In case you've been wondering how I've been getting through the last month of the Red Sox disasterous decline, I give you this:
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Slumping Sox
Brokeback to the Future
I know most of you will consider this old, but for some reason I love it and can't stop watching it. You should be aware that I loved the "Back to the Future" films, and I always thought there was a really odd relationship between the two main characters. In any case, I hope you enjoy.
Monday, August 28, 2006
eBay's Three-Way
Many of you may have heard earlier this year about eBay's deal with Yahoo in which Yahoo will be the main supplier of text based ads in the United States.
Well, today eBay decided to take it one step further and signed a deal with Google. Google will now essentially serve ads to eBay users who search for something on the Auction's Giant website. For example if you do a search for hardware stores on eBay, and your search returns zero results, you will be served (a la Google) some ads that match your query, thus enabling to click on these ads.
The service will be rolled out internationally, to eBay's non-US sites. It will also allow localized ads served, which is done pretty easily considering all the information eBay requires from its users when they register.
Oh and as a nice supplement to the deal, eBay and Google will also be working together in order to help build Skype as well as VOIP. Users will be able to click on text-based ads on Google, and immediately be connected to the merchants who are selling their wares online, and speak to them via Skype.
Wow. Unbelievable deal for both eBay and Google. Oh yeah, and congratulations to Yahoo too. It should be interesting to see what happens when one of these parties eventually gets sick of the three-way deal and demands that eBay choose one loyal partner (Come on, you know this is bound to happen).
One last thought - where is Microsoft in all of this? Does their search suck that bad that after years of working with them (reasearch eBay and MSFT Passport deal in early 2000-2001) eBay just gave them the finger and turned to the current champions of search?
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Does Porn Lead to Crime?
Interesting article in this week's Salt Lake City Weekly (strangely, Utah's most credible news source, though it does lean a bit left. I digress.). It's about the myth regarding whether or not pornography causes criminal acts.
A lot of ignorant folks (read: conservatives) feel it does, though, as usual, they lack the scientific proof to proove their point. To perpetuate this perspective, recently, there was a murder a five year old girl here about a month and a half ago. The accused killer of the girl blamed pornography for driving him to commit this crime.
As the article mentions, instead of taking responsibility for the crimes they committed, these people often look for something to blame. In this case, (and strangely enough, in lots of cases) they blame pornography for causing their shortfall.
Right, just like the time I received a speeding ticket - it wasn't my fault, I told the police officer, I just finished playing Grand Theft Auto and couldn't separate virtual reality from the real thing.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Apple's Buyin' You Off....Bitch
Apple pulled a Blackberry today and and paid off Creative in an effort to resolve a patent lawsuit.
The suit resulted from Apple's iPod music player and the fact that the navigation click-wheel was infringing on Creative's music navigation wheel on it's Zen .mp3 player. The settlement effectively ends all lawuits the two companies with each other. Interestingly, if other companies license Creative's technology, Apple will get a cut of its settlement returned.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Racist Utah Senators
This won't be a long post because the article pretty much speaks for itself. One of the State Senators of Utah commented today that the Supreme Court was "wrong" when it decided Brown v. Board. Here's a quote:
"Well, I think Brown v. Board of Education is wrong to begin with."
And here's a link to the article.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Is it Time to Say Goodbye?
Let's face it, if running eBay were a beauty contest, Meg Whitman would, under no circumstances, be the CEO. Fortunately for her, (and many CEO's) running companies is all about smarts and has almost nothing to do with looks. Running any company is a difficult job, and growing a company at break-neck speed is even more of a difficult job. Meg has done a great job in the almost 10 years she has been running at eBay. She has taken it from a one room office to a multi-continent online powerhouse.
But, as with all companies, things change. Companies grow, people leave, investors demand supersonic growth, and simply put, everybody gets sick of the same old same.
For years everybody has been satisfied with eBay. The growth was there, the expansion was there, and most importantly, there was always a profit and a huge stock price at the end of the day. However, recently, eBay has experienced some challenges. Key people are leaving, the stock price is dropping, Skype isn't bringing in money, and today, some sellers on the site started wondering publicly if it was time for Meg to go.
Fortunately for Meg, she has proven herself time and time again as a very capable CEO. She has been able to meet the expectations of customers, Analysts and stockholders, quarter after quarter and year after year.
Also, she has the backing of many Wall Street Analysts and bankers. Most of the projections that they hold for eBay are under the assumption that she will be running the company. Should she decide to leave (or should the company merge), lots of those rosy projections may be revised downward.
That said, there is a lot to be said for getting new blood into the mix. Last year, Meg briefly flirted with Disney for an opportunity to be the head person over there. Her interest in that job may reflect waning interest in eBay. Also, eBay's growth in it's core domestic business is slowing, perhaps someone new would be able to revitalize interest in the Auction giant both here and abroad.
Whatever happens, nobody can dispute what she did for eBay. She not only managed the company through one of the worst economic periods in our history, but she continues to succeed in managing one of the top retail sites in the world.
Read More: eBay, Meg Whitman
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
How To Upset Your Neighbors in Utah
This is how we roll in Utah..well at least according the Salt Lake Tribune.
Read More: Utah, Salt Lake Tribune
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Google's New Coupons
In a not-so-surprising move, Google will now offer coupons from local merchants so users can physically print them out and redeem them at their respective merchants.
The good part about this new program is that local merchants will be able to increasingly move from traditional advertising to the online realm by giving searchers more relevant, local discounts. For example a local hair salon will be able to display a coupon offering $5 off your next haircut when you redeem this ad, when a user searches for "hair salon's" in a given area/zip code.
The bad part about this is Affiliate Markerters probably will not see much much in the way another revenue stream. This deal appears to only involve Google (and their project partner Valpak) and the merchants who will be offering the coupons. Which isn't surprising given Google's recent changes to it's adwords policy.
Read More: Advertising, Google
Monday, August 14, 2006
New Ideas for Unemployment
The WSJ had a great article today about how a French Telecom is helping battle unemployment. Instead of giving people notice that they will be laid off with severance packages and a big middle finger for their trouble, the Telecom is helping employees do something useful by helping them start small businesses.
They do everything from helping to draft business plans, and helping entrepreneurs secure funding for their small business. It will also help employees get more education if they need it, and they have worked with other public-sector employers to take in its workers. If the project fails within three years, the employee can return to the company. The most amazing thing to me about the experiment so far is that one in six of the new projects have failed.
This is a great idea and I'm unsure as to why this hasn't caught on with companies like Ford, GM, and other companies who from time to time have to dump several thousands of employees (Answer: because they're dumb ). Obviously, it would take time and money but the investment would be miniscule to what could be a potential boon for the new small business owner, the company, and the economy.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Quote of the Day
The following is taken from the blog dooce.com:
If you haven’t ever heard a Utah accent all you need to know is that if you
had to listen to 30 seconds of a local newscast you’d offer a blow job to the
first person who volunteered to stab you in the ears.
Couldn't agree more.
Read More: Quote of the Day, Utah Press, Dooce
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Uncovering a Plot, and Our Response
Lots of thoughts raced through my mind this morning as all of us discovered the latest terrorism plot that started in Heathrow today. A plot that if properly carried out, would have cost (possibly) thousands of people their lives.
I was really disappointed in President Bush's 'lack' of response to the 'news' of the day (he actually knew what was going on as early as three days ago).
By far, the best article analyzing our response the plot (so far) has been from Newsweek columnist Christopher Dickey. He counters Bush's assertion that we are now "safer than we were pre-9/11" by saying:
But the long list of horrific attacks around the world since 9/11, from
Bali to Madrid, Casablanca to London, Amman to Istanbul, should make anyone
think again about such claims. So should the near misses. “Shoe bomber” Richard
Reid fumbled his matches when he tried to blow himself up aboard an American
Airlines flight in December 2001. But he came close, and if he’d
succeeded, hundreds of people would have died with all traces of evidence lost
in the wintry Atlantic. The plot revealed today would have killed more than
1,000 people. By some accounts there would have been three terrible waves of
carnage: first three planes, then three more, then three more. Again, over the
high seas.
I really couldn't have said it better myself. I could really go on and on ad naseaum about the many things that we could have proactively done, but for the sake of time, I'll close with this: the fact of the matter is, today clearly showed that we still have a lot of room to improve as far as our national security is concerned. It's been five years since the United States was violently and verociously attacked, and this administration has failed to deliver on its promise to capture those responsible. Instead, they decided to invade a country that had NOTHING to do with 9/11. Ask yourself this question: does that make sense?
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Prostituting Craigslist
It looks like our crack law enforcement officials have finally figured out how prostitution works in the 21st century. Four women got busted near DWI in Maryland after a bunch of hard working (read: lazy) officers found their ads on the monster classified ad site.
Frankly speaking, in these perilous times of terrorism, students on the loose, and the recent DC crime wave, it's good to see that time is still being made to clamp down on the world's oldest profession.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
eBay's Dropping Stock Price
Has anybody noticed eBay's stock price lately? This thing is dropping like a rock. As mentioned in this blog earlier, it really hasn't been good for shareholders (not to mention option holders) of eBay.
The question that comes to everybody's mind is why? Well, there's no short answer to that question, but, I'll try to give a reasonable explanation:
- First, word on the street is the core Auction business for eBay is slowing. Unfortunately, I don't have a link to share about this, only an 'insider' who happens to work at the online giant.
-Executives are jumping ship left and right. First, Jeff Jordan bounced and then, there was an announcement that Maynard Webb would be leaving before the end of the year. When asked if she was leaving by Maria Bartiromo on a recent edition of Wall Street Week, CEO Meg Whitman simply shrugged her shoulders, smiled and said "I'm in it for the long-haul".
- eBay's recent snub of Google and refusing to allow sellers to use Google Checkout as an online payment method didn't score any points for it with people outside the company.
- Lastly, eBay recently raised prices for users of its online stores program.
All of these issues (at least IMHO) seem to contribute to a dropping stock prices. It should be intersting to see how low it will go.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Google Thinks MySpace is Hot...or Something..
Google dropped $900 Million today for in an advertising deal and to become the sole search provider for MySpace. Somewhere, Rupert Murdoch is sitting back in a chair, lighting a Cuban, and saying to himself, "Suckers."
So what does Google get out this deal? Sure, they get to add their logo to MySpace search boxes and they get to serve PPC ads when Fox runs out of ads to serve, but is the deal worth nearly a Bill? Currently, MySpace is the second most trafficked website on the Web (trailing only Yahoo) in the United States, but who's to say that will stay that way?
Call me a cynic, but I'm not sure I agree with Google's logic on this one. Sure, MySpace is a great site, and lots of people use it, but how is it sustainable, and more importantly, how are they going to grow it? Not only that, but what happens if a few state governments decide to start regulating how MySpace is used.
Eric, Sergei and Co. were fortunate (i.e. smart enough) to make sure that Fox's MySpace meet certain traffic goals along the way in order to get paid.
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