Comment on The best music service you don’t know just got better by wonderwhy-er

Wow... Those SoundCloud examples are very impressive. Last.fm similarity channels don't come close to this. Now we need Google to buy then, add audio search in internet and add it to their sound storage service and integrate with Google+ stuff :D

Comment on The best music service you don’t know just got better by wonderwhy-er

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/07/14/the-best-music-service-you-don%e2%80%99t-know-just-got-better/#comment-639265

Hey, Look: Foursquare Finally Got A Real Office In San Francisco

Foursquare's New York headquarters are pretty awesome. Its satellite office in SF hasn't been.

Foursquare used to share Square's space in the old SF Chronicle building. When Square got too big, Foursquare moved to a small shared room in the basement with a couple of other startups.

This week, Foursquare finally made the move to a real office -- a classic old warehouse south of Market. There are only about 15 full-time employees out in California, but the company is growing fast and wants to recruit more talent from Silicon Valley. And a lot of Californians don't want to move to New York.

Last night the company had a party to celebrate its new location, and we got a tour of the aftermath this morning.

The new space is on one of the small alleys south of Market Street in SF. Supposedly they're named after famous Gold Rush era madams.

Weird -- looks like a garage is here.

The actual office is upstairs.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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See Also:

• An Insider Tour Of Facebook's New, Still Under Construction Menlo Park Offices
• 15 Unintentionally Inappropriate Domain Names
• What It's Like To Be A Foursquare Intern

Hey, Look: Foursquare Finally Got A Real Office In San Francisco

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Google Apps Just Got A Brand New Look [PHOTOS] (GOOG)

Google Calendar got a very attractive refresh today. It looks like Google is starting to streamline its design to match Google+.

See for yourself. It's pretty:

Here's what the new Google Maps looks like:

Don't Miss: Our Complete Tour Of Google+

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Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Finally! Skype Gets Video Chat On Android
• BLAST FROM THE PAST: Check Out These Extinct Operating Systems That Time Forgot
• Google's Driverless Cars Are Now Legal In Nevada

Google Apps Just Got A Brand New Look [PHOTOS] (GOOG)

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/rIzeut0-W3o/new-google-calendar-2011-6

How Twitter Got Desperate Enough To Hire Two Part-Timers To Lead Product

Twitter's new executive chairman and product leader, Jack Dorsey, is also the fulltime CEO of another startup, Square.

Twitter's new director of product management, Satya Patel, will also be splitting his professional time with another concern – Battery Ventures, where he'll continue working as an advisor to portfolio companies.

Is Twitter really in such desperate shape that it's willing to hire product leaders who want to maintain other jobs?

In a word: Yes.

Here's an anecdote to illustrate how badly things are messed up over there right now.

Remember that whole "#Dickbar" controversy, where Twitter updated its iPhone app so that a "QuickBar" showing Twitter trends and ads would show up in every users Twitter stream?

People hated it.

They hated it for two reasons – one less fair than the other.

The unfair reason: the QuickBar put ads in the Twitter stream. That's unfair because you had to know ads were coming.

The fair reason: the QuickBar put Twitter's useless, crass, and irrelevant "trends" in every user's face. 

Instapaper creator and UI genius Marco Arment hit this complaint hard, writing, "It’s a news ticker limited to one-word items, lacking any context, broadcasting mostly topics that I don’t understand, recognize, or care about. It’s nonsensical. At worst, it can offend. At best, it will confuse."

Anyway, the #DickBar was not good. But that's not the point. Even companies with good product teams launch sucky products sometimes.

The fact that indicates Twitter's whole product process is in bad shape is this: A source briefed on the ordeal tells us that the QuickBar was launched, essentially out of the blue, by a junior product manager – without any review from the company's senior leadership. Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO and #DickBar namesake, is said to have been livid after the ensuing controversy.

Whoops.

How did #DickBar happen?

Apparently, Twitter has a very horizontal org-structure. The reason Twitter has such a structure, say observers, is because "that's the way Facebook does it."

Of course, what Facebook has and Twitter does not, is Mark Zuckerberg – a senior executive and product visionary who is comfortable getting elbow deep in product development. In fact, after Ev Williams stepped down as Twitter CEO last fall – and his top product lieutenant, Jason Goldman, followed suit – Twitter had almost zero product leadership at all.

The good news is that, in Jack Dorsey and Satya Patel, Twitter now has that kind of leadership.

The bad news is that it has it on a part-time basis.

We reached out to Twitter to discuss this story but we never heard back.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Twitter In Negotiations To Bring Jack Dorsey Back As Chief Product Officer
• HERE IT IS: Jack Dorsey's Three-Part Plan To Fix Twitter
• LOOMING DISASTER: Jack Dorsey's Return To Twitter -- The SAIcast

How Twitter Got Desperate Enough To Hire Two Part-Timers To Lead Product

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This Is The Application That Got Me A Job Interview With Google

If you read about my nightmare interviews with Google, then you know I bombed them.

But two years later I ran into one of my interviewers. He recognized my name at a conference and said, "I remember your application. I've never seen anything like it."

Even though I buckled under the pressure, I had an application that got me remembered and got my foot in the door.

Depending on where you want to work, applications don't have to be traditional and boring. They need to stand out from clutter and showcase your skills, much like business cards. 

If it helps, here is what worked for me.

This is the application cover I created for Google with things about myself (because Google says they really like diversity and personality):

And here's the cover letter I designed to match their marketing materials.

If you want to nail the Google inteview process, make sure you know how to answer these 15 Google Interview Questions That Will Make You Feel Stupid >>

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This Is The Application That Got Me A Job Interview With Google

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