Barcode Hero Checks In

barcodehero_logoFoursquare made popular the concept of the “check in,” where individuals “check in” to locations as they travel about town, earning points and badges while they do it.  It is both social networking and social gaming, and it’s fun.

On this front, I’ve recently become addicted to Barcode Hero for the iPhone, a new app from Kima Labs and founded by a couple of friends of mine, Blake Scholl and Jason Crawford.  These are smart guys and the first version of their app is all the proof you’ll need to see they are seasoned pros. Continue reading

The False Hope of Failure

Failure is a buzz word in today’s fast and frenzied Internet startup world.  Many are focusing on it, saying not to be intimidated by it.  While the intention is good, the growing focus on failure is a false hope that cannot bring success by itself. Continue reading

Movie Reviews and Ratings

Ratings by movie reviewers are ubiquitous, from thumbs up or down to a star-rating system or any kind of sliding point system. Are they a waste of time that should be avoided and abolished, a necessary marketing tool to pull readers in to read reviews, or an objective measurement of the reviewer’s overall evaluation of a movie?

During my days as Managing Partner at Box Office Mojo, when the site still published movie reviews, we struggled with this question. Initially we used a letter grade scoring system. Continue reading