This morning I started out fairly early to get some work done before the mad rush and to be available for a client (East coast). I went into the office which was as quiet as a church and thought – this is going to help me get some good rem sleep .. or I can go elsewhere.

I decided to pop into Java (6th and Idaho St. in Boise). This is my kind of place. First let me say that even at the ridiculous hour at which I was in here on a Monday morning, the people (baristas) were friendly. The quality of the drink is always the same – great, and they offer free wi-fi and power outlets. What else could a mobile worker ask for?

Many of the businesses around Boise could learn a lot from Java. Make yourself unique, make a consistent and quality product and invite me to stay a while. I want to be where people are .. invite me and invite others .. we’ll linger, but you’ll reap the reward. Thanks Java! 

KPCB’s iFund is a $100M investment initiative that will fund market-changing ideas and products that extend the revolutionary new iPhone and iPod touch platform. The iFund is agnostic to size and stage of investment and will invest in companies building applications, services and components. Focus areas include location based services, social networking, mCommerce (including advertising and payments), communication, and entertainment. The iFund will back innovators pursuing transformative, high-impact ideas with an eye towards building independent durable companies atop the iPhone / iPod touch platform.

“A revolutionary new platform is a rare and prized opportunity for entrepreneurs, and that’s exactly what Apple has created with iPhone and iPod touch,” said John Doerr, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “We think several significant new companies will emerge as this new platform evolves, and the iFund will empower them to realize their full potential.”
“Developers are already bursting with ideas for the iPhone and iPod touch, and now they have the chance to turn those ideas into great companies with the help of world-class venture capitalists,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait to start working with Kleiner Perkins and the companies they fund through this new initiative.”
The iFund will be managed by KPCB Partner Matt Murphy in collaboration with partners Chi-Hua Chien, John Doerr, Bill Joy, Randy Komisar, Ellen Pao and Ted Schlein. Apple will provide KPCB with market insight and support.

For more information or questions, please read the iFund FAQs or email iFund@kpcb.com

> http://new.kpcb.com

Take a moment to think about perceptions. Whether its your personal brand or business brand the perception that others have of you matters.A while back I was involved in a fairly heavy-duty branding exercise. We made moons and planets which stood for brand characteristics that were adjectives describing 1) who our customers thought we were, 2) what our associates thought we were; 3) what we wanted to be. We learned a lot, but most importantly we learned that what we looked like from the outside was not what we thought we looked like at all.Now, most of you know I recently joined Wirestone exiting my position with Weyerhaeuser. My perception of Wirestone, from the outside, was that the organization was an elitist, technology-centric multi-homed agency committed to bringing the high-touch back to high-tech.As I went through the interview process I realized that my perception was close, but they also had highly technical expertise in Java, C++ and .NET architecture and development. Application development is a core competency within Wirestone, but I never would have thought it. I mean, when I was out shopping for solutions providers, I never would have reached out to Wirestone for this type of solution delivery. My perceptions were that they were a web shop with agency style delivery.Ok, so they had some perceptions of me too; although I do my best to ensure that there are no surprises I am certain they have found some of my attributes both richer and shallower than initially thought.My PointMy point is that we have to become, for lack of a better word, intimately involved with the companies with which we interact. Just as we create personal friendships, the relationships we create with the businesses we choose to do work with are fostered or destroyed through perceptions – living, changing miniature overtures that collectively define the brand. I have written these words before, but as I continue my course I am constantly reminded of them: Marketing is about people and their impact on your brand and your impact on their lives.The moment one stops communicating and applying their brand attributes their brand begins to erode and become cluttered and disjointed.

This is a brilliant article. If Social Networking is your interest I advise you take a read.

“… social networking in general, it sort of heralds a fundamental change in how community works online. Before social networking, before Friendster, community online was very niche and very disconnected. You had Star Wars fans, and they got online and found other Star Wars fans, and their identity was sort of a handle. They were Hans Solo, or whomever. But it wasn’t them and there was no real connection to their real life. Then Facebook came along, and it’s about real people and real lives. A person’s profile contains his or her real photo and a real name. To convince your friends that I’m you would be pretty much impossible. Facebook creates this very trusted identity. And so what you’ve got now with Facebook is what (cofounder) Mark Zuckerberg likes to call the social graph — people connected to other people’s friends. It’s a map of social connections.” Continue >

Google updated its free analytics package today. This package in my professional opinion is top-shelf. For years I have been strapped to lesser solutions that will remain nameless, Google broke the chains.

Consider the new features highlighted below.

Here are two screen shots of the new features…It is really cool because it gives you the possibility to compare two metrics such as Visits and Bounce Rate.

Here are some features announced with this update:

• Automatic outbound links and document tracking
• Event tracking can now be fully customized and are not treated as page views anymore
• Ajax application tracking
• Object oriented tracking code

I didn’t have time to test it yet but one thing that will be really useful is the possibility to learn what people are looking for in the Search box of your site directly in Google Analytics and be able to use this information for lots of stuff like usability and search campaigns!

A dozen huge companies – including Dell, Microsoft, General Motors, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Nokia, Wells Fargo — have just started a corporate Blog Council.

I’m glad that these big guys have embraced blogging. But I have one bit of advice for them:

Change the name now.

It’s not about blogging. I hate to call on the obvious platitude, but I will: It’s a conversation.

Read the whole article on Buzz Machine >

I hear a lot of chatter on netcasts these days focusing on the legal battles that have ensued following the acquisition of YouTube by Google.

“Doesn’t look like such a good deal now does it?” Tom Merritt of CNet’s Buzz Out Loud podcast stated in a recent segment.

When one looks beyond the in-your-face idea of offering advertisement within these videos one can easily see there is great value in the YouTube world.

Google built an empire delivering advertisements across the Internet, and now it plans to distribute content from media companies just as aggressively.

While Sony BMG and NBC Universal attempt something similar, Google with its vast resources can actively experiment because the company already has a vast reach on the Internet.

The real point is leverage. Google is using YouTube as an enormous amplifier of market power. While big media is still searching for leverage at the core, Google is mastering edge leverage.

Of course, then this leverage can go on to redefine the business models of players along the value chain – in Google’s favor of course.

Most of you have been around a while are used to Microsoft’s tactics of buy, buy, buy. In essence Google has the same philosophy as it

Rumor has it there is a quiet storm brewing in Boise. Thought-leaders on the Boise tech front met yesterday to discuss the future of technology start-ups in Boise. Those involved were sworn to secrecy with regard to the context of the conversation, but let’s just say “the match has been lit” and the firestorm is coming!

Boise is a thriving economy with a diverse workforce, but due to layoffs at Micron and the downturn in the local real estate market we must take a look at our assets – our people assets.

Have you ever taken an early morning flight on a Monday? Well if you haven’t it is like riding the bus. The same people week after week riding the “bus” to Seattle, Portland and the San Francisco to work. They buy homes in Boise for the quality of life and commute each week to a job that out-pays our local companies.

It’s not difficult to understand from the employee’s standpoint, just pick up a paper and see how many high paying jobs are listed – can you find one?

The challenge facing Boise is the refocusing of this brain-trust here at home. We have to create opportunities for these individuals to use their knowledge here by building companies that they want to be a part of. We have the opportunity to perform on par with other tech Meccas including Denver, Austin, SF and SLC, but we have to seize the day and catalyze our own success.

More to come .. stay tuned.