Thoughts on Facebook | entrepreneurship

I just saw Jason Calcanis letter to Mark Zuckerberg concerning Facebook’s current business practices.  Like everyone else in the Tech industry, we all have our 2 cents and I’m not any different.  My thoughts on Jason’s points:

1. Being able to export everything – I do believe this feature would be nice to have, however this is an aspect of Facebook’s sustainable competitive advantage.  They’ve created an ecosystem where there is a huge cost to switch to a competitor.  If a competitor that was everything facebook but 10x better, it would be hard for them to convert users away from Facebook.  Facebook is where all the content is and by enabling users to export their content creaks the door open for competitors.  And no, Facebook is not too big to worry about 5 kids in garage.
2. Universal Like Button – People are not doing open source without strategy behind it.  Having an open source system is to create a standard and quickly capture the market.  Bluetooth radio standard is free to use and license.  Bluetooth did this model in order to accomplish the interoperability between devices and quickly gain market share versus competitors such as Zigbee.  However there is no need to do this when your company is the standard.
3. Currency – 100% behind you there.
4. Remind users of privacy settings – This sounds annoying.  The truth is that everyone sub 30 doesn’t have much problem with sharing everything.  Your open letter is a sign of this.  Mark probably would have appreciated a direct letter to him and would have read it just the same.  Sharing more information and creating a search index for more than just sites is the future of web 2.0.  Without displaying certain information to the public, it is impossible to create the internet of people.
5. Partner more – This way of partnering sounds like a lot of Barney relationships.  If the partnership saves time, money, and creates value Facebook (like most companies) partner or purchase the startup.  But partnering just because it’s the good thing to do in the valley does not sound reasonable.

Those are my thoughts on the letter.

Few obvious points on me:

• Yes, I am a fan of Facebook
• As a young entrepreneur, I do look up to what Mark Zuckerberg is doing now
• I am a lot dumber than Jason Calcanis and my knowledge cannot compare to his

-Chris

If you don’t follow Phone Halo yet on Twitter, don’t forget to do so by 5:30pm PST tonight to be entered in our contest! We’ll announce the winner soon after the contest closes.

App Viruses | mobile software

We knew this day would come.  Viruses and scams for you smart phone.  It seems that bad hackers can never get enough of breaking your stuff.  There are already several apps for Android that supposedly protect you from viruses.  Scared?  Personally, I would be more scared about losing your phone.

-Chris

In honor of the release of the Android version of Phone Halo, beginning NOW, all of our Twitter followers will be entered into a contest. The prize: a custom Twitter page background made by our in-house graphic designer. The application will only be open for 24 hours.

If you are not a Phone Halo follower yet, you can still be entered into the contest by becoming a follower before Friday at 3:30pm PST. Don’t miss this opportunity to win a souped up, professionally customized Twitter background!

-The Phone Halo team

Apps For All Smartphones | mobile software

The App store, the heart of the 3rd wave of technology has to date been limited to Apple products only. Yesterday, Google unveiled what has been called a ‘great idea’ by several bloggers. Mobile Apps will soon be compatible with an array of Smartphones. Good idea, Google, but you’re not the first to think about making an App that runs and can be sold across the board!

Drum roll, please…

Our Phone Halo app and companion bluetooth device has been available for Blackberry since March. As of yesterday, it is now also available for Android. For all you iPhone fanatics who feel left out of the loop, stay tuned because come July, you too will be able to get your hands on a Phone Halo package. Boom Boom, Google: you might have a great idea and the resources to scale it big time, but our boutique start-up is one step ahead of you!

-Gabrielle

Android Application Released | Mobile Software

I am very proud to announce that Phone Halo is now fully compatible with Android enabled phones…finally.

I would first like to thank everyone of our early adopters who have been incredibly patient with us through this process (long process) and kept believing in us.  We give a special thanks to beta testers who gave us their opinion on what they would like to see and features.

The Android application can be downloaded through the Android Marketplace and has all the basic features of the Blackberry version and more.

Special features and add ons include:

• New locking features and display of customized text built in
• Easier Twitter Integration
• Easier Email Integration
• Cleaner GUI
• More Stable
• Faster Ring Settings
• Easier to customize Ring Settings
• Few more tweaks

So enjoy and search “Phone Halo Protect” or “Phone Halo” on the android marketplace to download.  The app is free to download so you can see what we’ve done.

Enjoy and please send all feed back to info (at) phonehalo.com

-Chris Herbert

Over the last couple years, we’ve all been treated to constant amazement in the technology development world. Whether it’s the latest Apple product or a fascinating startup launch, we frequently get new toys to explore. Other forms of art rarely catch my attention these days– until I saw this mind-blowing TED performance:

Feel free to take a deep breath if you need one… I know I needed a minute after watching this video. Better?

Anyway, if you’re reading this blog, maybe you also get too caught up in the cloud. As excited as we all get over iPads and new apps like Square, I think sometimes it’s healthy to step back, take a deep breath, and shiver for a second over Lewis’ insane piano playing.

-Gabrielle

For the Fan Boys like myself, this interview is classic.  Steve Jobs announces his unwillingness to do a tablet and a phone.  Brilliant.

-Chris

The D8 Conference is being held in Palos Verdes this year.  D8 is a focus of all things high tech and joining the conference tonight will be Steve Jobs at 6pm PST.  Here’s is Katie’s intro:

I’ll be Watching.

-Chris

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.  Here at Phone Halo, we’ve been hacking away and will have some big releases coming out soon.  While we were hacking away this past weekend, we listened to a lot of music.  I personally only program to music and I feel that it enhances how fast I am able to program.  So here’s my top 5 hacking albums:

5)  Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism

This CD is perfect in almost every way.  The build up to the Title Track, Transatlanticism, couldn’t have been done better.

4)  Air – Moon Safari

Air and all their albums are amazing.  Truly a genius pair and their song “La Femme D’Argent” is nothing less than perfect

3)  Pink Floyd – The Wall

It’s pink floyd. Period!

2)  Daft Punk – Discovery

If you haven’t watch the anime for this movie, it’s a must see.  Makes you want to work it, make it better…

1)  Armin Van Buuren – A State of Trance

A new one of these radio shows comes out every week.  You can grab them here and every single one is a trance masterpiece, fully mixed.

Those are my top 5 hacking albums.  What are yours?

-Chris