Disqus - Latest Comments for MParekh

Re: Some Initial Thoughts On iPhone6 and iOS8

MParekh — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 12:38:06 -0000

Changing Habits is one of the hardest things as you know. Suggest 3 more weeks and request a subsequent post on the things you REALLY like about the iPhone/iOS hardware/software ecosystem.

I've long been an iOS native, but have used the latest Android device as a 2nd phone for years. Again, due to set habits, it's tough to embrace Android for me as a primary device despite using it from the beginning.

Think Apple Pay and Apple Watch, along with Homekit, Healthkit are the wild cards next 2 years that may change Apple's position in the duopoly, especially in Western markets. Touch ID is also a sleeper for a whole host of 3rd party App driven services & conveniences.

Last suggestion, if you go back to Android, suggest keeping the iPhone as a back-up 2nd phone. I find having two on different networks REALLY helps when traveling even in the US, due to the spottiness of even the top carrier networks.

Thanks for the post.

Re: BuzzFeed | chris dixon's blog

MParekh — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 00:10:29 -0000

Remember MTV started aggregating music videos that were promotional fodder, and boot-strapped itself up into the big leagues.

Going back to the 1920's, Reader's Digest started as a publication that summarized and re-published other magazine and book long-form content. Became the dominant media property of it's time.

Tried and true path in the media industry.

No reason Buzzfeed couldn't do the same.

Re: Flipping The Model

MParekh — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 20:39:25 -0000

Agree w/ the promise of Chromecast. Current version though has been the worst vs. AppleTV, Roku, Boxee etc., in terms of connecting to the available WiFi location. Have had this happen in multiple geographical locations. Hopefully will get better over time.

Re: Feature Friday: Bluetooth Stereo Headset

MParekh — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 12:19:48 -0000

Great post...am on constant quest for best wireless headphones. The HBS 700s are great. HBS 800 also worth a look, bit more, but have Google integration It's Card 2 in https://flks.tk/PUz .

Re: Physical vs Digital

MParekh — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 09:20:53 -0000

Agreed, but it warps the cultivation of new user habits for your digital business in the long-term. Tough problem. Every pub will find it's own way, but this is another factor determining the pace of the transition.

Re: Physical vs Digital

MParekh — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 09:16:01 -0000

Good topic Fred.

A lot of innovation is possible in the context of "blended" physical and digital pricing schemes. Most will happen with the passage of time and the advance of technology, but the pace will be determined by how long are the entrenched businesses can make their current pricing mechanisms stick.

Going back to your newspaper question, the papers today make it hard to buy reasonably priced digital packages, forcing customers to buy paper delivery and digital combos. For example, I still have home delivery subscriptions bundled with digital subscriptions for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the LA Times. This is even though I literally put the delivered newspapers in the trash (recycled of course) EVERY DAY. And I have to put month long "vacation holidays" for physical holidays so that I can minimize the disposal chore as little as possible.

Of course the papers are going to at some point stop forcing me to buy the home delivery package at a "subsidized" price vs. the digital price. But until then, there is little innovation.

Even Jeff Bezos has not figured out the ideal way to bundle two digital streams seamlessly due to business and/or "business politics" reasons. Since Amazon bought Audible, I've been intrigued by the "Whispersync for Voice" product that allows you to buy an audio companion to a digital book just purchased and go seamlessly from one to the other. That is the promise, but the execution for purchase forces the Amazon consumer to have an Audible account AND sign-in credentials, even though both companies are theoretically under one roof. It makes the product experience horrible at the expense of whatever internal politics that drive the separate Audible/Amazon Voice/Ebook businesses.

And it's not just physical vs. digital. The Broadband companies have so far been successful in taking the metered pricing for voice that's been made hard habit for both users and regulators over decades, and move it over to wired and wireless broadband (so far). This is despite the fact that the marginal cost for data goes almost to zero and much of what the carriers spend on is billing and so-called "service" than to actually deliver the bandwidth.

The integration of physical/digital and/or digital/digital related product streams has great promise to come. Most of the hurdles in it's path have to do much more with entrenched incumbencies, habits, regulation and politics.

Re: Where Do You Go For Breaking News?

MParekh — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:57:37 -0000

Not either/or for me. Watching this live on CNN, while on multiple online sites.

Re: Who Owns Your UX Philosophy?

MParekh — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:54:43 -0000

Thought-provoking post, Brad. Could you share examples in mind of companies in general that have done a good job of owning the UX philosophy, in your view?

Re: Twilio's Nine Things

MParekh — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:43:19 -0000

Thanks for sharing, JLM. Would appreciate a copy of your version at your convenience: michaelATmparekhDOTcom

Re: Payments Day

MParekh — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:48:57 -0000

Congratulations Fred.
Curious on the name too.
As someone who came from Asia, the name rhymes a bit with Hawala, which is a payment system used in Asia, Africa and Mideast for over half a millennia.

Hawala obviously got a bad connotation post 9/11, but it's history is noteworthy nevertheless.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: Protecting The Safe Harbors Of The DMCA And Protecting Jobs

MParekh — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:04:25 -0000

To My Elected Officials:

I am very upset about the proposed legislation contained in the Protect IP and E-Parasite bills. I am a technology investor and the capital we invest creates new companies and new jobs. I believe this legislation is hostile to the kinds of companies we invest in and will have a negative impact on job creation.

One of the leading VCs today, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, has cogently written up our point of view on this issue, at this URL:
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/1...

Please oppose this legislation and force the content industry to work with the technology industry to foster something more sensible.

Your Constituent
Mukesh (Michael) Parekh @votizen 92661

Re: Feature Friday: Offline Gmail

MParekh — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:32:36 -0000

Offline Gmail works great. Also liking Offline Google Docs in Chrome.

Re: The Problem with Party Rounds

MParekh — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:37:34 -0000

Collecting logos also becomes an issue when it's time to pick underwriters for an IPO. Has been a bit of a trend this IPO cycle. Admittedly a high-class problem. But worth thinking through pros and cons here as well.

Re: The Problem with Party Rounds

MParekh — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:31:34 -0000

Collecting logos from customers, especially on the enterprise side, can run into the same issues. Done too often for signaling value, leaving insufficient resources to focus on going deep in key enterprise installations.

Great post, Mark.

Re: Feature Friday: Disqus Ranks

MParekh — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:20:44 -0000

Sorry CC, did I miss a message?

Re: Feature Friday: Disqus Ranks

MParekh — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:55:12 -0000

Like the Badge idea. 1st Impression would be to make the font on badge and the hover pop-up more readable for those of us with more mature eyes.

Like the Feature Friday idea as well.

Re: My New Setup

MParekh — Sat, 21 May 2011 13:47:43 -0000

Congrats on the new set-up Fred...only suggestion in addition that works for me especially on long flights is either an iPad or an Android tablet (Xoom ok for now) w/ Dropbox, for the larger screen instead of peering at a smartphone for 6 hours...but maybe it's just my tired eyes :)

You'll love the Macbook Air...I use both the 11 and 13" depending on short vs. long trips and they'll have a lot more power when the line's refreshed soon.

The other item that's indispensable for me is a Verizon 4G Mifi (the 4G Thunderbolt with hotspot will do too), so that I can have Wifi for the Macbook Air pretty much everywhere.

Re: RIM responds to reports of poor PlayBook sales, high return rate at major retailer

MParekh — Fri, 20 May 2011 21:52:42 -0000

Actually did ask a Staples Rep how to get back to the Home screen, and he didn't know. He called for help from the Electronics Dept. and that rep couldn't figure it out after trying different gestures for 10 minutes. Finally, he went off to check his computer for the info. In the meantime, I was finally able to find a review on line on my Android that showed the swipe up gesture.

Anecdotally, watched a number of other potential customers struggle with the same issue at a couple of other stores on both coasts.

Re: The ‘Swipe’ and ‘Tap’ Economy Continues To Pick up Steam

MParekh — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:40:54 -0000

Think we need a T-shirt that says "Tap & Swipe EconoMe".

Re: Rachel’s Bat Mitzvah

MParekh — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:58:01 -0000

She was amazing at this very special event Howard. Congratulations again!

Re: Mobile Notifications

MParekh — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:25:34 -0000

Great post and questions on notifications Fred. Another question I have is if notifications permit non-text elements (pictures, icons) etc. to be communicated, and if so, on which platforms. Think the HTML to mobile device is an important one as well.

The other part I've wondered about is how notifications evolve on mobile platforms in terms of further functionality. Sharing, Analytics, multiple response buttons would be some obvious areas down the road.

Re: Building Better Social Graphs (continued)

MParekh — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:20:55 -0000

Great idea Fred, but it assumes that the mainstream keep their "strong ties" address book from their Feature Phones as they transition to Smartphones.

Since most Smartphones, offer easy sync services with one's contacts in Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc., one quickly gets a much larger, "synced" address book, with a whole mess of strong and weak tie contacts.

Keeping the the Strong ties separate becomes an increasingly onerous, non-automated chore, likely leading most mainstream users to just do their best with a big, blob address book in the cloud.

Hopefully there'll be services that begin to solve this problem.

Re: Some Thoughts On Aging

MParekh — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:19:29 -0000

Well said Fred...it's especially good to have one's self-image mesh with chronological age well before the big 50. Then that milestone doesn't feel like as big a deal as I found recently. Best Birthday wishes, and all the best ahead.

Re: Ditching the word “Incubator.”

MParekh — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:54 -0000

Both "Accelerator" and "Green House" were used in the last internet cycle...both have unsatisfactory connotations as well.

Re: I've Changed My Mind About The iPad

MParekh — Fri, 28 May 2010 04:38:17 -0000

Not going to be long before you'll want your own Fred.

I've started carrying two around...one for writing notes, emails etc., and one for consuming content concurrently. Together they weigh less than most macbooks/netbooks and each has almost 10 hours in battery-life and that key "instant-on" feature.

I've found that my 3G iPad has become an even more personal device that's always with me, than my smart-phones and laptops.

And very separate from the shared iPads for the family and visitors around the house.