links for 2007-02-28
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Dude, I am going to totally arbitrage my Forever stamps while the gettin’s good!
February 27th, 2007
Archive for February, 2007
Which Company is This?
Try and take a guess which Fortune 500 company this blurb comes from.
Are you looking for a company that is principled, creative, dynamic and passionate? At ______________, we are:
Principled
“Do the right thing.” We treat every person with respect, fairness and integrity, and we embrace diversity.Creative
“Encourage new ideas to build our business.” In our high-performance culture, we encourage and reward innovative thinking and new, savvy ways of doing things.Dynamic
“Translate ideas into action, with boldness and speed.” We leverage our knowledge and imagination to generate innovative business-building initiatives.Passionate
“Believe in our values and strive to win.” Our pride and our dedication to high performance drive us to deliver the best results.
Incredibly nonspecific stuff, I know. But go ahead and take a guess.
Give up?
It’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
The strangest part about this quote is that it came from a Careers section from RJR’s website titled, “Are We For You?” Obviously, the question is not there to help you decide if tobacco is morally for you, because the answer is about as corp-speak as you can get.
February 25th, 2007
links for 2007-02-23
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One of the better profiles on MIT OpenCourseWare. Nice to hear a dissenting voice in the discussion.
February 22nd, 2007
links for 2007-02-21
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I read about these types of stories every month in the MIT alumni magazine. I like them…they keep my accomplishments in perspective.
February 20th, 2007
links for 2007-02-19
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Sorely needed. Seems like City Council’s current “plan” to add 25,000 units boils down to money waving.
February 18th, 2007
TheATX.com Updates
Looks like some changes to the Austin Chronicle site temporarily fudged The ATX and its RSS feed. I just pushed up some changes to the site which seems to have fixed both.
Apparently, there are 20 of you who subscribe to the RSS feed. If you happen to be one of the 20, let me know what you think of it in the comments below. Suggestions on ways I can improve it are equally welcome, like if you prefer a different format or other delivery methods, etc. Thanks.
February 18th, 2007
links for 2007-02-16
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Poignant after reading “Barbarians at the Gate.” Warren Buffett was quoted as saying he liked tobacco stock, and with tons of cash flow and brand loyalty, why not? Well other than that legal stuff.
February 15th, 2007
links for 2007-02-11
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I think the delay to complete construction was a far bigger deal than the “taxpayer dollars already spent.” The latter is a sunk cost — who the hell cares what you’ve spent?
February 10th, 2007
links for 2007-02-08
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OH MY GOD PEOPLE. I was just kidding! This is getting ridiculous…20,000 units downtown and no place to work.
February 7th, 2007
True Convergence
Pete Fader from the Wharton School of Business had a very insightful take on Apple’s iPhone and iTV announcements at January’s MacWorld. I recommend checking out the interview for two reasons:
- Counterarguments to the iPhone myopia out there, and
- Solid takes on the disappointment iTV will become.
Number 1 is important because it’s always good to hear every perspective of a potential “game-changer” like the iPhone. It’s definitely too early to be claiming victory or defeat in a premium mobile phone market, so the speculation and debate is healthy exercise while we watch the events play out. (Unless you’re wagering options on the stock, to which I say: better you than me.)
On number 2, however, I absolutely concur. Pete talks about the inferiority that the iTV brings to the table, and the existing features seem to back it up. For starters, the very first requirement for the iTV is that you also need a PC or Mac. Apple makes it clear that they expect users to manage their media via a primary computer, rendering this computer as the only conduit between the iTunes Music Store and iTV. The question is: why? When is a middleman a good thing? Just imagine the logistics of watching something new on the iTV:
Wanna download a new movie? Great! Just fish your laptop out of the briefcase and…wait, it’s turned off. OK, gotta boot it up. OK, now load up iTunes, connect to the store, buy the movie, start downloading…oh wait, now I have to let it sync. Where’s my power cord? Arrggh.
This scenario doesn’t even delve into the mind-numbing education users are forced to undergo when discussing the difference between “syncing” and “streaming” movies from iTunes to iTV. You can just imagine the calls the Geek Squad will be getting on that not-so-subtle difference.
Now, contrast that forced-middleman architecture to today’s announcement by Amazon and TiVo. The joint agreement will allow TiVo users to watch movies purchased from Amazon’s Unbox download store, on the surface very similar to what iTunes and iTV provide today. However, the architecture here is dramatically different: TiVo boxes will communicate directly to Amazon’s service, not through some arbitrary gatekeeper. They’ve eliminated the middleman! (Technically, they’ve pushed the “media manager” middleman up the chain and integrated it into the Amazon Unbox, but you get the idea…the number of nodes still drops from 3 to 2.) So guess what happens? Watching a new movie becomes a matter of opening up a web browser on any device in the world. That means any work computer, smartphone, Internet tablet appliance, refrigerator, anything with a browser can buy a movie. Go to website, click buy, watch movie on TiVo. That’s dead-simple to understand — no Geek Squad intervention necessary.
Clearly, it’s still a niche market. Both services require a wireless network to be in place. Some folks might be willing to spend a few hours of their life to set up and secure one, but less-than-tech-savvy folks will just as soon keep ordering DVDs through the mail.
Nonetheless, it pains me to see Apple play the inferior role in this early war. I’d love nothing more than to buy an iTV and connect my life in one Apple-hugging lovefest. But do I want to subject myself to the wife’s pleas for help when it comes time to watch it on the big screen? Gee, do I want to program the VCR while I’m at it?
True convergence is all about taking out the middleman, not imposing one. The TiVo/Amazon service does the former, and does it seamlessly. It’s a winning formula, and it’s a lesson Apple should be learning from, soon.
February 7th, 2007
