test blog

I’ve been using “foursquare”:http://www.foursquare.com over the last month and typically like it. I received a few local offers from advertisers and took advantage of one for “discounted movie tickets”:http://twitter.com/dicarlo/status/5838524248. I’d like to see more local business offers within foursquare, but they have to be really useful too (discounts, free samples, etc). To track when the coupons are used, foursquare asks the user to check-in at the location, so they can easily track how a coupon campaign affects the advertiser’s check-ins (and sales). I actually think foursquare has lot in common with Groupon.com, which are both trying to tackle the local couponing opportunity.

In addition to selling ads/coupons to local merchants, Foursquare should recommend businesses to me based on member trends. For example, if a user visits the same coffee shop and grocery store as me, but goes to a chinese restaurant I don’t, foursquare can recommend the place for me to try. Or if that poses a security concern, you could recommend just based on my friends. These recommended places should definitely be listed on the local business pages, such as this one for “Carmines Restaurant”:http://foursquare.com/venue/83796. It also seems odd to me that the local business pages don’t have a rating system (like Yelp).

In no particular order, these were my favorite albums released this year. When I say favorite albums, it’s because I enjoy listening to the full play list, not just one or two songs off it.

Dark Was the Night
This album introduced me to a ton of new great artists — Bon Iver, Dirty Projectors, Yeasayer, & Sufjan Stevens to name a few.

Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
I have too many favorites off this album to name just one.

Grizzy Bear, Veckatimest
I bought this after hearing their track on Dark Was the Night.

Wilco, The Album
Another solid recording by Wilco.

Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
They’re like a French version of The Killers, but with more pop hooks, if you can actually believe that’s possible.

Jaydiohead
If you’re remotely into Radiohead and/or Jay-Z, then you’ll definitely like this album.

Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
Such a beautiful voice and lyrics.

M. Ward, Hold Time

And of course Jay Z, The Blueprint 3
The Yankees theme song of the summer and fall, plus there are a few other good tracks

Other artists high on my playlist in 2009 included Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Blitzen Trapper, The Decemberists, Jenny Lewis, Kings of Leon, MGMT, My morning Jacket, The National, & Vampire Weekend.

I’m looking to book a trip using Expedia, and their girl w/ headset gave me a flashback to the MacWarehouse mail order catalog from the late 90’s.

Expedia:

MacWarehouse:

I was chosen to ask a question at Gates/Buffett event today, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to fit everyone in. I’d estimate they only got through 1/4th of all questions.

CNBC has posted a couple of good clips from the event here:
“http://bit.ly/4C6BmN”:http://bit.ly/4C6BmN

I looked at Google Analytics tonight and noticed that more visitors on my site used Chrome than Safari this month. Although, what was actually more surprising is that Firefox was less popular than Explorer.

Here’ the breakdown of browsers used on my site for the last 30 days:

* Internet Explorer 46%
* Firefox 34%
* Chrome 9%
* Safari 8%
* Other 3%

When I check in on FourSquare it updates Twitter, which updates Facebook, which updates FriendFeed – none of which update my blog. I need to get that working, then I’ll never have to post again.

Columbia Business School runs an auction for selecting classes each semester. Students begin with 15,000 points when they enter Columbia and use them until they graduate. So you ideally want to spend all your bid points by the time you complete the required 60 credits.

The most popular classes at school can go for a lot of points. The first round of bidding for the fall semester took place last week and some courses went for well over 5,000 points. I spent 5,500 on High Performance Leadership and 1,000 on Entrepreneurial Finance with Dean Hubbard.

While the subject matter of the course is always an important factor, it’s the professor that makes classes expensive. I pick the top 6 or 7 classes I want to take, then choose the ones with the best professor. And if there is a great professor you can’t get or don’t bid enough for, you can usually audit the class for free.

Anyways, round two of the auction ends tomorrow, so I’m off to bid for my last class.

“HBO and Cinemax plan to begin streaming online with Comcast”:http://newteevee.com/2009/07/13/hbo-and-cinemax-going-online-with-comcast/ this summer, but only for existing subscribers. How long will it be until HBO begins accepting new subscriptions online (for those of us without a cable package)?