Startup Toolbox

Jay Parkhill February 20th, 2008

For those who have never filed form 1099 before, one copy (red) goes to the IRS and another (black) goes to the independent contractor who provided services to a business. Apparently the reason for this is that the IRS’s computers scan the filings, and they can only read forms printed with red ink.

One can’t download the fileable form, because the shade of red must be very specific and a normal color printer can’t be trusted to get it right. One must have the forms mailed out or buy them from an office supply store.

About.com tells me that the Social Security Administration updated its systems to accept black copies of form W-2, but the IRS has changed its systems twice without adding this magical ability.

The IRS does allow 1099s to be filed electronically. This is a great step forward- it fairly leapfrogs the whole download/print/mail correct-color routine.

*However*, while thousands of businesses everywhere have figured out how to create online forms viewable and editable in any web browser, AND have worked out a way to let consumers create accounts online in minutes (if not seconds), the IRS is not quite there.

So in order to conveniently file my 1099s online, I must first mail in a form to the IRS, receive a Transmitter Control Code back by mail, and then download and install the IRS’s special form-creation software.

Identity theft and fraud are certainly big concerns so I can understand the need to verify identity before setting up accounts. Putting documents in the mail is not a remedy here though (the IRS should ask Network Solutions about Stephen Michael Cohen and Sex.com on this point).

The IRS has a huge job managing millions of accounts. They are certainly correct to be careful, and kudos to them for getting on the e-filing program. My wish, though, is that after Microsoft takes over Yahoo and drives away key employees, that the IRS will see an opportunity to pick up some Internet expertise. Yahoo has great e-commerce software. Get some of the engineers behind it working on IRS e-file programs for all kinds of filing.

• Uncategorized

Jay Parkhill February 11th, 2008

I love it when legal advice and common sense overlap. Here’s Dilbert presenting the entirely reasonable proposition that marking something “top secret”, then putting it in public view is likely to give it wider distribution (some might call it an “attractive nuisance”).

Next up, a reasonably typical paragraph from a non-disclosure agreement. It says confidential information needs to be so marked. That makes sense, too- especially when the sensitive information belongs to another company.

It’s paragraph 7 that pulls it together. It’s not good enough to get someone’s business plans and leave them lying around- even if they are marked confidential. Keep them secure.

And for those who find lawyers overly wordy, it took Dilbert three pictures to say what the agreement does in 111 words. So much for the old adage.

• Uncategorized

Jay Parkhill February 9th, 2008

OpenSocial, OpenID and the rest of the shared-social graph ideas are promising, but they are starting to make me channel Rodney King and ask “can’t we all just get along?” Everyone seems to love the idea, but no one knows how to manage the details.

Meanwhile, I use Zimbra on my Mac. My wife uses Yahoo and Outlook. I want to share my calendar with her, but can’t figure out how to do it. If there is a cross-platform calendar sharing utility I definitely have not found it.

In a similar vein, I use Last.fm, Pandora and occasionally Hype Machine and Seeqpod (whose days seem sadly numbered) to stream music, and Sonic Living for event updates. They should all talk the same language so I don’t have to enter my favorites over and over- or at least work from the same starting point using my iTunes listening habits. I understand that each site’s “secret sauce” is its music-recommendation algorithm, so by all means wow me with great picks. Just don’t make me tell you again and again what I like. Is that really so difficult? Apparently.

• Uncategorized

Jay Parkhill February 9th, 2008

I started playing with Tumblr a little while ago. My page is here. It is a short-form blogging platform that is great for posting music, photos, videos, etc. It is decidedly techy, though.

The site offers a variety of “themes” to choose from, and also give users total freedom to edit the HTML. This is nice if you actually know HTML because it lets you add all kinds of features like search boxes, comment systems, feedburner integration, etc. Changing default themes, however, wipes out any custom code.

I know- as the proverbial saying goes- just enough HTML to get myself in trouble, and no CSS or javascripting whatsoever. I have tried out most of the themes I have found, which means that when I factor in all the theme changes and the back-to-defaults after I break the page with faulty code, I have now re-added comments, a Lijit search box and a Feedburner feed to my tumblog approximately 9,472 times.

I’m pretty good at it by now- or at least if I can find good directions I can follow them easily. I’m lost as soon as I get off the map, though.

Fortunately, I am now reasonably happy with my page and I am resolved to stop messing with it. Then again, I like the way Bijan Sabet does his comments integration. Wish I could figure out how to copy that . . .

• Uncategorized

Jay Parkhill February 8th, 2008

Why is it that certain parts of most commercial-type business agreements have sections written in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS? Don’t the lawyers who wrote it know they are shouting?

The answer is mundane, a little unsatisfactory and pleasantly simple all at the same time. Commercial arrangements in the U.S. are governed by and large by the Uniform Commercial Code, a set of model laws prepared by a national conference of experts and adopted- more or less verbatim- by each state.

Article 2 of the UCC covers sales agreements. Among other things, it says that when goods are sold, there is an implied warranty that the goods are “merchantable”, or of decent quality.

Further, the article says that any limitations on this warranty must be CONSPICUOUS.

All caps is the practical way of satisfying this requirement. While the SEC and others in the Plain English camp might argue that putting complete paragraphs in capital letters actually lessens readability, we can be thankful that this not the accepted view. The alternative might be to put the language at the top of the agreement, or under separate signature, or otherwise turning the conspicuousness requirement into a nuisance.

Happily, the conference of delegates, courts and wise heads everywhere reached the sensible conclusion that capitals got the job done so that we could all move on to more important matters such as making the documents actually facilitate the transactions to which they relate.

• Uncategorized

Jay Parkhill January 25th, 2008

Journalist, journalism professor and media consultant Jeff Jarvis posted a couple of blog entries from the Davos Economic Forum comparing the approaches of Al Gore on one hand with Google founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin on the other.

Gore, says Jarvis, favors raising carbon taxes, while Google is pressing for investment in alternative energy to reduce its cost. “Tax versus investment” is how Jarvis describes it. This appears to be a common theme these days, but I think it is a false choice.

At the VLAB event I attended this week, I was amazed to hear Kleiner Perkins’ John Denniston saying in extremely strong terms that government policy is needed to get alternative energy businesses moving as quickly as they need to. It surprised me that a prominent VC would feel this need so strongly.

He’s right, though. Private capital is a drop in the bucket compared to what government incentives can do for industries. But for favorable privacy, publicity, tax and other regulations I bet the Internet would not have become the essential fabric of life that it currently is. Denniston’s argument was that government has the power to increase the attractiveness of renewable energy sources, and to decrease that of coal and oil energy.

The yogis figured out the need for this kind of balancing thousands of years ago and laid out a set of five “dos” and five “don’ts” for a healthy life- the yamas and niyamas. Balance is critical to keep us on the right path in life and business.

I’ll give credit to Jarvis for not having his thoughts completely together since he was liveblogging. If his point is that “the discussion is too much about what we should not do rather than what we can do” then ok. More yamas, fewer niyamas. If by “tax versus investment”, though, he means that we need to choose then he’s dead wrong. We need both. Investment (yama) by the Googles (and Wal-Marts) that have serious industry leverage, and tax policies (both yama and niyama) from government to run that lever as far out as it will go.

• Uncategorized

Jay Parkhill January 8th, 2008

I like yoga a lot. I’ve been practicing (more off than on, admittedly) for something like 12 years now and I have been amazed to see how much interest has grown in that time. The concepts of mindfulness, santosha (contentment with things as they are) and simplicity are great reminders and mental breaks from the rest of my life.

That’s why I am endlessly amused to read that Equinox gym in New York City is “expand[ing] and pursu[ing] an aggressive yoga strategy” that includes partnering with Hong Kong’s Pure Yoga, whose web site describes its retail interiors as “ergonomically designed for the ultimate shopping experience”.

Seeing the words “aggressive”, “ultimate shopping” and yoga used together is a little jarring and also great for a laugh. The “yoga market” has apparently matured. But is it a bubble? Will fortunes be made and lost between sessions of virabhadrasana? Only time will tell.

• Uncategorized , yoga