledge that you have discovered new truths. You can say to yourself: this I saw, this I experienced, this I know to be the truth. This experience is a precious thing; it is known to all researchers, in whatever field of endeavour, who have ventured into the unknown and have discovered new truths. </blockquote>
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You are probably aware that I am not a particularly religious person, at least in the sense of embracing any of the numerous formal doctrines. Yet I cannot conceive of a man endowed with intellect, perceiving the ordered universe about him, the glory of the mountain top, the plumage of a tropical bird, the intricate complexity of a protein molecule, the utter and unchanging perfection of a salt crystal, who can deny the existence of some higher power. Whether he chooses to call it God or Mohammed or Buddha or Torquoise Woman or the Law of Probability matters little. I find myself in my writings frequently calling upon Mother Nature to explain things and citing Her as responsible for the order of the universe. She is a very satisfactory divinity for me. And so I shall call upon Her to watch over you and guard you and, if she so desires, share with you some of Her secrets which She is usually so ready to share with those who have high purpose. </blockquote>
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With all my love,<br />
Dad </blockquote>
More amazing letters from dads, including John Steinbeck and Ronald Reagan <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/15/fatherly-advice-letters/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-51677118784155593402012-05-22T15:11:00.002-07:002012-05-22T23:31:59.400-07:00"If You Don't Know It's Impossible, It's Easier to Do."<div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Neil Gaiman just gave <a href="http://vimeo.com/42372767" target="_blank">a brilliant speech</a> with ten pieces of advice for young artists. I found it applicable to business or just about anything in life. The video is embedded below.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of my biggest successes in business were where I had no clue that what I was trying to do was probably impossible. I just went ahead and did it. Sure it was hard, but it often worked because I was the only one who tried. Gaiman captures this perfectly:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">When you start out...you have no idea what you're doing. This is great. People who know what they're doing know the rules, and they know what is possible and what is impossible. You do not. And you should not. The rules on what is possible and impossible...were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can. If you don't know it's impossible, it's easier to do. And because nobody has done it before, they haven't made up rules to stop anyone doing that particular thing again.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In our materialist world, money is seen as the key motivation for people. Steve Jobs dispelled this famously with, "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me." Gaiman agrees:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Nothing I did where the only reason for doing it was for the money was ever worth it, except as bitter experience. Usually I didn't end up getting the money, either.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But how do you start out? Before I knew anyone or had any experience, I used to have a 10:1 ratio -- for every ten calls I made, I wouldn't be discouraged if I could just get one person to call me back. Gaiman uses a metaphor of being stranded on a desert island, and every career attempt is like putting a message in a bottle and dropping it in the ocean. You may have to put out hundreds before the bottles start coming back. Eventually, they do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Soon enough, however, you face the problems of success. When you do finally make it, the world starts coming to you -- the bottles start washing in -- and ironically that can prevent you from doing the things that made you successful in the first place.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">The world conspires to stop you from doing the thing that you do because you're successful. There was a day when I realized I had become someone who professionally replied to email, and who wrote as a hobby. I started answering fewer emails and found I was writing much more.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And why you should continue to take big risks:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">The things I've done that worked the best were the things I was least certain about, the stories where I was sure they would either work or more likely be the kind of embarrassing failures that people would gather together and discuss until the end of time…. Looking back at them, people explain why they were inevitable successes, and when I was doing them I had no idea. I still don't. And where would be the fun in doing something you knew was going to work?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Exceptional advice for anyone who's ever had success or sought it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/42372767?color=ffffff" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe></span>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-12936500487202306242012-04-30T14:09:00.001-07:002012-04-30T14:09:23.372-07:00How I named EarthLink<br />
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In the fall of 1993, I was sitting in my apartment in Southern California trying to come up with a name for the Internet company I was about to start. I was 22 years old.</div>
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I recently came across my original notes from back then, and here's how it happened. I had first scribbled a few suffixes ("link", "soft", "works") and prefixes ("net", "super", etc.), then narrowed it down to some favorites, put them into a grid and called six friends, including my future wife, Arwen. The winner by a slim majority: "EarthLink". That was it.</div>
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I'm not sure if I conducted a trademark search, but I went with it. </div>
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Then, in late 1994 after we had launched and we were growing like a rocket, I was notified that the word "EarthLink" was already trademarked and owned by a major US cable TV company. We were facing a disaster. Our lawyers wanted to start writing letters. Instead, I just cold called the cable company's headquarters back East, talked my way to their general counsel and explained our predicament. He thought about it for a few minutes, and in a stroke of enormous generosity, released the name to us, completely and at no charge.</div>
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Looking at this nearly two decades later, my conclusions:</div>
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<li>The name EarthLink worked well because it was descriptive, but also whimsical and memorable. It made a technological mystery sound approachable. It sounded disarming and helpful, and that perfectly summed up what later made the company successful.</li>
<li>A name doesn't make or break a company. It's an empty vessel you fill with the right strategy and execution. But the vessel can be too small or it could have leaks. EarthLink was a perfect name for a very big, embracing idea: make it easy to connect to the Internet and bring it to the masses.</li>
<li>Years later, I would be involved with start-ups that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire specialized agencies to come up with names. Back then, my net worth was less than a hundred thousand dollars. I just had a pure idea of what I was trying to build, sat down and came up with a name. My biggest successes to date have all gone that route, and I still think it's the best way.</li>
<li>Sometimes big companies seem unfriendly and impenetrable, but they are staffed by people just like you and me. When I called the general counsel of a big cable company, he listened to my honest plea, and he decided to help me. I'm sure saving my life made him feel really good. Sometimes it's better to just take a chance and reach out to the person who can make a difference.</li>
<li>I'm glad I didn't choose "WanSoft"!</li>
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EarthLink went on to help millions of people onto the Internet for the first time, and in the process became a Fortune 1000 company.</div>
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<br /></div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-74288335395277683082012-01-29T13:50:00.000-08:002012-02-02T18:53:20.723-08:00Arwen's novel shoots to the top of the charts!<i>Resurrection</i> is <strike>#3</strike> #1, <strike>behind</strike> ahead of the latest book by George R.R. Martin.<br />
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Get yours on Kindle, Trade Paperback or Audio Book <a href="http://amzn.com/B005J61EPA" target="_blank">here</a>!<br />
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<br />Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-45519705907535251022012-01-15T21:36:00.000-08:002012-01-15T21:45:30.591-08:00Bezos on the long game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From a great <a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/11/ff_bezos/all/1">interview in Wired</a> by Steven Levy:<br />
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<i>Our first shareholder letter, in 1997, was entitled, “It’s all about the long term.” If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you’re competing against a lot of people. But if you’re willing to invest on a seven-year time horizon, you’re now competing against a fraction of those people, because very few companies are willing to do that. Just by lengthening the time horizon, you can engage in endeavors that you could never otherwise pursue. At Amazon we like things to work in five to seven years. We’re willing to plant seeds, let them grow—and we’re very stubborn. We say we’re stubborn on vision and flexible on details.<br /><br />In some cases, things are inevitable. The hard part is that you don’t know how long it might take, but you know it will happen if you’re patient enough. Ebooks had to happen. Infrastructure web services had to happen. So you can do these things with conviction if you are long-term-oriented and patient.</i><br />
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Pure gold.Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-49776654508601599202011-11-12T12:10:00.001-08:002011-11-12T12:15:17.519-08:00Remote Indonesia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"> Photo: <a href="http://www.davecollyer.com/" target="_blank">Dave Collyer</a></span></div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-64989036292694588952011-10-25T16:51:00.000-07:002011-10-25T16:52:32.577-07:00Challenging the MundaneSome of the best business ideas are borne from the dull and boring. A simpler way to take credit card payments: Square. Easier access to town cars: Uber. Sensible dental insurance: Brighter. Notes synched on all computers and devices: Evernote. Renting unused office space: eVenues.<br />
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And now, a better thermostat: <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/nest_thermostat/all/1">Nest</a>.<br />
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This is what happens when a bright entrepreneur decides <i>not</i> to take an everyday inconvenience for granted. How many ordinary problems do we live with that we'll one day say, "I can't believe we used to..."?<br />
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Here's a few off the top of my head:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Traffic lights that stay red when there's no crossing cars</li>
<li>Logging into social networks and seeing stuff from people we don't care about</li>
<li>Alarm clocks that suck; it's the first thing we look when we wake up and last thing we look at before we go to bed, and it's ugly and still thinks it should be programmed like a 1980's VCR</li>
<li>No way to tell which water bottle belongs to whom at home, with guests, when playing basketball, etc. (yep, I said <i>mundane</i>), resulting in massive waste globally</li>
<li>The hundreds of billions of spent each year to pay people to prepare tax returns, a total waste</li>
<li>The 99% of boats that sit in harbors unused 99% of the time</li>
<li>The billions spent by advertisers reaching people who are totally outside their target audience</li>
<li>Paper money, a model left over from centuries ago</li>
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And countless other troubles and inefficiencies small and large that vex and hassle us on a daily basis, and which we assume are just a given. In solving these problems, entrepreneurs will build hugely valuable businesses. For example, Square looks like a simple device to scan a credit card, but it opens the door for small merchants to manage their customer relationships like never before, and Nest seems like a better looking thermostat but could allow consumers and producers of energy unprecedented control over their costs.<br />
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The trouble we take for granted today could turn out to be a billion dollar opportunity for the entrepreneur who sees things differently.Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-74687591879468197622011-10-13T22:41:00.000-07:002011-10-13T22:42:19.975-07:00Sunset in Santa Barbara today<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Had to pull over and take this shot, which doesn't do justice to the dropping </div>
into the Pacific on a gorgeous 85 degree day in October on the California coast.<br />
<br />Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-40208646444375895022011-10-06T08:54:00.000-07:002011-10-13T22:41:55.581-07:00Unaired Think Different Ad from 1997 with Steve Jobs' Voice<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8rwsuXHA7RA" width="420"></iframe></div>
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I met Steve at the Apple campus shortly after this campaign was launched. A lot of companies had tried the "we're different" message in advertising before, but Steve followed it up with the courage to actually <b>be</b> different, often in the face of deafening criticism.Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-18096488115686394122011-08-25T08:22:00.000-07:002011-10-09T00:02:09.162-07:00Steve Jobs created the most valuable company in the world<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" face="Times" size="medium" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://www.cultofmac.com/a-detailed-followup-to-wireds-101-ways-to-save-apple-from-1997/82779"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JWWn4kvtn-U/TlZd5h2T_II/AAAAAAAAAJA/mR3nVaWPeI8/s320/wired_cover_apple_pray.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="269" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I remember the first time I met Steve Jobs like it was yesterday.</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It was 1998, and Steve had returned to Apple the previous year. The first Internet gold rush was under way, and EarthLink was signing up the masses who wanted to get on the Internet for the first time. A long time Apple user, I had worked hard to make EarthLink the best ISP for the Mac, and I guess Steve had noticed, because he asked us to come up to Cupertino and meet with him. Steve walked into the conference room in jeans and flip flops and introduced himself. I told him I was an Apple fan boy since forever and asked him to tell us what his strategy was for the company. Steve got up on the white board and drew out his plan, confidently explaining how he was drastically simplifying Apple, cutting it back to four computers: a desktop and laptop each designed for home and business. And then he proposed to to make EarthLink the default ISP for Apple's new home desktop (the iMac) and eventually all Apple products.</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As a result of that meeting, EarthLink became the first ISP presented to a new Mac user as soon as they turned on their computer for the first time. Apple later invested $200 million in EarthLink and one of Steve's most dedicated and insightful lieutenants, Phil Schiller, joined our board.</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Today, as he steps down as CEO to battle problems with his health, many people are sharing Steve stories. Here's one from me: It was a hot August evening in 1998, and I was living in a little rented house in Toluca Lake, California. The phone rang, and I picked it up. "Hi Sky, it's Steve Jobs." After quickly getting over how he'd gotten my number, I asked him what was up. It turned out that one of EarthLink's PR team had gotten a little overly excited and briefed a reporter on our new partnership in advance of the press release. Steve had gotten wind and politely asked me to reign them in. I told him I really appreciated the heads up, and I'd do that right away. Steve gave me his home number and told me to call him if I ever needed anything. This was a guy who had at least 10,000 employees at the time.</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">A lot about being a great manager is knowing how much or how little detail to focus on. Howard Schultz has said, "Everything matters," and Steve Jobs certainly embodies that idea. But to me, it's as simple as, whether the outcome is accomplished directly or through your team, a great manager truly <i>cares</i> about everything. Steve truly cares about every detail of the user experience, far more than anyone I've ever seen, and he has an indomitable combination of being unrelenting and <i>right.</i></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Steve's legacy already spans generations. My 9 year old daughter isn't prone to idolize anyone, let alone me or the founder of a computer company. Last night, she asked me if I knew Steve Jobs, and when I nodded my head, she said, "cooooooool."</div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-47117897929338101862011-06-14T14:25:00.001-07:002011-06-14T14:25:23.233-07:00Home<div class='posterous_autopost'><a href="http://instagr.am/p/Fu3WN/"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/DdnijimDiwIevfvdEuFiiADtAhcaJqAEqJrhscbuhrCyxbntJlHvarxsGrim/media_httpimagesinsta_zcDys.jpg.scaled1000.jpg"><img alt="Media_httpimagesinsta_zcdys" height="500" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/DdnijimDiwIevfvdEuFiiADtAhcaJqAEqJrhscbuhrCyxbntJlHvarxsGrim/media_httpimagesinsta_zcDys.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </a><br />Taken at Santa Monica Beachfront <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/home">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-45488777618062533132011-04-28T12:01:00.001-07:002011-04-28T12:01:19.470-07:00Tales from the 2008 market crash<div class='posterous_autopost'> <div>Apple was at $98.27.</div> <p /> <div>Oops.</div> <p /> <div><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/2Ebsozn5vmVJwXmvriLv44QTY2ax96cKWM2QcSvCOMV0xvdeVEWnbimAzjXV/Screen_shot_2011-04-28_at_11.5.png.scaled.1000.jpg"><img alt="Screen_shot_2011-04-28_at_11" height="648" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/DzUDRyWLVegjOkoYTWuEckYHtLrbkpFM539LnxzAh9mRajEXIrGHevCPxe3J/Screen_shot_2011-04-28_at_11.5.png.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/tales-from-the-2008-market-crash">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-1779984217822303822011-03-01T15:18:00.001-08:002011-03-01T15:18:24.411-08:00My 8 year old just downloaded a VOIP app onto her iPad, got herself a phone number and left me a voicemail<div class='posterous_autopost'> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/my-8-year-old-just-downloaded-a-voip-app-onto">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-20940386957735424932011-02-15T13:47:00.001-08:002011-02-15T13:52:19.257-08:00I want one of these for my lawn...<div class="posterous_autopost"><br /></div><div class="posterous_autopost"> </div><div class="posterous_autopost"><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HSKyHmjyrkA" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="289" width="480"></iframe> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com/">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/i-want-one-of-these-for-my-lawn">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-58790434228379823712011-02-14T14:47:00.001-08:002011-02-14T14:47:41.650-08:00How I survived the Valentines Day Massacre of 1995<div class='posterous_autopost'><div><div><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;">It was early 1995, and EarthLink was in one of its earliest growth periods. We'd just </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;">moved from our first 800 square foot office in Los Angeles to a 3,000 foot space down the hall in the same building. Even then, we quickly filled the new office, and people were sitting at desks in the hallway. We were adding subscribers at a rate faster than we could handle, sometimes growing 10% a week, and our systems were straining under the demand. We were barely managing to keep up.</span></div><p /><div><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;">Then, on February 14th, 1995, our main subscriber database — the file that held the usernames and passwords — got totally corrupted, and suddenly, we could no longer authenticate our users when they dialed in. (It was modems in those days, remember.) EarthLink was completely down. Fortunately, we had a back-up tape at the office that was only a few days old. Our engineers went to load the tape and restore our system. We would be back on in an hour, still a horrific outage, but survivable. Then, we discovered that the back-up tape was damaged and totally unreadable. We were dead in the water. If we couldn’t figure out how to get the data off that tape, EarthLink would be out of business, and I would be back to running a coffee house.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><br />I put the word out to everyone I knew for a data recovery expert. An EarthLink customer referred me to a firm in San Diego, and within minutes, the damaged tape was speeding south in a car. We fielded calls from angry customers while waiting anxiously for news. Many hours later, we received word that although some of the data was was lost, most of the information on the tape had been taken off bit-by-bit and reconstructed. We were saved! The recovered file was loaded onto a hard drive and driven (there was no <a href="http://www.gobbler.com/">Gobbler</a> back then) back to EarthLink's offices in LA. Our engineers stayed up all night and got us back online.</span></div><p /><div><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;">At EarthLink, February 14th, 1995 became known as the Valentines Day Massacre. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;">We survived, and although our customers were rightfully angry with us, I think they also sensed that this was the early days of the Internet. Stuff didn't "just work" the way it does now. The next day, our modem banks were once again full of happily connected EarthLink customers. And I was back to figuring out out to hire and expand faster to keep up with demand.</span></div><p /><div><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;">Like many start-ups, there times in those early days at EarthLink when we were up against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But we knew we had something that people wanted, so we kept going, forging ahead despite it all. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;">Being successful, especially in a start-up, is all about perseverance. </span></div></div><p /><div><span style="font-size: 15px;">For a future post: How we blew up our building's power transformer and ran EarthLink for two months on a generator in the parking lot.</span></div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/how-i-survived-the-valentines-day-massacre-of">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-85418296566037508602011-02-08T22:07:00.001-08:002011-02-08T23:00:58.321-08:00Surfing in IndonesiaMy last trip was with a great group of friends aboard the <a href="http://www.indiestrader.com/indies4/">Indies Trader IV</a>, captained by Indo surf pioneer <a href="http://www.surfermag.com/features/sinterview_mdaly/">Martin Daly</a>. Finally got around to posting some of the best pictures here, all by the incomparable surf photographer, <a href="http://www.davecollyer.com/">Dave Collyer</a>.<div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIx-tWwq-I/AAAAAAAAB54/ULFyFjo7mbc/s1600/091810bbq0401med.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIx-tWwq-I/AAAAAAAAB54/ULFyFjo7mbc/s320/091810bbq0401med.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571570642407435234" /></a><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIx-U-cHzI/AAAAAAAAB5w/hLy7TIMOKz8/s1600/091810idk0274med.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIx-U-cHzI/AAAAAAAAB5w/hLy7TIMOKz8/s320/091810idk0274med.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571570635862974258" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIx-CwGQ0I/AAAAAAAAB5o/ZZB_Xbq6vUs/s1600/092510Lite0351med.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIx-CwGQ0I/AAAAAAAAB5o/ZZB_Xbq6vUs/s320/092510Lite0351med.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571570630970983234" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwSgxoZZI/AAAAAAAAB5g/cpy342eFmxo/s1600/092010bnk0885med.jpg"><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></div></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwSRII8XI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/hM3V_gTORSw/s1600/092010bnk0885med.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwSRII8XI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/hM3V_gTORSw/s320/092010bnk0885med.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571568779404046706" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwSIcB1xI/AAAAAAAAB5Q/tMh-vmW-F1g/s1600/092610enam0270med.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwSIcB1xI/AAAAAAAAB5Q/tMh-vmW-F1g/s320/092610enam0270med.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571568777071548178" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwRrHf9cI/AAAAAAAAB5I/DCk6plXJIxo/s1600/092610enam0673med.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwRrHf9cI/AAAAAAAAB5I/DCk6plXJIxo/s320/092610enam0673med.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571568769200813506" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwRVpHMyI/AAAAAAAAB5A/x1AJ5623UNY/s1600/092610enam0688med.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TVIwRVpHMyI/AAAAAAAAB5A/x1AJ5623UNY/s320/092610enam0688med.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571568763436217122" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /></div></div></div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-88070170629757985182010-11-27T09:48:00.001-08:002010-11-27T09:48:49.529-08:00Madison Avenue still hasn't caught up to Main Street<div class='posterous_autopost'> <span style="font-size: 11pt;">This has always been one of the most poignant comparisons in the Internet world, updated recently by Mary Meeker. TV has 31% of consumer media time and 39% of ad spending. Print gets 12% of consumer media time but a massive 26% of all ad spending. The Internet? 28% share of US consumer media time, yet a paltry 13% of ad spending. When looked at globally, that gap is worth $50 billion. This is an imbalance that won’t last.<p /> <a href='http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/JVKlgkQMGk2xZjGo4cVlAaFXnkwLrBSHtmJF223jYqa07N1rroRo192JX6av/image.png.scaled.1000.jpg'><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/lS7pBcw6rdHkTkzJL0dZRfxssYzzsOha6cjdVdYPdk7cBbt7ufe7sShbOB8l/image.png.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" height="322"/></a> <p /> Read the full presentation here: <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/16/ten-questions-internet-execs-should-ask-and-answer/">http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/16/ten-questions-internet-execs-should-ask-and-answer/</a></span> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/madison-avenue-still-hasnt-caught-up-to-main">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-69504704865230060422010-10-28T14:21:00.001-07:002010-10-29T08:34:00.276-07:00A smart tour through the evolution of modern education<div class="posterous_autopost"> <div style="font-size: 11pt;">Sir Ken Robinson’s speech nails it. Although marketing by pharmaceutical companies has also been a big factor in the ADHD “epidemic.”<p><br /></p></div> </div><br /><object width="480" height="289"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zDZFcDGpL4U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zDZFcDGpL4U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="289"></embed></object>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-63983864353449303902010-10-21T11:02:00.000-07:002010-10-21T11:33:58.952-07:00Regenerative medicine is on the verge of mainstream<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Eez_4SE2UP0/TMCBC-qiUcI/AAAAAAAAB4o/nKeQH2_x7VM/s320/cytori+wired+cover+11-2010.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530562230592098754" /><div><a href="http://www.cytori.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Cytori</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> makes a device that harvests stem cells and other regenerative factors from one's own adipose (fat) tissue. The resulting concentrated mix of adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRC's) can then be injected back into the body with all kinds of benefits, from breast augmentation and reconstruction, to treatment of heart disease.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">After doing a ton of research over the past two years, Cytori became my first and only investment in the medical field. Congrats to the team on the huge </span><a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/10/ff_futureofbreasts/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">cover story</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> in the November issue of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Wired</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And we're all thankful that when </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Wired</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> put me on the cover many years ago, they didn't ask </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">me</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> to take my shirt off. </span></div><div><div><br /></div></div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-78142174353470436722010-08-18T11:35:00.001-07:002010-08-18T11:35:10.451-07:00The economic paradox of our time<div class='posterous_autopost'> <span style="font-size: 11pt;">Businesses, which are the most thoughtful allocators of capital are being tight with their cash, yet the government which is the most inefficient allocator of capital is going hog wild. We need the opposite: the government should lower taxes and cut back on spending, and businesses need to pour cash into the economy. Does anyone in Washington realize the former would immediately give businesses the confidence to do the latter? The result would be more production, innovation, jobs and disposable income. It’s so simple.</span> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/the-economic-paradox-of-our-time">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8584412205172857573.post-6488676374407870172010-07-28T15:17:00.001-07:002010-07-28T15:17:06.327-07:00Wind Drives Growing Use of Huge Batteries -- NYT<div class='posterous_autopost'> <span style="font-size: 11pt;">Interesting... <a href="http://nyti.ms/bl971e">http://nyti.ms/bl971e</a><p /> <a href='http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/BGRMl2PmwpTlng0yNtzH2gvza3AO5bRqWbGCzUJgXBDjEluNh8msGkVAqyjp/image.jpg'><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/skydayton/10rEtr2j5h5oEV2pFT3aRjGvaJHikYzJwvz4wg8GJOgltzvF8SZypeGYaoIh/image.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" height="332"/></a> </span> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://skydayton.posterous.com/wind-drives-growing-use-of-huge-batteries-nyt">Sky Dayton's posterous</a> </p> </div>Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788195127845455684noreply@blogger.com