All things real estate seem to be grabbing headlines these days. I found this nice resource to all things real estate online this morning. From brokerage to market data to agent ratings/feedback…it’s a pretty nifty list. And I like lists. If you work in the biz you’ve probably already seen this. For those who you are might be thinking about buying or selling a home this is a decent bookmark.
One of the better known technology veterans in the Silicon Valley is Mike Homer. In addition to running marketing at Netscape he also helped to launch Opsware, Tivo and Palm. Stanford University recently determined he has Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease - a neuro -degenerative disorder. Victims are born with it and by the time symptoms are apparent when people hit in their 30s or 40s, there is typically only a year or two left to live.
An interesting quote from Mike in the associated video clip…those who often have the preliminary conditions of many deadly diseases don’t know who to go to in order to determine why they feel strange. Many times a deadly disease doesn’t start with symptoms that seem catastrophic. It is quite often our friends who encourage you to find out what is troubling you.
So, for various projects its always handy to have access to royalty free icons or at least a bunch of inspirational examples to get your own creative juices flowing.
So posts are not as frequent as I’d like them to be because Tricia and I are traveling throughout Europe much of August. Check out some of the pics I’ll be posting during our trip! We’re sitting on the small (and highly recommended) isle of Hvar in Croatia right now. I’ll post plenty more pics later tonight. Here’s a picture of Tricia in Zurich…our previous stop before Croatia.
So I’ve longed believed that much of the dotcom wreckage wasn’t so much about bad ideas…just bad timing. Or bad fiscal management. The Amazon Fresh launch reminded me of a John Cook article in the PI about some of Seattle’s worst web ideas. One of the companies mentioned was MyLackey.
Now, I ask you… Is it really a bad idea to launch a company that aggregates much of the services nobody wants to do - such as dry cleaning or car detailing - under one brand wherein you get one bill for not doing the work yourself?
It doesn’t seem any worse an idea than home delivered groceries. Funnier still is that both Kozmo and HomeGrocer were listed in the article. Now Amazon is into the idea.
Frankly, I think MyLackey could still work. Imagine you go to a website. Pick your services from an ala carte menu. Schedule them. Get one bill on a monthly basis for everything from lawn edging, car cleaning, errand running, auto detailing, dry cleaning and more. Everything done at your house or place of work. You drive nowhere. You pick nothing up. One company guarantees satisfaction for all services regardless what subcontractor was used.
Doesn’t seem dumb to me at all. Amazon, on some level, seems to agree.
I’m a bit late in congratulating Andy but hey…I’m traveling. Anyway, BuddyTV has raised $2.8 million in funding from Gemstar-TV Guide International. Very cool. Traffic on BuddyTV is incredible and Andy & team know how to drive it to even higher levels. This is one of the cooler start-ups in Seattle should anyone care about my opinion. It’s got all the makings of a hit. In fact, already its the largest social network centered on television shows (that isn’t owned by a major studio). Way to execute Andy & David! Keep up the great work.
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