There's a lightbulb in the bottom right you can click to give feedback. We have already gotten feedback that it's a little hard to find so we will fix that in the next day or so! And if you're a coder we would love comments and PRs in Github.
If you ignore the photo-sharing capability for a moment, it sounds like they're trying to create a more accurate alternative to GPS. In the 1700s Britain awarded about £100,000 in "Longitude prize" money to people who contributed to the development of [accurate] longitude. I tried to figure out what that is in today's pounds and found a calculator that said it's £147,000,000.00 today. So if Color really can create an alternative to GPS for $41 million, it would be cheaper than what it cost to develop longitude :)
No idea if they can actually pull this off, but thought the Longitude Prize story is cool (thank you, "Stuff You Should Know" podcast, for mentioning it earlier this year).
Some companies created at SW have gone on to be real companies, but SW is really better for getting the feel for working with other people and then working with them on other projects. I can think of five funded (not that that's a metric for success) companies that grew out of Seattle Startup Weekend relationships. While I'm not seeking a co-founder at the moment, everyone on my co-founder shortlist is someone I met at Startup Weekend 3 years ago or I met directly through someone I met at SW.
Do the tutorial at http://railstutorial.org. It's SO important for the non-technical folks to at least be able to whip up an app on occasion, to be able to hire technical people effectively, to communicate your needs effectively, etc.
Drupal is fine for a prototype, and your partner may want to cut his teeth on it because he just enjoys learning new technologies. What technologies is he familiar with?
I really expected this article to be about photos of these draft dodgers drinking booze, making out with a guy, etc. But updating your Facebook profile on the Sabbath? That's hardcore attention to detail, Israel.
I personally open a (yellow) phone book to a random page and brainstorm ways to make that particular industry more efficient. But then again I'm an efficiency consultant.
I'd peruse idea/complaint websites and see if one idea tickles your fancy:
Don't give away half of your company for two months of work. Pick up some consulting work pronto. Sell your car. Try to get up-front payments from future clients.
Anecdotal stories of people securing funding in one day over lunch are true, but not the norm. Usually fundraising is a six month full-time process. If you're on the precipice right now and truly feel (and I think you have to truly feel it!) that revenue is right around the corner, then stick to that path for at least a couple of months. You can always get jobs and pursue funding at that point.
I read the first paragraph of this article and thought "this article is clearly written by an angry female." Lo and behold, the author's name is Cindy.
Go Wired magazine for choosing your covers based on what will sell and not based on the loss of the five readers who might be offended by it. They can read "Bitch" (which is somehow not an offensive name for a magazine if written by feminists?). If Wired doesn't sell magazines, Wired doesn't exist.
IANAL, but based on many conversations on the topic and a few close friends' personal legal experiences, WA generally doesn't uphold non-competes unless they're very specific (in geographic area and in time).
If someone is encumbered a geographical non-compete and they're leaving another state where they signed a non-compete, I'm willing to bet that the court battle will actually be in the original state, so CA law wouldn't apply. But again, IANAL.
I'm anti-non-competes unless a truly specific case warrants it (for commissioned sales teams, for example... I think it's reasonable that your new salesperson can't come in, print off your leads and go off on his own the next day).
At what point will CA's abysmal tax environment stop Silicon Valley from being a sought-after destination for entrepreneurs and talented employees? Reinforcing the idea that CA is a great place to start a business while they're sucking businesses dry is like buying the school bully lavish gifts every time he sticks your head in a toilet.
If you opened the same company in Seattle instead of SF, you'd get to keep around 9% more of your income. That was enough margin for me to leave CA for WA five years ago. (Though the recall election didn't help my feelings toward the place.)
Reading The Pragmatic Programmer helped me a lot with the problem-approaching aspect of things, but then I didn't pick it up until I was moderately comfortable with PHP. (I'm not a FT programmer so my learning process tends to be s-l-o-w w/o many opportunities for practice.)
I'd definitely be interested to see two different programmers write up their approach to a given problem. Something like this would be an excellent monthly blog post.