On the Edge

"Are we in a bubble? Yes, this is a bubble. All the frenzied startup activity and still the VCs raise..."

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 10:27:51 -0400

“Are we in a bubble? Yes, this is a bubble. All the frenzied startup activity and still the VCs raise more money to invest. … it’s also like the housing boom where everyone could be a home owner. In 2011 every young person can be an entrepreneur, esp if he or she knows how to code. That’s the bubble, right there.”

- Scripting News: The limits of Twitter and Facebook, the bubble

cheeryobservations: Our living Christmas ornament

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:35:38 -0500

cheeryobservations:

Our living Christmas ornament

cheeryobservations: An unexpected (and completely unstaged)...

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:51:09 -0500

cheeryobservations:

An unexpected (and completely unstaged) cuddle w/Dwight Schrute. As we continue to unpack, this is how these figures were stacked on the shelf. Or did they pull a Toy Story on me?

This makes my Friday.

Gowalla 3.0 Adds Foursquare, Facebook Places Integration

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:08:15 -0500

Gowalla 3.0 Adds Foursquare, Facebook Places Integration:

Gowalla 3 is gorgeous! Even though I’m still on-the-fence in terms of my personal checking-in habits, Cameron Moll’s thoughts here are spot on:

Founder Josh Williams:

Gowalla is now the easiest and best way to keep up with your friends across services with a combined activity tab that merges the whereabouts of your Gowalla, Facebook and Foursquare friends. Additionally, Gowalla now supports checking in on both Facebook Places and Foursquare in addition to sharing with both Twitter and Tumblr.

I’d say this was a gutsy move by the Gowalla team, but that wouldn’t be true — rest assured this was a very calculated move.

From what I can tell, none of the three leading services (Gowalla, Foursquare, Facebook Places) have hit critical mass yet, so they’re all vying for attention from — and leadership among — users. It’s not unlike the early days of Twitter when Pownce was a solid competitor. It didn’t take long for Twitter to hit critical mass, and Pownce didn’t last long after that. But I don’t think we’ll see the same happen (at least not as swiftly) with location check-ins, which means Gowalla, Foursquare, and Facebook Places will probably co-exist for the foreseeable future.

Nice move, Gowalla.

Pretty, but sadly lacking in flavor punch. I’d like to try...

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:06:28 -0500

Pretty, but sadly lacking in flavor punch. I’d like to try it again with the tweaks discussed below…

cheeryobservations:

Creamy Carrot Soup with Scallions & Poppy Seeds via Food & Wine

This recipe could have been a knock out of the park, but the ratio of water and broth was completely off. If you do make this soup, completely eliminate the ‘add water’ step. The result should be as the recipe was designed: creamy, instead of watery!

"A story of the perils of urban farming, this is also a story of the careful two-step of..."

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:21:11 -0500

“A story of the perils of urban farming, this is also a story of the careful two-step of gentrification. Red Hook embodies so much of Brooklyn culture — an infatuation with the borough’s old ways, just so long as those do not actually impinge on the modish design and values. The maraschino cherries that emerge from Dell’s factory have probably graced thousands of retro-chic cocktails and sundaes in Red Hook itself, or at least in Williamsburg. Finding some solution to the maraschino juice bee crisis — to all urban clashes of culture — is part of the project of New York, a wildly creative endeavor in and of itself.”

- An unexpectedly lyrical passage from a fascinating read:Bees in Brooklyn Hives Mysteriously Turn Red - NYTimes.com

Thanksgiving Dinner was pretty legendary.

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:06:16 -0500

Thanksgiving Dinner was pretty legendary.

Loving Coffee Without Being a Drip - NYTimes.com

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:37:22 -0500

Loving Coffee Without Being a Drip - NYTimes.com:

The inimitable Frank Bruni, food writer for the New York Times, on the wonders of a less artisanal way of brewing coffee:

let’s pause and imagine something just as magical.
You stumble out of bed, struggling toward consciousness, in urgent need of caffeine. You drag yourself into the kitchen. And there, ready and waiting, are 10 cups of coffee, brewed automatically, just five minutes earlier, as a consequence of a few simple steps and some alarm clock-style programming the night before.
This isn’t cutting-edge technology. This is Mr. Coffee, many decades ago. The current generation of automatic drip machines preserves the tradition while improving, I’m told, on the product. Gastronomic guilt be damned, I just may put one on my Christmas list.

How would Mr. Bruni respond to a similar paragraph:

Let’s pause and imagine something magical: You stumble out of bed, struggling towards consciousness, and feel a growl in your stomach. You remember that you went to bed hungry, and now feel as if you may fairly collapse right back into bed. But then - a dinging noise! Grasping on walls for support, you make your way to the kitchen, where your microwave reveals a steaming Hot Pocket! The wonders of technology!

I genuinely love Mr. Bruni’s writing, and I think it’s important to continually evaluate whether a love for the artisanal veers toward the vane or pedantic. But let’s give coffee its due: it’s the result of long effort and hard working from a country much poorer than ours, roasted and delivered to our cup. Let’s not waste it!

"Think about the best restaurant meal you’ve ever eaten. Who should you thank for producing that..."

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:48:00 -0500

“

Think about the best restaurant meal you’ve ever eaten. Who should you thank for producing that experience? The master chef who perfected the recipe, the production chef who prepared your meal, the waiter/waitress who took care of you, the farmers who raised the ingredients, and even (though you probably never think about this) the cleaning staff. You might also thank the owner, who in a small restaurant was probably one or more of the people I’ve already listed.

But none of those people — probably not even the owner, the “small businessman” that conservative rhetoric idolizes — is making much money. None of them approach the wealth of Open Table’s founders, or even of the investment banker who managed Open Table’s IPO, or the speculators who have run up its stock price.

”

- Doug Muder, The Weekly Sift (via kevin)

Interesting post. In my previous life in the DC area, I used OpenTable quite frequently; since moving to Brooklyn, I don’t think I’ve used the service once. Most of the restaurants I frequent in New York either don’t use OpenTable, or don’t even take reservations. Even when I did use OpenTable, I found that when I couldn’t get reservations via OpenTable’s app, I could frequently sneak a reservation in by calling the restaurant directly and speaking politely with the host. Two points for genuine human interaction!

The most interesting point in the article, however, is the charge that network effects drive the creation of pseudo-monopolies. We’ve certainly seen this trend in the last decade or so: Facebook, iTunes, Gmail, Google search; while there’s certainly a long tail for almost any service, it’s hard to find one that’s not dominated by a single player. (It will be interesting to see how geolocation services pan out: Foursquare, Gowalla, and Facebook Places haven’t found a winner yet.) But while network effects may drive users to a single service, the potential for open technologies can work wonders at federalizing the supply chain. The future of small business lies in enabling increased efficiency in supply chain management, rivaling that of large chains, using point-to-point services enabled by the internet.

Restaurants and diners use OpenTable for the same reason: it’s easy. It’s up to web designers and developers to drive the creation of interoperable, open data standards to prevent the “ownership” of any area of customer experience.

robertas: Roberta’s is a great place for a wedding. If anyone...

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:01:00 -0500

robertas:

Roberta’s is a great place for a wedding.

If anyone is planning on getting married at Roberta’s, please invite me. Yes, it may be odd for you to have a complete stranger at your wedding, but I’m sure we’ll bond over the ridiculously awesome food and beverages that are served.

Also, I’ve never seen wedding footage that looks like it’s directed by Wes Anderson before, but I thoroughly approve.

cheeryobservations: Climbing rope (sans climber) at the Mohonk...

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:40:33 -0500

cheeryobservations:

Climbing rope (sans climber) at the Mohonk Preserve

I feel as if there’s a metaphor hidden in this photo. Focus on the rope, not on the cliffs? Something to keep in mind as I try out Brooklyn Boulders.

"The Valley is largely a bubble that doesn’t actually have returns yet. Exits have mostly been..."

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:30:19 -0500

“The Valley is largely a bubble that doesn’t actually have returns yet. Exits have mostly been confined to a bunch of industry insiders selling for less than $100 million and employees cashing out shares in the secondary market, and yet prices are going up insanely. Huh? That is like a purple unicorn. It shouldn’t exist in nature. It is purely a function of supply and demand, a scarcity of good deals and a glut of willing capital.”

- From Sarah Lacy’s article, Will China’s 1999 Moment Bail-Out Some Valley VCs? There’s been a lot of “sky is falling” observations on early-stage startup investment, but Lacy’s inclusion of China within the discussion is certainly an interesting angle, one that I hadn’t thought about.

The best post I’ve read on the “bubble-or-not-bubble” debate is from Dave Lifson, over on his letter.ly account. You’ll need to subscribe for the full text, but as usual, his observations are sober and pragmatic.

Some Coffee Thoughts

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:08:17 -0500

A couple recent coffee posts which have been of particular interest:

First, James Hoffman writes an extremely timely article about improving on french press brewing methods. Hoffman, a former World Barista Champion who now devotes his time to London’s amazing Square Mile Coffee Roasters, writes a fantastic (if occasionally controversial) blog about the ins-and-outs of the coffee business. I write “timely” as I have recently been tiring of my french press home brewing: despite its ease of use when I’m half-asleep in the morning, I found it to be “blowing out” the flavor and body of coffees which tasted delicate and beautiful when individually cupped. Be sure to read Hoffman’s thoughts, as well as the comments, but I’ve adopted the following changes to my french press method:

Brewing at 195 as opposed to 200 degrees F. The lower temperature at the start is yielding an improved flavor profile.
After pouring into the press, I place the plunger on TOP of the press, but do not immerse it. I find this method keeps the temperature fairly constant through brew time.
At four minutes, I stir and also remove some of the crema
After an additional two minutes, I plunge and pour

I’ll be making further experiments to this method, but so far far I’m finding this approach creates a much more balanced drink, with a FAR lighter body.

Meanwhile, Liz Clayton at Serious Eats-NY writes about her introduction of improved brewing methods (and better beans) to the Serious Eats office. Liz compared an aeropress, a french press, a Chemex, and a pour-over method of brewing, and gathered tasting notes and observations from her coworkers on each. The Chemex ended up being the preferred brewing method, with the pour-over as a backup: “When office need is high, a Chemex can serve several—when one’s fixing their own cup, a Clever brew can be shared, or just as easily hogged to oneself.” It’s great to see an office taking their coffee seriously. I’m stranded on the Midtown / Upper East Side border most days, where coffee options are beyond limited, and I’ve almost reached the point of bringing an aeropress and hand grinder to work. I’ve held off as I’m still a little concerned that such actions will earn me the label of office lunatic.

cheeryobservations: Stranded in a mostly packed up...

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:00:36 -0500

cheeryobservations:

Stranded in a mostly packed up apartment

Empty boots? Or… invisibility cloak?!

I am slightly excited by Harry Potter’s release this Friday. Also, I’m really lacking sleep with the whole move from the last week, so please excuse my fairly lame humor.

Dammit, Justin, when will you learn not to look at food...

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:35:00 -0400

Dammit, Justin, when will you learn not to look at food photography when you’re hungry?!?!

From sweetfineday » Blog Archive » watermelon radishes, candied walnuts, and the best salad ever

Loving the architectural details in Jamie’s recent...

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:18:03 -0400

Loving the architectural details in Jamie’s recent photoshoots in Missouri (via From Me To You - Hotel Frederick)

"Great chefs know that no amount of seasoning or sauce can make up for the quality of..."

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:14:15 -0400

““Great chefs know that no amount of seasoning or sauce can make up for the quality of artisan-produced products and will spend their early mornings sourcing the best fare for the day’s menu.””

- October 2010’s Greenwich Magazine highlights LeFarm’s Bill Taibe’s involvement with Harvest to Heat (via harvest-to-heat)

Since moving to New York and having access to the fantastic bounty of NYC’s Greenmarket’s, I’ve found that nothing beats simple recipes featuring fresh ingredients at their peak season.

Github's Defense Against Firesheep

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:53:25 -0400

Github's Defense Against Firesheep:

Readers of this blog have most likely already heard of Firesheep, the Firefox plugin that makes session sidejacking as easy as clicking a toolbar link. While I have yet to plant myself in a coffee shop and steal people’s Twitter and Facebook identities (not that I haven’t been tempted), I have been concerned about securing my own applications against attack. Transforming all web requests to HTTPS simply isn’t performant, but the solution Github has unveiled looks pretty smart:

we’re rolling out the first in a series of measures we have planned to make GitHub more resilient to session hijacking attacks. The basic approach revolves around setting a second cookie (in addition to the normal session cookie) that is marked as secure. Cookies marked secure, are sent only over SSL requests and are omitted on non-SSL requests.

harvest-to-heat: Tom Culton, of Culton Organics, and his 70 lb...

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:45:44 -0400

harvest-to-heat:

Tom Culton, of Culton Organics, and his 70 lb squash were recently featured on David Letterman. Learn more about Culton in Harvest to Heat, including Vetri’s ramp ravioli recipe made with Culton’s ramps.

Holy mega-veggies, Batman!

jayparkinsonmd: A real-time map view on almost all cities...

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:06:46 -0400

jayparkinsonmd:

A real-time map view on almost all cities around the world that offer bike hire schemes. Currently in London, as of 37 seconds ago:

169 Bikes in use
638 is the highest so far today
4037 bikes currently available in docks

The future of the internet will be about matching up local supply and demand in real time. Zipcar is doing it for cars. Barclays is doing it for bikes in London. ZocDoc is doing it for doctors in America. I think this is only the beginning. And none of this would be possible if it weren’t for these schemes opening up their data.

Definitely agree here. Who will be the first to do it for farm-fresh food? It’s a more complicated item since:

farms are frequently located quite a distance from cities, with no effective mode of transport other than driving (and sitting in traffic)
food is a time-sensitive resource, i.e. it can go to waste

Nevertheless, I firmly believe that the true promise of the internet lies in enabling small businesses with the same supply chain efficiency as today’s mega-coporations.