Monthly Archives: May 2008

eee PC Problems

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My initial favorable reaction to my eeePC, which I used as a lightweight travel computer on the China trip, has turned sour after a serious crash left me in the “booting loop” described by others.   Although the problem was fixed after a couple attempts using a memory stick formatted with the eeePC on another computer, I lost about 200 pictures from Hong Kong.    The initial plan was to backup those using Flickr but I could not get the linux uploader to work on the eeePC, so in some ways this has been a sort of “two strikes”  lesson on the perils of using the eeePC as a travel machine.     I’ll do a separate post in a minute to describe the recovery process, which may be a big problem in the future given some recent indications that flash memory drives are not nearly as reliable as normal disk drives.

Yahoo Microsoft – the Sequel?

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TechCrunch is reporting that Microsoft has “excused” the proposed slate of new Yahoo board members telling them that they won’t be needed anymore.    I don’t think this tells us much if anything about the status of a new deal which rumors suggest may come from the Yahoo board’s concern over losing…billions of dollars.

I think MS is just playing this very smart.  These little measures are designed to get the current Yahoo board to rethink their folly.   I think only Jerry was dead set against the merger and the rest of the board would have settled for 35 or even 34 per share.   Why wouldn’t they?   Yahoo has been languishing for years, and the chance of getting back to 34 *without Microsoft* is fairly slim in the coming lean advertising years, not to mention the fact that low morale, challenges at the company, and the declining prospects with Microsoft may take the stock even lower.

Yahoo should have sold at 33 and I think they will almost certainly sell at 35 due to pressure from Shareholders and (more importantly) heavily vested board members who are “losing”, collectively, several billion dollars by sticking to their guns in this.

Startup.com * * * *

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I’m not sure if I enjoyed this documentary so much because it was great or just because I’m very  familiar with the internet bubble, startup themes, and the complications of getting up and going with a large internet project.

I found Startup.com fascinating, touching, and tragic.    The true life documentary, condensed brilliantly from some 400 hours of footage, follows childhood pals Tom and Khalial as they conceptualize and build a site for government business interactions called GovWorks.com, raise 60 million dollars in Venture Capital, and then preside over the collapse of the company, friendly relationships, and more.    

A little more research reveals why this is so good.  It’s by Jhane Noujaim, one of the world’s most brilliant documentary filmmakers.  She made “Control Room” about spin before and as the Iraq War began, and she’s the winner of the prestigious TED Prize in 2006.    

  • Noujaim Films
  • Jehane Noujaim at the Internet Movie Database
  • Official Control Room website
  • Jehane Noujaim’s 26 min TEDPrize Talk at TED Conference (2006) Monterey, CA.
  • International Trailer
  • Control Room at the Internet Movie Database
  • Metacritic – Control Room review collection
  • Rotten Tomatoes – Control Room review collection
  • Open Directory Project – Control Room directory category
  • Pangea Day

    • WebGuild’s Guide to Twitter

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    What?  You are not Tweeting like a twittering maniac?    Daya at WebGuild has a nice feature – a guide to Twitter and how to set up and use the messaging and “microblogging” service that has taken the tech world by storm.   In fact Twitter is now as important to many tech folks as blogging because I think it has connected people in a fast, fun, and informal way as well as allow links to blog posts which have more substance.    Although I still prefer blogs because I think they offer more thoughtful, detailed information, Twitter is a far better people connector, allowing people to keep in touch with friends, allowing thousands to “eavesdrop” on conversations, and allowing everybody to participate actively with tech movers and shakers.

     

     

    Breaking News or Broken News?

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    This silly Reuters article suggests that a recent Twitter episode suggests that Twitter has  attained some significance as a news mechanism.     I’m a huge fan of Twitter and use it regularly and think it’s representative of a lot of interesting online social trends, but (unlike normal blogging)  Twitter microblogging is hardly a threat to journalism and probably will never be a threat.

    The scoop was that Dave Winer asked on Twitter about an “Explosion” in Virginia and the chatter stream (aka Tweets), eventually led to the correct answer – a tiny earthquake in Falls Church VA.     More important than the fact this tiny event was hardly “breaking news”, it was very broken news and probably worried a lot of people until the “explosion” became a tiny rumble.

    Again, Twitter is great, but let’s not go stupid here and start thinking Twitter represents a radical restructuring of our information universe.  

     

    Ballmer has left the Building

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    Talks between Microsoft and Yahoo have stalled and may be over.   33 vs 37 per share.    I still think Microsoft is just calling what better be a bluff by Yahoo, because if they don’t take this MS offer the stock is going back to the sub 20’s and Yahoo is looking at a huge number of shareholder lawsuits asking why they sabotaged the offer of $33 when they are only worth $19 without Microsoft.

    Here is my view at Webguild with the letter to Yang from Ballmer

    Pork Ball Restaurant, Shanghai Near Bund

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    Pork Ball Restaurant, Shanghai Near Bund 596

    Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

    On the China trip I enjoyed the Shanghai street food more than that of Beijing but not sure if that really represnted differences in the cities of just where I happened to go.

    These Shanghai dough balls had a rolled pork ball in the middle and were then steamed and fried on one side. Yum! However my favorite dish during the 14 day trip was the simple, but simply perfect Wonton Soup served near our hotel in Shanghai.

    Video Game Primer for Parents

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    This excellent PBS post from an MIT researcher debunks some of the mythology about gaming and youth, though to me he seemed a bit too quick to discount the growing body of research making connections between game violence and real world violence.  That said, few understand how there is NOT a large body of evidence to suggest gaming is “bad”.     More appropriate is the mantra “All Things in Moderation”.  I’d urge parents to simply keep in touch with the games your children play, and engage them about the content

    As Grand Theft Auto smashes onto the scene, breaking records for one day sales (close to 200,000,000), it’s becoming clear that gaming is a key force in the online and offline world.    Parents would be well advised to learn a lot more about this so you can better understand forces that are driving your kids behavior and spending patterns as well as shaping popular culture and economics.    Gaming will soon surpass motion pictures as an entertainment revenue category.

    Confused about Game Consoles and Platforms?   Read my son’s Video Games Guide