I am a fan of Richard Branson (I actually once worked at the 100-people Virgin HQ in Notting Hill during an MBA project). His innovating-underdog attitude to business is always refreshing and my experience with Virgin products while living in the UK always met high expectations (Virgin Mobile, Virgin ISP, Virgin Atlantic).

Now read this recent interview

Very interesting promise: Within 1 year Virgin Fuel will be available and work for Virgin’s transportation vehicles at a lower-than-gasoline cost. Wow! Ties in excellently with a previous Vinod Khosla post.
“It will be called Virgin Fuel, yes! It’s not ethanol-based as such, but it’ll be a clean fuel. And if we’ve got it right, it could be a very important breakthrough. We think this fuel will work in cars and trucks and trains within a year.”
I specially liked Branson’s phrase which exactly reflects how I think about entrepreneurs as wire balancing artists, permanently at risk following a thin line to success.

“There is a very, very thin dividing line between survival and failure. You’ve just got to fight and fight and fight and fight to survive.”

And also this other quote about how following your passion it the key to start-up success (and not exclusively making tons of money)

“Ideally, since 80 percent of your life is spent working, you should start your business around something that is a passion of yours. If you’re into kite-surfing and you want to become an entrepreneur, do it with kite-surfing.”

As follow-up to the greatest song ever about cubicles (check it out on the web of my friend and fellow entrepreneur Francisco, very funny) I just found the ultimate cubicle design.

The guys from IDEO teamed up with Dilbert creator to redesign everything that is bad and impersonal about cubicles and came up with this.

BTW IDEO is excellent design firm (check out their webpage and the our work section)

- they designed the legendary PalmV among others – I had the chance to visit their HQ on the Silicon Valley Trek from LBS and it just confirmed their creativity and crazyness. We had a chat with the CEO talking about the company etc. and then took part in a presentation by a local customized bag manufacturer with very cool design and profitable local production. Very interesting stuff!

It´s already 2 weeks ago, but I have to post this excellent coverage of Apple’s recent announcements regarding iPod.

It’s just too cool to be true – just look at the new Shuffle – a microclip! (what an amazing form factor!) – It has been inmediately put on my wishlist for my fitness workout…

Apart from the revised nano, the new ipod movie store (initially only Disney movies – no coincidence, Jobs is on the board there) and some other cool details, for me the biggest announcement is the codenamed “iTV”, a box that will allow you to have itunes on your TV.

First because Apple never makes announcements on such a low development level (as it puts pressure on them and reduces quality of final output) and second because it clearly shows Apple’s continuing thrust to be THE entertainment product company and to get fully inside our living rooms.

Together with technologies like the FrontRow and Coverflow iTV will help form an easy-to-use video solution that “just works” and allow Apple to conquer the mainstream just as iPod has done before.

While I agree that Microsoft Media Center has much more advanced, specially TV and PVR related functionalities (link1 link2) I also believe that Apple is on the right track, and is favourite to finally close the TV/PC convergence circle.

The jury is open – choose your favourite – and let the games begin!!!

Materazzi received a heavy hit from Zidane in the World Cup Finals.

He is certainly cashing in on that foul.

Very funny video! (advertainment)

Interesting article from Wall Street Journal on how MTV is not capturing the online buzz with their offering. 

“MTV’s stumble has lessons for major media companies watching the explosion of video on the web.

In the closed confines of cable TV, where competition is limited, MTV protected its niche by portraying itself as the iconoclastic outsider.

But the web is free-for-all, and the roster of competitors grows every day.

MTV, now part of the establishment and late to the game, wrongly assumed its famous brand name and product would have the same resonance online”

The law of evolution/business: survival of the fittest! As simple as that, and this time the revolution is really coming to video contents, not like in the über-hype 5 years ago.

MTV, wake up and re-invent yourself online or prepare to fall into oblivion!

:-b

Warner Brothers has been very aggressive lately in the digital market, e.g. closing a deal to distribute their movies through Bittorrent, leading the move of Hollywood studios towards digital distribution in order to avoid the Napsterisation of movies.

A new deal has just been announced with YouTube that allows YouTube to use all Warner Music videos, and even allows users to use the IP (Intellectual Property) in mashups and mixes.

WOW!!! What a change of direction. From threatening to sue platforms like YouTube or Bittorrent to actively leveraging them as promotional tools for their products.

Welcome to Web 2.0 -> where the rules are changed all over and media & entertainments gets re-invented!!!

BTW this is the second deal with one of the “BIG 6″ media groups after a previous deal of YouTube with NBC (Universal)

The always amazing Vinod Khosla has an excellent video on Biofuels you should check if you are interested in new trends and technological progress.

Vinod (check his CV) is one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems and long-time partner at the legendary Kleiner Perkins and has recently started his own VC fund called Khosla Ventures.

He basically argues that Biofuels will be the next source of energy because they are much better on so many levels:

- Much greener, reducing CO2 emissions

- Geopolitically more stable as it would reduce dependency on Middle-East countries

- Cheaper, as production costs are lower

- Easy to switch as it would not require important changes (as opposed to hydrogen)

- Tested, as Biofuels are already 70% of the fuel used in Brazil

His arguments sound very compelling to my logic mind so I have tried to find counterarguments, which there are more than enough specially attacking Vinod’s assumed energy efficiency of biofuels.

All in all my conclusion is there is still a lot of controversy around our future energy (I went to an interesting hydrogen debate at LBS 15 months ago), and only time will tell how our children will put in the tanks of their cars…

Stay tuned

Tanta expectación no puede ser buena…
Y eso que la peli está muy bien ambientada, hay buenos actores hasta debajo de las piedras (BTW Eduardo Noriega se sale como Conde Duque de Guadalmedina)

La peli sin embargo decepciona por un guión al que le falta un hilo conductor que sirva de columna vertebral para las escenas de acción y amor.

La siguiente crítica refleja muy bien mi sensación:

“[...] el producto final es, simplemente, un compendio inconexo de secuencias; un intervalo deslavazado; una cadena sin eslabones; un tostón interminable… una especie de poema modernista: a ratos brillante en la forma, pero, en ocasiones, las más, vacío de contenido.”

http://www.elconfidencial.com/ocio/indice.asp?id=2931

La proliferación de videos online es cada vez mayor. YouTube como está creciendo a marchas forzadas y, aunque todavía está por ver si conseguirá encontrar un modelo de negocio rentable, es imparable.

Dentro de este tinglado, acabo de descubrir una tendencia interesante.

AMAZON FISHBOWL

Amazon (compañia para la que trabajé 5 meses durante el MBA) acaba de lanzar su propio show rollo “late night” con el clásico presentador que entrevista a los autores o protagonistas de los productos. Es exclusivamente online y está montado para mejorar las ventas de los productos de la tienda online (no lleva publicidad ni nada – basicamente es publicidad).

Está curioso, sobre todo cuando es un producto del que eres fan te añade una dimensión muy interesante – también está chulo como sincronizan los anuncios de productos que se van mencionando en la charla (ver la entrevista con Stephen King o Kevin Smith por ejemplo)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/entertainment/fishbowl/

Esta semana se estrena una de las escasas películas de cine que considero prometedoras este año: El Capitán Alatriste (las recientes X-Men 3 y Superman me decepcionaron por su marcada formula Hollywood – muchos efectos especiales e historia demasiado plana basada en acción más que en desarrollar personajes).

La verdad es que sólo me he leido la primera de las novelas de Perez-Reverte hace unos veranos, pero me gustó el personaje y la ambientación de la obra.

Leyendo un reportaje en el “País Semanal” me llamó la atención el siguiente extracto de Viggo Mortensen (a.k.a. Aragorn para los amigos)

“Me interesaron mucho los paralelismos que tiene con el presente del imperio mundial de EEUU. La decadencia actual del imperio americano es muy parecida a la que se vivió en el imperio español en el siglo XVII. La deuda internacional que tenemos, el desgaste de vidas y rescursos: tenemos tropas y fortalezas y gastos militares imposibles, estamos en tierras extrañas pobladas por gentes extrañas, donde nos temen y nos odian y jamás nos darán tregua [...] si este cuento fuera contemporáneo, Alatriste sería un sargento norteamericano veterano que estuvo en Irak, en la guerra sucia de Centroamérica, y que, la aunque sabe que es un poco inútil invadir la ciudad iraquí de Faluya, lo hace. No hay un propósito fijo, sino pérdida de vidas, y de oro, y de reputación”.

Toma puñetazo frontal a la derecha americana “y chupa del frasco Carrasco”.

Anyway, habrá que ir a verla…