Matt Rubens

As Casey posted over at Ye Old Jamglue Blog, we’re looking for friends and family to help us test out our startup (Jamglue). Lemme know if you want an invite…

Don’t transport your development server across the country by putting it in your checked baggage on an Alaska Airlines flight.

I had to wait at the SeaTac baggage claim for an hour before my flight’s luggage even started coming out, so I suppose I should feel lucky that even one of my bags made it to Seattle (the one containing my toothpaste and other precious liquids). But alas, the suitcase that I shipped my server in never came out. When I inquired into its whereabouts, the friendly Alaska Airlines baggage claim agents informed me that they really have no idea since they don’t have a computerized system for scanning their luggage before putting it on a plane. Now I understand why people are just shipping their luggage instead of checking it…

To make a long story short, my suitcase made it to Seattle on the first flight the next morning. Since I don’t have Internet in my new apartment, I ended up dragging my suitcase across Capitol Hill to company headquarters so I could get the server back online and we could start working again.

Ugh… this isn’t the part of startups that they tell you about in the fancy magazines. Personally, I’m just doing it for the chicks…

Dharmesh Shah posted an interesting entry today in his OnStartups blog titled Why Web 2.0 Is Like Pornography. Just based on the title, I was expecting a masterpiece. Sadly, Dharmesh lets us down easy (from a humor perspective):

This is why I think Web 2.0 is like pornography. I can’t really define what it is, but I know it when I see it.

I’m not trying to take anything away from his post — it’s a great overview of Web 2.0 for the layman. But, to be true to his title, I would have expected a list like this:

1. Mashups
2. User-generated content
3. Advertising revenue
4. Rounded corners

(Disclaimer: My pornography research is strictly Web 1.0)

Inspired by Greg Linden’s excellent Early Amazon series and a random YouTube video I stumbled upon today, I’m going to start a series of posts about my days as one of the early members of Amazon’s Digital Media group. (Don’t get too excited — this series will probably only be one post long.)

Working at an online retailer definitely had its share of perks. For example, the “Free Book Room”. Ever wonder where all of the books that editors review for Amazon go after they’ve been reviewed? Well, I assume that the editors keep the good ones. But, the long tail of Amazon ends up free for the taking by Amazon employees. And that’s how my bookshelf ended up full of classics like Why Your Toothbrush May Be Killing You Slowly. (I should really get my Associates account set up for these links.)

As exciting as it sounds, free books were only the tip of the iceberg. The day my office “acquired” a Flybar was one of my happiest at Amazon. We had fun jumping around on it all day, or at least from 5pm - 9am (when the lawyers on the floor below us weren’t at work). I’m proud to have been the impetus behind the mandatory helmet rule. Needless to say, I will not be quitting my day job (if I had one) to compete in the X Games.

Not everyone can fly the bar like the man in this video…