Guests include:
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Software
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
29 October 2010
SEP Radio: Is multi-threaded coding just a pipe dream?
Multi-core computing has been around for years yet many apps only work on a single core. Even processor intensive activities like DVD ripping and encoding are done in single threads with most apps. It seems as if there are only a minority of apps where companies decide that the market benefits from better performance merit putting up with the pain of multi-threaded development. Is multi-threading something developer just do in the software they write as a matter of course, or is it just too difficult to justify the cost? Listen to experts from the Software Engineering Productivity group on LinkedIn discuss the future of parallel computing.
Guests include:
Download the sound(right click and save as link) : Download
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Software
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
Guests include:
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Software
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
EPNW: Smelling the roses - how to succeed in sales by slowing down
In this episode Travis Brandt explains how sales is a process that can’t be short-circuited. As stressed as entrepreneurs might be about getting that next paying customer, shortcuts to sales will only lead to disappointment. Small businesses don’t have to resort to Glengarry Glen Ross type sales strategies to be successful, but tenacity and a methodical approach will lead to results. We also discuss how poor products and pricing are just excuses for poor salesmanship.
You can find more of Travis’ sales tips on his blog:
http://www.travisbrandt.com/
NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.
You can find more of Travis’ sales tips on his blog:
http://www.travisbrandt.com/
NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.
27 October 2010
This Week on Bear radio: The US health-care dog wagging the tale
In this episode we discuss how stories of abuses in the American medical system are egregious, and shockingly easy to find. However, such atrocities of over-billing and fraud are actually a symptom of a deeper problem: the lack of a free market with responsible customers.
Download the sound(right click and save as link) : Download
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
20 October 2010
This Week on Bear radio: No investment strategy works 100% of the time
In this episode we discuss how even the best investment strategies, founded on the most exhaustive historical data sets, can still go horribly wrong. No trend lasts forever. Even theoretically reliable seasonal cycles can throw investors for a loop.
You can check out our special guest Chaster Johnson's unique investment fund, run by the investors themselves at Charlesfund.
Download the sound(right click and save as link) : Download
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
You can check out our special guest Chaster Johnson's unique investment fund, run by the investors themselves at Charlesfund.
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
15 October 2010
PS: Say goodbye to common code-base for mobile platforms
In this episode the development team at gist.com, and their partner sensobi.com, discuss the challenges of developing for mobile platforms. The iPhone is still a must, but it now impossible to ignore Android. For some applications the Blackberry is a must as well. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to mobile cross-platform development. Both Gist and Sensobi have found that it is important to use native features to build the best app possible for each device rather than trying to target the lowest common denominator in the hope of having a transportable code-base.
You can check out more details of our guests here.
Steve Newman, CTO Gist.com - www.gist.com/stevepnewman
Steve Orth, Sr Mobile Developer, www.gist.com
Ajay Kulkarni, Founder & CEO, www.sensobi.com
Andy Cheung, Founder & CTO, www.sensobi.com
You can check out more details of our guests here.
Steve Newman, CTO Gist.com - www.gist.com/stevepnewman
Steve Orth, Sr Mobile Developer, www.gist.com
Ajay Kulkarni, Founder & CEO, www.sensobi.com
Andy Cheung, Founder & CTO, www.sensobi.com
NOTE: Practical Software is the official podcast for the Software Engineering Productivity group on Linked:In. You can listen to other episodes of Practical Software.
13 October 2010
This Week on Bear radio: Pick your poison – investing requires taking a stand
In this episode we discuss how there is no such thing as a “safe” investment, and that people have to pick which economic scenario they believe in since no asset will perform well in all circumstances. We also talk about the crisis with mortgage processing, with shoddy paperwork and robo-signing. It’s hard to feel sorry for either the lenders or their delinquent borrowers. It’s just unfortunate that we will all pay the price of an exacerbated real-estate downturn as the mess slowly gets cleaned up in the years to come.
You can check out our special guest Chaster Johnson's unique investment fund, run by the investors themselves at http://charlesfund.com.
Download the sound(right click and save as link) : Download
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
You can check out our special guest Chaster Johnson's unique investment fund, run by the investors themselves at http://charlesfund.com.
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
09 October 2010
Casting the first stone...
I may be bearish on real-estate (and have been since the early 2000s when I sold my home), but I don’t blame anyone for the housing bubble, or its collapse. It’s not the fault of evil bankers, fraudulent real-estate agents or incompetent regulators. Neither was the bubble the fault of homeowners cashing out equity or hoping to build a nest egg.
Instead, I believe that the credit bubble (of which housing was just one part) is simply the result of broad societal shifts in optimism and pessimism. One can no more complain about these generational patterns of sentiment than they can the ebb and flow of ocean tides.
The thing about manias is that nearly everyone is caught up in them, whether they wish to be or not. The president of an investment bank MUST play along with the same risky investments as other investment banks or they will find themselves fired by investors who are displeased that their bank is making lower profits than its peers. Ratings analysts have to play along, using optimistic assumptions, or they will find that competing agencies (who are willing to use rosy estimates) get all the business. Politicians who appoint rigorous regulators will find themselves voted out of office by the masses who are upset that the regulatory agencies are giving the companies they own shares in a hard time.
Property appraisers who use conservative valuations will find that no one brings them any appraisal business. During a mania even consumers are forced with having to either buy at irrational prices or sit out of the market for what could be decades. That’s not to mention the peer-pressure that results from seeing friends, family and associated get rich by participating in the feeding frenzy. It’s a strange soul who can stay emotionally everyone they know is telling them they are fools for not taking advantage of the great wealth generation machine sweeping the land. Even retirees relying on poorly funded pension plans had a role by putting pressure on fund managers to take risks that jeopardized what meager funding there was.
No, I don’t blame the lowly mortgage holders who took out zero interest loans with balloon payments. The simple fact is that everyone in society played their part in the great credit bubble of the last 20 years and thus no one in particular deserves the blame. To put this in perspective, what we have witnessed with the great credit bust of the early 21st century is nothing more than the playing out of a generational cycle of social attitudes which oscillates between fear and prudence to unbridled optimism and a willingness to shoulder risk (also referred to as a Kondratieff wave).
Now that the credit bubble has been pierced we are beginning the painful process of restarting the great cycle all over again.
Instead, I believe that the credit bubble (of which housing was just one part) is simply the result of broad societal shifts in optimism and pessimism. One can no more complain about these generational patterns of sentiment than they can the ebb and flow of ocean tides.
The thing about manias is that nearly everyone is caught up in them, whether they wish to be or not. The president of an investment bank MUST play along with the same risky investments as other investment banks or they will find themselves fired by investors who are displeased that their bank is making lower profits than its peers. Ratings analysts have to play along, using optimistic assumptions, or they will find that competing agencies (who are willing to use rosy estimates) get all the business. Politicians who appoint rigorous regulators will find themselves voted out of office by the masses who are upset that the regulatory agencies are giving the companies they own shares in a hard time.
Property appraisers who use conservative valuations will find that no one brings them any appraisal business. During a mania even consumers are forced with having to either buy at irrational prices or sit out of the market for what could be decades. That’s not to mention the peer-pressure that results from seeing friends, family and associated get rich by participating in the feeding frenzy. It’s a strange soul who can stay emotionally everyone they know is telling them they are fools for not taking advantage of the great wealth generation machine sweeping the land. Even retirees relying on poorly funded pension plans had a role by putting pressure on fund managers to take risks that jeopardized what meager funding there was.
No, I don’t blame the lowly mortgage holders who took out zero interest loans with balloon payments. The simple fact is that everyone in society played their part in the great credit bubble of the last 20 years and thus no one in particular deserves the blame. To put this in perspective, what we have witnessed with the great credit bust of the early 21st century is nothing more than the playing out of a generational cycle of social attitudes which oscillates between fear and prudence to unbridled optimism and a willingness to shoulder risk (also referred to as a Kondratieff wave).
Now that the credit bubble has been pierced we are beginning the painful process of restarting the great cycle all over again.
07 October 2010
This Week on Bear radio: Currency devaluation as the next magic cure to economic doldrums
In this episode we talk about the growing popularity for currency devaluations around the world. Japan is just the most recent nation to get on the bandwagon with threats to intervene in currency markets to keep the yen down. Ironically, we discuss how it is strong currencies which often lead to the best outcomes.
Download the sound(right click and save as link) : Download
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
You can find all the Optimistic Bear shows here: Optimistic Bear
You can find all the Entrepreneurs Northwest shows here: Entrepreneurs Northwest
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