Is grey any different from grey, you bet!

A popular idea in Behavioural Economics is reference dependence. The idea that perception depends on changes not levels. A good way to explain what that means is to give an example that one can see. So in the context of visual system reference dependence means that our perception of shade depends on the context of the surrounding objects and not simply level of contrast.

Check out the fantastic set of illusions that very aptly drive home the point.

Enjoy!

Want $100,000 for free?

Calling all sport fanatics...

Serial entrepreneur David Wu (who is my classmate at Wharton) is launching RotoHog.com.

It is a new way to play fantasy sports, it's fair, it's fun and it's free. What more could you ask? Bragging rights - well you get that too!
But wait, it gets better - you can win ton's of prizes - just for playing what you enjoy and being the best at what you love doing.

What are you waiting for? Pre-register since they have limited the number of registrations for this season. Check them out!

Too cool!

Check out this self-referential formula. Way too cool!

just what I need...

Every Starbucks and Tim Hortons mapped just in case my intravenous caffeine drip is running low on supplies. (-:

http://www.findbyclick.com

They have a mobile version that one can download and use on the run.

Introducing FindbyClick's Mobile Service. With the click of a button, you can download the finest roasted java links right on to your very own mobile. From there, the world is yours. Never again will you be lost without your faithful cup of Java.

Amen!

Some more tid-bits on Joost (aka The Venice Project)

Skype guys renamed their online video distribution offering Joost.

CNet reports:

A menu allows users to switch channels with a click of a link. Users will also have TiVo-like control of the content and access to any show offered regardless of time of day. They can also can skip ahead or backward within a show.

The have some interesting screenshots on their site.

VC valuation 101

Check out Don Doge's post on alleged $10 M purchase of MyBlogLog by Yahoo!

For all the wannabe VC's this is a great post that illustrates really well a few different thumb of rules the industry uses to value early stage venture without revenues.

If you have a few minutes to waste...

Check out this creative and funny animation.

66,795 push-up's

That's exactly what Dan Ciruli claims he did this past year. His resolution for last year was to start with a push up on 1st Jan and keep adding one every day ending with 356 the last day of the year.

Reminds me of a story of a young man who could lift a bull, the story goes the young man started lifting the bull when it was just a little calf. He did so every day and as over the years as the calf grew and turned into a bull the young man could still lift him.

I am not sure if this legend is true. I do find Dan's achievement inspiring.

A memorable quote

Yvon Chouinard in Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman quotes Antoine de Saint Exupery, the French aviator.

Have you thought, not only about the airplane but whatever man builds, that all of man's industrial efforts, all his computation and calculations, all the nights spent working over draughts and blueprints, invariably culminates in the production of a things whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity.

It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curves of a piece of furniture, or a ship's keel or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elements purity of the curve of the human breast or shoulder, there must be experimentation of several generations of craftsmen, In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer any things to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.

Jack's predicitons..

Jack Biddle a.k.a Southeast VC of Novak Biddle Venture Partners predicts collapse of Web 2.0 and ad supported business models. I am not sure I agree with him and his outlook for 2007, but I do completely agree with the last thought in this post. Working for passion, creating value, having fun and all that leading to monetary reward - now to me that rings true not just in the end of 2007; I think that is timeless.

My prediction is that by the end of 2007, people won't venture for profit. They will venture to do really cool things, because they can.

And 10 years later... the best of the best will get paid despite the fact they had the time of their lives.