Friday, February 27, 2004
Forrester on Google
There is a very refreshing report at Forrester Research regarding the Google IPO that's worth a read. It's refreshing because it is highly cautionary -- not really what you're used to hearing out of Wall Street. The report is free, though you have to go through an annoying registration process to get it. Here are some of the key sections:
Google has made lots of enemies. It is destroying the pop-up ad business and shifting ad revenue to paid search, of which it is the leader. MSN, AOL, Yahoo!, and other sites are getting bypassed and deconstructed by Googling users. ... The control freaks of Redmond do not like it when anyone starts bypassing their monopoly or slapping toolbars on top of their operating systems and browsers.Well, heck, I've really excerpted too much of that. But I think it's good stuff and I highly recommend you register at Forrester to read the rest of it (they have lots of other free content) if you care about these kinds of things. On CNBC yesterday morning I caught the end of the interview with the guy who wrote this report (their CEO) but found the link to the report itself via Anil Dash.
No barriers to entry. ... How long will it take to switch out of Google? Seconds.
The Web is changing. Google is a step in the long march to better search. Yes, Google's scheme yields fantastic results. But the Web is inexorably dynamic. During the next five years, it will move from containing primarily file-based content (HTML pages) to containing more executable content (e.g., online gaming or new structures imposed by Web services like XML). When that happens, the usefulness of link-based search will wane. Simply stated, Google is very much of the times, with no advantage in the more structured, executable Internet that lies ahead.
... (T)his makes the company a first awful IPO for a reviving tech equities market. It will all feel very familiar: over-excited investment bankers pumping air into the offering; a gullible, breathless press; cheering venture capitalists led by the teflon Kleiner Perkins; and thousands of actual users of the technology that will tee up their broker to get a piece of the "New eBay." What the world needs now is a calm, ordered, rational, smart equities market in technology -- not overpriced froth. Google at a $6 billion valuation would be great. Google with a cap north of $15 billion blows in the stench of Bubble II.
The big battle will be Google versus Microsoft versus Yahoo!. Microsoft won't have the best technology -- it never does and never will. ... Microsoft is going to persist, in its dogged way, and end up as No. 1. Yahoo! ... will play a strong No. 2 to Microsoft. Google, if it doesn't swoon over its IPO, will be in position for a long-shot challenge.
More Disclosure
I had an e-mail discussion earlier this week on blog promotion and advertising with Hugh MacLeod, who is launching a blogvertising agency and also makes some very cool blogcards. We were discussing the situation where some bloggers who were writing about a new drink without disclosing they were being compensated for it.
In trying to make clear how that's different than The Week magazine inviting a bunch of bloggers to their newsmaker panels, I decided it would be fair for me to post that distinction.
The Week has started inviting a few New York bloggers to their panels, which are open only to invited guests and members of the media. I've been to two - one was a breakfast and one was a lunch. Like everyone else there, the bloggers didn't pay a dime and were served free feed and drink (no bar drinks.) There were free copies of the magazine, as well as goody-bags that consisted of a block of note paper with the Altria (see Philip Morris) logo, a spiral notebook with the Altria logo, a pen with the TIAA-CREF logo, a pen with the UBS logo and I think another notepad with another corporate logo. There were coffee mugs (used as pen holders in the middle of the table) with "The Week" logo that Paul Frankenstein was eyeing but declined to take even though I think they were there for the taking.
When I was first invited to one of these things by a PR guy, I kidded him that he was only inviting bloggers to get the extra ink from us. Indeed, true, he said, but mentioned that "The Week" really is a proponent of blogs. In addition, he assured me they didn't assume the coverage would be all positive.
It didn't occur to me to include those elements when I wrote about the two events because it's pretty routine for journalists to turn down "gifts" but eat a free meal while covering an event. Plenty of people could argue about that policy, so I figured that for purposes of this blog I'll make mention of even the free meals, drinks, notepads, new cars or pet monkeys.
RSI Quickie
There was a column in yesterday's Circuits about a funky keyboard that's good for some people who have pain when typing. Lest I bore you with the details of my own saga of fixing my work-related injury, let me give you a few quick thoughts.
Most doctors have no idea how to treat these injuries. It is up to you to fight the doctor ennui and continue to search for what will make you better. What one person finds as a solution, may not be right for you.
My solution finally came with an excellent physical therapist, yoga twice a week, exercises to strengthen my lower back, a cordless telephone headset, and a perfect ergonomic desk set up, which includes a touchpad instead of a mouse, a keyboard tray with negative tilt, a great chair and a desk and screen at the proper height.
Apartment Hunt
My very dear friend Heesun has finished the first draft of her novel and has landed a new job in New York. She's looking to rent a one bedroom downtown starting mid-March or April. If you hear of something, please let me know.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
This, for That
I need to send out kudos to Steve Kuhn who hosted a very cool book exchange party at his apartment last night. This is a great idea worthy of stealing: He invited over a bunch of people with instructions to bring books, CDs or DVDs you no longer want. They all get set out on a table and guests take their pick from the pickins.
I came home with "Fight Club" in paperback, Dostoyevsky's "Notes from the Underground," DVDs of "Solaris" and "Rollerball" and the hardcover of "Charlie Wilson's War," which is billed as "the untold story of a whiskey-swilling, skirt-chasing, scandal-prone congressman from Texas, and how he conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest and most successful covert operation in U.S. history."
Grief Auction
There's a story in yesterday's New York Times about the trial of an ex-fireman accused of stealing items from the WTC site. This the paragraph on what he's accused of taking:
According to court papers, an investigator found several items belonging to victims of the attack - including a photograph of a bride and groom at a wedding reception, seven identification cards belonging to employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a two-way radio - during a search of Mr. Brandon's home in Pine Bush, N.Y., in 2002.An unnamed detective then tells the paper:
... "(T)he defendant made statements, in substance, that he knew he had no authority and that it was wrong to remove these items from the site, that he had collected other 'souvenirs' from the site, that he had already given some away to family members as gifts, and that the items could be very valuable someday."It got me thinking about all the inappropriate "souvenirs" that have come out of the tragedy. My husband and I were in a gift shop near Times Square a couple weeks ago and found some really weird items -- like ashtrays with WTC logos made post 9/11 to commemorate the date. Who buys that stuff? And then I thought I'd take a look at ebay: A search for "WTC" produces 722 items today. There are a lot of patches, but the top item is a lamp with a lamp shade made of images of the smoking trade center. I don't even want to know what else is on the list. People cope with tragedy in ways I just don't understand.
Best and Worst of Fresh Direct
This one's for Lockhart Steele and all you new Fresh Directers:
Best of Fresh Direct
three-potato salad - perfect for hangovers, and hangover prevention
FD alfredo sauce - made with chicken stock base so you can pretend it's not as fattening
parbaked demi-baguettes - from the freezer to the table in 15 minutes. For all the times you forget to pick up bread on the way home.
mascarpone and mushroom risotto - perfectly nice, though short expiration date
FD teriyaki marinade - convenient, but another short expiration date
lamb kabobs with Moroccan rub - nice because they're already cut, seasoned and trimmed of fat. Though when I made them, I still ended up adding red wine and the teriyaki marinade.
FD cafe mocha cheesecake - better than you might think, though the taste definitely declines after a couple days, so don't plan on secretly scarfing on it alone for a week. (As if I'd ever do that?) Only get it if you've got a few friends coming over.
The other faves on my list have to do with weight (beer, water bottles in 6-packs) and convenience (Original Ruffels are impossible to find in Park Slope.)
The only bad things were the frozen chocolate-chip cookie dough, fish cakes and some crab legs. They weren't off, just not flavorful enough for me to bother with again.
And keep in mind that my list in no way represents my favorite meals of the week. The Fresh Direct stuff is all about convenience. I still get all my fruits and veggies, milk, juice, cheeses and most fish and meats at the Park Slope Food Coop, which is far cheaper, better quality and almost always organic, produced regionally and farmed responsibly. Fresh Direct stuff stuff is seldom organic, though everything we've ordered has indeed been "fresh." FD is good for sticking stuff in the freezer or fridge and preparing a decent meal within 20 minutes when you're tired and take-out takes too long. The prices aren't horrible, and the delivery guys carry all that heavy stuff to your door in one trip -- saving you probably three trips for the week.
Last thing -- I don't have much sympathy for the whiners who claim to be mad at Fresh Direct for not yet deliverying to their neighborhood -- especially when FD has made clear one way they choose new areas is whether enough potential customers have signed up on the site. And oddly, all the complainers have failed to mention the DAGNYC.com option, which has been available in parts of Manhattan for a couple years.
Monday, February 23, 2004
Back in My Day ...
OK, here's one last post from Friday night. I don't go out much on weekends anymore, so I guess that's why I'm milking this one.
I'm talking college journalism with this woman who's 25 years old. I'm telling her about how my college paper ran a review of the Rob Lowe sex tape from the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Not only did we run a review, put there were grainy pictures of the "actor/activist" with another friend and the underage girl. I tell her the videos were making their way around the dorms and everyone on campus knew about them. In the middle of my explanation, I tell her they were on video "because we didn't have the Internet back then."
How old does that make you feel?
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Defining Nadir
I can tell you exactly what the polls will show by the end of the week: Nader doesn't matter. His own people don't even want him to run. I can tell you that I was actually considering voting for him last time around. I don't mind making a vote strictly on principle sometimes - and that's what I planned to do. I changed my mind when Nader royally botched a question from Matt Welch (one of the only reporters who actually covered the Nader campaign) a few days before the election. Matt asked him to reconcile his position as an anti-corporate outsider with the fact that he personally made loads of money with his Fidelity investments -- which were in those same companies he said were so bad for so many years. There were plenty of answers I could have bought, but instead he basically told Matt to mind his own business and acted as if it was an unfair attack. That's where Nader lost me -- I wanted to vote for the man on principle, but what his answer said to me was that he couldn't reconcile his own actions and he refused to be challenged on them. So I voted for Gore.
But what's important about this story is that people like me -- who actually considered voting for Nader last time -- would never, ever consider voting for him this time around now that it's clear he may have been a leading reason for Gore's loss. Most Dems who checked out Nader last time would never think of doing it again. And I would think Nader's bid this time will actually do several years of damage to third-party registration and action.
Sunday Quickies
I dropped by McSorley's Old Ale House on Friday but was surprised to find a line out front. This week the pub is celebrating its 150th anniversary. I was talking to the very nice doorman, (suddenly needed because of the packed house,) and he said that on Tuesday night -- the actual anniversary night -- the line to get in was a solid two and a half hours all night long. It's clearly one of the best and most storied watering holes in the city. One of my favorite stories about the place is that the bar was ordered to finally admit women in the 1960s and when the president of the NOW tried to come in, the bouncer demanded undisputed proof of age. He wanted her birth certificate. She pushed her way in anyhow, so he carried her right back out. ... They're much nicer to us gals these days.
People are rallying on the Web to send bouquets of flowers to gay couples getting married in San Francisco. Flowers for Al and Don have so far raised over $6,000 (only with PayPal) and have volunteers taking the flowers down to give away at the courthouse.
The Last Q Diamond -- wouldn't that make a great band name? -- made its final subway journey Saturday night and there was much celebrating. Gothamist has the lowdown on the Q party train - with pictures from Bluejake.
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