ideas

In todays Guardian there is a bit about the dangers of intellectual property in science. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/26/science-shackles-int...

"The drive to commercialise science has overtaken not only applied research but also "blue-skies" research, such that even the pure quest for knowledge is subverted by the need for profit."

"For example, it is estimated that some 20% of individual human genes have been patented already or have been filed for patenting. As a result, research on certain genes is largely restricted to the companies that hold the patents, and tests involving them are marketed at prohibitive prices. We believe that this poses a very real danger to the development of science for the public good."

I personally cannot believe we are doing this to ourselves. I find the idea of someone owning a discovery ridiculous, there is no invention, there is no need to keep it for yourself. And in most cases, research is already funded through tax dollars and grants fron the public purse.

Imagine if you will other discoveries about the natural world throughout history if today's conventions applied.

So probably not my best examples. But the reality is that these are things that happened in nature. This is the world around us. Should anyone own gravity? Or be able to license breathing a given mix of air?

So what about the argument that discovery costs money? Microscopes don't just appear, science has a price. This is indeed true, but also why for thousands of years research has been performed both by the independent scientist and with the assistance of public money. Advancement of knowledge like the rising tide, lifts all minds for the better. Science must continue as a public good. Sell me your mousetrap, not license me the genes of the mouse.

As we continue the endless march into the future ask if it should be behind a pay wall and make sure to stock up on rocks.

This article covering a presentation on how to grow your site covers several points that I hear over and over again when talking to folks about building products.

http://carsonified.com/blog/web-apps/9-ways-to-take-your-site-from-one-t...

The ones that stick out of every talk and presentation are the following:

1. Pick your core features and get them out

2. But don't think you know exactly how the users will use them or that you have them right.

3. Learn, iterate, learn, iterate.

4. Test, try, build something, see if it works for you and your users. You will not be all knowing.

There are a few more things that I want to add from my experiences:

5. Your customer often doesn't have any more idea than you, so don't think he isn't just spitting out random bits.

6. If you have a new product or are trying a new space, do believe in your idea and don't get dragged all over by folks trying to make your product in their image.

7. Idea's are great, but they take time to try. Focus on how to get a win before you try every adjacent market.

8. Make sure you actually know how to find your customer. They have no idea about your better mousetrap until you lay out some cheese.

9. Do you have any idea how to convert a customer, what are they buying? why they are buying?

10. Your customers or your company will get some bad apples eventually, don't worry about your awesome structure yet. Just get it going.

As illustrated here, http://www.calnewport.com/blog/?p=115 , in a post about The Einstein Principle, "We are most productive when we focus on a very small number of projects on which we can devote a large amount of attention."

Now stop reading blogs and go focus on something.