July 31, 2003

Free Email Pays

Well, it's been along time since they were actually free-free, but United Online impresses with its continuing march to respectability.



And now they're branching out.

Nigerian Diversions

Brad Christensen fought back against Nigerian spammers. The new addition (Mrs. Rosemary Kabbah) is great. [As a side note, I've been to the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, and it is wonderful].

Paper Chase

Newspapers, showing declining readership for decades, have figured out how to stop that from happening. Don't attract them in the first place.

The problem with most newspaper websites is poor design: several hundred links, not intuitively organized, and a cluttered eyespace. Look at the New York Times' lefthand nav bar: News, Opinions, Features, Services (are Movies a Feature or News?; Arts a Feature, but Sports is News -- how am I the reader supposed to know this?). Along with the occassional ad or two tossed in.

Compare that with Instapundit or Romenesko. Still too much killspace along the sides (the items that hang around foreverand that the viewer never sees, because the site has trained them that time spent won't be fruitful) but the main information is presented the way web readers actually use it.

So long as newspapers remain online versions of their paper manifestation, these disappointing readership trends will continue.

July 30, 2003

Searchus Termemus

I love this story on a botanical site buying Latin keywords in their media campaign. Shows you that cleverness and diligence pay off. Even the president of the company has to read the logfiles. There's no shortcut.

Information Wants to be Free

Or at least it looks like people are willing to pay for it. That's what you can take away from InfoSpace's Q2 '03 results.

Revenue is just barely trickling up, and operating losses still abound. That's why I much prefer the other Info... infoUSA.

IUSA, while also showing slow incremental revenue growth, is likely to put up $80 to $90mm in EBITDA, against a TEV of $630 mm which makes this an attractive 7x multiple. Gotta love that! And once the internet behemoths realize the unmonetized value lying around in the InfoUSA asset, 7x will look cheap.

Monster Heads in the Right Direction

IN a still brutal recruiting market Monster Worldwide performs. Monster.com in particular had a very nice comparable. Revenue down to $103 mm v. $104 mm in prior year's second quarter. The 2002 period was probably helped out by historic deals signed closer to the boom, so I'd bet that operating metrics at a more detailed level would should that indicators are heading in the right direction.

Overall, the company turned a $35mm operating loss into a $15 mm operating gain. When you clear through all the debris, this is probably a company doing $100 mm in EBITDA a year right now, and that will only inflate in the coming recovery. Very nice quarter.

July 29, 2003

Flight 93 Will Win This Time

The government is warning of new Al Qaeda hijacking plots. This time we'll be ready for them.

My Favorite Nigeria Scam Ever

Turns out that I'm the wealthy decedent:

Dear Cenedella, I am BARRISTER ABDUL HASSAN, a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to Mr Mark Cenedella, a national of your country, who used to work with shell development company in Nigeria and as well a one time secret agent in transfering of money overseas for the Late head of state of Nigeria {Late Gen.SANI ABACHA}.Before his death On the 21st of April 1999 [ my client, his wife and their three children were involved in a car accident along sagbama express road in which all occupants of the motor died}. My client{Mark} deposited as family belongings in a CONSIGNMENT {ie jewelries} the sum of $10m in a Standard Finance & Securities Company here in Nigeria for himself, with the hope of transferring it to his country as soon as he is on leave. Since his death I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives this has all so proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you. I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the money and property left behind by my client before they get confisicated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposits were lodged. Particularly, the Standard Finance & Securities Company where the deceased had an account valued at about 10million dollars has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confisicated within the next ten official working days. since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the the relatives for over 2years now i seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this account valued at 10million dollars can be paid to you and the! n you and me can share the money. 40% to me and 60% to you.

I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this dealt through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Please get in touch with me by my email address private: abdulhssssn@hotmail.com , to enable us discuss further.

Best regards,

Barr. Abdul Hassan.

July 28, 2003

Well, it's different anyway...

The best parody of Mac's switch campaign.

July 26, 2003

Hey I think We're Overlooking Something

Eight years after founding, they finally got around to registering their trademark. You'd think Ballmer woulda been more on the case:

Word Mark
MICROSOFT

Goods and ServicesIC 016. US 038. G & S: Computer Hardware and Software Manuals; Newsletter Featuring Information About Computer Hardware and Software and General Information Relating to Computers for Manufacturers, Distributors, and Users of Computers and Computer Software; and Computer Documentation-Namely, Reference, User, Instructional, and General Utilities Manuals and Data Sheets for Computer Hardware and Software Users.

FIRST USE: 19751100.

FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19751100

Mark Drawing Code(1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number73373992

Filing DateJuly 12, 1982
Published for Opposition August 9, 1983

Registration Number1256083

Registration Date November 1, 1983

Owner(REGISTRANT)
Microsoft Corporation
CORPORATION WASHINGTON
10700 Northup Way Bellevue WASHINGTON 98004

p.s. You can search trademarks here.

July 24, 2003

Attention Friends

Don't let me try this!

Tomorrow's Headlines Today

A reader writes:

Photo Finish for Uday & Qusay

The Ancien Regime Rots

One hundred years hence, the corrupt and decaying theocracies that rule in the Mideast will be a nightmare, and the fact that we supported them after the Cold War will seem a bad fantasy.

July 23, 2003

Great tacos

It is surprisingly tough to find great tacos in New York, despite the enormous Mexican immigrant population. But these are the best there are, and for under $2 too!

TEHUITZINGO DELI AND GROCERY 695 10th Avenue, near 47th Street, (212) 397-5956. The rear of the deli is a colorful and festive counter. Tacos carnitas and al pastor are excellent. Unusual fillings, like pork skin, are also available. ZARAGOZA MEXICAN DELI AND GROCERY 215 Avenue A, near 14th Street, East Village, (212) 780-9204. A tiny bodega with a small selection of tacos that changes every day, and good tamales.

Missed Headline Opportunity of the Day

Goodbye Uday Tuesday. Anybody care to write lyrics?

Lessig on freedom and open source

And prior to this passage he makes great points about Disney having originally ripped off the idea for Steamboat Wille. Butthis barnstormer is worthy of a political rally:

Now, I've spent two years talking to you. To us. About this. And we've not done anything yet. A lot of energy building sites and blogs and Slashdot stories. [But] nothing yet to change that vision in Washington. Because we hate Washington, right? Who would waste his time in Washington? But if you don't do something now, this freedom that you built, that you spend your life coding, this freedom will be taken away. Either by those who see you as a threat, who then invoke the system of law we call patents, or by those who take advantage of the extraordinary expansion of control that the law of copyright now gives them over innovation. Either of these two changes through law will produce a world where your freedom has been taken away. And, If You Can't Fight For Your Freedom . . . You Don't Deserve It. But you've done nothing. (Audience Applauds.)

A Great Business Lesson

The donut guy that lets you make your own change. This is a beautiful business design principle. I imagine most folks feel that the trust is so unusual, that it's really beneath them to try and jip this guy for small change. But more valuably, if you treat your customers as adults, they'll behave like adults. This is something JetBlue and SouthWest have known for a long time, and the major air carriers won't learn even unto bankruptcy.

Purloined Quote of the Day

From Andrew Sullivan:

"No one ever judged the outcome of a war by the quality of the intelligence going in. If you look at where we are today and compare it to where we were on the day the Clinton Administration left office: we've removed the Taliban from power in Afghanistan; we've removed from power Saddam Hussein; we're removing our troops from Saudi Arabia; we've established new bases in the Gulf in stable, small countries; Jordan is secure; Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon are acquiescent and very quiet; and there's a revolution under way in Iran. I've named every country between Afghanistan and the Mediterranean. This is the most dangerous, hostile region in the world -- and it has been remarkably changed. And I should add there's also a peace process in the Middle East. .... What's important [in terms of history] is how has the foreign policy of this Administration changed a region dramatically, remarkably..." - Charles Krauthammer, "Inside Washington," July 12, 2003.

Because more than a minute is just too long!

Yes, yes, of course you should keep your credit card, medical, and personally identifiable financial information on your Windows system!

Very Disturbing

The 2003 Google US Puzzle Championship Results and test are really, really, really hard. See if you can answer even one.

July 21, 2003

He Lives!

This campaign looks like it is really going to take off. So very very cool.

It's ba-a-a-ack

The Mob rules!

July 19, 2003

Incivil Hill

What I like about this story is the way they call a spade a spade:

The commander gently assured the Democrats -- by now playing to the news cameras and loudly demanding to know whether they were under arrest -- that no one would be handcuffed or evicted. In fact, the three officers decided, this was a matter for the House Sergeant at Arms, not the police.

If there were a yellow penalty card for faking injuries, the Democrats would regular recipients.

And this is what we can expect from members of Congress on the left these days?:

Republicans recounted indignities of their own: When Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) had told Stark to "shut up" during the committee meeting, Stark denounced him as "a little wimp. Come on, come over here and make me, I dare you. . . . You little fruitcake. You little fruitcake. I said you are a fruitcake."

Shameful.

July 17, 2003

Whew!

I think I'm safe.

July 16, 2003

Rock-and-roll reactionaries

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' are standing in the way of the future of the music business. They're wedding themselves, foolishly, to a technology-driven format that doesnt reflect what their customers actually want. Sadly, they'll probably get away with it for a few years.

The Site That Never Says Die

They just keep going and going and going.

Divizzle and Conquizzle

The House of Saud is next!

July 15, 2003

Where are Democrats?

You'd think that just by random chance, one of the Democratic contenders would seize on this profligacy as an issue. Perhaps "This ain't your father's checkbook" as an ad campaign?:

The Bush administration projected Tuesday that this year's federal deficit will surge to a record $455 billion, underscoring the toll that recession, tax cuts and the costs of fighting terrorism are taking on the government's books. The White House also estimated that next year's budget shortfall will hit $475 billion, though the red ink will ease downward to $226 billion in 2008.

How do you spell deceit?

P - O - T - A - T - O - E

Help me Honda ya...

The original and the parody.

Sick

Never much for government interference in the private affairs of individuals, I nonetheless need a long think about this "bizarre game." It takes quite a mind to enjoy this perversion.

July 14, 2003

In case you've forgotten...

How to get your joke on.

July 11, 2003

Provably false. Politically dead. Rhetorically lame.

The left has yet to refute one thing in Secretary Powell's presentation. Or provide a compelling reason why an intelligence error is unexpected, significant, and unethical. Or explain why Bush would put something in the SOU that he, as it is alleged, *knew* was wrong. These arguments are weak, indefensible, and partisan.

That's a pretty good hourly rate

But even at $250 mm annualized, Warren Buffett is doing charity work.

But who would want to have an embassy there?

How do you keep growing 10% per year when you already ring up $217 bn in revenues? That's easy.... get everybody in China to spend $10 with you!

My favorite line from this story:

If Wal-Mart were a nation, it would be China's eighth-largest export destination.

Hell: 31 degrees

I am agreeing with an opinion piece in the Guardian!:

Interestingly, the abolition of subsidies is one of those rare policies to unite free-market right with interventionist left, and it also has the support of industry and the unions.

Ending agricultural subsidies benefits so many people -- consumers, liberal activists, supermarkets, the soft drink industry, the restaurant business -- and hurts so few -- mostly extremely wealthy landed gentry like the Fanjuls. End it now!

Plagued

I didn't know there was an "even deadlier" kind:

Of the 10 confirmed cases, eight were of bubonic plague and two of the deadlier septicaemic kind, one of which proved fatal.

July 10, 2003

The distant future (or past)

I hope that one day I truly understand how we can see things that are 13 Billion Years Ago.

It grows

The Mob

I could solve this in about 2 minutes

It just takes a little extra muscle power.

July 09, 2003

WMD

With all of the hullabaloo over one part of the Administration's evidence not actually ahving panned out, the gabberwockies have begun their attack. But so far, nobody has risen to the challenge of disputing Secretary Powell's address to the U.N.

I'm all ears....

July 07, 2003

Filet 'O Glowstick

An interesting innovation from the East. Pretty compelling what we are able to do with organic software at this point in history. I think only more interesting horizons will be discovered in the future.

The Vision Thing

President Nixon provides political guidance to George W. in this NY Times exclusive. At least I think they're not making it up...

July 03, 2003

Surviavl Guide

A clever tutorial on surviving and beating Tim Russert on Slate. Best quote:

"If you've slept with a pony, be prepared to either defend the ride or lie"