Frankly Speaking

Depression Era Chic

2009-02-05T22:24:00.002-07:00

I've noticed the Depression Era Chic look pick up steam throughout the winter, and unfortunately, hasn't shown signs of slowing down anytime soon. This has no doubt contributed to the overall doom and gloom that currently persists. More here

W Hong Kong

2009-02-03T22:21:00.003-07:00

Anybody who knows me, knows a) I like to travel and b) I love staying at the W Hotel chain where ever I go. W Hong Kong opened up a few months ago, and from the looks of things, it seems fantastic. More here

Do You Think Anyone Will Notice?

2009-02-02T21:46:00.002-07:00

New look for a Kansas City library. More here

13thWitness - Great Photography

2009-01-31T18:21:00.001-07:00

Unbelievable photography. More here

I Wish I Were Joking

2009-01-31T17:40:00.004-07:00

"Another piece of legislation that has yet to be drafted involves the infamous Zion Curtain or glass partitions erected on restaurant lunch counters to separate diners at restaurants from bottles of booze."

- And, no, I did not make that quote up. New liquor laws in Utah.

Sinatara - Seduction

2009-01-29T20:51:00.004-07:00

Nothing really new from the Chairman on this one. But it's still Sinatra, how could you pass it up?

Buy it here.

Would love to listen to it on this.

New BBC Release

2009-01-27T21:19:00.002-07:00

More here

Bailouts! Get Your Bailouts!

2009-01-24T20:28:00.003-07:00

Via Vanity Fair

Perfect Match

2009-01-23T22:13:00.002-07:00

Imagine these with this.

More here

How Geeks Push Products

2009-01-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

I'm Just Sayin'...

2009-01-22T21:14:00.002-07:00

Buy it here

Update: Blackberry Stays

2009-01-21T21:24:00.004-07:00

In an update to my recent post about Barak Obama and his Blackberry, turns out the new president will get to use one:

Per ValleyWag:

But Obama, who has long insisted he'd find a way to keep his beloved device, from which he was inseparable on the campaign trail, found a way; the souped-up BlackBerry will soon arrive in his hands, The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reports. And good on him! This is yet another example of Obama's forceful push for change.

Commander and Blackberry

2009-01-17T10:53:00.003-07:00

Really interesting article in the NY Times earlier this week about Barack Obama's obsession with his Blackberry. The article goes onto say that all the drama in the press mentioning how attached the future president is to his Blackberry could mean up to $50 Million in free advertising for device maker Research In Motion.

Nothing really new here. Celebrity figures have always had a positive affect on products when they are caught on camera using them, buying them, wearing them, etc. Sports stars sign huge endorsement deals all the time to supplement their ~~ridiculous~~ well-deserved salaries.

What is different about this situation is the fact that Barack is about to become the leader of the free world and will arguably be the most visible person on the planet, thereby making him more figurative in the general public's daily life. What's more, because of some archaic law about all presedential correspondence needing to be kept for eventual release to the public, Obama's makers will try and persuade him to give up the device during his presidency. God forbid the president be allowed to fire off quick email messages in a crisis situation while he's on his way to Air Force One.

What happens to RIM if and when their most popular endorser is forced to give up his prized possession? I guess they have to go back to John Mayer promoting them.

Hoping the Universe Somehow Sends This My Way

2009-01-11T21:44:00.003-07:00

You can get it here, you know, 'cause you're cool like that

Another Ad That I Thought Was Good...From Back in the Day

2009-01-11T21:25:00.003-07:00

Yeah, I get it, it's another ad featuring Jay-Z. But how can you argue with a guy who's worth north of $300 Million

Really Dig This Commercial For 9IX Cologne

2009-01-10T18:21:00.002-07:00

So Thin, It Will Make Your Mistress Jealous...

2009-01-05T22:27:00.005-07:00

More here.

Heaven

2009-01-01T18:03:00.002-07:00

Would love to have this hanging in my dining room. More here.

2009 Resolutions

2009-01-01T17:04:00.005-07:00

As cheesy as they are, resolutions for the new year tend to give one's life direction. Without further ado, here are mine (in no particular order):

- Live in the Now and utilize the Secret (wait, isn't that the same thing?)

- Travel more

- Dress more like a 30 year-old rather than a, well, 20 year-old

- Work because I 'choose' to, not because I 'have' to

- Participate in a real-estate transaction

- Attend at least one Red Sox game in Boston

- Become more environmentally conscious

- Stick with a mobile phone for more than 6 months

- Take more 'me' time

- Blog more

- Use Twitter more efficiently

- Work out 4-6 times a week more consistently (with emphasis on running at least once a week)

- Most important, realize, it's not always just about me

Chanel Snowboard

2008-12-24T14:49:00.003-07:00

I hope to be rockin' this during Sundance

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-06T11:14:00.002-07:00

"So You May Not Want to Know This..."

2008-10-20T20:27:00.003-07:00

I came across this article about a new, well, relatively new start-up called inSpot. inSpot allows you to communicate to previous sexual partners that you have been infected by an STD and that they should get themselves checked.

It's a pretty basic concept, you pick the type of pre-designed card you want to send, personalize the message, type in the email address of the person whom you want to send it to and send it. The point of the message is to tell your ex-partner that they should get themselves checked for an STD. More than 750 people visit the site daily and nearly 50,000 emails have been sent through it.

I don't think this is necessarily a bad idea, but I'm unsure how it could be effectively used to make money. The site has no ads on it. Yes, it provides a lot of information, and it provides a valuable service (and allows people to play malicious pranks on one another), but it does little to show how it can build sustainable revenue.

In order to be effective and increase it's longevity, the site owners may want to consider partnering with a non-profit such as planned parenthood or a government agency, to provide it with the funding and resources it needs to get it's message and idea out to the community.

Is One of These Things Unlike the Other?

2008-10-14T19:57:00.003-07:00

I'm not sure how I feel about being in such esteemed company:

Picture courtesy of the SF Chronicle

Managing Your Way out of The Storm

2008-10-12T11:51:00.004-07:00

Lots of people with thoughts about how manage there way through the current financial crisis. I have my own thoughts but plan on sharing them at another time. Regardless, Charlie O'Donnell had a great post about how his company is weathering the storm and thought I would reblog it here (and for the record, I agree with every word of it):

Any startup that needs to severely "buckle down" now or any VC firm that needs to do a 180 on their investment strategy wasn't doing it right in the first place.

From the day we took our first investor checks, we've been operating in emergency cashflow management mode--not because we thought the environment was bad, but because of the following:

1) We didn't raise too much money--$350k.

2) Building a new service is hard. The longer you can last, the more features you get to, the more traction you'll have, and the more time you'll have to fix the mistakes you're sure to make.

That makes it a simple equation: Spend less, survive longer, live to die another day.

How do we do that? Well, there's the way we've been doing it all year:

- I teach two entrepreneurship classes on the side to make ends meet.

- We run on four servers we got for free... Two we got from a friend at a startup that blew up and two we got through a big hardware company who seems to have forgotten about the fact that we have them. Lately, we've been asking companies we know who may be upgrading to see if we can grab a few more.

- The servers sit in a old rack we wheeled from 14th and 8th to 23rd and Park when we took it off the hands of someone giving it away on a Unix user list. We now know how many city blocks server rack wheels are meant to travel. The answer is about half the distance to our office.

- We squat rent-free in the small back conference room of one of our investors--soon to be moving into a smaller office across the floor. We're just grateful--we'd work out of the coat closet if they asked us.

- We run some third party software in our stack that would otherwise cost us about 50k/year. We got that we got for free in exchange for kicking the tires on it and getting the company some data.

- When we travel to the West Coast on fundraising trips, we crash with friends instead of staying in hotels.

- We incentivized our developers when we hired them to forgo some current cash compensation for either additional compensation after our next financing or additional equity--and gave them the choice of how much they wanted to do that.

What I'm saying is that, even before the gloom and doom, we watched every penny and saved where we could.

And now, we're out fundraising for our first venture round. If you read the echo chamber, you might think all the VCs have packed up shop and gone home. We've been out talking to VCs and we've generally heard some pretty level-headed thinking. They want to make sure that our burn rate plans are reasonable and that we're giving ourselves enough of a runway--but that's really something they should always be thinking about, right? Good investors have had multiple funds over many cycles and will continue to put money to work in a time-diversified way.

Our current fundraising round is meant to take us from four to eight people (not twenty eight) and give us a full 18 months of running room... And that was also the plan long before the doom.

Anyone who splurges on big fancy offices when they don't need 'em, or who takes ridiculous salaries as founders probably deserves to go under. As Gary Vee said, "This isn't a party. We're building real businesses here."

I think this whole doom and gloom thing is a farce. I mean, don't get me wrong, Sequoia has an amazing track record but they also find a way to stuff 5 million into every first round that they do. Companies should be ultra conservative about cash anyway... The idea that suddenly companies now need to do a 180 on strategy means something was wrong to begin with.

At worst, most companies should need an extra round of financing to weather an additional 18 months. As long as your previous rounds were priced reasonably, this shouldn't be a tremendous issue--certainly not catastrophic. Unfortunately, that's not the case for a lot of these companies. Many, financed by the same VCs that are most likely to sound the alarms, cut off their flexibility by capitalizing at too high a price or ramped up too fast. If you've raised over $10 million, have a headcount over 30, and you don't have a stable revenue stream yet, well... your shipment of fail has just left the factory.

Playing Among Giants

2008-09-27T20:06:00.006-07:00

Earlier today a friend asked what my thoughts were about starting a small online business during a recession. While I was thinking about it, I came up with a larger question, which is, why would anyone start an online business these days? With Google branching out more than ever, it's impossible to become involved in something that they aren't currently involved in or haven't thought of. In fact, a lot of Venture Capitalists commonly ask, "Well, what if Google decides to do 'X'?"

I think there are a lot of ways to answer that question, and the proper way to answer it obviously depends on the product in question. Google is a large company with almost a limitless reach to money and talent. Competing with them on any level is going to be difficult and will take a lot of hard work and money.

Obviously, Google's core product, search (and with it, search advertising) has allowed it to dominate the web. One thing Google has done wrong is expand past their core product offering. By necessity to survive, Google expanded from search (and advertising) to mobile, email, web analytics and more recently video and social networking. Because of this they have become a company that is a 'jack of all trades, master of one'.

So how do you compete with Google? The simple answer would be to find their weakness and exploit it (obviously this is oversimplifying it, but bear with me). In social networking, Orkut has never been big in the United States? Google was not first to market with social networking. It launched in 2004 well after known sites like Friendster and MySpace were dominating. Google knew it could provide a competitive product because of all the people already using Google Search on a daily basis, and all of the information they had access to. Regardless, Facebook launched after Orkut and clearly blew it away.

Another example is video. Google Video and YouTube launched roughly at the same time (for the sake of argument, YouTube may have launched a bit before Google Video). Video on the web was an instant success. With people beginning to have more access to broadband web speeds, the demand for video was growing. Not only that but the product that YouTube built was functionally better than Google Video. The end result was Google purchasing YouTube for $1.6 Billion.

So when one asks "Well, what if Google decides to do 'X'?", the way to answer that question is to say that Google has grown too big to properly develop and execute the strategy that is necessary in the development of the product. The next step in answering that question is to define why Google's product will never be as good as your product.

Thoughts on a Google/Yahoo Search Deal

2008-09-21T16:12:00.005-07:00

TechCrunch posted the following article about Google serving ads against Yahoo search results. Everybody seems to have their own opinion about the pros and cons of such a deal. Microsoft will obviously be pushing the Department of Justice to take a nice and steady look at possible monopolistic overtones to the deal.

Because of Google's mammoth ownership of the search advertising market, it's easy to see why anyone inside of Google or Yahoo would be in favor of it. Google is currently spinning the issue saying that the partnership will lower ad prices Really? How? It will essentially direct advertisers to a network that (after the deal is completed) will own upwards of 90% of the search advertising market, taking away competition, and by definition force the price of keywords and keyword phrases up.

The problem with not just search advertising but online ad networks as a whole is the lack of quality competitors in the space. Granted, there are now over 300 ad networks competing for a piece of the $16billion online ad market. The trouble is not one of them has shown the capability or the determination to produce a product capable of effectively competing with Google.

Unfortunately, a good product is only half the battle. Many companies out there have developed good ad networks, it's just that a) the management is under-prepared for a long fight with Google, b) the product they built can't scale, or c) the company lacks the discipline or the expertise to successfully execute putting another product in play with mainstream advertisers.

The Bloodletting, Part II

2008-09-17T19:30:00.003-07:00

I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to post more thoughts on the financial markets recent stumble, but it's too important not to at least post a few random thoughts.

- The Fed decided to bailout troubled insurer AIG last night. While I'm against the government bailing out bad management, this one was needed. AIG wrote credit default swaps and sold them to banks who bought bad mortgages from mortgage companies. Their 'promise' was that in the event of default, AIG (the world's largest insurer, well, it was, anyway) would be good to pay back the bad loan. Lo and behold, bad loans start rolling in, and the piper demands to be paid. AIG sold these derivatives pretty much unregulated, to anyone and everyone that would buy them. Suffice to say, if the Fed didn't step in, the bloodletting would be a lot worse.

- Lots of debate as to whether or not the FOMC should lower short-term rates. Assuming the market opens dramatically lower tomorrow, I don't see this as implausible.

- Word on the street is puts for Goldman Sachs went from around $.15 to over $20 in the space of two hours. No photographic proof of this, but I don't see this as too illogical, given that it's one of two independent banks left standing.

- I overheard something a bit concerning while walking through the Financial district of San Francisco today, two well dressed men standing in front of the Mandarin Oriental whispering into their mobile phones about 'manipulation'. Then, about an hour later, a commentator on CNBC mentions the same word.

- The SEC released an emergency order today preventing naked short selling. Not sure if this isn't too late.

- Both WaMu and Morgan Stanley are seeking their own respective deals to take them out of their bad positions.

The Bloodletting

2008-09-15T19:52:00.004-07:00

Today was obviously not a good day for anyone who is apart of this country's financial system in any way. From those employed to oversee it, to those who work for it, and finally (and probably most importantly) those who invest it. With the DJIA dropping more than 500 points, it was the worst day since just after the September 11th attacks.

I actually think that today's bloodletting was a good thing, not only for the stock market, but for the economy as a whole. Over the weekend, a couple of major things happened, first, Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch, and the Federal Reserve decided they were not going to bailout Lehman Brothers.

Let's be clear, it's never a good thing when banks the size of Lehman and Merrill simply go away. People lose jobs and insane amounts of money. But the decision of the Fed not to bailout Lehman (and inconsequentially, they probably telegraphed the same signal to Merrill) is a sign that they think the economy may be on the mend.

Let's face it, back in March when the government bailed out Bear Stearns, nobody had any sort of accurate clue about how deep or severe the current housing crisis would be. This weekend's decision not to help Lehman, is a clear signal that the government thinks the financial community and the economy as a whole is strong enough to withstand a major investment bank going out of business. 6 months ago, this just wasn't the case.

I'm no finance expert, but I think it's safe to assume that there might be more banks that go under in the next 6 to 12 months. The important thing to remember is that the responsibility for these defaults is not the general public's, but that of the banks themselves, who got themselves in this mess to begin with.

Quick Update

2008-09-14T17:16:00.002-07:00

So I've been away, obviously, but hope to update this more regularly based on the fact that I finally invested in a personalized domain. I'll be tweaking the colors, layout, and may even change the name of the blog itself in the coming days and weeks. Here's to more content!

Can You Hear Me Know?

2008-01-26T01:05:00.000-07:00

Interesting article from TechCrunch today about the future of mobile advertising as discussed by a few business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The highlights:

- US Mobile Ad Market is projected to be only around $1 Billion by 2012 (seems low to me)

- Mobile phones make it easier for advertisers to target their ads through GPS and other features

- China Mobile estimates its mobile phone market to be half a billion users and they are adding 6 million users a month.

No doubt mobile advertising will have a huge impact in future ad campaigns. The extent of which it happens, especially here in the US, remains to be seen.

Privacy is an Illusion

2007-11-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

I found this interesting little piece of information in the New York Times late last week about the fact that Facebook's new ad platform could violate ~~out of date~~ state privacy laws. New York State statute states that "any person whose name, portrait, picture, or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained" can sue for damages.

This is interesting considering Facebook is planning on launching Social Ads by having friends recommend products and services to one another. Of course, they could get around all of this by simply adjusting their terms of service.

Thoughts on SocialAds

2007-11-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

Facebook announced yesterday that it will start a new stealthy art of advertising called SocialAds. The point of the platform will allow its 50 million members to become the new advocates for high profile brands such as Verizon, Blockbuster, and other mainstream brands.

The new platform allows these companies to do the following:

- Build profiles around their brand - nothing new here, this has been going on for a few years at MySpace, and was even in beta testing mode at Facebook with its Sponsored groups function.

- Insights will allow advertisers a more in-depth look at how their consumers and target markets behave online. Because Facebook collects such a comprehensive amount of data when a user registers for its site, this information will be extremely valuable to advertisers, more-so than on other social networking sites, where a buying a banner ad would be a shot in the dark. Advertisers will now be able to target not only to traditional demographics, but will be able to go as far as to where a user graduated from, what Facebook applications they are using and who their friends are. All of this, of course, will no doubt raise privacy concerns from industry watchdog groups.

- Beacon is the most interesting part of the platform because it allows users to tell their friends when they visit and purchase on a partners website. Imagine for a moment that you just bought Gucci Sunglasses off of eBay. That transaction will now show up in your news feed on Facebook. Taking this a step further, let's assume that you and your friends are planning a quick trip to Cabo for Spring Break and you want to let them know where you received a great deal. If the airline you purchased your tickets from is a partner of Facebook, that purchase will show up in your news feed.

What Facebook is doing has the potential to revolutionize the industry. If done correctly, they could do for social networking what Google did when they launched AdWords. This new platform is bound to have a dramatic effect not only in online advertising, but advertising across all spectrums.

Facebook Fun

2007-10-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Just in case you've been living in a cave for the past couple of weeks, the big story that everyone is talking about is Microsoft's recent investment into hot social networking start-up, Facebook. First and foremost this has many implications to both Microsoft and Facebook. Microsoft is in essence ~~mortgaging its future~~ placing a big bet on the fact that FB is going to be the next big thing. Facebook, on the other hand, is hoping that Microsoft can show them the ropes on how to become a successful media company (if you think FB is anything but a media company, you're sorely mistaken).

What was interesting over the last couple of weeks is the fact that there were several players who were all trying to buy Microsoft's piece of the pie. Google was perhaps the biggest and most relevant among them and surprisingly lost. Why they lost has yet to unfold. Although in the end it may be pretty smart of FB to have said no to Google, Google sure would have had a lot more to offer them as far as experience and online advertising brainshare.

What's certain now is the gloves are off between the two companies. Today, Google announced that they have established a partnership with several companies to set-up a social networking platform that will be common across the board. While this probably won't make FB co-founder Mark Zuckerberg forget that he's a new billionaire (on paper), it will surely make things more interesting in the weeks and months to come.

Rambling Reading

2007-10-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

- The Sox made it into their second World Series in 3 years yesterday by defeating the Cleveland Indians.

- Don't mess with Bill Maher - he'll kick you out, dammit!

- Apple knows how to sell more than a few iPods and computers.

- Good luck getting World Series tickets.

...And We're Back!

2007-10-20T11:38:00.001-07:00

After a longer than anticipated hiatus, we'll be blogging on a more regular basis again (though the exact timeframe is TBD). In any case, it's been a great 6+ months off. Looking forward to bringing you even more fun from around the Web.

Rambling Reading

2007-02-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Before we get into this edition of Rambling Reading, you may have noticed that this blog has been somewhat dormant this month. Well, the reasons are many, but the goal for the next little while will be to post 3 or 4 times a week, as circumstances allow. On to this week's great Web reads:

-I think Shakespeare said it best when he said "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Little did he know that that quote would be applicable to a once hot entertainer and her now shit-holed career.

-The headline that Newsweek uses "Raiders of the Lost Tomb" definitely applies in this case.

-We can't defeat terror, but we know how to disable your garage door opener.

-Bobby, this is what Humpin' Around will get you (That is, humpin' and not paying your child support).

-Manny's still being Manny, kind of.

MyBay

2007-02-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

It was announced last week that eBay was trying to hook-up with MySpace on MySpace. eBay is hoping to tap the 50 Million plus MySpace users by allowing them to transact on MySpace via eBay.

This is an interesting move for eBay, primarily because most of MySpace's customer base contains people in the 18-24 demographic (which, btw, is great idea to gain buyers, not so great to gain sellers).

What's in it for MySpace? Good question. Sure, eBay has 180 Million customers that it can introduce social networking too, but let's face it, MySpace is just a big 'hook-up' platform and how many 40 year old soccer moms want to use a site that's geared towards kids in their 20's.

This is just a preliminary deal, and it's unclear if it will actually be consummated, however, if it does go through, I don't see it being a boon for either company. eBay will surely use MySpace as an advertising mechanism, but once they saturate it, what's left?

WikiLobbying

2007-02-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

I thought that this recent clip from Stephen Colbert was quite amusing - especially given the wonderful world of Web 2.0:

Valleywag: Money Buys Happier Sex

2007-01-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

From the 'Wag:

Men with a net worth of more than $30m, tech entrepreneurs among them, claiming that their wealth had brought "better sex" -- defined as more frequent sex with more partners. The survey, by Prince & Associates and reported by Robert Frank, showed wealthy women were even more libidinous.

Auctionbytes: eBay to Introduce Feedback 2.0

2007-01-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, I'm not sure eBay's going to be able to pull this one off - just relieving the headache that the current eBay feedback system causes all involved (including the eBay employees who have to put up with the bitching from various people wanting feedback removed) is a project in and of itself. Allowing buyers to rate sellers in everything from communication to shipping is a nightmare waiting to happen.

From Auctionbytes:

eBay users can now view sample screenshots of eBay's recently announced "Feedback 2.0" system on the eBay UK website. The new system will allow buyers to rate transactions on item description, communication, shipping time, and shipping & handling charges. In late February, eBay will pilot Feedback 2.0 on eBay.co.uk, eBay.ie and in Australia, Belgium, France, India, Italy and Poland. If all goes well, eBay will launch the new system globally in late spring or early summer.

eBay UK announced the forthcoming system to users on Monday on its Announcement Board, with links to screenshots and details. Once buyers leave a rating of positive, negative or neutral along with a comment, they will have the chance to rate sellers on the following four questions:

How accurate was the item description?
How satisfied were you with the seller's communication?
How quickly did the seller deliver the item?
How reasonable were the postage and packaging charges?

Buyers can give sellers up to five stars on each of the rating criteria. For instance, five stars on the first question indicates the seller's item description was "very accurate," while two stars on the last question indicates the postage and packaging charges were "unreasonable." eBay will include a thumbnail image of the item underneath the auction title to make it easier for the buyer to remember the item.

On the Feedback Profile page, called Member Profile page under the original feedback rating system, eBay has added a new module that provides the average of each Detailed Sellers Rating left by buyers for the seller in the past 12 months. A seller must have at least 10 Detailed Seller Ratings to have an average displayed. In addition to the average, eBay displays the total number of ratings left for each Detailed Seller Rating in the past 12 months.

Rambling Reading

2007-01-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

As usual, the following are some random articles of stuff that I've found interesting on the series of tubes known as the internets:

- Now you don't have an excuse for drinking alone.

- "I promise judge, I was alert the whole time."

- Paris Hilton admits she did it, kind of (no, not that).

- Cutting up your mom only gets you six months in New York. I understand he was under undue influence, but still, this is your mother.

- Don't leave home without your passport. Pretty soon, it will be required to go anywhere (I'm sure it's buried in the Patriot Act somewhere).

- $335,000 for 77 square feet, sign me up!

iPhone on SNL

2007-01-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

Below is a short clip from SNL this past weekend. Is this the new way of marketing your product? Granted, in and of itself, the iPhone was bound to be pretty popular, but to have your product parodied on a show like SNL with its initial reach on Saturday night, and then to have it played over and over again on sites like YouTube...Steve Jobs must be sitting somewhere lighting his cigars with $100 dollar bills.

Quick Thoughts from the NFL Playoffs

2007-01-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Great weekend of Playoff football over the weekend. The Most interesting games by far were the Bears game and the Chargers game. Congratulations to all the winners.

I couldn't believe the hit Reggie Bush took in the Eagles game - unbelievable! Here's the YouTube clip:

2006 in Review

2007-01-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

At this time last year, I made some predictions about what I thought would happen during the new year. Let's rehash that blog and see what happened, and what didn't happen:

Iran's Nuclear Facilities are removed. Didn't happen, yet. Iran's president keeps toeing the line as to how far he can go with regard to developing nukes. My guess now is nothing will happen until Iran actually tests a weapon.
The US begins a systematic withdrawal from Iraq. Uhm, not even close to happening. I suppose the holiday egg-nog was still having its way with me when I wrote this. The fact of the matter is we're actually considering sending more troops into Iraq.
Hillary Clinton announces her run for the presidency. This didn't happen, yet. However, Hillary's by far the leading democratic candidate in a hypothetical race.
Bush announces a strategic plan for a Plastinian State. I'm just making sure you're still reading. Ha, ha, this one still cracks me up.
Abortion part deux takes place in front of the Supreme Court. Well, this didn't happen because of a couple factors: a) the issue was killed (probably a bad choice of words, I digress) in South Dakota, which was the alleyway for the Court to re-try the issue, and b) the GOP had their asses handed to them in October (which was un-forseen at this point in time).
Osama Bin Laden will be captured or killed. Another year on the run means more time for him to plan the next big one. OBL successfully threw the dogs off his tracks for another year. However, his buddy in Iraq was not so lucky.
The stock market has another so-so year. Not sure what happened here, but I was completely off. The market had a fantastic year, with the Dow soaring past the 12,000 mark.
The Red Sox have a horrible year. I wasn't totally off on this one. I guess it depends on how one defines the word 'horrible'. The Sox were close throughout the year but tanked in August and ended up missing the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey will get divorced. Ha! I was right on this one! Nick and Jess signed the dotted line and ended their three year marriage. Also noteworthy regarding this one is that Nick could already be back in the saddle again.

Next time, 2007 predictions!

Tag Me

2006-12-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged. I didn't tag myself. One of my buddies, Shmuly, did it. This tagging game that's going on in blogosphere has been quite entertaining. The concept is simple, someone with a blog tags you, you write five things that nobody knew about you, and then you tag more people. It's kind of like a blog-chain-letter.
So, without further ado, here's five things you probably did not know about me:

-I currently work at the big O (which is why I don't comment them much), but before that I spent some time at eBay. You can read some of my random thoughts about eBay here, here and here.

-I live in Utah, which is more boring than it sounds.
-In high school, I played football and basketball.
-I spend more time on this site, than I probably should.
-I'm addicted to blackjack. This means when Affiliate Summit 2007 rolls around next month, you'll know where to find me.

So, yeah, that's it. I'm now tagging Noah, Danny, Heather, Mark Cuban (even though I'm not a fan), and Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy).

Messin' with 'Melo

2006-12-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

I found the fight amusing between the Knicks and the Nuggets amusing on many levels, but a couple thoughts stood out in my mind:

1) It would have been much, much better had Kenyon Martin somehow been involved.

2) Why didn't Nate Robinson pick on someone his on size, like Earl Boykins?

Finally, not that it matters much but somehow, the Knicks ended up beating the Jazz tonight, sans their suspended players.

$100 Million Dollar Man

2006-12-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Boston Red Sox got their man, today, well at least it looks that way. The Sox agreed to terms with Japanese Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (aka 'Dice').

The deal hinges on Dice passing a physical and actually signing the contract. Terms of the contract call for the Red Sox to shell out $52 Million over 6 years to the 26 year old pitcher. Combine that with the $51 Million that the Sox offered just for the right to talk to the guy, and you're looking at $100 Million out the door.

Is it worth the price? Considering that the Dice will be added to a starting rotation of an aged Curt Schilling, a quasi-effective Josh Beckett and a new to the starting rotation Jonathon Papelbon, this move can't hurt.

In the last two seasons, Dice has 24 wins and 19 loses, with a 2.60 ERA. He had 99 more strikeouts in 2005 than he had in 2004 (playing in only 5 more games, year over year).

All in all, it shouldn't be a bad deal for the Sox. Hopefully he can help out where they need it most.

Rambling Reading

2006-12-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

A few articles that I've found interesting while perusing the series of tubes, also known as the internet:

-In Texas, it's apparently not a good idea to hug your teacher, even if you're only in preschool.

-Big condoms are a big headache (pun intended).

-Paul found, Peter and James up next.

-From the 'No shit' department, Google promotes themselves in AdWords.

-In Utah, you do not have to know anything about a newspaper in order to be put in charge of one.

Rude Awakening

2006-12-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton ruined every male's fantasy today when her rep told MSNBC News that she and gal pal Britney Spears are 'just friends'.

The two have been out on the town with many sites reporting they have been so comfortable with each other that Paris was spotted rubbing Brit's 'upper thigh'. The two have also been caught hanging out at popular LA nightspots, where photographers caught Brit sans panties.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

2006-12-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

Is Ashlee Simpson getting desperate? She's auctioning off her Uggly boots on eBay. She can't seem to get her show back on MTV, and her ex was recently spotted making out with The King's granddaughter.

Damn, Ash, I guess you always have that singing career to fall back on. Oh, wait, your last CD didn't do so hot, did it?

Update: Yahoo CEO Out...Not

2006-12-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

Looks like yesterday's post about Yahoo's CEO Terry Semel was a bit premature. I guess it helps to pay attention to the details.

Breaking: Yahoo CEO Out

2006-12-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

As per Valleywag, Yahoo's CEO Terry Semel is out. The company's CFO, Sue Decker, is Wall Street's early favorite to take over.

I'm sure this won't be the last you hear about this.

MySpace is No Playground

2006-12-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

MySpace announced today that through a joint partnership with a company called Sentinal Tech Holdings, they will begin to match users identities with known sex offenders. The company is taking the step with the hopes of curbing the number of attacks that have happened that authorities claim occurred as a result of the perpetrator meeting their victim through the Social Networking site.

Kudos to MySpace for starting to develop such a feature. However, any convicted criminal with any ounce of street smarts should be well aware that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for him (or her) to post actual photos of themselves on the website. I mean, let's face it, if you were an offender of this nature, wouldn't you naturally assume that your parole officer is probably searching MySpace (and other websites) making sure that you are adhering to the terms of your probation.

Also, why is it that in this day and age, that parents still don't actively monitor what their kids are doing and who they are talking to online. Parents, your kids do not need a computer, digital camera, or a camera phone. Take it away. They will still grow up to be perfectly functioning adults without these toys. Every time you allow them to use a computer alone (i.e. in a non-public area) and chat with random people online, the chances of something bad happening to them increases dramatically.

I'm Gonna Knock Hov Out

2006-11-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

LL Cool J is mad at his boss. There's nothing wrong with that, other than the fact that his boss happens to be Jay-Z. Jigga-man recently came out of retirement with his new album "Kingdom Come" (which by the way is available at all retail outlets near you).

LL was quoted as saying, "How am I going to re-sign with competition? I can't depend on that man to promote my record while he's somewhere writing rhymes."

Uhm, LL, James, a couple things before you go off any further on your boss: First, Jay is an artist just like you. He can drop an album whenever he damn well feels like it. Just because your last few albums have been dogshit, don't get all bitchy when a colleague and fellow label artist decides to make another album.

Second, and most important, Jay is your boss. He's the CEO of Def Jam. This means that someone at your label thought he was more intelligent than you at running a record company. This also means that he has to keep Def Jam competitive with all the other labels out there, so it may have been a business decision by him to do another album to drive sales at the label. In other words LL, it was for the greater good of the label.

Now be a good boy and go finish your next piece of garbage.

Can You Hear Me Now?

2006-11-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Has anyone bothered to take a look at Research in Motion (RIM) lately? In the last three months, this stock has gone from $80 to today's close of $135. For you math majors out there, that's an increase of more than 50%!

The next question is why has it gone up so much? Well, young grasshopper, I will tell you. Analysts seem to be pretty happy with this little thing called the Blackberry Pearl. It's the smallest, lightest and easiest to use Blackberry currently on the market. With 18 wireless companies currently pushing the Pearl, it has the potential for a wide user base. What's more, word on the street is Cingular is going to start pushing this baby any day now.

My, oh my have fortunes can change. It seemed like just yesterday that RIM was on the verge of shutting down for good. Now, the sky is the limit for this company and their addicting little devices.

Earlier: Thoughts on Blackberry's Settlement
The Street: Research In Motion Keeps Rocking

What More Can I Say?

2006-11-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Juice is on the Loose

2006-11-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the Juice is loose, again. Fox, yes, that same News Corporation decided to pull the plug on the Juice's get out of debt card and canceled his much maligned book about how he killed err, hypothetically would have killed Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.

Kudos to Fox for realizing that this was a bad idea to begin with. Not only would it have made News Corp. look even more ridiculous than it already does, but the would be essentially aiding and abetting a person who by all conventional wisdom killed those two people.

How much lower can the Juice sink? Well, don't be surprised if sometime when he's really desperate for money, he sells the rights to the Fox Interview to a Pay-Per-View Cable/Satellite dealer.

Rambling Reading

2006-11-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

A few articles that I've been reading on the web lately:

- Apparently it's illegal to breast feed on Delta Airlines.

- The Red Sox just spent more money than most of us will see in 50 lifetimes, just to 'talk' to a Japanese pitcher.

- You "can't hear me now" in NYC schools.

- What Billionaires really do in their spare time.

- A real life Billionaire Boys Club.

Zuning You Out

2006-11-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Microsoft will release it's answer to the iPod (cough, cough three years later) when it launches the Zune portable music player. Although slow to market, the Zune is expected to be a big hit this Holiday season.

A couple of clear advantages that the Zune will clearly have over the iPod is its wireless connectivity will make it easier to download and play music as well as share pictures and video with friends. They viewing screen on the Zune will also be slightly bigger than the one on the iPod.

However, because the iPod dominates the portable music market, it will be difficult for anyone to put a dent in their established dominance. Apple currently maintains 75% market share of portable music players and created the market for legally downloading music.

Two Words

2006-11-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Because most of what needed to be said has already been said, I just wanted to add the following two words: Clean Sweep!

You Knew This Was Happening...Sooner or Later

2006-11-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Google decided to open up the floodgates to traditional media and will begin selling ads for newspapers.

After years of declining revenues, old media is starting to get the idea that selling ads the old fashioned way of picking up a phone and randomly dialing a number just doesn't work anymore. The Washington Post, New York Times and Boston Globe (coincidently all left-leaning newspapers) will all take part in this deal. In all the deal will encompass about 50 of the nations papers.

Interestingly enough, when asked to comment about the deal, Sergey and Larry just smiled and lit cigars with hundred dollar bills.

An Apple a Day Keeps Global Warming Away

2006-11-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a new piece of machinery from Apple. Two days later, I received an email from them about how I can do my part to save the environment by recycling my old computers that I have lying around.

Fantastic idea. They make it really easy. All you need to do is package up your old hardware, print out the email that they send you, drop your stuff off at Fed Ex and you're done.

I sure hope other people adopt similar approaches.

BoobTubed Redux

2006-11-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week it was reported YouTube received notice from Comedy Central's parent company, Viacom, ordering them to take down clips from shows like "The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show," and others.

However, today ~~Viacom~~ someone had a change of heart and now there is a possible deal between the two companies.

I'm guessing someone finally was surfing hitwise and said "Holy shit, look how much traffic www.youtube.com gets!"

Somethin' Wicked This Way Comes

2006-11-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Someone finally got sick and tired of all their negative feedback and decided to take their aggression out on eBay this morning when a bomb went off. It shattered a few windows and gave hard working employees a small case of the heebie-jeebie's, but fortunately, everyone was alright.

Word on the street is eBay's keeping a tight lid on what happened - and only SJPD is being allowed in the area.

Earlier: ValleyWag

He'll Fight, For Your Right..Well Maybe Not

2006-11-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

In an update from yesterday's post, John Kerry apologized to any troops, families, or ignoramous's (sp?) he may have offended.

Sorry, John, maybe next election year you will earn those cajones that I told everyone you had.

He'll Fight, For Your Right...

2006-10-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

To gggeeettt elected. John Kerry, yes, THAT John Kerry, grew some cajones recently and told the "president's hacks" to cut it out.

Kerry, who has been busy campaigning in several states for fellow Democrats, called troops in Iraq "stuck" because they are unable to navigate the country's educational system. The Republican radio hacks fired back by demanding that Kerry apologize for his socio-economic comments, but he responded with this: "I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy."

Uh, John, the presidential election (you know, the one where you were actually running for office) was a couple of years ago. You lost, remember? That was the one where there were a few people who challenged your manhood and you really didn't respond.

In any case, it's good to see that John still cares about politics and can even get down and dirty with the best of them. What's more, this should help a few more liberals get elected next week. But as always, time will tell.

BoobTubed

2006-10-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

YouTube officially started removing television shows like "The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show," "South Park" and more. The move should have an effect on the number of videos
that are distributed throughout the web via MySpace, blogs, email and more.

This is an interesting move for Viacom, the parent company for Comedy Central, in part because many of the viewers of these video clips happen to be the exact market that they are targeting when such shows are produced. YouTube has been successful in working out advertising and revenue sharing deals with other major content distributors, such as Universal.

It should be interesting to see if, now that YouTube is part of a bigger, more financially lucrative company, content distributors are more aggressive in having their content removed from their site.

An Open Letter to K-Fed:

2006-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Do people really take you seriously? You were recently quoted on People magazine's website as saying "If you want to hate me, cool, hate me."

Great quote, Fed, I bet you're high-fiving yourself after that one. Let's be clear on something, you now have, what, 4 or 5 kids (by two different mothers, no less), you're not wearing the pants in your current relationship (people actually refer to you as Mr. Britney Spears), you can't sing, you can't rap and you can't act. Have I missed anything? Oh, yes - you've resorted to appearing on WWE television (and getting the shit kicked out of you) all for the sake of promoting your debut album. In short, you're not exactly hovering at the top echelon of society. Hey man, I'm just telling you the facts. Don't shoot the messenger.

K-Fed, here's a hint: just stop what you're doing and lay-low. Stop making public appearances. Stop rolling with your crew to the latest LA hotspot. Stop wearing your hat backwards and for the love of God, stop making music. Just hang out. Your wife has made plenty of money to support you and 10 more kids for an entire lifetime. And once she does her cover for Playboy (you know it's coming), you nor your kids will ever have to worry about money again. You can roll out of bed at noon, say hi to the kids, check your email, and then call it a day. Hell, maybe you and the wifey can even mess around to top the night off.

Just promise the rest of the civilized world that you will stay out of the public limelight forever. And after Britney gets back into pre-baby #1 weight and does her obligatory Playboy shoot, she has to make the same promise.

Thank You, Sir - May I Have Another?

2006-10-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

In "Hey, at least it didn't happen in Utah" news:

The principal of Park High School returned to school Tuesday after a
six-day suspension for giving a student a "wedgie." The Livingston School
District Board held a special meeting Monday and approved Superintendent
Hannibal Anderson's recommendation that Principal Eric Messerli be allowed to
return to work.

Good job, Montana. Maybe one day you'll catch up to the rest of the world and realize that this behavior is completely inappropriate and fire the next guy that does this.

Rambling Reading

2006-10-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

A few interesting articles from the last few days:

-This weeks sign of the apocalypse: Weird Al breaks into the top 10.

-"My son's really good, dammit!"

-Drinking will help you live longer.

-Masons are still separate, but equal.

-Happy birthday, iPod.

Quote of the Day

2006-10-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Reader Lanire S. of Philadelphia wrote to ESPN's the Sports Guy with this gem:

Is it possible that George Bush is the white Art Shell? Mismanages a
defense, has no idea what the hell is going on half the time, and is in wayyy
over his head. Think about it, on 9/11, when he sat there at the school for like
5 minutes after finding out what happened, staring out into space thinking about
which Happy Meal he was going to get later, that's Art Shell every week on the
sidelines! Whether you're for or against Bush, this is funny.

Well said, Lanire. Well said.

Show Me What You Got, Little Mama

2006-10-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Jay-Z's new video from his new single "Show Me What You Got". Great song, better video.

Why Mark Cuban is Crazy, Part 3

2006-10-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

Mark wrote the following in his blog today regarding the Google/YouTube deal:

Wait a minute, who is the little guy hovering in front of me ? Dang, it
looks like a Google lawyer ! Is he using a juet propulsion pack to fly ? No, its
a floating Segway. Wow ! He is saying "No problem mark. You didnt crack any DRM,
we dont use any !.

Mark, the NBA season hasn't even started yet and you're already trippin'. Either that, or he's now thinking that he sold broadcast.com wwwwaaaayyyyy to early. (Notice the URL for broadcast.com goes to wikipedia. Because the deal was done so long ago, broadcast.com nor yahoo.broadcast.com exist).

Still a Virgin? Come to Utah

2006-10-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

I'm going to let everyone in on a little secret: sex is alive and well in the state of Utah. In fact, if I were a betting man (which, cough, cough, I'm not), I'd be willing to bet on as many as 50% of high-school teenagers here have had intercourse and as many as 70% have had oral sex. I have no factual evidence to back this up, but call it a hunch after living here for 20+ years. Of course, there are many reasons why teenage sex is so high here, but I will save you all the psycho-babble lectures on why, if you just accept the above premise.

Recently, the federal government gave $3 Million dollars to the Weber County School District to teach an abstinance-only cirriculum in their schools. The pregnancy rate in Weber County (which is about 25 miles north of Salt Lake City) is twice the rate of the national average. According to Gary House, director of the Weber-Morgan Health Department,

"Abstinence is best for the health and the future of the adolescents. We want
adolescents to understand the negative physical and emotional consequences of
premarital sex. We want them to understand the benefits of waiting, and we look
at this from a health perspective only.''

Gee, thanks for making that decision for me Gary. I'm so glad that I am not free-thinking person who can make my own decisions about the well-being of my children. We are so lucky to have you in such a prestigious position in our state.

Here's a semi-intellectual thought: instead of using that $3 Million on a program that has a probabilty of about .002% of being effective, why not use it effectively by:

-Implementing after school programs for teenagers. Yes, give them something to do other than have sex after school.

-Funding sexual educations programs at school. Let's face it, kids are going to have sex, just like their going to smoke. With that being the case, why not teach them how to do it safely, instead of irresponsibly.

-Helping single mothers and young families. People make mistakes. Instead of telling people they're SOL when they get pregnant, set up a fund for them that will assist them in their time of need.

Abstinance is not the answer. It never has been and never will be. Once you tell a teenager to not do something, they're going to go out and do the exact opposite.

North Korea, Google and other Thoughts

2006-10-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

There was an explosion (pun intended) of news today. Google finally put YouTube out it's misery and purchased it for a cool $1.65 Billion. Lots of analysis on the deal from ValleyWag, Crazy Mark, John Battelle, and others.

Personally, I think Google is the big winner out of the deal. They only spent $1.65 Billion on the deal, which to them (and their current market valuation $130B's), is chump change. Simply put, This deal has lots of upside for Google. Google gains and loses $1 Billion each day depending on how the market fluctuates, so even if this deal doesn't work out, there not out that much money.

The other big news was that North Korea decided to test their nuclear bomb today, which was met with pleasantries from all world leaders. President Bush reacted with his same old demands of politely asking that North Korea return to 'six-party talks', while all along, this whole situation could be prevented (as even North Korea would admit to) if the United States would deal directly with North Korea.

Why can't our president get it right? The 'reason' he went into Iraq was because he thought that they had WMD. However, we have found out, that Iraq never had WMD but instead, the 'real' country we should have been a hard-ass with, developed and tested a bonafide atomic bomb.

Now, our military is caught-up in a quagmire in BFE, meaning all we can do is make empty threats to the countries who start developing real WMD. North Korea knows that we're not going to do anything (unless they do something really moronic like attack South Korea or Japan) and Iran doesn't have to worry about anybody (except Israel) taking out their nuclear facilites. (As a side note, Robin Williams - yes, that Robin Williams, made a great point about why George H.W. Bush didn't take out Saddam in 1991 on the Bill Maher Show on Friday night. Here's a link to the transcript.)

I'm really not sure how this one will turn out. Sure, we can sanction North Korea into oblivion, but I doubt even that will get through the thick head of their leader Kim Jung Il. Japan nor South Korea have enough military firepower to pose any serious threat to North Korea. China, Russia, France and Germany are all too scared to fire a shot. That leaves the US with very few options.

Colbert's Take on Foley

2006-10-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here's Stephen Cobert's take on the whole Foley scandel.

Also, a transcript of Foley's chat logs. Can you say soooo fucked (figuratively)?

Rambling Reading

2006-10-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've done a Rambling Reading post, so I thought that I would catch everybody up on what I've been reading on the Web - well, at least what I thought was worthwhile from today:

-No selling for you! eBay's banning users with private feedback from selling on the site.

-Starbucks only gives $0.05 to charity when you purchase Ethos water. And I thought I was cheap.

-The Dow reached a new all-time high today. Too bad my options at my company still aren't worth shit.

-EX-Congressman Foley says he was abused by a priest when he was a kid. He's not trying to excuse what he did, he's just sayin'.

-This is how we object to weddings in Utah.

Elvis Was Mormon

2006-10-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, at least according to the 'always credible' Deseret Morning News.

Of course, this is the same newspaper that is more concerned with what happens in Temple Square than sporadic acts of violence that occur in Utah.

Why Mark Cuban is Crazy, Part 2

2006-09-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Mark Cuban continued his rant against YouTube, yesterday. However, instead of running his mouth in his blog, this time he was running his mouth in front of a group of advertisers in New York.

"They are just breaking the law," he told the crowd. "The only reason they haven't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue."

Uhm, good point, Mark. Oh, but wait, wasn't there that little issue that YouTube had with posting Saturday Night Live clips. Surely NBC, or its parent company, GE has enough money to sue, right Mark?

Cuban went on to tell the group that advertisers were wasting there money on viral marketing campaigns, but instead, should focus on opporutunites that lie with hi-def TV like his company HDNet.

Good job, Mark, way to promote your own company. But, if I heard you correctly, you just said advertisers shouldn't worry about viral marketing- but isn't self-promotion in front of an audience kind of like viral marketing?

Holy Screech!

2006-09-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to TMZ.com, I wasted an entire day at work wondering not if it was true, but how could it possibly be true. Screech Powers (aka Dustin Diamond) - yes, THE Screech Powers, has gone to new ~~lows~~ highs to get off the F D List and onto the A List.

By teaming up with famed porn peddeler, David Hans Schmidt (think Paris Hilton, Colin Farrell), the two ~~distributed~~ leaked a tape with Screech hooking up in a three-way with two co-eds (Yes, they were allegedly women, but verification of this fact should come later).

Also, according to rumors floating around the Web, Screech even pulls off a Dirty Sanchez in said tape. Wow. I'm horrified, but oddly interested. I doubt that I'll ever watch the 'whole thing', but I may take a short peak - you know, just to see what everyone is talking about.

Oh, and if you saw the above picture and discovered the correlation between a Dirty Sanchez and the above goateed Screech, you get a gold star.

Even More Trouble at eBay

2006-09-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

As noted in this blog earlier this year, eBay has found itself in a bit of hot water because of their refusal to actively police its site to prevent the listing of counterfeit items. In the past, Tiffany has sued eBay for refusing to take satisfactory action against these miscreant sellers.

Now, LVMH is taking similar action against eBay for essentially the same reason. In an interesting quote from the article:

LVMH says in its lawsuit that of 300,000 Dior-branded items and 150,000
Vuitton bags offered on eBay during the first six months of this year, 90% were
fakes. LVMH declined to comment on the eBay suit.

Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay told Business Week that eBay is "disappointed that it has come to this" and that the suit is "without merit". Blah, blah, blah, blah. Basically, it was anything you'd expect to hear out of the mouth of a PR guy from a company who just got sued.

As with the Tiffany case, it should be interesting to see where this one ends up (settled or otherwise). It's worth noting that in the past, eBay got out of this sticky mess by simply agreeing to remove infringing items when they are notified of their existence on its site. However, owing to the fact that this particular brand has identified 405,000 fakes (so far) this year, I think the court system may take more drastic measures this time around.

Bill Clinton Laying the Smack Down

2006-09-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

I know that I'm a bit behid the 8-ball on this, but it's too good not to share. In case you didn't hear about it, Bill Clinton was being interviewed by Fox News Correspondent Chris Wallace and, well, see for yourself:

An Open Letter To the Executives at Yahoo

2006-09-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Yahoo Executives:

Facebook is not worth $1 Billion! Sure, there are a list of reasons why you would want to purchase it. Some of the reasons include:

- Page-views on the site have grown 230% YoY (second behind MySpace, and greater than Google, Craigslist, Yahoo, eBay, et. al).

- It's one of the most highly visited sites on the Web.

- It has a demographic that advertisers would kill for, but is this really worth shelling out a cool Bill?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is only 22 years old! Do you know all the trouble you would be contributing to if you paid a 22 year old $1 Billion?

Also, do you really think that you can seriously challenge MySpace (nevermind the fact that the site is just a ~~advertisement~~ piece of SPAM)? And what happens when college students (especially this generation) quickly tire of the whole social networking fad? What do you do then?

In closing, I really think you need to sleep on it, better yet, take the weekend and think about it. Take a couple days off, have a mocha, listen to some more of Lloyd Braun's ~~brilliant~~ ideas, and just think if this deal is really going to add value to the Yahoo customer experience.

Valleywag: Your Government is Spying on You

2006-09-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

Great article today from ValleyWag:

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has a real porn problem. The
Washington Post reported last year that Gonzales
is fighting consensual adult porn, sometimes under the guise of fighting
child porn, sometimes not. Now the country's top cop is pushing -- hard -- for
Congress to force Internet service providers to save their users'
records.
It's a hard movement to fight -- everyone's afraid of being marked
"pro-child-porn" -- but it would give the government, fraudsters, and determined
hackers easy access to every Internet user's history. It's part of Gonzales's
effort to control what anyone can see -- whether it's library patrons using
censored Internet connections or home users unwittingly telling the government
whom they e-mailed, called, or Skyped. It's scary as hell and it's
succeeding.

Honestly, is anyone really surprised by this. Isn't this like finding out "Ice-cream is cold and tastes good in the summer." I really wouldn't be surprised if an FBI Agent sent an email around the office tomorrow with my top 10 favorite searches on the Web.

Why Mark Cuban is Crazy, Part 1

2006-09-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

I really don't have much to say about this post, as it pretty much speaks for itself. Basically, Mark blabs about the impending doom of YouTube. For most of you who know of, or read his blog on a regular basis, this really isn't anything new. As we all know, Mark has beef with plenty of companies, including the one I work at.

As a side note, this is part 1 of what I'm sure will be a multi-part series.

Buy It, Sell It, Trademark It!

2006-09-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Apparently, eBay is milking all it can out of its "It" campaign. According to Marketwatch, they are seeking trademark infringement protection from an online auction site called World Auctions Inc.

eBay is alleging that World Auctions blatently copied phrases and colors that were similar to eBay's uses of the word 'It'. eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said "There are numerous features on this site that are strikingly similar to those of our site."

In an effort to capitalize on this, I'm assuming that all users will be charged $0.05 everytime they use the word 'It' in an item description.

Extra, Extra..Bloggers ARE Important!

2006-09-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

Pretty good article in yesterday's WSJ (registration required) about how bloggers are becoming viewed by the fashion industry as an important medium to getting the word out about their products.

The big reason for the change in opinion about bloggers and their loyal readers, is just that, the millions of web users who turn to blogs for information. In case you've been living on Pluto (btw, it's no longer a planet), there are now over 50 million blogs being posted on the Web as we speak, and according to most people, that number is only going to grow.

Case in point, the blog SeekingAlpha struck a deal earlier this week with Yahoo! Finance, in which Yahoo! Finance will now carry content from SeekingAlpha with it's associated ticker symbols and other areas of the site.

Why is blogging so important? I think the answer is it puts more of a human face on subjects that have previously been left up to professional writers and journalists to write about in books, magazines, and Web 1.0 media. Now, anybody with access to a PC can give their two-cents about practically anything.

The benefits of this is more information is immediately available to everyone, and people can make better, more informed decisions on any subject they desire.

A drawback of this is now everyone considers himself (or herself) an expert in something - including yours truly. The readers, then, will have the ultimate say on who or who is not and expert, and they will demonstrate this decision by visiting the 'experts' blogs more.

Thanks, Mom...You're the Best!

2006-09-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

A mother in Pennsylvania is facing misdemeanor drug charges after she admitted that she smoked pot with her son to reward him for doing his homework.

I say, good for her. Why don't all parents do this? I remember when I was growing up, all we received for a good report card was cash. And, invariably, some of that cash eventually made its way to purchasing drugs and alcohol (come on, like YOU didn't do this).

All she did was simply cut out the middle man, whereas if she just gave him cash, it's just as likely that he would have went out and purchased the drugs himself. And instead of the child buying his weed from a shady drug dealer (who could of laced the drug with X, LSD, or some other scary substance) she went out and probably purchased it from the nice 23 year old who lives down the street.

Did it Really Happen?

2006-09-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

I really didn't want to write this. In fact, I wanted to avoid blogging about this at all - which is why earlier I posted that very humorous YouTube clip of Matt Leinart getting Punk'd.

But, I believe the dis-service I would be doing by not posting, would be greater than if I did post, thus I am taking the time to write a couple thoughts about 9/11 and were we are as a country, five years after.

I'll be honest, when 9/11 first happened, I thought it was a joke - at best, a new movie opening up in theaters nationwide soon. At worst, it was someone sick imagination. I was in an Accounting class in school, when I happened to overhear a couple high-level details about what happened that day. The professor came in the class and announce (with little sadness) that "the events in New York are tragic, but we still have a class to go through".

At first, I didn't think it was a big deal - some moron flew their Cessna into the WTC. I had no idea about the Pentagon, or United 93. I thought that Osama bin Laden was dessert dwelling bedouin, who had nothing better to do with his time other than to make empty threats of war against Westerners.

And then I saw the damage. The people jumping 80 floors and more in a hope to avoid their fate. I saw fear. It was the first time in my life that I looked at another citizen in this country and could tell they were scared.

We all know what has happened since then. The saddest thing (and in my opinion, the scariest thing) is that five years later, we are by far no safer today than we were than. Sure, we really don't have to worry about terrorist taking over planes and crashing them into buildings (honestly, Al Qaeda isn't likely to pull that one again, though 'copycats' will surely try). But the fear persists in this country and in others.

Buy why are we here, why are we not safer. That's not an easy question to answer, but I think the answer clearly starts at the top. I understand that in order to move on from tragedy, it's not efficient to sit around pointing fingers, but in this case, I don't think there's anything else we can do.

In the days after 9/11, President Bush seemed like a real leader (it should be noted that in those days, I was a bleeding heart Republican, I digress). He was going to get the people that did this to us. He was going to deliver Osama's head to the American people on a silver platter, if need be. In the words of Senator Orrin Hatch, we were going to get the bastards that did this to us.

Now, five years later, let's measure our results:

- Osama bin Laden still roams free in Pakistan and criss-crosses the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan with relative ease. He and his henchmen frequently release videotapes taunting us of our failure to capture or kill him.

- Al Qaeda is still alive and well. Thanks to the contstant disrespect offered up by this and other countries, it takes little more than a telephone call to a disenfranchised young Muslim to get them to join the group.

-The United States and Britian are heavily involved in an Iraqi Civil War. In 2003, after deposing of Saddam Hussein, the US dropped the ball on how to maintain basic law and order in a country and as a result growing tension between different Muslim sects grew out of control.

- Iran learned that they can mess with the head of top political leaders by threatening them with mythical nuclear weapons. In the past, the US would have simply cut them off, econimically, and the situation would be resolved. However, with Oil at record prices and the military busy babysitting next door, the adminstration has its hands tied.

- Most civil liberties in the United States are essentially gone. The government regularly requests private records of ordinary citizens from the Web Searches to a list of telephone calls the make from phone companies. Cameras are everywhere- on traffic lights, in ATM's, Library entrances, and in police cars. Hell, I don't even trust the camera in my macbook.

I won't go through all of the things that changed, as I believe the list above will suffice. However, I would like to share an article that I came across today in Newsweek. It basically presents a scenario of the world that would have happened had our goverment done what it should have done in a post-9/11 world.

Matt Leinart Get's Punked

2006-09-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

From YouTube:

Do You Eat What Britney's Eating?

2006-09-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

From MSNBC:

Who says Britney Spears’ star has faded? Someone cares enough about the preggers pop star to pay more than $500 for her allegedly half-eaten egg salad sandwich.
The eBay sale also came with a corn dog that was supposedly mostly eaten by her hubby Kevin Federline — but that Spears also took a chomp out of.
The seller claims that he works part time at a “fancy schmancy” hotel and was serving Spears and Federline during a catered affair where the food ranged from fine gourmet cuisine to deep-fried eats. “As you can see, they weren't eating high class that night,” notes the seller.
Spears ate half her sandwich, claims the seller, then a few bites from the second half. K-Fed ate a few things, “but the only leftover item I managed to pick up from him was this corn dog,” notes the seller. “Later I went to clear their plates with it, and as I was picking up the plate Britney picked [the corn dog] up really quick giggled and said ‘I can't let that go to waste’ and quickly took a big bite off of the stick end of the corn dog. I was still standing there holding the plate, not quite sure what to do because Britney Spears was stealing corn dogs off the plate I was pulling away. She finished her bite and put it back on the plate I was holding and said ‘thanks!’ ”
Realizing the celeb treasures he had in his possession, the waiter took the leftovers home, photographed them, had them vacuum sealed, and put them for sale on Australian eBay.
Forty-three bids were placed before a buyer paid $520 for the goodies. The winning bidder was identified as GoldenPalaceCasino, which in the past has engaged in publicity stunts such as paying a woman to tattoo her forehead with their company logo.

Slumping Sox

2006-08-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

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:

Brokeback to the Future

2006-08-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

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.

eBay's Three-Way

2006-08-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

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?

Does Porn Lead to Crime?

2006-08-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Apple's Buyin' You Off....Bitch

2006-08-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

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.

Racist Utah Senators

2006-08-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Is it Time to Say Goodbye?

2006-08-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

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.

How To Upset Your Neighbors in Utah

2006-08-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is how we roll in Utah..well at least according the Salt Lake Tribune.

This Sounds Familiar...

2006-08-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

From MSNBC:

Chilton said the United States had a duty to secure “the entire space
domain not just for our own military but for our allies and for the benefit of
the free world.”

Didn't I hear the same line in Star Wars?