You are Your Synapses

"Your true potential lies way, way down in the depths of your soul… in the pit of your stomach, past..."

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:43:20 -0400

“Your true potential lies way, way down in the depths of your soul… in the pit of your stomach, past your knowledge, beyond your nervousness, and buried under your fears and anxieties. As hidden as it may be, it is still there. I know it’s there because I’ve felt it before, and I know it’s there in others too because I’ve seen others perform miracles. There is a faint glow of unparalleled potential in all of us, and when we find it — it shines.”

- Melissa Christino

Nortel Patents Fetch $4.5B

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 02:51:00 -0400

Google Loses Nortel Patents - Apple , BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM), Microsoft , Ericsson , Sony and EMC

"25% Americans don’t have a landline … 89% own a mobile device"

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:16:20 -0400

“25% Americans don’t have a landline …
89% own a mobile device”

- http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/56925-americans-turn-away-from-landlines

fewBlocks Presents One-Page Yellow Page: Because Size Does...

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:17:00 -0400

fewBlocks Presents One-Page Yellow Page: Because Size Does Matter!

Fastest way of looking up information - It’s just one page!

Multiple (Customizable) Editions: State, City, City-Street, City-Streets, State-Cities and Personal

Hundreds of locations on a single page (addresses, numbers, location service ratings, weather, deals).

Cost-effective and highly targeted marketing and advertising opportunities for local entrepreneurs and location operators

QR Code Integration for fast transfer of information to your smart phone with QR code reading functionality

SMS integration for on-demand more-details

Completely customized for YOUR NEEDS and LOCATION(S)

Environmentally Friendly - No Waste, Less Guilt!: ”A typical Yellow Pages book weighs about 2.5 pounds.” [1]

Private label opportunities for businesses and non-profits along with a recurring revenue-share model .

Coming soon: Franchise opportunities / Distributorships

Designed for licensing to local marketing companies, publishers of yellow pages, white pages and phone service providers

Interested? Contact frank@fewblocks.com

Your support will greatly increase productivity and save tons of waste.

Quote / Information References

[1] Yellow Pages Madness: What a waste!

"Mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by 2016."

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:41:06 -0400

“Mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by 2016.”

The 20:6:3:1 Rule

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:32:28 -0400

Just learned about it yesterday!

TI and Eolas sign patent licensing deal

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:29:47 -0400

Apple expands patent infringement claims against Samsung

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:27:17 -0400

Issues I see with Apple and Twitter Integration

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:46:00 -0400

Twitter is still experiencing scalability issues as evident by my own personal use in which I keep getting errors every now and then.

What makes Apple believe that Twitter can comfortably handle the additional load of planned integration is beyond my understanding…

Stories circulating around related to Apple handing Twitter the keys to it’s iOS kingdom seem to carry significant weight in my opinion/experience. Twitter is the clear winner here in my eyes, but not necessarily the overall winner.

Apple, in my opinion, was thinking along the right lines but ended up taking the shortcut.

Nokia loses 3G patent infringement case in UK

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:33:24 -0400

Google gets OK from DOJ but Nortel delays patent auction

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:23:40 -0400

reCaptcha

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:10:00 -0400

ReCaptcha: Instead of building custom solutions and re-inventing the wheel, entrepreneurs and developers should seriously consider using recaptcha to implement CAPTCHA capabilities to their application. A few immediate benefits I see:

Anti-bot technology: so you don’t have to worry about automated malicious bots
Noble cause: You’re helping digitizing the books one word at a time
Ease of integration: requires a few lines of codes and less than an hour to implement
Usability options: If the current CAPTCHA puzzle is unreadable by the user, convenient and user-friendly buttons allow a user to try another word or listen to a pronounciation.

Note: Google now owns Recaptcha project.

More details are available on: http://www.google.com/recaptcha/learnmore

OndaVia: Complex on-site water testing in 15 minutes!!!

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:49:00 -0400

Did you know that complete water testing can actually take days?

Yesterday, at the HBS Harvard Angels quarterly meeting, I got to see the presentation by the founder of OndaVia. The simple high-margin replaceable cartridge system for complex on-site water testing in 15 minutes definitely seems like the testing technology to have for near-instant results (comparatively speaking). Check them out at: http://www.ondavia.com

Crunchful: Superfood snacks!!!

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:51:00 -0400

This had to come from an Indian :) Crunchful: Superfood snacks made via a patented process!!! Say yes to Pulseeds!!!

Yesterday, at HBS Harvard Angels meeting, I got a chance to see a presentation by the founder of Pulfoods, the creator of Crunchful brand superfood snacks.

I asked the founder about plans to incorporate vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 to target her snacks to energy / alertness market. She educated me that doing so would make her snacks fortified and she wants to keep them in the natural isle! If I heard correctly, she mentioned her competitors in cereal business are scrambling to find recipes that conform to the new “plate-based” food pyramid guidelines released by FDA to encourage health dietary practices. She also educated me on the fact that dairy is optional in the new food pyramid.

I think she should get her crunchfuls at my favorite chain: Jamba Juice!

Nokia Wins Smartphone Patent Infringement Settlement From Apple

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:42:00 -0400

Apple will pay Nokia an undisclosed sum upfront + per-unit royalties (ongoing).

Based on media reports, Microsoft is speculated to be in talks to acquire Nokia to the tune of $15B+. Microsoft, of course, backed Nokia in the patent infringement suit.

200 Megapixel $45,000 Camera!!!

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:55:14 -0400

200 Megapixel $45,000 Camera!!!

"Innovation is a key ingredient for a successful startup and equally so is scalability."

Sat, 21 May 2011 17:20:01 -0400

“Innovation is a key ingredient for a successful startup and equally so is scalability.”

- Frank Mashraqi

"Work like a startup so you don’t remain a startup."

Sat, 21 May 2011 17:07:35 -0400

“Work like a startup so you don’t remain a startup.”

- Mashraqi

"The four essential point-of-view states for measuring: 1) completely empty 2) half empty 3) half..."

Sat, 21 May 2011 17:06:56 -0400

“The four essential point-of-view states for measuring: 1) completely empty 2) half empty 3) half full 4) overflowing.”

- Mashraqi

"Adam Smith had the right question but got satisfied with the first answer that came into his mind...."

Sat, 21 May 2011 17:04:47 -0400

“Adam Smith had the right question but got satisfied with the first answer that came into his mind. Intellect, and not labor, constitutes the competitive advantages of a nation.”

- Mashraqi