Most expensive grafitti of all time through Facebook IPO

Usually graffiti artist are recognizedas vandals disturbing the world clean look with their Art. They are not known for being the smartest folks. But this view may change in a few days.

David Choe paintings at Facebooks first headquarter may be woth north of $200M in a few days without being sold. How this works?

The Artist took stock for paintings at the company’s headquarters instead of cash. His payout may be $200 million by Facebook IPO. Some other investors, especially the early ones, may even make billions of dollars.

Taking stocks may be one of the smartest move in terms of early art valuation in history. Other than regular artists of his guild do, the Choe had a bright foresight or may he just was the lucky winner of a smart bet.

When Google went to market with its $1.67 billion I.P.O. in 2004, hundreds of people joined the millionaire ranks, including secretaries, a company masseuse and a company chef. This time you can also count in a modern-day renegade artist who uses to put up party pics of himself spending enormous amounts of money on alcohol on his facebook page. Just recently he promoted photos of a $40.000 bottle of alcohol; a single shot is $888, much more than I sent on drinks for a whole party crowd usualy

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/technology/for-founders-to-decorators-facebook-riches.html

How to fail keeping your companies talent

Whether it’s a high-profile tech company like Yahoo!, or a more established conglomerate like GE or Home Depot, large companies have a hard time keeping their best and brightest in house. Recently, GigaOM discussed the troubles at Yahoo! with a flat stock price, vested options for some of their best people, and the apparent free flow of VC dollars luring away some of their best people to do the start-up thing again.

Forbes just released their TOP10-List of “FAIL” in the sense of keeping talent:

1. Big Company Bureaucracy

2. Failing to Find a Project for the Talent that Ignites Their Passion

3. Poor Annual Performance Reviews

4. No Discussion around Career Development

5. Shifting Whims/Strategic Priorities

6. Lack of Accountability and/or telling them how to do their Jobs

7. Top Talent likes other Top Talent

8. The Missing Vision Thing

9. Lack of Open-Mindedness.

10. Who’s the Boss?

Top 50 “Best Places to Work” in Tech industry

Glassdoor, a career community to anonymously rate your company and CEOs,  released its annual Employees’ Choice Awards, listing the top 50 “Best Places to Work,” based on surveys collected from U.S. employees in 2011.

Google, Facebook and Rackspace are the best places to work in 2012 according to the survey. “More than 250,000 employees sounded off on what it’s like to work at more than 65,000 companies during the past year and shared the good, the bad and everything in between.” says the report.

An exerpt: “Smartest and most passionate people I have ever worked with. Company means so much to so many – humbled to be an employee here.” – Facebook Staffing (New York, NY)

Congratulations to all the 2012 Best Places to Work award winners!

i’m the first real smartwatch

Who of you did not dream of a watch that can call special agent X to support you. I you are still dreaming of this childhood fantasies, the i’m watch is the right gadget

The watch features a 1.54-inch curved capacitive TFT LCD with 240 x 240 pixel resolution, a first of its kind according to the company. It’s powered by a Freescale IMX233 application processor with 64MB of RAM and 4GB of flash storage for your media. It also packs in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR for smartphone tethering and a 450mAh Li-Po battery that lasts about three hours on speakerphone use or up to two days in standby. Naturally, it also includes a mic, speaker, and headphone jack. Note, the I’m Watch, like Sony Ericsson’s LiveView, does not include a cellular radio (or SIM slot). The company claims compatibility with iPhone 3GS (with iOS 4.3 or superior), iPhone 4 / 4S, “Android phones” (all of them?), and then Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 sometime in 2012.

Most important: people won’t point at you playing with your cell phone to check g+, twitter or facebook anymore.. Just pretend that you’re checking your time.

Why Digital Talent Doesn’t Want To Work At Your Company

 

 

 

 

Recently I found this post (source below) which tells you what you should be like if you want to get talented staff. I totally agree with the author so I wanted to share the key facts of his findings

Most of the bigger traditional companies nowadays match the blacklist in almost every detail. You don’t have to be google, facebook or apple to attract talented staff if you just follow the overhauled paradigms.

 

Digital talent won’t want to work at your company if:

  • Every element of their work will be pored over by multiple layers of bureaucracy. Even if that’s how the rest of the company operates, it can’t spill into the digital department. In a technology environment, new products and businesses spring up daily and a new endeavor can go from conception to launch in a matter of
  • months. Reining in the momentum will be read as inaction and a clear signal the company isn’t willing to grasp the new way of the world.
  • Mediocre is good enough. While clocking out at 5 p.m. is attractive to some, it will discourage digital talent. They want to be expected to do something great. They want to be pushed. They care about their work. Their leadership, and those they rely on to get things done, must match their appetite for success.
  • Trial and error is condemned. The freedom to try out new ideas allows employees to take initiative, make decisions, and learn from their mistakes. It also demonstrates an attractive and inspiring entrepreneurial spirit.
  • Your company is structured so it takes a lifetime to get to the top, and as such there are no digital experts in company-wide leadership positions.Digital talent–often in their 20s and 30s–need to see a clear path for uninhibited career development that’s based on merit, not years spent, and that’s beyond the confines of the digital department. If they don’t, they won’t see a reason to stay with the company in the long term.
  • Your offices are cold, impersonal and downright stodgy. It may sound like it conflicts with the “you don’t need to be in Silicon Valley point,” but appreciate the nuance. A traditional office layout is designed to communicate power among certain individuals and barriers between departments. This does not support the collaborative ethos which is intrinsic to the web. Companies should do everything possible to provide the digital team friendlier, open office space. A location in a hip, young neighborhood (which surely exists in every mid- to large-sized city) is also a big plus.
What do you think? Did you make the same or the opposite experience?

Read more on:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1779120/embargo-1027-why-digital-talent-doesn-t-want-to-work-at-your-company