GOOGLE LAUNCHES INTO RSS AD PLACEMENT
Well, it wasn't prophetic or really insightful, but I did write a couple months ago in my AlwaysOn column:
I believe that within a few years, RSS advertising could divert a significant portion of the marketing dollars currently being pumped into banner and text ads.
I hope Google is building Adwords and Adsense to be integrated into the RSS universe, but can that company even capitalize on this? Google doesn't have the same control over RSS feeds as search terms, which makes me wonder whether this could become a longer tail of the advertising model? Think of an eBay world of RSS ad-space sellers and a market segmented into thousands (even millions) of content providers vying for advertising dollars. RSS could be the empowering force for "the little people" of the media and blogging worlds—an interesting scenario but one that might be too chaotic and impractical for the allocation of advertising dollars. In that case, will Google and others become RSS re-aggregators? It will be interesting to watch this story unfold.
FeedBurner is one of Google's partners in this new effort. Here is the post at their blog about it. More on this from Silicon Valley Watcher, Tom Foremski's blog that I recently stumbled across:
RSS feed management company Feedburner, which has been running an RSS advertising service from Overture since late 2004, was quick to announce its piggy-back support of Google's RSS Adsense. Feedburner promises "additional flexibility in determining frequency of ads, ability to prevent ads on short posts and other ad control mechanisms for your feed."
Steve Gillmor touches upon a matter I brought up above:
Now would also be a good time for Feedburner to follow through on Dick Costolo’s promises to address the ability for Feedburner users to reclaim their feeds if necessary. In fact, the inability of individual publishers to move their subscribers from one host to another is an RSS rights issue that needs to be solved.
Junto Boyz
Thursday, April 28, 2005
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JUNIPER BUYS PERIBIT AND REDLINE
Juniper is definitely stocking up on ammo for their battle against Cisco. $337 million for Peribit Networks and $132 million for Redline Network.
Stepping up its challenge to industry giant Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks agreed Tuesday to pay $469 million for two Silicon Valley start-ups that provide technology to help businesses improve the performance of their computer networks.
Juniper said it is buying Peribit Networks of Santa Clara for $337 million in cash, stock and assumed stock options, and paying $132 million in cash and stock options for Redline Networks of Campbell.
"What they accomplish together and in concert with the rest of the Juniper portfolio is to make the network more aware of what the user is trying to do," Juniper Chairman and Chief Executive Scott Kriens said in an interview. "All of that adds up to making the network smarter."
The companies' technology helps businesses run software applications in branch offices and other locations outside of a company's main office.
"These are both areas were Cisco is fundamentally weak," said Sam Wilson, analyst with JMP Securities. ``Juniper finally got ahead and went where the puck is going, not where the puck has been. . . . They're getting in front of where the market is going." (full article)
My fellow AlwaysOn columnist, Greg Ness, senior director of corporate communications at Redline. Congratulations, Greg, on the buyout! I don't know when he joined Redline, but I hope he made out well.
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Juniper is definitely stocking up on ammo for their battle against Cisco. $337 million for Peribit Networks and $132 million for Redline Network.
Stepping up its challenge to industry giant Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks agreed Tuesday to pay $469 million for two Silicon Valley start-ups that provide technology to help businesses improve the performance of their computer networks.
Juniper said it is buying Peribit Networks of Santa Clara for $337 million in cash, stock and assumed stock options, and paying $132 million in cash and stock options for Redline Networks of Campbell.
"What they accomplish together and in concert with the rest of the Juniper portfolio is to make the network more aware of what the user is trying to do," Juniper Chairman and Chief Executive Scott Kriens said in an interview. "All of that adds up to making the network smarter."
The companies' technology helps businesses run software applications in branch offices and other locations outside of a company's main office.
"These are both areas were Cisco is fundamentally weak," said Sam Wilson, analyst with JMP Securities. ``Juniper finally got ahead and went where the puck is going, not where the puck has been. . . . They're getting in front of where the market is going." (full article)
My fellow AlwaysOn columnist, Greg Ness, senior director of corporate communications at Redline. Congratulations, Greg, on the buyout! I don't know when he joined Redline, but I hope he made out well.
GOOGLE ACCOUNT?... HAVE YOU NOTICED?
I noticed a few weeks ago, but forgot to post about the change on the Gmail login. It now reads:
Sign in to Gmail with your
Google Account
I wrote a couple months ago about how Google should fess up and admit that they are and will become a full-blown portal. Now it seems they have become more open about their inevitable march towards their destiny. Luke, Luke...
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I noticed a few weeks ago, but forgot to post about the change on the Gmail login. It now reads:
Sign in to Gmail with your
Google Account
I wrote a couple months ago about how Google should fess up and admit that they are and will become a full-blown portal. Now it seems they have become more open about their inevitable march towards their destiny. Luke, Luke...
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
WICTORY WEDNESDAY
From PoliPundit:
Breaking with 200 years of Senate tradition, Democrat senators are refusing to let President Bush’s judicial nominees get an up or down vote. You can do something about this. Contact your senators and let them know how you feel. A phone call works better than e-mail; so don’t be shy. But do be polite. Contact information for all senators is available here.
Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to support an important Republican campaign.
If you’re a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays by e-mailing me at wictory@blogsforbush.com. I’ll add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll. I’ll also send you a reminder e-mail every Wednesday, explaining which candidate to support that day.
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From PoliPundit:
Breaking with 200 years of Senate tradition, Democrat senators are refusing to let President Bush’s judicial nominees get an up or down vote. You can do something about this. Contact your senators and let them know how you feel. A phone call works better than e-mail; so don’t be shy. But do be polite. Contact information for all senators is available here.
Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to support an important Republican campaign.
If you’re a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays by e-mailing me at wictory@blogsforbush.com. I’ll add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll. I’ll also send you a reminder e-mail every Wednesday, explaining which candidate to support that day.
PARANOID STEVE JOBS... APPLE BANISHES PUBLISHER
I haven't read the book, so who know what set Jobs off. Maybe the book isn't as positive as the publisher has stated, or maybe it was just a quick read through by Jobs or someone at Apple that led them to a hasty decision?
Apple Banishes Publisher Over Jobs Biography
Forbes
Chris Noon, 04.27.05
Doers and doings in business, entertainment and technology:
iRon curtain? Apple Computer's zeal in protecting its intellectual property, as well as its image, may not be news any more. But it has taken a surprising new turn: The iPod maker has purged its 104 stores of all books by the publisher of a forthcoming unauthorized biography about Chief Executive Steve Jobs. The Wiley & Sons tome, iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, hardly sounds like a hatchet job, and its author says he is bewildered by Apple's move. "I thought the book was pretty positive and laudatory," Jeffrey Young told the Associated Press. "It covers his personal life and there is something about his illness. I wouldn't call any of it outrageous." Apple demanded that Wiley halt the release of the biography after viewing a manuscript sent to the computer maker two weeks ago. Lori Sayde, a Wiley spokeswoman, says the company will publish the biography regardless: "We're hoping that they will re-evaluate their position because we have worked very hard to establish a good relationship with Apple," she was quoted as saying in the Associated Press. (full article)
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I haven't read the book, so who know what set Jobs off. Maybe the book isn't as positive as the publisher has stated, or maybe it was just a quick read through by Jobs or someone at Apple that led them to a hasty decision?
Apple Banishes Publisher Over Jobs Biography
Forbes
Chris Noon, 04.27.05
Doers and doings in business, entertainment and technology:
iRon curtain? Apple Computer's zeal in protecting its intellectual property, as well as its image, may not be news any more. But it has taken a surprising new turn: The iPod maker has purged its 104 stores of all books by the publisher of a forthcoming unauthorized biography about Chief Executive Steve Jobs. The Wiley & Sons tome, iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, hardly sounds like a hatchet job, and its author says he is bewildered by Apple's move. "I thought the book was pretty positive and laudatory," Jeffrey Young told the Associated Press. "It covers his personal life and there is something about his illness. I wouldn't call any of it outrageous." Apple demanded that Wiley halt the release of the biography after viewing a manuscript sent to the computer maker two weeks ago. Lori Sayde, a Wiley spokeswoman, says the company will publish the biography regardless: "We're hoping that they will re-evaluate their position because we have worked very hard to establish a good relationship with Apple," she was quoted as saying in the Associated Press. (full article)
YAHOO! LAUNCHES 'MY WEB'... DEFINITELY ON A ROLL
Kevin Akira Lee announced yesterday (well, a few hours ago) the launch of a new search service from Yahoo!
Today, we launched a 'My Web', a new personal search engine fully integrated with Yahoo! Search. My Web is based on a very simple principle - a search engine should enable you to define and use the information that’s important to you. Specifically, My Web enables you to find the information relevant to you, save it, share it, add your own notes to it, and easily find it again, whether it’s three days or three months later.
The idea is a simple one – we provide a “Save” button on our search results, on the Yahoo! Toolbar (for both IE and Firefox), and, in the future, anywhere you might find useful info on the Web. When you hit the “Save” button, My Web grabs that page and makes a cached copy which is fully searchable. Anytime you need that page, all you need to do is search My Web.
You can publish your My Web links via RSS and, of course, there’s an API for My Web published on YSDN. We're also experimenting with Attention.XML as a way to ship around My Web data. To try it out, go to any My Web RSS feed and replace the "rss.xml" filename with "attention.xml". As is often the case with brand new ideas, we haven't really figured out how exactly this should work, but there’s only one way to find out.
The old (but still useful) features from the original My Yahoo! Search product are still around… you can still use our optional search history (now conveniently available at the top of the search results page) to remember previous searches and block unwanted sites from search results. And there are some new additions, like the ability to import both IE and Yahoo! bookmarks (with support for other browsers forthcoming). Looking forward, we plan to keep building on My Web – letting users share links via the new Yahoo! 360 is just one example. (full post)
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Kevin Akira Lee announced yesterday (well, a few hours ago) the launch of a new search service from Yahoo!
Today, we launched a 'My Web', a new personal search engine fully integrated with Yahoo! Search. My Web is based on a very simple principle - a search engine should enable you to define and use the information that’s important to you. Specifically, My Web enables you to find the information relevant to you, save it, share it, add your own notes to it, and easily find it again, whether it’s three days or three months later.
The idea is a simple one – we provide a “Save” button on our search results, on the Yahoo! Toolbar (for both IE and Firefox), and, in the future, anywhere you might find useful info on the Web. When you hit the “Save” button, My Web grabs that page and makes a cached copy which is fully searchable. Anytime you need that page, all you need to do is search My Web.
You can publish your My Web links via RSS and, of course, there’s an API for My Web published on YSDN. We're also experimenting with Attention.XML as a way to ship around My Web data. To try it out, go to any My Web RSS feed and replace the "rss.xml" filename with "attention.xml". As is often the case with brand new ideas, we haven't really figured out how exactly this should work, but there’s only one way to find out.
The old (but still useful) features from the original My Yahoo! Search product are still around… you can still use our optional search history (now conveniently available at the top of the search results page) to remember previous searches and block unwanted sites from search results. And there are some new additions, like the ability to import both IE and Yahoo! bookmarks (with support for other browsers forthcoming). Looking forward, we plan to keep building on My Web – letting users share links via the new Yahoo! 360 is just one example. (full post)
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
KIM DAE JUNG'S HIDDEN DAUGHTER... IS ANYONE CLEAN?
HatTip to Mingi. A few days old especially for those in Korea, but interesting enough to post late.
No surprise here. DJ, one of Korea's modern freedom fighters, turned out to be no better of a person as his presidency revealed his unethical behavior, tendency to support his followers instead of the most qualified, blind loyalty to his regional home of Cholla, and self-centeredness (i.e. Nobel Peace Prize campaign and payouts to North Korea for "historic" summit).
Mingi's note:
SBS, a major South Korean TV network, reported a story about former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung's hidden daughter. Apparently, Kim's efforts to hide the existence of his 30-something-year old daughter led to the "Jin Seung Hyun Gate" of 2000 and the expulsion of a South Korean weapons vendor, not to mention the suicide of Kim's former mistress and mother of the mystery daughter.
If you understand Korean, here's the link to the one-hour documentary. It's definitely worth watching.
'Ex-President Kim DJ Has Hidden Daughter'
Former President Kim Dae-jung has been found to have a hidden daughter, the Seoul-based commercial broadcaster SBS-TV alleged on Monday.
SBS said that producers of its investigative reporting program, "News Chujeok (Chase)," have succeeded in interviewing a South Korean woman claiming to be the daughter of former President Kim.
The broadcaster said the News Chujeok program featuring the interview with Kim’s alleged daughter is scheduled to go on the air at 8:55 p.m. on Tuesday.
Kim, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is known to have only three sons, with the eldest Hong-il and the second Hong-up born of his first wife, who died of a disease in the 1960s, and the youngest, Hong-gol, born of his current wife, Lee Hee-ho.
Disclosing the existence of Kim’s daughter, SBS insisted that her mother killed herself in June 2000 for unknown reasons.
Tuesday's News Chujeok program will feature footage of the self-claimed daughter attempting to visit the former president and allegations of Hong-il having offered hush money to her, an SBS official said. (full article)
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HatTip to Mingi. A few days old especially for those in Korea, but interesting enough to post late.
No surprise here. DJ, one of Korea's modern freedom fighters, turned out to be no better of a person as his presidency revealed his unethical behavior, tendency to support his followers instead of the most qualified, blind loyalty to his regional home of Cholla, and self-centeredness (i.e. Nobel Peace Prize campaign and payouts to North Korea for "historic" summit).
Mingi's note:
SBS, a major South Korean TV network, reported a story about former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung's hidden daughter. Apparently, Kim's efforts to hide the existence of his 30-something-year old daughter led to the "Jin Seung Hyun Gate" of 2000 and the expulsion of a South Korean weapons vendor, not to mention the suicide of Kim's former mistress and mother of the mystery daughter.
If you understand Korean, here's the link to the one-hour documentary. It's definitely worth watching.
'Ex-President Kim DJ Has Hidden Daughter'
Former President Kim Dae-jung has been found to have a hidden daughter, the Seoul-based commercial broadcaster SBS-TV alleged on Monday.
SBS said that producers of its investigative reporting program, "News Chujeok (Chase)," have succeeded in interviewing a South Korean woman claiming to be the daughter of former President Kim.
The broadcaster said the News Chujeok program featuring the interview with Kim’s alleged daughter is scheduled to go on the air at 8:55 p.m. on Tuesday.
Kim, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is known to have only three sons, with the eldest Hong-il and the second Hong-up born of his first wife, who died of a disease in the 1960s, and the youngest, Hong-gol, born of his current wife, Lee Hee-ho.
Disclosing the existence of Kim’s daughter, SBS insisted that her mother killed herself in June 2000 for unknown reasons.
Tuesday's News Chujeok program will feature footage of the self-claimed daughter attempting to visit the former president and allegations of Hong-il having offered hush money to her, an SBS official said. (full article)
GOOGLE STILL LEADS THE PACK... SEARCH ENGINE MARKET BROKEN DOWN
Not only did Google's earnings report kick butt last week, but take a look at the recent Nielsen/NetRatings report:
Share of the Search Engine Market
Yahoo!'s first-quarter profits doubled in the first quarter, jumping to $205 million from $101 million a year ago, as revenue zoomed 55% to $1.17 billion.
Powerful as the results were, Google's were even more impressive. Revenue doubled to $1.26 billion, and profit jumped to $369 million from $64 million a year ago. Much of this revenue growth came as a result of users clicking on the ads that appear on a search results page based on the keywords entered. Every time a user clicks on an ad, advertisers pay Google.
Google's shares soared on Friday, a day after the earnings were released, reaching the highest levels of their brief history. The shares of Yahoo! also finished the week with a gain, albeit a more modest one, after posting results on Tuesday. Its shares are below the recent highs reached in late 2004.
Google is the top search engine by a large margin, allowing it to attract more advertisers and collect more ad dollars. (full article)
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Not only did Google's earnings report kick butt last week, but take a look at the recent Nielsen/NetRatings report:
Share of the Search Engine Market
Yahoo!'s first-quarter profits doubled in the first quarter, jumping to $205 million from $101 million a year ago, as revenue zoomed 55% to $1.17 billion.
Powerful as the results were, Google's were even more impressive. Revenue doubled to $1.26 billion, and profit jumped to $369 million from $64 million a year ago. Much of this revenue growth came as a result of users clicking on the ads that appear on a search results page based on the keywords entered. Every time a user clicks on an ad, advertisers pay Google.
Google's shares soared on Friday, a day after the earnings were released, reaching the highest levels of their brief history. The shares of Yahoo! also finished the week with a gain, albeit a more modest one, after posting results on Tuesday. Its shares are below the recent highs reached in late 2004.
Google is the top search engine by a large margin, allowing it to attract more advertisers and collect more ad dollars. (full article)
Monday, April 25, 2005
SOUTH KOREA WARNS NORTH KOREA OVER NUCLEAR TEST
Interesting that the "Soft South" is giving a warning to North Korea. Wonder if the South Korea has some more information as to the seriousness of these tests? Or if they are receiving more pressure from the Bush administration? I assume Roh's administration wouldn't give into pressure at this point, but who knows what pressure points Bush's team is pushing.
In a rare harsh tone, South Korea on Monday warned North Korea against conducting a nuclear test, and the communist state said it would consider any U.N. sanctions a "declaration of war."
The South Korean warning come amid fears the isolated state is trying to harvest plutonium for more weapons after it apparently shut down a nuclear reactor and that it might be preparing for its first nuclear test.
Recent revelations have prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to say that although Washington had no timeline for taking North Korea to the United Nations, it was willing to go to the Security Council. Such a move could eventually lead to economic sanctions on the North.
"Nuclear weapons can never guarantee North Korea's security and will only bring about and worsen the isolation of its politics and economy," South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said in Seoul during a speech at a forum, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. (full article)
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Interesting that the "Soft South" is giving a warning to North Korea. Wonder if the South Korea has some more information as to the seriousness of these tests? Or if they are receiving more pressure from the Bush administration? I assume Roh's administration wouldn't give into pressure at this point, but who knows what pressure points Bush's team is pushing.
In a rare harsh tone, South Korea on Monday warned North Korea against conducting a nuclear test, and the communist state said it would consider any U.N. sanctions a "declaration of war."
The South Korean warning come amid fears the isolated state is trying to harvest plutonium for more weapons after it apparently shut down a nuclear reactor and that it might be preparing for its first nuclear test.
Recent revelations have prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to say that although Washington had no timeline for taking North Korea to the United Nations, it was willing to go to the Security Council. Such a move could eventually lead to economic sanctions on the North.
"Nuclear weapons can never guarantee North Korea's security and will only bring about and worsen the isolation of its politics and economy," South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said in Seoul during a speech at a forum, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. (full article)
KERRY JEALOUS AS HILLARY GAINS SPEED
John Kerry should just end his misery now. He is not going to get the nod in 2008. I have to run to lunch, so I'll write on this more later.
A fuming John Kerry had "daggers in his eyes" after a fellow Democrat promoted Hillary Rodham Clinton for president — suggesting the 2004 loser is green with envy at a potential rival.
The flap was touched off two weeks ago when Clinton spoke at a Minneapolis Democratic dinner and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) told the cheering crowd that he was introducing "the next great president of the United States."
Two days later, Kerry came over to Dayton on the Senate floor "with daggers in his eyes and said, 'What are you doing endorsing my 2008 presidential opponent?' . . . He was very serious," Dayton told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Clinton's office declined comment but a friend tut-tutted: "Boys will be boys, even when they are senators."
Kerry spokesman David Wade tried to make light of the story, claiming "some lines must have gotten crossed in his retelling of this particular conversation" — and insisted they were mostly "joshing" about hockey.
But Dayton's office says the "daggers in his eyes" report was accurate and Dayton has no quarrel with it.
At the April 9 Minnesota dinner, Dayton made it clear that touting Clinton for president was his own idea, saying it was an "unauthorized" introduction — but she did nothing to dispute it.
Dayton was also quoted as offering a blunt explanation — not very flattering to Kerry — about why he favors Clinton for 2008 after backing Kerry last year: "As Winston Churchill once said, I'd rather be right than consistent." (full article)
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John Kerry should just end his misery now. He is not going to get the nod in 2008. I have to run to lunch, so I'll write on this more later.
A fuming John Kerry had "daggers in his eyes" after a fellow Democrat promoted Hillary Rodham Clinton for president — suggesting the 2004 loser is green with envy at a potential rival.
The flap was touched off two weeks ago when Clinton spoke at a Minneapolis Democratic dinner and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) told the cheering crowd that he was introducing "the next great president of the United States."
Two days later, Kerry came over to Dayton on the Senate floor "with daggers in his eyes and said, 'What are you doing endorsing my 2008 presidential opponent?' . . . He was very serious," Dayton told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Clinton's office declined comment but a friend tut-tutted: "Boys will be boys, even when they are senators."
Kerry spokesman David Wade tried to make light of the story, claiming "some lines must have gotten crossed in his retelling of this particular conversation" — and insisted they were mostly "joshing" about hockey.
But Dayton's office says the "daggers in his eyes" report was accurate and Dayton has no quarrel with it.
At the April 9 Minnesota dinner, Dayton made it clear that touting Clinton for president was his own idea, saying it was an "unauthorized" introduction — but she did nothing to dispute it.
Dayton was also quoted as offering a blunt explanation — not very flattering to Kerry — about why he favors Clinton for 2008 after backing Kerry last year: "As Winston Churchill once said, I'd rather be right than consistent." (full article)
REVIEW OF AO/KPMG CEO BREAKFAST
"The New, New Media Market" breakfast panel that I co-moderated with Scott Rafer last Thursday was actually recorded by William Luciw over at Viewpoint West Partners. You can hear my lame intro where I was stiff as a board (lack of sleep excuse), but you should listen to David Sifry (CEO, Technorati), Chris Alden (Ceo, Rojo), and Jonathan Abrams (Founder, Friendster) comments and responses. I thought these guys were the most insightful from the panel with others having some good thoughts here and there. I was a bit surprised by Abrams since all I heard about was his arrogance and my assumptions that he wouldn't add value since his leadership at Friendster led to several missed opportunities. He gave some decent insights and wasn't as haughty as I expected.
David Sifry has a post on it here and BusinessWeek's The Tech Beat blog has comments here and here by Rob Hof. I actually didn't know BusinessWeek had blogs until Tony called me about it. Another blog for my blogroll.
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"The New, New Media Market" breakfast panel that I co-moderated with Scott Rafer last Thursday was actually recorded by William Luciw over at Viewpoint West Partners. You can hear my lame intro where I was stiff as a board (lack of sleep excuse), but you should listen to David Sifry (CEO, Technorati), Chris Alden (Ceo, Rojo), and Jonathan Abrams (Founder, Friendster) comments and responses. I thought these guys were the most insightful from the panel with others having some good thoughts here and there. I was a bit surprised by Abrams since all I heard about was his arrogance and my assumptions that he wouldn't add value since his leadership at Friendster led to several missed opportunities. He gave some decent insights and wasn't as haughty as I expected.
David Sifry has a post on it here and BusinessWeek's The Tech Beat blog has comments here and here by Rob Hof. I actually didn't know BusinessWeek had blogs until Tony called me about it. Another blog for my blogroll.
Friday, April 22, 2005
GEORGE SOROS STEPPING UP FOR THE DNC... IT'S A GOOD THING
HatTip to Powerline. I already knew Soros was stepping up in his commitment to build up the infrastructure of the left-wing and to work towards a victory in 2008. I love it that he's seeking the spotlight more and more too. All this is sweet music since I know it will swing the Democrats and liberals further left on the spectrum in terms of beliefs and perception. Jeb in 2008? Sweet!
From the Washington Times' Inside Politics feature, we learn that George Soros would be a Republican today if the GOP hadn't purged its moderate members. That's what Soros told the Washington Times anyway, after criticizing the way the paper has attacked him in print. Soros didn't identify the moderate Republicans that the party has purged (I don't believe there are any). Nor did he explain why, having rejected the Republicans, he could not have become a moderate Democrat or even a mainstream liberal, instead of opting to become the sugar-daddy of left-wing (MoveOn.org, for example).
Speaking of MoveOn, Inside Politics also notes that this group is running radio ads attacking House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. The Maryland Democrat has a 100 percent liberal rating from Americans for Democratic Action. But that's not good enough for MoveOn. The Soros backed group is outraged that Hoyer supported the bankruptcy bill.
It's pretty much a rule of politics that when a party has been out of power for a while it is willing to tolerate a decent amount of ideological impurity in its presidential candidate. My guess is that this rule will hold for the Democrats in 2008. However, MoveOn.org, bless them, will put it to the test.
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HatTip to Powerline. I already knew Soros was stepping up in his commitment to build up the infrastructure of the left-wing and to work towards a victory in 2008. I love it that he's seeking the spotlight more and more too. All this is sweet music since I know it will swing the Democrats and liberals further left on the spectrum in terms of beliefs and perception. Jeb in 2008? Sweet!
From the Washington Times' Inside Politics feature, we learn that George Soros would be a Republican today if the GOP hadn't purged its moderate members. That's what Soros told the Washington Times anyway, after criticizing the way the paper has attacked him in print. Soros didn't identify the moderate Republicans that the party has purged (I don't believe there are any). Nor did he explain why, having rejected the Republicans, he could not have become a moderate Democrat or even a mainstream liberal, instead of opting to become the sugar-daddy of left-wing (MoveOn.org, for example).
Speaking of MoveOn, Inside Politics also notes that this group is running radio ads attacking House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. The Maryland Democrat has a 100 percent liberal rating from Americans for Democratic Action. But that's not good enough for MoveOn. The Soros backed group is outraged that Hoyer supported the bankruptcy bill.
It's pretty much a rule of politics that when a party has been out of power for a while it is willing to tolerate a decent amount of ideological impurity in its presidential candidate. My guess is that this rule will hold for the Democrats in 2008. However, MoveOn.org, bless them, will put it to the test.
HOWARD ANDERSON SAYS THE VC PARTY IS OVER
Old article, but interesting. The co-founder of Battery Ventures says the venture capital party is over. Not much detail in his statement so you don't know what benchmark he is using and over what period. Might be a bitter former venture capitalist with an untold story that needs to come out.
Also the reporter didn't research this article that well since he refers to Summit Partners and TA Associates as examples of venture capital firms moving to more mature investment areas, but Summit and TA are traditionally later stage funds and really don't do early-stage deals.
Party pooper
The Boston Globe
By Steven Syre
April 14, 2005
Venture capitalist Howard Anderson, God bless him, dictates the gold standard in his business when it comes to combustible quotes for publication.
Here's a new one: The venture capital party is really over, and it won't be revived for years. This is an unpopular point of view in a business that requires optimism and confidence the way people need air to breathe.
Anderson closed the door on his YankeeTek Ventures in Cambridge this year, as the Globe's Scott Kirsner first reported. In a storied venture capital career, Anderson cofounded Battery Ventures, went on to launch Yankee Group, and finally created YankeeTek Ventures in 2000.
That record, not to mention the fortunes he made for partners investing in young technology companies, is enviable even in a business that created a very long line of megamillionaires. But big venture investing scores have been hard to come by in recent years, and Anderson sees more of the same ahead.
"There is a tremendous self-interest to say that recent returns are an aberration, but just maybe the life cycle of this form is over," he wrote in a note the other day. "It will be a good 20 years before that is universally recognized, but it is the same issue as excess manufacturing capacity in the auto industry."
Venture capitalists and their money promote innovation, and they are still very good at that. Investment and innovation, Anderson says, are the excess capacity. That has dramatically tamped down the value of companies venture capitalists nurse through business infancy and diminished the returns on investment portfolios.
The Anderson message: This isn't just another market cycle. Systemic change is taking place, and the eye-popping returns that make venture capital famous are history. (full article)
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Old article, but interesting. The co-founder of Battery Ventures says the venture capital party is over. Not much detail in his statement so you don't know what benchmark he is using and over what period. Might be a bitter former venture capitalist with an untold story that needs to come out.
Also the reporter didn't research this article that well since he refers to Summit Partners and TA Associates as examples of venture capital firms moving to more mature investment areas, but Summit and TA are traditionally later stage funds and really don't do early-stage deals.
Party pooper
The Boston Globe
By Steven Syre
April 14, 2005
Venture capitalist Howard Anderson, God bless him, dictates the gold standard in his business when it comes to combustible quotes for publication.
Here's a new one: The venture capital party is really over, and it won't be revived for years. This is an unpopular point of view in a business that requires optimism and confidence the way people need air to breathe.
Anderson closed the door on his YankeeTek Ventures in Cambridge this year, as the Globe's Scott Kirsner first reported. In a storied venture capital career, Anderson cofounded Battery Ventures, went on to launch Yankee Group, and finally created YankeeTek Ventures in 2000.
That record, not to mention the fortunes he made for partners investing in young technology companies, is enviable even in a business that created a very long line of megamillionaires. But big venture investing scores have been hard to come by in recent years, and Anderson sees more of the same ahead.
"There is a tremendous self-interest to say that recent returns are an aberration, but just maybe the life cycle of this form is over," he wrote in a note the other day. "It will be a good 20 years before that is universally recognized, but it is the same issue as excess manufacturing capacity in the auto industry."
Venture capitalists and their money promote innovation, and they are still very good at that. Investment and innovation, Anderson says, are the excess capacity. That has dramatically tamped down the value of companies venture capitalists nurse through business infancy and diminished the returns on investment portfolios.
The Anderson message: This isn't just another market cycle. Systemic change is taking place, and the eye-popping returns that make venture capital famous are history. (full article)
ANN COULTER ON TIME... COVER STORY CONTROVERSY
AOL News (yes, i'm linking to AOL News... there is a first for everything) has a interesting overview on the Ann Coulter cover story in Time, the article, and responses from the "blogosphere" (also polls and pics too). Personally I sometimes get annoyed listening to her. Sometimes she has good points, but sometimes she says extreme things that make me cringe. Also she is rude and overbearing in most of the debates I've seen her in. She doesn't let the other person finish and raises her voice over the other person.
Conservative pundit Ann Coulter is so controversial, even a story about her can touch off fierce debate. And this week's TIME cover story has. She doesn't like the cover photo. Some bloggers are blasting it as a puff piece. And the author is vigorously defending it. Use the guide below to dig into this story.
Ms. Right
By John Cloud, TIME
Ann Coulter and I were well into a bottle of white Bordeaux—and I believe she was chewing her fourth piece of Nicorette—when it happened. From what little I knew of her—mainly her propensity for declamations such as "liberals love America like O.J. loved Nicole"—I thought it impossible for Coulter to blush. Many of her fans would later tell me it was her fearlessness they admired, her fully unburdened sense of outrage against liberalism, against anyone left of Joseph McCarthy (whom Coulter flattered in her best-selling book Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism).
But in person, Coulter is more likely to offer jokes than fury. For instance, you might ask her to name her historical antecedents in the conservative movement, and she'll burst forth, "I'm Attila the Hun," and then break into gales of laughter so forceful you smell the Nicorette. "Genghis Khan!" So finally, I asked that she be serious. I wanted to see the rancor that allegedly is her sole contribution to public discourse (that and being a "lying liar," in Al Franken's estimation, as well as a "telebimbo" [Salon] and a "skank," according to a blog kept by Vanity Fair's James Wolcott). Why, I asked, did she enjoy attacking others and being attacked?
She composed herself and offered a very Ann Coulter answer. "They're terrible people, liberals. They believe—this can really summarize it all—these are people who believe," she said, now raising her voice, "you can deliver a baby entirely except for the head, puncture the skull, suck the brains out and pronounce that a constitutional right has just been exercised. That really says it all. You don't want such people to like you!" (full article)
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AOL News (yes, i'm linking to AOL News... there is a first for everything) has a interesting overview on the Ann Coulter cover story in Time, the article, and responses from the "blogosphere" (also polls and pics too). Personally I sometimes get annoyed listening to her. Sometimes she has good points, but sometimes she says extreme things that make me cringe. Also she is rude and overbearing in most of the debates I've seen her in. She doesn't let the other person finish and raises her voice over the other person.
Conservative pundit Ann Coulter is so controversial, even a story about her can touch off fierce debate. And this week's TIME cover story has. She doesn't like the cover photo. Some bloggers are blasting it as a puff piece. And the author is vigorously defending it. Use the guide below to dig into this story.
Ms. Right
By John Cloud, TIME
Ann Coulter and I were well into a bottle of white Bordeaux—and I believe she was chewing her fourth piece of Nicorette—when it happened. From what little I knew of her—mainly her propensity for declamations such as "liberals love America like O.J. loved Nicole"—I thought it impossible for Coulter to blush. Many of her fans would later tell me it was her fearlessness they admired, her fully unburdened sense of outrage against liberalism, against anyone left of Joseph McCarthy (whom Coulter flattered in her best-selling book Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism).
But in person, Coulter is more likely to offer jokes than fury. For instance, you might ask her to name her historical antecedents in the conservative movement, and she'll burst forth, "I'm Attila the Hun," and then break into gales of laughter so forceful you smell the Nicorette. "Genghis Khan!" So finally, I asked that she be serious. I wanted to see the rancor that allegedly is her sole contribution to public discourse (that and being a "lying liar," in Al Franken's estimation, as well as a "telebimbo" [Salon] and a "skank," according to a blog kept by Vanity Fair's James Wolcott). Why, I asked, did she enjoy attacking others and being attacked?
She composed herself and offered a very Ann Coulter answer. "They're terrible people, liberals. They believe—this can really summarize it all—these are people who believe," she said, now raising her voice, "you can deliver a baby entirely except for the head, puncture the skull, suck the brains out and pronounce that a constitutional right has just been exercised. That really says it all. You don't want such people to like you!" (full article)
Thursday, April 21, 2005
"BLOGS WILL CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS"... BUSINESSWEEK COVER STORY
BusinessWeek has been pretty good about keeping on top of movement in the blogosphere. Here is a good overview by Stephen Baker and Heather Green:
Blogs Will Change Your Business
Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later
Monday 9:30 a.m. It's time for a frank talk. And no, it can't wait. We know, we know: Most of you are sick to death of blogs. Don't even want to hear about these millions of online journals that link together into a vast network. And yes, there's plenty out there not to like. Self-obsession, politics of hate, and the same hunger for fame that has people lining up to trade punches on The Jerry Springer Show. Name just about anything that's sick in our society today, and it's on parade in the blogs. On lots of them, even the writing stinks.
Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite. (And yes, that goes for us, too.) (full article)
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BusinessWeek has been pretty good about keeping on top of movement in the blogosphere. Here is a good overview by Stephen Baker and Heather Green:
Blogs Will Change Your Business
Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later
Monday 9:30 a.m. It's time for a frank talk. And no, it can't wait. We know, we know: Most of you are sick to death of blogs. Don't even want to hear about these millions of online journals that link together into a vast network. And yes, there's plenty out there not to like. Self-obsession, politics of hate, and the same hunger for fame that has people lining up to trade punches on The Jerry Springer Show. Name just about anything that's sick in our society today, and it's on parade in the blogs. On lots of them, even the writing stinks.
Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite. (And yes, that goes for us, too.) (full article)
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM... ALWAYSON COLUMN UP
After a couple weeks off, I had to write something this week or my editor would have been slightly annoyed:) One reason I only got 12 hours of sleep the past four nights (Sunday 4 hrs, Monday 2hrs, Tuesday 2hrs, Wednesday 4hrs) is that I had to get out this article by Monday morning, and I had the toughest time thinking of a topic. Even though this was my shortest piece so far, I must have wasted about three hours thinking, writing, trashing, staring at the wall, writing,... Finally I settled on the recent Adobe acquisition of Macromedia, but it wasn't a piece I felt great about. Anyway, I couldn't fret over it since I had more important work to get done this week. I feel like there has been an overall decline in my articles after my first six (past three), so I definitely want to put in a better effort in my next column.
Dream a Little Dream ...
... Of an integrated future—where blogging, multimedia, and way-cool software combine—thanks to Adobe's Macromedia acquisition.
Adobe's recent purchase of Macromedia for $3.4 billion jarred more than a few memories for me—and raised some hopes as well. But first the memories: Mention of either company takes me back to my high school and college days when I used Aldus PageMaker and FreeHand for my work on various publications. I loved those programs and spent countless hours in front of my Mac creating layouts and documents. A few years later, when I graduated from college, I began using Adobe's GoLive for web publishing—again, countless hours spent.
During the mid 1990s, it seemed that software and hardware functionality, and the reach and power of the web grew exponentially every few months. When Adobe's PDF files became viewable in Netscape's browsers, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Plug-ins? Cool! PDF plug-ins? Even cooler. I downloaded every interesting plug-in I could find. Security? Overloading my browser? Who cared—not me certainly. Then I encountered Peter Kang and Gene Na when they were starting out their cutting-edge web design firm Kioken. They used plug-ins and FutureSplash software (which eventually became Flash 1.0 when its maker was acquired by Macromedia) to design a website for a nonprofit that included live animation—which in 1996 was like reading Frank Miller's Dark Knight series or watching a clear TV transmission on a cellphone for the first time a few years ago. All of these things made this nongeek go geeky. (full article)
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After a couple weeks off, I had to write something this week or my editor would have been slightly annoyed:) One reason I only got 12 hours of sleep the past four nights (Sunday 4 hrs, Monday 2hrs, Tuesday 2hrs, Wednesday 4hrs) is that I had to get out this article by Monday morning, and I had the toughest time thinking of a topic. Even though this was my shortest piece so far, I must have wasted about three hours thinking, writing, trashing, staring at the wall, writing,... Finally I settled on the recent Adobe acquisition of Macromedia, but it wasn't a piece I felt great about. Anyway, I couldn't fret over it since I had more important work to get done this week. I feel like there has been an overall decline in my articles after my first six (past three), so I definitely want to put in a better effort in my next column.
Dream a Little Dream ...
... Of an integrated future—where blogging, multimedia, and way-cool software combine—thanks to Adobe's Macromedia acquisition.
Adobe's recent purchase of Macromedia for $3.4 billion jarred more than a few memories for me—and raised some hopes as well. But first the memories: Mention of either company takes me back to my high school and college days when I used Aldus PageMaker and FreeHand for my work on various publications. I loved those programs and spent countless hours in front of my Mac creating layouts and documents. A few years later, when I graduated from college, I began using Adobe's GoLive for web publishing—again, countless hours spent.
During the mid 1990s, it seemed that software and hardware functionality, and the reach and power of the web grew exponentially every few months. When Adobe's PDF files became viewable in Netscape's browsers, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Plug-ins? Cool! PDF plug-ins? Even cooler. I downloaded every interesting plug-in I could find. Security? Overloading my browser? Who cared—not me certainly. Then I encountered Peter Kang and Gene Na when they were starting out their cutting-edge web design firm Kioken. They used plug-ins and FutureSplash software (which eventually became Flash 1.0 when its maker was acquired by Macromedia) to design a website for a nonprofit that included live animation—which in 1996 was like reading Frank Miller's Dark Knight series or watching a clear TV transmission on a cellphone for the first time a few years ago. All of these things made this nongeek go geeky. (full article)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
"BORN INTO BROTHELS" DIRECTORS ESTABLISHING SCHOOLS IN INDIA
Pretty cool and inspiring:
The two directors of the Oscar-winning documentary "Born Into Brothels," which chronicles the lives of a group of children born to prostitutes in Calcutta's red-light district, plan to set up a school in India, a member of the duo said.
Ross Kauffman, who directed the documentary along with fellow New Yorker Zana Briski, told AFP that the two filmmakers hope to have the school up and running by the start of 2007.
"The idea is to create a safe place for these kids to go, where a small group of kids can get out of that environment. It's a way to make a small difference," the 37-year-old said.
The school will focus on leadership and arts, and will have a capacity for between 50 and 100 students, he added.
"It will be a place for kids to go to get more than a basic education. Where they will be able to expand their horizons more than at a usual school. I am really looking forward to it," said Kauffman.
In the documentary, which was awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary in February, Briski can be seen struggling to get the children -- four girls and three boys -- accepted into a boarding school and out of the slums. (full article)
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Pretty cool and inspiring:
The two directors of the Oscar-winning documentary "Born Into Brothels," which chronicles the lives of a group of children born to prostitutes in Calcutta's red-light district, plan to set up a school in India, a member of the duo said.
Ross Kauffman, who directed the documentary along with fellow New Yorker Zana Briski, told AFP that the two filmmakers hope to have the school up and running by the start of 2007.
"The idea is to create a safe place for these kids to go, where a small group of kids can get out of that environment. It's a way to make a small difference," the 37-year-old said.
The school will focus on leadership and arts, and will have a capacity for between 50 and 100 students, he added.
"It will be a place for kids to go to get more than a basic education. Where they will be able to expand their horizons more than at a usual school. I am really looking forward to it," said Kauffman.
In the documentary, which was awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary in February, Briski can be seen struggling to get the children -- four girls and three boys -- accepted into a boarding school and out of the slums. (full article)
NEW, NEW MEDIA MARKET DISCUSSION... NEED SLEEP
Since I got back from Las Vegas, it's been nonstop. Two hours of sleep each night the past two nights. Catching up with work, doing new work, and some wedding planning stuff. Hectic, but a good hectic. I love the energy when you're starting something new. It's exciting and the whole process fuels you to go on and on.
I don't think I posted about this before, but I initially avoided startup opportunities when I moved to the Bay Area in October with Christine. I wanted work at an established tech company for at least a couple years and then do the startup thing, but things happened and I got sucked into a fun and cool opportunity. Anyway, things are starting to accelerate, so I totally look forward to this stage of company growth. My third time around the block now.
Tomorrow I'm moderating an AlwaysOn/KMPG "On the Record CEO Breakfast" discussing the "New, New Media Market." Pretty good line up of people for the panel.
Date: Thursday, April 21st
Time: 8am - 10am
Location: KPMG, 500 E. Middlefield Road, Mountain View
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Michael Moe, CEO & Chairman, ThinkEquity Partners LLC
Christopher J Alden, CEO, Rojo Networks
David Sifry, CEO, Technorati
Andrew Anker, EVP Corporate Development, Six Apart
Jonathan Abrams, Founder, Friendster
Nick Kingsbury, Global Sector Head - Software, 3i
MODERATORS:
Scott Rafer, CEO, Feedster
Bernard Moon, Reality Media Columnist, AlwaysOn
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Since I got back from Las Vegas, it's been nonstop. Two hours of sleep each night the past two nights. Catching up with work, doing new work, and some wedding planning stuff. Hectic, but a good hectic. I love the energy when you're starting something new. It's exciting and the whole process fuels you to go on and on.
I don't think I posted about this before, but I initially avoided startup opportunities when I moved to the Bay Area in October with Christine. I wanted work at an established tech company for at least a couple years and then do the startup thing, but things happened and I got sucked into a fun and cool opportunity. Anyway, things are starting to accelerate, so I totally look forward to this stage of company growth. My third time around the block now.
Tomorrow I'm moderating an AlwaysOn/KMPG "On the Record CEO Breakfast" discussing the "New, New Media Market." Pretty good line up of people for the panel.
Date: Thursday, April 21st
Time: 8am - 10am
Location: KPMG, 500 E. Middlefield Road, Mountain View
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Michael Moe, CEO & Chairman, ThinkEquity Partners LLC
Christopher J Alden, CEO, Rojo Networks
David Sifry, CEO, Technorati
Andrew Anker, EVP Corporate Development, Six Apart
Jonathan Abrams, Founder, Friendster
Nick Kingsbury, Global Sector Head - Software, 3i
MODERATORS:
Scott Rafer, CEO, Feedster
Bernard Moon, Reality Media Columnist, AlwaysOn
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
COOL LASZLO APPLICATION... DEFINITELY A RICH INTERNET APP
HatTip to Gaurav Bhatnagar. A cool application based on Laszlo's platform:
I have not seen anything this cool on the web for a long time. Check out this rich internet app (RIA) built on top of Laszlo
Browser based rich UIs are the new rage right now. AJAX is one set of technologies that are being used to develop rich browser apps. Laszlo still seems new and almost like a well kept secret. But I bet you will hear a lot more about them soon.
And doesn't their XML markup remind you of Avalon? It sure does to me :)
Gaurav was a software design engineer at Microsoft and now runs a software services company in India. I met him through Marc Canter, who works with Gaurav on Ourmedia and other projects.
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HatTip to Gaurav Bhatnagar. A cool application based on Laszlo's platform:
I have not seen anything this cool on the web for a long time. Check out this rich internet app (RIA) built on top of Laszlo
Browser based rich UIs are the new rage right now. AJAX is one set of technologies that are being used to develop rich browser apps. Laszlo still seems new and almost like a well kept secret. But I bet you will hear a lot more about them soon.
And doesn't their XML markup remind you of Avalon? It sure does to me :)
Gaurav was a software design engineer at Microsoft and now runs a software services company in India. I met him through Marc Canter, who works with Gaurav on Ourmedia and other projects.
AIR AMERICA SPIRALING DOWN?
HatTip to Instapundit. Brian C. Anderson, senior editor of City Journal and author of "South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias," writes about Air America's failing effort:
The liberal Air America Radio, just past its first birthday, has probably enjoyed more free publicity than any enterprise in recent history. But don't believe the hype: Air America's left-wing answer to conservative talk radio is failing, just as previous efforts to find liberal Rush Limbaughs have failed.
Wait a second, you say, didn't I read that Air America has expanded to more than 50 markets? That's true, but let's put things in perspective: Conservative pundit and former Reagan official William J. Bennett's morning talk show, launched at the same time as Air America, reaches nearly 124 markets, including 18 of the top 20, joining the growing ranks of successful right-of-center talk programs (Limbaugh is still the ratings leader, drawing more than 15 million listeners a week).
And look at Air America's ratings: They're pitifully weak, even in places where you would think they'd be strong. WLIB, its flagship in New York City, has sunk to 24th in the metro area Arbitron ratings — worse than the all-Caribbean format it replaced, notes the Radio Blogger. In the liberal meccas of San Francisco and Los Angeles, Air America is doing lousier still. (full article)
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HatTip to Instapundit. Brian C. Anderson, senior editor of City Journal and author of "South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias," writes about Air America's failing effort:
The liberal Air America Radio, just past its first birthday, has probably enjoyed more free publicity than any enterprise in recent history. But don't believe the hype: Air America's left-wing answer to conservative talk radio is failing, just as previous efforts to find liberal Rush Limbaughs have failed.
Wait a second, you say, didn't I read that Air America has expanded to more than 50 markets? That's true, but let's put things in perspective: Conservative pundit and former Reagan official William J. Bennett's morning talk show, launched at the same time as Air America, reaches nearly 124 markets, including 18 of the top 20, joining the growing ranks of successful right-of-center talk programs (Limbaugh is still the ratings leader, drawing more than 15 million listeners a week).
And look at Air America's ratings: They're pitifully weak, even in places where you would think they'd be strong. WLIB, its flagship in New York City, has sunk to 24th in the metro area Arbitron ratings — worse than the all-Caribbean format it replaced, notes the Radio Blogger. In the liberal meccas of San Francisco and Los Angeles, Air America is doing lousier still. (full article)
TEN YEARS SINCE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING
I remember ten years ago I was living in Springfield, Illinois working for Govenor Jim Edgar as a legislative liaison (peon lobbyist straight out of college). A couple years out of college, I was energetic and idealistic. Ten years ago I remember the shock of hearing about the bombing and then watching the rubble of the federal building on being sorted through on TV. The crying faces and bewildered people walking around. Some of my idealism was taken away. My lack of faith in human nature confirmed, which was something I wanted to ignore in my heart.
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were two names I will never forget.
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I remember ten years ago I was living in Springfield, Illinois working for Govenor Jim Edgar as a legislative liaison (peon lobbyist straight out of college). A couple years out of college, I was energetic and idealistic. Ten years ago I remember the shock of hearing about the bombing and then watching the rubble of the federal building on being sorted through on TV. The crying faces and bewildered people walking around. Some of my idealism was taken away. My lack of faith in human nature confirmed, which was something I wanted to ignore in my heart.
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were two names I will never forget.
OPEN SOURCE SELLING OUT
Good article by Sonia Arrison at Tech Central Station on the Open Source Software movement:
Open Source, Mugged by Reality?
The Open Source Business Conference held this month in San Francisco was chock-full of information on how to make money using open source software. Once a bastion for socialist thinking, the open source (OS) community is finally coming of age.
Usually, Open Source Software (OSS) products are free of charge and many different individuals alter the code. For instance, the Firefox browser, which can be used instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, is an open source product. But while OS is open and available for all to see, there's money to be made through service and support packages, as well as through some OS licenses that allow complimentary propriety products to be created and sold.
With big tech companies like Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Intel, and Dell sponsoring the event, it was perhaps not surprising that the number of suited participants equaled or outnumbered those sporting jeans and tattoos. A movement that began with computer programmer Richard Stallman's ideology of socialized software is growing up and taking the competitive -- and profit enhancing -- advantages of OS seriously. Indeed, even Microsoft, long resistant to the idea of open source, dispatched a representative to outline the lessons that can be drawn from OS software. (full article)
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Good article by Sonia Arrison at Tech Central Station on the Open Source Software movement:
Open Source, Mugged by Reality?
The Open Source Business Conference held this month in San Francisco was chock-full of information on how to make money using open source software. Once a bastion for socialist thinking, the open source (OS) community is finally coming of age.
Usually, Open Source Software (OSS) products are free of charge and many different individuals alter the code. For instance, the Firefox browser, which can be used instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, is an open source product. But while OS is open and available for all to see, there's money to be made through service and support packages, as well as through some OS licenses that allow complimentary propriety products to be created and sold.
With big tech companies like Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Intel, and Dell sponsoring the event, it was perhaps not surprising that the number of suited participants equaled or outnumbered those sporting jeans and tattoos. A movement that began with computer programmer Richard Stallman's ideology of socialized software is growing up and taking the competitive -- and profit enhancing -- advantages of OS seriously. Indeed, even Microsoft, long resistant to the idea of open source, dispatched a representative to outline the lessons that can be drawn from OS software. (full article)
Monday, April 18, 2005
ADOBE BUYS MACROMEDIA FOR $3.4 BILLION
Interesting to see how this plays out. WSJ and ZDNet state how this deal is creating a showdown with Microsoft. Not sure if this is really making the dudes in Redmond sweat, but let's see how this plays out:
Adobe and Macromedia: Making Microsoft sweat?
Adobe's proposed buyout of Macromedia may be good for some of the combined companies' products, bad for others. Either way, it's going to present more formidable competition to Microsoft
The news that Adobe is to buy Macromedia — subject to the usual provisos like shareholder and regulatory approval — marks the biggest ever deal in the content creation and Web development sector.
The deal, valued at $3.4bn (Ł1.8bn) in stock, will produce a content creation giant that will dwarf its competitors and even make Microsoft look lacking. Although the deal was kept very well under wraps, with no leaks prior to Monday's announcement, analysts say that the departure of former Macromedia chief executive Rob Burgess in January 2004 paved the way for the deal and should give some indication of just how long ago negotiations began. (Burgess was replaced by Stephen Elop who will now become president of worldwide field operations for the new-look Adobe.)
Macromedia sells 36 individual products, spanning authoring tools; server software; e-learning; and of course its payer software, which includes Flash. Adobe lists over 40 individual products, which it groups under print and Web publishing; digital imaging; video and audio; and the Acrobat family, among others.
Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen, who is no stranger to making layoffs — he fired 300 on joining Adobe seven years ago — is likely to make some big culls across both firms. In a statement announcing the planned purchase, Chizen talked of cost cutting measures to come; the notable areas of overlap between the companies' products are in graphics, where Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator are the market leaders ahead of Macromedia's competing Fireworks and Freehand. For Web design, Macromedia has the established DreamWeaver against Adobe's more recent GoLive product. (full article)
UPDATE: More thoughts on this from Marc Canter, founder of MacroMind which became Macromedia. And from Om Malik.
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Interesting to see how this plays out. WSJ and ZDNet state how this deal is creating a showdown with Microsoft. Not sure if this is really making the dudes in Redmond sweat, but let's see how this plays out:
Adobe and Macromedia: Making Microsoft sweat?
Adobe's proposed buyout of Macromedia may be good for some of the combined companies' products, bad for others. Either way, it's going to present more formidable competition to Microsoft
The news that Adobe is to buy Macromedia — subject to the usual provisos like shareholder and regulatory approval — marks the biggest ever deal in the content creation and Web development sector.
The deal, valued at $3.4bn (Ł1.8bn) in stock, will produce a content creation giant that will dwarf its competitors and even make Microsoft look lacking. Although the deal was kept very well under wraps, with no leaks prior to Monday's announcement, analysts say that the departure of former Macromedia chief executive Rob Burgess in January 2004 paved the way for the deal and should give some indication of just how long ago negotiations began. (Burgess was replaced by Stephen Elop who will now become president of worldwide field operations for the new-look Adobe.)
Macromedia sells 36 individual products, spanning authoring tools; server software; e-learning; and of course its payer software, which includes Flash. Adobe lists over 40 individual products, which it groups under print and Web publishing; digital imaging; video and audio; and the Acrobat family, among others.
Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen, who is no stranger to making layoffs — he fired 300 on joining Adobe seven years ago — is likely to make some big culls across both firms. In a statement announcing the planned purchase, Chizen talked of cost cutting measures to come; the notable areas of overlap between the companies' products are in graphics, where Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator are the market leaders ahead of Macromedia's competing Fireworks and Freehand. For Web design, Macromedia has the established DreamWeaver against Adobe's more recent GoLive product. (full article)
UPDATE: More thoughts on this from Marc Canter, founder of MacroMind which became Macromedia. And from Om Malik.
BACK FROM LAS VEGAS... PROVIDIAN SUCKS!
I got back from Las Vegas last night. It was my bachelor party weekend, and it was great to see my good friends from various stages of my life. I'll write more about random, less serious stuff from Las Vegas at my Friendster blog, BeefChickenPig, and moving forward. I decided to place all my humorous or random thoughts and stories at that blog. It will be less frequent (once a week or less), but an outlet to the other sides of my life.
One experience I have to gripe about from this weekend was my interaction with Providian, the credit card company. I recently received their credit card and use it once in a while. I typically use my Starwood Preferred American Express lately to build up points, but I use my Providian card once in a while. I made a couple small purchases in Las Vegas and then it got flagged by their fraud department since it was the first transactions I made outside of my area code.
I got a message to call them on Sunday, so I did. I answered a few initial questions, such as verifying my address and confirming a transaction at a Korean restaurant, and I assume everything would be cleared. Then they told me I would have to answer a series of questions with a 'yes' or 'no'. I thought it was strange, but I went ahead. I don't remember the exact questions, but they were something like this:
"Did Flora Moon buy property in ---- last year?"
My response, "I don't know who Flora Moon is."
The fraud representative asked two more questions about two other Moon's financial activities, and I responded in the same manner. I didn't know who they were.
Since I couldn't answer these questions, she suspended my account. I asked where they derived these questions from and she said that it was from my public records. I told her I saw my credit report a few months ago and all my information has been updated, and I know I didn't see any of these names on my report. She said that they are from another source.
"Look. This isn't logical or making sense to me. You were asking me questions to verify myself, but those questions were not relevant or related to me. I'm Bernard Moon and I don't even who those people are that you asked me about."
She explained, "Well, this is a new procedure in place that we are using. I don't know the exact source we are taking these questions from. Your account will be review and we will get back to you in 7-10 days from now."
I went on to state that I'm not upset at her and understand that she is following procedure, but to help improve their process and not get other customers upset that she should inform her managers that those questions were not effective in seeking the answers that they wanted.
Whoever developed that process or whatever third party company that pitched it to Providian should be fire or the partnership severed. Providian annoyed me yesterday with that showing of incompetence and poor customer relationship management.
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I got back from Las Vegas last night. It was my bachelor party weekend, and it was great to see my good friends from various stages of my life. I'll write more about random, less serious stuff from Las Vegas at my Friendster blog, BeefChickenPig, and moving forward. I decided to place all my humorous or random thoughts and stories at that blog. It will be less frequent (once a week or less), but an outlet to the other sides of my life.
One experience I have to gripe about from this weekend was my interaction with Providian, the credit card company. I recently received their credit card and use it once in a while. I typically use my Starwood Preferred American Express lately to build up points, but I use my Providian card once in a while. I made a couple small purchases in Las Vegas and then it got flagged by their fraud department since it was the first transactions I made outside of my area code.
I got a message to call them on Sunday, so I did. I answered a few initial questions, such as verifying my address and confirming a transaction at a Korean restaurant, and I assume everything would be cleared. Then they told me I would have to answer a series of questions with a 'yes' or 'no'. I thought it was strange, but I went ahead. I don't remember the exact questions, but they were something like this:
"Did Flora Moon buy property in ---- last year?"
My response, "I don't know who Flora Moon is."
The fraud representative asked two more questions about two other Moon's financial activities, and I responded in the same manner. I didn't know who they were.
Since I couldn't answer these questions, she suspended my account. I asked where they derived these questions from and she said that it was from my public records. I told her I saw my credit report a few months ago and all my information has been updated, and I know I didn't see any of these names on my report. She said that they are from another source.
"Look. This isn't logical or making sense to me. You were asking me questions to verify myself, but those questions were not relevant or related to me. I'm Bernard Moon and I don't even who those people are that you asked me about."
She explained, "Well, this is a new procedure in place that we are using. I don't know the exact source we are taking these questions from. Your account will be review and we will get back to you in 7-10 days from now."
I went on to state that I'm not upset at her and understand that she is following procedure, but to help improve their process and not get other customers upset that she should inform her managers that those questions were not effective in seeking the answers that they wanted.
Whoever developed that process or whatever third party company that pitched it to Providian should be fire or the partnership severed. Providian annoyed me yesterday with that showing of incompetence and poor customer relationship management.
Friday, April 15, 2005
WATCH OUT FOR BOGUS BLOGS
Interesting article:
Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims.
The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor's machines with keylogging software or viruses.
Filtering firm Websense said it had found hundreds of bogus blogs baited with all kinds of malicious software to snare the unwary.
Websense warned that the baited blogs could get past traditional security measures that try to protect people from malicious programs. (full article)
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Interesting article:
Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims.
The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor's machines with keylogging software or viruses.
Filtering firm Websense said it had found hundreds of bogus blogs baited with all kinds of malicious software to snare the unwary.
Websense warned that the baited blogs could get past traditional security measures that try to protect people from malicious programs. (full article)
TONGSUN PARK RESURFACES IN OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL
Like flies on dung, Tongsun Park from the old 'Koreagate' scandal resurfaces in the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal. One part of the article below cracks me up... "Oriental Gatsby"? What a reflection of ignorant, white journalists from the 1970s coining such stupid names.
"An American success story" was how Tongsun Park described himself when he first came to the attention of the media and the FBI, in 1977, with gifts of hundreds of thousands of dollars to prominent politicians in an influence-peddling scandal that came to be known as "Koreagate."
More than a quarter of a century later, the South Korean businessman is back in the news, the subject of a federal arrest warrant that alleges he acted as an intermediary with corrupt U.N. officials in an oil-for-food conspiracy orchestrated by then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The criminal complaint charges that Park received at least $2 million from Iraq, much of it in cash delivered by diplomatic pouch from Baghdad.
Dubbed the "Oriental Gatsby" by the media because of his lavish Georgetown parties, Park put together an impressive list of friends and clients over the years, including former Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega, U.S. Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards. His charm was legendary, as was his habit of disbursing white envelopes stuffed with as much as $20,000 in cash to congressmen as part of a lobbying campaign financed by South Korean intelligence.
"Washington is a marvelous city for someone like me," he told the House ethics committee in April 1978. "Where else could a foreigner, an outsider like myself, do the things I was able to do?"
Although the payments to congressmen caused a scandal, Park was never convicted of wrongdoing in a U.S. court. He fled to South Korea when news of the scandal broke, and charges of bribery and conspiracy were dropped after he agreed to return to the United States and testify before Congress. His biggest problems came with the Internal Revenue Service, which said he owed millions of dollars in back taxes for not reporting his commissions. (full article)
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Like flies on dung, Tongsun Park from the old 'Koreagate' scandal resurfaces in the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal. One part of the article below cracks me up... "Oriental Gatsby"? What a reflection of ignorant, white journalists from the 1970s coining such stupid names.
"An American success story" was how Tongsun Park described himself when he first came to the attention of the media and the FBI, in 1977, with gifts of hundreds of thousands of dollars to prominent politicians in an influence-peddling scandal that came to be known as "Koreagate."
More than a quarter of a century later, the South Korean businessman is back in the news, the subject of a federal arrest warrant that alleges he acted as an intermediary with corrupt U.N. officials in an oil-for-food conspiracy orchestrated by then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The criminal complaint charges that Park received at least $2 million from Iraq, much of it in cash delivered by diplomatic pouch from Baghdad.
Dubbed the "Oriental Gatsby" by the media because of his lavish Georgetown parties, Park put together an impressive list of friends and clients over the years, including former Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega, U.S. Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards. His charm was legendary, as was his habit of disbursing white envelopes stuffed with as much as $20,000 in cash to congressmen as part of a lobbying campaign financed by South Korean intelligence.
"Washington is a marvelous city for someone like me," he told the House ethics committee in April 1978. "Where else could a foreigner, an outsider like myself, do the things I was able to do?"
Although the payments to congressmen caused a scandal, Park was never convicted of wrongdoing in a U.S. court. He fled to South Korea when news of the scandal broke, and charges of bribery and conspiracy were dropped after he agreed to return to the United States and testify before Congress. His biggest problems came with the Internal Revenue Service, which said he owed millions of dollars in back taxes for not reporting his commissions. (full article)
Thursday, April 14, 2005
DO YOU HEAR THE TREE FALLING?... 3 INDICTED IN U.N. OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL
HatTip to Lucianne.com. It's finally starting. The long march towards Kofi Annan's family:
A Texas businessman, along with a Bulgarian and a British citizen, were indicted in a scheme to pay millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime as part of the United Nations' scandal-ridden oil-for-food program, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
David B. Chalmers, the businessman, and Ludmil Dionissiev, a Bulgarian citizen and permanent U.S. resident, were arrested Thursday morning at their homes in Houston. U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley said he will seek the extradition from England of a third defendant, John Irving.
In an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court, the defendants were accused of participating in a scheme to pay millions of dollars in secret kickbacks so that oil companies owned by Chalmers could continue to sell Iraqi oil under the oil-for-food program.
The kickbacks involved funds otherwise intended for humanitarian relief, Kelley said in a statement.
A criminal complaint also unsealed Thursday charged Tongsun Park, a South Korean citizen, with conspiracy to act in the United States as an unregistered government agent for the Iraqi government's effort to create the oil-for-food program.
If convicted of the charges, Chalmers, Irving and Dionissiev each could face a maximum of 62 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. The defendants could also be forced to make restitution.
According to the indictment, the government seeks the forfeiture of at least $100 million in assets from the defendants. (full article)
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HatTip to Lucianne.com. It's finally starting. The long march towards Kofi Annan's family:
A Texas businessman, along with a Bulgarian and a British citizen, were indicted in a scheme to pay millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime as part of the United Nations' scandal-ridden oil-for-food program, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
David B. Chalmers, the businessman, and Ludmil Dionissiev, a Bulgarian citizen and permanent U.S. resident, were arrested Thursday morning at their homes in Houston. U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley said he will seek the extradition from England of a third defendant, John Irving.
In an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court, the defendants were accused of participating in a scheme to pay millions of dollars in secret kickbacks so that oil companies owned by Chalmers could continue to sell Iraqi oil under the oil-for-food program.
The kickbacks involved funds otherwise intended for humanitarian relief, Kelley said in a statement.
A criminal complaint also unsealed Thursday charged Tongsun Park, a South Korean citizen, with conspiracy to act in the United States as an unregistered government agent for the Iraqi government's effort to create the oil-for-food program.
If convicted of the charges, Chalmers, Irving and Dionissiev each could face a maximum of 62 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. The defendants could also be forced to make restitution.
According to the indictment, the government seeks the forfeiture of at least $100 million in assets from the defendants. (full article)
COLUBRIS NETWORKS... WI-FI IN THE SKY
My AO (AlwaysOn) colleague, Will Quist, is starting a new column at AlwaysOn called "Will's Tip Sheet." It will cover young, innovative companies each week. This week focuses on Colubris Networks, so check it out or email him if you want your startup to get some exposure in Silicon Valley and the tech world.
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My AO (AlwaysOn) colleague, Will Quist, is starting a new column at AlwaysOn called "Will's Tip Sheet." It will cover young, innovative companies each week. This week focuses on Colubris Networks, so check it out or email him if you want your startup to get some exposure in Silicon Valley and the tech world.
HOLY BUBBLE BATMAN!... THEFACEBOOK GETS $81 MILLION PRE-MONEY VALUATION!
From an AlwaysOn post. Ridiculous. Completely from the days of olde. What were the people at Accel thinking?
Crazy days. I heard from a reliable source that TheFaceBook, which is a college social network with about 2 million users I think, was in the midst of a $6 million raise at $64 million pre (!) with an east coast media firm when Jim Breyer of Accel partner literally interrupted and offers $9 million at an $81 million pre! This for a company with no track record, started by green college students, with Sean Parker as an advisor, in a space in which there are already many, big social network players. This is more of a story about how Accel, who hasn’t made a distribution in a while, is getting desperate. You didn’t hear it from me.
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From an AlwaysOn post. Ridiculous. Completely from the days of olde. What were the people at Accel thinking?
Crazy days. I heard from a reliable source that TheFaceBook, which is a college social network with about 2 million users I think, was in the midst of a $6 million raise at $64 million pre (!) with an east coast media firm when Jim Breyer of Accel partner literally interrupted and offers $9 million at an $81 million pre! This for a company with no track record, started by green college students, with Sean Parker as an advisor, in a space in which there are already many, big social network players. This is more of a story about how Accel, who hasn’t made a distribution in a while, is getting desperate. You didn’t hear it from me.
"LETTER FROM DAVOS"
My boss, Tony Perkins, is in this month's MIT's Technology Review:
Rarefied Air
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, 2005
"Taking Responsibility for Tough Choices"
Davos, Switzerland, January 26–30
January 26, 2005
My dear Jason,
As you know from having made the pilgrimage before, the World Economic Forum adventure begins well before you arrive in Davos, especially if you are traveling all the way from California. Swiss International Air Lines stopped flying direct to Zürich from San Francisco, so I had to make two stops. This year I went through Washington, DC, an eventful choice because we picked up FCC chairman Michael Powell and the fur-coated secretary of labor, Elaine Chao. Secretary Chao is the highest-ranking U.S. official attending the WEF meeting this year. Interestingly, as a cabinet member, Ms. Chao traveled with three bodyguards, whereas Chairman Powell had none.
I have gotten to know Michael Powell pretty well over the last couple of years; he has been blogging for AlwaysOn for a while now. Michael was the first and is still the only major government figure to mix it up in the blogosphere, and he is good at it. Just prior to leaving for the forum, he announced that he would be relinquishing the job of FCC chairman in the spring, but he promised to blog on as a private citizen. "Blogging allows me to step over the heads of the lobbyists and the Beltway press and go direct to the techies and get their unfiltered opinion," he beamed as we glided across the Atlantic. I told him that a third of his traffic comes from Howard Stern’s website.
Touching down in Zürich does not mean the journey is over. One must still choose between a train (with two transfers along the way) or a WEF-sponsored bus. Both take the better part of three hours, and even then there is a taxi ride before you finally arrive at your snug hotel quarters in the sleek little ski village where the forum is held. This is your travel itinerary, of course, if you are not one of the Google founders who flew their shiny new jet to the forum this year. I am certain the boys skipped the bus ride and rented one of those black helicopters that for a few thousand bucks rocket you from the airport and plop you down in the village square in less than 20 minutes.
Like the rest of Old Europe, WEF has its own caste system that all attendees are well aware of but no one really talks much about. First you must get an invitation. The wizard of WEF, Klaus Schwab (founder and executive chairman), and his fabulously courteous yet inscrutable team of munchkins ultimately determine who gets to go. The supply of global players who want to attend far outstrips the supply of available spots, so one has to be either the president of a country, a monarch, the CEO of a big paying corporate sponsor, the editor in chief of a million-plus-subscriber publication, a Nobel laureate, a rock star, or Angelina Jolie. Politically astute smaller-company CEOs, venture capitalists, and other key influencers can get in, but that usually requires a powerful WEF member to whisper a personal recommendation into Klaus’s ear. And even if Mr. Schwab gives you the nod, you still have to pay $37,000 for your membership fee and $28,000 for your annual ticket.
Paying members and corporate sponsors underwrite Klaus’s impressive list of guest members, including leading artists, authors, scientists, scholars, and public figures. Huddled in the media corner with the CNN and BBC crews for much of today (we are “video-blogging” several of the main sessions), I watched a stream of world leaders drop by to smile for the cameras. It was like watching all the most talked about people in the world—the new Palestinian Authority’s president Mahmoud "Abu Mazen" Abbas, President Viktor Yuschenko of Ukraine, and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi—get interviewed in your own living room.
"Members" wear white badges that allow them to roam free, have tea in designated areas in the Congress Center, and sign up for special lunches and dinners held at the few dozen hotels that sprinkle the village. Your conference bag also comes stocked with an HP iPaq Pocket PC that provides wireless e-mail access to all attendees and the ability to remotely sign up for the private events. Lower in the caste structure are the "working journalists," who do not pay but must wear bright orange badges so world leaders know to watch what they say when they are around. If you are on the WEF staff, you wear a blue badge, and you are, more often than not, young, handsome or beautiful, and completely charming. I have to admit that, once you find yourself on the inside, as I have been blessed to be for the last nine years, it is a happy and orderly place, no matter your status.
The World Economic Forum’s mission is to "improve the state of the world," which is lofty enough to satisfy the 2,000 global egos that fit into the main Congress Center every winter. Mr. Schwab also comes up with an annual theme, doing his best to capture if not influence the global zeitgeist. This year the theme was "Taking Responsibility for Tough Choices." I never really figured out what choices we had made for which we now had to take responsibility, but Mr. Schwab did make a general call to "take immediate action on the tough issues of poverty, climate change, education, and equitable globalization." (full article)
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My boss, Tony Perkins, is in this month's MIT's Technology Review:
Rarefied Air
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, 2005
"Taking Responsibility for Tough Choices"
Davos, Switzerland, January 26–30
January 26, 2005
My dear Jason,
As you know from having made the pilgrimage before, the World Economic Forum adventure begins well before you arrive in Davos, especially if you are traveling all the way from California. Swiss International Air Lines stopped flying direct to Zürich from San Francisco, so I had to make two stops. This year I went through Washington, DC, an eventful choice because we picked up FCC chairman Michael Powell and the fur-coated secretary of labor, Elaine Chao. Secretary Chao is the highest-ranking U.S. official attending the WEF meeting this year. Interestingly, as a cabinet member, Ms. Chao traveled with three bodyguards, whereas Chairman Powell had none.
I have gotten to know Michael Powell pretty well over the last couple of years; he has been blogging for AlwaysOn for a while now. Michael was the first and is still the only major government figure to mix it up in the blogosphere, and he is good at it. Just prior to leaving for the forum, he announced that he would be relinquishing the job of FCC chairman in the spring, but he promised to blog on as a private citizen. "Blogging allows me to step over the heads of the lobbyists and the Beltway press and go direct to the techies and get their unfiltered opinion," he beamed as we glided across the Atlantic. I told him that a third of his traffic comes from Howard Stern’s website.
Touching down in Zürich does not mean the journey is over. One must still choose between a train (with two transfers along the way) or a WEF-sponsored bus. Both take the better part of three hours, and even then there is a taxi ride before you finally arrive at your snug hotel quarters in the sleek little ski village where the forum is held. This is your travel itinerary, of course, if you are not one of the Google founders who flew their shiny new jet to the forum this year. I am certain the boys skipped the bus ride and rented one of those black helicopters that for a few thousand bucks rocket you from the airport and plop you down in the village square in less than 20 minutes.
Like the rest of Old Europe, WEF has its own caste system that all attendees are well aware of but no one really talks much about. First you must get an invitation. The wizard of WEF, Klaus Schwab (founder and executive chairman), and his fabulously courteous yet inscrutable team of munchkins ultimately determine who gets to go. The supply of global players who want to attend far outstrips the supply of available spots, so one has to be either the president of a country, a monarch, the CEO of a big paying corporate sponsor, the editor in chief of a million-plus-subscriber publication, a Nobel laureate, a rock star, or Angelina Jolie. Politically astute smaller-company CEOs, venture capitalists, and other key influencers can get in, but that usually requires a powerful WEF member to whisper a personal recommendation into Klaus’s ear. And even if Mr. Schwab gives you the nod, you still have to pay $37,000 for your membership fee and $28,000 for your annual ticket.
Paying members and corporate sponsors underwrite Klaus’s impressive list of guest members, including leading artists, authors, scientists, scholars, and public figures. Huddled in the media corner with the CNN and BBC crews for much of today (we are “video-blogging” several of the main sessions), I watched a stream of world leaders drop by to smile for the cameras. It was like watching all the most talked about people in the world—the new Palestinian Authority’s president Mahmoud "Abu Mazen" Abbas, President Viktor Yuschenko of Ukraine, and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi—get interviewed in your own living room.
"Members" wear white badges that allow them to roam free, have tea in designated areas in the Congress Center, and sign up for special lunches and dinners held at the few dozen hotels that sprinkle the village. Your conference bag also comes stocked with an HP iPaq Pocket PC that provides wireless e-mail access to all attendees and the ability to remotely sign up for the private events. Lower in the caste structure are the "working journalists," who do not pay but must wear bright orange badges so world leaders know to watch what they say when they are around. If you are on the WEF staff, you wear a blue badge, and you are, more often than not, young, handsome or beautiful, and completely charming. I have to admit that, once you find yourself on the inside, as I have been blessed to be for the last nine years, it is a happy and orderly place, no matter your status.
The World Economic Forum’s mission is to "improve the state of the world," which is lofty enough to satisfy the 2,000 global egos that fit into the main Congress Center every winter. Mr. Schwab also comes up with an annual theme, doing his best to capture if not influence the global zeitgeist. This year the theme was "Taking Responsibility for Tough Choices." I never really figured out what choices we had made for which we now had to take responsibility, but Mr. Schwab did make a general call to "take immediate action on the tough issues of poverty, climate change, education, and equitable globalization." (full article)
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
POWER OF THE INTERNET ON JOURNALISM... NOT A BLOGGING STORY
Good article at Forbes:
Pulitzer Board Has Its Head In The Sand
by Arik Hesseldahl
04.08.05
When Nigel Jaquiss, a reporter for the alternative weekly newspaper Willamette Week in Portland, Ore., won the most prestigious award in journalism--the Pulitzer Prize--this week, the biggest surprise seemed at first that the award was given to an alternative news weekly.
But I was more impressed by another small fact about Jaquiss' big win (Full disclosure: Jaquiss was a classmate of mine at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism). His story was a bombshell about a former Oregon Governor who was accused of years earlier having sex with a minor, while sitting as mayor of Portland, and later covering it up.
It might sound like your garden variety political sex scandal, but this one was notable because it appeared first online on Willamette Week's Web site, and didn't hit the print edition until a week later.
Willamette Week might never have won its Pulitzer without the Web, which raises the question of whether the Pulitzer Committee should acknowledge the undeniable importance of online journalism and embrace the Web with its own category that recognizes the industry's highest achievements.
Since it's a weekly, Willamette Week has an inherent disadvantage in breaking news against its daily rival The Oregonian. When Jaquiss was getting ready to publish his barn-burner on May 5, 2004 after two months of investigation, he sent the former Oregon Governor, Neil Goldschmidt, a letter outlining what he had found and asking for a comment.
Goldschmidt asked for a meeting the following morning, during which he asked Jaquiss not to publish the story. Fifteen minutes after the meeting ended, Goldschmidt issued a statement saying he would resign his seat on a state board, and would take a leave of absence from his consulting firm, citing health reasons.. He then had his public relations firm arrange a confessional meeting with reporters and editors at The Oregonian.
This touched off a furious race between the two papers to be first with the story. Willamette Week posted a summary of its findings at 1:47 pm on May 6, 2004, and its full story at 5 p.m. The Oregonian published its first story on its Web site at 8 p.m. that day. Had Willamette Week waited until its next press run a week later, the iron would have gone cold. Local TV and radio news reports all cited Willamette Week as the source of the story that day
The race to be first with information is a reflex for journalists, and the Web is the best tool print reporters have to compete with never-ending cable TV news cycles and other print media. Indeed it was another political sex scandal that first really crystallized how print media could leverage the Web with coverage of fast-moving, competitive stories. (full article)
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Good article at Forbes:
Pulitzer Board Has Its Head In The Sand
by Arik Hesseldahl
04.08.05
When Nigel Jaquiss, a reporter for the alternative weekly newspaper Willamette Week in Portland, Ore., won the most prestigious award in journalism--the Pulitzer Prize--this week, the biggest surprise seemed at first that the award was given to an alternative news weekly.
But I was more impressed by another small fact about Jaquiss' big win (Full disclosure: Jaquiss was a classmate of mine at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism). His story was a bombshell about a former Oregon Governor who was accused of years earlier having sex with a minor, while sitting as mayor of Portland, and later covering it up.
It might sound like your garden variety political sex scandal, but this one was notable because it appeared first online on Willamette Week's Web site, and didn't hit the print edition until a week later.
Willamette Week might never have won its Pulitzer without the Web, which raises the question of whether the Pulitzer Committee should acknowledge the undeniable importance of online journalism and embrace the Web with its own category that recognizes the industry's highest achievements.
Since it's a weekly, Willamette Week has an inherent disadvantage in breaking news against its daily rival The Oregonian. When Jaquiss was getting ready to publish his barn-burner on May 5, 2004 after two months of investigation, he sent the former Oregon Governor, Neil Goldschmidt, a letter outlining what he had found and asking for a comment.
Goldschmidt asked for a meeting the following morning, during which he asked Jaquiss not to publish the story. Fifteen minutes after the meeting ended, Goldschmidt issued a statement saying he would resign his seat on a state board, and would take a leave of absence from his consulting firm, citing health reasons.. He then had his public relations firm arrange a confessional meeting with reporters and editors at The Oregonian.
This touched off a furious race between the two papers to be first with the story. Willamette Week posted a summary of its findings at 1:47 pm on May 6, 2004, and its full story at 5 p.m. The Oregonian published its first story on its Web site at 8 p.m. that day. Had Willamette Week waited until its next press run a week later, the iron would have gone cold. Local TV and radio news reports all cited Willamette Week as the source of the story that day
The race to be first with information is a reflex for journalists, and the Web is the best tool print reporters have to compete with never-ending cable TV news cycles and other print media. Indeed it was another political sex scandal that first really crystallized how print media could leverage the Web with coverage of fast-moving, competitive stories. (full article)
PRO-DEATH MOVEMENT
Another solid piece from The American Thinker:
The death of Terri Schiavo, caused by starvation and dehydration, is only the latest manifestation of a trend which has been building for a long time. In 1977, in an address entitled "The Slide to Auschwitz," given to the American Academy of Pediatrics, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D. stated that he saw "the progression from abortion to infanticide, to euthanasia, to the problems that developed in Nazi Germany..."
At the time of Dr. Koop's comments, the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade was only four years old, and approximately 4 million legal abortions had been performed in the United States. Now, twenty-eight years later, over 45 million babies have been killed through legal abortion in the U.S.
The acceptance by society of the killing of unborn babies has had a tremendous impact on the deterioration of our view of the sanctity of life, and this lack of respect for life has not been limited to the unborn. In 1982, a baby known only as "Baby Doe" was born with Down Syndrome in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to Down Syndrome, Baby Doe was born with a connection between the esophagus and windpipe, which prevented food from reaching the stomach.
A routine operation could have corrected the problem involving the esophagus, but because the baby had Down Syndrome, the parents refused to allow the operation, choosing instead to starve the baby to death, which the Supreme Court of Indiana ruled they had a right to do. Many families offered to adopt the baby; however, the parents refused, and the child died seven days after birth.
Now we have witnessed the starvation and dehydration death of the adult Terri Schiavo. Terri was brain damaged; she was not brain dead. She was not on artificial life support; she needed only to be provided food and water. Terri's parents offered, in fact begged, to be allowed to care for their daughter. Her husband Michael refused, choosing instead to have the feeding tubes removed. The courts ruled that he had the right to do this, and 13 days later, Terri was dead.
Baby Doe and Terri Schiavo were both guilty only of being handicapped. They were living lives that someone else decided were not worth living. (full article)
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Another solid piece from The American Thinker:
The death of Terri Schiavo, caused by starvation and dehydration, is only the latest manifestation of a trend which has been building for a long time. In 1977, in an address entitled "The Slide to Auschwitz," given to the American Academy of Pediatrics, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D. stated that he saw "the progression from abortion to infanticide, to euthanasia, to the problems that developed in Nazi Germany..."
At the time of Dr. Koop's comments, the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade was only four years old, and approximately 4 million legal abortions had been performed in the United States. Now, twenty-eight years later, over 45 million babies have been killed through legal abortion in the U.S.
The acceptance by society of the killing of unborn babies has had a tremendous impact on the deterioration of our view of the sanctity of life, and this lack of respect for life has not been limited to the unborn. In 1982, a baby known only as "Baby Doe" was born with Down Syndrome in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to Down Syndrome, Baby Doe was born with a connection between the esophagus and windpipe, which prevented food from reaching the stomach.
A routine operation could have corrected the problem involving the esophagus, but because the baby had Down Syndrome, the parents refused to allow the operation, choosing instead to starve the baby to death, which the Supreme Court of Indiana ruled they had a right to do. Many families offered to adopt the baby; however, the parents refused, and the child died seven days after birth.
Now we have witnessed the starvation and dehydration death of the adult Terri Schiavo. Terri was brain damaged; she was not brain dead. She was not on artificial life support; she needed only to be provided food and water. Terri's parents offered, in fact begged, to be allowed to care for their daughter. Her husband Michael refused, choosing instead to have the feeding tubes removed. The courts ruled that he had the right to do this, and 13 days later, Terri was dead.
Baby Doe and Terri Schiavo were both guilty only of being handicapped. They were living lives that someone else decided were not worth living. (full article)
HYPED RIFT BETWEEN BUSH AND SHARON... RICHARD BAEHR CHIMES IN
The American Thinker's Richard Baehr writes a great piece on the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, "A media-hyped rift."
Not every foreign leader gets invited to the Bush ranch in Crawford. In fact very few do. There have been no barbecue foie gras fests the past few years at the ranch. That Ariel Sharon, who has a ranch of pretty decent size himself in Israel, was invited to Crawford this week, should have signaled to the few open-minded journalists still out there, that the Bush-Sharon relationship, and with it the US-Israel relationship, remains strong. But to read the “news” stories of the past two days, as noted by honestreporting.com, one might think that the two nations were now operating at serious cross purposes, and an air of conflict pervaded the leaders' talks.
The new stories, not surprisingly, focused on the issue of settlements. It is accepted wisdom among the legions of uninformed journalists writing about the subject that Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza are illegal, were the principal cause of the intifada, and are the source of the lingering Palestinian bitterness directed at Israel.
At best, the above statements provide a partial truth, but in each case, they are in fact much more wrong than right. (full article)
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The American Thinker's Richard Baehr writes a great piece on the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, "A media-hyped rift."
Not every foreign leader gets invited to the Bush ranch in Crawford. In fact very few do. There have been no barbecue foie gras fests the past few years at the ranch. That Ariel Sharon, who has a ranch of pretty decent size himself in Israel, was invited to Crawford this week, should have signaled to the few open-minded journalists still out there, that the Bush-Sharon relationship, and with it the US-Israel relationship, remains strong. But to read the “news” stories of the past two days, as noted by honestreporting.com, one might think that the two nations were now operating at serious cross purposes, and an air of conflict pervaded the leaders' talks.
The new stories, not surprisingly, focused on the issue of settlements. It is accepted wisdom among the legions of uninformed journalists writing about the subject that Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza are illegal, were the principal cause of the intifada, and are the source of the lingering Palestinian bitterness directed at Israel.
At best, the above statements provide a partial truth, but in each case, they are in fact much more wrong than right. (full article)
"IS UNCLE SAME LEAVING CHILDREN BEHIND?"
Good article on my favorite public policy issues: technology and education. Forbes writer, Andrew T. Gillies, spotlights some budget cuts that might hurt the education of our children:
Three weeks ago, 858 people showed up in Washington for a conference, hosted by the Consortium for School Networking, on the use of technology in K-12 education. The mood at the event? "Pretty somber," reports participant Bruce Wilcox, chief executive of an education technology venture called Project Inkwell.
Weighing on the group: money troubles. For one, concerns simmered about the fate of E-Rate, or the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism. The U.S. government program, funded by fees added to phone bills and devoted to wiring schools to the Internet, has been wracked by charges of fraud and mismanagement.
A more immediate worry was President George W. Bush's proposed education budget for fiscal 2006. The budget, released in February, proposes eliminating a program known as Enhancing Education Through Technology. Created as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, EETT doles out grants for integrating technology into schools. The program received $500 million in fiscal 2005, down from $700 million in 2002.
To justify killing EETT, the Bush Administration stated that "schools today offer a greater level of technology infrastructure than just a few years ago," and pointed to other federal money, such as Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, that can go toward technology. Project Inkwell's Wilcox argues that if technology is forced to compete for dollars with all other school priorities, the process of improving technology in schools could slow down drastically. And the reason won't just be stodgy school administrators but also the nature of the educational technology marketplace itself.
That market is one Wilcox knows well, having spent the last 18 years in it. His latest employer, Project Inkwell, is a tiny, for-profit enterprise with a huge mission: to rally the technology industry to create a class of low-cost and rugged computers, specifically designed for students, that require less maintenance and support than today's desktops and laptops. The venture was launched by Mark Anderson, a technology investor and author of a big-picture tech newsletter, Strategic News Service, that boasts Bill Gates and Michael Dell among its subscribers. (full article)
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Good article on my favorite public policy issues: technology and education. Forbes writer, Andrew T. Gillies, spotlights some budget cuts that might hurt the education of our children:
Three weeks ago, 858 people showed up in Washington for a conference, hosted by the Consortium for School Networking, on the use of technology in K-12 education. The mood at the event? "Pretty somber," reports participant Bruce Wilcox, chief executive of an education technology venture called Project Inkwell.
Weighing on the group: money troubles. For one, concerns simmered about the fate of E-Rate, or the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism. The U.S. government program, funded by fees added to phone bills and devoted to wiring schools to the Internet, has been wracked by charges of fraud and mismanagement.
A more immediate worry was President George W. Bush's proposed education budget for fiscal 2006. The budget, released in February, proposes eliminating a program known as Enhancing Education Through Technology. Created as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, EETT doles out grants for integrating technology into schools. The program received $500 million in fiscal 2005, down from $700 million in 2002.
To justify killing EETT, the Bush Administration stated that "schools today offer a greater level of technology infrastructure than just a few years ago," and pointed to other federal money, such as Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, that can go toward technology. Project Inkwell's Wilcox argues that if technology is forced to compete for dollars with all other school priorities, the process of improving technology in schools could slow down drastically. And the reason won't just be stodgy school administrators but also the nature of the educational technology marketplace itself.
That market is one Wilcox knows well, having spent the last 18 years in it. His latest employer, Project Inkwell, is a tiny, for-profit enterprise with a huge mission: to rally the technology industry to create a class of low-cost and rugged computers, specifically designed for students, that require less maintenance and support than today's desktops and laptops. The venture was launched by Mark Anderson, a technology investor and author of a big-picture tech newsletter, Strategic News Service, that boasts Bill Gates and Michael Dell among its subscribers. (full article)
GOOGLE LOCAL GOES MOBILE
From FierceWireless. I wonder how this is going to affect startups like 4INFO in the long run? Check out 4INFO. My friend likes their services since it saves money on his 411 charges. I saw a demo and it's okay.
Google today added Google Local business search to its mobile search services. Google Local uses data from yellow pages and addresses extracted from Google's search engine to fuel its results. Users enter two pieces of information: What and Where. What can be a category (e.g. restaurant, hair salon) and Where can be an address or a zip code. The service then returns several hits and a map showing the location of each business. The maps are similar to those provided by Google's new mapping service.
Mobile search has emerged as the next hot mobile app category. VCs are funneling money to mobile search startups while the giants of online search like Google continue to launch more products.
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From FierceWireless. I wonder how this is going to affect startups like 4INFO in the long run? Check out 4INFO. My friend likes their services since it saves money on his 411 charges. I saw a demo and it's okay.
Google today added Google Local business search to its mobile search services. Google Local uses data from yellow pages and addresses extracted from Google's search engine to fuel its results. Users enter two pieces of information: What and Where. What can be a category (e.g. restaurant, hair salon) and Where can be an address or a zip code. The service then returns several hits and a map showing the location of each business. The maps are similar to those provided by Google's new mapping service.
Mobile search has emerged as the next hot mobile app category. VCs are funneling money to mobile search startups while the giants of online search like Google continue to launch more products.
YAHOO! KOREA LOOKING TO TAKEOVER NHN CORP.
HatTip to Doug at Xfiniti. Buzz in Korea is that Yahoo! Korea is looking to takeover NHN Corp., which owns Naver.com and Hangame. Naver.com is a leading portal with the leading search service in Korea, and Hangame is the leading casual online gaming company in the world. If successful, these properties would catapult Yahoo! Korea to the top spot in the Korean market where it has been lagging behind. I heard before Google and Yahoo! were interested in NHN, but this is the first big buzz that has come into the spotlight.
Yahoo Korea, the country's third-largest Internet search company, is likely to take over NHN, according to domestic brokerages.
Daishin Securities analyst Kang Lok-hee said Tuesday that Yahoo Korea will swallow NHN, which operates the Naver search engine and Hangame site, to regain its past glory.
Yahoo started operations here in 1997 and gained early success based on its prowess in search solutions. But the firm began losing its foothold after it failed to catch onto the new trends in Korea.
"Market consensus is that the eventual target of Yahoo's merger and acquisition (M&A) attempt will be NHN. Yahoo might move soon," Kang said.
In fact, M&A rumors have flared up due to Yahoo Korea itself after its newly installed chief operating officer Seong Nak-yang, an M&A expert, raised the issue.
During a press conference last month, Seong said Yahoo Korea will leapfrog bigger rivals with strong investment this year and M&A is an option toward that end.
He presented two criteria for the merger: the amalgamation should strengthen the core business of Yahoo Korea and it should be big enough to change the shape of the Internet industry.
Daishin's Kang claimed Seong hinted back then that Yahoo Korea is gunning for NHN among three candidates, NHN, Daum and SK Communications, which are big enough to help Yahoo change the industry as a whole. (full article)
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HatTip to Doug at Xfiniti. Buzz in Korea is that Yahoo! Korea is looking to takeover NHN Corp., which owns Naver.com and Hangame. Naver.com is a leading portal with the leading search service in Korea, and Hangame is the leading casual online gaming company in the world. If successful, these properties would catapult Yahoo! Korea to the top spot in the Korean market where it has been lagging behind. I heard before Google and Yahoo! were interested in NHN, but this is the first big buzz that has come into the spotlight.
Yahoo Korea, the country's third-largest Internet search company, is likely to take over NHN, according to domestic brokerages.
Daishin Securities analyst Kang Lok-hee said Tuesday that Yahoo Korea will swallow NHN, which operates the Naver search engine and Hangame site, to regain its past glory.
Yahoo started operations here in 1997 and gained early success based on its prowess in search solutions. But the firm began losing its foothold after it failed to catch onto the new trends in Korea.
"Market consensus is that the eventual target of Yahoo's merger and acquisition (M&A) attempt will be NHN. Yahoo might move soon," Kang said.
In fact, M&A rumors have flared up due to Yahoo Korea itself after its newly installed chief operating officer Seong Nak-yang, an M&A expert, raised the issue.
During a press conference last month, Seong said Yahoo Korea will leapfrog bigger rivals with strong investment this year and M&A is an option toward that end.
He presented two criteria for the merger: the amalgamation should strengthen the core business of Yahoo Korea and it should be big enough to change the shape of the Internet industry.
Daishin's Kang claimed Seong hinted back then that Yahoo Korea is gunning for NHN among three candidates, NHN, Daum and SK Communications, which are big enough to help Yahoo change the industry as a whole. (full article)
"WHAT'S HOLDING BACK INTERACTIVE TV?"... NEWS.COM SPECIAL
News.com has a good series and overview of interactive TV called "ME TV." Decent article by Barry Schuler, former AOL chief, called "What's holding back interactive TV?"
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News.com has a good series and overview of interactive TV called "ME TV." Decent article by Barry Schuler, former AOL chief, called "What's holding back interactive TV?"
WICTORY WEDNESDAY
From PoliPundit:
When Republican candidates run for the Senate in close races, they receive help from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Want more Republican senators? Want to see an end to the filibuster of judicial nominees? Then donate to the NRSC today. It’s easy and only takes a few minutes online.
Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to donate to an important Republican campaign.
If you’re a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays by e-mailing me at wictory@blogsforbush.com. I’ll add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll. I’ll also send you a reminder e-mail every Wednesday, explaining which candidate to support that day.
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From PoliPundit:
When Republican candidates run for the Senate in close races, they receive help from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Want more Republican senators? Want to see an end to the filibuster of judicial nominees? Then donate to the NRSC today. It’s easy and only takes a few minutes online.
Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to donate to an important Republican campaign.
If you’re a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays by e-mailing me at wictory@blogsforbush.com. I’ll add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll. I’ll also send you a reminder e-mail every Wednesday, explaining which candidate to support that day.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
NEW YORK TIMES vs. JOURNALISM 2.0... OHMYNEWS LEADING THE WAY
HatTip to Rafat's PaidContent.org. Great post at Blogumentary:
A slide from Jean Min, deputy chief, international division of Ohmynews.com
Print media is dying and online news will have to support the whole journalistic enterprise - only nobody knows how, or what it should look like. That was the vibe I took away from the completely wonderful International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin, Texas last weekend.
In my mind, the rock stars of the whole affair were OhMyNews (English version). They're a distributed citizen journalism news organization in Korea with an editorial staff and staff reporters. They're hugely popular and make the news into an unprecedented conversation between newsmakers, news reporters and news readers – all in one place. Compare that to the (mostly) one-way, top-down, trying-to-keep-up approach of New York Times Digital. I poked a bit of fun at the NYTimes in my presentation as well, saying how they should be helping bridge the gap between news and conversation about the news, as exemplified by The Annotated New York Times and their jaw-dropping RSS Feeds. Really, this is the shining clear path NYTimes.com would be smart to follow.
Len Apcar, Editor-in-Chief of NYTimes.com, must be credited with closely watching emerging social internet technologies. He attended BloggerCon 2003 and talked to JD Lasica about his interest in social software.
My conversation with Len, unfortunately, left a bad taste in my mouth. I asked what he thought about a particular web site from my presentation. He told me that, and much much more - I was silently aghast. I think he realized he'd spoken a bit too freely and insisted it was "off the record." This happens at conferences a lot, and I'm still getting used to it. Again he said "You know that's off the record right?" And I said uhh, I guess. "Whaddya mean 'you guess'? You'll keep that off the record, yes or no?" He was getting all worked up, so I said "yes." Then he kind of went off on bloggers. "You bloggers, you all think you're journalists now. You want a front row seat and you don't know what your doing." Buh?
Then he went off on my getting into a John Edwards press conference as a credentialled blogger. I showed a humorous video excerpt of this as part of my presentation. "Why didn't you ask John Edwards a question? Why were you there then? Who were you representing? Why weren't you representing your readers?" Suddenly I was on the hot seat, representing the entirety of citizen bloggerdom. If Len had paid a little closer attention to my presentation, he'd have heard me call myself a "hobby journalist" and admit to being a complete amateur. Part of the point of my Edwards video is that, indeed, bloggers are new at this game and have a ways to go figuring out our proper role. But also: I was providing a first-person account of the event; my perspective. And that's important. (full post)
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HatTip to Rafat's PaidContent.org. Great post at Blogumentary:
A slide from Jean Min, deputy chief, international division of Ohmynews.com
Print media is dying and online news will have to support the whole journalistic enterprise - only nobody knows how, or what it should look like. That was the vibe I took away from the completely wonderful International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin, Texas last weekend.
In my mind, the rock stars of the whole affair were OhMyNews (English version). They're a distributed citizen journalism news organization in Korea with an editorial staff and staff reporters. They're hugely popular and make the news into an unprecedented conversation between newsmakers, news reporters and news readers – all in one place. Compare that to the (mostly) one-way, top-down, trying-to-keep-up approach of New York Times Digital. I poked a bit of fun at the NYTimes in my presentation as well, saying how they should be helping bridge the gap between news and conversation about the news, as exemplified by The Annotated New York Times and their jaw-dropping RSS Feeds. Really, this is the shining clear path NYTimes.com would be smart to follow.
Len Apcar, Editor-in-Chief of NYTimes.com, must be credited with closely watching emerging social internet technologies. He attended BloggerCon 2003 and talked to JD Lasica about his interest in social software.
My conversation with Len, unfortunately, left a bad taste in my mouth. I asked what he thought about a particular web site from my presentation. He told me that, and much much more - I was silently aghast. I think he realized he'd spoken a bit too freely and insisted it was "off the record." This happens at conferences a lot, and I'm still getting used to it. Again he said "You know that's off the record right?" And I said uhh, I guess. "Whaddya mean 'you guess'? You'll keep that off the record, yes or no?" He was getting all worked up, so I said "yes." Then he kind of went off on bloggers. "You bloggers, you all think you're journalists now. You want a front row seat and you don't know what your doing." Buh?
Then he went off on my getting into a John Edwards press conference as a credentialled blogger. I showed a humorous video excerpt of this as part of my presentation. "Why didn't you ask John Edwards a question? Why were you there then? Who were you representing? Why weren't you representing your readers?" Suddenly I was on the hot seat, representing the entirety of citizen bloggerdom. If Len had paid a little closer attention to my presentation, he'd have heard me call myself a "hobby journalist" and admit to being a complete amateur. Part of the point of my Edwards video is that, indeed, bloggers are new at this game and have a ways to go figuring out our proper role. But also: I was providing a first-person account of the event; my perspective. And that's important. (full post)
ARMED ROBOTS ALONG DMZ? KOREA'S DEFENSE MINISTRY PONDERS MOVE
Hmmm... might not be a good thing especially if the technology is not near flawless.
The Defense Ministry plans to deploy robots with combat capability along the heavily fortified inter-Korean border as part of revamped security measures to deter North Korean infiltration.
Other measures include installing electronic warning systems and computerized surveillance cameras, including remotely monitored battlefield sensor systems and closed circuit televisions, along the 253-kilometer border in stages by 2011.
"We are considering ways to properly and actively take advantage of state-of-the-art technologies," ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Shin Hyun-don told reporters. "In the mid- and long-term perspective, the ministry will set up the infrastructure for a technology-based security posture instead of a personnel-based system."
The ministry expects it will cost about 20 billion won to set up 250 robots every 1 kilometer along the border. (full article)
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Hmmm... might not be a good thing especially if the technology is not near flawless.
The Defense Ministry plans to deploy robots with combat capability along the heavily fortified inter-Korean border as part of revamped security measures to deter North Korean infiltration.
Other measures include installing electronic warning systems and computerized surveillance cameras, including remotely monitored battlefield sensor systems and closed circuit televisions, along the 253-kilometer border in stages by 2011.
"We are considering ways to properly and actively take advantage of state-of-the-art technologies," ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Shin Hyun-don told reporters. "In the mid- and long-term perspective, the ministry will set up the infrastructure for a technology-based security posture instead of a personnel-based system."
The ministry expects it will cost about 20 billion won to set up 250 robots every 1 kilometer along the border. (full article)
Monday, April 11, 2005
GOOGLE MAPS WITH CRAIGSLIST OVERLAY... PRETTY COOL REAL ESTATE LISTINGS
Got this as a forward, but I couldn't find the original blog post:
Paul Rademacher at the University of North Carolina, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on measuring the perceived visual realism of images, has mashed together Google Maps and Craigslist real estate listings. Excellent idea and perfect implementation—from day one of Google Maps I thought that real estate searching was its destiny, especially if you get Keyhole's satellite imagery involved. Paul does not integrate Keyhole images as Google Maps now does in its original state.
Definitely check out the first link. It's starts with a map of the U.S. and then you can click on a city and go from there. Very cool integration, huh? Props to Paul Rademacher.
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Got this as a forward, but I couldn't find the original blog post:
Paul Rademacher at the University of North Carolina, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on measuring the perceived visual realism of images, has mashed together Google Maps and Craigslist real estate listings. Excellent idea and perfect implementation—from day one of Google Maps I thought that real estate searching was its destiny, especially if you get Keyhole's satellite imagery involved. Paul does not integrate Keyhole images as Google Maps now does in its original state.
Definitely check out the first link. It's starts with a map of the U.S. and then you can click on a city and go from there. Very cool integration, huh? Props to Paul Rademacher.
Friday, April 08, 2005
4.5 MILLION MSN SPACES USERS
Good point in this news article that only 4% are updated daily, but I wonder how many are actually active after the initial setup. Also how many are updated every two weeks?
Microsoft officially launched MSN Spaces, its free Web logging service, on Thursday.
The company said in a statement that since it was introduced in test form Dec. 1, 4.5 million blogs have been set up. However, fewer than 4% (about 170,000) are updated daily, according to the Seattle Times.
New to the official release of MSN Spaces is advertising, with Volvo as the first customer -- putting its banner ads on Spaces and also sponsoring a "best of" page, inviting people to write about experiences with their automobiles. MSN Spaces staff will scour other blogs for compatible posts and put them on the Volvo site, according to Microsoft .
The company also released a new version of its MSN Messenger software for instant, voice, and video messaging. It too will have advertising, starting with Coca Cola Co.'s Sprite offering downloads of "theme packs," which include animations and backgrounds and audio clips. American Greetings Corp. also plans to sell icons for personalizing messages. (full article)
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Good point in this news article that only 4% are updated daily, but I wonder how many are actually active after the initial setup. Also how many are updated every two weeks?
Microsoft officially launched MSN Spaces, its free Web logging service, on Thursday.
The company said in a statement that since it was introduced in test form Dec. 1, 4.5 million blogs have been set up. However, fewer than 4% (about 170,000) are updated daily, according to the Seattle Times.
New to the official release of MSN Spaces is advertising, with Volvo as the first customer -- putting its banner ads on Spaces and also sponsoring a "best of" page, inviting people to write about experiences with their automobiles. MSN Spaces staff will scour other blogs for compatible posts and put them on the Volvo site, according to Microsoft .
The company also released a new version of its MSN Messenger software for instant, voice, and video messaging. It too will have advertising, starting with Coca Cola Co.'s Sprite offering downloads of "theme packs," which include animations and backgrounds and audio clips. American Greetings Corp. also plans to sell icons for personalizing messages. (full article)
UNITED NATION'S ITU WANTS A SAY IN INTERNET GOVERNANCE... HELL NO!
The U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) wants a say in Internet policy. Can you imagine the headaches of dealing with such a bureaucracy? And how much other nations will try to leverage the ITU for their economic and political benefit? Such as China who constantly monitors and regulates their citizens' Internet usage, and now a representative from their nation, Houlin Zhao (director of the ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau), is spearheading this effort for more power and influence. Hell no!
The International Telecommunication Union is one of the most venerable of bureaucracies. Created in 1865 to facilitate telegraph transmissions, its mandate has expanded to include radio and telephone communications.
But the ITU enjoys virtually no influence over the Internet. That remains the province of specialized organizations such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN; the Internet Engineering Task Force; the World Wide Web Consortium; and regional address registries.
The ITU, a United Nations agency, would like to change that. "The whole world is looking for a better solution for Internet governance, unwilling to maintain the current situation," Houlin Zhao, director of the ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, said last year. Zhao, a former government official in China's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, has been in his current job since 1999.
Though Zhao is far too diplomatic to state it directly, the ITU's increasing interest in the Internet could presage a power struggle between ITU, ICANN, and perhaps even the U.S. government, which retains some oversight authority over ICANN and appears content with the current structure.
In a series of speeches over the last year, Zhao has suggested that the ITU could become involved in everything from security and spam to managing how Internet Protocol addresses are assigned. The ITU also is looking into some aspects of voice over Internet Protocol--VoIP--communications, another potential area for expansion. (full article)
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The U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) wants a say in Internet policy. Can you imagine the headaches of dealing with such a bureaucracy? And how much other nations will try to leverage the ITU for their economic and political benefit? Such as China who constantly monitors and regulates their citizens' Internet usage, and now a representative from their nation, Houlin Zhao (director of the ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau), is spearheading this effort for more power and influence. Hell no!
The International Telecommunication Union is one of the most venerable of bureaucracies. Created in 1865 to facilitate telegraph transmissions, its mandate has expanded to include radio and telephone communications.
But the ITU enjoys virtually no influence over the Internet. That remains the province of specialized organizations such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN; the Internet Engineering Task Force; the World Wide Web Consortium; and regional address registries.
The ITU, a United Nations agency, would like to change that. "The whole world is looking for a better solution for Internet governance, unwilling to maintain the current situation," Houlin Zhao, director of the ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, said last year. Zhao, a former government official in China's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, has been in his current job since 1999.
Though Zhao is far too diplomatic to state it directly, the ITU's increasing interest in the Internet could presage a power struggle between ITU, ICANN, and perhaps even the U.S. government, which retains some oversight authority over ICANN and appears content with the current structure.
In a series of speeches over the last year, Zhao has suggested that the ITU could become involved in everything from security and spam to managing how Internet Protocol addresses are assigned. The ITU also is looking into some aspects of voice over Internet Protocol--VoIP--communications, another potential area for expansion. (full article)
TRIBE.NET HAS A NEW CEO
I hope Jan Gullet, the new CEO, can make Tribe.net more than a Craigslist wannabe.
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I hope Jan Gullet, the new CEO, can make Tribe.net more than a Craigslist wannabe.
"STEM CELLS AND HUMAN CLONING"
Interesting interview of David Prentice:
David Prentice, Ph.D., was formerly a professor of life sciences at Indiana State University and adjunct professor of medical and molecular genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He is the author of Stem Cells and Cloning and now works with the Family Research Council. This interview is reprinted with permission from the Center for Bioethics and Culture.
Stem Cells and Human Cloning
A professor of molecular genetics sees much heat but not too much light in the cloning debate.
CBC: You've been very involved in the whole stem cell/human cloning debate. Have you been surprised by how prominent these issues have become? And if so, why do you think the debate has become so heated?
Prentice: It has been a little surprising that the debate has heated up so much. It started during last fall's election campaign and has continued to build momentum. But in a way it is also not so surprising, given the success of embryo research proponents in passing Proposition 71 in California.
Ever since President Bush's decision on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research in August 2001, proponents of destructive embryo research have sought ways to open up funding for more research, both for more embryo destruction for cell lines, and also for cloning human embryos for research. The federal government has no cap on embryonic stem cell research funding, as long as the approved cell lines are used, but this is not enough for some. They want more embryos, and they want to make embryos specifically for research. A crack opened up for them with Prop. 71, and now the proponents of embryo research are trying desperately to open that crack wider.
However, there is a great deal of heat but little light. Embryonic stem cell research and cloning have made few advances, even in animal research. Lacking real results to back up claims of a need for more funding, and with little funding from the private sector, there is more hyperbole regarding the potential of embryo research, and the promise of imminent cures and imminent wealth for states that will support the research. It really plays on the emotions of desperate patients and their families, and the greed of those who want to do destructive embryo research.
CBC: What is the latest on the U.N. and the efforts to pass some kind of comprehensive ban on human cloning?
Prentice: Some very good news recently out of the U.N.! After three years of debate on banning human cloning, and efforts to block progress by a few nations that want to clone humans for experiments, the Sixth Committee of the U.N. on Feb. 18 passed a Declaration urging nations "to prohibit all forms of human cloning," noting that human cloning was "incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life."
While the Declaration still must pass the General Assembly, all nations have a vote at the committee level, so the indications are that the Declaration will receive final passage. This is a great symbolic statement that the nations of the world do not condone creating human beings as experiments. [Editor's note: the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on Human Cloning on March 8.] (full interview)
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Interesting interview of David Prentice:
David Prentice, Ph.D., was formerly a professor of life sciences at Indiana State University and adjunct professor of medical and molecular genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He is the author of Stem Cells and Cloning and now works with the Family Research Council. This interview is reprinted with permission from the Center for Bioethics and Culture.
Stem Cells and Human Cloning
A professor of molecular genetics sees much heat but not too much light in the cloning debate.
CBC: You've been very involved in the whole stem cell/human cloning debate. Have you been surprised by how prominent these issues have become? And if so, why do you think the debate has become so heated?
Prentice: It has been a little surprising that the debate has heated up so much. It started during last fall's election campaign and has continued to build momentum. But in a way it is also not so surprising, given the success of embryo research proponents in passing Proposition 71 in California.
Ever since President Bush's decision on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research in August 2001, proponents of destructive embryo research have sought ways to open up funding for more research, both for more embryo destruction for cell lines, and also for cloning human embryos for research. The federal government has no cap on embryonic stem cell research funding, as long as the approved cell lines are used, but this is not enough for some. They want more embryos, and they want to make embryos specifically for research. A crack opened up for them with Prop. 71, and now the proponents of embryo research are trying desperately to open that crack wider.
However, there is a great deal of heat but little light. Embryonic stem cell research and cloning have made few advances, even in animal research. Lacking real results to back up claims of a need for more funding, and with little funding from the private sector, there is more hyperbole regarding the potential of embryo research, and the promise of imminent cures and imminent wealth for states that will support the research. It really plays on the emotions of desperate patients and their families, and the greed of those who want to do destructive embryo research.
CBC: What is the latest on the U.N. and the efforts to pass some kind of comprehensive ban on human cloning?
Prentice: Some very good news recently out of the U.N.! After three years of debate on banning human cloning, and efforts to block progress by a few nations that want to clone humans for experiments, the Sixth Committee of the U.N. on Feb. 18 passed a Declaration urging nations "to prohibit all forms of human cloning," noting that human cloning was "incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life."
While the Declaration still must pass the General Assembly, all nations have a vote at the committee level, so the indications are that the Declaration will receive final passage. This is a great symbolic statement that the nations of the world do not condone creating human beings as experiments. [Editor's note: the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on Human Cloning on March 8.] (full interview)
2005 PIG BOOK
HatTip to Commonsense & Wonder. Citizens Against Government Waste has put out their annual "Pig Book," which lists all the congressional pork handed out last year.
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HatTip to Commonsense & Wonder. Citizens Against Government Waste has put out their annual "Pig Book," which lists all the congressional pork handed out last year.
POPE JOHN PAUL II... REST IN PEACE
Latest news on Pope John Paul II's burial. And one eulogy written by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, which I'm posting in its entirety (editors at AO won't mind):
A Rabbinic Eulogy for The Pope
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, President of Toward Tradition, talks about the Pope's triumph of life over death.
What meaningful eulogy can a rabbi possibly add to the many heartfelt tributes being paid to the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II?
Ancient Jewish wisdom advised that in this world a man is known by his father. Not only a man’s last name but much of his identity comes from his father. However, after the process of death transforms us to spirit, we look to our children and grandchildren for clues to our eternity. In the future world of the spirit where all is light and truth, Judaism teaches that each of us will be known by the actions of his or her children.
But children are not the only building blocks people leave behind. In the world to come we will be known by all our lasting accomplishments, including worthy children and powerful ideas.
Pope John Paul II is even now being warmly greeted in heaven as the father of a billion worthy children and the progenitor of one powerful idea.
We can condense the vast repertoire of courage and compassion, the dazzling virtuosity exhibited over decades by Pope John Paul II into one idea. This idea is so powerful that it welded the many facets of his life into one brilliant beam of clarity.
The Pope’s singular coherence was the sanctity of life. His beam of clarity was the triumph of life over death. Terri Schiavo, clinging to life, alerted all Americans to the real distinction between the culture of death and that of life. Perhaps her final role was to herald on high, the imminent arrival of Karol Wojtyla.
For a quarter century, three ways in which the sanctity of life played the central part in the Pope’s world view have inspired me.
The first was his fight against communism. Indeed, his role in its overthrow was enormous. Why did he hate communism? Not only because he witnessed its evil but also because it violated his reverence for life. Communism is by definition the doctrine of materialism. If there is any difference at all between matter and spirit, it is that matter is mortal whereas spirit is eternal. Communism’s innate mortality springs from its exclusive emphasis on matter. Freedom is a matter of spirit and is eternal. By fighting communism all his life the Pope was making a courageous commitment to freedom’s spiritual underpinning—life.
Another example of this pope’s commitment to life was his lifelong opposition to abortion and euthanasia. He fervently believed that in no way was man to jeopardize the sacred gift of life; neither at its beginning nor at its end. Even the creation of life transforms a man and a woman into holy partners of God, thus contraception becomes a grave moral issue.
The third example was his unequivocal opposition to homosexuality, in spite of the many vulgar attacks it earned him. It was clear to all fair-minded people that his opposition to the act of homosexuality never involved hatred for any human being. Instead it expressed his uncompromising love of life.
I feel that John Paul II recognized that when a man and his wife express their physical passion for one another, they are engaging in a life-affirming act. The Creator even hinted at this by ensuring that the organ of intercourse is none other than the birth canal. By contrast, in the practice that the Pope condemned, the organ involved is essentially a death canal. It is the part of the human anatomy designed expressly for ridding the human body of dead cells and other waste that possesses no further life-giving potential. Unlike animal product, human manure has so little life left in it that it is virtually useless as agricultural fertilizer. Opposing homosexuality is part of fighting the culture of death.
On these matters and on many more, Pope John Paul II aroused controversy. However his views were never capricious; they were unified by the theme of life. He was utterly consistent in his unwavering defense of the culture of life. Did I personally agree with every single one of his papal positions? Of course not; he was the pope and I am a rabbi. Theologically and practically he did not speak for me. However that is not the issue. The issue is that he made the world a better place for all who love life and for all who revere the words in Deuteronomy, “…therefore choose life.”
Without Pope John Paul II the culture of death would have made far greater inroads. An airliner remains aloft only because jet engines convert fuel into thrust. In the absence of that energy, gravity alone would doom the airplane. Similarly, in the absence of the spiritual life force such as that which Pope John Paul II injected into the world every day of his life, the gravitational pull of death would surely have spread even more widely. Whatever your faith, that is reason enough for gratitude.
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Latest news on Pope John Paul II's burial. And one eulogy written by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, which I'm posting in its entirety (editors at AO won't mind):
A Rabbinic Eulogy for The Pope
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, President of Toward Tradition, talks about the Pope's triumph of life over death.
What meaningful eulogy can a rabbi possibly add to the many heartfelt tributes being paid to the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II?
Ancient Jewish wisdom advised that in this world a man is known by his father. Not only a man’s last name but much of his identity comes from his father. However, after the process of death transforms us to spirit, we look to our children and grandchildren for clues to our eternity. In the future world of the spirit where all is light and truth, Judaism teaches that each of us will be known by the actions of his or her children.
But children are not the only building blocks people leave behind. In the world to come we will be known by all our lasting accomplishments, including worthy children and powerful ideas.
Pope John Paul II is even now being warmly greeted in heaven as the father of a billion worthy children and the progenitor of one powerful idea.
We can condense the vast repertoire of courage and compassion, the dazzling virtuosity exhibited over decades by Pope John Paul II into one idea. This idea is so powerful that it welded the many facets of his life into one brilliant beam of clarity.
The Pope’s singular coherence was the sanctity of life. His beam of clarity was the triumph of life over death. Terri Schiavo, clinging to life, alerted all Americans to the real distinction between the culture of death and that of life. Perhaps her final role was to herald on high, the imminent arrival of Karol Wojtyla.
For a quarter century, three ways in which the sanctity of life played the central part in the Pope’s world view have inspired me.
The first was his fight against communism. Indeed, his role in its overthrow was enormous. Why did he hate communism? Not only because he witnessed its evil but also because it violated his reverence for life. Communism is by definition the doctrine of materialism. If there is any difference at all between matter and spirit, it is that matter is mortal whereas spirit is eternal. Communism’s innate mortality springs from its exclusive emphasis on matter. Freedom is a matter of spirit and is eternal. By fighting communism all his life the Pope was making a courageous commitment to freedom’s spiritual underpinning—life.
Another example of this pope’s commitment to life was his lifelong opposition to abortion and euthanasia. He fervently believed that in no way was man to jeopardize the sacred gift of life; neither at its beginning nor at its end. Even the creation of life transforms a man and a woman into holy partners of God, thus contraception becomes a grave moral issue.
The third example was his unequivocal opposition to homosexuality, in spite of the many vulgar attacks it earned him. It was clear to all fair-minded people that his opposition to the act of homosexuality never involved hatred for any human being. Instead it expressed his uncompromising love of life.
I feel that John Paul II recognized that when a man and his wife express their physical passion for one another, they are engaging in a life-affirming act. The Creator even hinted at this by ensuring that the organ of intercourse is none other than the birth canal. By contrast, in the practice that the Pope condemned, the organ involved is essentially a death canal. It is the part of the human anatomy designed expressly for ridding the human body of dead cells and other waste that possesses no further life-giving potential. Unlike animal product, human manure has so little life left in it that it is virtually useless as agricultural fertilizer. Opposing homosexuality is part of fighting the culture of death.
On these matters and on many more, Pope John Paul II aroused controversy. However his views were never capricious; they were unified by the theme of life. He was utterly consistent in his unwavering defense of the culture of life. Did I personally agree with every single one of his papal positions? Of course not; he was the pope and I am a rabbi. Theologically and practically he did not speak for me. However that is not the issue. The issue is that he made the world a better place for all who love life and for all who revere the words in Deuteronomy, “…therefore choose life.”
Without Pope John Paul II the culture of death would have made far greater inroads. An airliner remains aloft only because jet engines convert fuel into thrust. In the absence of that energy, gravity alone would doom the airplane. Similarly, in the absence of the spiritual life force such as that which Pope John Paul II injected into the world every day of his life, the gravitational pull of death would surely have spread even more widely. Whatever your faith, that is reason enough for gratitude.
YAHOO! SUPPORTS WIKIPEDIA
HatTip to Joi Ito. Rumors were that Google was going to support Wikipedia, but it seems like Yahoo! stole their thunder. Hmmm... there seems to be a continuing pattern here. Is the middle-aged man on the block spanking the kid on the block? Did I just see the young man drive to the hoop and get blocked silly by the older dude?
Wikimedia Foundation Announces Corporate Support of Wikipedia from Yahoo! Search; Helps Allow the Organization to Run Wikipedia Independently
April 7, 2005
Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that develops and maintains free open content for the public, and Yahoo! Search, a leading global search engine, today announced that Yahoo! Search will dedicate hardware and resources to support Wikipedia, a community based encyclopedia written and edited by people from around the world. The contribution is the most significant dedication made to date to the Wikimedia Foundation by a corporate sponsor and is essential to furthering their global growth. (full article)
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HatTip to Joi Ito. Rumors were that Google was going to support Wikipedia, but it seems like Yahoo! stole their thunder. Hmmm... there seems to be a continuing pattern here. Is the middle-aged man on the block spanking the kid on the block? Did I just see the young man drive to the hoop and get blocked silly by the older dude?
Wikimedia Foundation Announces Corporate Support of Wikipedia from Yahoo! Search; Helps Allow the Organization to Run Wikipedia Independently
April 7, 2005
Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that develops and maintains free open content for the public, and Yahoo! Search, a leading global search engine, today announced that Yahoo! Search will dedicate hardware and resources to support Wikipedia, a community based encyclopedia written and edited by people from around the world. The contribution is the most significant dedication made to date to the Wikimedia Foundation by a corporate sponsor and is essential to furthering their global growth. (full article)
BLOGGER SUCKS
Blogger Sucks. I cannot access my blog. Right now I can only post through Picasa, so I put this reconstruction picture of the Palace of Fine Arts, which is a few blocks from where I live. Don't know when I'll be back up.
UPDATE: Blogger is up and running again. Wired News has an article on Blogger's recent breakdowns, "Bloggers Pitch Fits Over Glitches."
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Blogger Sucks. I cannot access my blog. Right now I can only post through Picasa, so I put this reconstruction picture of the Palace of Fine Arts, which is a few blocks from where I live. Don't know when I'll be back up.
UPDATE: Blogger is up and running again. Wired News has an article on Blogger's recent breakdowns, "Bloggers Pitch Fits Over Glitches."
Thursday, April 07, 2005
STATE OF THE BLOGOSPHERE
Dave Sifry, founder and CEO of Technorati posted some good information and insights from the latest data that his company has mined. Check out Dave's column this week at AlwaysOn:
State of the Blogosphere: The A-List and the Long Tail
The impact of weblogs on traditional media, the impact of the A-List, and the power of the long tail (Part 3 in a series on the blogosphere)
First off, some terminology and an understanding of what we're measuring. This graph is a measure of the influence of a site or blog as measured by the number of people who are linking to it. Note that this is not a measure of page views or website "hits." Rather, Technorati looks at linking behavior as a proxy for attention and influence. In other words, the more people who link to a site or blog, the more influence it has on others. Note that influence is not an indicator of veracity—lots of people link to The Drudge Report, for example, which implies that Matt Drudge gets a lot of attention and possesses a great deal of influence, but it doesn't necessarily mean that he is truthful. (full post)
HERE is Part 2 and Part 1.
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Dave Sifry, founder and CEO of Technorati posted some good information and insights from the latest data that his company has mined. Check out Dave's column this week at AlwaysOn:
State of the Blogosphere: The A-List and the Long Tail
The impact of weblogs on traditional media, the impact of the A-List, and the power of the long tail (Part 3 in a series on the blogosphere)
First off, some terminology and an understanding of what we're measuring. This graph is a measure of the influence of a site or blog as measured by the number of people who are linking to it. Note that this is not a measure of page views or website "hits." Rather, Technorati looks at linking behavior as a proxy for attention and influence. In other words, the more people who link to a site or blog, the more influence it has on others. Note that influence is not an indicator of veracity—lots of people link to The Drudge Report, for example, which implies that Matt Drudge gets a lot of attention and possesses a great deal of influence, but it doesn't necessarily mean that he is truthful. (full post)
HERE is Part 2 and Part 1.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
JUN CHOI FOR MAYOR OF EDISON TOWNSHIP
My fellow SIPA alum, Jun Choi, is not running for the New Jersey State Assembly anymore but Mayor of Edison Township. If you're in the area and want to back a good candidate, read the following:
... However, the incumbent Assemblymen have decided to run for reelection this year and out of respect to them, I am honoring my commitment to NOT run for State Assembly in 2005.
During this same period, however, several leaders of our community encouraged me to consider running for another position in 2005 - Mayor of Edison Township - if the State Assembly seat was not available. They believed that Edison Township was headed in the wrong direction, but no Democrat was willing to seriously challenge the status quo this year. They were concerned that the Edison Democrats were becoming increasingly divided and not focused on addressing the real needs of everyday citizens. The central reason for this, I believe, is the misguided leadership of the incumbent Mayor. After nearly three terms and 12 years, the Mayor has had his chance to improve our Township and Democratic Party...
I was NOT looking for this position. However, I saw a tremendous need that was not being met. After consulting with many friends and advisors, I have decided to run as a candidate for Mayor of Edison Township in the Democratic primary election on June 7, 2005.
.....
Edison is the 5th largest municipality in New Jersey with a population of over 100,000 and a sizable Asian American population of over 35,000. It has significant industry including Raritan Center and one of the highest ratables (property wealth) in the state only behind Jersey City and Atlantic City. Compared to the Assembly seat, it is a more complex and higher profile position.
To become Mayor of Edison, the greatest challenge is to win the Democratic primary. In Edison, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans almost 6 to 1. In ten weeks, there is a good chance we will know who the next Mayor will be. I will also endorse the candidacies of the Democratic Council candidates Bob Diehl, Anthony Massaro, Parag Patel and Sal Pizzi.
I ask for your support in this campaign for Mayor of Edison Township. Volunteer support and energy is a critical factor in this race. Beginning this Saturday, April 2, volunteers are welcome day and night. Specifically, there are two ways to help:
1) Volunteer your time and recruit your family/friends to volunteer their time
Every weekend beginning April 2-3, we have full-day volunteering opportunities from 9:30am to 8:00pm. We are especially looking for volunteers who are willing to canvass (door-to-door), can drive a volunteer (Edison is a good definition of suburban sprawl) or lead groups of their friends for activities around town. We are beginning with an ambitious voter registration and absentee ballot program. Please reserve your time for at least one of the next two weekends.
Sat, April 2: 9:30am to 8:00pm
Sun, April 3: 9:30am to 8:00pm
Sat, April 9: 9:30am to 8:00pm
Sun, April 10: 9:30am to 8:00pm
On election day (Tuesday, June 7), we are looking for volunteers (especially attorneys who speak both English and Gujarati, Mandarin or Korean) who are willing to canvass and monitor polling sites – please hold the date!
To reserve your volunteer time, please respond to this email or contact Sophia at (908) 217-6233.
2) Make a financial contribution. Checks can be made to “Jun Choi for Mayor” and mailed to:
Jun Choi for Mayor
PO Box 185
Edison, NJ 08818
Maximum contribution is $2,600 per individual or corporation for the primary election. Contributions must be received by June 7, 2005.
.....
Thank you again for all your support and for standing by me!
Best regards,
Jun
Jun Choi for Mayor
Campaign HQs
25 Main Street, Suite 2 (at Woodbridge Ave)
Edison, NJ 08837
(908) 217-6233
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My fellow SIPA alum, Jun Choi, is not running for the New Jersey State Assembly anymore but Mayor of Edison Township. If you're in the area and want to back a good candidate, read the following:
... However, the incumbent Assemblymen have decided to run for reelection this year and out of respect to them, I am honoring my commitment to NOT run for State Assembly in 2005.
During this same period, however, several leaders of our community encouraged me to consider running for another position in 2005 - Mayor of Edison Township - if the State Assembly seat was not available. They believed that Edison Township was headed in the wrong direction, but no Democrat was willing to seriously challenge the status quo this year. They were concerned that the Edison Democrats were becoming increasingly divided and not focused on addressing the real needs of everyday citizens. The central reason for this, I believe, is the misguided leadership of the incumbent Mayor. After nearly three terms and 12 years, the Mayor has had his chance to improve our Township and Democratic Party...
I was NOT looking for this position. However, I saw a tremendous need that was not being met. After consulting with many friends and advisors, I have decided to run as a candidate for Mayor of Edison Township in the Democratic primary election on June 7, 2005.
.....
Edison is the 5th largest municipality in New Jersey with a population of over 100,000 and a sizable Asian American population of over 35,000. It has significant industry including Raritan Center and one of the highest ratables (property wealth) in the state only behind Jersey City and Atlantic City. Compared to the Assembly seat, it is a more complex and higher profile position.
To become Mayor of Edison, the greatest challenge is to win the Democratic primary. In Edison, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans almost 6 to 1. In ten weeks, there is a good chance we will know who the next Mayor will be. I will also endorse the candidacies of the Democratic Council candidates Bob Diehl, Anthony Massaro, Parag Patel and Sal Pizzi.
I ask for your support in this campaign for Mayor of Edison Township. Volunteer support and energy is a critical factor in this race. Beginning this Saturday, April 2, volunteers are welcome day and night. Specifically, there are two ways to help:
1) Volunteer your time and recruit your family/friends to volunteer their time
Every weekend beginning April 2-3, we have full-day volunteering opportunities from 9:30am to 8:00pm. We are especially looking for volunteers who are willing to canvass (door-to-door), can drive a volunteer (Edison is a good definition of suburban sprawl) or lead groups of their friends for activities around town. We are beginning with an ambitious voter registration and absentee ballot program. Please reserve your time for at least one of the next two weekends.
Sat, April 2: 9:30am to 8:00pm
Sun, April 3: 9:30am to 8:00pm
Sat, April 9: 9:30am to 8:00pm
Sun, April 10: 9:30am to 8:00pm
On election day (Tuesday, June 7), we are looking for volunteers (especially attorneys who speak both English and Gujarati, Mandarin or Korean) who are willing to canvass and monitor polling sites – please hold the date!
To reserve your volunteer time, please respond to this email or contact Sophia at (908) 217-6233.
2) Make a financial contribution. Checks can be made to “Jun Choi for Mayor” and mailed to:
Jun Choi for Mayor
PO Box 185
Edison, NJ 08818
Maximum contribution is $2,600 per individual or corporation for the primary election. Contributions must be received by June 7, 2005.
.....
Thank you again for all your support and for standing by me!
Best regards,
Jun
Jun Choi for Mayor
Campaign HQs
25 Main Street, Suite 2 (at Woodbridge Ave)
Edison, NJ 08837
(908) 217-6233
SOCIAL NETWORKS REACH ABROAD
Most people know that when Friendster exploded it seemed like almost fifty percent of its members were Asian or Asian American, and that Orkut was dominated by Brazilians. Wired News has a good article on what social networks are doing to capitalize on their international membership and growth.
We're a Hit in Manila! Now What?
By Joanna Glasner
March 31, 2005
When Friendster first noticed that its social-networking service was gaining a strong following in the Philippines, company executives weren't sure how to capitalize on the unexpected popularity.
In the United States, where Friendster and most of its members reside, the site makes money by selling advertising. In the Philippines, however, Friendster recognized that such a strategy wouldn't fly.
"Online advertising is not enough to sustain a business in the Philippines," said Joe Hurd, Friendster's vice president of international, noting that the percentage of Filipino households with internet access is far lower than in the United States. Instead, Friendster focused on mobile phones, the use of which is much more widespread.
In December, the site rolled out a mobile-phone text-messaging service for Filipino members. While Friendster hasn't disclosed how many people it has signed up, Hurd said he was "quite pleased" with the response.
Friendster, which today has millions of Filipino members, is one of a number of advertising-supported internet sites grappling with the dilemma of how to take advantage of unforeseen overseas popularity. Such sites are finding that business models that work in large, developed countries need serious readjustment in nations with small populations or low internet-penetration rates.
Of course, for U.S.-based websites, attention from overseas is nothing new. Yahoo, Google and other top internet sites have long generated page views from all corners of the globe.
But more recently, among social-networking sites where new users invite friends and business colleagues to sign up, international growth is occurring at an exceptionally rapid rate. Sites that thought they'd grow in the United States before expanding overseas are instead taking off in unexpected places. (full article)
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Most people know that when Friendster exploded it seemed like almost fifty percent of its members were Asian or Asian American, and that Orkut was dominated by Brazilians. Wired News has a good article on what social networks are doing to capitalize on their international membership and growth.
We're a Hit in Manila! Now What?
By Joanna Glasner
March 31, 2005
When Friendster first noticed that its social-networking service was gaining a strong following in the Philippines, company executives weren't sure how to capitalize on the unexpected popularity.
In the United States, where Friendster and most of its members reside, the site makes money by selling advertising. In the Philippines, however, Friendster recognized that such a strategy wouldn't fly.
"Online advertising is not enough to sustain a business in the Philippines," said Joe Hurd, Friendster's vice president of international, noting that the percentage of Filipino households with internet access is far lower than in the United States. Instead, Friendster focused on mobile phones, the use of which is much more widespread.
In December, the site rolled out a mobile-phone text-messaging service for Filipino members. While Friendster hasn't disclosed how many people it has signed up, Hurd said he was "quite pleased" with the response.
Friendster, which today has millions of Filipino members, is one of a number of advertising-supported internet sites grappling with the dilemma of how to take advantage of unforeseen overseas popularity. Such sites are finding that business models that work in large, developed countries need serious readjustment in nations with small populations or low internet-penetration rates.
Of course, for U.S.-based websites, attention from overseas is nothing new. Yahoo, Google and other top internet sites have long generated page views from all corners of the globe.
But more recently, among social-networking sites where new users invite friends and business colleagues to sign up, international growth is occurring at an exceptionally rapid rate. Sites that thought they'd grow in the United States before expanding overseas are instead taking off in unexpected places. (full article)
"WHY PAUL KRUGMAN IS WRONG ABOUT REPUBLICANS AND ACADEMIA"
Smith College's James Miller has a good rebuttal to Paul "Whacky" Krugman's recent NY Time's column. Also congratulations to Prof. Miller on earning his tenure at Smith after dealing with the left-wing biases against him:
Republicans are too anti-science to become good professors. That's the essence of Paul Krugman's recent New York Times column explaining why there are so few Republican college professors.
Of course, recent events at Harvard indicate that it's the academic left that rejects science. Harvard's President Larry Summers was castigated for suggesting that politically incorrect science be conducted. Dr. Summers infamously suggested that researchers consider the possibility that biology partially explains the dearth of female science professors. For this comment, his Arts and Science faculty passed a resolution expressing lack of confidence in him, and the presidents of Stanford, MIT and Princeton published a letter saying that "speculation that 'innate differences' may be a significant cause of under representation by women in science and engineering may rejuvenate old myths and reinforce negative stereotypes and biases." So acting with the approval of their leftist faculties, the presidents of Stanford, MIT and Princeton have condemned Larry Summers for the crime of politically incorrect speculation. Nothing could possibly be more anti-scientific then rejecting speculation.
Larry Summers hinted that women on average might not be as qualified as men to be science professors. Paul Krugman wrote that Republicans en masse are categorically not as qualified as everyone else to be professors. Larry Summers was almost universally condemned by academia for his comments, not because they were necessarily wrong, but because it was considered wrong for him to make negative generalizations about an under-represented group. In academia, Republicans are far more under-represented than women are. So if Paul Krugman is not widely condemned by academics it will constitute pretty strong evidence that academia is biased against Republicans.
Many college leftists want more women but fewer Republicans in their ranks. They cite diversity as the reason for desiring more women, but this creates a problem since this diversity rationale would seem to indicate that they should also seek to hire more Republicans. Krugman, therefore, is aiding the intolerant college left by claiming that Republicans are so anti-science that colleges would suffer by having more of them around. Fortunately for Republicans, much of the college left is so hostile to science that even few college professors will accept Krugman's arguments. (full article)
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Smith College's James Miller has a good rebuttal to Paul "Whacky" Krugman's recent NY Time's column. Also congratulations to Prof. Miller on earning his tenure at Smith after dealing with the left-wing biases against him:
Republicans are too anti-science to become good professors. That's the essence of Paul Krugman's recent New York Times column explaining why there are so few Republican college professors.
Of course, recent events at Harvard indicate that it's the academic left that rejects science. Harvard's President Larry Summers was castigated for suggesting that politically incorrect science be conducted. Dr. Summers infamously suggested that researchers consider the possibility that biology partially explains the dearth of female science professors. For this comment, his Arts and Science faculty passed a resolution expressing lack of confidence in him, and the presidents of Stanford, MIT and Princeton published a letter saying that "speculation that 'innate differences' may be a significant cause of under representation by women in science and engineering may rejuvenate old myths and reinforce negative stereotypes and biases." So acting with the approval of their leftist faculties, the presidents of Stanford, MIT and Princeton have condemned Larry Summers for the crime of politically incorrect speculation. Nothing could possibly be more anti-scientific then rejecting speculation.
Larry Summers hinted that women on average might not be as qualified as men to be science professors. Paul Krugman wrote that Republicans en masse are categorically not as qualified as everyone else to be professors. Larry Summers was almost universally condemned by academia for his comments, not because they were necessarily wrong, but because it was considered wrong for him to make negative generalizations about an under-represented group. In academia, Republicans are far more under-represented than women are. So if Paul Krugman is not widely condemned by academics it will constitute pretty strong evidence that academia is biased against Republicans.
Many college leftists want more women but fewer Republicans in their ranks. They cite diversity as the reason for desiring more women, but this creates a problem since this diversity rationale would seem to indicate that they should also seek to hire more Republicans. Krugman, therefore, is aiding the intolerant college left by claiming that Republicans are so anti-science that colleges would suffer by having more of them around. Fortunately for Republicans, much of the college left is so hostile to science that even few college professors will accept Krugman's arguments. (full article)
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
GORETV... AL GORE MEDIA MOGUL?
They're already calling it "GoreTV" out in the Bay Area. Please someone just stop him now before he says he invented the TV too.
Gore's new media venture seeks to blend TV, Internet
Former VP says his Current network gives viewers a voice
San Francisco Chronicle
by Jesse Hamlin
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Al Gore never said he invented the Internet. But the new San Francisco-based cable TV network he's heading promises to transform television by plugging it into the Internet.
Current, the name of Gore's enterprise, hopes to do that by airing a shuffle of short news features, some produced by the network but many submitted online by viewers. Current will also air segments every half hour showing TV viewers what Google searchers are tapping into at that moment -- everything from current events to tourist destinations. It's all directed at a generation that thinks nothing of plugging into more than one media outlet at once.
"Those who are using the Internet are often watching TV at the same time, '' said the former vice president, who's chairman of the board of Current, the new independent cable venture pitched at audiences advertisers covet -- people 18 to 34 years old. "Part of our objective is to connect those two experiences.''
Gore, looking very much the hip TV executive in a gray suit, black cowboy boots and an open-necked black shirt, gave the press a taste of the Current vibe and programming Monday morning at the network's industrial chic quarters in an old brick building across from SBC Park. The network plans to hire about 125 people and begins building production and post-production studios on King Street this week.
The new network, planned for an Aug. 1 premiere, will enable Internet users to send video content through the online system "to help us make the viewer-created content that will be a large and growing part of what we put on the air," Gore said. (full article)
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They're already calling it "GoreTV" out in the Bay Area. Please someone just stop him now before he says he invented the TV too.
Gore's new media venture seeks to blend TV, Internet
Former VP says his Current network gives viewers a voice
San Francisco Chronicle
by Jesse Hamlin
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Al Gore never said he invented the Internet. But the new San Francisco-based cable TV network he's heading promises to transform television by plugging it into the Internet.
Current, the name of Gore's enterprise, hopes to do that by airing a shuffle of short news features, some produced by the network but many submitted online by viewers. Current will also air segments every half hour showing TV viewers what Google searchers are tapping into at that moment -- everything from current events to tourist destinations. It's all directed at a generation that thinks nothing of plugging into more than one media outlet at once.
"Those who are using the Internet are often watching TV at the same time, '' said the former vice president, who's chairman of the board of Current, the new independent cable venture pitched at audiences advertisers covet -- people 18 to 34 years old. "Part of our objective is to connect those two experiences.''
Gore, looking very much the hip TV executive in a gray suit, black cowboy boots and an open-necked black shirt, gave the press a taste of the Current vibe and programming Monday morning at the network's industrial chic quarters in an old brick building across from SBC Park. The network plans to hire about 125 people and begins building production and post-production studios on King Street this week.
The new network, planned for an Aug. 1 premiere, will enable Internet users to send video content through the online system "to help us make the viewer-created content that will be a large and growing part of what we put on the air," Gore said. (full article)
"BLOGS, EVERYONE? WEBLOGS ARE HERE TO STAY, BUT WHERE ARE THEY HEADED?"
Decent article over at Knowledge@Wharton.
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Decent article over at Knowledge@Wharton.
"50 MOST LOATHSOME NEW YORKERS"
HatTip to alarm:clock. Amusing article by New York Press. Alarm:clock posted about it to discuss blog publishing leaders Jason Calacanis of Weblogs Inc. (ranked #23) and Gawker Media’s Nick Denton (ranked #38) inclusion on the list. Here are samples of Jason Calacanis's and Katie Couric's profiles, who is one spot below his and definitely turns me off with her fake "sweetheart" mask:
24. Katie Couric
Co-host, The Today Show
Couric's cloying little-girl shtick on NBC's Today Show is annoying enough, considering that behind the mask of "America's sweetheart" is a hard-nosed executive drawing one of the biggest paychecks in television. Her reportedly $16 million annual salary isn't what makes Couric loathsome, however. It's her disingenuous toeing of the line between serious journalist and corporate media whore. Couric's stratospheric stock has long ridden on her supposed ability to shift effortlessly between fluff and "real reporting"—meaning she can move from a fawning segment flogging the latest big-budget Hollywood pap to a "serious" news story like the Michael Jackson trial, all without batting a mascara-caked eyelash. The blow-up doll was even rumored to be a candidate for Dan Rather's chair at the CBS Evening News, proving once again that an unctuous ability to operate as a chameleon is a prized asset in the morally bankrupt world of big media.
23. Jason Calacanis
Chairman, Weblogs Inc.
During the dotcom boom, Jason Calacanis was one of those floppy-haired internet hucksters who beat the drum so loudly for tech companies that he became one of the era's major figures. The New Yorker even commissioned a fawning profile when he was editor of the now-defunct Silicon Alley Reporter. Now Calacanis is back and shamelessly beating the drum for (guess what?) blogs. Calacanis is chairman of Weblogs Inc., which now hosts more than 70 blogs about, well, who the fuck knows? His is a blog company that will make money from advertising while allegedly paying his army of typers a pittance in a "partnership" that promises a payday from future earnings. Hmm, where've we heard that before? Calacanis even stared down Nick Denton in an article for Paper Magazine that doubled as a battle cry for mistreated bloggers everywhere: "Bloggers now have three choices: Work for themselves, work for Nick, or partner with me. In another six months they will have five choices and in another year they will have 10." Maybe. But it'll be tough to find talent out there when all of the naive bloggers holding their breath for their big breaks will have long since reconciled themselves to temping.
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HatTip to alarm:clock. Amusing article by New York Press. Alarm:clock posted about it to discuss blog publishing leaders Jason Calacanis of Weblogs Inc. (ranked #23) and Gawker Media’s Nick Denton (ranked #38) inclusion on the list. Here are samples of Jason Calacanis's and Katie Couric's profiles, who is one spot below his and definitely turns me off with her fake "sweetheart" mask:
24. Katie Couric
Co-host, The Today Show
Couric's cloying little-girl shtick on NBC's Today Show is annoying enough, considering that behind the mask of "America's sweetheart" is a hard-nosed executive drawing one of the biggest paychecks in television. Her reportedly $16 million annual salary isn't what makes Couric loathsome, however. It's her disingenuous toeing of the line between serious journalist and corporate media whore. Couric's stratospheric stock has long ridden on her supposed ability to shift effortlessly between fluff and "real reporting"—meaning she can move from a fawning segment flogging the latest big-budget Hollywood pap to a "serious" news story like the Michael Jackson trial, all without batting a mascara-caked eyelash. The blow-up doll was even rumored to be a candidate for Dan Rather's chair at the CBS Evening News, proving once again that an unctuous ability to operate as a chameleon is a prized asset in the morally bankrupt world of big media.
23. Jason Calacanis
Chairman, Weblogs Inc.
During the dotcom boom, Jason Calacanis was one of those floppy-haired internet hucksters who beat the drum so loudly for tech companies that he became one of the era's major figures. The New Yorker even commissioned a fawning profile when he was editor of the now-defunct Silicon Alley Reporter. Now Calacanis is back and shamelessly beating the drum for (guess what?) blogs. Calacanis is chairman of Weblogs Inc., which now hosts more than 70 blogs about, well, who the fuck knows? His is a blog company that will make money from advertising while allegedly paying his army of typers a pittance in a "partnership" that promises a payday from future earnings. Hmm, where've we heard that before? Calacanis even stared down Nick Denton in an article for Paper Magazine that doubled as a battle cry for mistreated bloggers everywhere: "Bloggers now have three choices: Work for themselves, work for Nick, or partner with me. In another six months they will have five choices and in another year they will have 10." Maybe. But it'll be tough to find talent out there when all of the naive bloggers holding their breath for their big breaks will have long since reconciled themselves to temping.
BLACKBERRY KILLER... WINDOWS MOBILE?
Interesting clip from FierceWireless. Microsoft seriously is a juggernaut that targets every successful market that has a low barrier of entry for its war machine. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft crushes BlackBerry in five years.
Is the next version of Windows the BlackBerry killer?
The latest version of Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform has been dubbed a "BlackBerry killer" by insiders. The newest version of Microsoft's mobile OS, codenamed Magneto, is rumored to include a push email application that will give Pocket PCs and Smartphones easy access to mobile email. In addition to push email, Magneto sports a new user interface as well as support for high-resolution graphics, improved video support via Windows Media 10, better keyboard support, enhanced Word and Excel with charts, a mobile chat app called Pocket MSN, and support for WiFi in the Smartphone platform. According to the rumors, Microsoft will unveil Magnet next month at the Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference in Las Vegas.
Microsoft has shifted the focus of its mobile strategy away from trying to control the device platform towards bundling mobile email and ActiveSync on as many devices as possible. The company has been aggressively licensing ActiveSync and Exchange to rival mobile device makers in the last six months, including palmOne and Nokia.
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Interesting clip from FierceWireless. Microsoft seriously is a juggernaut that targets every successful market that has a low barrier of entry for its war machine. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft crushes BlackBerry in five years.
Is the next version of Windows the BlackBerry killer?
The latest version of Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform has been dubbed a "BlackBerry killer" by insiders. The newest version of Microsoft's mobile OS, codenamed Magneto, is rumored to include a push email application that will give Pocket PCs and Smartphones easy access to mobile email. In addition to push email, Magneto sports a new user interface as well as support for high-resolution graphics, improved video support via Windows Media 10, better keyboard support, enhanced Word and Excel with charts, a mobile chat app called Pocket MSN, and support for WiFi in the Smartphone platform. According to the rumors, Microsoft will unveil Magnet next month at the Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference in Las Vegas.
Microsoft has shifted the focus of its mobile strategy away from trying to control the device platform towards bundling mobile email and ActiveSync on as many devices as possible. The company has been aggressively licensing ActiveSync and Exchange to rival mobile device makers in the last six months, including palmOne and Nokia.
YAHOO! THE NEW GOOGLE
"How Yahoo Got Its Mojo Back"
HatTip to Marc on the Guardian piece. Old but good article on Yahoo!'s recent moves that are putting them back in the race and ahead of Google? Also afterwards is Om Malik's post that generated some buzz across the blogosphere.
Second sight
Guardian Unlimited
Ben Hammersley
March 31, 2005
Yahoo is the new Google. Google is the new Yahoo. Up is down, and black is white. This spring has been very strange. Google, it seems, has jumped the shark. It has been overtaken, left standing, and not by some new startup of ultra smart MIT alumni or by the gazillions in the Microsoft development budget, but by the deeply unhip and previously discounted Yahoo.
Google's reputation comes from three things: the quality of its search results, the cutting-edge research and prototypes it produces, and the interfaces it provides for other programs to tap into, known as their application program interface (API). Search, up to a point, is a matter of brawn over brains - throw more money and machines at indexing the web, and you'll get a better result. So it was the last two that really set Google apart.
Google's Labs and API were held up as exemplars of a modern internet business, while Yahoo was seen as floundering in a sea of accountants, pop-up ads, and Britney Spears. But Yahoo has learned its lesson. Research.yahoo.com, launched last month, is the same idea as labs.google.com - a showcase for new and interesting projects - but it's better. Unlike Google, Yahoo publishes its papers, names its researchers and says what it is up to. One-nil to Yahoo.
Google's API was also a thing of beauty when it launched. For programmers, the ability to query Google from inside your own programs was immensely useful. And just as Amazon and eBay have done with their APIs, the Google API produced an ecosystem of applications and programming techniques that relied on, and fed, Google's success. It was unique.
But not now. Yahoo's own API is out, and it's better. It has more features, it's more complete, it's technically more elegant, and it's easier to use than Google's alternative. Two-nil to Yahoo. (full article)
How Yahoo Got Its Mojo Back
A handful of blog-evangelists, a couple of key buys and some libertarian friendly moves have turned Yahoo from a dot.has.been to the new darling of the chattering classes. It is only a matter of time when mainstream media rediscovers Yahoo, and a stock market resurgence follows….
For Yahooligans, 2004 was a year of frustration. No one noticed the fact that company’s stock posted a hefty 72% gain, ending the year at about $38 a share. Overlooked was the fact that it had sales of $3.6 billion and net income of $834 million. That’s twice as much money it raked in 2003, and nearly three times the profit. It is no surprise that many Yahoo insiders felt like the Yankee fans - no matter what they did, they were going to be overshadowed by Google.
Google’s spectacular initial public offering (admittedly that lined Yahoo’s coffers nicely and helped with those profits in 2004) and ensuing hubbub where even political columnists were comparing the minimalist search engine to second coming of Jesus. Not a day went by when someone or the other theorized that Google was going to build a Web OS, a new kind of application framework or even a browser. In the other words Google will turn the web into a giant platform. Google was everywhere! Even in the pages of GQ.
That has tweaked the Yahoo insiders no end! Many had expressed their frustration, for rest of the world not seeing the true value of Yahoo, and how well the company was doing. It just seemed so boring, lacking the pizzaz of Google, its celebrity guests, and its wonderful chef. A few months ago, almost suddenly the tide turned. (full article)
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"How Yahoo Got Its Mojo Back"
HatTip to Marc on the Guardian piece. Old but good article on Yahoo!'s recent moves that are putting them back in the race and ahead of Google? Also afterwards is Om Malik's post that generated some buzz across the blogosphere.
Second sight
Guardian Unlimited
Ben Hammersley
March 31, 2005
Yahoo is the new Google. Google is the new Yahoo. Up is down, and black is white. This spring has been very strange. Google, it seems, has jumped the shark. It has been overtaken, left standing, and not by some new startup of ultra smart MIT alumni or by the gazillions in the Microsoft development budget, but by the deeply unhip and previously discounted Yahoo.
Google's reputation comes from three things: the quality of its search results, the cutting-edge research and prototypes it produces, and the interfaces it provides for other programs to tap into, known as their application program interface (API). Search, up to a point, is a matter of brawn over brains - throw more money and machines at indexing the web, and you'll get a better result. So it was the last two that really set Google apart.
Google's Labs and API were held up as exemplars of a modern internet business, while Yahoo was seen as floundering in a sea of accountants, pop-up ads, and Britney Spears. But Yahoo has learned its lesson. Research.yahoo.com, launched last month, is the same idea as labs.google.com - a showcase for new and interesting projects - but it's better. Unlike Google, Yahoo publishes its papers, names its researchers and says what it is up to. One-nil to Yahoo.
Google's API was also a thing of beauty when it launched. For programmers, the ability to query Google from inside your own programs was immensely useful. And just as Amazon and eBay have done with their APIs, the Google API produced an ecosystem of applications and programming techniques that relied on, and fed, Google's success. It was unique.
But not now. Yahoo's own API is out, and it's better. It has more features, it's more complete, it's technically more elegant, and it's easier to use than Google's alternative. Two-nil to Yahoo. (full article)
How Yahoo Got Its Mojo Back
A handful of blog-evangelists, a couple of key buys and some libertarian friendly moves have turned Yahoo from a dot.has.been to the new darling of the chattering classes. It is only a matter of time when mainstream media rediscovers Yahoo, and a stock market resurgence follows….
For Yahooligans, 2004 was a year of frustration. No one noticed the fact that company’s stock posted a hefty 72% gain, ending the year at about $38 a share. Overlooked was the fact that it had sales of $3.6 billion and net income of $834 million. That’s twice as much money it raked in 2003, and nearly three times the profit. It is no surprise that many Yahoo insiders felt like the Yankee fans - no matter what they did, they were going to be overshadowed by Google.
Google’s spectacular initial public offering (admittedly that lined Yahoo’s coffers nicely and helped with those profits in 2004) and ensuing hubbub where even political columnists were comparing the minimalist search engine to second coming of Jesus. Not a day went by when someone or the other theorized that Google was going to build a Web OS, a new kind of application framework or even a browser. In the other words Google will turn the web into a giant platform. Google was everywhere! Even in the pages of GQ.
That has tweaked the Yahoo insiders no end! Many had expressed their frustration, for rest of the world not seeing the true value of Yahoo, and how well the company was doing. It just seemed so boring, lacking the pizzaz of Google, its celebrity guests, and its wonderful chef. A few months ago, almost suddenly the tide turned. (full article)
"END OF THE AFFAIR"... JOHN LEO'S FINAL SCHIAVO NOTES
I mentioned it a while back, but I like U.S. News's John Leo. Here's his closing article on the Schiavo affair:
Some final notes on the Terri Schiavo case. The behavior of conservatives: Uneven and sometimes awful, with lots of vituperation and extreme charges. (Jeb Bush does not remind me of Pontius Pilate; I don't think it's fair to circulate rumors that Michael Schiavo was a wife-beater.) Worse were the revolutionary suggestions that the courts be ignored or defied, perhaps by sending in the National Guard to reconnect the tube. This is "by any means necessary" rhetoric of the radical left, this time let loose by angry conservatives. Where does this rhetoric lead?
The behavior of liberals: Mystifying. While conservative opinion was severely splintered, liberal opinion seemed monolithic: Let her die. Liberals usually rally to the side of vulnerable people, but not in this case. Democrats talked abstractly about procedures and rules, a reversal of familiar roles. I do not understand why liberal friends defined the issue almost solely in terms of government intruding into family matters. Liberals are famously willing to enter family affairs to defend individual rights, opposing parental-consent laws, for example. Why not here? Nonintervention is morally suspect when there is strong reason to wonder whether the decision-maker in the family has the helpless person's best interests at heart.
A few liberals broke ranks--10 members of the black caucus, for instance, plus Sen. Tom Harkin and Ralph Nader, who called the case "court-imposed homicide." But such voices were rare. My suspicion is that liberal opinion was guided by smoldering resentment toward President Bush and the rising contempt for religion in general and conservative Christians in particular. We seem headed for much more conflict between religious and secular Americans.
The behavior of the news media: Terrible. "Pro-life" columnist Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice called it "the worst case of liberal media bias I've seen yet." Many stories and headlines were politically loaded. Small example of large disdain: On air, a CBS correspondent called the Florida rallies a "religious roadshow," a term unlikely to have been applied to Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights demonstrations or any other rallies meeting CBS's approval. More important, it was hard to find news that Michael Schiavo had provided no therapy or rehabilitation for his wife since 1994 and even blocked the use of antibiotics when Terri developed a urinary infection. And the big national newspapers claimed as a fact that Michael Schiavo's long-delayed recollection of Terri's wish to die, supported only by hearsay from Michael's brother and a sister-in-law, met the standard for "clear and convincing evidence" of consent. It did nothing of the sort, particularly with two of Terri's friends testifying the opposite. The media covered the intervention by Congress as narrowly political and unwarranted. They largely fudged the debates over whether Terri Schiavo was indeed in a persistent vegetative state and whether tube-feeding meant that Schiavo was on life support. In the Nancy Cruzan case, the Supreme Court said that tube-feeding is life support, but some ethicists and disability leaders strongly dispute that position. (full article)
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I mentioned it a while back, but I like U.S. News's John Leo. Here's his closing article on the Schiavo affair:
Some final notes on the Terri Schiavo case. The behavior of conservatives: Uneven and sometimes awful, with lots of vituperation and extreme charges. (Jeb Bush does not remind me of Pontius Pilate; I don't think it's fair to circulate rumors that Michael Schiavo was a wife-beater.) Worse were the revolutionary suggestions that the courts be ignored or defied, perhaps by sending in the National Guard to reconnect the tube. This is "by any means necessary" rhetoric of the radical left, this time let loose by angry conservatives. Where does this rhetoric lead?
The behavior of liberals: Mystifying. While conservative opinion was severely splintered, liberal opinion seemed monolithic: Let her die. Liberals usually rally to the side of vulnerable people, but not in this case. Democrats talked abstractly about procedures and rules, a reversal of familiar roles. I do not understand why liberal friends defined the issue almost solely in terms of government intruding into family matters. Liberals are famously willing to enter family affairs to defend individual rights, opposing parental-consent laws, for example. Why not here? Nonintervention is morally suspect when there is strong reason to wonder whether the decision-maker in the family has the helpless person's best interests at heart.
A few liberals broke ranks--10 members of the black caucus, for instance, plus Sen. Tom Harkin and Ralph Nader, who called the case "court-imposed homicide." But such voices were rare. My suspicion is that liberal opinion was guided by smoldering resentment toward President Bush and the rising contempt for religion in general and conservative Christians in particular. We seem headed for much more conflict between religious and secular Americans.
The behavior of the news media: Terrible. "Pro-life" columnist Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice called it "the worst case of liberal media bias I've seen yet." Many stories and headlines were politically loaded. Small example of large disdain: On air, a CBS correspondent called the Florida rallies a "religious roadshow," a term unlikely to have been applied to Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights demonstrations or any other rallies meeting CBS's approval. More important, it was hard to find news that Michael Schiavo had provided no therapy or rehabilitation for his wife since 1994 and even blocked the use of antibiotics when Terri developed a urinary infection. And the big national newspapers claimed as a fact that Michael Schiavo's long-delayed recollection of Terri's wish to die, supported only by hearsay from Michael's brother and a sister-in-law, met the standard for "clear and convincing evidence" of consent. It did nothing of the sort, particularly with two of Terri's friends testifying the opposite. The media covered the intervention by Congress as narrowly political and unwarranted. They largely fudged the debates over whether Terri Schiavo was indeed in a persistent vegetative state and whether tube-feeding meant that Schiavo was on life support. In the Nancy Cruzan case, the Supreme Court said that tube-feeding is life support, but some ethicists and disability leaders strongly dispute that position. (full article)
Monday, April 04, 2005
KASCON WEEKEND... NEXT YEAR AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY FOR THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY
Insightful Seminar by Philip Yun on North Korea... Twilight Zone World
Last Friday, I went up to Seattle to attend the Korean American Students Conference XIX(KASCON) hosted the University of Washington. The conference is the largest annual ethnic student conference where college students from across North America attend each year to discuss political, social, economic, and other issues that affect and will impact their future as Korean American professionals, parents, and citizens. It was my first KASCON since KASCON XIII, which was hosted by Stanford.
Since I've been back in the U.S. I decided to settle into some of my old roles. One was with The Mirae Foundation, which is the parent organization of KASCON. I was a co-founder and board member, but was out of the loop while I was in Asia for four years. I had a light role in advising this year's KASCON student organizers, but primarily attended this year's conference to meet with the other Mirae people about internal strategic issues and next year's conference, which will be the important 20th anniversary. The students that won the bid for next year's conference were from Princeton University, which is where KASCON was founded, and their preparation was excellent and one of the best proposals I have seen.
In terms of the substance of this year's conference, it was pretty good. Some old voices that I was bored of but new to many students. One seminar I attended that I enjoyed was by Philip Yun, former Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Stanley O. Roth) and served as a deputy head U.S. delegate to the Korea peace talks based in Switzerland and participated in U.S. negotiations with North Korea between 1998 and 2000. Philip Yun traveled with former Secretary of Defense William Perry to North Korea in May 1999 and in October 2000 accompanied Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang.
These trips to North Korea were the basis of his seminar. He discussed how his perception and thinking changed through his visits inside the closed world of North Korea (great satellite image that he and John Park showed during their seminars of North Asia at night and see how North Korea is basically blacked-out). A few interesting pictures he showed was a row of storefronts that looked great on the outside, but were emptied inside. There was just a display of items for sale in the window, but the door was locked and nothing was inside. When I saw those pictures and some others of people in a marketplace, I felt like I was watching "The Twilight Zone." One of those eerie episodes where everything in a town is revealed to be fake and the people are just robots made by some mad scientist hundreds of years before.
Philip Yun also told the story of a North Korean diplomat visiting Seoul and upon seeing the crowded downtown area he asked,"How did you get so many people and cars here together like this? I must meet your logistics people and learn from them!"
The South Korean counterpart responded,"The people and cars are easy. It's the skyscrapers that were difficult."
Amazing. How removed are North Koreans from the rest of the world to believe a crowded downtown is some display for visitors to admire or see? It's not even a narrow world view that we are dealing with. It's a narrow view of reality and that scares me.
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Insightful Seminar by Philip Yun on North Korea... Twilight Zone World
Last Friday, I went up to Seattle to attend the Korean American Students Conference XIX(KASCON) hosted the University of Washington. The conference is the largest annual ethnic student conference where college students from across North America attend each year to discuss political, social, economic, and other issues that affect and will impact their future as Korean American professionals, parents, and citizens. It was my first KASCON since KASCON XIII, which was hosted by Stanford.
Since I've been back in the U.S. I decided to settle into some of my old roles. One was with The Mirae Foundation, which is the parent organization of KASCON. I was a co-founder and board member, but was out of the loop while I was in Asia for four years. I had a light role in advising this year's KASCON student organizers, but primarily attended this year's conference to meet with the other Mirae people about internal strategic issues and next year's conference, which will be the important 20th anniversary. The students that won the bid for next year's conference were from Princeton University, which is where KASCON was founded, and their preparation was excellent and one of the best proposals I have seen.
In terms of the substance of this year's conference, it was pretty good. Some old voices that I was bored of but new to many students. One seminar I attended that I enjoyed was by Philip Yun, former Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Stanley O. Roth) and served as a deputy head U.S. delegate to the Korea peace talks based in Switzerland and participated in U.S. negotiations with North Korea between 1998 and 2000. Philip Yun traveled with former Secretary of Defense William Perry to North Korea in May 1999 and in October 2000 accompanied Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang.
These trips to North Korea were the basis of his seminar. He discussed how his perception and thinking changed through his visits inside the closed world of North Korea (great satellite image that he and John Park showed during their seminars of North Asia at night and see how North Korea is basically blacked-out). A few interesting pictures he showed was a row of storefronts that looked great on the outside, but were emptied inside. There was just a display of items for sale in the window, but the door was locked and nothing was inside. When I saw those pictures and some others of people in a marketplace, I felt like I was watching "The Twilight Zone." One of those eerie episodes where everything in a town is revealed to be fake and the people are just robots made by some mad scientist hundreds of years before.
Philip Yun also told the story of a North Korean diplomat visiting Seoul and upon seeing the crowded downtown area he asked,"How did you get so many people and cars here together like this? I must meet your logistics people and learn from them!"
The South Korean counterpart responded,"The people and cars are easy. It's the skyscrapers that were difficult."
Amazing. How removed are North Koreans from the rest of the world to believe a crowded downtown is some display for visitors to admire or see? It's not even a narrow world view that we are dealing with. It's a narrow view of reality and that scares me.
BREAKDOWN IN BLOGOSPHERE... AO DOWN AND BLOGGER DOWN
AlwaysOn was off this weekend with some maintenance issues, and today my Blogger access was down until just now.
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AlwaysOn was off this weekend with some maintenance issues, and today my Blogger access was down until just now.
Friday, April 01, 2005
TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY!... TWO YEARS OF BLOGGING
I almost forgot that April 1, 2003 I started blogging. It's been two years since my friend, Doug, introduced me to the world of blogs while I was living in Korea. I was working on a capital raising assignment at the time and he asked me to explore some project possibilities for his consulting company. In the end, I focused more the deal I was working on and soon left for my vacation to the U.S. without helping him out. I still feel bad since I didn't get a chance to work on anything for Doug and I benefited tremendously from his introduction to the blogosphere. Thanks, Doug!
Also thanks to the readers of this blog. I really appreciate the people that have kept visiting even though it really doesn't have a focus. Most successful blogs, which I don't define this blog as, have a focus that has developed into a loyal following. I have a decent following of a few thousand each month even though my posts are everywhere... tech, politics, religion, rants, links, and some substance. Hopefully, I'll improve on the last item for the next year to come:) Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Bernard
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I almost forgot that April 1, 2003 I started blogging. It's been two years since my friend, Doug, introduced me to the world of blogs while I was living in Korea. I was working on a capital raising assignment at the time and he asked me to explore some project possibilities for his consulting company. In the end, I focused more the deal I was working on and soon left for my vacation to the U.S. without helping him out. I still feel bad since I didn't get a chance to work on anything for Doug and I benefited tremendously from his introduction to the blogosphere. Thanks, Doug!
Also thanks to the readers of this blog. I really appreciate the people that have kept visiting even though it really doesn't have a focus. Most successful blogs, which I don't define this blog as, have a focus that has developed into a loyal following. I have a decent following of a few thousand each month even though my posts are everywhere... tech, politics, religion, rants, links, and some substance. Hopefully, I'll improve on the last item for the next year to come:) Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Bernard
RICH KARLGAARD'S VIEW ON SILICON VALLEY AND WASHINGTON
Interesting piece by the publisher of Forbes magazine. Karlgaard and Tony Perkins, founder of Red Herring and AlwaysOn and my boss, founded Upside magazine and the Churchill Club together. Wonder what Tony thinks about this editorial?
A Silicon Valley Operator's Manual
Incumbents are hated; "disrupters" loved.
BY RICH KARLGAARD
Thursday, March 31, 2005
PALO ALTO, Calif.--Twenty years ago a friend and I started a Silicon Valley civic organization, the Churchill Club. We invited Robert Noyce to address our first event. Co-inventor of the semiconductor chip, founder of Intel, Noyce had put the "silicon" in the valley. Writer Tom Wolfe said Noyce looked like Gary Cooper in "High Noon."
Before a packed house, the fetching Noyce strode to the Churchill Club podium and gave . . . a stinker of a speech. He carped about Japanese competition. He called for trade barriers to save America's memory chip business. He yelped about fiscal and trade deficits.
In short, Noyce tried to play politician. His life stood in contrast to this garbage--bold inventor, entrepreneur, adventurer and risk taker. (For sport, Noyce flew Navy seaplanes.) To take Noyce's political rant at face value was to ignore everything real about the man.
Silicon Valley has not changed. It's a mistake to make much of its politics. True enough, the Valley can mimic a respectable political language--if only to snag Davos invitations or to keep Washington off its back. In their souls, Valley businesspeople are wild libertarian crazies who want nothing more than to forget the Beltway even exists. The news is full of talk about the great divide between political left and right. Silicon Valley could care less. The axis that counts here is incumbent vs. disrupter.
Incumbents are the bad guys. They are Microsoft, Gray Davis, Hollywood studios, telephone companies, big pharma and Social Security. Disrupters are Google, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Napster, WiFi, biotech and personal savings accounts. Incumbents are big, slow, rude and authoritarian. Disrupters are nimble, new, cute and libertarian.
Political labels mean zilch here. The most popular Silicon Valley politician of the last 30 years was a Republican, U.S. Congressman Ed Zschau. He scored high marks from the libertarian Cato Institute. Elected in 1982 and again in 1984, Rep. Zschau had a lifetime seat in the Valley if he wanted it. But he gambled all, ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 1986, lost a squeaker to incumbent Alan Cranston and retired. (full article)
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Interesting piece by the publisher of Forbes magazine. Karlgaard and Tony Perkins, founder of Red Herring and AlwaysOn and my boss, founded Upside magazine and the Churchill Club together. Wonder what Tony thinks about this editorial?
A Silicon Valley Operator's Manual
Incumbents are hated; "disrupters" loved.
BY RICH KARLGAARD
Thursday, March 31, 2005
PALO ALTO, Calif.--Twenty years ago a friend and I started a Silicon Valley civic organization, the Churchill Club. We invited Robert Noyce to address our first event. Co-inventor of the semiconductor chip, founder of Intel, Noyce had put the "silicon" in the valley. Writer Tom Wolfe said Noyce looked like Gary Cooper in "High Noon."
Before a packed house, the fetching Noyce strode to the Churchill Club podium and gave . . . a stinker of a speech. He carped about Japanese competition. He called for trade barriers to save America's memory chip business. He yelped about fiscal and trade deficits.
In short, Noyce tried to play politician. His life stood in contrast to this garbage--bold inventor, entrepreneur, adventurer and risk taker. (For sport, Noyce flew Navy seaplanes.) To take Noyce's political rant at face value was to ignore everything real about the man.
Silicon Valley has not changed. It's a mistake to make much of its politics. True enough, the Valley can mimic a respectable political language--if only to snag Davos invitations or to keep Washington off its back. In their souls, Valley businesspeople are wild libertarian crazies who want nothing more than to forget the Beltway even exists. The news is full of talk about the great divide between political left and right. Silicon Valley could care less. The axis that counts here is incumbent vs. disrupter.
Incumbents are the bad guys. They are Microsoft, Gray Davis, Hollywood studios, telephone companies, big pharma and Social Security. Disrupters are Google, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Napster, WiFi, biotech and personal savings accounts. Incumbents are big, slow, rude and authoritarian. Disrupters are nimble, new, cute and libertarian.
Political labels mean zilch here. The most popular Silicon Valley politician of the last 30 years was a Republican, U.S. Congressman Ed Zschau. He scored high marks from the libertarian Cato Institute. Elected in 1982 and again in 1984, Rep. Zschau had a lifetime seat in the Valley if he wanted it. But he gambled all, ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 1986, lost a squeaker to incumbent Alan Cranston and retired. (full article)
LIBERAL RICHARD GERE SOUNDS A BIT REPUBLICAN TO ME
Actor Richard Gere Condemns EU Plans to Lift Arms Embargo Against China
HatTip to Mingi on this article:
Actor Gere attacks plans for China arms embargo
March 28, 2005
TOKYO (Reuters) - Expecting no more than light chit-chat about ballroom dancing, reporters in Tokyo were startled when actor Richard Gere launched into a condemnation of Europe's plans to lift an arms embargo against China.
After promoting his new film "Shall We Dance?", in which he co-stars with Jennifer Lopez, Gere grabbed a microphone to denounce plans by the European Union to lift the embargo imposed after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989.
"I so agree with your prime minister that the European Union should not remove the ban against selling arms to China," he said. "I agree with him totally." (full article)
Gere's WSJ editorial:
Don't Abandon Tibet
Why Europe must not lift the arms embargo on China.
Thursday, March 31
I was in Europe this month to receive an award from the Geuzen Resistance 1940-1945 Foundation on behalf of the International Campaign for Tibet. The Geuzen Medal honors the memory of Dutch resistance heroes who fought the Nazis by recognizing those today who resist repression, discrimination and racism, and the Campaign was recognized for promoting human rights and self-determination in Tibet through nonviolent means. It was a very proud moment for those of us who care deeply about Tibet and the brave Tibetan people--and certainly for me as the Campaign's chairman.
The cause of Tibet is now at a critical juncture. After decades of diplomatic stalemate, talks began again in 2002 between Beijing and the Dalai Lama's envoy, Lodi Gyari. Mr. Gyari described the latest round of talks last year as the most serious exchange of views so far. As the Dalai Lama has repeatedly stated for decades now, the issue is not Tibetan independence from China but rather genuine Tibetan autonomy within the overall structure of a sovereign but benevolent China. This is not unreasonable or unobtainable. The model of Hong Kong certainly comes to mind.
So now, more than ever, Beijing needs to feel outside pressure if we are to ensure that talks continue. Europe and Washington's most substantial means for pressure is certainly the weapons embargo, which they imposed on China after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989. Yet the EU is now seriously considering lifting the embargo--it should not. Sixteen years later, China still has not substantively addressed the human rights abuses that led to the embargo, and, in fact, many of those involved in the 1989 demonstrations continue to linger in prison. In Tibet itself, severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association and religion remain in place. This record should not be rewarded with weapons exports. (full article)
|
Actor Richard Gere Condemns EU Plans to Lift Arms Embargo Against China
HatTip to Mingi on this article:
Actor Gere attacks plans for China arms embargo
March 28, 2005
TOKYO (Reuters) - Expecting no more than light chit-chat about ballroom dancing, reporters in Tokyo were startled when actor Richard Gere launched into a condemnation of Europe's plans to lift an arms embargo against China.
After promoting his new film "Shall We Dance?", in which he co-stars with Jennifer Lopez, Gere grabbed a microphone to denounce plans by the European Union to lift the embargo imposed after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989.
"I so agree with your prime minister that the European Union should not remove the ban against selling arms to China," he said. "I agree with him totally." (full article)
Gere's WSJ editorial:
Don't Abandon Tibet
Why Europe must not lift the arms embargo on China.
Thursday, March 31
I was in Europe this month to receive an award from the Geuzen Resistance 1940-1945 Foundation on behalf of the International Campaign for Tibet. The Geuzen Medal honors the memory of Dutch resistance heroes who fought the Nazis by recognizing those today who resist repression, discrimination and racism, and the Campaign was recognized for promoting human rights and self-determination in Tibet through nonviolent means. It was a very proud moment for those of us who care deeply about Tibet and the brave Tibetan people--and certainly for me as the Campaign's chairman.
The cause of Tibet is now at a critical juncture. After decades of diplomatic stalemate, talks began again in 2002 between Beijing and the Dalai Lama's envoy, Lodi Gyari. Mr. Gyari described the latest round of talks last year as the most serious exchange of views so far. As the Dalai Lama has repeatedly stated for decades now, the issue is not Tibetan independence from China but rather genuine Tibetan autonomy within the overall structure of a sovereign but benevolent China. This is not unreasonable or unobtainable. The model of Hong Kong certainly comes to mind.
So now, more than ever, Beijing needs to feel outside pressure if we are to ensure that talks continue. Europe and Washington's most substantial means for pressure is certainly the weapons embargo, which they imposed on China after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989. Yet the EU is now seriously considering lifting the embargo--it should not. Sixteen years later, China still has not substantively addressed the human rights abuses that led to the embargo, and, in fact, many of those involved in the 1989 demonstrations continue to linger in prison. In Tibet itself, severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association and religion remain in place. This record should not be rewarded with weapons exports. (full article)
Business & Technology, Politics, and Random Posts from the Left, Right, and Elsewhere
Place of Birth: Seoul, Korea
Hometown: Northbrook, IL USA
Lived in: Seoul, Chicago (Villa Park & Northbrook), Madison, WI, Springfield, IL, St. Louis, New York City, Chicago (Glenview), Seoul, San Francisco
Also blogs at: AlwaysOn, Coro Blog, SportsBlog
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Max Yow
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Sports: combative sports, sports you play with a ball, sports with no swimming, sports you can play while drinking and smoking (pool, darts, bowling, video games).
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"You cannot go on explaining away things over forever or you will find that you have explained even explanation itself away. You cannot go on seeing through things forever because the whole point of seeing through something is to see something else through it." - C.S Lewis
December 11, 2005
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December 4, 2005
"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individual. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful." - Marie Curie
November 27, 2005
"One cannot step into the same river twice." - Heratidus
November 20, 2005
"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and undernourishment." - Robert Maynard Hutchins
November 13, 2005
"We are moving away from the old idea of leadership -- leadership has less to do (now) with heroism. We don’t look for... unblemished omnipotent heroes, but leaders who are complex, dependent, changeable... We do not need one dominant authority structure telling all our inner voices to shut up..." - Walter Truett Anderson
November 6, 2005
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October 30, 2005
"Men content themselves with the same words as other people use, as if the very sound necessarily carried the same meaning." - John Locke
October 23, 2005
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October 16, 2004
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October 9, 2004
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October 2, 2004
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September 25, 2004
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September 18, 2004
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September 11, 2004
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September 4, 2004
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