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 Wrapping up a great weekend, today I sailed in Westlake Yacht Club's trick or treat regatta, crewing for my 11-year-old friend Will. Was pretty much a perfect ending... but meanwhile, it's all happening...
I'm going back in time for this one: Russell Beattie's post from September 2013, in which he announced his decision to stop building a feed reader and to join Amazon's Lab126. That's the team that have built the Fire Phone, and I have to believe Russell was a big part of it. Cool. 
Google's Eric Schmidt: "really, our biggest search competitor is Amazon". It's a great post - check it out, there's a lot more - but this is such an interesting point. I honestly think more companies feel Amazon is their biggest competitor than any other, and that includes Wal-Mart in retail and Google themselves in tech. I wouldn't even be surprised if Facebook thinks Amazon is a competitor :)
Do you consider yourself liberal or conservative? It might just be your name. According to this I'm moderately conservative, which seems right...
 Watch the Hobbit trilogy in 72 seconds - in animated Lego. Excellent! (I can't believe the time people have for these sorts of things ... but I'm so glad they do!)
WSJ: Never mind software ... mobile is eating the world. "For all the recent growth in tech, today’s companies still have tremendous opportunity. Amazon, for instance, represents just 1% of total US retail." Um, just 1%? That's amazing.
The other day I bemoaned the lack of desktop apps... Cult of Mac says the Mac App Store is broken, and developers are sick of it. That isn't the entire problem, but it's certainly part of it. The Microsoft Windows Store is a ghost town.
 But meanwhile: Tumblr debuts its first desktop app on the Mac App Store. Could this be the start of a new trend?
But ... don't get used to Mobile Apps - their days are obviously numbered. Hmmm... it feels like this should be right, but it isn't happening. At least not yet.
Here's a nice survey: the shifting landscape of mobile. In which reports of the death of mobile apps are apparently somewhat exaggerated ... (lot's of great data in this article).
 Mobile App of the day: point your phone at math problems and PhotoMath solves them. Way cool, a perfect use of Visual Search technology.
And speaking of mobile apps: Yelp has strong Q3, 45% of reviews now from mobile. I'm surprised it's only 45%, but of course, it's growing...
 And finally and crucially: Why 2014 is the year of the ginger cat. I haven't yet seen Boris in Gone Girl, but I will!
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Yesterday I had the honor and pleasure of acting as best man for my great and longtime friend Peter, in a beautiful wedding ceremony at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica. It was a fantastic event, a chance to hang out at a wonderful resort and to see many old friends and make some new ones, a time to laugh and dance, and most of all a celebration as two people who genuinely love each other vowed to spent the rest of their lives together.
The best thing about weddings and funerals and other people's life events is the way it gives you a chance to think about your own life, and put it into perspective. I can't say I've enjoyed all the funerals I've been to (and fortunately I haven't been to that many) but surprisingly they each seem to have left a philosophical mark. 
