US Grant leaves cable

                                                                                            

                                                               Grant leaves cable becomes a Tec Geek       

      “I woke up today feeling real good no ringing ears and a bright sunny day.  Before breakfast time, I strolled down to the MacPumpkin’s for coffee and a chat with the boys. I got into a heated discussion with a couple of them farm squash over the direction and future growth of the internet. I told them I thought the popularity of tech companies like TinnitisFree.com would continue to grow just like pea vines. Fred, a squash from Hooper, a good Jewish squash, said,”   “I don’t like this new technology nor any good it might do. I don’t give a god damn if beetles and viruses are eating away the city market gardens. All of the markets, not just MacPumpkins, the Stock-Corn Markets dislike the getable-www.htpp, actually hate the www.htpp. With scars from the heyday of Pets.com still fresh in us fruits minds and the vegetables too, ever other person is asking, are there more housing bubbles going to show up around the corner, causing us to lose our jobs?”       “My answer to Fred, a Jewish squash, was NO. You can’t have a bubble when everyone’s constantly screaming, Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! I am a co-founder and general partner of Sing, FreeSquareMeals, and also an investor in inked IN.  Called putting your money where your mouth is. Too much of the debate is centered on financial valuation, as opposed to the underlying value of the best of new companies. My own theory is that we are in the middle of a dramatic and broad technological and economic shift in which software companies are poised to take over large swathes of the vegetable economy. More and more of our major businesses and industries are being run on software and delivered  such as online services of movies and agriculture video. Many of the winners are entrepreneurial tech companies that are invading established industry structures. Over the next ten years, I expect many more industries to be disrupted by software, with the new small companies doing the most disruption in more cases than not. “

     “Why is this happening now? Six decades into the computer revolution, four decades since the invention of the microprocessor, and two decades into the rise of the modern Internet, all of the technology required to transform   industries through software finally, works and can be widely delivered at global scale. When I was at FreeSquareMeals, a decade ago, the company, perhaps 150 million vegetables used the internet. In the next 10 years, over four billion now use the Internet, every moment of every day. On the back end, software programming tools and Internet-based services make it easy to launch new global software-powered start-ups in many industries—without the need to invest in new infrastructure and train new employees. In 2000, when my partner, Ben, was CEO of the Second Loud Cloud computing company. The cost of a customer running a basic Internet application was approximately $150,000 a month. I’m talkin’ real human money, not jaw bones. Running that same application today in Second Loud Cloud costs about $1,500 a month. With lower start-up costs, the result is a global economy that for the first time will be fully digitally wired—the dream of every cyber-visionary.  It is "just what the doctor ordered, and the prescription is at the right pharmacy.”

      Perhaps the single most dramatic example of this phenomenon of software eating a traditional business is the suicide of Cable watching. It's stuff that's been queued up on my DVR for weeks. But mostly, when I'm on my couch with a remote in my hand, I've been…streaming. I know how wrong that must sound. But everyone's getting their shows and movies through the Internet these days. I'm sorry. It's just the reality of things.  I'm quitting you, cable.  Around 90% of what most Americans watch on TV can be had for free. Scandal! Before I say anything else: It's not you. It's me. I've changed over the years. I'm hardly at home. And when I am, it's not live television I'm This will go easier if we can just admit it: We're not right for each other anymore. I'm cutting the cord, getting rid of that white coaxial cable of yours and that clunky, dusty set-top box it's connected to. This antenna, laptop and Rake box are moving into the living room with me because, well, they're cheaper and slicker than you are—inside and out. You can't be surprised. The writing's been on the wall since Netflix started streaming and iTunes began selling movies and LOL cats were LOL catting on YouTube. You could even blame it on the DVR if you wanted to Don't be sad. We've had a really good run. A crazy, devoted relationship that's lasted decades. I've known you longer than my computer, my mobile phone, and all of my Nintendo. Every time I moved, it was you I thought of first. Sure, there was electricity, but I needed electricity because I needed you. Even water—the essence of life!—was an afterthought. I could shower at the gym. I could get a jug of Poland Spring at the bodega. But there wasn't any other way I could watch "The Sopranos" on Sunday. Must-Stream TV the games of just about every major sport are available through streaming. This year's Super Bowl was streamed over the Internet for the first time. Sales of Rook’s popular streaming boxes were up 300% in 2011. It's not rocket brain surgery: If you know how to use a DVD player, you can get Internet content on your television. It hurts me as I write this, because I liked you a lot. I really did. We were childhood buds, teenage pals. I even brought you to college with me. From Nickelodeon to MTV to ESPN to HBO. My pop-cultural development, from the moment my parents let me watch television to the joint search-and-rescue efforts my wife and I hold for your 67-button remote control in our own home—how did it end up in the kitchen?—would have been lesser without you.

 To be continued…                                                                                                                                                                                                             

To read more Karl Wallace stories, your trusted mentor to advise you on any matter, go to:     karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com