Rich points out that we may have some progress on using micro-usb as a universal device connector. That would be awesome. I carry the most disastrous bag of wallwarts and cables now to keep everything going.

On the other hand, a new connector type for HDMI is coming. Sigh. The A/V connector/cable world remains a disaster.

Many good refs on the net for cable and connector types. Just discovered Hardware Book for instance.

2009 CFN Ohio State Preview and Who’s the bigger BCS bust. Looking forward to seeing the team on the field. Will be at the USC/OSU tilt, hoping for better results!

Why Seattle VCs don’t blog - TechFlash: Seattle’s Technology News Source – John Cook wonders why we don’t blog. Obviously some of us do – myself, Rich. We do it for personal reasons, not motivated by our business – we’d be blogging if we were still at MSFT, if we were running a vinyard, etc. As such, our blogs reflect 85% our personal interests and a little bit of business interest.

John asserts that “…there’s opportunity for a VC in town to explain what is really going on in the venture industry in clear and concise terms with no BS…” However, this is not our business. Our business is investing, and to motivate a VC-focused blog, you’d have to be convinced that such a blog would a) improve your deal flow, or b) improve your exits. Not obvious to me at all.

Additionally you’d have to be certain you could sustain the blog – the examples of abandoned blogs that John mentions seems to be a bad outcome.

* “Enclave”:amazon by Kit Reed. A wellmeaning nutjob tries to create a perfect closed society, which of course fails totally due to Murphy’s Law, hubris, and selfishness. Amazon says 4 stars but I thought this was quite weak, paper-thin characters, clumsy forcing events. * “Heart-Shaped Box”:amazon by Joe Hill. Stephen King-esque tale of a ghost with murderous intent. Longer than it needed to be, where was the editor? Amazon says 4 stars but I’d only give 3. With good editting there may have been a 4 star book in here. * “Inspector Cadaver”:amazon by Georges Simenon. Ah I love Maigret. He ambles into a situation, stirs the pot a little, and lets human nature take its course. Detection by judo – he exerts little force himself, he takes advantage of the inevitable foibles of all around him. Agree with 4.5 stars at Amazon. * “The Last Colony”:amazon by John Scalzi. Final in a series of 3, humanity struggles to expand in a crowded galaxy. Intra- and inter-race politics dominate. A solid tale, perhaps not quite worth the 4.5 stars Amazon bestows, but solid.

Reardon recommends Computational Science and Engineering. OCW links.

* “City of Glass”:amazon by Paul Auster. Very murky story of mystery, identity, sanity. Hard to identify with the characters but nicely paced and very odd. Amazon says 4 stars, I’m ok with that. * “Motorman”:amazon by David Ohle. Ugh. Unstructured self-indulgent mess. Not sure why I picked up. * “Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine”:amazon by Stanley Crawford. Odd engaging metaphorical tale of a relationship. Very thinly reviewed on Amazon, I like the book. 4 stars. * “Finding Oz”:amazon by Evan I. Schwartz. The story of L. Frank Baum and the creation of the Wizard of Oz. I do love the movie and the book, and this is great material on its creation – fascinating to see how the events and people in Baum’s life crept into the story. Amazon says 5 stars, I enjoyed, I’d say 4 stars. * “The Tall Book”:amazon by Arianne Cohen. Father’s day gift about the trials and tribulations of being tall. Good news – higher lifetime earnings, respect, and the ability to reach the top shelf. Not so good – some cancers are more likely, airplane seats, movie theatre seats, etc. The health info was interesting, the whining about seating etc less so. Amazon says 5 stars, that is a reach. 3 stars. * “Run”:amazon by Ann Patchett. Events force an unlikely family to coalesce. The children’s fortunes and paths are irretrievably changed. OK but not that memorable. Amazon says 3.5 stars, the story has already mostly faded in my mind, I’d say 2.5 stars.

An underexplored genre. To be fair, France did try to surrender in the first quarter - Dr. Saturday… - NCAA Football - Rivals.com.

An aha moment for me recently. Two unusual books I have read recently have significant online presences. Rant has a fairly rich site with a lot of content related to the author and the book. Nothing that really changes the book experience, but some useful supporting materials.

The Raw Shark Texts is a much deeper experience – Steven-Hall.org. I can see now that reading the book has only given me a facet of the story, there is a tremendous amount of additional discussion and material online, some of which may be very material to the story and the experience. The physical book is truly just the tip of the iceberg.

I just happened to stumble on the Raw Shark Texts web info, I was looking for the author’s email to send him a note asking about the quality of the Kindle version.

And now I wonder why the Kindle version can’t be more than just a rerendering of the physical book. Why can’t it be a subscription to the ongoing content stream? I’d pay more.

FT.com / Reportage - A library of the world’s most unusual compounds – would love to visit this library/museum.

Had a great father’s day, got some cool photo tools, some books that look great, and a couple of games since I have played Left4Dead and Fallout3 to death. Here’s some stuff I didn’t get and probably for good reason.

Physical Stuff:

* Faux fountains via Scott Loftesness. Cool looking and an inspiration for Halloween. * IP PBX tips for home. I was all excited about this several years ago but increasingly not so…having resident phone technology seems so backwards * Projects Watches wristwatches. Cool looking but increasingly I have given up on wristwatches. * Television emulator. I don’t know, I think the dogs would prefer to watch real TV. * Olympus PEN. Having just hauled the Canon up and down a mountain Sunday morning, the idea of a smaller form factor camera with great lenses is appealing. * Super Duper Denon pre-amp. Just can’t face all the cabling problems tho of disconnecting my current and connecting in a new.

Virtual Stuff: * Mint.com. Like the idea of automated analysis of my financials, but I am just not going to give another party access to all my financial credentials. They should license these tools to financial service firms for use on their own websites. * Cisco Network Magic. Nice review. Congrats to the former Pure Networks team. * Filemaker Bento iPhone app. I regularly get sucked into thinking I need a database and this app is sucking me in again. I know tho I will enter 7 records and abandon the damn thing so I am holding off.

* Single sheet plywood design contest. I’ve made a lot of single-sheet coffins for halloween, here are some other cool ideas * Etched glass storage jars – I have old chemist bottles I bought from various sorts, here is how to fill out your mad scientist lab. * Cosmic nightlight. Just looks cool.

* “Portuguese Irregular Verbs”:amazon by Alexander McCall Smith. A self-absorbed eccentric man leads an eccentric life with eccentric friends. Thankfully short. Amazon says 3.5 stars, this seems high. 2 stars I’d say. * “Real World”:amazon by Natsuo Kirino. Curious to read a well regarded novel from Japan. But didn’t do it for me. Callow angst-ridden teenagers, yawn. Amazon says 4 stars, I say 1.5. Couldn’t finish the book. * “Obedience: A Novel”:amazon by Will Lavender. Kind of interesting premise, a psychological game unfolds on a campus, slowly sucking in some students. But the characters were thin and the pacing forced and all a little unbelievable. First novel so here’s hoping practice makes perfect. Amazon says 2.5 stars, why did I buy this book?? I’d say 1.5 stars – I could finish it but I wish I hadn’t. * “The Raw Shark Texts”:amazon by Steven Hall. Another first novel, this one is a crackerjack of a story. A gripping opening, an interesting central premise about memes, great imagery. Really awesome. Amazon says 4 stars, I agree wholeheartedly, an interesting book. * “Rant: an oral biography of Buster Casey”:amazon by Chuck Palaniuk. Chuck, you need therapy. A disturbing tale of epidemic, time travel, moral laxity, bigotry, disease. Interesting, yes. Corrupting, probably. Amazon says 4 stars, I’d agree, though this is a warped book.

Blueberry Buckle Recipe : Alton Brown : Food Network – this was stunningly good. We are determined this summer to eat our way through the whole buckle/grunt/slump/cobbler/crisp/pandowdy/brownbetty spectrum this summer, this week may be a pandowdy week.

Frustrating morning, up early and out to the trailhead but road chained off. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest - Current Conditions is supposed to have current conditions, and you can also call the North Bend ranger station 425 888 1421. However they all claim the road is open but it was clearly chained off. Grrr. Try again next weekend.

Cougar Mountain photos on Fotopedia - The Photo Encyclopedia – OK this is my first whack at this. I am not certain where Fotopedia will fit in my current suite of photo production and management tools (Canon Digital Photo Pro, Aperture, occasional Photoshop, Smugmug), but it is a great site and a veyr nice piece of client software. The integration with Aperture is nice. Hats off to the Fotopedia team (we are an investor).