Alexis Ohanian has a blog

My absolute favorite part however, is a part I can’t really tell you about. The book has an ending that actually trades on the fact that you’re existing in a second person narrative, making choices. I really don’t want to say anything more specific, because the book does have a bit of a trick ending. But, as far as I know, we’re the first to make use of the genre in this way.

Getting to do a book like this is the fulfillment of a number of geek fantasies at once. The best part is that, because of the success with this first book, we’ll be able to put out sequels. Halfway through writing this, I told my assistant that if I ever tried to write another such book, he was to kick me. Fortunately, I live a bit distant from him now, because having seen the reaction to this first book, I’d be happy writing a dozen sequels.

But you can discover it for yourself by buying a copy right now!

For starters, even though he's been a pop star in South Korea for more than a decade, he's pretty overwhelmed by his international fame. When asked how his family and friends reacted to his sudden superstardom outside of South Korea he wrote, "They are normal people so they freaked out because it's way too fast and way too far. Even I myself get freaked out a bit. We were not ready for this."

Psy said he knew he had a catchy song on his hands with "Gangnam Style" but didn't expect it to go international.

When asked what is the weirdest thing he's ever seen a fan do, he responded, "I feel weird about all the fans because they are so worldwide. I cannot really believe it yet."

Psy also told the Reddit community that Psy is short for psycho, that he started playing clarinet at age 8, and that he also plays the drums. I was surprised to learn that his favorite clarinet solo is the theme of the movie "Dying Young" by Kenny G.  His idol is Freddie Mercury. And one thing he wishes more people knew about him is that he writes all his music himself.

Also, if you thought "Gagnam Style" was a serious social critique of Gangnam, the wealthy neighborhood in Seoul, think again. Psy said the song is just "FUN."

Throughout the AMA he showed his funny side, sometimes using words we can't print here.

When someone asked why he always looks so serious when he's dancing he said, "Because I am serious about my dancing."

And when another fan asked if he could come hang out with pop star in Seoul, his response was, "Call me maybe."

I love this guy so much. So happy to live in a connected world where a K-Pop star can take over the world thanks to YouTube.

Also, I love your horse calendar!

RJ: If you could ask anyone for advice or have lunch with anyone, who would it be? What would you ask?

AO: Jay-Z. I really hope you guys can make this happen. I'd like to hear about coming up in Brooklyn, the specific moments that had life-changing impact on his trajectory of success, and the important business lessons he learned along the way. How can we use that experience to help all the other kids growing up on the wrong side of the digital divide?

Let's do this!

During the Internet 2012 Bus Tour, Ohanian and a group of journalists, entrepreneurs and Internet advocates visited states traditionally thought of as agricultural epicenters.

“It’s not an accident we picked football, meat and energy,” Martin said of the businesses Reddit profiled during the tour. “They’re not the first industries you think of when you think of the impact the internet has.”

Hudl, AgLocal and Simple Energy are three companies seeking to improve the management of football, meat and energy respectively. Of the eight companies the bus crew visited during the two-week tour, all have found a way to provide an entirely new product or service that wouldn’t have been possible without the Internet.

So happy to see the continued excitement around our Internet2012 bus tour. Let's keep this up all the way to Washington D.C.

Here's typical consumer app funnel. It applies to apps that do messaging (like GroupMe or DrawChat), but also posting content (like any app that ends with "-gram" a la Instagram and Cinemagram):

Your exact numbers might vary. With DrawChat, we found that 90% of people that land on the App Store page will install the app. The next step is to actually open the app, but only 90% of of the people who download your app will actually open it - I'm guessing that people are stockpiling apps for the impending apocalypse.

Truth.

One advantage of Y Combinator's early, broad focus is that we see trends before most other people. And one of most conspicuous trends in the last batch was the large number of hardware startups. Out of 84 companies, 7 were making hardware. On the whole they've done better than the companies that weren't.

They've faced resistance from investors of course. Investors have a deep-seated bias against hardware. But investors' opinions are a trailing indicator. The best founders are better at seeing the future than the best investors, because the best founders are making it.

There is no one single force driving this trend. Hardware does well on crowdfunding sites. The spread of tablets makes it possible to build new things controlled by and even incorporating them. Electric motors have improved. Wireless connectivity of various types can now be taken for granted. It's getting more straightforward to get things manufactured. Arduinos, 3D printing, laser cutters, and more accessible CNC milling are making hardware easier to prototype. Retailers are less of a bottleneck as customers increasingly buy online.

One question I can answer is why hardware is suddenly cool. It always was cool. Physical things are great. They just haven't been as great a way to start a rapidly growing business as software. But that rule may not be permanent. It's not even that old; it only dates from about 1990. Maybe the advantage of software will turn out to have been temporary. Hackers love to build hardware, and customers love to buy it. So if the ease of shipping hardware even approached the ease of shipping software, we'd see a lot more hardware startups.

Great stuff from PG. It's certainly something I've noticed. And it's just the beginning!

The first model of Wattvision was funded by angel investors, but when it came time for version 2.0, Dhanjal turned to Kickstarter.

“There’s nothing better than connecting directly with people that want to buy your product,” Dhanjal said from his Nassau Street co-working space. “It’s such a great vehicle. We could take loans or raise capital from external investors, and give up equity in our company, but it’s almost a no-brainer.”

In August, Dhanjal set up a one-month Kickstarter campaign for Wattvision 2 with a $50,000 funding goal. Within 24 hours, the company received nearly $18,000. When the campaign ended on Sept. 13, Wattvision had more than $67,000 in backing.

Dhanjal did not attribute the success of Wattvision to Kickstarter alone. It takes a lot of legwork to publicize a product, he said.

“Kickstarter isn’t just this magical thing where you put something up there and it takes off,” Dhanjal said. “You have to do a lot of work to get the word out and get people to like you on Facebook or tweet about you. You have to do that legwork.”

Innovation everywhere!

The session concluded with a keynote address from Alexis Ohanian, Co-founder of Reddit. Ohanian explained the importance of importance of web startups and how they could impact the American economy. Ohanian told attendees, "The kind of innovation that is helping this country get its swagger back is happening all over the nation." He also stressed the importance of "innovation, not legislation" and "word of mouth" promotions.

Innovation not legislation, folks.