Facebook

Still living in the Facebook world these days.

Summer of Facebook

"For nostalgic hippies in the SF bay area, this was the 40th anniversary of 1967’s famous Summer of Love. But for every Silicon Valley developer, entrepreneur, and VC who has a pulse it’s been the Summer of Facebook."

Lean, Green and Clean

Here are some newsletters and blogs related to efficiency ("lean"), the environment ("green") and alternative energy ("clean"):

• Renewable Energy Access - comprehensive weekly survey of renewable energy news. (Subscribe) (Podcast)
  
• Inside Greentech - covering the latest technology and business developments in greentech/cleantech. (Subscribe)
• GreenBiz.com - "Business. The Environment. The Bottom Line." (Subscribe)
  
• WorldChanging - Change your Thinking. (Subscribe)
• e-FFICIENCY News - from the Alliance to Save Energy.
  
• Cleantech Blog - commentary and news on energy and environment (Subscribe) (RSS)
• Alternative Energy News - an aggregation of many other blogs and news sources (Subscribe)
• Playgreen.org - a "green" wiki
  

All "subscribe" links are for the email newsletters. Note that any blog with an RSS feed can also be turned into an email newsletter using a free service such as RssFwd. Just enter the RSS feed URL and your email address, and the new blog entries will arrive as emails.

Technology Entertainment and Design (TED)

The brilliant expositions, profound vignettes, distillations of wisdom, and general ruminations from this annual conference are online and also available on iTunes -- definitely worth checking out!

My favorites so far:
David Deutsch - on being improbable
Jeff Han - multitouch (now seen in the iPhone and Microsoft Surface)
David Pogue - humorous musical takes (a la Tom Lehrer) on software
Tony Robbins - motivational speaker and life coach
Hans Rosling - making demographic statistics (and swordswallowing) come alive
Seth Godin - sliced bread and marketing by being risky
Jeff Bezos - the early days of the electric industry... and the internet
Rick Warren - a purpose-driven talk -- what is in your hand?
Barry Schwartz - choices make us less happy
Steven Levitt - the freakonomics of Chicago gangs
Jeff Hawkins - the brain as a prediction engine

Meebo Rooms

Meebo has introduced chatrooms, in which multiple people can use a web interface instant messaging (IM) client to communicate with each other. This is a combination of IRC and IM, along with a web interface. (Unfortunately, this is not fully integrated with MSN, Jabber or other existing IM systems, and the chat must take place within the meebo system).

In addition, the Meebo Rooms are video-enabled, such that sending a message that contains a URL of a video (e.g. YouTube) will result in that video appearing in a video window inside the Meebo chatroom. This makes it more convenient to share videos with a group and have a discussion about it in real-time.

Here is my meebo room, which is most likely empty.

The History of Oil

I have started reading The Prize by Daniel Yergin, which is an epic whirlwind tale of the history of oil.

Like others, I found it interesting to read about the early risk takers and power brokers who seized upon new opportunities in the exploration, production, refining, distribution and consumption of oil and gas, starting first in the U.S. (Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma) and then spreading throughout the world. It was also eye-opening to see how much national politics and strategic influence have played a role since the beginning. A century ago, the predecessors of companies such as Exxon/Mobil (nee Standard Oil), Shell and British Petroleum (nee Anglo-Persian) competed for oil in the Iraq, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and Mexico. Understanding that Mosul and Kirkuk were (already) the object of intense Western attention a century ago puts today's news in some historical perspective...

Reading The Prize reminds me of a video by Robert Newman on the History of Oil, which presents a humorous but also deadly serious monologue on oil and its past context, and in particular mentions that World War I was not only about Europe but also involved a parallel struggle for the oil in the Middle East.

(Robert Newman also discusses how the current U.S. dollar is propped up by its use as the currency for purchasing oil (a.k.a. "petrodollar"), and gives an analogy in the form of an anecdote about Salvador Dali, who would draw sketches on the back of his personal checks to guarantee that they would not be cashed.)

Essays on software and startups

Recently, I have read through two excellent essay collections on software and startups: Joel on Software and Paul Graham.

These essays have been very insightful in terms of understanding the mindset of an entrepreneur, and also provide handy straightforward advice. What I find impressive is how they take ideas which might be present in nascent form in many people's minds, and analyze them in full length essays that go far beyond the usual depth of a blog entry. These essays cover topics such as the divergent incentives of VCs and employees, bad reasons to not start a startup, the sociology of nerddom, and why software talent matters.