Peter Winer

Google and Yahoo Maps: Feature Requests

Look at the Caples Lake satellite view in the previous post.  If you look closely, you can see that the Kirkwood ski runs in the lower left corner have some snow on them.  Also, there is a snowy area in the center of the icture.

The snow is probably from an early winter storm.  True, the snowy bits make the picture more interesting, but it wasn't like that yesterday when we were there.  In mid-August after a very light snow season, there was no snow at all, even on Kirkwood's summits.

Caples Lake, Kirkwood CA

Alice and I are enjoying the weekend at Kirkwood, hiking, hanging out and visiting friends.  Since Kirkwood is primarily a skiing resort, summer weekends are very quiet and uncrowded.  The air is cool, the skies completely clear and the scenery is spectacular.  This afternoon, we hiked the shore of Caples Lake and attempted to reach Emigrant Lake.  It got too late so we turned back and headed for the Kirkwood Inn.  The map above shows our hike and where we took pictures.  The white lines are the ski runs at Kirkwood.  They weren't snow-covered today.  This satellite shot must have been from a snowy winter.  Click the picture to see my geocoded pictures from the hike.

Mr Met: Hall of Fame Mascot

Thank you to Ian Hsu for sending this pointer: Mr. Met has been nominated to the Mascot Hall of Fame this year.  I just cast my vote for Mr. Met and you can vote as well. 

I'm not sure there's anything I can add to this.  I admit it's quite silly.  Let's go Mets!

"What I Like..." Widgets

I like K2 skis

Today, Apple launched three iTunes widgets that let users list their recent purchases, display their music reviews, or show their favorite artists. Apple is following the lead of other widgets such as iLike that allow users to share music recommendations.

More broadly, there are many widgets and Facebook applications that allow users to show what they like. It sort of makes sense since the social networking sites are centered on who you like. Listing what you like is natural.

756

Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s career home record yesterday. It’s one of the most important and visible records in all of sport.

The home crowd here in San Francisco went wild. Too bad the cheering elsewhere has been so muted. Barry Bonds is the best baseball player of our time. He just reached an epic milestone, capping off a career of great milestones. Why can’t we all just enjoy it without restraint? Enjoy it without the caveats.

I know. Barry Bonds is a jerk. But the world is full of jerks. It’s hard to be a nice guy and fight your way to the top in a very competitive world. Look at our industry. Is Steve Jobs a nice guy? How about Larry Ellison, Eric Schmidt or Rupert Murdoch? I once heard Charles Barkley make a profound point on this topic. Barkley said kids shouldn’t think he is a nice guy or think of him as a role model. They should look up to their parents and see them as role models. If Barry Bonds needs to be arrogant to get into his game, so be it. The homers still count. The record still fell. Let’s all celebrate.

What about the steroid allegations? I believe Barry Bonds is innocent until proven guilty.

When I was 10, the New York Mets won the World Series. I was 15 when Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth. Both times we all went wild in Flushing. This time an epic record fell and there’s lots of grumbling.

Hey, it’s summer. It’s baseball. Let’s all have some fun. If not for us, then for all the kids around us.

Exit Determina, Hello Visible Measures

My long-term client Determina has been acquired.  I'm not allowed to disclose the acquirer or the terms of the deal, but I can say that it's a good outcome for all of us on the Determina team.  The Determina technology will be well-supported and available to a much broader base of customers going forward.  I was offered a position at the new company, but I declined.  I'm more interested in consumer-focused, user-facing products.  Working in a security group within a platform company didn't seem like a good match with that goal.

Going forward, I'm happy to announce my new engagement with Visible Measures Corporation (VMC).  VMC develops products and services that uncover how audiences engage with Internet-delivered video applications. I'm looking forward to working with Kyle Mashima who I've known and respected for a long time. Chris Meisl, my best friend and collaborator is also on board at VMC.

Update: FCC Makes Rules for 700 MHz

On Tuesday, the FCC set the rules for next year's auction of the 700 MHz spectrum.  The auction winner will not be allowed to restrict which devices and applications run over their networks, as the incumbent phone companies do today.  This is part of what Google lobbied for.

Google's requirement to support network resellers was not part of the ruling.  Some thought that would undermine the profit motive of building robust, pervasive infrastructure.

The ruling was welcomed by Google and eBay who could gain freer access for Skype on the new band.  Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt also supported the move and said his company Frontline Wireless would bid in the auction.

Overall this is a victory for Silicon Valley and it's being compared to lifting the competitive barriers enjoyed by AT&T in the 1980's.

The Funded

Check out The Funded if you care about Venture Capital or you just want read about personal experiences dealing with a whole bunch of VC firms. 

They are pretty careful about who they allow to join and post comments.  Most are serious, but some are really hilarious.  My favorite so far is "John has a dog that goes to all the pitch meetings. It can be disruptive, so just be prepared."  I pitched at the firm with the dog a while back.  Lucky for me the dog was silent.  Could it be my pitch was that good, or that boring?

Without question, The Funded is worth reading.

Outlines and Bar Charts Together

The earliest outliners were designed as writing tools and developed as stand-alone applications running on desktop PCs.  Since those early days, outlining has spread to other application categories, into desktop operating systems and onto the World Wide Web.  Outliners are used to organize file systems, presentations, large documents and Internet directories.

In 2006, I did something new with outlines - at least for me.  I developed an AJAX outliner that's part of an enterprise security product.  In one case this outliner is also a bar chart.  Every headline has a segmented bar showing the health of servers in groups.  As you go up the hierarchy, you see broader rollups.  With a quick glance and a few clicks, administrators can get a great summary of enterprise security and easily zoom in to deal with specific problems.