Really great post about what makes a technology company (and what doesn't).

"These days, marketers have more tools to connect with customers than our elected leaders have to connect with citizens. (Insert ThinkUp plug here.) Individuals know less about what public information is available about themselves online than big companies do. Still, geeks are still debating the details of systems to organize our email."

"Fulfilling a sense of obligation isn’t a substitute for actual unqualified happiness, and it’s certainly not a recipe for good work."

Daniel Jalkut responds to an earlier post by Alex Payne about what entrepreneurs should aim toward.

Alex Payne is advising Simperium which is working to build the synching solution to rule them all.

The claim that technology is value-neutral overlooks its role as a central component of human society. The reality of technology is that value decisions lie behind every product and it is these values that help form social clusters around technologies.

Alex Payne talks about the coming wave of video-based communication.

"Nobody uses AIR because it delivers better-quality desktop apps. Companies build AIR apps because they’re short on time and cash and wary of investing in development and maintenance that’s outside their area of expertise. This is understandable, but shortsighted, and a lot of companies are about to make the same mistake in the mobile arena."

Alex Payne talks about why he bought a house when he did.

Alex Payne's tips on productivity and health at a startup.

"Some time ago, I circulated a document internally with a straightforward thesis: Twitter needs to decentralize or it will die. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even in a decade, but it was (and, I think, remains) my belief that all communications media will inevitably be decentralized, and that all businesses who build walled gardens will eventually see them torn down."

Alex Payne is leaving Twitter to start a bank. Sounds interesting.

Alex Payne details his thoughts after a few days of using the iPad. In short he's still wary of it but sees many of the benefits in this style of computing.