Many-to-Many: Fired From Friendster for Blogging
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International Launch Services is the leader in the launch services arena on the two premier launch vehicles - Atlas and Proton. Over 880 missions speak for themselves. These guys put satellites into space, for real! Watch a highlight video of a Proton K with the DIRECTV 5 satellite taking off on May 7, 2002.
The Best Introductory Paragraph For an Article Award today goes to, A Polluted Internet - Worms and viruses that pollute the Internet aren't new. What's new is the incredible magnitude of the problem and how it's growing. by Kelly Martin for SecurityFocus.
I've spent a significant amount of time in New Delhi - which was, until a few years ago, one of the most polluted cities on the planet - and I've seen the effects of all those toxic fumes. A low cloud of fog lines the narrow streets at night, and the pollution seeps in through the windows while most people are fast asleep, breathing it in.
Forgive my analogy, but that's pretty much the state of the Internet today: more polluted than ever, and getting worse. Unlike the city of Delhi, which took some extraordinary measures a few years back to dramatically reverse this ugly trend, little or nothing is being done to stop the growing pollution that now plagues the Internet.
Tonight's dinner conversation was highlighted with accounts from a family friend who travelled in Saudi Arabia approx 15 years ago. There were too many bizarre quirks to note, suffice to say that most of them involved either bribery or wasting money. One story, in particular, stood out.
I finally get to this airplane hangar in the middle if the freaking desert. Remember that when the Saudi's first got all this oil money in the 70's, they bought 40 Boeing 747's and built a nice airport - but forgot to hire maintenance staff or even pilots.
I finally get to the King's hangar, and you look around and all over the walls, even in the bathrooms of the place - there are these STD and AIDS poster. Ironic for a country of prudes. Anyhow, I'm there to sell the Saudi's some communication equipment. When the plane finally landed that afternoon, I saw the King get out and there's this young guy following him around. Not a Prince, and not security detail - but he was getting all the perks that the king was getting, red carpet shit. I asked somebody, Who is this guy? And the King has a heart problem, he's got a full operating room on his airplane, but this guy wasn't the doctor - He was the King's personal organ donor in case something ever went wrong.
Back from New York City. It helps to have friends and things to do in a big city - otherwise, why would you go? I might answer that question in a few months.
Jakob took a camera phone picture for me in NYC this afternoon -
Speaking of friendly protesters - I met demonstrators across Manhattan on at least three separate occasions passing out printed information on China's persecution of the Falun Gong meditation practice (or cult, depending on who you ask). I couldn't understand why China would be so harsh towards these peaceful old people, so I looked it up.
Falun Dafa was introduced to the general public in 1992... It was popularised widely under the PRC government's supervision for 7 years.... In 1998, mainland China - number of practitioners were approx. 70-100 million.
In July 1999 the government decided to put a stop to its popularity and the practice of Falun Gong has been persecuted in mainland China ever since.
Most observers believe that the crackdown was due more to Falun Gong's organizational ability and potential to challenge the Communist Party of China rather than because of its ideology.
And so this makes sense, because the protesters I saw in NYC were very well organized and very passionate about their cause. The Falun Gong, if you remember, are also very skilled at hacking Chinese satellite TV compweekly.com, BBC
Last year I met an African American man who worked in China for most of the 1980's. He said, "We have enough trouble managing an American democracy with less than 300 million people. Can you imagine it with over one billion strong? I'm not saying that Communism is right, but logistically, I think it makes sense in their country."
On a lighter note, here is my favorite camera phone picture right now:
A little Tufte recap
A little Tufte recapAt his very best, Tufte has some real knowledge and insight to share about data density, the resolution of paper, clarity, simplicity, sparklines, and a near religious fanaticism targeted at the reduction of ornament in favor of making the content shine via blogdexon broadway
What will $10,000 a month rent you in NYC? Apparently, a 4,800 square foot pad....
I'm in New York City for a few days, staying with Zach and some friends in their amazingly spacious loft apartment.
It's neat to be in a big city, surrounded by skyscrapers.
What the Exec's Want to Know About China
Man-in-China Shawn at liquid oz summarizes a McKinsey Quarterly Country Report on China,
Also noted - Amazon.com last week purchased China's "largest online retailer of books, music and videos" for US$72 million Amazon was reported to have made a takeover bid for Joyo rival DangDang.com. Executives at DangDang earlier this month rejected an offer of up to $1 billion after six months of negotiations.
I can't help but wonder how the crippling online payment challenges that continue to face China will play out over the next 3-5 years. Seeing as how China is still quite 'paper money' centric and the fact that the use of online credit cards and eChecks is a paltry sum, it begs the question - How will the online retail market be fueled?
Continued liquid oz.
Massive Brain
via Guru.com, I found Massive Brain. This quirky design shop does clean, inexpensive vector drawings out of New Delhi, India. I contracted them to help me with a mock-up advertisement at work, partially displayed up top.... For $25, you could even hire them to draw your party invites!
How Google Could De-Throne AIM
How Google Could De-Throne AIM via Slashdot, a Jabber-Based 'Google Messenger'You know how you think my generation is too worried about people suing each other? Well your generation is too worried about people hacking each other!Scolding from my mother as I comment on her simple password choices.
Chinese cop on window ledge shoots kidnapper in head
via Mark Frauenfelder at BoingBoing
Amazing photos of cool-looking Chinese cop dressed in black shooting a kidnapper who was sitting on a windowsill. The kidnapper, who probably died from two slugs to the head, fell five stories to the ground.
Rise of the Dormitory CEO
College students increasingly become on-campus entrepreneurs Associated Press, via Om Malik - Rise of the Dormitory CEOQR codes
Do you know what QR codes are? They are the latest fad to hit Japanese cell phones. QR codes are a new kind of bar code that can be used to store a small amount of data. You may have seen them in magazines, business cards and the like. Just take a photo of the image with your keitai (cell phone) and it will unscramble some sort of text message.
vidblog 14 (fourteen)
This vidblog incorporates some clips that I never got a chance to use from the end of my time at WFU - like the footage with Andrew conducting his symphony, Zach and Megan talking in our dorm, and Tiffany and me at Juice Shop. Also assorted summer school, and beach with Jesse Turcotte clips.
A lot of people think that chimpanzees are these cute, cuddly creatures. One day we're sitting on the golf course, and we see a baby one go running across the fairway. The four caddies with us - all locals - drop our clubs and break into a sprint, chasing like hell after this baby monkey. In Sierra Leone, chimps are a good delicacy, so they wanted to catch and eat him.
The other thing is that once these bastard mammals grow up, they're like 400 pound monsters. Our mine had 2,100 employees - sometimes people couldn't come to work because there would be an adult chimpanzee in their front yard, eating papayas off the tree. You're essentially under house arrest in that situation, because the chimp will rip your arms off and kill you.
We sold the mine to an Australian company in August of 1992 - just in time, because in January 1993, hundreds of armed rebels swarmed the compound and looted all of our machinery for their diamond mines. We had about 100 heavily armed guards, but the government would only let them carry AK47's. When there are five or six hundred militia men charging forward, each of them carrying at least one AK47, some with rocket launchers and grenades - needless to say it was a short fight, and the mine hasn't re-opened since.
Ben's Bargains
ChadsNuts: i'm sadly addicted to http://www.bensbargains.net/ ... it's worse than any site i've been addicted to before
The Free iPod Offer, and Why It Isn't a Scam
Economics behind the deals that make it happen... The Free iPod Offer, and Why It Isn't a Scam, also Wired: Making Free IPods Pay OffAcrobat 6.0 Professional tryout
Get a free mini 4-port USB hub when you download Acrobat 6.0 Professional tryout... via Chad Pugh
USA Basketball: Men's Olympic History - 1972
To this day, America's 1972 Olympic basketball team rejects their silver medals, still safely tucked away in a Switzerland vault.AOL made the bulk of their 1999/2000 fast-money from their infamous Business Affairs unit. This AOL team was responsible for gobbling up dozens and dozens of deals with freshly banked Valley start-ups, at a minimum of $5 million each. In return for a lump sum payment to the Business Affairs division, AOL would officially endorse Company X in a certain industry - say, Over-the-Counter Senior Arthritis Medicine - and would market the services to their approx 30 million captive customers. An announcement would go out - "AOL has selected eArthritis.com to be our exclusive Senior Joint Medicine Provider (SJMP) through 2010." and eArthritis's successful IPO was now almost guaranteed thanks to an AOL partnership.
The deals closed for $5, $10- sometimes even $25 million cash. AOL had an informal rule to try and get at least half of a company's entire venture capital. I only know this stuff because Maigh made me read the book Stealing Time, which was a great read.
Back to today.... via Jeff Nolan, Wall Street Journal reports that a couple hundred million $US has recently flooded into the mobile phone video game industry. In the article, various CEO's are saying things like,
"It's like the cannons got quickly moved over and sighted on this little segment of the world and started unloading," says Greg Ballard, chief executive officer of cellphone game maker Sorrent.
A lot of companies raise money like this and the consolidation process begins. "We've been told to spend the money on acquisitions." .... Yes, a very large number of tiny companies are about to get bought out here. Get ready for an aquisition binge - that's already in progress!
Will history repeat itself here? Who is going to swoop in and capitalize on this next round of fat-funded start-ups? Companies aren't just looking for products to acquire.... they're mainly looking for people. My advice, readers --- Get together with all of your recently graduated and unemployed college buddies (I'm one of them) and start a mobile gaming company. You don't actually have to make any sort of software. You will, however, need to speak the lingo, issue fake press releases, do "market testing," and have a nice-looking website. Oh, and a girl answering your phones.
"Never mind the game - just give us coder meat!" the mobile software companies collectively yelled.
BTW, You can bet your honest-earned dollar that the kid who skipped college to start a BREW development company with all his friends in 2001 is sitting pretty right now..... E-mail me if you know their company URL, I forget his name but he's probably about 21 now. I feel like they were starting somewhere in the North East or Midwest USA in 2001.
...... Apologies for pretending to sound like I know what I'm typing about with international affairs and internet industries. My excuse is that I'm getting lasik surgery tomorrow. Jeff Nolan over at SAPVe- whoops, I mean jeffnolan.typepad.com - points to this backlash piece on paidContent. It is so well-worded that I'm quoting the whole thing tonight. I'm on a bad blogging binge!
Keep in mind, most of these are me-too companies, with some hit titles and no guarantees of future hits. Also, mobile operators still have a huge share of the power in determining the fate of these companies. That is why the companies think they need scale...if we're big, the telcos won't push us around, the thinking goes. Plus we need an assembly line of hits in the rather fickle mobile gaming market, goes another line of thinking. That's the same kool-aid VCs are drinking from as well.
As WSJ puts it clearly, the mobile-game investments show a renewed willingness by venture financiers to back companies that aren't built on a unique technology but rather are trying to grab a share of a fast-growing market. A similar approach spun out of control in the late 1990s.
Terra Firma Films
Terra Firma Films featuring Josh Shader, Craig Ferguson, Greg Lessans, and Adam HerzScience Plays Politics
some Wired News ... George Bush is Anti-Science"This is the first time that a broad spectrum of the scientific community has expressed opposition to a president's overall science policy." ... MUMBAI, India -- What is the square of 85? In an instant, a 17-year-old boy said without blinking, "7.225" Modern Students Devour Vedic Math - a compilation of arithmetic shortcuts believed to have been written by ancient Indians during a glorious period in Indian history called the Vedic AgeCXO Systems lands Series B
Great news for one of the RWIR fantasy portfolio companies... CXO Systems lands $7M in financing - received $7 million from Cisco Systems Inc and several venture capitalists to develop its business intelligence dashboards - Newton-based GrandBanks Capital and Waltham firms Ironside Ventures and Kodiak Venture Partners also contributed ... when pressed for comment by this dedicated and in-your-face blogger, Frank collected his thoughts to my tough questions and said "Thanks Nick. We're very excited to have Cisco investing in us."
news flashback
international scandal news flashback... Navy Missile Downs Iranian JetlinerI'm too young to remember this, was it a big deal at the time?
A heartfelt congratulations to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who was successfully and democratically chosen to remain in office yesterday, despite continued brainwashing attempts - A 'Yes' billboard is seen along a Caracas highway in this August 4, 2004 photo: an eyecatching attempt to encourage Venezuelans to vote in favor of the recall referendum from his opponents. See The Revolution Will Not Be Televised for a cool account of him being overthrown in 2002 Maybe Chavez can make a South American oil cartel happen now? related - crude oil prices fall
Kalam's I-Day address
via Kaushal The text of India President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's address to the nation on the eve of their 58th Independence DayLivePlanet to Produce 'American Start-Up'
LivePlanet to Produce 'American Start-Up'Spike TV has signed a deal with LivePlanet, the production company founded by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Sean Bailey and Chris Moore, to produce the original reality series "American Start-Up." The ten episode series is slated to premiere on Spike TV in mid 2005. "American Start-Up" celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit. Eight young businesses will be selected to compete, each receiving $50,000 of seed capital to help them reach their goals.
I've met Chris Moore a few times through the American Pie stuff that I did. Moore's company, LivePlanet, is "backed by tech firepower and investments from current and former Oracle execs." Maybe you remember Chris Moore and LivePlanet from Project Greenlight? They produced Matchstick Men and The Emperor's Club, too. I guess you could say I had lunch with Chris Moore a few times, but we were just at the same "honcho" table in that only-on-a-movie-set-in-LA sort of way.... I remember raving about the Danger phone to him for a while. Moore and Affleck will make this series a success - they "Get It" in business and internet affairs and are admirable mentor figures.
OnlyOnce: Toys Wur Us?
Toys R us May Sell Core Retail Business - OnlyOnce: Toys Wur Us? and official announcement - By separating the businesses, Babies R Us would be able to thrive and build on its core market of supplying not just baby toys, but gear like bedding, furniture, strollers and clothes to expectant and new parents.
Today's announcement that Toys R Us was probably going to sell its retail toys business to focus on the better performing and higher margin and less Wal-Mart-threatened Babies R Us business made me a little sad.
NEW AMAZING SOFTWARE TYPES AS YOU TALK
Spamusement is the new Far Side
Tracking Turtles by Satellite
I came across this site while doing some reading for a project at work (I'll be helping at home with the fam' business through NBAA in October).
How to Track Turtles by Satellite
They often rub their hard shells against corals or rocks, either by accident or to scrape off barnacles or other epizoans, animals and plants that live attached to the turtle's shell. If there is a foreign object attached to the shell -- like a satellite transmitter -- the turtle is likely to scrape it vigorously. Once the antenna breaks, there can be no more communication between the transmitter and the satellite. Bye, turtle!
austin harris: The 499 Park Avenue Funhouse
The 499 Park Avenue Funhouse former classmate Austin Harris is on Studio 7
Gotham Gal: Ribs
Gotham Gal via Fred shares a killer rib recipeare they married? I'm not sure... any older couple who listens to Modest Mouse and The Streets could totally just be "partners"
Is it a feature, a product, or a company?
It would have been nice to read some of these things when we were playing with BuddyGopher - down indefinitely's business plan...Due Diligence: Is it a feature, a product, or a company?
- Is the function separable?
By that I mean, can it be implemented without the necessary existence or cooperation of supporting functions or businesses.- Will the customer pay for it separately?
And not just that, but pay enough to achieve an ROI including reinvestment over time.If both the above questions - and others appropriate to the case - were answered 'yes', then congratulations. You might have a product. You still must show you can make money at it, of course: that you can build it on time and in budget, get it to the customers economically, and defend your market from imitators well enough to recoup the investment and a return.
Airliners.net Photos
China Eastern Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 caption to this photo was, "This is what I call a viewing deck." ... aviation photography is a popular hobby for lots of people.Google, Yahoo Make Nice over Patent and Stock Disputes
TECH COMMENTARY I'd been predicting that Google would implode over this patent dispute, but it looks like it was settled for only $290 million on Tuesday. Google, Yahoo Make Nice over Patent and Stock Disputes - Overture had accused Google of infringing on its patent for bidding on keywords in paid-search results. Both companies sell sponsored search listings where advertisers place pay-per-click bids on search terms. The interesting thing was that the original Overture patent specifically cited a ranking mechanism whereby the highest bid gets the highest placement.... Google's engineers were aware of this, so AdSense organically returns the "most profitable" ads - if an ad that pays $.05 CPC gets half as may clicks as an ad that pays $.03CPC, it makes sense to put the lesser up top. Smart thinking - but not smart enough to avoid a few years of legal dickering and much investor trepidation.
Unstrung - The world wide source for analysis of the global wireless economy
awesome future Umbrellas in the Mesh - a project that uses Bluetooth-enabled umbrellas to form ad hoc wireless mesh networks that promote "sudden, striking, and unexpected connections between people in public and urban spaceJeff Nolan: NFLX + TIVO
Jeff Nolan Predicts: Tivo and Netflix are going to mergesome great points... including the fact that both of these companies are dropping their raving fans like fliesMoCoLoco: Thin Cut
I'm lazy today and am just copying links from the community today, sorrrry - but these are cool!
Animal Attack Files-News Reports from Around the World
Animal Attack Files -News Reports from Around the World of Animal Attacks this is my kinda news site.... it's quirky, it's targeted, and it's totally primal!Seven social sins@Everything2.com
via everything2
the seven social sins by Mahatma Gandhi
- politics without principle
- wealth without work
- commerce without morality
- pleasure without conscience
- education without character
- science without humanity
- worship without sacrifice
I connected with this dude Kaushal Karkhanis, right, on Ryze a few months ago. His name is pronounced like Cow-shulle, I think, and he keeps a blog at http://kronicles.blogspot.com/
I think Kaushal fascinates me because (1) he's about my age and lives in Mumbai, a city that I really want to visit .... (2) he works for a hip marketing company there (BrandingBrands / Hungama) and .... (3) Kaushal supports his entire family - parents and three siblings - from his one job. Cheers on your last few days of vacation! Get your ass back in gear :)
r1cksterbot: what does safe mean
Nick Gray WFU: it's a British thing, it
means, like, "OK, cool"
Nick Gray WFU: Ali G says it a lot
Nick Gray WFU: and it's on
that spliff-rolling
game they linked in PopBitch
Om Malik on Broadband: Wireless Is the New Platform
Om Malik on Broadband: Wireless Is the New Platform With more than 400 million handsets sold every year, Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe is convinced that wireless is the new platform of growth. ... I think Metcalfe crystalizes a lot of what I dream about.(The sage of networking) notes that the opportunities are not in chips and hardware. The cell-phone handset business has become a low-margin, high-volume one, largely dominated by Asian manufacturers ... Rather, if there's one thing history can teach us, it's that software and applications are where riches abound.
You can probably come up with your own caption for this photograph of (L-R) Kelly Osbourne, Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton... but I hope it involves the word skeletor or pumpkin. Link via Rick.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate, and yes, it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is nothing but wires and lights in a box.
Edward R. Murrow, speaking about television in 1951.
Here's some commentary on my MP3 phone commercial idea -
An anonymous Hollywood executive at Universal Pictures was overheard saying,
I like it. And I like your storyboard. Thing is, it's just a re-hashing of the Say Anything moment with a cell phone. So on the originality and cleverness scale, it's not too high. But people like shit like this. It definitely works.
Justin's commentary Gets It, but I should watch that Say Anything movie to see what Josh is talking about. I'll be packing up at WFU today and driving back to Atlanta tomorrow. Light blogging as such.
The biggest names in entertainment and action sports walked the red carpet last night for the debut of the T-Mobile Sidekick II including Kirsten Dunst, Lindsay Lohan, Owen Wilson, Jessica Alba, ... Shannon Elizabeth and Leelee Sobieski.
Holy wow! Since when has a cell phone soooo cool?
These people are my friends: .....
These are the products that each of them have indicated they like by using their mobile telephone/iPod barcode scanner: .....
Specifically,
Tell me where it overlaps and Buy Now.
Redesign of teen favorite offers attractive features for adults, article offers bad sub-title, too!
- guess what JR did for our four anniv. last night!
- I posted my 30-day belly pictures
- has anyone ever seen the movie...
Sometimes my co-workers forget to close their web browsers on our shared internet terminal, and leave me with a quick opportunity to peek into their on-line world. I hit the jackpot today with theknot.com message boards. Who would have guessed that wives-to-be have funny screen names and gossip amongst their tight on-line cliques?
today's links
- AOL opens messaging to enterprise developers
via Dustin - The Onion | CIA Asks Bush To Discontinue Blog
via blogdex - neat Google search for Visa card numbers
via blogdex
Chavez: Inside the Coup (2003) (TV)
Have you seen this yet? Chavez: Inside the Coup (2003) It's a really inspiring watch for all of you Outfoxed fans. Send me an e-mail if you'd like to watch with me. The DivX is approx 700mb and I've got it on a speedy FTP.receiver
Mobiles and the appropriation of place - Mobile phones are transforming the experience of place and co-presence for a wireless generation of Japanese youth. or PDF by Mizuko Ito, via BoingBoingCNN.com - Chappelle renews for?$50 million - Aug 3, 2004
Chappelle renews with Comedy Central for $50 million - Dave Chappelle has signed a massive deal with Comedy Central that will return the comedian's hit series to the network for two more seasons.but how much did his writers get?
world news
Today in World Commodity NewsUAE cement prices have almost halved since reaching a peak in June 2004. Gulf News reported that opportunist importers are selling Indian and Pakistani cement for as little as Dhs10 per bag. In June, UAE cement manufacturers agreed to a price ceiling of Dhs15 per bag after prices soared to Dhs25 per bag on the back of booming construction demand.
ALSO: 461 multi-story buildings are currently under construction in Dubai
- Wikipedia really is an amazing website. I was looking for some information on the Bretton Woods system (the collapse of which supposedly caused today's new wave of globalization) and the Wikipedia page on said topic is amazingly comprehensive. Like, whoa, internet.
- Wikipedia needs your donations. I just sent them $20 and know that it's going to a good cause - tons of database servers. They run memcached, too! We're considering it for the next version of BuddyGopher.
- Their hardware page turned me on to this PDF file, Web Search for a Planet: The Google Cluster Architecture. I'll be thrilled to have the opportunity to read that later today.
- Time for lunch, and then the second half of Quant class! Bye bye readers, I kiss you.
- Oh, one more thing. That TV show Ali G is produced by TalkBack Productions. It's curious to note that TalkBack was was aquired by Pearson Television in June 2000 for only £62 million. I say only because their previous year sales were £32 million - what sort of valuation is that? I don't know much about television - e-mail me with any ideas. Zach told me about this show last year - I watched it for the first time last night. It's funny.
- Not everyone thinks these sort of shows are funny - particularly the people being fake interviewed.
CREATIVE SUCCESS?
gapingvoid: how to be creative
So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years:
- Ignore everybody.
- Creativity is its own reward.
- Put the hours in.
- If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
- You are responsible for your own experience.
A good read submitted by Rick, Continued...