Saturday, October 25, 2003
Progressive Dinner Report
We just finished our Naglee Park progressive dinner party: 10 couples, 5 houses, 5 courses.
Only each course except the main dish seemed to have 3-5 dishes wrapped in, so the quantity of food was a bit staggering.
Some highlights of the meal: Penelope Casas tapas-style potato and egg cake, marinated olives and mushrooms, Spanish cheeses like Machengo.
Curried pumpkin soup with mushrooms (secret ingredient turned out to be maple syrup)
Spinach salad
Fresh mango and green chili chutney, to go with the Indian main course of curried lamb, vegetables and white rice
Our desserts: bread pudding with raspberry sauce and fresh whipped cream, coconut-walnut bars (Spencer made those), great key lime by from our neighbor.
The neighbors at the dinner were extremely nice: one works at NASA, another is in HR at a semi-conductor company and knows a friend of mine, one is a "life coach," another is in sales, one teaches middle school. And so on...one of the nice things about California is that the first question is never "What do you do?" as it is in New York. (Okay, so it's question number 5, and I keep thinking it till it's time to ask, but here, more typically, someone else tells you what the person does--the same protocols of asking aren't in place.)
Comment
Only each course except the main dish seemed to have 3-5 dishes wrapped in, so the quantity of food was a bit staggering.
Some highlights of the meal: Penelope Casas tapas-style potato and egg cake, marinated olives and mushrooms, Spanish cheeses like Machengo.
Curried pumpkin soup with mushrooms (secret ingredient turned out to be maple syrup)
Spinach salad
Fresh mango and green chili chutney, to go with the Indian main course of curried lamb, vegetables and white rice
Our desserts: bread pudding with raspberry sauce and fresh whipped cream, coconut-walnut bars (Spencer made those), great key lime by from our neighbor.
The neighbors at the dinner were extremely nice: one works at NASA, another is in HR at a semi-conductor company and knows a friend of mine, one is a "life coach," another is in sales, one teaches middle school. And so on...one of the nice things about California is that the first question is never "What do you do?" as it is in New York. (Okay, so it's question number 5, and I keep thinking it till it's time to ask, but here, more typically, someone else tells you what the person does--the same protocols of asking aren't in place.)
Comment
Susan Meiselas photos: Strippers, 1974
Xeni at BoingBoing posts a link to a wonderful collecction of 1974 photos of strippers by people's photo Susan Meiselas (Susannah Breslin was the source)
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K-Praxis: More on Google buying Sprinks
K-Praxis revisits their August 2003 analysis of players in the contextual advertising space and concludes that Google's purchase of Sprinks is a very calculated move. They say: "Google is winning because it was first to understand contextual advantage of content."
I'd reword that to say "Google understands the relationship between distribution and affinity and knows how to build an ad model around it."
What does that mean:
1) Google figured out moving their contextual ads to other search partners--like Netscape and AOL--would make them more money.
2) Then they figured out that they didn't need to power search per se to power those ads--they could distribute contextual ads on non-search pages.
Thus was a bright new model born (with lots of inspiration from Overture, of course).
3) Next, they figured out that if they populated high-demand, high-interest--and high-volume pages with contextual ads, they'd make more money.
If there was ever any business reason for buying Blogger, as opposed to just wanting to keep them afloat, this would be the reason.
4) Content is affinity with a topic, or in some cases, a brand. The affinity can be with top shelf content--think the Financial Times--or with community content-MassLive.com local blogs--but the affinity keeps the audience coming back. And the Google ads are there, making money every time.
This is the smartness of this model--back in the day, GeoCities and other "community" sites couldn't get banner advertisers on their pages cause advertisers felt the quality of the audience would be low--now, ad words sell just as well on little targeted and community sites as on big portals and sports sites--in some cases, even better.
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I'd reword that to say "Google understands the relationship between distribution and affinity and knows how to build an ad model around it."
What does that mean:
1) Google figured out moving their contextual ads to other search partners--like Netscape and AOL--would make them more money.
2) Then they figured out that they didn't need to power search per se to power those ads--they could distribute contextual ads on non-search pages.
Thus was a bright new model born (with lots of inspiration from Overture, of course).
3) Next, they figured out that if they populated high-demand, high-interest--and high-volume pages with contextual ads, they'd make more money.
If there was ever any business reason for buying Blogger, as opposed to just wanting to keep them afloat, this would be the reason.
4) Content is affinity with a topic, or in some cases, a brand. The affinity can be with top shelf content--think the Financial Times--or with community content-MassLive.com local blogs--but the affinity keeps the audience coming back. And the Google ads are there, making money every time.
This is the smartness of this model--back in the day, GeoCities and other "community" sites couldn't get banner advertisers on their pages cause advertisers felt the quality of the audience would be low--now, ad words sell just as well on little targeted and community sites as on big portals and sports sites--in some cases, even better.
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Friday, October 24, 2003
Halley's Comment: Where are the women (bloggers) ?
If women are creating over 50% of blogs, why aren't more of them in the Top 100 blogger's spots?" asks Halley Suitt.
Halley points out that the BlogStreet 100 is heavy on both political blogs and guys--if women are on the guys' blogrolls, then why are so few in the Top 100?
Says Halley: "It's clear that the top male bloggers are not denying women their blogroll inks, for the most part. It's clear that the top male bloggers take every chance to list women bloggers and engage the topics that they raise. These men are too smart not to take us seriously. We are their colleagues, friends, girlfriends, sisters, bosses, moms, daughters. They want the best for us. Guys, feel free to blogroll us anytime. "
My 2 cents on this one: Both men and women enjoy the kind of pointed, acerbic commentary that guys are (typically) more comfortable articulating. Guys rant on about politics, a topic the news junkies love. Women strive to be smart and insightful, but except for Elizabeth Spiers, seem leary of being bitchy--ad bitchy sells.
Why do more people know Quentin Tarantino than Jane Campion? It's the noise factor, baby, and the blog world goes through the same thing--loud voices, cheap thrills kick butt every time.
Does this mean guys are better bloggers? Of course NOT. It just means loud voices win the top slots.
UPDATE: Guess some folks are addressing the women thing straight on--Misbehaving.net just launched--a blog by "smart, techy women." Oh, can I play too, please?
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Halley points out that the BlogStreet 100 is heavy on both political blogs and guys--if women are on the guys' blogrolls, then why are so few in the Top 100?
Says Halley: "It's clear that the top male bloggers are not denying women their blogroll inks, for the most part. It's clear that the top male bloggers take every chance to list women bloggers and engage the topics that they raise. These men are too smart not to take us seriously. We are their colleagues, friends, girlfriends, sisters, bosses, moms, daughters. They want the best for us. Guys, feel free to blogroll us anytime. "
My 2 cents on this one: Both men and women enjoy the kind of pointed, acerbic commentary that guys are (typically) more comfortable articulating. Guys rant on about politics, a topic the news junkies love. Women strive to be smart and insightful, but except for Elizabeth Spiers, seem leary of being bitchy--ad bitchy sells.
Why do more people know Quentin Tarantino than Jane Campion? It's the noise factor, baby, and the blog world goes through the same thing--loud voices, cheap thrills kick butt every time.
Does this mean guys are better bloggers? Of course NOT. It just means loud voices win the top slots.
UPDATE: Guess some folks are addressing the women thing straight on--Misbehaving.net just launched--a blog by "smart, techy women." Oh, can I play too, please?
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Eat to Live: What I cooked(and ate) this week
I must be settling in to life on the West Coast, because the quality of my luncheons is coming closer to the good meals I had in New York. In addition to Chez Panisse this week, I knocked back a plateful of fried Pacific oysters and crisp brown fries at Duarte's in Pescadero, accompanied by bites of fresh steamed artichoke hearts. Last night, though I was without hunger, I sauteed chicken breasts and mushrooms with nutmeg for friends and family, accompanied by a great baby spinach salad, steamed red potatoes, and some leftover arroz con pollo my husband made. Dessert was ice cream, cookies, and a bown of canned mandarin oranges.
Today, I worked at home for most of the day, then went with Spencer to see my friend Mark. We walked out onto the seaweed and sand flats left bare by the ocean's low tide at Princeton Beach, then swung over to Barbara's Fish Trap to eat once we got tired of watching the seas gulls crack barnacles on the rocks.
What did we have?
More fried Pacific oysters, fresh coleslaw, salad, then broiled fresh local halibut with baked potato.
This is the reason I have gained two pounds this week--starting Sunday, it's daily sessions in the gym and lots of protein, fruit and salad.
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Today, I worked at home for most of the day, then went with Spencer to see my friend Mark. We walked out onto the seaweed and sand flats left bare by the ocean's low tide at Princeton Beach, then swung over to Barbara's Fish Trap to eat once we got tired of watching the seas gulls crack barnacles on the rocks.
What did we have?
More fried Pacific oysters, fresh coleslaw, salad, then broiled fresh local halibut with baked potato.
This is the reason I have gained two pounds this week--starting Sunday, it's daily sessions in the gym and lots of protein, fruit and salad.
Comment
Amazon: Search Inside Books
Amazon launched a new service today called Search Inside Books, which allows a full-text search of ALL books and other media in the Amazon databases to produce a list of books etc listing your keyword.
I searched on my favorite obscure British author Jeff Noon, and found that in addition to the Noon books Amazon carries, there were additional results, mostly from anthologies referring to Noon in their forewards. However, there were also some bloopers such as " She'd left with Jeff at noon--" Boolean search doesn't seem to work with this feature(yet).
Nevertheless, this is wonderful and amazing..well worth playing with.
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I searched on my favorite obscure British author Jeff Noon, and found that in addition to the Noon books Amazon carries, there were additional results, mostly from anthologies referring to Noon in their forewards. However, there were also some bloopers such as " She'd left with Jeff at noon--" Boolean search doesn't seem to work with this feature(yet).
Nevertheless, this is wonderful and amazing..well worth playing with.
Comment
Moving toward micro-subscriptions: Disney Online & WalMart team up
Disney and WalMart have teamed up to offer families the chance to buy a prepaid online subscription card--much like a phone card--that can be used to activate a one-month subscription to two of Disney's popular children's sites--Disney Blast and Toontown. .
The program utilizes AT&T PrePaid Web Cents technology, which provides a secure payment alternative for online content. The cards will cost $9.94 for a one-month subscription, with longer membership packages available at reduced rates. Wal-Mart will activate the cards at the point of sale, whereupon users can access online content by entering a serial and PIN number on the card.
Seems to me this is a clear integration of some technology and new business models---these monthly sub fees could be HUGE in the teen/entertainment market, as well as in sports.
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The program utilizes AT&T PrePaid Web Cents technology, which provides a secure payment alternative for online content. The cards will cost $9.94 for a one-month subscription, with longer membership packages available at reduced rates. Wal-Mart will activate the cards at the point of sale, whereupon users can access online content by entering a serial and PIN number on the card.
Seems to me this is a clear integration of some technology and new business models---these monthly sub fees could be HUGE in the teen/entertainment market, as well as in sports.
Comment
About.com and Google
So, About.com announced this am that they would start serving Google AdSense on their pages.
In many ways, About.com is amazingly similar to Blogger-- from a user-generated content, it provides a platform for personalize advertising (remember Kaltix) results--that creates pages for Google text ads.
Does this similarity mean Google will also acquire About.com?
Or that they could have acquired About.com and passed on it?
Or that Google's AdSense will provide a margin of revenue against operating costs that makes it profitable for Primedia to continue to own this About.com?
Look for About.com to need to find some new ways to reinvent itself--perhaps as a premium service as some sort--to remain a vital piece of a very bottom-line oriented magazine company.
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In many ways, About.com is amazingly similar to Blogger-- from a user-generated content, it provides a platform for personalize advertising (remember Kaltix) results--that creates pages for Google text ads.
Does this similarity mean Google will also acquire About.com?
Or that they could have acquired About.com and passed on it?
Or that Google's AdSense will provide a margin of revenue against operating costs that makes it profitable for Primedia to continue to own this About.com?
Look for About.com to need to find some new ways to reinvent itself--perhaps as a premium service as some sort--to remain a vital piece of a very bottom-line oriented magazine company.
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Primedia sells Sprinks, partners with Google
Primedia is partnering with Google and selling Sprinks. Here's a quote from Dean Nelson, their Chairman: "We realized early that contextual advertising had great potential across the Internet and on our content sites in particular. We partnered with Google
because their vast base of advertisers will allow us to accelerate the benefits of contextual advertising across our Internet sites and enable us to
more effectively monetize our website traffic than we could with Sprinks alone."
Translation: Google continues its relentless focus on paid search keywords and contextual text advertising, partnering with media entities, portals, and everyone else to maximize advertising revenue. Primedia is interested in cash to improve their P&L--they get it in two ways here--through a sale, and as part of an advertising network. This is also a neat way to continue to integrate About.com and Google--Google is already the main point of entry into their pages.
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because their vast base of advertisers will allow us to accelerate the benefits of contextual advertising across our Internet sites and enable us to
more effectively monetize our website traffic than we could with Sprinks alone."
Translation: Google continues its relentless focus on paid search keywords and contextual text advertising, partnering with media entities, portals, and everyone else to maximize advertising revenue. Primedia is interested in cash to improve their P&L--they get it in two ways here--through a sale, and as part of an advertising network. This is also a neat way to continue to integrate About.com and Google--Google is already the main point of entry into their pages.
Comment
PhillyMag: Jake Tapper Gets Bashed
Romenesko points to a just-published piece in Philadelphia Magazine that purports to tell the "inside story" of newly hired ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper. According to the PhillyMag senior writer Stephen Roderick, author of the piece, "Jake Tapper has arrived. More precisely, Jake Tapper has crawled and scratched his way into the media power elite/." and "...Bad Jake has sold out for the big bucks in a medium where tough questions are shouted down by Entertainment Tonight babes. "
The bile in this piece makes the flame wars among bloggers seem civilized.
The author seems to have it in for Tapper because he is handsome, a bit of a womanizer, and a successful--and ambitious--journalist. Philadelphia Magazine apparently also has a bone to pick with Tapper--according to Philly Citypaper, they ran an article in 2001 called "Beer and Loathing" that was very negative, so this is their second pass at a hatch-job. (What--they hate him for moving to DC?)
Why am I blogging this?
I met with Jake Tapper several times during 2002 to discuss involving him in a project I was developing for my then-employer (AOL), and found him to be smart, charming, and full of great ideas. He totally got the concepts we were developing, and he would have added a lot of value to the project. The Jake Tapper I met doesn't sound at all like the slimy putz the PhillyMag trash piece portrays.
Further,Philadelphia Magazine seems to forget one thing: ambitious or not, Jake Tapper is talented.
Comment
The bile in this piece makes the flame wars among bloggers seem civilized.
The author seems to have it in for Tapper because he is handsome, a bit of a womanizer, and a successful--and ambitious--journalist. Philadelphia Magazine apparently also has a bone to pick with Tapper--according to Philly Citypaper, they ran an article in 2001 called "Beer and Loathing" that was very negative, so this is their second pass at a hatch-job. (What--they hate him for moving to DC?)
Why am I blogging this?
I met with Jake Tapper several times during 2002 to discuss involving him in a project I was developing for my then-employer (AOL), and found him to be smart, charming, and full of great ideas. He totally got the concepts we were developing, and he would have added a lot of value to the project. The Jake Tapper I met doesn't sound at all like the slimy putz the PhillyMag trash piece portrays.
Further,Philadelphia Magazine seems to forget one thing: ambitious or not, Jake Tapper is talented.
Comment
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Dept of Amusing Coincidences, Part 72
So my friends Jill and Gab have come east from New York for a few days and are staying with us till Friday. We talk last night to make arrangements for them to get her today.
Jill: "We land at 11 and then we're going to Berkley to have lunch with a college friend."
Susan: "Really--I am having lunch in Berkeley, too. Where are you eating?"
Jill: "Chez Panisse."
Susan: "Me, too."
Sure enough, 10 minutes after my lunch companion and I took our table, Jill and Gab and their friend appeared and had their own lunch.
Small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it, as Steven Wright famously said.
Okay--do you want to know what I ate?
Garden salad
Poached eggs with sauteed flagelots(beans), spinach, and mushrooms, with toast
A Frog Hollow Bartlett pear with Barhi dates
Yes, it was all great.
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Jill: "We land at 11 and then we're going to Berkley to have lunch with a college friend."
Susan: "Really--I am having lunch in Berkeley, too. Where are you eating?"
Jill: "Chez Panisse."
Susan: "Me, too."
Sure enough, 10 minutes after my lunch companion and I took our table, Jill and Gab and their friend appeared and had their own lunch.
Small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it, as Steven Wright famously said.
Okay--do you want to know what I ate?
Garden salad
Poached eggs with sauteed flagelots(beans), spinach, and mushrooms, with toast
A Frog Hollow Bartlett pear with Barhi dates
Yes, it was all great.
Comment
Great Day in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkley
Seems like today was the end of the depression I've been feeling for the past week--I feel great now.
This morning, I was at a design firm with folks from a start-up I am advising, then I had lunch at Chez Panisse to discuss another project, and then more designers and start-ups in Oakland.
The meetings were very energizing and will help to move these projects forward.
Some conclusions:
Get out of San Jose on a regular basis, it makes a difference!
Work is a huge part of what I enjoy--I need to be working at a certain intensity and level to feel energized
A mini-vacation wouldn't hurt either--I am going to take some time off later next week if I can.
Comment
This morning, I was at a design firm with folks from a start-up I am advising, then I had lunch at Chez Panisse to discuss another project, and then more designers and start-ups in Oakland.
The meetings were very energizing and will help to move these projects forward.
Some conclusions:
Get out of San Jose on a regular basis, it makes a difference!
Work is a huge part of what I enjoy--I need to be working at a certain intensity and level to feel energized
A mini-vacation wouldn't hurt either--I am going to take some time off later next week if I can.
Comment
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Lost In Translation
Saw Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (finally) last night.
Some thoughts:
1) Definitely seems autobiographical--The girl has the same hair style as Coppola, the same clothes (casual and Marc Jacobs) and the same non-verbal style. At one point, she calls her photo husband Jonsey--Coppola's husband is/was Spike Jones.
2) Bill Murray is a genius. Murray's combination of pathos, wit, and intelligence matches Chaplin.
3) Visually rich, the film implies more than it delivers emotionally.
4) The actors rock--Anna Faris, Scarlett Johansson, Murray all excel.
Comment
Some thoughts:
1) Definitely seems autobiographical--The girl has the same hair style as Coppola, the same clothes (casual and Marc Jacobs) and the same non-verbal style. At one point, she calls her photo husband Jonsey--Coppola's husband is/was Spike Jones.
2) Bill Murray is a genius. Murray's combination of pathos, wit, and intelligence matches Chaplin.
3) Visually rich, the film implies more than it delivers emotionally.
4) The actors rock--Anna Faris, Scarlett Johansson, Murray all excel.
Comment
Blog History Month
Eating in Costume: San Jose Progressive Dinner Plans
Saturday night we're hosting the dessert course for a neighborhood progressive dinner. There will be 10 couples, and everyone needs to dress in costume (no problem, I can go as a cranky New Yorker). The other couple making dessert turns out to live down the street, and are people we've met (we all have big dogs that need endless walking). They seem more nervous about this event than we are.
They will make Key Lime Pie with fresh whipped cream.
We will make Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce on the side.
I will buy something chocolate for the chocoholics to scarf.
It should be fun.
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They will make Key Lime Pie with fresh whipped cream.
We will make Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce on the side.
I will buy something chocolate for the chocoholics to scarf.
It should be fun.
Comment
Blues done got me
I've been dragging all week since I got back from New York--while I am usually a very resilient person, I have been the personification of moody, up and down like an elevator. Having a cold is a factor, but I wonder if all the changes--starting my own company, moving across the country, having a child about to go off to college (once we get those applications finished)--are catching up with me at last.
I also spent much of October on the road--in two weeks I was in New York (twice), Boston, San Jose, and Philadelphia. And do I feel a bit dislocated now? You bet I do.
At the same time, I have some projects I am really busy with, and friends coming from the East Coast, so there's no time to slow down.
Hopefully, I will feel better by next week. If not, I've got a problem.
Comment
I also spent much of October on the road--in two weeks I was in New York (twice), Boston, San Jose, and Philadelphia. And do I feel a bit dislocated now? You bet I do.
At the same time, I have some projects I am really busy with, and friends coming from the East Coast, so there's no time to slow down.
Hopefully, I will feel better by next week. If not, I've got a problem.
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Monday, October 20, 2003
NEW! Yahoo News can syndicate results by keyword
Okay, as Jeremy Zwadony posts, Yahoo's come out with one of those consumer-friendly features that news hounds have been waiting for--the ability to select a keyword, such as AOL or George Bush, and have it come to your newsreader as a XML/RSS feed. Google News, among others, has been offering email feeds of selected keywords as News Alerts, but Yahoo may be the first big player to offer this much wished for feature....or have someone hack how to do it and tell the blog world, at least.
Jeremy doesn't tell us tech innocents exactly how to do this, but it seems to work as follows:
The search string in RSS is http://search.news.yahoo.com/usns/ynsearch/categories/47/index.html?p=WORD TO BE SEARCHED
To search for a muti-word string, the URL would look like
http://search.news.yahoo.com/usns/ynsearch/categories/47/index.html?p=name + name
I am going to try this right now. Update--it works.
Additional thoughts--online news related
The interesting thing here is that news itself has become a commodity, and this is a game about multiplatform, multi-channel distribution of data. For the most part, what is being packaged are the generic news providers--AP, Reuters, with a small percentage of news from other sources willing to let their data be redistributed in this form. Advance, Knight Ridder Digital, Tribune--YOU should be packing up your feeds in a similar fashion as a registration bonus.
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Jeremy doesn't tell us tech innocents exactly how to do this, but it seems to work as follows:
The search string in RSS is http://search.news.yahoo.com/usns/ynsearch/categories/47/index.html?p=WORD TO BE SEARCHED
To search for a muti-word string, the URL would look like
http://search.news.yahoo.com/usns/ynsearch/categories/47/index.html?p=name + name
I am going to try this right now. Update--it works.
Additional thoughts--online news related
The interesting thing here is that news itself has become a commodity, and this is a game about multiplatform, multi-channel distribution of data. For the most part, what is being packaged are the generic news providers--AP, Reuters, with a small percentage of news from other sources willing to let their data be redistributed in this form. Advance, Knight Ridder Digital, Tribune--YOU should be packing up your feeds in a similar fashion as a registration bonus.
Comment
All Consuming and Google Friends lists
Clicking around AllConsuming, Erik Benson's great log of books mentioned in web logs that are also available via Amazon, and discovered he's created a relational filter/friend of a friend page for each blog the site tracks. Mine is at this URL and after it lists the books I have mentioned in the past week, it gives a list of my Google Friends (and what are those, pray tell? My "friends" are Ryze, Danny Ayers, BloggerCon, PixieChick, exulina, and a Yahoo movie pages that has a broken link.
Hrrrumph. Another great idea, like Scott Johnson's new tool, that probably doesn't work as well for me because I am on Blogspot.
Time to consider a move?
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Hrrrumph. Another great idea, like Scott Johnson's new tool, that probably doesn't work as well for me because I am on Blogspot.
Time to consider a move?
Comment
Sunday, October 19, 2003
Press Think asks What's conservative about the weblog form in journalism?
Jay Rosen brings it all home in another terrific analytical post. Some snippets:
5.) A weblog in revolt against journalistic authority will discover that it needs itself some kind of authority, (even if it’s among like-minded rebels) and thus the revolt is always a limited and partial one.
6.) The quality of any weblog in journalism depends greatly on its fidelity to age old newsroom commandments (virtues) like check facts, check links, spell things correctly, be accurate, be timely, quote fairly. And as Roy Peter Clark says, if you’re telling a story and there’s a dog, get the name of the dog.
7.) People still want to know: how do you know this? What expertise, body of knowledge, authority, or direct experience lies behind a weblog’s statements about the world?
Rosen's ten are all worth reading.
Comment
5.) A weblog in revolt against journalistic authority will discover that it needs itself some kind of authority, (even if it’s among like-minded rebels) and thus the revolt is always a limited and partial one.
6.) The quality of any weblog in journalism depends greatly on its fidelity to age old newsroom commandments (virtues) like check facts, check links, spell things correctly, be accurate, be timely, quote fairly. And as Roy Peter Clark says, if you’re telling a story and there’s a dog, get the name of the dog.
7.) People still want to know: how do you know this? What expertise, body of knowledge, authority, or direct experience lies behind a weblog’s statements about the world?
Rosen's ten are all worth reading.
Comment
Print media and Internet--Publishers don't see a fit
The growing tensions between avid bloggers and professional journalists in the form of newspaper editors takes on an interesting new dimension when put against the recent Gartner Group survey of print publishing executives conducted this fall. According to a Mediapost story, "...only 27% of print publishers believe they will see an increase in online advertising revenue in the next five years, compared to 33% who see no change and 17% who see the business as evenly split five years from now, finds a survey of 423 newspaper and magazine executives released Wednesday by GartnerG2. Nearly a quarter of the executives (23%) simply did not know what future of online might be."
Of course, the real question for these print folks is where's the revenue?
Or, do they have services and content they could be making more money?
Or, why aren't they doing a more effective job at this?
It seems liike the print sector--some part thereof--has been asking this same question since 1999, even as Consumer Reports, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, Google, and others have made subscription and advertising models work.
Hmmmphhh.
Comment
Of course, the real question for these print folks is where's the revenue?
Or, do they have services and content they could be making more money?
Or, why aren't they doing a more effective job at this?
It seems liike the print sector--some part thereof--has been asking this same question since 1999, even as Consumer Reports, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, Google, and others have made subscription and advertising models work.
Hmmmphhh.
Comment
Terry Semel: The $26MM Dollar Man
According to recent news reports, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel who is responsible for leading Yahoo into profitability in the past 3 quarters, just got a nice little reward-- $14.6 million dollars gained by exercising 500,000 stock options earlier this week. Earlier this month Semel cashed in for in $11.1 million. Given he's created $16 billion in shareholder value, $26MM seems like a nice percentage.
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AOL-ster: Jesse Kornbluth on Kara Swisher's latest book
Jesse Kornbluth is one of my favorite journalists--the guy's amazingly talented. The review he sent along of THERE MUST BE A PONY IN HERE SOMEWHERE
by Kara Swisher, with Lisa Dickey, is well worth reading.
For the interested, some excerpts here:
"Someone gave me a shrewd piece of advice when I became Editorial Director of America Online in 1997. "If you don't have conflicts of interest," she said, "you're not doing it right."
I'm gone from AOL now, and most of my conflicts of interest have evaporated. (Disclosure: I've known Kara Swisher for six years. She used to bug me for information; I never had any.) And I'm "over" AOL; the fascination of its internal drama faded as the company's prospects declined. As it is for many of you, AOL is mostly an e-mail address for me; how warring millionaires fought over the arrangement of the deck chairs on this particular Titanic is of very little interest.
But THERE MUST BE A PONY IN HERE SOMEWHERE, Kara Swisher's account of "the AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future," was too good to put down so quickly. ....This is not just a fast-paced, well-told story, it's one that invites readers to look for a moral. Some will think it's hubris, others the blinding power of riches. I see the book as a study in conflicts of interest --- well before the merger, I would argue, AOL stopped focusing on its customers and started living for Wall Street. The execs didn't care enough to notice that AOL's technology was rusting, that its programming was 24/7 Britney, that members had to fight their way through a sea of pop-up ads to get to their mail."
Go, Jesse! The book excerpt is here.. Buy the book from Bookreporter here.
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by Kara Swisher, with Lisa Dickey, is well worth reading.
For the interested, some excerpts here:
"Someone gave me a shrewd piece of advice when I became Editorial Director of America Online in 1997. "If you don't have conflicts of interest," she said, "you're not doing it right."
I'm gone from AOL now, and most of my conflicts of interest have evaporated. (Disclosure: I've known Kara Swisher for six years. She used to bug me for information; I never had any.) And I'm "over" AOL; the fascination of its internal drama faded as the company's prospects declined. As it is for many of you, AOL is mostly an e-mail address for me; how warring millionaires fought over the arrangement of the deck chairs on this particular Titanic is of very little interest.
But THERE MUST BE A PONY IN HERE SOMEWHERE, Kara Swisher's account of "the AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future," was too good to put down so quickly. ....This is not just a fast-paced, well-told story, it's one that invites readers to look for a moral. Some will think it's hubris, others the blinding power of riches. I see the book as a study in conflicts of interest --- well before the merger, I would argue, AOL stopped focusing on its customers and started living for Wall Street. The execs didn't care enough to notice that AOL's technology was rusting, that its programming was 24/7 Britney, that members had to fight their way through a sea of pop-up ads to get to their mail."
Go, Jesse! The book excerpt is here.. Buy the book from Bookreporter here.
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