AVC

I have written many times here that it is important to me that I control the platform that I publish on. I use the open-source WordPress software for my content management system and run that on a hosted server. I use my own domain, AVC.com, to locate my writings on the Internet. That has served me well. No matter how horrible I become, nobody is going to take me down. But we can go even further down this path of controlling our destiny. We can decentralize the entire thing; the content manag...

I have a Samsung Frame in my home office. I think I posted a photo of it here at AVC once before. But for those who did not see that post, here it is:I’ve had it for something like three years and I change the digital art on it from time to time. Digital Art has been tricky to purchase and own and the business models around it are a bit challenging. I think NFTs might change that. If artists can get paid for the “original” or a “limited edition” and then make copies free or near free, then I ...

I wrote about crypto and climate earlier this month and suggested that the narrative that crypto is bad for the climate is not as straightforward as many make it out to be. Over last weekend (a beautiful one in the northeast), two of my partners wrote on this topic. My partner Albert took a similar approach as I did in my post and outlined many reasons that crypto and climate are not at odds with each other. He went further than I did in my post and it is worth reading his, even though they a...

A friend and I dined last night at a restaurant that opened in our neighborhood last summer, in the middle of the pandemic. For the first six months of its existence, they could not welcome diners into the space that they had spent time and money creating. They carried on, figured out how to make money serving customers outside. As the NYC economy starts to recover, they are still standing. And they are now welcoming diners into the lovely space they created for them a year ago. Resilience is...

This project was right at the front of my Kickstarter home page this morning. I clicked play and watched the video (you should too). The project creator, Daniel Wegner, says “there is power in young people, there is power in talent, there is power in art.” I agree with all of that and I backed the project.

One of the gifts that I got was the ability to stay positive. I am grateful to my parents, my wife, and my genes (and anyone else responsible too). It is such a superpower. I don’t just mean optimism. I mean saying nice things about people. I mean keeping a smile on your face. I mean positivity in all things. I do have my moments of negativity, but they come infrequently and go away quickly. I saw Magic Johnson say something nice about the Lakers last night and I texted my son that I apprecia...

I could not help but use the word Freemium in the headline to this post. For those that don’t know, the word Freemium was invented here at AVC, back in 2006. I am quite proud of that fact, even though I did not come up with the word myself. With that business taken care of, let’s move on to the topic of the day. Our portfolio company Stack Overflow, best know for its massive free knowledge sharing service for programmers, has been building a companion business over the last few years called S...

Kevin Kelly, who has been an editor at Wired and Whole Earth Review, is funding this book project on Kickstarter. He is attempting to capture the many cultures in Asia that are disappearing with modernization. I backed the project today and decided to get the book too. You can do that here.