Why net-neutrality might not be realistic!

save_the_internetQuick and dirty attempt to lay down my current thoughts about the whole net neutrality issue.

What ?
Net neutrality is about providing to users the same quality of service (ie. mainly the bandwidth capacity you paid for) to access all services on the internet. In other words, an internet service provider (ISP) should not discriminate one traffic over another. Since it does concern the last mile infrastructure it depends on the local regulations which means obviously that it might be different from one country to the other.

Problem ?
To keep growing and monetize their infrastructure ISP needs to find new revenue flow and one outcome could be to head towads tiered-internet. ISP might be tempted to make pay selected services for a better quality of service (ie. insure bandwidth) on their network, hence granting for the end user the best possible experience for this service. While getting the best service possible without spending a penny sounds good for the end users (ie. us), it has a drawback: it gives priority on the network to the companies that have the most money, and since start-ups are not part of those it would basically kill innovation.

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Web app vs. native app

Quote:

They’ll always be a place where Apps are better than the native web, but the increasing importance of the browser, both because it’s the one platform that ties everything together, and because the increased fragmentation the smartphone market will have as time goes on, will make Apps less important than they are now

Could not have say it better… and btw are you familiar with the concept of NIWEA, Native Interoperable Web Apps… check it out on Liip’s blog.

QR Code on television

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Shortly after my first QR Code scan of a public signage (I have been scanning QR Code for a long time :-), I get my first “scan QR Code on tv” experience yesterday night as I was watching “L’oeil de links” show for the first time. This new show on Canal+ is basically reporting what’s interesting/hot on the web and they use QR Code incrusted in the lower right corner of the screen to communicate the URL to the viewership. Easy. Smart. Useful. And best of all they are not using one of the proprietary solution out there… just standardized QR Code.
The show is available on the web, go and watch it by yourself (there is even a 15 seconds explanation on how to use QR Code at the begining).

“L’oeil de Links” on Twitter

QR Code on signage

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I scanned my first QR Code in the street last week. It was on a signage and it lead me to a form to participate to a contest (unfortunately the deadline had passed). Surprinsingly the target webpage was well formated for my mobile device. I guess that’s a sign that both QR Code and the mobile web are progressing… Neat.

Making Freemium Work

(notes to self)

  • Example of freemium successful company: Skype, Linkedin, Dropbox,… they are all consumer services with potentially millions of users.
  • Freemium in Enterprise ? Sharepoint is an example.
  • Convertion rate from free to premium: 2% (to be checked)
  • Benefits of freemium: let the user understand product benefit and benefit from the network effect to get more people in.
  • Any feature that has some “virality” should be included into the free plan
  • User optimizes for the “least surprising” bill vs. optimizing for overall smallest bill (carrier plan as an example). People are scared of what they do not know.
  • Original pricing is likely to be wrong, need to be flexible at the beginning to adapt to the customers
  • Daily/monthly metrics is important. Collect analytics on the users (incl. unsubscribers) is critical. Get it working before launching

Pecha Kucha

PechaKuchaSource: Le Temps: Ecoutez-moi, en 20 images

From the FAQ of Pecha Kucha website

PechaKucha 20×20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images.

20 seconds x 20 slides (20×20). While this format is targetting more visual works, I am convinced that with some tiny changes it could be applied in other contexts than a gathering of designers and other artistics works. I have been trying to use Pecha Kucha in out team at work without enough traction so far even though the first session had positive feedbacks. This kind of gathering generates discussions and exchanges that can only foster creativity and innovation! even more useful in the enterprise world.

When you think about it a Pecha Kucha is to formal presentation what Twitter is to blogging with a tiny bit of Meetup (gathering) and Linkedin (professional social network)… and all in real life. How can it get better ?

The perfect audio setup at home with Sonos

SonosWhen my old legay Hi-Fi system died a few months back it was time for me to investigate what’s new on the consumer market and at the end take my checkbook. My requirements: I needed to be able to listen to radios, podcasts and occasionaly some of my own music currently on CD (but only very sporadically). While Logitech has some nice offering in home audio streaming I get completely hypnotised by Sonos. Did not do much more investigation and product comparison I was already almost convinced and when I saw it live at a friend’s place the decision was taken… that was all I needed, and while the checkbook was out of the pocket I also decided to buy a NAS which is a good complement for listening music but also much needed as an in-house backup solution.

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Honest Advice on Starting a Company

Mark Suster: Honest Advice on Starting a Company

Interesting talk, here are very few notes mainly for myself:

  • Do basic research about the market (spreadsheet with basic economic, pay -> what am i replacing, 3rd party -> Ads ? what is the CPM ? Clickthrough, History of the Industry)
  • Get a prototype (almost a requirement to show and explain vc and business angel what you are working after
  • Diverse team
  • Vest funding (need to find out more about that)
  • Name = URL
  • “VC is worse than marriage”