Here is the answer.

1. Divide.

The idea that there is such thing as a problem that is infeasible due to technical complexity is an illusion. Everything that appears complex is recursively made up of simpler components, and once you know those components — the fundamental concepts that anchor the problem (and potential solution) in the realm of possibility — the illusion vanishes.

The trick is knowing what these components are or knowing someone who does – the more knowledge you have here, the further you can progress before encountering an indivisible sub-problem.

2. Conquer.

Once the problem is broken down into its fundamental requirements, it’s much easier to understand which parts are easy or already solved, which may require some research, and which are new.

A problem is almost never unique although it may appear unique on the surface. By pattern matching on historical work, much of the solution complexity can be delegated.

So, now what’s left is a set problems that you’ve never seen before.

3. Play.

Playing with new problems is often the quickest way to become acquainted with them. People tend to get caught up in analysis paralysis or worrying about the “correct” way to do something. This is all overhead to finding a solution.

Get dirty, make mistakes — the path to a novel solution is not paved.

Last year, I bought 16 oz cup of Alpine Strawberry ice cream from a small eatery across the street from Columbia University, and it changed the way I’ve thought of purchasing this type of good ever since.

As I enjoyed the creamy treat, I realized that I was deriving less and less satisfaction from each additional bite. The effect was so extreme, that as I scooped towards the midpoint of my cup, I found myself annoyed that there was even more ice cream to dig through. And, even though I didn’t want to eat it, I continued eating dutifully to avoid the guilt of wasting food.

When I finally emptied and disposed of the white styrofoam container, I realized that what I was purchasing wasn’t the ice cream, it was enjoyment derived from the experience of eating the ice cream.

The nonlinear relationship expressed on the ice cream store menu suddenly made sense. Larger sizes were disproportionately less expensive when compared using an assumption of a set amount of enjoyment per unit volume, which corresponded to the reality that enjoyment extracted from the ice cream as it was consumed fell over time.

The integral of ice cream enjoyment in reality creates a measured enjoyment that is significantly less than the expected enjoyment estimated using the misguided assumption that there is a direct correlation between enjoyment and volume. Additionally, there are further negative enjoyment effects, such as an expanding waistline, to be taken into consideration.

Purchases of things that temporarily improve your life at the cost of future well being should be avoided.

Check out TechCrunch’s CrunchPad and Google’s Chrome OS announcement.

2. Everything will be online.

Imagine all of the online services that are displacing their offline counterparts – Hulu for TV, Pandora and LastFM for radio, EC2 and App Engine for server farms, Google Docs for Microsoft Office — the list goes on.

Now, once thought to be the last bastion of steep hardware requirements, even hardware-intensive video games are going online in a way that is arguably better than the offline experience.

Gaikai Technology Demo (JULY 1, 2009) from David Perry on Vimeo.

Also see a competitor: Onlive

3. We will accelerate the feedback cycle that will lead to ubiquitous computing.

Since our primary mode of interaction will be through the web, and nearly all the data we care about will be online, moving between interfaces will be virtually frictionless. And, since our data can always be with us, our environment can adapt to our preferences automatically, further easing everyday online interactions and continuing the cycle.

(I haven’t read this book yet, but it seems relevant.)

I’ve read The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss twice now. The second time I read it, I was able to suspend my disbelief more effectively. Every step required to achieve financial success without losing your life to your job is laid out in absolute detail. He leaves no excuses for you to not put yourself on the path to becoming a millionaire vagabond in 6 months or less.

Be sure to check out the accompanying blog and website for even more life tips and inspiration.

One of my favorite parts of the blog are the interviews. Here are some of the cooler ones:

Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose Discuss Their Top 5 Must-Read Books

Kevin Rose and Tim Ferriss Discuss Angel Investing and Naming Companies – Tim’s approach for naming his book was a great demonstration of market testing.

I saw this great infographic over at Jude Gomila‘s blog representing one view of a generalized web startup product model.

I tried incorporating my company online through the Washington Secretary of State’s website. Everything seemed fine until I landed on the final confirmation screen:

Our technical staff is also being notified of this problem and will be working to correct it as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Credit Card was charged.

Don’t charge my credit card when there’s a problem. Fix it first! >_<

Oh well, back to iPhone programming. Yay!

Update: They sent me an apology email and said they’d waive the filing fee for the initial annual report! WIN!

1. Track Record – Your successes.
2. Proof of Concept – Your product.
3. Team – Your people.
4. Idea – Your vision.

… in that order

… in Serbia.

(Source: Milos, a cool guy who managed to sell a food service startup in Serbia.)

Solution
Taxi drivers should organize and have routes, making a distributed bus-like system. People save money, taxis save gas, time, and make more money per trip.

It’s a win-win solution!

(I pitched this to a taxi driver today and told him to go do it.)

Via Business Week

Facebook is visiting Columbia tomorrow!

Update: And now they have my pizza-stained resume.