Mosso rocks cloud computing
Mosso just recently announced their new CloudFS program which competes directly with Amazon’s S3 storage service. That got me to think about how I really love Mosso, and how they’ve earned that love. I’ve had this blog and Faceplanting.com on their platform for more than a year and I haven’t had a single problem. Using Mosso is like having a bunch of dedicated super-engineers on staff. Seriously, I don’t have to mess with the guts and innards of scaling like I would have to with Amazon’s services. Mosso scales automatically. They’ve managed to build a super intelligent layer of scaling software over Rackspace’s rock solid infrastructure. This lets me worry about getting my next web project coded and designed, instead of the complex vagaries of hosting. The fact that they keep advancing their services with stuff like CloudFS just makes me really glad to be on their platform. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
How to demo your startup, part two
Techcrunch just posted Jason Calacanis’ second installment of advice on how to demo your startup. Like the first installment, there is some really fundamental and fantastic advice here. For instance, Jason points out how the use of the word “we” can make the presentation seem inclusive of the people you’re presenting to. Another great tidbit was on what to do when your presentation has technical difficulties and you need to take a moment to fix it. Jason’s advice takes some boldness and self-assuredness, but I think it works:
If the machine crashes, take a deep breath and fix the problem while your driver falls into anecdote mode. If your presentation is FUBAR (fracked up beyond repair), than apologize and let folks know you’ll be a back in a moment. Here’s a simple way to say it: “It seems we’ve experienced a little problem. Why don’t we regroup for a few minutes while you guys take a quick break?” Or :”It seems we’ve experienced a little problem. Why don’t we let the next speaker present while we regroup? Thanks for your understanding!”
Google Chrome nearly nails it on the first try!
I really liked yesterday’s comic book introduction to Google’s new Chrome Browser. It outlined a bunch of hard problems that are being solved with Chrome, and it did it in a way that was fun to read and understand. But to be honest, I wasn’t expecting Google Chrome to nail it, especially not on the first try. From the screenshots I saw yesterday, I didn’t even think I’d like the interface and default colors. But then today after my Chrome installation and importing of Firefox settings went off without a hitch, I realized that I really liked what I was seeing and feeling. The interface’s colors and buttons are friendly but yet svelte. And the browser does feel fast. From my informal testing, it consumes at least 30% less system memory than Firefox 3 does. As a developer, I really dig the inspector thrown in by default. I don’t use a lot of Firefox plugins that I would need, so I soon realized that there’s precious little keeping me from switching to Chrome. Here are the changes I need for it to be the perfect browser for me. (read on…)
Tell your story well young man!
I’ve always thought of Markus Frind as brilliant and maybe a tad arrogant. I really don’t have much to back up the impression of arrogance, other than the way he sometimes comes across on his blog. Of course, we are talking about a guy who single-handedly reshaped the online dating industry with his highly useful free online dating site, Plenty of Fish, so maybe anything he talks about with authority is going to come across as arrogance to some people. But then today I saw a promo video he shot with his hosting company, Peer1. The video’s campy and a bit staged, but also really fun and informative. I have a totally new respect for Markus now. I think he’s a cool guy, and I think Peer1 has done a brilliant job with this video. This is marketing at its best because both companies are telling their compelling stories in a fun way. Way to go guys!
Clickpass vs. Google Friend Connect
Previously, I wrote about my evaluation of Clickpass for use in the new web app I’m just starting to develop. User account creation and login plays a central role in my app, as with most web apps, so I had to make a quick decision on whether to use Clickpass or not. After writing the article, I decided that I really liked their out-of-your-way, multi-network sign-in service (the multi-network sign-in is a killer app - possible to do on your own, but nice to find pre-rolled and unobtrusive). I liked Clickpass enough to use it in my app, and I was stoked about being able to offer my app users an easy way to login using the networks they already use and love. The only problem was, I kept hearing about Google’s Friend Connect product (campfire video here) that’s supposedly going to be out for general use soon (live example here). The lure of Friend Connect for my app is that it offers not only multi-network sign-in (although not including Facebook at the moment), but also a streamlined path to social network-enabled viral distribution. (read on…)
How to talk to pirates
Kevin Kelly has a great writeup about what happened when game developer Cliff Harris asked pirates why they pirate stuff. Cliff was inspired by the results, and so was I. It’s reinforced in my mind the power of talking to your customers, and of making truly fantastic products that are as accessible as possible.
Much to his credit, the sincere responses to his question changed Harris’s mind. He decided to alter his business model. He reduced the price of his games in half (to $10), he removed the little DRM copy protection he had, he promised to make his web store easier to use, maybe even with one-click checkout, he decided to increase the length of his free demos, and most importantly, he had the revelation that he needed to increase the quality of his games — even though they were only going for 20 bucks.
