On Friday I’ll be in LA at Mahalo headquarters at 1pm making a guest appearance on Jason Calacanis’s This Week In Startups show. I told Jason I’d be happy to discuss whatever he wanted to which I hope includes the Open Angel Forum, Startup Visa, Abolishing Software Patents, and all kinds of fun things around entrepreneurship and venture capital. Conversations with Jason are never dull so I expect this one to be spicy hot on top of the typical chocolately goodness.

Brad Burnham at Union Square Ventures put up a very important post last night titled We need an independent invention defense to minimize the damage of aggressive patent trolls. His partner Fred Wilson echoed Brad’s thoughts on his blog with a post titled Why We Need An Independent Invention Defense. Brad’s post starts out with the following: “Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls. Is it possible that one third of the engineering teams in our portfolio unethically misappropriated technology from someone else and then made that the basis of their web services? No! That’s not what is happening. Our companies are driven by imaginative and innovative engineering teams that are focused on creating social value by bringing innovative new services to market.”

Today is the last day to apply for the TechStars Boston 2010 program. If you want a flavor for where the program is held, Bill Warner (one of the founders of TechStars Boston) has a fun post up titled Lifestyles of The Future Rich and Future Famous: A Look Inside the TechStars Boston (Actually Cambridge) Penthouse. I lived in Boston from 1983 to 1995 (actually Cambridge from 1983 – 1987 but I consider Boston and Cambridge to be inexorably linked.) During the time I was in Boston there was a thriving entrepreneurial community around software and – in the early to mid-1990’s – Internet. While there was plenty of activity around Route 128 and 495, I always felt like the heart of it was in Cambridge in Kendall Square (near MIT) and Central Square (between MIT and Harvard). At least that’s where I hung out – Main Street, Mass Ave, Rogers Street, Binney Street, First, and Third Street. So – when we started TechStars Boston, it was inevitable that it would be in the heart of Cambridge.

I’m at CES all day wandering the floor looking for additional devices to wear on my body to monitor all aspects of my life. In the mean time, there’s a bunch of great stuff in my world that has happened so far this week. Here are links with a little commentary. Rally Software Raised $16m in a Round Led by Greylock: My friends at Rally Software are creating an important long term company in the Boulder ecosystem. 2009 was a great year for Rally – they grew a ton and dominated their market segment. They didn’t need any additional financing but were approached by several firms in Q409. Greylock put forth an attractive offer and their involvement, including the addition of our new board member Tom Bogan (Chairman of Citrix among other things), is a huge addition. 

In my effort to keep you on your toes, take a look at the “roll cloud” below. It’s totally worth a click through to the APOD site and a moment of contemplation on a large monitor. I’ve seen small rolls clouds in the past although I didn’t know they were called roll clouds, nor did I have a clue how roll clouds were formed. While 720p videoconferencing with Skype on my Internet connected TV is pretty cool, nature continues to amaze me. Time for a run.

While Fred Wilson has his review of his Google Phone up already, I’m more intrigued with all the pre-CES announcements. I’ll be walking the floor on Thursday soaking it all in and I’m pretty excited this year based on all the chatter. One thing that has me particularly stoked is what I’m going to call “universal videoconferencing.” I saw my first “videophone” around 30 years ago. It sucked but the idea was magical (and still is). Like my personal jetpack, I’ve been waiting patiently for it. Very patiently. For 30 years.

Ok – so in addition to the Boulder events, I also go to Bay Area events. I’ve got a Return Path board meeting on 1/21 in the Bay Area and that evening Matt Blumberg – Return Path’s CEO – is going to be presenting at the great Startup2Startup series that Dave McClure puts on with the help of his glorious sponsors. I’ll be there along with a bunch of other great folks (I even paid my $90 for my ticket). Matt’s got a fascinating story and Return Path is another company in my world that had an awesome 2009 and is poised for a phenomenal 2010 (how’s that for adverbs adjectives.) Matt will be talking about the history of Return Path (dating back to 1999), lessons he’s learned, and best practices in email deliverability.

Well, the world is back at work (as evidenced by the 327 new emails I got today). And my friends at Silicon Flatirons at CU Boulder are cranking up the head with Crash Courses, Entrepreneurs Unplugged, and Workshops. 1/13/10: 6-8pm @ Wolf: Crash Course: How to Build a Company by Jason Mendelson followed with a “Start-up Internships” networking event for local startups looking for CU students interested in internship opportunities. 

Here’s an easy one: 1+2-(3-4-5)*6*7*8-9 How about 1*(2+(3-4*(5/6-7))*8)*9 Or maybe 1+2345*6/7+8-9 Or (1-(23+4)*5)*(6/(7-8)-9 Maybe .1+23*(45+6*7)+8+.9 Even 1-(.2+(3+.4)*(5+67))*(.8-9) If you love numbers and are excited about 2010, you’ll get a kick out of the cool 2010 page by Nadav Samet (surprise – he works for Google.) (Thanks SMoody!)