The New York Times had this piece on May 8th highlighting Netflix’s monthly stock option award schemes. Another bullish part in the same article is worth highlighting: “A new adversary sounds intimidated. Charlie Ergen, whose Dish Network bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy, says he does not plan to challenge Netflix on streaming because of its ‘insurmountable lead’.”

We’ve posted before on Netflix:

Recommendation software in Brazil – Dec. 10th, 2010

Two tidbits on Cisco – November 4th, 2010 – An article titled “Will Netflix destroy the Internet” has us thinking about the implications for Cisco, but it’s a nice reminder of the data-intensive aspect of Netflix.

Two small updates – Aug. 13th, 2010 – The second update is about “creative destruction” at Netflix.

Netflix doing the right things at the right time – Oct. 5th, 2009 – However, as we’d post on March 15th 2010, not always…

Netflix’s smart crowdsourcing initiative – Sept. 22nd, 2009 – The Netflix challenge was a pioneer crowdsourcing initiative that yielded success and quite a lot of “brand/business clout”.

Our previous posts on the subject:

New Year’s Eve bonus: Groupon (Dec. 31st, 2010) – Our massive collection of Groupon-related articles and videos. We wanted to gather as much relevant material as possible in the arena.

Facebook and Local Deals (Jan. 28th, 2011) – Facebook can’t be ignored.

Other sources (don’t miss the video!):

Mosaico buys 40% of ClickOn – InvestInBrazil.biz, May 4th – Nice summary and interviews with the CEOs of Mosaico and ClickOn.

Peixe Urbano’s official press release in English – Reuters, May 6th – A bit more color and numbers, but not the relevant ones.

Benchmark Capital acquires stake in Peixe Urbano – TechCrunch, Jan. 12th

Must-see video interview with Julio Vasconcellos, CEO of Peixe Urbano, on TechCrunch on July 29, 2010. (6:49).

Very interesting story in the NYT this Sunday: how the Web is making it easier to fund/ develop companies that aren’t web-based at all, and actually make tangible products. It reminded us of a conversation we had internally last Tuesday about “open-source chips” and other electronic hardware available for a fraction of the cost of a few years ago, and how much easier it is nowadays to build prototypes. All that was needed was a way to organize like-minded people and help their ideas find interested investors, however tiny the capital needs. No longer. In the words of an MIT professor, “The situation resembles the way that anyone with a laptop and an Internet connection can now start a Web-based company” – and we all know what innovation and wealth creation can come out of that “mold”.

TED Talk by Marcin Jakubowski on “Open-sourced blueprints for civilization” – Feb 2011 (4:11)

We’ve stumbled upon a series of videos by Bloomberg Television on Game Changers, and the first episode we saw is fantastic and profiles Steve Jobs. There are many interesting moments and lessons, but one that stuck with us is about the power of ideas and the inspiration/ motivation they bring – not just to potential customers but, in Apple’s case at a time when morale was at the lowest point, also internally. That’s when the team finally “awoke” and all that brilliance in engineering/ product design/ marketing was brought together to create, as a VC says in the video, “the greatest comeback in corporate history”.

We also highlight two groundbreaking and extremely timely TV spots that changed Apple’s history – and more.

Bloomberg Game Changers, Episode 2: Steve Jobs (47:39)

The 1984 Macintosh launch spot on Superbowl Sunday, 1984. Directed by Ridley Scott and shown just on that occasion, it’s considered one of the best TV ads of all time:

This is a pearl of a video. A 1983 Steve Jobs keynote explains the “1984″ ad context – and then shows it to a spellbound audience of (admittedly) Apple fans:

The second TV ad is “Here’s to the crazy ones”, and came at a time when Apple was in trouble and Steve Jobs had just been brought back as interim CEO. As one guy argues in the Bloomberg video, it’s almost as if the ad was directed more for the people at Apple than for the “outsiders”.

Finally: Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005. Brilliant.

UPDATE: we received requests and suggestions by our readers, so we post two new and impressive videos:

A young Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh in 1984 (5:11):

This is another version of the 1983 keynote we have already posted above, but after that part there’s a skilfully-edited section of the TV coverage of the Mac launch at the time. Very interesting stuff (9:55):

Two: The South Korean government apparently isn’t satisfied with its citizens’ access to the Internet. Now it’s promising 1 Gbps – yes, that’s a “G” for gigabit – for every household by 2012. What kinds of experiments and business models may arise from these speeds? Brazil has come a long way in the last 15-20 years, but this is a great reminder of how much time we’ve lost.

In today’s piece we’re posting two updates about different subjects: crowdsourcing and e-publishing/ the “Web is dead” debate.

Crowdsourcing: This article regards cash-strapped academia enlisting volunteers via the web to help in different projects – leveraging, “if not the wisdom of the crowd, then at least its fingers, inviting anyone – yes, that means you – to help transcribe some of the 40,000 manuscripts (…)” – manuscripts by philosopher Jeremy Bentham in this case. This type of crowdsourcing is more in line with Wikipedia and perhaps even SETI@home. Makes us wonder what sort of opportunities we’re missing in Brazil.

The other article regards e-publishing and the whole “Web is Dead” debate. The latest entry is written by Steven Johnson, of “Where Good Ideas Come From” fame (we’ve posted about it here), and he argues in favor of “web mirroring” of digital content – to allow for searching and cross-linking that really helps spread ideas and (just as importantly) connect from one idea to the next. In his words, “Writing articles in unlinkable environments in 2010 is like publishing a scholarly book in 1800 and refusing to allow it to appear in any library or bibliography anywhere in the world.”

Before we poke some fun at Facebook, here’s a thought: we do make fun of what’s relevant to us the more mainstream it gets, yet it doesn’t necessarily mark the end of an era. Think of Microsoft Windows, the OS we all have loved to hate for the last 25 years or so and it’s still there. The “winner takes all” aspect of the network effect in Facebook’s case is a fragile argument – what network are we talking about, and why will we have to interact with it the Facebook way? Just because we can’t see today what could topple Facebook, it doesn’t mean something – or likely a combination of “things” – won’t.

The 56-min interview on Web 2.0 Summit:

OK, here it is: when Mark Zuckerberg makes the cover of Time Magazine as “Person of the Year”, is this the peak for Facebook (via Big Picture blog)? Plus, two videos depicting one’s life story on Facebook in two very different ways – both sometimes funny, sometimes endearing but always interesting.

Facebook, the BOOK (1:11)

When Facebook becomes a book from Siavosh Zabeti on Vimeo.

A Life Told on Facebook (2:52) – this one is a little dark and has strong language, but it’s brilliant.

If Facebook existed years ago – the cockroach saying “whatever” to the meteor shower that supposedly killed the dinosaurs is worth the click.

An October 31st article in the New York Times tempers the “Web is dead” argument with numbers that show how the internet is still growing fast, and faster still in locations where apps and smartphones still have a long way to go. OK, we understand how the “average” may be tilted towards the Web in the short term, but this argument doesn’t change the fact that if the trend holds in the US and other developed nations, the emerging markets will eventually catch up. This article’s usefulness is also about linking to two other articles:

- This January 27th article about a “Splinternet” is one of the original “web is dead” manifestos. While Forrester Research is obviously interested in scaring people into buying whatever consulting project they have for this aspect, it doesn’t subtract from the trend – and yes, we’d love to read their full report. Amazingly enough, the article was written just before the iPad was unveiled, and here’s a follow-up article called “Proof that the Splinternet is real“.

- This article called “Closing the Digital Frontier” on the July/ August 2010 issue of The Atlantic Monthly goes back to the early years of the web and its neo-hippie inspirations of ultimate freedom. It’s a nice backdrop to all of the debate, and a reminder of how the content providers were sucked into the “free information now” idea and almost committed business suicide. It’s also amazing to read some of the grandiose statements of the hacker/ cyberworld/ netizen era of the early 1990′s and compare it to today’s models… Always good to think about early-stage technology’s promises and bold statements. There’s also an article called “Information wants to be paid for” that’s just a short manifesto in favor of the “freemium” model that appears to be emerging in the publishing business.