Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S4, but will it be enough to topple Apple?
That’s the question that CNBC posed to me and my friend Colleen Taylor of TechCrunch. I took a position that even surprised me. Here’s what I will say for now: the long-term trend of growth is clearly in Samsung’s favor. Apple will have to hit back hard.
Check out the video, and let me know what you think in the comments:
Posted in Business
Tagged Colleen Taylor, Galaxy, Galaxy S4, iPhone, Mobile, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy, techcrunch
Apple has $130 billion in cash, and nobody can seem to agree what the tech titan should do with it. That’s the impression I got from Greenlight partner David Einhorn’s recent suggestions that Apple deliver more of that cash to shareholders.
Of course, I had my own opinion on the matter, so I went on CNBC today to talk about it. Check out the video above, and let me know whether you think I’m in the right or the wrong.
Posted in Business, Media appearance
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of “Startup Attention & PR 101: From Launch to Damage Control and Beyond“, my 19-lecture online Udemy course. I’m also thrilled to announce that half of the course’s proceeds will be donated to THRIVE-GULU, a not-for-profit dedicated to building rehabilitation and community centers across Africa, starting with Gulu, Uganda.
“Startup Attention & PR 101″ is a deeper look at how to better work with the press. This is not a course about traditional PR. Instead, it’s a deeper dive into what makes a journalist tick and how you can can take advantage of that for your company or cause.
The course covers four broad themes:
This course won’t make you a journalist’s best friend, but I hope it will give you more clarity to how journalists make decisions and how that affects you and your company.
As I noted above, I am donating half the proceeds from this course to THRIVE-GULU. Thrive was founded in 2010 by Professor Judy Dushku to assist the communities of Northern Uganda to heal from the traumatic events of war, sexual enslavement, extreme poverty and lost opportunities. It’s a charity I’m honored to have supported in the past, and one I’m thrilled I can support now with this course.
So take the course, tell your friends and send me some feedback, because I will be adding more material based on your feedback.
~ Ben
Posted in Announcements, Business, Entrepreneurship, Media, Productivity
If you’re a regular reader of the tech blogosphere, you may have seen some hooplah about startup embargoes. It’s a hot button issue with a lot of bloggers.
(BTW, I think Ryan’s justified to be upset. Publishing second or publishing 12 hours later simply doesn’t get you the traffic, the Techmeme headline, etc. Everyone loses.)
I’ve never really had a problem with embargoes in general, though. When I was a journalist, my job was to write good stories and help entrepreneurs — and if a great story comes with an embargo, then that was fine with me. The occasional screw-up just comes with the territory of the embargo. Journalists and bloggers know what they’re getting themselves into.
Here’s the core issue with embargoes, though: you have to have experience with the press to not fuck them up. Google knows how to do an embargo — they’ve literally done HUNDREDS of them for their various products. But a first-time entrepreneur who has never had to deal with the press on a regular basis? There’s a good chance he or she is going to fuck up.
That’s why, in general, I advise companies to stick with one publication for their launches, so I agree with MG Siegler on that point. I have two exceptions, though:
No press outlet or reporter is ever going to make or break your startup, so my advice is to not worry too much about it. Great products always trump great press. You’ll get better at dealing with the press the more you talk with them and get to know them.
So my advice is this: don’t worry about the embargo. Don’t worry about getting hundreds of headlines. Or, as my friend Stammy might say, stop fucking around and get back to work.
This type of shit just boils my blood. From GigaOm:
Just days after Hipmunk’s June funding announcement, a company called i2z Technology LLC told the travel start-up that it has to buy a license for a 1994 patent that covers a method for displaying data in multiple computer windows.
Despite its high-tech sounding name, i2z is simply a Texas shell company run by a California lawyer that is targeting internet and travel companies including Kayak, Google, Yelp and Microsoft. Under i2z’s business model, known as patent trolling, firms that don’t make anything collect patents in order to extract licensing settlements from companies that do.
Hipmunk is just the latest target of a shell corporation whose only purpose is to sue innovative companies. Lodsys did the same thing to small iOS developers, and even big companies like Apple aren’t immune.
Developing an awesome technology and defending it is great, as is acquiring patents to protect yourself from a patent lawsuit (like what Facebook did when Yahoo sued it).
But creating a company for the sole purpose of snagging patents and suing other companies? Those people don’t even deserve to practice law. They’re the scum of the earth. We need to find a way to enact some real patent reform and end this despicable practice.
This is why the patent crisis is inevitable.
(Pardon my French, these people just piss me off.)
Image courtesy of Flickr, lintmachine
Posted in Business, Innovation
Dear friends, colleagues and supporters,
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m joining CNET and CBS Interactive as a contributing columnist and commentator!
Ever since my departure from Mashable, I’ve posted my personal take on the big technology news of the day on BenParr.com. The response to my work has been overwhelming, and traffic to this blog has skyrocketed. Thank you all for reading, commenting and sharing.
But now I have a chance to make a much bigger impact with my writing. Starting this week, my commentary on technology, social media and startups will appear on CNET several times per week. I will not be doing any straight reporting — CNET has a talented team that already does an amazing job at that. Instead, I will be doing what I’ve been doing here on BenParr.com: breaking down the big issues and players in tech and explaining what it actually means for both the tech industry and society as a whole.
To do that, I will be writing a combination of thought pieces, analysis stories, response pieces and the occasional long-form column. My CNET column is called The Social Analyst, just like my column on Mashable. It’s going to have more bite than my old column, though. I intend to keep tech’s biggest names honest.
I decided to join forces with CNET/CBSi because CBS Interactive CEO Jim Lanzone and CNET General Manager Mark Larkin have an ambitious vision for the future.
CNET is huge: it is one of the 100 most visited websites in the world, but Mark and Jim are not content with resting on their laurels. I believe in their vision and their leadership, and I am thrilled to be working with them.
CNET isn’t my only gig, though. For the last few months, I’ve also been working behind-the-scenes on a startup, which we can’t wait to talk more about! My co-founder and I have a clear vision, as well as a duty to our investors, and we will move heaven and earth (and forgo sleep) to make sure our company succeeds.
My new role at CNET and CBSi is the best of both worlds. I get to reach millions of people with my thoughts on technology, but still retain the flexibility to be an entrepreneur, build amazing products and change the world.
Don’t take your eyes off of CNET. Big things are happening over there, and you won’t want to miss all the action. 2012 is going to be an amazing year.
Cheers,
~ Ben
Posted in Announcements, Business, Entrepreneurship, Media, My musings, Projects, Social Media, Tech
I make 12-18 introductions per week on average. Some of the intros I make are favors to friends, some of them are to journalists, some are for the startups I advise, and some were because I thought that two people just needed to meet each other.
Most of the time, the introductions I see people make are terse with little context and even less reason for both sides to follow up. The conversion rate for these types of introductions is poor.
This doesn’t have to be the case for your introductions, though.
Introductions are as much an art as they are a science. Making a few changes to your intros will not only dramatically increase their quality, but it will improve your standing with both parties. In other words, you’ll become a far better Connector.
I follow a structure when I make intros — I don’t reinvent the wheel every time. This means I can get a GOOD intro out the door in under two minutes.
Consistency is important — it gives your intros more continuity.
Below are the four key structure points of my introductions. I’m using John Smith of Kleiner Perkins and Jane Doe of Google as examples for this introduction so you get a better idea of my style of intros. Of course, my method may not be for you — definitely adjust your system to match your personality and the personality of the people you’re introducing.
Here are my four key structure points for introductions:
Now let’s apply this to an actual introduction. Here’s what an introduction between John and Jane might look like:
SUBJECT: John Smith (Kleiner Perkins), Meet Jane Doe (Google).
John,
I’d like to introduce you to Jane Doe. She’s one of the super-talented product managers over at Google — she’s been kicking some ass over on the Chrome team. She’s also a master scuba diver (I’ve done a bunch of dives with her!) Jane is actually working on a startup, and I knew that the two of you had to connect.
Jane,
John is one the partners at Kleiner Perkins. He’s led some awesome investments in Google, Zaarly, Erly and Flipboard. He’s been my sounding board over the years for my crazy startup ideas.
Feel free to BCC me/loop me out.
Cheers,
~ Ben
The more introductions you make, the better you will get at making them. Don’t be afraid to make introductions if you think both sides will gain something out of it. It ends up being a benefit to you, too, as you become a greater connecter and gain credibility on both sides of the table. The positive karma you create by connecting two smart people often comes back in wonderful and unexpected ways.
Don’t make an introduction if you’re uncomfortable, though. If you think someone is not ready, or if you think the intro will do more harm than good, just tell the truth to the person asking for the introduction. Never be afraid to protect your reputation.
I hope this quick primer has been helpful, even if much of it is common sense. Please post in the comments if you have any other tips or thoughts on the art of the introduction!
Posted in Business, My musings
Almost everybody wants to have an assistant, even if people won’t freely admit it. Who doesn’t want an extra set of hands to help out with chores, scheduling, reminders, meetings, reservations, and the myriad of other tasks that we need to complete every single day?
Just a few years ago, the only way you could get yourself an assistant was to pay one a full-time salary. Very few people can afford the luxury having somebody help them with all of the tasks and information in their lives. But that has rapidly changed with new technology that makes it easier to outsource our lives.
This is what I call “Smart Assistant” technology, and I group it into three distinct buckets:
While each bucket is vastly different, they help accomplish the same things — they help people save time, and they help put people’s minds at ease.
We’re only at the beginning of this phenomenon though. I believe it’s especially true for technological assistants, which are in the best position to deal with (but have yet to solve) one of the biggest problems of the Internet age: cognitive and information overload.
Smart assistants are huge businesses. Five years from now, you’re going to wonder how you lived without them.
Siri image courtesy of Flickr, Kaptain Kobold
Posted in Business, Entrepreneurship, My musings, Projects, Synergies, Tech
Hot mobile social networking app Path has been under fire for the last few days for saving users’ address books and contact lists on their servers in order to help them connect with their friends.
Path’s intentions were innocent enough — they wanted to make sure more people discovered their friends on Path — but the result is a privacy fiasco that rightfully blew up.
What do you do when you’re under fire for betraying user trust? Path co-founder Dave Morin’s answer: apologize and make it right.
Morin quickly apologized for what happened, explained what Path was doing with the data, and announced that Ptah has deleted the data and will give users the ability to upload their contacts on an opt-in basis:
“We believe you should have control when it comes to sharing your personal information. We also believe that actions speak louder than words. So, as a clear signal of our commitment to your privacy, we’ve deleted the entire collection of user uploaded contact information from our servers. Your trust matters to us and we want you to feel completely in control of your information on Path.”
This is how you do an apology. Path clearly learned from Airbnb’s mistakes and decided to fire off a straight apology and stop the issue in its tracks.
Path will end up stronger once the dust has settled. Side note: Apple really needs to fix this gaping privacy hole.
Posted in Business
Facebook has filed for IPO. It will likely be the largest IPO in Internet history.
Here are some quick things I’m noticing in the company’s SEC filing:
I’ll add more as I find them.
Posted in Business
