Norton places big bet on Mac virtualization vulnerabilities

I forgot how much I like Ars Technica.  They have great coverage of Apple technology, the kind I used to get in my MacWeek fix when I was a kid (back when I could tell you the specs of every NuBus or PowerPC Mac being made).  Here,. Ars points to  Norton places big bet on Mac virtualization vulnerabilities- basically now that you're running OSX and a virtualized WinXP or Vista, you'll need anti virus protection for both. 

I think this is a smart move considering that for those of us mac users who have Windows as a secondary OS, updates and patches might not be downloaded in a timely manner, and if you only run the OS for a couple minutes at time,
you're not going to want to spend it downloading updates.   So maybe my usual diligence with antivirus software (such as on my office machine) might not be the protection I think it is in a virtualized install. 

A strategy to watch.

Locking in Viewers to Watch the Commercials

Why does old media (music, movies,  and TV primarily) employ a strategy of making war on their customers?  In this piece about a Cox VOD service with un-skippable commercials.    They don't even bother to call it "fast-forward challenged"Some snippets from Locking in Viewers to Watch the Commercials:

You don’t need TiVo if you have fast-forward-disabled video on demand.
....
This is about combating DVRs.  As we developed this at every stage, there was an agreement that however we put this together, disabling the fast-forward function was key.

Sigh. Why is it necessary to make something less fucntional or DISABLE a piece of popular functionality in order to get it to sell?   Another cable industry "service" that will get zero traction.  Long live the economy of free! 

 

How to Handle an Invasive Species? Eat it

This article- How to Handle an Invasive Species? Eat it- was pretty interesting- and an eye opener on the problems of biodiversity when ships bring some really nasty species across the globe.  I like the idea of eating them- I mean, why can't we just overfish these populations that are stealing our lunch ion the Illinois river?

But also, EAT IT is a great Weird Al video.  Here you go


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Hoping KDR can go see Path101 at Cornell

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I know I never got much out of the career fairs at Cornell, since I wasn't an engineer, a math major, or in the Ag school studying business management.  As a government major i was essentially expected to go to law school or bust. 

When I graduated in 2002, the job market sucked.  The class of 1999 had all gotten great jobs and I had salivated over the idea of that kind of opportunity only to see it dry up.  Looking for a job after graduation seemed to me like looking for ice in the Gobi Desert- tough.

I'm proud to say that a combination of connections helped me to find a great starting point, in just under a year after graduating.  I never would have found the job I got just by applying online.

Charlie O'Donnell, an energetic entrepreneur and Silicon Alley evangelist, hopes to  make it easier to find the right career, even if you were just a government major. 

Charlie will be at Cornell on Tuesday 2/19, so check out Path101, meet Charlie, and see if you can start your job search a little earlier than I did.

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Facebook’s approach to data and analytics

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Saw a really interesting post on insidefacebook (a blog I may be reading more in the future) which features a tech talk given at Yahoo! by Facebook's Jeff Hammerbacher on Facebook’s approach to data and analytics. It's almost surprising that the analyst people within Facebook say "Don't collect data without a purpose."  It's expensive and time/resource intensive, when it seems like everyone is 1)afraid that FB and Google are doing nothing but collecting data and  2) this is not for the good.

I think most of the insight is in the "Philosophy Slide" and when Jeff talks about that.


I wonder: does this mean that even if they could spy on us, it's just too resource intensive?  I bet it won't be for long.

Esther Dyson in WSJ- Google and Microsoft are so 5 years ago

This is a perceptive piece.  I should men tion that I think it partially confirms my assessment of Facebook's Beacon launch strategy, which was to build awareness through fear/backlash and then re-tool to the edge of user tolerance for privacy/utility trade-offs.

The commodification of online advertising services/platforms and its increasing irrelevance to the user present a challenge, and an opportunity. 
Dyson writes:

Each user determines who will get into his own garden, whether friends or vendors. ...Value is being created in users' own walled gardens, which they will cultivate for themselves in real estate owned by the social networks.

I don't think this means that everything becomes a social network, but companies should think hard about how to be friends with their best customers when traditional advertising (even web advertising) is so easily AdBlocked, DVR'd, or simply ignored.

Link: The Coming Ad Revolution - WSJ.com.

How to Negotiate - Tips for Yahoo!

Found this via twitter.  I think this is entertaining as well as kinda insightful.  I think the best insight its the lesson that this is an interpersonal situation as much as a business situation.   That, and "how do you monetize Liberia?"  Reminds me of an old Dennis Miller Live bit where he would put these photos on the screen and give a caption.  One of them was Bill Gates sitting on the dais at some trade show or another gesturing as he spoke, and the caption was "Canada?  Buy it.  Next question."


 

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nextny 2 years later and nextAnalytics

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A personal reflection on the last two years: nextNY was really quite helpful. I first heard about nextNY in February 2006 when I was looking for a new job, back when the NY Tech Meetup had fewer than 200 people attending.

Since then I've helped organize a few events, found a new job, and learned a lot of new things.  One of those things has been web analytics. 

So, I've decided to see who else within nextNY is struggleing with these issues, and what we can learn from each other, for the benefit of clients, financial backers, employees and partners. 

Check out the event wiki.

Microsoft & Netscape, after all these years

I'm just reblogging from Shelly Palmer's Mediabytes for contrast:

MICROSOFT  has made an unsolicited offer of $44.6 billion to purchase YAHOO,<snip>

and then at the bottom

NETSCAPE will be officially retired today by AOL.  All updates and support will stop, as the once industry-leading browser is laid to rest.  Farewell old friend.

So, on the day that Microsoft acquires a Dot-com original, the progenitor of so much search and web technology, AOL retires the browser that Microsoft set out to kill. Just coincidence there.

Microsoft clearly won the Netscape war, notwithstanding the lame DOJ result.  Will it win search?  Will it be able to unseat Google by acquiring all of Yahoo!'s eyeballs?

Time will tell.  Microsoft has a history of making the long play, and the eventual catch-up. We shall see.

Link: MediaBytes February 1, 2008 | MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer Video.

Helio CEO resigns

Even with hyper-active users, hard to keep you job atop a well-funded MVNO.  Ouch.

Link: Sky Dayton resigns as Helio CEO - FierceMobileContent - Mobile Content News, Mobile Marketing News.

  • An average of over 550 text messages per member per month

  • 95 percent of subscribers access the web via mobile device

  • Each month, 60 percent of subscribers access MySpace via Helio and average nearly 500 page views

  • In December, subscribers uploaded photos from their device to the web at a rate of five times the industry average

  • 57 percent of Ocean users downloaded Helio's exclusive YouTube application within two weeks of its launch

U2 Manager -P2P Culpability On ISPs

Oy vay.  it's so great to know this totally backward thinking is alive and well at Midemnet in France.

He accused the “hippies” and “deadheads” who built technology companies of having, “for far too long, had a completely free ride on clients’ content” and having ”built a multibillion dollar industry on the back of our content without paying for it”. “We all know kids don’t pay $25 a month for broadband just to share their photos and do homework,” he said.

Oy.  Oy!    Seriously- if there were a good alternative I'd gladly pay up.  Just this morning I was listening to a mashup called  "Weapon of the Pig" [Days of the New and Seether] which inluded an iMix link to the source songs.  This was helpful, and I decided I liked both of the the songs enough to buy the iMix. Digital downloads are up even with their hegemonic   

Link: @ Midem: U2 Manager Backs Sticking P2P Culpability On ISPs | paidContent:UK.

eMarketer immune to Irony

eMarketer sent our a newsletter titled "Lies, Damned Lies and Polls" this morning.  In the letter, we are treated to the myriad way sin which pollsters mis-predicted the results of the New Hampshire democratic primary.

First, I will say that my open hope is that the presidential election of 2008 continues to energize voters and that all the polls get a little off asa the result of increased turnout.  However, I am sure that smarter people than I are looking for ways to counter those effects, and we won't know for sure until election night.

Second, is eMarketer suggesting that its 5-year projections are never wrong?

Simple Math to See if You Have An Age-Appropriate Nest Egg - WSJ.com

This WSJ column, "Getting Going Simple Math to See if You Have An Age-Appropriate Nest Egg" focuses on hiw much you need to save if you are 45.  I won't be 45 for nearly 20 years, so I'm not so worried about the actual detail.  That aside, the column opens with "It's halftime. What's the score?"

I think this unintentionally raises the question of what the math looks like for star athletes.  What would our model have to look like for a football player?

It would have to take into account several important elements:

  1. Retirement from the game and retirement from "work" could be 20 to 30 years apart
  2. Declining income level as retirement nears
  3. A trend that could partially reverse itself with a bunch of endorsement deals or coaching after player's retirement