Tretakoff Musings

As Bill Maher likes to call Fantasy Football, I finished 2nd this year, my best finish since 2007. This year, I started with the stalwart Tony Romo and Chris Johnson, and ended up relying on Josh Freeman and DeSean Jackson to upset the #'s 4 and 1 seeds to the eventual 11 point defeat in the Championship. Luckily, since there was some $ on the line, it might help to cover the side bet of lunch and a bottle of wine I will be paying out to the perennial champion, Steve. Congrats to Dread, but remember: it's not just revenge I'll be after; it's a reckoning.

I was a little surprised today when I went on to Netflix to send a recommendation on a movie with a friend. My instinct was to simply pull up the page for the movie and click on the ubiquitous "Share" button that is on every news story, e-commerce page, and yes, even this blog. Surprisingly, it wasn't even there. In poking around the site, I found the message you see here: Netflix has actually pulled their social efforts. Now, it ain't all as insane as it sounds. For instance, Netflix has connected with Facebook, allowing yoru Facebook feed to be spammed with all of your movie ratings. But here's what surprises me: Netflix recently reported that they now streaming first, DVD delivery second . 60% of their subscribers stream content now, including my mother! Now, imagine I could simply identify them as friends, have them allow it (as they did previously with the social experience), and I could actually add the movie to their streaming queue. Perhaps it could sho...

Wow. Been a while! Guess that's what happens when you join one of the fastest growing companies in the hottest spaces. :-) Ok, time for a few updates and minor rants: The company I started with two great folks, Loyalty Lab, has been acquired by Tibco . I'm delighted for them, as it's a great partnership to ensure the ongoing growth of Retail CRM. It was seven years of long hard work, but I could not be more pleased for everyone there. Well done, guys! My company, TownHog , has taken off. We are now reaching 6 million people daily , and are at just under 50 people, while being present in about 20 cities. It's been an absolute rocket ride, and it keeps going up. So much fun, and two new partner launches upcoming! My travels have slowed down a bit, but I expect to be back in NYC quite often now, with so many partners there. United continues to lavish affection on me... I've learned the incredible value of StreamTransport , some software that allows you to pull dow...

I caught Inception this week. I'm a big fan of Chris Nolan, as well as movies that attempt to question the nature of reality, so I had high hopes. I'm pleased to say that it was all I hoped for, and more. Quite possibly, one of the best movies of the genre made. And, because of events that have transpired in my professional and personal life recently, all the more resonant. Don't worry, no reviews or spoilers here, but at its essence, the movie asks the question: what if life as we experience it, was no more real than a dream? This is rich territory, and usually is explored in sci-fi as "alternate realities" and the like, and it's my favorite genre. In movies, there are some great examples: The Matrix , which, until Inception , was the reigning champ. Disguised by black leather outfits, incredible slo-mo gunplay, and kung-fu, this movie was a thinly veiled retelling of Buddhist philosophy, in the form of a sci-fi action adventure. And it still kicks ass. ...

Precipitated by a rapid degradation of my longtime Subaru, I recently indulged an early midlife crisis, replacing the all-wheel drive workhorse with the realistic car of my dreams, the Pontiac Solstice GXP . This 2-seater convertible is a blast to drive, and makes days that I don't make it onto the bike a commuting joy. In fact, the only downside of the Solstice is the wind noise: having a cell conversation is nearly impossible at highway speeds. I know, you are saying "get off the phone!" However, there are days I need to do early conference calls, and having to be trapped until the call ends is not my idea of fun. So, what to do? First up, the Plantronics Voyager Pro Bluetooth Headset from Amazon. Of the traditional BT headsets, I had already tried the Jawbone, as well as BlueAnt's offerings, all of which claim to have the ultimate in wind protection, and all of which most definitely do not. But the Plantronics was willing to go one step beyond: a video from the ...

Many people didn't like Plaxo ; I'm an exception. I loved that it pulled everything together: contacts, social, even staying in sync. But, as I wrote before , they were permanently stung with the "bac'n" problem: they spammed your friends on behalf of you, to try to build the network: once that happened, there was little to recover. Luckily, Comcast purchased them for address book migration, so they soldiered on. Actually, they did far more: they built a FriendFeed like service, added premium options, and continued to innovate. Many people, myself included, wondered what the Comcast purchase would do to contribute to that innovation. When word leaked at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference that the team would be debuting a new service, TunerFish, it sounded like a perfect marriage: Comcast's TV and Plaxo's social media. The details were vague, but they promised "one click social sharing of what you were watching." I eagerly signed up, as it...

I recently stayed at the New Yorker Hotel in (yes, you guessed it) New York City. It was a spectacular surprise; I had thought I had a room at the W, but fumbled my bookings. So there I am, in NYC, needing a hotel for the night. I fired up my Hotels.com HotelsNearMe app on the iPhone while I grabbed a bite to eat, and it showed me The New Yorker Hotel. Location good, price great, reviews good. OK, I'm in. I arrived very late, having been out with clients all night. The lobby was great: very deco and modern, all at the same time. Evokes classic NYC without feeling old in any way. The desk clerk was very nice, and checked me in. We chatted a bit, and he smiled, then said, "Sir, I'm going to upgrade your room to one with a balcony." I thanked him, a bit bemused why a balcony made all the difference; after all, most hotels I stay at have the sliver of a cement slab they call a balcony. But I was tired, and appreciated his enthusiasm. I took my key, and headed up to the...