Sunday, May 30, 2010

NuPhysicia - telemedicine - bringing doctors to patients

NuPhysicia is the only healthcare company that brings doctors to the patient - no matter where they are - work, home or remote corners of the globe.


Delivering physician care anytime and anywhere allows patients to take significant control of their health care, keeping them healthy and productive, all while improving convenience and reducing costs.


NuPhysicia exclusively operates telemedicine methods developed by the University of Texas Medical Branch, proven through serving hundreds of thousands of patients around the world.


Learn more about our product lines and how NuPhysicia can help you, too, create a healthier future for your employees and your company.


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MANAGEMENT

President and Board Chair – Glenn G. Hammack, OD, MSHI – Glenn Hammack is the founding President of NuPhysicia LLC, developing it as a spinout company from the University of Texas, where he served as Assistant Vice President of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and founding Executive Director of their Electronic Health Network (EHN), developing and managing their telemedicine programs. Before 2004, he served as Director of Health Informatics and Telemedicine, leading implementation of a large-scale electronic medical record system and creation of a statewide system for primary care and specialty telemedicine. He received his OD Optometry degree from the Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University and his MSHI Master of Science in Health Informatics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a Telemedicine internship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Senior Vice President – Oscar W. Boultinghouse, MD, MPH – Dr. Boultinghouse directs primary care and urgent care services, as well as paramedic training and management. He is a board certified Emergency Medicine Specialist and former Medical Director for UTMB’s Life-flight Program. He has managed many Gulf of Mexico and international offshore medical issues. He spent 14 years on the UTMB Medical School Faculty developing the emergency and primary care services of the UTMB telemedicine program. Dr Boultinghouse received his medical training at Baylor College of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Senior Vice President – Michael J. Davis, MD, MBA – Dr. Davis directs specialty care with specific focus on cardiology but directs all specialty care management. He has been active in remote health care and telemedicine for a decade, and held previous positions as Director of Cardiology, Digital Medical Services, UTMB Correctional Managed Care and then Associate Director of Medical Specialties, Director of Cardiology Services for the UTMB Electronic Health Network. He is recognized as the one of the nation’s most experienced cardiology telemedicine practitioners. Dr. Davis was a faculty member in the Division of Cardiology at UTMB from 1988 through 1997, where his principal emphasis was cardiac catheterization and interventional cardiology. He was a faculty member at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology from 1986 to 1987. Dr. Davis is board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease, and he is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He completed an MBA degree in 1998.

Executive Director - Shannon C. Caldwell - Mr. Caldwell is Executive Director for Offshore and Remote Services for NuPhysicia LLC. He directs all aspects of the primary customer relationships, sales, and marketing of our InPlace Medical Solutions brand. A former health, safety, and environmental division leader at a global drilling company, Mr. Caldwell has significant experience in remote and offshore health services, including service as an offshore paramedic and as a paramedic for military contractor in Iraq. He holds a BSc in Occupational Safety and Health and certifications in Industrial Hygiene Management.

Executive Director - Melody C. Reid - Ms. Reid is Executive Director for Employee Health Services for NuPhysicia LLC. She directs all aspects of the primary customer relationships, sales, and marketing of our Medicine At Work brand for on-site employee health clinics. A seasoned sales professional with significant experience, she previously held senior sales positions with Sports Express LLC, US Bank Voyager Fleet Systems, and VeriSign Inc. A certified trainer of the Nia fitness method, she has a personal commitment to health promotion and wellness.


BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Director – R.E. Garrison II - Robert E. Garrison II is President and director of Sanders Morris Harris Group. He is also a director of Sanders Morris Harris and Salient Partners & Salient Trust Co. He serves on the boards of BioCyte Therapeutics, TeraForce Technology Corporation, First Capital Bankers Inc. and Somerset House Publishing and also serves on the Board of Directors Finance Committee of Memorial Hermann Hospital Systems. Mr. Garrison, a Chartered Financial Analyst, has more than 34 years experience in the securities industry

Director – Charles L. Davis - Mr. Davis is a Managing Director at Sanders Morris Harris Group. He has 13 years of investment experience in early-stage technology companies. He serves as a director or board observer for several companies including Syntex Management Systems, World Telemetry, Lombardi Software, RigNet, Wayport and NovusEdge.

Director - William R. Elger - Bill. Elger is executive vice president and chief business and finance officer at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He is responsible for several UTMB departments, including human resources, business development and marketing, information services, facilities, and finance. Overall, he is responsible for UTMB’s financial and business performance. Elger has served on the board or committees of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Business Affairs, serving as National Chair 2006–2007, and the Healthcare Management Association. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Illinois CPA Society and the Association of Academic Health Centers Senior Administrative/Fiscal Officers Group.

Director - David G. Connoughton - Mr. Connoughton is VP of Finance for the Clinical Enterprise at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is responsible for all financial functions within the UTMB Health System, including hospitals, clinics, and correctional managed care. This includes oversight of hospital and clinics decision support, admitting and registration, inpatient coding, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, patient financial services, and the employee administrative services team.

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The Doctor Will See You Now. Please Log On.


New York Times - Milt Freudenheim - 1 day ago
Dr. Jones is under contract to NuPhysicia, one of the new telemedicine companies. ... NuPhysiciauses equipment in the middle of that range — standard ...

Saturday, May 29, 2010

BlackBerry Partners Fund Expands with $100MM Affiliate Fund in China

"TORONTO - May 27, 2010 - The BlackBerry® Partners Fund today announced the expansion of its investment activities with the launch of a US$100 million affiliate fund focused on mobile investment opportunities in China. BlackBerry Partners Fund China is a new joint venture between China Broadband Capital Partners, a leading venture capital and private equity manager focused on media and communications investments in China since 2006, and BlackBerry Partners Fund. The new Fund will invest exclusively in opportunities supporting the emerging mobile ecosystem in China, the world's largest mobile market. The new Fund is expected to close on August 31, 2010.

"The BlackBerry platform offers tremendous opportunities for startups and other technology innovators to develop new value-added products and services for the mobile market," said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research In Motion. "We are very excited by the announcement of this new fund and we believe it will help fuel substantial innovation and commercial success within the mobile ecosystem in China."

"The launch of BlackBerry Partners Fund China will further extend the benefits of our partnership with Research In Motion and position us to take better advantage of attractive investments in one of the fastest growing mobile computing markets in the world," said Kevin Talbot co-managing partner of BlackBerry Partners Fund.

"China Broadband Capital Partners is pleased to work with BlackBerry Partners Fund to explore investment opportunities and promote the development of mobile technologies and applications in China," said Edward Tian, Chairman of China Broadband Capital Partners. "BlackBerry Partners Fund China represents an incredible opportunity to support technology entrepreneurs in China who are shaping the future of mobile computing, and we look forward to making the Fund the leading investment vehicle for mobile in China."

"Edward Tian is a thought leader not only in China's venture capital market but also on the global stage," said John Albright, co-managing partner of BlackBerry Partners Fund. "He and his team of highly experienced investors bring invaluable local experience to our global fund."

About BlackBerry Partners Fund China
BlackBerry Partners Fund China is the leading independent venture capital firm focused on mobile computing in the People's Republic of China. The fund is the exclusive China affiliate of the BlackBerry Partners Fund. With offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, the fund leverages the unparalleled domain expertise of Research In Motion, the foresight and investment savvy of the BlackBerry Partners Fund team and China Broadband Capital's proven track record in China's telecom, Internet, broadband, media and technology sectors. Further information is available at http://www.bbpfchina.com.

About China Broadband Capital Partners
CBC is a China-based private equity firm focused on media and communications investments. Since the firm was founded in 2006, CBC has been recognized as one of the most influential investors in telecom, Internet, broadband, media and technology sectors in China. With its strong industry expertise and connections, the firm has enabled multiple value creation for its portfolio companies and established a leading position in investment in media and communications sectors. Further information is available at http://www.cbc-capital.com.

About BlackBerry Partners Fund
BlackBerry Partners Fund is the leading independent venture capital firm focused exclusively on mobile computing. The Fund invests in companies that support the mobile ecosystem, including hardware and software to enable the mobile Internet, mobile applications and mobile computing infrastructure. In collaboration with Research In Motion, the global fund brings capital, resources and unparalleled domain expertise to the partnerships it forms with exceptional entrepreneurs around the world who are shaping the future of the mobile market. For further information visit: www.blackberrypartnersfund.com."

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Aepona

Aepona provides products and services to Telcos globally, enabling them to adopt the emerging Network as a Service (NaaS) business model and unleash the full power of their network assets. With NaaS, Telcos can profit from the current trend towards Mobile Cloud Computing by publishing and monetizing their assets as Web-based APIs towards Enterprises, Web-Based Service Providers and Application Developers.

Aepona's products are used by operators globally to power 1.2 billion monthly transactions and deliver $1 billion annual revenues to operators, application and content providers. Aepona is also the technology provider for the GSMA's OneAPI initiative. For more information, visit www.aepona.com.

buzzd

buzzd is a location-sensitive entertainment listings service with branded editorial and real-time user generated content on the mobile device."Your city, in real-time," buzzd allows consumers to know what's happening at any venue right now, rate events, and connect with friends and people in the area. The buzzd platform brings together the freshest local event listings, up-to the minute nightlife reviews and integrated social networking features to keep you and your friends connected and plugged into the hottest buzz wherever you are. buzzd has partnered with carriers and content providers such as Helio, Virgin Mobile, Alltel, metroPCS, AT&T, Flavorpill, Time Out, ZAGAT, Metromix, Citysearch and many more.

Digby

Digby is a leader in the mcommerce platform market. The Company's service is a mobile commerce software platform that enables consumers to purchase physical goods and services from their mobile device and provides merchants with a turn-key infrastructure for mcommerce deployment. It has built a significant competitive advantage over direct and indirect competitors in the market with a rich yet simple user experience, patent pending mobile catalogue and location-based offer process, merchant analytics services and a write-once, deploy-to-many architecture.

Digby has built and launched both the Powered by Digby ("PbD") platform and Digby Marketplace. PbD is a turn-key infrastructure that enables merchants, carriers, payments providers and hardware manufacturers to create and manage a branded mcommerce storefront as part of a multichannel retail experience for their customers. To date the Company has launched 1800 Flowers and Godiva stores on the BlackBerry platform. The Digby Marketplace is a virtual mall application that is downloaded to a mobile device enabling a consumer to browse for items for sale from major national brands all within the same application. To date the Company has partnered with leading national brands including Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, FTD, Godiva, Wine.com, OfficeMax, Drugstore.com, Overstock.com, and Sears Toys.

Neuralitic

Neuralitic Systems was founded in January 2007 with a mission to help mobile service operators understand the mobile data user behaviours that influence data service adoption, so that they can automatically uncover new trends and habits and dynamically leverage these emerging behaviours to ignite data revenue growth.

Business intelligence (BI) is moving to centre stage in the telecom industry, as operators shift their focus from subscriber acquisition to better understanding their data service buying patterns and habits. In today's environment characterized by market saturation (over 30 markets have reached 100% penetration), high cost of customer acquisition and flattening voice revenues, operators are under pressure to embrace BI tools to reduce churn, maximize non-voice and IP services revenues and differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Nexage

Nexage is a leading developer of mobile advertising solutions that enable companies to maximize profitability from their mobile properties. Founded in 2006, its leading product is AdMax, a hosted Ad Optimization Platform that enables premium mobile publishers to fully control and maximize the profitability of their mobile services. It enables mobile publishers to maximize revenues from mobile ads while reducing internal operating expenses by more efficiently connecting to multiple ad networks.

With customers that include Reuters and Nokia, Nexage has excellent early market traction in capturing some of the world's most premium mobile publishers and will look to extend their customer base by continuously adding enhanced value to the AdMax platform.

SocialDeck

SocialDeck is a cross-platform, social gaming company based in Toronto, Canada with a vision of enabling anytime, anywhere, anyone gaming. socialDeck connects fragmented players and communities across platforms including Facebook, BlackBerry and iPhone and adds a social context to existing mobile and social games. The company was founded in July 2008 by Anish Acharya and Jeson Patel.

WorldMate

WorldMate's mission is to help ensure that travellers are never stranded, never late and never lost. WorldMate Live, their flagship product, is a travel service that makes it easy for business travelers to plan and manage their trips. It is the only service that serves your needs both before and during travel by automatically assembling an entire itinerary, including meetings, in one place and ensuring your personal web site, calendar and mobile device are always in sync. Unlike all other Web and mobile sites or SMS flight alerts, WorldMate Live roams with you in real time, delivering relevant information, warning of potential pitfalls, and making it easy to resolve issues, so your trip is as efficient and enjoyable as possible.

WorldMate turns your mobile device into your personal travel assistant. It provides valuable travel information and resources and keeps you out of trouble while you're on the road. WorldMate users can find out when their flights are canceled or delayed directly on their mobile phones. In addition, travelers inconvenienced by last-minute changes can check updated flight schedules to rebook quickly and save time at the airport. WorldMate includes a host of free services such as Weather Forecasts, World Clocks, a Currency Converter, a World Day/Night Map and many others. Premium services, available for a nominal subscription fee, include real-time Flight Status for more than 175 airlines and Flight Schedules for over 800 airlines.

Xobni

Xobni is a San Francisco, California based startup that is revolutionizing the way people manage, organize, and search Outlook email. Xobni is a relationship management tool that offers lightning fast search and organization of your inbox. Xobni creates profiles for each person that emails you. These profiles contain relationship statistics, contact information, social connections, threaded conversations, and shared attachments.

The company was founded in the spring of 2006 by Adam Smith and Matt Brezina, launched to private beta in September 2007 and opened to the public in May 2008. Xobni is funded by Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Cisco Systems, First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures, Atomico Investments, BlackBerry Partners Fund and others.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Vator.tv: Startups that are hiring



NeuStep
NeuStep (Illinois, , United States)
NeuStep is looking for virtual tour/media companies and photographers for technology and channel partnerships.
Ranker
Ranker (California, United States)
Ranker is looking for well rounded internet marketing / biz dev people, Java developers and intersto hire.
Peach Basket Development, LLC
Peach Basket Development, LLC (Arizona, United States)
Peach Basket Development is looking for a CFO, to join their team.
Capchurep
Capchure (California, United States)
Capture is looking for partners right now, people with technical expertise and familiarity with online lead generation standards should contact them now.
NearVerse
NearVerse (Pennsylvania, United States)
NearVerse has open positions for:
  • Application Developer
  • Software Engineer
  • Web Services Engineer
  • Mobile Application Developer
  • Engineer in Wireless IP Networking
cleargears
Cleargears (California, United States )
ClearGears seeks a technical leader in Ruby on Rails able to act as the lead architect of an Agile rails team. The successful candidate has several years of experience in ROR, application architecture, systems architecture, and has experience working with a virtual team. Duties include code reviews, architecting new features, planning for scaling and stability as usership rises, and overseeing the development team.
Gluster
Gluster (California, United States)
Gluster is currently looking to fill the following positions:
  • Sales Engineer
  • Customer Service Engineer
  • Outside Sales Account Executive
SkillSlate
SkillSlate (New York, United States)
SkillSlate which is like Match.com for finding local individual service providers, is now looking for a rockstar software developer in NYC.
Save This Place
Save This Place (California, United States)
Save This Place is going to hire Marketing, business development staff who will be in charge of corporate sponsorships and social media marketing in charge of building community.

Swipely

Swipely
(Rhode Island, United States )
Open poitions in Swipely:
  • Software Engineer - Ruby on Rails
  • Software Engineer - Operations
  • Front-End Developer
  • Software Engineering Internship

Ogmento Inc.

Ogmento Inc.
(New York, United States )
Ogmento is looking for technologists with a background in gaming and Augmented Reality to join their team.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Greyson Chance - The next Justin Bieber



Going viral....fast. Discovered by Ellen or rather discovered by Youtube. He's the next JT, Bieber, Usher?

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Live streaming video of BP Oil Spill in the Gulf

Watch live streaming video from wkrg_oil_spill at livestream.com

The Atlantic: Bill Gates: More Profit Than Prophet

"It's been 15 years since Bill Gates published The Road Ahead, a book packed with theMicrosoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) founder's predictions about the future. How do Gates's prophecies hold up now that the road ahead has arrived? Let's take a look at Bill's hits and misses:"

"The Internet and the Web

Prediction: Gates's 286-page book mentions the World Wide Web on only four of its pages, and portrays the Internet as a subset of a much a larger "Information Superhighway." The Internet, wrote Gates, is one of "the important precursors of the information highway," along with PCs, CD-ROMs, phone networks, and cable systems, but "none represents the actual information highway. ... today's Internet is not the information highway I imagine, although you can think of it as the beginning of the highway."

Verdict: Miss. Gates's notion that the Internet would play a supporting role in the information highway of the future, rather than being the highway itself, was out-of-date the day The Road Ahead was published. Even Gates realized it. Shortly before his book hit the stores, Gates reorganized Microsoft to focus more on the Internet, and he made major revisions to a second edition of The Road Ahead, adding material that highlighted the significance of the Internet. In many ways, Gates's cloudy crystal ball regarding the Internet amounted to wishful thinking.

Gates built Microsoft into a global powerhouse by selling proprietary software that users loaded onto their PCs. He wasn't likely to warm to the idea that the same functions could be delivered cheaper and faster through a decentralized network that he couldn't control. Of all of the predictions Gates missed in The Road Ahead, this one might be the costliest. Microsoft is still playing catch-up as a result of failing to anticipate the dominance of the Internet."



Josephine
sent you: Blueberry Cheesecake.


Saturday, May 22, 2010

Bloomberg article on Mike Maples - 26x+ return on 25k twitter investment

Bloomberg: Twitter Investor Mike Maples Outperforms Venture Firms That Rejected Him


"By Ari Levy May 22 (Bloomberg) — Mike Maples says he came to Silicon Valley from Texas in 2005 as a “washed-up” corporate-software executive aspiring to be a venture capitalist. Unable to land a job with a half-dozen firms, he put his own money to work. Five years later, his stakes in Twitter Inc., Digg Inc., SolarWinds Inc. and Chegg Inc. have turned Maples into a celebrity on Menlo Park’s Sand Hill Road, where he’s investing alongside the same firms that didn’t make him a partner. And he’s turning a profit while the rest of the industry slumps. Venture firms have lost an average of about 1 percent annually over the past decade, according to Cambridge Associates. Maples’s $25,000 investment in Twitter four years ago had multiplied by 26 times as of September, and his $500,000 stake in textbook rental company Chegg may be up even more. By catching companies at their earliest stages, sometimes before they have business plans, Maples is buying on the cheap. He also makes smaller investments than firms with billion-dollar funds, letting him tap into startups that need less capital. “We can do the wacky controversial thing that can’t make it through a venture firm,” said Maples, 42. “If the company is awesome, we’re going to be in early at such a low valuation that it’s just going to cover all sins.” For Maples, the goal is to find what he calls “thunder lizards,” a term he used at least 18 times in an hourlong interview. It’s a reference to Godzilla, which “was hatched from radioactive atomic eggs and swam across the Pacific and destroyed Tokyo,” Maples said. A thunder lizard is a company that disrupts its industry, earns a 100-fold return and makes up for all of a fund’s bad bets, he says. Some Misfires Twitter, Chegg and other investments have the potential to be thunder lizards, Maples said. Not all of his bets have panned out, though. B-Side Entertainment , which ran websites for film festivals, closed this year, and the microblogging site Pownce shut down in 2008. His biggest dud so far was an investment he didn’t make. Maples declined an early opportunity to invest in Zynga Game Network Inc., the maker of Facebook games such as “FarmVille” and “Mafia Wars.” Zynga is now worth as much as $3.3 billion, according to a February report from SharesPost Inc. and Next Up! Research. Though his Southern twang stands out in Silicon Valley, Maples isn’t a technology outsider. His father, also named Mike, was an executive at Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. Bill Gates attended his wedding, and Maples studied engineering at Stanford University, near Palo Alto. By the time he returned to California after more than a decade in Texas, Maples had helped take two companies public, including Austin-based Motive Inc., which he co-founded in 1997. Sand Hill Road Maples says he looked for a job up and down Sand Hill Road, the center of the venture industry and home to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers , Sequoia Capital and Benchmark Capital. Unable to find a position as a partner, he got two stints as an entrepreneur in residence — first at Foundation Capital and then at August Capital. While at August, Maples earned a reputation for spotting unusual investments, says Andy Rappaport , a partner there since 1996. “A lot of the stuff he was finding and working on and showing to us was different than many of the things that would have gotten our attention,” he said. “He was catching good entrepreneurs.” New Breed Rappaport puts Maples in a new category of investors taking advantage of open-source software and cloud computing. Those trends have pushed down the price of funding a startup. SV Angel, run by veteran investor Ron Conway , and Lowercase Capital, started by former Google Inc. executive Chris Sacca , have similar strategies — as do Baseline Ventures and First Round Capital. They routinely write checks for $500,000 or less. The success of the approach is also drawing more competition from traditional venture capitalists, which are making smaller investments and betting on untested entrepreneurs. Maples took a chance on Twitter when it had another name and a different business. He was a fan of co-founder Evan Williams , who had previously started companies focused on blogging and podcasting. By last year, Twitter was valued at $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Maples put $500,000 into textbook-rental service Chegg in 2007 after meetings with co-founders Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra at a Starbucks in Menlo Park. At the time, he wasn’t even certain college students would rent books. Chegg’s Growth Chegg later attracted funding from Kleiner Perkins and Foundation Capital. Students at more than 6,400 campuses now use Chegg’s service, and sales may exceed $100 million this year, two people familiar with the matter said in November. That month the company raised $112 million in funding. Chegg was the first investment of Maples’s $10 million fund, which he raised from friends and family in 2006 after putting his own money into Twitter, Digg and SolarWinds. Two years later, pension plans wanted to invest, so Maples raised a second fund, with $35 million of institutional money. His funds are dwarfed by more established venture firms. New Enterprise Associates raised a $2.5 billion fund this year, while Norwest Venture Partners and Khosla Ventures started funds larger than $1 billion in 2009. In March, Maples changed his firm’s name to Floodgate from Maples Investments and promoted Ann Miura-Ko, a Stanford doctoral student, from investing partner to co-founder. They’re planning to raise a third fund later this year, Maples said. Ngmoco Deal Opportunities are flowing his way from people like Digg co- founder Kevin Rose , who says he introduces Maples to any promising entrepreneur he meets. In 2008, Rose told Maples about Ngmoco, a maker of games for Apple Inc. ’s iPhone. Since Maples invested, Ngmoco has created 20 top games in Apple’s App Store, and it added Kleiner Perkins and Norwest as investors. “I brought Ngmoco to him when they were just trying to get started out, before they had raised any money,” Rose said. “Now they’re killing it.” Last year, Maples got a call from Roger McNamee , co-founder of private-equity firm Elevation Partners, about Wordnik , a Web startup that’s trying to capture all of the world’s words and their meanings. McNamee invested his own money in the company to get it started. He introduced founder Erin McKean to Maples when it was time for a round of funding. “Once you’ve invested in Twitter and Digg and a few other things, then people want to be associated with the guy who’s done that,” said McNamee, a technology investor for more than 20 years. “I know Mike well and want to work with him on anything I think is important.




--
Dad's bio (forbes):

Michael J. Maples

Chairman of the Board

Multimedia Games, Inc.

Austin , TX

Sector: SERVICES / Gaming Activities

Director , Lexmark International, Inc.

Lexington , KY

Sector: TECHNOLOGY / Computer Peripherals

Director , Sonic Corporation

Oklahoma City , OK

Sector: SERVICES / Restaurants

67 Years Old
Michael J. Maples, Sr. has been a director of ours since August 2004 and has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since April 2006. Mr. Maples held various management positions at Microsoft Corporation from April 1988 to July 1995, including Executive Vice President of the Worldwide Products Group. As a member of the Office of the President at Microsoft, Mr. Maples reported directly to the Chairman. Previously, Mr. Maples served as Director of Software Strategy for International Business Machines Corp. and on the board of Motive, Inc., a service management software company. Mr. Maples also currently serves on the boards of Lexmark International, Inc., a laser and inkjet printer company, and Sonic Corp., an operator and franchisor of drive-in restaurants. Mr. Maples is currently a member of the Board of Visitors of the Engineering School at the University of Oklahoma and the College of Engineering Foundation Advisory Council at the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Maples received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Oklahoma City University.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Business Insider: Mark Cuban: Here's The Best Business Advice I Ever Got

BI: So, Mark, what's the best business advice you ever got?

Mark Cuban: It came from Bobby Knight when I was in college. He said "Everyone has the will to win, but it's only those with the will to prepare that do win."


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-the-best-advice-i-ever-got-2010-5

Fenwick: Silicon Valley Venture Capital Survey Reveals Improved Valuations in First Quarter of 2010

"Fenwick & West's Silicon Valley Venture Capital Survey Reveals Improved Valuations in First Quarter of 2010

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Fenwick & West LLP, one of the nation's premier law firms providing comprehensive legal services to high technology and life science clients, today announced the results of its First Quarter 2010 Silicon Valley Venture Capital Survey.

The First Quarter 2010 survey analyzed the valuations and terms of venture financings for 104 technology and life science companies headquartered in the Silicon Valley which reported raising capital in the first quarter of 2010.

"During the first quarter of 2010, up rounds exceeded down rounds 49 percent to 32 percent with 19 percent flat. This was similar to the fourth quarter of 2009, where up rounds exceeded down rounds 47 percent to 30 percent, with 23 percent flat, and the third consecutive quarter in which up rounds exceeded down rounds," said Barry Kramer, a partner in the firm and co-author of the survey.

An up round is one in which the price per share at which a company sells its stock has increased since its prior financing round. Conversely, a down round is one in which the price per share has declined since a company's prior financing round.

The Fenwick & West Venture Capital Barometer™ – which measures the change in share price of Silicon Valley companies funded during the quarter compared with the share price of their previous financing round – showed a 21 percent average price increase for the quarter, compared to 19 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

"This was also the third consecutive quarter in which the Venture Capital Barometer was positive," said Kramer.

"The best performing industries in the quarter from a valuation perspective were the internet/digital media industry, and to a significantly lesser extent, the software industry," added Michael Patrick, survey co-author and also a partner at the firm. "With the continued improvement in venture valuations in the first quarter, and reported improvements in the M&A and IPO sectors for venture backed companies in the quarter, there is reason to believe that venture valuations will continue to improve," Patrick concluded.

Complete results of the survey with related discussion are posted on Fenwick & West's website atwww.fenwick.com/vctrends.htm.

About the Survey

The Fenwick & West Quarterly Venture Capital Survey, co-authored by law firm partners Barry J. Kramer and Michael J. Patrick, offers a unique view of the venture capital market in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area by providing insight into the changes in venture capital valuations and terms. Focusing exclusively on trends in venture financing and valuations, the Fenwick & West Surveys complement the economic data presented in the Dow Jones VentureSource Survey and the MoneyTree™ Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.

About Fenwick & West

Established in 1972, Fenwick & West LLP is one of the nation's premier law firms with extensive expertise in venture capital, public offerings and other corporate finance, joint ventures, M&A and strategic relationships, intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, taxation, antitrust and employment and labor law."



Thursday, May 13, 2010

great long interview w/ Larry Ellison on Sun

"Now Ellison says he is going to rebuild Sun's hardware business by using a strategy that helped IBM prosper in the 1960s: Selling computer systems built with standardized bundles of hardware and software.

Plenty of skeptics doubt Ellison can pull it off. Sun lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year as an independent company. Conventional wisdom holds that he will end up divesting the company's hardware business."

Another Ted Video: Richard St. John's 8 secrets of success

Sunday, May 09, 2010

CNBC: Too Late to Buy Gold?












Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

Ted - Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds

Audiggle.com: the next Shazam?

"Name - Audiggle

What is it - downloadable application for Windows that allows users to recognize music playing on their PC. The technology has been available for years on mobile phones (most notably Shazam) - but we believe we are the first to offer a truly comparable desktop based version.

When would you use it - Our users typically use our software when watching streaming video (e.g. Hulu, YouTube), listening to internet radio, watching a DVD, even gaming. There is no longer the need to spend hours searching Google for the name of a track you like - our software returns in automatically.

Extra Features - Once a query has been performed, there are lots of extra features available to the user (e.g. song lyrics, concert dates, artist information, music videos etc).

Cost - Free (we will shortly be introducing a premium version to allow extra features and quicker queries but we will maintain a free version as well)"


IDC Global smartphone market share standings Q1 10


"Growth of the worldwide converged mobile device market (commonly referred to as smartphones) more than doubled that of the overall mobile phone market in the first quarter, a sign the segment is in high-growth mode again. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC)Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 54.7 million units in the first quarter of 2010 (1Q10), up 56.7% from the same quarter a year ago. In contrast, the overall mobile phone market grew 21.7%. Converged mobile devices accounted for 18.8% of all mobile phones shipped in 1Q10, up slightly from 14.4% in 1Q09.

The smartphone market's growth is impressive too when contrasted to the 38% growth in the fourth quarter, which is typically the strongest of the year. This demonstrates the tremendous potential of the market and the depths to which it plunged in the first quarter of last year.

"2010 looks to be another year of large-scale consumer adoption of converged mobile devices," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Consumers will gravitate to smartphones not just because the devices themselves look 'cool' and 'slick', but because the overall experience aligns with their individual tastes and demands. Users are seeking – and finding – experiences that are intuitive, seamless, and fun. Already, we've seen what Palm's webOS and Google's Android can do. This year, we expect updates for BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile to spark greater smartphone demand with their offerings."

Market Outlook for 2010

Kevin Restivo, senior analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, said higher smartphone sales this year will be a result of greater awareness, increasingly affordable data plans, and the global economic recovery. "More consumers are aware of smartphones now due to positive referrals from friends and family and manufacturer's mass media campaigns," said. Restivo. "Coupled with increased confidence on the part of consumers, these factors will create a perfect storm of demand for suppliers this year."

Top Five Smartphone Vendors Q1 2010

Nokia firmly maintained its position as the leading smartphone vendor worldwide during 1Q10. In addition to introducing several new models – the C3, C6, and the E5 – Nokia announced its first Symbian^3 model, the N8. This, and other Symbian^3 devices, are expected to launch in the fourth quarter of this year. According to CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Symbian^3 will be more intuitive and fun for end users, and on par with other competitive offerings available on the market.

Research In Motion kept its position as the number two smartphone vendor worldwide on continued growth of its popular BlackBerry devices. Key to its success were its BlackBerry Curve 8520 and BlackBerry Bold 9700, as well as stronger consumer adoption. Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie recently unveiled the company's new BlackBerry OS 6.0, which promises a smoother and more interactive user interface.

Apple more than doubled its shipments from a year ago, with more iPhones arriving outside its home territory of North America. CEO Steve Jobs announced the latest operating system update, enabling multi-tasking, folders, enhanced email, iBooks for consumers, and iAd, a mobile advertising platform, for developers. A fourth generation iPhone is expected to arrive this summer.

HTC posted high double-digit growth to start off the year, driven primarily by its growing stable of Android-powered products including the Hero, Droid Eris, and MyTouch. The company shows no signs of slowing down, having announced several new devices, including the first WiMAX Android phone, the EVO 4G, slated to launch later this year. HTC also remains committed to Windows Mobile devices, with the HD2 receiving a warm reception and Windows Phone 7 devices expected to launch before the end of the year.

Motorola, having stormed back into the smartphone space in the fourth quarter of 2009, followed up with a new milestone in its short history of shipping Android devices. Now that the DROID and CLIQ (known as the Milestone and DEXT respectively outside the United States) both have a full quarter of availability, the company followed up with six additional devices. The company expects to launch 20 different models and ship 12–14 million Android smartphones this year.

Top Five Converged Mobile Device Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q1 2010 (Units in Millions)

Vendor
1Q10
Volumes
1Q10
Market
Share
1Q09
Volumes
1Q09
Market
Share
1Q10/1Q09
Change
1. Nokia21.539.3%13.739.3%56.9%
2. Research In Motion10.619.4%7.320.9%45.2%
3. Apple8.816.1%3.810.9%131.6%
4. HTC2.64.8%1.54.3%73.3%
5. Motorola2.34.2%1.23.4%91.7%
Others8.916.3%7.220.6%23.6%
Total54.7100.0%34.9100.0%56.7%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, May 6, 2010
Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

Converged Mobile Devices – These mobile devices are either voice or data centric and are capable of synchronizing personal information and/or email with server, desktop, or laptop computers. These devices must match wireless telephony capability to high level operating systems, include the ability to download data to local storage, run applications, and store user data beyond PIM capabilities. Converged mobile devices must offer the full extent of their application processing capability to the user, regardless of network availability.

For more information about IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, please contact Kathy Nagamine at 650-350-6423 or knagamine@idc.com.

About IDC

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