British Telecom Dials Up Da Vinci Code

Congratulations to Counterpane, which announced last week that it has been acquired by British Telecomm as part of the global carrier's campaign to deliver best-of-class security services to multi-national enterprises.

The company's founder, Bruce Schneier (whom Economist calls "the security guru") pitched me on his vision in 1999, but it was his book Secrets and Lies that compelled me to invest, along with Accel. (You can see many ideas from that book plagiarized in my blog posts.)

In fact, Bruce's position as CTO of the company seems to have captured Europe's attention--but not for his scholarly works, his media contributions, his cryptographic inventions, his widely read (125,000) newsletter Cryptogram and blog Schneier on Security, or his invention of the Security Monitoring Services industry. No, Britain is all atwitter because a fictional character in a novel once mentioned Bruce's name! That's the big story here, according to the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Times, and of course the Sun (pictured here).

Oddly they are also reporting a price on the company which is significantly under-stated (I don't know why). Anyway, it wasn't a home run for the investors, but it was a nice outcome.

Regardless, the company's success reflects heroic execution by CEO Paul Stich, VP Ops Doug Howard, VP Sales Kevin Senator, CFO Criss Harms and many others. Launched at the height of the bubble, the team scraped through the downturn years and emerged as the dominant independent company in the high end market for security monitoring services.

Technorati Tags: counterpane bruce+schneier schneier british+telecomm security+monitoring da+vinci+code
Blogged with Flock

Religion: Even Stevphens

As my readers know, I'm not a big link-poster--I post only when I think I have something original to say. (Of course, that leads to some awfully awkward silences, like most of October!) Though I do often fall in love with my own ideas, I post strictly original content for an entirely different reason--I personally find most link-posts disappointing and redundant, and I'm really not looking for volume (look, Ma, no ads!).

Of course, the only thing worse than a link-post is a link-post with a long-winded caption... like this one!

But the clip below just made me laugh too hard not to share it. Furthermore, with all the recent media recognition of the New Atheism, this video gives me unprecedented hope in the positive direction of our collective intellect.

Thanks to my friend Rabbi Alex Seinfeld for sending me this clip. If you happen to read Seinfeld's blog (and yes, he's related to Jerry), you might guess correctly that I'm Adam, the un-named atheist who pocket-calls the rabbi late at night.

Enjoy!!




Update: This video no longer works. It is a victim of Comedy Central's legal campaign to cleanse YouTube of copyright-infringing material--it appears that Viacom is sore at not being invited to the Big Payoff Party that Mark Cuban describes here. If Mark is right, the strategy was bound to backfire as copyright owners lined up for their payoff. YouTube couldn't license or issue stock grants to every potential claimant--the long tail of plaintiffs like this one is rather long.

I have been unable to find even a link to the content on Comedy Central's site. Suggestions are welcome.

New Update: According to this, Viacom is letting the clips run again on YouTube.

"Like our peers in the media industry, we are focused on finding the right business model for professionally created content to be legally distributed on the Internet," the statement read.

You can see the emphasis on "Like our peers," which means How come we didn't get a piece of the deal?

Disclosure: As I cast my little stones, I should disclose that any criticisms I have for YouTube may in fact stem from (i) Bessemer's investment in the copyright-respecting video service Revver, and (ii) insane jealousy at YouTube's great outcome.

Blogged with Flock

Richard Dawkins Coming to Kepler's!!!

Michael Shermer's brilliant appearance at Kepler's was such a sellout success for him that he helped us convince the great Richard Dawkins to squeeze Menlo Park into his latest book tour, tickets for which have been selling out across the country. Indeed, the Oxford University professor will appear at Kepler's this Sunday at 5:30pm to sign his latest book The God Delusion, and you don't need tickets.

Dawkins is the pre-eminent evolutionary scientist alive, having authored the classic exposition The Selfish Gene, as well as Unweaving the Rainbow, The Blind Watchmaker, and my personal anti-Bible A Devil's Chaplain. In his latest book, Dawkins coaxes the silent crowds of atheists out of the closet so we can reckon with obsolete religions that retard science, stifle educators, cripple government, outlaw stem cell research, promote terrorism, preclude peace, suppress women's rights, and impoverish the gullible. In its groundbreaking cover story this month, Wired calls Dawkins "the leading light of the New Atheism movement."

From Salon's abstract of their interview with Dawkins:

In the roiling debate between science and religion, it would be hard to exaggerate the enormous influence of Richard Dawkins. The British scientist is religion’s chief prosecutor — “Darwin’s rottweiler,” as one magazine called him — and quite likely the world’s most famous atheist. Speaking to the American Humanist Association, Dawkins once said, “I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.

Of course, no news is real news until Stephen Colbert says it is. Here's his interview this week with the "scientist who argues there is no God...with an eternity in Hell to prove it."


I expect that on Sunday Professor Dawkins will talk about his new Foundation For Reason and Science. I hope to see you all there, with plenty of books in hand for the rottweiler to sign.

Blogged with Flock

I Shouldn't Drink and Jive...

I'm in the back seat of a car connected by Verizon EVDO, on my way home from the happenning Business 2.0 Disruptors roundtable and party on the Hotel Vitale terrace. They served no dinner--only wine--so please excuse my spelling. (It's all a bit of a blur--I hope I didn't make any investments...)

Congrats to NextMedium and Zopa, two Bessemer companies named in Business 2.0's coverage of the top 11 disruptive startups. At tongiht's event, Paul McNamara told me about Coghead (backed by El Dorado), a hosted visual app development environment that sounds so cool I begged him to let me bypass the long line for Beta accounts.

I've always chided my kids for being disruptive--perhaps I should reconsider.

Blogged with Flock

Finding Vimo

Finding a short, meaningful, memorable and legally unencumbered trademark to name and brand an internet startup is obviously hard to do today, especially in the US where you need the precise .com domain name to prevent web leakage. Just as when we name our children, entrepreneurs must also avoid selecting names that evoke unintended meanings or nicknames. Chevrolet allegedly learned this lesson when it failed to sell the Chevy Nova (Spanish for "No Go") in South America.

So the folks at Healthia were happy to announce yesterday that they have selected a long term moniker for their company (and without retaining a "naming consultant"). The new name Vimo evokes:

(i) vim, as in health, vigor, and vitality;

(ii) the Gujarati word vimo, meaning insurance;

(iii) the Swahili vimo, meaning measurements and also stature;

and, most importantly

(iv) the urban slang vimo meaning sexy, cool and impeccable.

Vimo announced its new name as it launched several impressive new features of its free healthcare shopping portal (full details here). For example, the MyVimo service tracks your doctors for new patient reviews and disciplinary actions. And the insurance comparison tool identifies the particular plans your doctors accept (submit your age and gender here, and then filter the results based on your doctors).

For a limited time, get a free T-shirt from Vimo just for reviewing your doctor. While Vimo's portal will enhance your vigor, the shirt will make you sexy, cool and impeccable.

Blogged with Flock

If You Live In Massachusetts...

While I blog about the poor state of education in our society and the scientific illiteracy of our elected representatives, my friend and former business partner Chris Gabrieli is actually doing something about it. Let me tell you what he has done, and why you should vote for him this Tuesday Sept 19 to be the Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts.

Education. Chris has spent the better portion of the last six years raising over $35 million for after school program initiatives for Massachusetts children. In fact, this fall ten (10!) schools are providing longer school days for public school children - the first initiative of its kind in the United States - directly due to Chris's work through his non-profit Mass2020. He worked with the Democratic House and Senate, as well the Republican leadership to ensure that the program was funded. As the son of immigrants who came to this country with only their education, Chris and his brother were expected to produce the grades - and they did - and they both went on to carve out impressive careers in business and education (Chris’ brother, John is a professor at MIT). Chris realizes first hand the importance of a good education – and, as a father of five, feels personal responsibility to ensure this for all children throughout the state. He isn't just talking a good game - he's out there doing something about it.

Science: Chris is a scientist by training, but had to leave medical school to return to and save a family business in distress—a healthcare information systems company that he and his father ultimately took public. During Chris’ 15 year tenure at Bessemer, most of his venture capital investments were in cutting edge technology and medicine, resulting in over $1 billion invested in the economy and over 100,000 jobs. He understands the language and the ideas behind the types of innovation that will drive the future of Massachusetts’ economy- and is ready to act on them in order to pull Massachusetts out of its sluggish situation. In 2005, when Gov. Romney threatened to veto the stem cell research bill, Chris led the charge to ensure its enactment - paving the way for groundbreaking research in your state.

Having worked alongside Chris for many years, I'm thrilled at the prospect of an honest, brilliant, and effective candidate stepping up to public service (too bad he doesn’t live in California). I can tell you that the man genuinely cares about Massachusetts, as demonstrated by his volunteer activities over the last 8 years. He is not a partisan politician— Chris doesn't care from where or whom an idea comes, so long as it's a good idea. Building a tunnel that doesn't fall down is neither a Republican nor a Democratic idea - it's simply a good one. Educating our children for the twenty-first century economy is neither a Republican nor a Democratic idea - it's simply a good one. And electing a Governor with a proven track record in education, business, medicine and technology is neither a Republican nor a Democratic idea - it's simply a good one.

That’s why the registered Independents among you (who represent 49% of Massachusetts) should also exercise your right to vote in this Tuesday’s primary. (This will not affect your independent status.)

The roots of our nation’s scientific and academic communities are planted in Massachusetts. You deserve a Governor who will ensure that the next generation of Massachusetts citizens will learn, embrace, and perpetuate the state’s proud tradition of leadership in education and technology. So please email this message to your friends and neighbors, and take the time this Tuesday to vote for Chris.

Blogged with Flock

Shermer Coming to Kepler's!

I am already jittery at the thought of meeting author Michael Shermer, who will appear at Kepler’s Bookstore Sept 9 at 7:30pm to sign his latest book, Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design. I hope to be more articulate than my last encounter with a celebrity atheist.

Shermer is the editor of Skeptic Magazine, and founder of the Skeptics Society. He contributes a monthly column to Scientific American, and hosts the Skeptics Distinguished Lecture Series at Caltech, having featured Stephen Jay Gould, James Randi, Jared Diamond, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett. He produced the Fox Family TV series Exploring the Unknown, and he has written many life-changing books on science, including The Science of Good and Evil, Denying History (deconstructing Holocaust denial), The Borderlands of Science (debunking pseudo-science), Teach Your Child Science (a fun gift for parents), and—my first exposure ever to critical thinking—Why People Believe Weird Things.

An excerpt of his latest book is available here, in which Shermer explains logically why, according to a 2005 Pew Research Poll, 42 percent of Americans express strict Creationist views. Rather than try to un-convert the converted, Shermer proposes to reconcile evolution with theology (in a gesture that I find overly appeasing to superstition).

In fact, Shermer has long been an effective champion of fostering science education, which has come under fierce attack by Intelligent Design advocates, who all coincidentally happen to be highly vested in their religions. (Shermer, raised a Christian Creationist, had the intellectual courage to step out of line.) He should be encouraged by this week’s profile of brilliant skeptics titled The New Naysayers that appears in Newsweek, which has long pandered to the church.

I hope to see you at Kepler's on Saturday!

Blogged with Flock