Yawn. Such an easy thing to complain about: TechCrunch's conference produced a (imo) stupid service to give some cash to. Is anyone really surprised by this? Aside from Slate's always cringe-worthy writing, the entire article starts up a bias by suggesting that Silicon Valley is a thing that should have ideas. I've always detested the glorification of the place. It doesn't matter where ideas come from, so long as they exist. The fact that "Silicon Valley" has become / was / whatever a hotbed doesn't make it any more or less important than any of the other startup friendly areas in the country. It seems like the author has more of an issue with the app than with the TechCrunch conference itself. Which is fine, I guess, but I have the same response I have for people who complain about TV shows, movies, video games, etc. Don't like it? Don't buy it.
I actually think Will Oremus is a good writer and laughed at the imagery of this paragraph: I think it's all well and good to take a look at the track record of a competition that is so "heralded." Tech Crunch still holds a lot of sway and Silicon Valley is still the home base for many VC, startups etc. I agree that the idea that nothing worthwhile can come from any other market than the Valley it NYC is maddening. I was at a startup function yesterday in Durham NC and there are a lot of interesting people working on some cool projects.Jargon aside, what exactly differentiates “an Alfred” from a plain old personal servant is not entirely clear. Perhaps it’s the fact that “Alfreds” apparently come unburdened by individual names of their own. Which is nice, because real names can be hard to remember and disconcertingly humanizing, like when you go to a fancy restaurant and they serve your fish with the head still on.
It reminds me of an experience staying in the barro Palonco in Mexico City for a few months. Everyone I dealt with either had a maid ... or was a maid. The sharing economy is proto-fuedalism. Why develop more infrastructure when the super-majority, hoi polloi, can just further divide up their rations amongst themselves? Plus now they have citizens judging and reviewing each other instead of the corporations. The aristocracy isn't dead ... they just call it meritocracy now.
b_b and I were just ruminating on the idea that if we could get some Alfred's to perform a mechanical turk job that earned $100 per month, then we would have a great disruptive business. Also, we figured that we might get a discount by ordering Alfred's in bulk, increasing our profit margin even more.