News Panel: Jason Nazar & James Altucher #175

Friday

Aug052011

Friday, August 5, 2011 at 02:06PM

News Panel: Jason Nazar & James Altucher #175

TWiST #175 News Roundtable with Jason Nazar and James Altucher
Bad behavior abounds in this week’s TWiST News Roundtable! Airbnb’s apology debacle, Google shutting out Twitter data and LinkedIn making users jump through hoops to cancel--just for starters. Find out what guests Jason Nazar and James Altucher had to say about these tech offenders.

0:00-1:30 Welcome everyone to the TWiST Roundtable News Panel.
1:30-4:00 A big announcement about the TWiST Backchannel: we’ve added three new level: Superfan, Fan and Broke-Ass Fan. Go to twistlist.co to pick the level that’s right for you.
4:00-5:30 Does Docstoc have a mailing list? You should use MailChimp. Thank you to MailChimp for sponsoring the show. Everyone try out the free plan at Mailchimp.com.
5:30-6:00 Welcome to blogger and entrepreneur James Altucher.
6:00-7:30 Welcome to Jason Nazar, co-founder of Docstoc.
7:30-9:00 Let’s start with Airbnb’s apology post. Has Airbnb messed this up with their response? (Read more about the Airbnb debacle on LAUNCH.)
9:00-10:00 The problem is no one can really know if this woman got screwed over or if she’s out for attention.
10:00-11:45 James: I disagree, I think Airbnb’s response was poor and their damage control hasn’t been sufficient.
11:45-13:00 Jason N.: How many hotel rooms get completely trashed?
13:00-14:00 Why would a person who doesn’t need to save money rent a room on Airbnb?
14:00-16:00 Tyler, would you stay at the cheapest place in Culver City for $20 a night?
16:00-18:15 James: You can’t compare a hotel room to someone’s house.
18:15-19:00 You would never rent out your place, even if you had a second home?
19:00-22:00 Let’s talk about Google and Microsoft’s fight. What do you think--who is right and who is wrong?
22:00-23:30 We need reform based on the length of the patent and reasonable licensing fees.
23:30-25:30 Google has also announced that they’re re-releasing their realtime search product--minus Twitter data. Real realtime search without Twitter be relevant at all, James?
25:30-26:30 Is this an example of, if you don’t take Google’s offer for something, they’ll set out to destroy you?
26:30-27:00 Is Google becoming increasingly vindictive?
27:00-28:30 Should they allow Google to put answers in their search results?
28:30-29:00 Jason N.: Doesn’t everyone love Google+?
29:00-30:45 Thank you to Carbonite for sponsoring the show. Go to Carbonite.com to sign up.
30:45-33:45 Let’s talk about the announcement of the Lockerz raise. What do you think of their business model and what do they need the money for?
33:45-35:00 So what do I do with my points? Is it sort of like Groupon?
35:00-36:00 Does this attract scammers?
36:00-36:30 Tyler demonstrates the types of deals available on Lockerz.
36:30-37:30 What’s the real-world equivalent of this, James?
37:30-39:00 Is this filling seats with people that companies don’t want to have relationships with?
39:00-41:00 LinkedIn released their quarterly earnings and saw their stock get a boost.
41:00-41:45 Give me the exact number of what you think the LinkedIn stock is worth, James?
41:45-43:00 Jason Nazar, you disagree? What do you think it’s worth?
43:00-44:30 What would LinkedIn have to make next year or five years for now to make its stock worth its current value?
44:30-46:00 But who else has a resume database today?
46:00-47:30 Google+’s send an email feature is like LinkedIn’s “In Mail”--but for free.
47:30-48:15 James: I don’t think LinkedIn is doing anything wrong with making people to call to cancel their subscription. (Read more about how LinkedIn is making it difficult for users to downgrade their subscriptions.)
48:15-50:00 Jason demos the cancellation procedure at LinkedIn.
50:00-51:30 Jason N.: It’s not outrageous. It’s bad UI.
51:30-53:45 What do you think, James? What about Facebook’s similar issues?
53:45-55:15 Time Inc. announced that all of their 21 magazine titles will come to tablets by the end of the year. Is this way too little, way too late?
55:15-56:30 Jason plays Taps for the death of the magazine app.
56:30-57:30 Why are they just now getting their titles on tablets?
57:30-58:00 What’s the last long-form, intelligent piece you read about technology?
59:30-1:00:00 Ashton Kutcher’s character on Two and a Half Men will be an Internet entrepreneur. Will this bring more awareness to startups if he name drops them?
1:00:00-1:02:30 Insight from Tyler: It’s like building Istanbul.
1:02:30-1:04:00 Instagram has hit 150 million photos uploaded, with 1.3 million new photos uploaded each day. What’s the secret to their crazy level of adoption?
1:04:00-1:05:00 Apple announced this week that they ship more smartphones than any other manufacturer. Is this another pointless number milestone?
1:05:00-1:06:00 Are Android phones going to be better phones than iPhones?
1:06:00-1:07:15 Jason N.: The big difference is that everyone on iPhone is going to stay on their iPhone for a long time to come.
1:07:15-1:08:00 Are unemployed people buying smartphones with their unemployment money?
1:08:00-1:10:00 Would you let people use their food stamps for iPhones, James?
1:10:00-1:13:00 I might find out who are the weakest performing people in the business and replace them with top performers.
1:13:00-1:14:45 Tyler: Is the real concern the dollar more than the market?
1:14:45-1:16:00 I think that's right because people are living in smaller places and keeping cars longer.
1:16:00-1:17:00 The issue is that individuals are not in that much debt and they’re not spending that much.
1:17:00-1:17:45 Would you pay more taxes to make the country fiscally more healthy, Jason?
1:17:45-1:18:30 James, are you willing to pay more taxes?
1:18:30-1:19:15 Thank you to everyone. Check out Docstoc.com and Ranker.com. We’ll see you next time.
1:19:15- Thank you to MailChimp and Carbonite.

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