Scripting News

Interview with Guy Kawasaki

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:04:47 GMT

20-minute interview with evangelist Guy Kawasaki on Microsoft, Twitter, SXSW, how to do interviews, Apple, RSS.

http://sundaygang.com/dave/guyKawasakiInterview.mp3

Picture of Guy's MacBook Air with hookups.

My notes for the Kawasaki interview.

You can subscribe to my podcasts using this feed.

Who should I interview next?

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:16:02 GMT

I have a great rig here and I'm learning how to use it.

I can interview any willing interviewee with a telephone. I can do the interview when I'm at my desktop, or with somewhat less fidelity, using my iPhone from the road.

I like the 15-20 minute format.

I've interviewed Guy Kawasaki, Joe Trippi, Steve Gillmor, Marc Canter, Jay Rosen, Scott Rosenberg, George Lakoff.

Who should I interview next?

PS: Lots of great suggestions. I'm interested in either talking with people I know well, because it's easy for me to pull a good story out of them. Or people who have a new product, esp one related to products I use. Or people involved with national politics because that's a current focus for me. Better if there are people who mix all these.

We're trying Chatterous tonight

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:03:32 GMT

http://www.chatterous.com/landing/dave/

Passcode: 2chil

What is it? I have no clue.

I found out about it from this Seattle P-I piece.

Come over and help us figger it out.

Danes in Berkeley

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:53:07 GMT

Thomas Madsen-Mygdal & Steffen Tiedemann Christensen visit from Copenhagen.

They are founders of the photo sharing site 23.

Thomas runs the popular and much-loved Reboot conference in Copenhagen.

Nicco says: Google = Evil

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:48:49 GMT

I've reposted his piece here in full, in case Google/Firefox is blocking his site.

http://www.nicco.org/blog/2008/03/10/google-evil/

Today's Clinton conference call MP3

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:46:24 GMT

Retired military who support Clinton...

http://sundaygang.com/clinton/2008/03/10/call1.mp3

Democrats waste opportunity

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:21:03 GMT

I listened to all the Sunday news shows on the major networks, Face The Nation, Meet the Press, This Week. I even did one myself. On all these shows, all that was talked about was the Democratic race for the nomination for President. Almost everyone on the shows were Democrats. The token Rep, Ed Rollins, was very polite and respectful of the Dems.

You'd think the Dems could find some way to use this advantage. But all they can talk about is each other. None of them talk about us. What they can do for us, why we should support them.

This is just like the Browser Wars in the software biz. Two big companies fighting with each other, neither of them listening to users, making their products better, fixing bugs, improving performance, adding new features. None of that. All their energy was devoted to each other. It's simpler of course to focus your energy on a small target, but the job of a software developer isn't to depose another software developer, it's to make better products and services for users.

It happened again with the Java Wars. What was accomplished there? Not much. Maybe today Java would run better in more places. Maybe the dev tools would be better. I have no idea. But instead of talking about what we liked in software, they were talking about each other.

There's a lesson here. The Internet and politics are merging, just as the Internet and technology did. When it's all said and done, we will have the equivalent of User Generated Content in politics, although it will never be as tame as that "frame" implies. The founders of our country believed in the power of the people and set up a system that would be hard for a king to rule. Yet our political system today very much resembles a monarchy and the political spectacles are fights to the death that simply don't matter, they just determine which family is stealing from us.

I watched McCain on 60 Minutes last night and was astonished when he said that waterboarding is torture (this from a man who has been tortured himself). He said Japanese were convicted of war crimes after WWII for waterboarding. The interviewer asked how America got to this place, and McCain said the politicians stopped listening to the military. Okay that's a bit of a cop-out, but still, I was impressed. Not the usual humiliating lies we've come to expect from his party.

Of the three candidates running now the only one I could never vote for is Hillary Clinton.

I was seriously considering voting for Clinton in the Calif primary, but when they turned to race in South Carolina, that's when I remembered how miserable they were when he was President. That the Clintons will do anything to win was brought home when she said last week that she and McCain had crossed the "threshhold" and had the experience to be CINC, but Obama did not. From that moment on I thought of Clinton in the same way I think of Joe Lieberman, a pathetic little faux Democrat who would change parties if they had an ounce of honor or integrity. The idea of campaigning for the Republic candidate while running for the Democratic nomination -- there are few things more despicable.

Meanwhile, Obama was coasting. His first speeches were inspiring. But then as he took the lead in primaries, there were no more new ideas, not even new stories. I can recite them all by heart. This is a problem, because we're all wondering if he'll really be different when he becomes President. When he thought he had the nomination locked he started cruising, one wonders if his ambition stops at being President. Will he really put us all to work, pitching in to make American better, and a force for good in the world, living up to our hype? We tell everyone else that we're the leaders of the free world, but what kind of freedom do we offer? And what about long-term investment in the US? There are people on the Gulf Coast who feel like finding a new country, they're so forgotten by this one. How are we going to compete with growing economies on other continents. What about our education and health care systems. Getting elected is only the first step. It's like an entrepreneur getting funded. It's what you do after getting power that matters. I'd say based on what we've seen so far, there are at least some questions about whether Obama really means what he says. But he still has my endorsement. He's the only candidate this year that I want to vote for. Hell, he's the only candidate I've wanted to vote for since 1972, and I was too young to vote then.

Obama, start communicating with your troops directly -- don't do all your communication through TV. Pour big bucks into commercials that run on YouTube. Involve your people here on the net. We like the idea of all of us pitching in to make America a force for good. And use the fact that you control the conversation re the Republics to move beyond their style of politics. Don't just say you want to do it -- do it.

There's no doubt that Hillary wants to have a conversation with you about her and you. You have to change the subject, it's not enough to say she's wrong. Let's get beyond this.

Links for 03/10/2008

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:20:02 GMT

NY Mag interview with Joe Trippi.

Joe Trippi on this week's Sunday Gang

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:21:02 GMT

Nicco and I discuss Democratic politics with Joe Trippi.

http://sundaygang.com/002.mp3

We talked with him via Skype at his home in Maryland.

I scanned my notes into Flickr.

Links for 03/09/2008

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:00:01 GMT

Charles Cooper supports the public release of campaign conference call MP3s.

Must-read: Marc Cooper compares Samantha Power with the Clintons on genocide and Rwanda.

Maybe Obamaman should name his VP now

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:31:19 GMT

First, I can't get this video of this adorable kid out of my head. It was sent to me by Ross Mayfield, and I think it might be his son? This is one smart kid, probably the kind who will grow up to start a company and will be able to lead people because they all love him. I dare you to watch the video without loving the kid.

He calls the likely Democratic nominee for President Obamaman. So I call him that now too.

Read this comment by Josh Whalen who says that Obama should name his VP now. He even says who he should name. I think the first half might be right, not sure about his choice.

I'd like to see Obama choose Jim Webb, first-term Democratic senator from Virginia, a sizable state that usually goes Republican that Obama could carry in the fall. Having Webb on the ticket, a white male with a strong military background, ex Secretary of the Navy under a Republican president, Reagan, and a fantastic fighter, a no-bullshit debater, who can bring the battle to the Clintons and their surrogates. Let Webb organize the fight, and Obamaman stays above it. Webb is enough of an idealist to fit in the Obama regime, but he gets angry in a very productive way. I've watched him on Meet The Press, arguing with one of McCain's chief surrogates, Lindsey Graham, and he's hot shit. An attractive choice, imho.

It may be time for Obamaman to let us dream about his team, without a Clinton anywhere in sight. Goodbye Hillary. Goodbye Bill. Thanks for the memories, now get off the stage.

Hot products make successful startups

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:16:06 GMT

There's a thread on Techmeme about startups and money, and how important it is that they watch every penny.

Mike Arrington says they must do this or fail. Something really bothered me about this, and I couldn't immediately put my finger on it, but then I re-read the piece in the morning and it struck me.

Companies can't watch every penny. Of course everyone you hire in a startup has stock options, so theoretically they're all doing everything they can to make the company successful at all times. But that's just a theory, even the founder isn't going to watch every penny. You go out to eat a nice sushi dinner with people you want to influence, you go to a nice restaurant, order a nice bottle of wine. All that adds up to a lot of pennies that weren't watched.

As a general rule, no one in a startup works harder than the founder, and no one watches pennies more carefully than the founder. If the founder upgrades to business class, so does everyone else.

Companies even small ones are out of control messes that waste a lot of everything. All organizations do. Can't help it.

Yet some of them don't fail.

Imho, having started two companies -- one that failed and one that succeeded, and watched dozens of others over 30 years, the difference is the ones that succeed have a hot product that lots of people want, and the ones that fail don't. I don't think whether you savor every penny makes much of a difference, in fact if you pinch them too hard your people are going to hate you, and they have to love the founder, just as the customers must and the press and even the competitors.

When I think about the people who had runaway successes that made them fortunes the ones that had great products and were admired by many were the ones that really hit it out of the park. I can't think of anyone who had a great product and failed because they didn't watch every penny.

Clocks turn themselves

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 13:55:22 GMT

Last night was the "spring forward" night.

Spring forward fall back.

And it's a sign of the times that most of the clocks in the house took care of themselves. The wall clocks have radio receivers that receive the time from a government clock, and when there's a difference, the clocks self-adjust.

All the computers self-adjust too.

My watch does not, and I had to change it manually. But so far that's the only one.

But maybe Amazon S3 is having a problem?

Weird message, it showed up four times and then went away.

Oh well. Onward!

If you followed me on Twitter...

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:58:12 GMT

You'd know that...

The 3AM ad uses stock photos. The girl in the ad is grown up now. And guess what? She supports Obama! (Oh the humanity.)

She was a precinct captain for Obama in Washington! (Thank you Fox News.)

I'm watching Fox because CNN was pissing me off with all their "Hillary has momentum" bullshit. Weird that Fox is much easier to watch.

Google News search for "Casey Knowles."

The best tomato sauce

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:13:47 GMT

Smafulli, a Twitterer from Milano, has his own favorite sauce.

DerekTut digs San Marzano too, in Brooklyn.

Quick podcast while driving

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:01:19 GMT

Thinking about tomorrow's Sunday Gang podcast...

http://btre.blogtalkradio.com/74_91096.mp3

Want to talk about the final finale of The Wire? Trade theories about how the show will end. Will it be a lame ending like The Sopranos (my opinion) or satisfying like Six Feet Under?

BTW, I had hoped to go to the Legal Futures conf at Stanford, but there's no public parking. Oh well. (Luckily I have EVDO so I can post on the road, but not while driving of course.)

MP3 of Clinton conference call

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:00:16 GMT

A conference call focusing on foreign policy and more Obama-bashing.

http://sundaygang.com/clinton/2008/03/07/call2.mp3

Good that the reporters are calling them on it.

Interview with Steve Gillmor

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:37:56 GMT

I thought we'd do another 15-minute interview, this time with Steve Gillmor, who does the NewsGang website and daily podcast, he's one of the proto-podcasters, and all around wise guy.

http://sundaygang.com/dave/steveGillmorInterview.mp3

It came out great, but it was actually 44 minutes.

Steve and I talked about developer platforms, Microsoft, Apple & Google, and Democratic Party politics.

Interview with Marc Canter

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:50:09 GMT

Marc wrote a blog post after hearing Ray Ozzie's keynote at MIX 08 in Las Vegas, giving it rave reviews.

So I wanted to hear direct from Marc why it was so great. We had a 15-minute talk about this and lots of other things.

http://sundaygang.com/dave/marcCanterInterview.mp3

I'm really getting into these short interview-style podcasts, doing some of them with Cinch and others with Skype, depending on where I am when I get the idea.

Dan Farber wrote up Ozzie's keynote.

MP3 of today's Clinton conference call

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:24:31 GMT

Just got this MP3 of this morning's conference call from the Clinton campaign, where they call for Samantha Powers to resign for calling Clinton a "monster."

http://sundaygang.com/clinton/2008/03/07/call1.mp3

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