"Simplicity" Posts on ValleyZen

Retailers and publishers are perturbed at Google over a new feature “Search within Site” (SiS). Why have so many web feathers been ruffled? Google has offered this functionality for at least 7 years, but a larger audience is only just now becoming aware and in some cases upset by it. Why’s that?

Ever wanted a great example of the impact that Zen-like, intuitive, experiential user interaction design can make? Here it is…

The Transformation of Tangible to Intangible

Sixty years ago the value of productivity and wealth was determined by the value of the tangible property you made or possessed…In the 1960’s that all began to change. Information technology was silently converting tangible property to the intangible with the value of the intangible determined by the value of the intelligence it contained and not the tangible property. Resources consumed and standards of living were going to be highly impacted. A personal story that illustrates…

NBC 11’s TechNow! Host Scott Budman knows the value of eliminating clutter on & off the air. Want to get on TV? Be Zen! “I’ve gotten to know some of the CEOS, analysts and individuals who are really going to give the good soundbites. I seek those people out who…”

Scott Budman on:

• Interviewing the Valley’s major players & covering the big tech stories.
• ValleyZen as the “work-life balance” of successful CEOs and journalists.
• Transforming a 90 minute tape into a 1 minute story.
• Inside look at Silicon Valley’s NBC 11 – the first news station to do live on the air “texting” to talent.
• Shooting a hi-tech blog video interview in a traditional TV studio!
Keep Reading

Minutes ago, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington posted a less than flattering post on Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop. (To learn more about Alltop, check out the video interview I did with Guy on the eve of the launch of Alltop beta.) TechCrunch has removed the post, as twitterers and bloggers…

One way of viewing the discussions about content generation at Stanford’s weekend Legal Futures Conference is a struggle between two forces. One force wishes to use technology to make traditional media more productive without disintermediation, substitution or decentralization of content delivery. The other force is attempting to remove the throttle traditional media has on information distribution, while also revolutionizing the content delivery processes, mechanisms and values. The principal factor in this…

Today we are releasing Episode 2 of Tim Draper VC Samurai. Last Monday we posted Episode 1 and a short trailer of this action-packed interview with Tim. In Episode 2, delve deeper into the Zen world of Tim Draper:

Tim’s Samurai Lessons for Entrepreneurs:

• Freedom from life and death
• Approaching life with wild abandon
• Samurai loyalty
• Discipline and asceticism
• Tim’s tips on how to simplify…

Front row, beneath the podium in the press box, I had a great vantage point to observe Bill Gates speak at Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium Tuesday. The following section from his speech on code simplicity made me think:

“And so you say, what is that explosion of complexity that is expensive, it’s fragile, it’s hard to prove it’s correct? Well, it’s a failure of abstraction. We have not changed that level of abstraction…

Tim Draper, Founder of DFJ, gives us an AMAZING interview. In over 50 minutes of high-energy footage, Tim catapults Drue in the air (literally!), shows his art in DFJ’s Men’s bathroom, and reveals his Zen insights on entrepreneurship, business and life.

For the next 5 weeks, every Monday we will release one of the episodes, about 10 minutes each, of Tim’s irreverent wisdom.

Here is a short trailer, to whet your appetite:

Here is the first episode.

Do you have an iPod? We have somewhere between ten and fifteen in my family. About all of the versions are represented among the family’s iPods. From the initial version with all the controls contained in the little wheel in the middle to the version with no wheel but controlled by a touch screen.

In the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s I represented one of the creators of stereo hi-fi components for general consumers. Companies in that industry were pioneers in designing, building and creating demand for a hi-tech consumer product to be bought by consumers from retailers. For sure, there existed a small community of audiophiles who were heavily into hi-fi. Many were not considered to be well-adjusted citizens, although they made good salespeople for hi-fi components…

“This is where I like to come to avoid the traffic,” said Guy Kawasaki—soon after launching into a discussion of the opposite (i.e. how to attract web traffic).

On the eve of the beta launch of Guy’s new site Alltop.com, Guy gave ValleyZen.com an exclusive interview about the site. See part 1 and 2 below.