Category: Random, But Interesting

Get In Early…

Ross Stapleton Gray, who in this site's short existence has challenged and extended my thinking on search, has started a blog of his own on a topic near and dear to him: RFIDs. It's called Surpriv (a very cool name.) I think of RFIDs as an extension of search, he…

Ross Stapleton Gray, who in this site’s short existence has challenged and extended my thinking on search, has started a blog of his own on a topic near and dear to him: RFIDs. It’s called Surpriv (a very cool name.) I think of RFIDs as an extension of search, he thinks of search as an extension of RFIDs. Check it out….

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RSS Conference/Webcast This Week

Dan Gillmor, Dave Winer, Ross Mayfield, and many others are gathering virtually to discuss RSS and its implications at the RSS Winterfest Jan 21 and 22 (agenda). I'm particularly interested in the conversations around the future of RSS, and how it will evolve to support subscription and advertising models (yes,…

Dan Gillmor, Dave Winer, Ross Mayfield, and many others are gathering virtually to discuss RSS and its implications at the RSS Winterfest Jan 21 and 22 (agenda). I’m particularly interested in the conversations around the future of RSS, and how it will evolve to support subscription and advertising models (yes, a publisher’s question – how can we monetize this!?).

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Why I Love Blogs

Because I can read a Yahoo employee ranting – in public – about the disingenuous behavior of his CEO. Thanks, Jeremy!…

Because I can read a Yahoo employee ranting – in public – about the disingenuous behavior of his CEO. Thanks, Jeremy!

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eBay = The Fed

OK, that's a stretch. But via Mediapost we learn that Washington Mutual, a major bank, is using an eBay auction to set interest rates for its CDs. This is a stunt, certainly, but an interesting one. I've always been fascinated by the use of eBay as a "meta" pricing mechanism…

OK, that’s a stretch. But via Mediapost we learn that Washington Mutual, a major bank, is using an eBay auction to set interest rates for its CDs. This is a stunt, certainly, but an interesting one. I’ve always been fascinated by the use of eBay as a “meta” pricing mechanism for markets outside of individual items. For example, Dale Dougherty over at O’Reilly recently turned me onto the idea of using eBay to create markets that might predict the half-life/value of new gizmos by comparing what past iterations sell for in aggregate on eBay.

From the story:

In a promotion beginning today, the bank is using eBay to auction interest rates for its certificate of deposit accounts. But instead of posting a low rate and letting consumers bid them higher, Washington Mutual will offer the CDs at a relatively high interest rate, which eBay members will bid down. …. Aside from being a radical form of banking, the promotion is the latest in a series of innovative marketing deals to come out of eBay’s new Strategic Partnerships Unit, which also developed such surprising stunts as Seven-Up’s “Liquid Loot” and Hasbro’s “Jedi Knights” promotions.

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Amen To That, Brother

As a onetime first timer, I agree with Fred…you're only a first time CEO once. Thank God….

As a onetime first timer, I agree with Fred…you’re only a first time CEO once. Thank God.

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The Dude Abides…or…Dudester

Remember The Big Lebowski? No? Well, the main character, played perfectly by Jeff Bridges, was named "The Dude." He lived, loafed and bowled in LA, circa the late 90s. I'm not sure if the movie inspired "Dude, Check This Out!", a new web-based application I found via Boing Boing, but…

Remember The Big Lebowski? No? Well, the main character, played perfectly by Jeff Bridges, was named “The Dude.” He lived, loafed and bowled in LA, circa the late 90s. I’m not sure if the movie inspired “Dude, Check This Out!”, a new web-based application I found via Boing Boing, but it certainly seems so. While they have picked Charles Atlas as their icon, I think they’d do better with Bridges’ character. In any case, the Dude (that’s what they call themselves) is a recommendation engine of sorts. How it works:

“You can use the Dude to store cool links that you find. Once you store something, you can send it to others, both inside and outside the Dude universe….

Your collection of cool links is anonymously related to other link collections in the Dude database, and the Dude then suggests other links to you. It’s sort of like the Amazon suggestion engine for books based on “people who bought this book also bought…”, but for links instead. Cool, eh?….

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Why The Search Box Is Important…

Because your company's employees can use it to punk you on your 40th birthday: type "old fart" into Amazon's search box (today only, I'd wager) and you'll see this… thanks to D. Weinberger for the pointer……

Because your company’s employees can use it to punk you on your 40th birthday: type “old fart” into Amazon’s search box (today only, I’d wager) and you’ll see this… thanks to D. Weinberger for the pointer…

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Top Ten Reasons To Have Top Ten Reasons…

I noticed this item on the "Google Blogoscoped" site, about how MSN Search is hiring. The buzz around the Valley is that MSFT is having a tough time hiring folks to work on their new search initiatives. I'm not sure how true that is, but I do know that many…

I noticed this item on the “Google Blogoscoped” site, about how MSN Search is hiring. The buzz around the Valley is that MSFT is having a tough time hiring folks to work on their new search initiatives. I’m not sure how true that is, but I do know that many of the best engineers are happily toiling away in pre-IPO heaven, or are happy campers at the newly energized regime over at Yahoo. In any case, what’s interesting about the MSN Search Job Opportunities page is its use of the “Top Ten Reasons to Work In Microsoft Search.” This is a direct rip off of Google’s longstanding page “Top Ten Reasons To Work at Google.” Let’s compare, shall we? They paint remarkably different pictures. ….

Microsoft:

1. Work on one of the largest scale computing projects.

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Broadband: Fastest Adoption of New Tech in History?

According to this Register story, which quotes a new study from broadband researcher Point Topic, the answer is yes. In under four years, broadband has reached more than 100 million installs worldwide, which beats cell phones – they took over five years. (Funny, but I recall having DSL before 1999,…

broadbandAccording to this Register story, which quotes a new study from broadband researcher Point Topic, the answer is yes. In under four years, broadband has reached more than 100 million installs worldwide, which beats cell phones – they took over five years. (Funny, but I recall having DSL before 1999, but…never mind). If you want to read the study, it’s here… Of note: China is poised to eclipse Korea in broadband growth…if you want to track China and tech, I highly recommend China Digital News – I was one of several midwives to it at Berkeley last semester…

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