Yahoo-AOL merger would likely be extremely complex and messy
ZDNet.com predicts that if a Yahoo-AOL merger becomes reality, the “integration work is going to be ugly.” And in more bad news for Yahoo, the Mercury News reveals that “Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang missed his chance to get top dollar for the firm’s stake in Asian Internet firms. The combined market value of holdings in Yahoo Japan, Alibaba.com and Gmarket shrank about $2.1 billion, or 22 percent, to $7.3 billion since Yahoo assessed them in July. The stocks slid [...]
Does Anyone Read Anymore? When Even the Best Bloggers Fail.
Yesterday a blogger who I respect immensely and agree with regularly, Paul Kedrosky, posted a story entitled "Tom Wolfe is an Idiot." Soon thereafter, a blogger that I read regularly, but agree with sporadically, hopped on to try to stir this tempest in a teapot out of control. Paul wrote that: "I'm not sure which part of an absurd interview with writer Tom Wolfe to point to -- there are many idiocies to choose among -- but I'll just point [...]
Generous spending on online advertising prevents more severe decline in UK ad spend
The Guardian reveals that, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, “Internet advertising spend is ‘propping up’ traditional media, according to a report, surging 21% year on year to £1.68bn [$2.93bn] in the first six months of 2008. The resilience of internet ad spend in the downturn turned what would have been a 4.6% year-on-year decline in UK advertising spend in the first half to a slide of just 0.7%, according to the study. […] ‘Online [...]
Tivo vs. EchoStar – Why We Need Patents More Than Ever
The patent system has gotten a (sometimes deservedly) bad rap in recent years, but yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in the Tivo v. Echostar case is a great reminder of what patents are SUPPOSED to do: reward real innovators and keep larger competitors from stealing their work. By all accounts, Tivo is a revolutionary product built by a company that is dedicated to out innovating its competitors. Back in January of 2005, USA Today ran a story entitled "TiVo CEO Insists [...]
Evolution from start-up to star presents Facebook with new opportunities – and new challenges
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on Facebook’s evolution from a “scrappy start-up to big business” and the opportunities and challenges this development brings with it. Laptopmag.com has an interview with MSI’s Director of Sales, Andy Tung, in which Tung reveals that MSI’s “internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don’t know what [...]
It’s “when”, not “if,” for Silicon Valley
The International Herald Tribune writes that “[s]ince the credit crisis began gripping the financial world, Silicon Valley has watched from the sidelines, secure in the faith that it was insulated from the coming storm. That faith is now being seriously undermined. High-tech entrepreneurs, investors and executives now believe the question is when, not if, the financial chaos will hurt the country's cradle of innovation. From San Francisco to San Jose, the effects are already palpable. This week, Apple, one of [...]