One Hundred Years Old
“I think you might have left this outside”
Memorial Day
Rule One: Don’t Lie.
Revered financial anchor, Mark Haines, passed away this week at the very young age of 65. He was the cornerstone of CNBC’s financial news programming from the very beginning: the founding anchor of “Squawk Box” and then, “Squawk on the Street”.
What’s It Worth?
LinkedIn is getting a huge amount of attention. The company goes public on Thursday. Hold your breath and play the “What’s It Worth?” game again. Market analysts are calling it a “good litmus test” as to whether or not there is again an appetite for IPOs… especially tech IPOs. And, especially social media-focused tech IPOs.
My Car, The Supercomputer.
Remember The Jetsons and their transparent, bubble-topped “aerocar”? Well… no flying cars yet, but, as it turns out, today’s vehicles are a lot more sophisticated than many of us realize. The average automobile has dozens of computers inside.
“I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you!”
“I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”
Regardless of your political affiliation, the “USA! USA!” chants during the “Bullhorn Speech” should stir pride in your heart. The men and women that worked day and night at Ground Zero are heroes.
When Technology Fails Us
These past few weeks have been rough on those of us dependent on technology. Some of the failures have been subtle while others have been spectacular and are ongoing. Are we just too dependent on technology? Are our tech providers practicing risky behavior without proper planning or safeguards? Or, is it just purely a numbers game – with so many ways to fail: services, providers, interconnects between infrastructures, etc. – eventually, something does.
A Decade of Bubbles
If you follow the tech industry then you know all about Bubbles.
Before going any further, read this wonderful article at the Bloomberg Businessweek website: This Tech Bubble is Different.
This tech bubble may be different, but many of the social and economic underpinnings are the same as a decade ago. As our nation wrestles with financial issues: quantitative easing policy, debt ceiling limits and deficit discussions, it seems we are again at a crossroads.
Paperback Writer
Does the photo look familiar to you? In case you’re confused – that’s a book. Books used to be made of paper. Pretty soon, not so much.
Do you remember getting into your car and driving to a bookstore to buy a paperback? Well, it turns out that we don’t do that anymore. Nope. Sorry. Those days are over. Now, we just wirelessly connect our Kindles and download the next novel in the series. No car required. No store required. No waiting on a long line. No need to even change out of your pajamas. Presto: a new book, downloaded in seconds. Your reading pleasure continues without interruption.
Ocean Liners and Sailboats
There are two seemingly unrelated stories in the news today that perfectly exemplify the dynamic nature of American business. American business is ever changing, adapting, iterating. It is a living, breathing entity. Change, move, shift or die.
Read more 
The eCommerce Trifecta
Three big announcements this week… already. All in the eCommerce area.
1. American Express Takes on PayPal with Serve
2. eBay splashes $2.4bn for eCommerce services firm
Clouds and More Clouds
Lately, just about every technology company is talking about “The Cloud” in one form or another. The term is used on financial shows, local news reports, and I get questions about it regularly in the most common of settings. What started out as a buzzword to describe the abstraction of Internet services has now become mainstream.
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