Jason Thibeault's Blog: From My Pen, page 55

Being a Writer

Being a Writer

Standardization After the Fact?

There is a lot of press about how bad software/method patents are, but let’s face it, they are a necessary evil to protecting valuable intellectual property. The issue is when they are used aggressively to prevent competition.

The W3C has recently lambasted Apple for not releasing two patents (under a Royalty Free Licensing commitment) that are part of the HTML5 specification:

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/07/13/1430232/W3C-Chastises-Apple-On-HTML5-Patenting

Here is the W3C page on it: htt...

Photo: The Beauty of the Universe Around Us

Sometimes we forget out insignificantly small we are in the grand scheme of the universe. And although there are beautiful things in the world around us, some of them even sublime, there is an even grander stage out there of truly magnificent creations such as Discovery’s posting of a recent spiral galaxy:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/08/01/the-dusty-depths-of-a-spectacular-spiral-galaxy/

Really puts you in perspective.

Originally posted 2011-08-01 15:07:23.

Great Post on the Changing VC Landscape

As a serial entrepreneur, I’m always interested to read great articles like this one about changes in the very nature of software companies (how quick and easy they are to get up and running now) and the impact that has had on investment:

http://www.pehub.com/110112/mark-suster-understanding-the-changes-in-the-software-venture-capital-industries/

Originally posted 2011-06-29 14:22:40.

Managing the Information Flow

As an avid blogger, I am constantly on the lookout for ways to make it easier for me to find the topics on which I write. Right now, I primarily use Twitter which allows me to browse headlines of stories and click on only those that I want to read. But, it forces me to open a browser window and so I end up with a lot of browser windows. From an interface standpoint, I think the Twitter application for iPad (in landscape) mode is the best as it shows my feed stream next to an integrated browse...

Raising Money for a Startup? Five Tips You Can’t Afford to Miss

ReadWriteStart recently posted a great blog on 5 key tips for raising a venture round. Speaking from experience, these tips are spot on. If you are raising capital, you can’t afford not to know these.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2011/09/5-tips-for-raising-your-ventur.php

From the article:

Tip 1: Make Sure You Are Ready to Scale

First, before you even start the process of raising a lot of money , make sure you have figured out your model and are truly ready to scale. AsSteve Blank explained...

Review: Practical Maps (Hands on with Bing Mobile “Mall Maps”)

Although modern mapping systems like Bing and Google provide the obvious street directions, neither of them had really pushed the envelope. They were, for all intents and purposes, just re-creations of Yahoo!’s pioneering work with MapQuest.

But today Microsoft announced a new feature in Bing that brings the power of mapping technology (coupled with mobile location services like GPS and WiFi) to something more practical: navigating the Mall.

We’ve all been stuck wandering around the mall lookin...

2012: The Good and the Bad That Make Us Who We Are

A very moving 6-minute video montage of some of the powerful stories in 2012 that drew us together as people, across the globe, regardless of race or color or religion. These, and other stories, connect us as people and remind us that no matter what, we share something by living on this planet together. I am sure there are other stories, other moments and events that were left out of this montage. But it’s not just the stories themselves that make a video like this important. It’s the connect...

This Awesome Destroyer of Worlds Is the Best Astronomy Image of the Year

Posted in Tumblog

http://gizmodo.com/5969607/this-best-astronomy-image-of-the-year-is-shocking-in-every-way

This Awesome Destroyer of Worlds Is the Best Astronomy Image of the Year

Accomplishment vs. Achievement

In the real world, these two terms are in a very harmonious hierarchy. Although in some cases you can accomplish something, that, in itself, may be not be an achievement (i.e, I took out the trash; it wasn’t an achievement but I accomplished a task).

In the gaming world, though, the lines between them become quite blurred which is yet another reason why people are gravitating to the land of virtual entertainment.

I have written before about the concept of achievement as it relates to MMORPG (ma...