I heard a “superb” cynical statement today. I have no idea if it is factually correct, have no data (empirical or anecdotal) to support it, but it is such a great potential example of unintended consequences that I thought it was worth putting out there. The statement was “While hybrid vehicles make us feel better, they actually do more harm than good because they result in more driving.” The follow up thought is that for hybrid cars to really work (at today’s efficiency levels), people still need to modify their behavior and drive less (e.g. relying on public transportation or carpooling.) However, once you’ve bought a hybrid, you suddenly feel like you are doing your part and subsequently drive more! This additional driving adds up across the system and increases total system fuel (and other resource) consumption.

I’ve got three great posts for you this morning to interrupt the long essays that my marathon addled brain has been pumping out. First Mover vs Fast Follower – Who wins? Don Dodge reprints a story he wrote three years ago about whether being first wins or being a fast follower wins. He adds some useful nuances for any entrepreneur (or VC) that is obsessed with the “we have to be first to market to win”, “#1 takes most of the market, #2 takes the rest, and #3 to #n don’t matter”, and other such cliches.

There is a great Bill Gates email from January 2003 titled Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame that is making the rounds on the web. I love a good rant and even though this one is dated, Gates says in great detail what a large number of Windows users have summarized over the years as “shit – why won’t my damn computer do .” I’m a heavy computer user and have some variation of this thought on a daily basis. One of my special talents is finding bugs and breaking things – just ask any of the companies that I’ve invested in who their most “useful” (where useful is a euphemism for “annoying”) alpha tester is. Think of me as helping improve software quality on planet earth.

One of this year’s TechStar’s companies – Devver – is building web-service tools for Ruby developers. They are taking the tools that Rudy developers already use and putting them into the cloud, adding benefits like faster execution, easy setup and configuration, and change management. Devver is currently looking for feedback from Rubyists on the types of tools that would be most useful. You can help them out by filling out their survey.

I haven’t shopped at J.C. Penney – well – ever. I imagine my mom bought me some clothes from there since I grew up in Dallas (J.C. Penney’s headquarters). If you’ve missed it, the best J.C. Penney Ad ever is making the rounds on the Internet. I heard about it this morning on my drive in on NPR (right before, or right after something about Dow Chemical raising all prices 25% this month due to inflation). I couldn’t stop laughing when I heard that “executives at J.C. Penney are furious about the ad” and are trying to get it removed from the Internet. Good luck with that. Oh – by the way – great ad – especially in a family values election year.

I’ve been keeping my eyes out for one of these. I hope my friends at Microsoft have been also. Apparently the New South Wales Department of Education and Training (that would be Australia) just dumped Microsoft Outlook/Exchange in favor of Gmail. Before you say “ho hum – it’s only Australia” or “it’s not enterprise – it’s only academia”, let’s look at the numbers. 1.3m seats Previous cost to implement Outlook/Exchange: $33m ($AU) over three years New cost to implement Gmail: $9m ($AU) over three years Outlook/Exchange storage/mailbox: 35MB Gmail storage/mailbox: 6GB Weekly emails sent: over 300k That’s a non-trivial install. (via TechCrunch)

Here’s an interesting stat. The Rocky Mountain News states that Boulder ranks No. 2 among ‘cybercities’ with 230 high-tech works per 1,000*.* This is according to a study by the American Electronics Association. The top five are: San Jose/Silicon Valley: 286 Boulder: 230 Huntsville, AL: 188 Durham, NC: 156 Washington: 132 It’s a strange list, especially since San Jose/Silicon Valley isn’t actually a city! Just more proof that you can come up with a list for pretty much any measurement you want. I wonder if this counts all the folks on laptops hanging out all day at Trident.

Having been an entrepreneur and VC for over 20 years, I’ve now seen plenty of economic cycles – both at a macro level and specifically in the areas I invest in. As a result, I smiled when I received three conflicting pieces of information today from two people I know and like and one person that I don’t know but know is respected. Matt McCall at DFJ Portage calls the current VC cycle “dead” as of Q2 2008 in Rough Ride Ahead: Buckle Up & Get Your Money Now (if you can). He says it with conviction, although he does acknowledge that he hopes he is Peter the Wolf.

I spent the weekend in Duluth, Minnesota with Amy knocking off Marathon #11 in my quest to run a marathon in all 50 states. #11 was Grandma’s Marathon, consistently one of the best regarded marathons in the US. After a couple of frustrating marathons, including a steadily escalating personal worst, I put some effort into training for Grandma’s. My goal was modest – break 5 hours. Since my PR is currently 4:05, this felt achievable.