I am glad Microsoft didn’t buy Yahoo May 5, 2008

Am I the only one who thought that Microsoft and Yahoo didn’t have the first thing in common? Microsoft is still deeply rooted in the OS/Software/Desktop culture, biz model and products. Yahoo is all about the web and always has been. They aren’t winning the battle of the web right now but they are certainly better at it than MSN. (yeesh) Yahoo handles classifieds, news, advertising sale and products as well as their home page better than Microsoft and MSN. And Microsoft wanted to own them and tell Yahoo what to do? Stupid.

Its odd to think that there are incompatible sets of engineers, technology and visionaries, but these to were never destined to be together.  It almost seemed like a hair-brained distraction tactic to keep everyone’s eyes away from something else. What else could Microsoft be trying to do with this kind of deal? And buying up companies that are better at something than you are is such an old school tactic. Why not be affiliates? Lisence their ad network? Become associates so you can foster some kind of working relationship and trust first before you go in for the kill and it will be taken as a lot less hostile.

I just think this whole thing was bungled and made no sense from the beginning. And I don’t even know anything internally about it. I don’t work for nor know anyone who works for these companies. This is just my feeling based on the news reports on the internet and radio.

It does make me worried about the future of Microsoft in a world where they are so off base and desperate like this and no one really has any affinity for them anymore. That said, I am typing this in IE but on a free blog platform and on a chinese computer. Things sure have changed in the past 10 years.

Mailbox Drop November 4, 2007

I noticed that the neighbors here have gotten a new mailbox and it’s on their house and not by the curb. I guess that is the old fashioned style rather than the suburban style. A lot of people in Oak Park like vintage stuff and I guess it makes sense with the age of the houses. I only noticed this because I rent a parking spot from them and the check had ot be dropped off in the mail the other day. It got me thinking though since I walk to work and see so many houses, about what the other people have too. And it looks like out here these residential mailboxes on the house with the address on them are pretty popular. I guess it makes the look of the house better if it’s all kind of the same era.

Weekend September 22, 2007

I am going to relax this weekend. Things have been far to crazy latley for my liking. I have had a lot going on at work, at home and with my personal life. I feel that there has been a lot of stuff happen and be determined about the rest of my life that I didn’t really have control over so I think I need some time just to take it all in and digest it. This probably doesn’t make sense to anyone reading this, but it;s ok. It makes sense to me.

Chicago Business Blogging Conference September 17, 2007

Today we were blessed with a visit of some colleagues from another office half way across the country. They exclaimed when they arrived (in a very noisy and disupting fashion) that there were no Hotels in Chicago because there is some Blogging conference going on this week. (What does that mean they have to sleep on someone’s couch?) And why would bloggers get together in person? Can’t that be achieved online? And they all laughed heartilly at their assumed clever wit.

Yea, let’s all pick on the bloggers shal we?

And people wonder why I don’t put my name on this blog or any blog I author. There is still some weird social backlash to people who want to go online and have something to say there. We’re weird and somehow scandalous and creepy to them. What do they think we write about? Pron? Why are they so averse to writing? Is it that unthinkable that anyone outside a newsroom would have something to say to the world?

I can’t explain what blogging is to most my relatives and if they have ever seen a blog, they can’t tell the difference between a blog and flickr, digg and Wikipedia. Ok, some people are just stupid, but mostly people don’t understand the internet. Which is unexcusable in today’s day and age. Where do you live? And do they not have power there? Why else would you not own a computer? Why else would you not know how to use anything except Google and Email? 

I think if you don’t know anything about the internet except those 2 things, you don’t have the right to judge other people nor to have any authority about the internet in general. In fact those people who probably still forward email jokes from 1996 should not be allowed to talk about the internet ever. Because it’s obvious they have nothing of value to add.

My Blog Stats September 8, 2007

I am always amazed by how many people ready my blogs. (including you) I don’t know you personally, and I am not a professional writer or media property, yet you find my writing interesting enough to read. And it even seems to be international now. One of the terms I see listed as a search engine term people have used to find my blog is “das bourne ultimatum”. That means someone most likley in Germany is searching and after going through a bunch of search results (because I don’t rank all that high) they clicked and came here to read my review. It also suprises me that even though I blog a lot about straight marketing and media topics, the most popular posts I have are about the marketing of the Simpson’s Movie, The Bourne Ultimatum and Californication. How interesting is that? Maybe it has to do with people accepting anyone’s opinion about what makes a movie popular and less accepting of someone’s un-named marketing advice? I guess putting my name on the blog would have more transparency, but blogging isn’t something my employer condones, in fact I don’t think any of them I have worked for do. And I want to be able to speak freely so I do it without my name. In general though the search traffic has continued to pick up again, as the blog directories have dropped off as I removed my links and memberships.

Update: The traffic has picked up at the other blog finally. I ahve no idea what change helped or didn’t help. It’s always trial and error I guess. I can’t link to it from here too often because they think I am trying to pass page rank. Hah. So go see chicago weekend fun dot com without the link.

Garden Windmills September 1, 2007

With gardening being so popular right now, I have seen a lot of people buying ornamental sculptures and decorations to make their gardens more personal. One thing that is popular in the midwest is the mini windmill. These don’t generate electricity like the old ones did, but they are cute and add a fun flair to your yard. Check out the web for sales on 8 foot ornamental garden windmills for your yard.

Christopher Walken cooks chicken - yes it’s really him August 25, 2007

This was odd in that it is pretty serious like a cooking show. Everyone likes his voice so much, maybe he should star in a cooking show. I bet people would tune in to watch.

Allergies July 1, 2007

I have been sick from my allergies for the past few days and not really writing anything here on the blog. I am not sure why I only developed allergies as an adult, but I can’t seem to get rid of them either. I take claritin D for the constant sinus goo that my body creates, and MOST of the time it works. Sometimes though the dust and mold is too much for me, and I succumb to some silly virus that invades while I’m battling these allergies, and wins. This was one of those. I hope it is over soon, because I’ve already gone through 3 boxes of Kleenex and this is getting a bit ridiculous.

Want to become a writer? June 26, 2007

I know I have thought that writing a book in my spare time that could sell and become an extra source of income and possibly a career change later on. But its a daunting task if you have never written anything as long as a book before and you may be procrastinating because of that. I have thought there are 2 or 3 topics and story ideas I have that could be books. They wouldn’t have to be that popular, but just amazon sales and residuals as a little side income would be nice. And it would be nice to put those thoughts down on paper too.

I have found a site that has a writing course that says it can teach you how to write a book in 28 days, for $49.95.  http://www.writequickly.com It says there that it covers the basics and exercises that you need to organize your thoughts and get a book written. Which is cool. It looks like they have gotten some good reviews from CNN and Yahoo. (and it used to be $299.00 so this is a good deal)  I think that this could be a course to take to see if this really is what you want to do with your evenings and weekends. It could help you figure out what you want to write, how to write it and if this really is right for you. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Particls News by RSS on your desktop June 21, 2007

I got a blurb in an email about a new RSS fed desktop widget/ticker software/service a few months ago and signed up to find out when it would be publicly available, and I am excited to say that it is available now. I downloaded Particls and have it running on my work computer and it is pretty cool to get real time alerts via RSS of any feed I want. They let you add RSS addresses in directly and add keywords that they search for and deliver news on also. The specific feed option is better because they seem to filter the news by keyword, and only show things with a lot of traffic or posts. I’m not sure on that but that’s my theory. Anyway, it seems to take less time to get caught up with feeds this way than in a reader like bloglines or google reader. I’ve tried those and abandoned them when there are so many unred posts that it looks insurmoutable. So, this might be an option for people who have enough bandwith, processing power to run this in the background and have a .net framework running on their computer. I’m not sure if it is MAC compatible right now, because I’m on windows. Anyway, I thought it was new and cool, so I thought I’d share.

Signs of the season December 18, 2006

The commercial holiday season has hit us again.

And likewise I am out of cash for the season.

That didn’t take long.

Here’s a great flickr group about the commercialization of Christmas.

 Happy Holidays!

New Sites New Opportunites December 14, 2006

I’ve been catching up on the webbernet news a bit today. I was burried all week with work, so I haven’t read anything or blogged in a while. Here’s some new sites and happenings in the soap opera dramatic world of web 2.0.

1. Google goes Radio and plans TV.

2. OpenServing.com - New wiki like social networking platform - keep 100% of your ad revenue for yourself.

3. A good media blog

4. Japan really has breakfast down pat. I want a device that will cook everything at once too.

5. Excel Templates free on the web.

6. A movie I had forgotten about but now think has some interesting ideas. Metropolis.

7. Who needs a segway when you can buy Ice Skating Shoes.

8. A Novel Idea releasing a book for free over the internet.

9. Want even more Iraq news? See Iraqslogger.

James Kim, Saab and GPS December 7, 2006

I am saddened to hear that they have found the body of James Kim, the man that was lost with his family in Oregon and went to go look for help, never to return. Its wild country out there and I think we sometimes forget that when most of us live in suburbs or cities that have tamed wilderness for the time being.

The thing that I can’t figure out about this story is that they had a car and no one found them. They specifically mentioned that they had recent model SAAB in one of the articles. I also own a Saab so I know that they all come default equipped with OnStar locators. Why didn’t they use the OnStar system and its GPS to contact help? Why couldn’t GM pinpoint the location of the lost car from its GPS signal? That’s what those systems are for right?

I did some searching and found out that the answer is because although GPS is used to pinpoint where a car is from their OnStar system, the original connection is made through cellular towers. And they were out of the range of cell towers. How dissapointing that this techonogy is really flawed and can’t help you when you really need it.

I think this is a wakeup call to GM to offer real satellite GPS systems in this OnStar system or else its really not worth it. Why pay for a service if it can’t even help you in a situation when you really need it? if they would have had a real GPS locator on that car, they would have been found as soon as the family knew to look for them. Its really sad that this could have been prevented.

I don’t activate my OnStar system because I don’t think its worth it, and you shouldn’t either.

Flying cats November 22, 2006

This should be a marketing campaign for cat food.

These cats in Japan have a nice life in an appartment and enjoy the fun playtime that produces these amazing pictures.

Thanks to Junku for sharing them with us all.

I think some cat food company should sponsor him. Or maybe a kitty litter company?

Sick October 28, 2006

All is fun in a new relationship until someone gets sick.

Luckily I have a good doctor that will prescribe something over the phone if the symptoms are some that you’ve had before and you both know what it is.

He called in a prescription just before pharmacy closing time and here I am an hour and a half later starting medication that should take care of this in a week.

I am though, out $123.00 for the prescription because my insurance doesn’t start until Wednesday. Ugh. Talk about price gouging for antibiotics.

Hopefully now, I will feel better by tomorrow or Monday. I’m glad I did something about it rather than sit around and worry. Its amazing how much can change in an hour.