http://allantyoung.com A Latticework of Thought, Action & Joyful Foibles Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:35:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A few months ago I came across a piece by Jeff Nolan, titled Incrementalism and "The New New Thing," which struck poignantly at a raw nerve. He called attention to the incrementalism gripping Silicon Valley despite the flush amount of capital available for startups. Much of the attention and ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/09/04/the-case-for-interruption-and-disruption/ Facebook insiders have been selling their stock. Top level insiders such as directors from venture funds invested in Facebook, key executives and even Mark Zuckerberg himself have been quietly trying to unload some shares in private sales. These private transactions are not uncommon as startup entrepreneurs and their ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/08/08/irrational-exuberance-20/ Technology industry heavyweights are banding together to form a new group called the Allied Security Trust. Members include Google (GOOG), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). This alliance will buy up patents in the marketplace to preempt "patent trolls" from acquiring these patents in order to extract ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/07/01/patent-bridge-bridge-is-falling-down/ Earlier this month, Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG), announced record profits on higher fees earned from deal making and strong equities trading. Macquarie is the leading investment bank in Australia and has intrigued me for quite some time because of its strength in the infrastructure industry. The megatrend of ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/06/01/samurais-jihadists-and-masters-of-the-universe/ Last week, I attended Zions Bank's (ZION) 7th Annual International Trade and Business Conference. Most of the speakers were very interesting. John Howard, the former Prime Minister of Australia, gave a lively keynote speech and subsequently fended off with aplomb the inane question of a clearly wide-eyed political ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/05/27/investing-linkfest-52708/ The stock market's rebound has been so fast and furious that it might make folks forget that we just experienced a nasty credit crisis and market downturn. Have sinking home values not registered with the national psyche? Surf around on Zillow.com and witness the vast amounts of wealth ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/05/18/investing-linkfest-51808/ A few days ago, I wrote about the commoditization of social networks or rather the social networking feature sets that currently make Myspace and Facebook so unique and neat. Pioneers in social networking like Friendster and Myspace introduced a new data and software architecture that, at the same time ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/05/15/google-commoditizing-networks/ Florida, one of the hottest real estate markets during the insanity of the housing bubble, is suffering from a barrage of wildfires that look suspiciously like the work of arsonists. When the credit crisis struck and housing values began to fade, I wondered about the potential for unethical and ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/05/13/home-values-go-up-in-smoke/ The market takes a breather after several weeks of blistering recovery from last winter's doldrums. Commodities all around saw amazing advances. Crude oil rose 8.3% last week and has more than doubled over the last year. I remember taking my first car, a Honda (HMC) Civic, out ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/05/11/investing-linkfest-51108/ Chris Anderson, a writer at Wired Magazine and author of the influential The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, makes some good points about the insanity of Facebook's $15 billion valuation, the inadequacy of current approaches to social networking, and the implications of an ... http://allantyoung.com/2008/05/11/social-networks-commoditization/