In reverse order, here are a few videos that show without a doubt that Steve Ballmer and Yahoo are a perfect match.  I mean, could you argue that there is a bigger Yahoo in silicon valley than Steve Ballmer?  I didn’t think so!

#5 The iPhone… what a joke, that concept will never fly!

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#4 Steve Ballmer gets pwn’d

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#3  Remember when Redmond introduced its latest product to flop? Microsoft Deodorant

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#2 In the 80s, did anyone predict Ballmer would be the CEO of a multinational corporation?

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#1 Steve Ballmer, I’ve got four words for ya:  Prozac!

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So is there any doubt now that Steve Ballmer’s era of MS is a match for Yahoo? I didn’t think so.

Nevertheless, many media journalists believed adult content was going to help determine the winner of the now defunct battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD. As will be explained below, porn on Blu-ray is not the real issue, but if anything, these stories conjure up memories of the Sony Betamax and JVC VHS wars of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Let’s take a look back.

Betamax vs. VHS and Porn: A trip down memory lane

Sony’s Betamax was released in 1975, one year before JVC introduced its well-known VHS player.

After a battle that lasted for almost 10 years, VHS emerged victorious despite the fact that Sony’s Betamax was largely recognized as the technologically superior player. The reasons behind VHS’s victory cannot be traced back to one deciding factor, but one egregious difference between the two formats was that Betamax players could, at first, only play tapes that lasted up to an hour in length, clearly not long enough for a standard Hollywood movie.

Another popular theory, though impossible to substantiate, is that Sony’s refusal to allow adult content on its Betamax player allowed VHS to pull away and become the de-facto home video standard for nearly two decades.

Does porn on blu-ray even mean anything?

Sony’s stance regarding porn on Blu-ray is completely irrelevant for a few reasons. For one, Blu-Ray already seems well positioned to overtake HD-DVD as the next HD standard, porn or not. But more importantly, sales of adult-oriented DVD’s are slowing down significantly as consumers are flocking to the Internet to get their adult content for free.

As a funny aside and perhaps a testament to the glorious nature of 1080p!, many porn stars are opposed to Blu-Ray, and HD in general, because it reveals blemishes on their bodies that would otherwise not be noticeable. But I suppose that porn in HD would allow for some interesting titles. Move over “Debbie does Dallas” and say hello to “Patti does Pittsburgh as she goes to a Pharmacy to get Pro-active for her Pimples” and “Vainy Vixens 4″.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This article is an offshoot of Guy Kawasaki’s article, “in search of inexperience“. Guy Kawasaki’s article was itself a piggyback off of Glenn Kelman’s article on the Entrepreneur 2.0 phenomenon. Enjoy.

In case you don’t have time to read the articles, I’ll briefly touch on both articles. Both gentlemen discuss the problem of entrepreneurs who strike success early and hope to replicate that success with new start-ups by employing similar tactics. The conclusions are decidedly pessimistic about second timers, but for good reason. They discuss the importance of recruiting talent and finding the best and brightest to help create a successful business, but both are skeptics when the same business model approach is taken to drastically different business problems.

What makes the talented first-timer a potential success is that s/he is hungry during the first attempt and it’s much more difficult to predict how the young entrepreneur will fare a second time around once the motivating factors are diluted. In some cases, sheer dumb luck allows “entrepreneurs” to strike gold, but that’s another story.
Glenn Kelman’s opinion on Entrepreneur 2.0:

Second-time entrepreneurs are so intent on replicating their success that they manufacture an inferior idea where the first one grew naturally out of a problem that had been bothering them. Some become so obsessed with how great their first company was that they spend all their time trying to copy it rather than building something different and new. They often hire top-heavy teams from past ventures, or strain to grow fast enough to meet higher expectations. Most strike out on their own without the partners they depended on for candor in their first success.

And for all the rhetoric about working just as hard the second time around, few second-timers operate at the same level of savagery that drove the early, destitute years of their first startup. Most don’t even try. A friend of mine had a great idea, raised money from his old investors, then took a three-week yachting trip. Another is often reported by his subordinates to be “golfing in outer space,” a catchphrase for exotic vacations that mere mortals could never afford.

Now for Guy Kawasaki’s points, I’ll publish some of his words, but you should read his entire article if you’re interested in the issue. Kawasaki’s article is one of the better supplements I’ve read on issues of advancing technology and business and the relationships between creative energy, innovation and the motivation that makes it happen.

My favorite points related to “the serial entrepreneur”

1. Serial entrepreneurs don’t (or can’t) work as hard. When you have a 5,000 square foot house, a second house in Montana, a car made by a company whose name ends in “i,” a spouse, and kids, attitudes change. Indeed, attitudes should change or people never grow up. However, it’s one thing to work to survive and another to work for fulfillment. They can say they’re just as hungry this time, but the point is that no one had to ask if they were hungry the first time.
2. Serial entrepreneurs don’t get smacked around enough. Life is good as a serial entrepreneur: they walk in, tell people that their last company was sold for a bazillion dollars, and now they’re starting another one, and it’s a privilege and honor to invest. Who’s going to poke holes in their strategy when Sequioia, Kleiner Perkins, et al are issuing term sheets and ever lesser venture capitalist is sucking up? No one. And that’s too bad because they won’t get anyone checking their sanity.
3. Serial entrepreneurs hire their buddies who were with them the first time. Thus, the entire founding team suffers from all the problems listed above. People who don’t know what they don’t know are few and far between, but a startup needs this kind of people to push the boundaries of what’s possible in what ways. Ignorance is not only bliss; it’s also empowering.

Take a look at the arguments, very simple:

1. Serial entrepreneurs can’t or won’t work as hard once they’ve tasted success.
2. Investors will throw money at them because they’ve “been there before…”
3. ‘Teams’ working on multiple efforts are problematic… see #1, #2 above.

The process of self-discovery, motivation and purpose

As one of the budding “inexperienced entrepreneurs” – depending on how you define it – in the industry, I love reading Guy Kawasaki’s blog.

I feel connected to him because his words help me understand who I am and how my talents can be put to use. Like you, I have a hunger and burning desire to be the next silicon valley success story. Who wouldn’t want to be “that guy” (or gal). We all know that it isn’t enough to simply want to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Wozniak, you have to be a special kind of person to experience the American dream.

What makes you special, can you hack it in a pool of sharks?

I’ll tell you what makes me special and you can see if you fit the same mold or have similar thoughts. For starters, here’s a cheap one: I ‘just know’ I’ve got the makings of CEO / visionary. Without going through a laundry list of defining characteristics, do you have a reasonable self-confidence that is unshakable and arrived at logically based on what you’ve been able to accomplish in your lifetime? I rarely pay attention to arbitrary measures of the Self, I find that my psychological profile places me in good company. If you are a thinker, a creative genius or simply curious, you should take the “Myers-Briggs” test. The results can help you find out whether you are suited to embark on certain career paths. It’s obviously a guide more than anything, but I find it’s pretty accurate in predicting my actions and responses to certain stimuli. My result: ENTP personality and under some detailed analysis of the ENTP, it’s explained that this group tends to be comprised of entrepreneurs, politicians, engineers and lawyers. Sadly, this group also has a good amount of people who will never escape the lower rung of society because they simply aren’t wired like your average Joe and environment and genetics will play a role in their ultimate fate.

This subject is not an easy one to broach, so as I attempt to explain what moves young entrepreneurs and talented minds, forgive my tone of it offends you. Your intellect and mindset are key to your success. What drives you and how do good are you at interacting with people necessary to make your team or company successful? Do you have the makings of an entrepreneur and should you consider making the move and taking the plunge? It’s not an easy question to answer and you better be sure about it before you make the move.

You have to ask yourself what motivates you and drives your desire to “succeed?”

For me, it’s not just a desire to “make money”. The articles referenced above considered the financial motivation behind young entrepreneurs as compared to their post-success wealth. I have no doubt I’ll make it rain with one or more of my “brilliant” ideas, how about you? Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s consider why? What is it about you that makes you special and ready for prime time?

What is your goal or post-success strategy? I know that my money will serve as a catalyst for bigger and better things, but it isn’t the end all be all to life, heck for many of us it’s just beginning. Ahh, ambition, what a beautiful thing. I don’t care about cars, big homes, living the lavish lifestyle and meeting with celebrities at the playboy mansion, do you? Damn, I have to admit that I had to think twice about that playboy mansion! Seriously, though, what I care about is achieving (relative) and stimulating my mind.

Beyond that, I also want to share my spirit with all who’d dare get close enough to my aura of optimism and obsessive desire to make it rain. If there’s anything you can learn from this exchange, remember that in order to crush the obstacles in your way, you need more than just ambition to be “successful”. Entrepreneurs are a special breed of human and unlike Guy and Glenn, above, I don’t include the “lucky bastards” in this class.

It’s not just about confidence, intelligence, creativity, it’s about the mind, psyche and personality.

Consider the jack-of-all-trades character that we like to frown upon in society. What happens when you give Mr. Jack an injection of passion, creative genius, and reason? When this happens, Jack becomes an ace-in-the-hole for budding young companies. The problem is that it’s difficult to find these people. The “master of none” in my view is a misnomer. In my world, we call them “dumb” or “untalented”, but to refer to Jack as a hopeless case is a mistake.

A true “jack of all trades” (Jack) probably became that way because of an overwhelming myriad interests and high level of intelligence. The only thing lacking from Jack’s arsenal is 1) time to master all trades, and believe me they would if they could, and 2) support or guidance that helps them channel their minds into their passion.

Do you fit the mold of the Visionary?

Throughout my life, I can tell you that my brain has explored just about every area of intellectual thought imaginable. Psychology and the mind are invaluable areas of study if you want to understand people and relationships, and you should want that. Ask yourself what distinguishes movers and shakers from dead weight or people that aren’t cut out for business? I’m convinced that 75% of the personality types out there are not well suited for the entrepreneur’s lifestyle. It’s crucial to seek out the talent that will propel your operation to the top and if judging character and drive isn’t “your thing”, then you have to find a way to make yourself discoverable for someone who does the psychology of business.

Engineers, lawyers and doctors are often great fits for the entrepreneurial spectrum to go along with the lifers (e.g. undergrad business, an MBA, and career in the industry). One problem tends to trip up the majority of would-be entrepreneurs. People who are forced to think entirely through the ‘logical’ looking glass are incapable of “stepping outside the box”. This is why I say you need a special brand of human for entrepreneurial work, but that’s a good thing. Bottom line: You need to figure out what your skills are and whether you are ready for the riskier, lonelier, but potentially more lucrative and exciting lifestyle that entrepreneurs lead.

I’ll take a stab at the issue of innovation and digital technology, because whether or not we believe an idea is destined for failure, it’ll be the basis for evolution of future products based on the reader concept. The latest Amazon toy is interesting to me for a number of reasons which I’ll explain below. Here’s a brief excerpt of an article from the NY Times, “E-book reader just may catch on.”

Printed books are dirt cheap, never run out of power and survive drops, spills and being run over. And their file format will still be readable 200 years from now.

So e-book readers keep on coming and keep on flopping: the Rocket eBook Reader. Gemstar. Everybook. SoftBook. Librius Millennium Reader. The Sony Reader is in stores even now, priced at $350 and making literally dozens of sales. Then on Monday, Amazon introduced its own e-book reader, called the Kindle. It arrives at $400 — reading material sold separately.

Are they completely nuts? The Kindle is a thin, 10-ounce slab of white plastic, tucked into a leatherette cover. It’s not, ahem, gorgeous; it’s all white plastic, sharp angles and visible seams, with all the design panache of a Commodore 64.

One look at the gadget, and you have to gag if you’re a fan of aesthetics and design. It’s an utterly reprehensible piece of hardware, it’s like Amazon is intentionally leaving itself room for Kindle 2.0 and beyond. Seriously, as far as design goes, any clown can come up with a prettier looking device that caters to it’s core functionality. The enthusiast in you might be inclined to disagree on this issue, for one simple reason. Function triumphs between a battle of design and function in technology. Fine, I’ll grant that argument, but please don’t tell me that the brains at Amazon couldn’t come up with a prettier looking device?

Consider the apple iToys for reference. They aren’t overwhelming with functionality, but they serve their purpose and the designs are simple, sleek and have cute and innovative functionality that consumers enjoy. The “touch” navigation and excellent compatibility with all sorts of devices for data transfer as well as simplicity for max compatibility with gurus and geezers alike. Now take Amazon’s Kindle (e-reader) It basically wraps an old idea into a new “design”.

Brilliant product for Amazon to focus on due to the popularity of e-books and blogs, but the design leaves much to be desired. I’ll take a closer look at the product in the future and we’ll see what kind of innovative ideas they have up their sleeves. For now, the gadget will be gobbled up by tech enthusiasts (that’s you) and it’ll give Amazon stockholders something to smile about over the next few quarters. The big question is, what happens if it indeed becomes a success? Could Amazon make a successful jump into hardware and software development, after all the Internet is the wave of the future!

Look, the kindle product is a nice hint of things to come. We’ll probably not see great success in the marketing of such products for at least five or maybe ten years, once prices drop and the innovation and competition begins. Whether Amazon will be the company that brings tablet and e-book readers to the forefront of technology is entirely speculative so I won’t waste your time with detailed commentary on that front. That said, if I had to bet on someone making a tablet concept or e-reader a success, my pick would be Apple’s future line of tablets or ipod variants. Additionally. Lenovo’s Tablet PC evolution may yield a product that is everything Amazon would like it’s Kindle to be and more.

Hey, you don’t have to take my word for it. This guy played with the Kindle for 1 week and as I predicted, the model leaves much to be desired and it wasn’t just about the ergonomics and aesthetics.

Everywhere you turn, there is a new juicy rumor about Apple products and it’s difficult to distinguish rumors based on some fact information from those that are entirely speculative. CNET claims to have the inside story on Apple’s latest tech push. It sounds like an Apple Tablet PC is in the works and what a brilliant move it is.

from CNET (UK) Experts Tech Review

Think about it, you’ve got the iPod that owns a virtual monopoly on mp3 players by virtue of name recognition alone. Apple can now brag that made a successful debut into the telecommunications market with the iPhone, the iMac line of personal computers has seen great success thanks to great marketing and calculating by the higher ups. They are making ground in every major area of technology and a Tablet PC makes perfect sense at this juncture.

We’re tempted to ignore all Apple rumours because there’s just so many of them, but this rings true because Asus is Apple’s contract manufacturer. It’s one of the companies responsible for building the iBooks, PowerBooks and MacBooks of this world, so when their guys tell us they’re building an Apple Tablet, we believe them.

We checked back with our source at Asus on a different day and they confirmed that the Apple Tablet will not be based on existing Asus designs such as the R1. It will come from a completely new blueprint, possibly based on the patent Apple filed back in May 2005. We’re guessing it’ll be based on Intel Core architecture, a tweaked version of Leopard, and have all the multi-touch, CoverFlow goodness we’ve seen in the iPhone and iPod touch.

This reminds me of Bill Gates and his book, “the Road Ahead…”

Could this be the beginning of a new era of technology?

Bill Gates, wrote 15 years ago in “the Road Ahead”, that the future of technology would be integration of various technologies. Universal computing would reach our homes and everything would be wired as computers become the television of the 21st century.

Gate’s predictions didn’t quite call for goofy futuristic models that we were exposed to by “The Jetsons” as kids, but he did say that some day we’d have appliances that would do everything: television, movies, music, computing and telecommunications. I suspect that as Microsoft’s CEO, he envisioned Microsoft as bringing forth the ‘wave of the future’. Based on the history between Microsoft and Apple, I bet he never would have imagined that Apple, Inc. would bring about the revolutionary change.

Just for fun, what might a Tablet PC look like in the future?

LCD panels with pullout or addon keyboards? Maybe we’ll see blue tooth keyboards that come along with tablet PCs. It makes sense and if Google has its way, ten years from now every home will have access to free Internet. This trend has already begun in select areas of the Silicon Valley. A Tablet PC with features that take the best of computing and telecommunication Apps will be remarkable and I’m sure apple will have some nice surprises in store for it’s rabid supporters.

Rumors or not, the future of Apple looks impressive. Stock will continue to climb, products will continue to sell like hot cakes, investors and consumers get everything they could possibly ask for and then some.

For some Americans, Christianity is the only thing that matters in life. For others, religion has become insufferable and they would rather see it vanish from existence than deal with consequences of religion on politics and society.

Many Christians worry that the end of the world is near, citing the happenings in the middle east, corruption of today’s youths’ minds and issues with sexuality and disease. Christianity and other religions have withstood the test of time during humanity’s primitive era, but how will they fare against time as technology is introduced into the equation? The fact is, religion will struggle because of the more extravagant claims that leaders of faith have made in public.

As we stumble through these early stages of technological evolution in a world where science and religion are fighting over “truth”, something has to give. Continued studies in archeology, evolution, space travel and genetics will force humanity to tackle new questions that neither science to date OR religious texts have answers to.

In my view, Christian leaders have a major crossroads quickly approaching. The question they’ll have to tackle is whether they will embrace or deny science as we tackle the 21st century. Between religion and science, I have a hard time believing that the latter would survive its current course. Scientific theories that contradict the bible or religion in general tend to have evidence to support the theories or accepted fact.

People of faith believe that certain principles and ‘facts’ are true because the religious texts, like the Bible say so and ‘the word’ can not be questioned. The problem of course, is when you try to apply these religious principles to non-believers. This leads atheists and scientists to argue that Christians aren’t interested in ‘logic’ and they’ve allowed themselves to be taken by propaganda. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, but it’s not going to end well for Christians if they continue with their traditional mindset.

Institutionalization is often the last step before humanity is lost. Like alcoholism, drug addiction, and sexual deviance, religiosity can be harmful to individuals and society. Believe it or not, I identify with Christianity. In fact, I call myself Christian, but I’m more like the black sheep in the flock, and I hope more people will begin to use their brains rather than allow institutions to furnish ‘truth’ that is often fabricated or tainted by ‘man’. (e.g. the creationist museums with cavemen on dinosaurs?)

As we delve deeper into the information and technology age, religion is going to have to evolve too or else it won’t have a place in society, and that would be a shame. For all of the harm that religion does to society in the form of intolerance, brain washing, and promoting war, it is also is a great source of love, kindness, and a wonderful natural anti-depressant. Hope is the essence of mankind, without religion there would be no such thing as hope, and for many that would make life completely meaningless.