Master of 500 Hats

FlashPaper: blows the doors off PDF (so please use it)

Every time i load up Acrobat Reader to view a PDF file, i might as well go get a cup of coffee -- it's a complete dog, and not at all appropriate for viewing lightweight docs over the web.

Then along comes Macromedia FlashPaper, and i'm amazed this product hasn't already obliterated the portable document market. Check out how fast this FlashPaper doc loads up.

It's really quite impressive; no separate viewer app is needed, since you can already view FlashPaper docs as long as you've got a Flash player -- which is likely, since ~98% of browsers already have Flash embedded.

To create FlashPaper docs, try the free FlashPaper trial download here, or you can also get it bundled with Macromedia Contribute 3 (free Contribute trial download here). Note that for backwards capability, FlashPaper also allows you to publish in PDF format.

For more info, check out this online presentation on how FlashPaper works.

(nice job Eric & Erik :)

Going to BloggerCon?

Looks like some good stuff up for discussion at BloggerCon III.

Definitely plan to to check out the session on Making Money, probably also the Newbies session too (although PodCasting looks tempting).

re: making money, i'd like to discuss some concepts in addition to just the typical publisher-advertiser model, such as:
* Blog as Storefront / Online Business
* Blogs for Consultants / Service Providers
* Blogs for Fundraising / Donation / Community Goal

re: newbies, i think it would be helpful to understand more about how people get started blogging (or don't) and where they get bogged down... stuff like mapping a blog to a domain or website, setting up a blog template or designing a layout, basics of moblogging, etc.

as the medium scales / attempts to go mainstream, these things need to be much easier. TypePad is probably the best/simplest at UI i've seen so far (and Blogger has made some good improvements recently), but there's still lots of room for improvement on setup & basic education.

Jon Stewart EXPOSED on 60 Minutes!

Finally, something worth watching... Jon Stewart on 60 Minutes later tonight.

Obviously, they're looking for a CrossFire followup after Jon called Tucker Carlson a dick on national television last week. (dang, the truth hurts don't it Tucker?)

I'll say it again -- the Daily Show is hands-down the best show on television.

I ? Huckabees

truly an enjoyable film... most especially if you've had that bad acid trip at some point early in life where you struggled to accept the whole "we're all just a bunch of atoms" thing, or if you've ever done Landmark and wondered if life were really empty and meaningless (except that it doesn't really matter that it's empty & meaningless, and it doesn't really matter that it doesn't really matter... but i digress).

funny thing was, Saya and I just finished having Korean BBQ before we saw it.
Just a Coincidence? or all part of a big Cosmic Blanket?

also realizing late in life i haven't seen enough of Lily Tomlin's work. she and Steve Martin are severely under-appreciated (although some of his recent movies aren't nearly as good as the old stuff). never got to see her do The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, and always regretted it. maybe someday soon.

SBY: hope for the democratic process in an Islamic world (Indonesia, not Iraq)

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (aka 'SBY') sworn into office in Jakarta:

Likely the most positive development in the democratic process in the past several years, especially among Islamic countries.  Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic country, and the 3rd largest democracy in the world.

Hope springs eternal :)

Towards MicroEquity, Human Capital, and the SmallBiz Online Toolbox

Had a great meeting last Friday at Stanford with my friend Greg Wolff, Steve Ketchpel, and others at the Reuters Digital Vision Program re: microfinance and several related topics.

For a summary of items discussed, see Steve's RDVP Finance meeting summary.

My areas of interest among these topics:

• MicroEquity: aka "MicroVC", or how to enable equity investment opportunities as an alternative or complement to traditional microfinance
• Human Capital Securitization: creating market liquidity & transparency for new asset classes related to the economic output of individuals and groups of individuals, and their related derivative instruments (such as health or education derivatives)
• SmallBiz Online Toolbox: the collective set of tools needed for small business (and/or microentrepreneurs) to get online; such as setting up websites, online storefronts & marketplaces, shopping carts & payment processing, online accounting systems, email distribution lists & online marketing/advertising, community forums, etc

For more info on these and related subjects, see:

• 
  Greg's research on Creative Markets and Community Exchanges
  
• Steven's research on Microfinance/MFIs and related Open Source tools

Cuz Freedom Isn't Free...

Freedom costs $1.05:

... fuck *yeah*.

My Last Day at PayPal? or just the Beginning of the Next Great Adventure?

bit of nostalgia this past week: Friday was sort of my last day at PayPal... or at least it was my last day running the PayPal Developer Network program.  PDN was the "baby" i birthed in 2001, and somehow managed to nurse along over the past three years into a pretty decent-size technical education site and community for some ~300,000 E-Commerce developers. 

i feel proud of what i've accomplished here, both with PDN and with PayPal.  this year in particular we pulled off some great stuff: we delivered the PayPal Web Services offering in the spring, held the eBay/PayPal Developer conference this summer in New Orleans, and got the PayPal Hacks book out in print just last month, with help from our friends at O'Reilly.  (*and special congrats to author Dave Nielsen, who imaginatively proposed to his fiance in the book acknowledgements!).  with all that done, it's a good time to pass the baton to new blood and let them take it over the next mountaintop...

looking back i've had a lot of great times at PayPal, and made some wonderful friends here.  a few folks i care about a lot put together this terrific "Top 10" DMC roast list as a going-away present for me on Friday.  it's hilarious, and some of it is a bit embarrassing, but it's definitely a tongue-in-cheek summary of my days at the 'Pal :)

the other related piece of news is my wife Saya is pregnant (surprise!), and that definitely will bring some change into our lives next year.  so perhaps now is a good time for me to step back and get a little perspective, recharge the batteries, figure out where i'm headed next.  i'm going to take a few months off to spend with Saya, visit with family, and get ready for another great adventure -- not to mention daddy-hood!

as to what that new adventure may involve? ... well, i'd like to come back in January and see what's new at PayPal & eBay, perhaps see if i can find something that gets my creative juices flowing.  then again, both with Google and several other promising new startups, there appears to be some renewed fire in Silicon Valley (finally!).  yet another possible direction, i've been doing some reading and research on microfinance topics, and it certainly feels like there's a tipping point about to happen in that area. 

so there's plenty of exciting stuff i'm curious to get my hands on, and lots of new ideas to roll around in my brain... but probably the most exciting of all of these will be a new baby to get ready for in the spring.  guess 2005 will be a bit of an exciting year... woohoo!

ps - thanks PayPal, for the wonderful memories.  i won't forget a thing :)

PrompterGate: more links about "Bush is Wired"

More fodder for the "Is Bush Wired?" camp:

Here is Bush video clip from CNN broadcast at D-Day ceremony, with double-echo of voiceover -- however, Bush's voice comes *after* the first, non-Bush voice, and repeats some words in a slightly different order or phrasing.

Here is Bush mp3 clip from the 1st debate where he says "now let me finish...", except that no one has interrupted him, and he still has 30 seconds left to respond.  was he talking to the man in his ear, perhaps?

Here is speculation about an earpiece prompt instead of using a teleprompter, from someone who has previous experience with these devices as a film director.

More links and an excellent starter piece on the Cannonfire blog

Pillow Fight Club!

The first rule of Pillow Fight Club is:
  You *DO* Talk about Pillow Fight Club

Pillow Fight Club Flickr pix here

(anyone interested in joining me to do this in SF?  send me an email :)